“I can’t. I can’t go back there!” The female lay against the bed, her limbs held down by each of the males in the room.

Calix lifted the blade to her throat. “You will take us there, or we will gut you open right here, right now.” He’d not done such a thing to a female in over a century, but his patience had thinned to madness.

“If I do, you’ll spare my life?” Her chasing outcry told Calix that Logan was running on little patience himself. The demon wasn’t known for hurting females, but where his daughter was concerned, he’d undoubtedly make an exception.

A cold hard smack echoed in the bedroom, and Calla leaned into her, hovering above her face. “You stole my baby!” She’d come to soon after they’d stumbled upon Thais hiding in the shadows.

“I didn’t! I swear I didn’t! It was a demon. A … gorilla-faced demon that took them back to him!”

The one that’d come to the bar looking for Ava, Calix suspected. “Take us there.”

With a sob, the female nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

“I’m coming with you.” Calla set her hand on the woman’s arm alongside Logan’s.

“No,” Logan protested.

“My baby is out there, Logan. I’m not staying here like some mousy female, hoping you return!”

Logan’s brows furrowed, the hurt clear on his face.

“Calla, they may return.” Calix set his hand on her shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze. “Ava can flash, remember? She’ll come back here.”

Tears filled Calla’s eyes as they burned with conflict. “Are you sure?”

The implication was clear, and Calix couldn’t blame her lack of confidence. A part of him prayed that Ava hadn’t known anything about their plan, that she hadn’t been a willing participant in the baby’s abduction. He nodded, clenching his jaw. “Absolutely.”

She slid her hand away and took a step back.

Turning back to the female on the bed, Calix held tight to her hand, and a coldness swept over him, casting a chill down to his bones while setting a nauseous gurgle in his stomach, before they materialized into a dark empty hallway with a lone light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

The female stood surrounded by Logan, Calix and Xander, the three of them glancing around the long, dimly lit corridor.

“This is where they keep them.” Thais pushed through the barricade of bodies, toward the longer stretch of passage that disappeared into darkness, and all three males followed behind her. “Nearly a week, that twisted bastard kept me here. Chained to a bed. Injecting me with shit. Letting that fucking demon touch me.”

“Why? What’d he want from you?” Calix asked, keeping on her heels as they ventured deeper into the dark hallway.

“He wanted your girl. Said she was an important part of his research. With the Sang.” She glanced back at Calix with a remorseful expression. “I was supposed to retrieve her, or the human said he’d throw me in the room with the Sang. But she picked up the baby. I waited, praying she’d set her back down, but then the demon rushed in. Probably mistook her for me.”

“Thought they wanted Ava?” Logan asked from behind, his voice still carrying a pissed-off tone. “Why would he be after you?”

“Because. The son of a bitch injected me with the demon’s hormones. He views me as his mate, so I won’t escape them.”

“He sounds sadistic.” Xander sneered, bringing up the rear of the group.

Thais glanced back at them from the front of the line. “As a fallen angel, I’m certainly no stranger to torture, but if your girl was subjected to this for months, it’s a wonder she’s still sane.”

Her comment punched Calix in the gut, left him feeling every bit the sorry bastard for not having found her sooner. Ava had seen some bad shit, too, in her lifetime, and Calix wished he could erase all of it for her. Take her memories and wipe them out, from the moment she was born, up until her cunt of a brother was finally sent to Stygius. He’d even be willing to risk that she forget him, not remember Calix, at all, if it meant she’d never have to suffer the flashbacks of her torment. Only the most powerful incubi could do that, though, and Calix certainly hadn’t acquired that clout.

They reached a door; it creaked upon opening and led to a stairwell. Once again, Thais took the lead, descending deeper into the bowels of the building, her feet hardly making sound beneath the hard thumps of the demons’ boots—particularly Logan’s.

Calix glanced back at his brother, whose bunched shoulders made him look like a lion ready to pounce on the first thing that crossed his path. “Pick your damn feet up, man. You sound like a fucking Clydesdale.”

“Fuck off.”

Another door stood before them, and Thais set her ear against the panel. Movement from behind gave little warning, before the door flew off the hinges, knocking the female back onto her ass, and Logan tromped through the open passage.

“Well, then. Let’s move on.” She pushed to her feet, clearing her throat as she followed behind Logan.

Xander snickered from behind, as each passed through the open door. The stairwell had deposited them into another hallway, like the first, but older and in decay. White and brown patches on the wall marked the wear of water leaks and time. Rusted pipes lined the top of the passage, and the damp stench of mold mingled with rot and decay, telling them they were close.

“Why’d you flash us a level above?” Calix asked.

“I was going for an element of surprise. There are other demons here. I sense them, but I’ve no idea where they are.”

“Sang?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps something else. Something more violent.”

Rounding a corner brought a male into view, lying slumped against the wall, holding his arm. To the left of the male, stood a door, just like all the other doors lining the corridor.

As the first to approach, Logan crouched beside the male, examining him. “I remember you,” he growled. “Came into the casino. Looking for Calla.”

