Dair stood there attempting to keep his anger in check. He wanted to murder the doctor for kissing Serenity, and kissing was actually too tame a word. It was more like he’d been trying to climb inside of her. As livid as that made Diar, he had something even more important to worry about. During the doctor’s actions, Dair hadn’t been able to move. Some sort of power had wrapped around him and he’d literally been unable take a step toward them. That meant Dr. Michaels was a human possessed by a powerful demon, or worse a demon able to look human, or even worse than that, Lucifer himself, disguised as a doctor. The only reason he’d been able to break free was the complete rage that overtook him when he’d watched the man press his lips to Serenity’s. He’d lost it. All of the power he possessed had somehow broken the spell holding him.

“Dair.” Serenity’s broken voice was just another hit to the gut. She sounded so scared, so horrified. He blinked, trying to get the image out of his mind. It felt as though it had been branded there.

He finally turned to look at the woman he loved. She looked devastated, as if she had been the one watching him kiss another woman. She also looked shocked, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d let happen. He wasn’t sure what he felt toward her in that moment. He didn’t know if he was angry, hurt, scared of losing her, or desperate to be away from her. It wasn’t her fault. He knew that in his heart, but his mind just kept replaying the scene over and over.

She bowed her head and silent tears fell, dotting the sheet sitting in her lap. He wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be fine. He wanted to shake her and roar at the sky. He wanted to understand why, even though he knew she’d probably been under some supernatural influence.

“Why?” he said through clenched teeth. He was trying so hard to remain calm. He didn’t want to frighten her, and he wanted to give her the chance to explain, praying her explanation would confirm his suspicions.

Serenity’s shoulders began to tremble as she cried harder. Her hands fisted the sheet and comforter in her grasp. Her knuckles turned white as she squeezed harder, as if by doing so she’d be able to hold herself together. Finally, after several minutes of him simply staring at her and her weeping, she answered. “I don’t know.” The words were practically whispered, but he heard them clearly. “I don’t understand it,” she continued, her voice growing a little stronger, though she didn’t look up at him. “There’s no excuse, but there was something about him that I literally couldn’t resist. My mind and my heart were screaming at me to stop him, and yet my body wouldn’t obey. I didn’t want to kiss him, but my body wanted him. I don’t know how else to explain it. I just …” She trailed off and then finally looked up at him.

Dair nearly fell to his knees at the lost and broken look in her eyes. His beloved was staring at him with such pleading, such longing, that he felt her pain in his own spirit. She hadn’t done it on purpose, he knew it, and now he could see it. She truly hadn’t wanted to kiss the man, but she hadn’t known how to make herself or him stop. Dair moved to the side of the bed and motioned to it. “May I?” He didn’t know why he was asking. It wasn’t like he ever asked in the past week to sit by her, he just did. Previously, he’d felt like sitting next to her had been his right. But suddenly he wasn’t so sure anymore. He didn’t know where he fit in the equation.

“You don’t have to ask, Dair.” She breathed out. “You never have to ask.” Serenity paused and looked up at him. “I’m yours.”

“Are you?” The words slipped out before he could stop them, and the minute her face fell, he felt like the biggest ass in the world. She hadn’t been able to help herself and he’d been unable to save her from the evil man. “That was cruel,” he said quickly.

She shook her head. “I deserve it. I deserve it if you no longer want me. I’ll completely understand if you want to go.”

Wait. What?

“I never meant to hurt you, Dair. I need you to know that.” Serenity reached for his hand as he sat down next to her but then pulled back as if she were unsure she was allowed to touch him. “I didn’t, I don’t, want him. The minute he stopped kissing me it was like a fog was lifted. And then I realized what I’d let happen, and there you were and I couldn’t take it back.”

Dair wondered briefly how far things would have gone if he hadn’t walked in. If Serenity hadn’t been able to say no to Dr. Michaels kissing her, then would she have been able to stop him from touching her, or doing more? His hands fisted in his lap. The Creator help him, the idea of someone else knowing her in such an intimate way, of her knowing anyone but him in such an intimate way, made him feel rage like he’d never felt before.

“I love you,” Serenity said softly. “But after that, I don’t deserve you.”

The silence in the room was painful after she stopped talking. They both sat there, hurting for different reasons. She thought he’d want to leave her, that he would be done with her. Had he not made it clear to her that she was it for him? Even if she had done it of her own free will, he would never leave her. Though he knew, and now had confirmation from her words, that she was under some sort of influence Dr. Michaels was wielding.

He loved her. He needed her. She was a part of him and there was no Dair without Serenity, not anymore.

He reached out and put his fingers under her chin, lifting it until she was forced to look at him. Two tears tracked down either side of her face. She simply stared at him, like a guilty person awaiting her sentencing. “I’m not going anywhere, Serenity,” Dair said gently. “I don’t know what happened in here before I got here. I believe you when you say you didn’t want him.”

“You do?” she asked, her brow raising and her eyes widening.

He nodded. “I don’t think you are capable of that kind of deception. And I… ” He didn’t know how to say this next part. It was so sudden and it hadn’t happened until he’d touched her, but he had felt something different. It seems he now felt what she was feeling—shame, hurt, fear, grief, pain, and now a smidgen of hope. “And though I felt your attraction to him, I also feel your repulsion over him touching you.” He tilted his head as he looked at her. “Could I try something?” he asked.

She nodded.

Dair didn’t have a clue what he was doing, so he just let his instincts guide him. He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then let his forehead rest against hers. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. He pushed his power into her, just as if he was trying to build a dream for her. But instead of building a dream, he simply let his power search her mind. It didn’t take long before he found her memories. He didn’t want to dig too deep. She deserved her privacy, so he carefully probed until he came to that morning’s events.

He felt a bit of the jealousy again when he experienced her attraction to Dr. Michaels but was happy to see how fleeting it had been. The first glimpse had been real attraction, but after her initial reaction to him, she was leery and confused. She kept trying to figure out what she was feeling because she knew the things her mind was telling her to feel were completely wrong. When Dair heard Dr. Michaels rationalize his actions, Dair’s teeth clenched painfully in his mouth. It had been killing him to hear it when he’d been unable to break the man’s jaw to shut him up.

Then, just as the doctor was leaving, Dair saw it. Dr. Michael’s had turned around for a split second before leaving, so fast that the human eye wouldn’t have registered it, which meant he’d done it for Dair’s sake. There was no doubt it happened. The eyes of Dr. Michaels flashed solid black, completely covering any white. It was so quick that he didn’t think Serenity’s mind even registered what she was seeing. There was only one being from the abyss that had eyes that black. These eyes were as dark as their owner’s own soul—Lucifer. Even Dair’s black eyes weren’t the same bottomless color of Lucifer’s.

The ruler of hell had apparently taken an interest, a very personal interest, in Serenity. Dair had been warned by Lucifer himself, but Dair hadn’t expected the prince of air to come in person. Rather, he expected Lucifer to send a demon to torment Serenity. Then he remembered the words the evil ruler had said.

“Oh, Dair, I shall have her. I shall have her in every way you have not and then some.”

Lucifer hadn’t been speaking in riddles. He had been saying exactly what he intended to do. Brudair was all too familiar with the enemy’s focus on destroying relationships. Lucifer wanted people to feel isolated and alone. Perhaps he thought if he seduced Serenity, Dair wouldn’t want her anymore. It would no doubt cause tension and hurt between them, but Dair would not give her up. Not for any reason.

“I will simply have to beat you at your own game,” Dair muttered as he pulled away from Serenity. There was nothing Dair wouldn’t do to protect Serenity, even if that meant he would have to battle all of hell and its ruler to keep her safe.

* * *

Lucifer paced his throne room, careful not to get too close to the walls. He hated when one of the condemned grabbed him. They were stacked one on top of another as high as the eye could see and beyond. Their agony and wails were like a sweet symphony to him. They screamed and clawed at one another. When he was in the room, they constantly reached for him and begged for mercy. He chuckled. It was a dark, ruthless sound. “Mercy,” He spat as he glanced at the wall in front of him. Broken eyes stared back at him. “Mercy is for the weak.” Mercy was what the Creator offered to His disgusting humans. Why He insisted on loving them was something Lucifer never understood. They were selfish, proud, merciless beings and wanted nothing to do with the One who fashioned them. Why did the Creator keep them? He loved them in a way He never loved the angels. He loved them more than the beings that worshiped Him faithfully and served Him faithfully. It was disgusting, and it made Lucifer angry.

“Why do you allow this madness to continue?” He roared to the heavens, knowing his enemy would hear him.

“Were we not enough? Did we not give you the glory that you demanded? And yet you created humans in your image. Why did we not hold the same value as they?” Lucifer waited, wanting answers, demanding answers. When none came, he smirked. “Won’t even face me. What kind of God are You that You can’t defend yourself and answer questions?”

Suddenly, the very foundations of hell shook. The bodies in the walls screeched, and a few of them fell from their places, landing with a sickening thud. Lucifer stumbled but kept himself on his feet. He looked around the room and waited.

“You will come out to the appointed location.” A deep and commanding voice filled the great hall. “I will not desecrate myself by entering your hell. Come. Now.”

Lucifer saw in his mind the place of which the Creator spoke. He was there standing atop the tallest mountain, all the world beneath His feet. A huge cloud gathered in front of Him. Thunder boomed inside of the cloud and lit it long enough for him to see the silhouette of the Creator. Lucifer was instantly transported to the mountain, and he fell to his knees, but not because he wanted to. He growled, his sharp teeth gnashing together, spittle flying from his mouth. There was none who could stand before the Creator, not in all His glory. Man could not even look directly at Him in their human state because it would kill them. Lucifer could, but only because he had once been a heavenly being. He was of the Creator’s realm.

“Lucifer,” the Creator’s voice rumbled. “I would answer your question, though it would do you no good. You cannot comprehend my reasons because you are not a part of me. You were cut from the vine long ago when you attempted to become as I am. Humans are my Creation. They are my children, and I delight in them. This is a concept that you cannot fathom. I have given them the right to choose their eternity, and I am always waiting for them to seek me. It is because they have free will that they know I love them. Every one of my Creation that ends up in your abyss is heartbreaking, but their destiny was their own choice.”

Lucifer was shaking with rage. How dare the Creator treat him as if he was an as stupid as the sheep He loved. “They turn their back on You, they curse You, they hold up their fists at You and condemn You to hell. They are not worthy of Your love.”

“I make them worthy,” the Creator said with a finality that made Lucifer bite back his words. “You made your choice, Lucifer. You gave up what I had blessed you with. You wanted more when it was not yours to take. You challenge me, you abhor me, but you have already lost.”

“Maybe, but I will take as many of Your children as I can.” He felt a jerk on his form and suddenly he was tumbling down, away from the mountain top, away from the Creator. He landed in a heap on the floor of his throne room. The rage inside of him burned as hot as the fires that engulfed his realm. The Creator’s words echoed in his mind, and the rage grew. He threw back his head and roared. Heat exploded from his body, burning anything in its reach. The writhing condemned screamed in agony, calling out to a God that had left them to their fate.

“I will take more,” Lucifer vowed. “I will have Serenity. I will have Emma. I will have any filthy human that could possibly sing Your praises to the masses. I will have them, and I will destroy them.”