A chuckle escaped the human as he adjusted his thick black-framed glasses. “Yes. Yet another demon … who fucked with my work.” A dewy shine glistened off his skin over the white pallor beneath. Clumps of clotted blood and a gray-tinged fluid oozed between his fingers that gripped his arm. Infected, based on the sour smell he gave off.

“There was a baby brought here. Where the fuck is she?” Logan rested his knuckles against the wall beside the male and leaned into his face. “And if you lie to me, I’ll rip every one of your fucking limbs off.”

A burst of maniacal laughter from the male struck Calix’s last nerve, and tested his patience, and his urgency to find Ava overrode his usual level-headedness. Knocking his brother out of the way, Calix slammed a fist into the male’s cheek, cracking his bone on impact.

A wail of agony echoed down the hallway, cut short when Calix throttled the male’s neck.

“Where the fuck are they?” He could feel Logan’s eyes on him, no doubt trying to assess if he’d lost his mind.

“I’s qui’ beau’ful,” he slurred. “Look. In th’window.” Eyes closed, he jerked his chin toward the door behind the demons.

Calix and Logan shot to their feet and swung around toward the iron door. The small window in the center of it gave a narrow view of the dark room within.

Bat-like creatures crowded around a large brown object on the floor that appeared to be some kind of cocoon, though all their fuss made it hard to see. They hissed and danced, slamming their fangs into it, knocking it with their wings. One jumped atop of it and seemed to gnaw at its surface.

Without a beat of hesitation, Logan kicked at the door.

It didn’t budge.

Calix added his boot, and still the door remained on its hinges.

The laughter from behind innervated Calix’s spine.

“Diablis steel. The whole damn thing is lined with it. My own special design. Keeps them from flashing. Also keeps the supes out.”

Logan spun around and drilled another pop to the male’s face. “Except Wraths, fuck-face.”

When he twisted back toward the door, both demons put their full weight into the kick, knocking it right out of the frame.

The clamor ruffled the Sang enough that they hissed and took flight inside the cell.

Calix nabbed hold of a leg of one, yanking it toward him, and as the Sang snapped its fangs at him, he hammered his fist in its skull. Once in his grasp, the creature’s fangs pierced his skin, exacerbating Calix’s fury, and he reached for the dagger at his hip, the upward swing of his arm jabbing the blade into its skull, and with a quick swipe, he detached the head, spilling clear ichor onto the cement.

Beside him, Logan pounded his fist into the other Sang’s face, crumpling it with each forceful blow.

Xander had the third pinned to the wall, where he sliced long cuts into its flesh, until the body of the creature slithered to the floor, and Xander stood clutching the head.

A loud crack ended the commotion, when the Sang’s brain matter spattered across the floor, and Logan slid his Glock back into its holster.

At a roar behind them, they spun their attention toward the doorway—and the gorilla-faced beast blocking the empty frame. It charged toward Logan, but at Xander’s intercepting fist, the demon flew backward, slamming into the floor.

“I got this one!” Xander shouted, scrambling atop the demon. “C’mon, shithead.”

“Where the fuck is she!” Logan’s thunderous voice boomed over the grunting and thud of fists hitting flesh, as Xander fought the demon.

A soft sound hit Calix’s ears—Logan’s, too, from the way he lifted his chin. Muffled. Crying. A baby’s cry.

Calix’s eyes shot toward the cocoon in the middle of the room that the Sang had tried breaking into.

“’The fuck?” Logan strode forward and dug his fingers into the sack, pulling at the threads until his muscles shook. He relaxed and tugged again, until his skin turned red, veins popping through his neck with the exertion.

Calix dug his fingers in, too, grimacing at the gooey dark strands that swallowed his hand as he yanked in the opposite direction. Muscles stretched to long cords of tension with his effort, and still the two of them couldn’t tear it away. He straightened, wiping the slime onto his jeans. “’The fuck is this?”

“Avalon!” Logan yelled into the sack, and paused at the mewling from the other side.

“Ava!” Calix followed suit and remained still for a moment.

“Calix?” Ava’s voice, weak and subdued, sagged his muscles with relief.

“Are you all right? We’re going to get you out of there.”

“It only breaks from the inside.” The hush of her words gave the impression she was miles away, yet something moved beneath the skin of the cocoon, and both brothers stepped back when a web of fingers pushed up from inside.

The breach of the sack spewed forth a clear fluid from inside that pooled at Calix’s boots, and the first cries of the baby had Logan reaching through the mess for her.

He paused to shed his jacket and lift the T-shirt over his head, tucking it under his arm.

Through a glistening layer that clung to their bodies, he lifted the infant from Ava’s arms and wrapped her inside his oversized Tee, holding her to his chest.

“Shhh, Daddy’s here.”

Within seconds, the baby’s cry quieted, and Calix lifted Ava to a stand. In the next breath, her knees gave out from beneath her, and he swooped her up into his arms before she could hit the floor.

“’Msorry. I tried to keep her safe,” she whispered, and Calix took in her frail and fragile appearance.

He’d noticed the paling of her skin earlier and had made a point not to say anything, hoping he’d figure out how to slow it down. Perhaps with pregnancy. But she seemed to be getting worse with each passing day, and particularly right then.

“You created the cocoon?”

With a tired nod, she smiled. “I had no idea I could. I wished for a safe place to hide, and out of nowhere, my body started tingling until we were covered like a blanket. Side effect of being one of them, I guess. ‘Swhy they left me alone. I’m a dirty Sang.”

Logan stopped his pacing, still clutching the baby to his chest. “Thank you for keeping her safe. I’d have lost my fucking mind, if they’d hurt her.”

“Oh, shit, that’s fucking nasty.” Xander’s voice drew everyone’s attention to where he straddled the mangled demon and held up the metal plate that’d once been attached to its face. A white golf ball looking object clung to the front of it. “Took the whole goddamn eyeball out.”

“Let’s go. Wish Ferno was here to burn this shithole to the ground.” Logan strode out of the room with the baby, and Xander pushed off the demon, following after.

They reached the hallway where the human lay hunched over, his blood drying to his wound.

“Should’ve fed him to those fuckers.” Logan kicked the male, whose grunt told them he was still alive.

A clang echoed down the hall, lifting Calix’s gaze. “Where’s Thais?” They needed her to flash back to the mansion, as Ava, loosely draped over Calix’s arms seemed too weak. “Ava’s blacking out. I need to get her back.”

Another clang and a thump.

Calix’s eyes shot toward a door that, with another thud, shivered with dust.

All three demons edged toward it.

“’The hell is in there?” Xander asked, stepping in front of Logan. He reached the door first, peered inside the small window, and took a step back. “What the unholy shit …”

“What is it?” Logan replicated his move, peering in and backing away. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. Now.”

It wasn’t until Calix saw for himself through the window what had rattled the other two.

Inside was a much larger room, with an open space, where at least three or four dozen Sang, in various stages of the virus, swarmed like insects. Some crawling like maggots. Some hanging from the ceiling.

A face slammed into the window, leaving a sliver of a crack, and Calix frowned. Half its face had a milky-white bat-like appearance, deformed with snaggled teeth and a pure white eyeball. The other half of its face could scarcely be identified as a Saevious demon.

Another slam shot a cloud of dust from the hinges.

“Let’s go!” Logan roared again, clutching Avalon to his chest. “Now!”

They doubled back toward the stairwell door that Logan had blown off earlier, and up the staircase toward the second door.

“What about Thais?” Calix asked, halting his steps.

“I got her.” Xander spun back toward the direction they’d come, jogging down the stairs.

Seconds later, the steel door ahead swung open to reveal Thais ushering them inside “We have to leave! Now! They’re trying to escape!”

“Xander!” Logan’s voice thundered inside the empty stairwell, quickly drowned by a much more intimidating sound.

At the rear of the group, Calix swung his gaze toward the mouth of the stairwell.

The fallen angel stood frozen in the doorway. Brows furrowed. Listening. A human scream interrupted the momentary stillness, and in the next breath, Xander lifted his gaze, before bounding up the stairs toward Calix. “Fuck! Go!”

With Ava passed out in his arms, Calix sprinted up the remaining stairs toward Thais. The thud of multiple oncoming footsteps beat down his spine.

One of the mutations breached the stairwell.

Xander drew his blade and slammed it into the creature’s skull with a twist. A spray of clear fluid glistened across the angel’s hand.

“Ah, what the fuck, man?” Xander swung around to a second mutation clambering up the few stairs toward him.

Two more broke through the entrance behind it.

“C’mon, Xander!” Calix called out, flinching at the sensation of Thais gripping his elbow.

“We have to go. Now.” Her eyes held focus, as if she’d already begun to visualize the demon’s mansion.

Yanking his arm from her grip, he snarled. “Not without Xander.”

More mutations filed into the skinny stairwell, with Xander only a few steps ahead of them.

The angel slammed through the door where the demons waited, and the moment he plowed into them, the stampede of mutations scrambled up the staircase toward them.

A dizzying cold swept over the group, and the agonized cry of the human male echoed in Calix’s ears, until he opened his eyes to his bedroom, where Gavin, Sabelle and Calla shot up from their seats.

Xander had fallen atop of Thais beside them on the floor. Logan broke into movement, the second the baby released a cry, and Calla rushed toward them, brows drawn as she wiped the slime from the baby’s head.

“What the hell happened to her?” The panic in her voice settled when she took the baby into her arms. “Oh, baby. Oh, my sweet Avalon.” Ignoring her own question, she rose to her tiptoes, yanking Logan by his nape for a kiss. “Thank you. Thank you for bringing her back to me.”

Ava shifted in Calix’s arms, groaning with pinched brows that told him she was in pain.

“Is she all right?” Sabelle asked, lifting Ava’s hand to examine the increasingly translucent skin. “What happened to her, Calix?”

“She’s been injected. With Sang virus.” He half-heartedly explained while lying Ava on the bed. “Call Drechler. Now!”

“He’s on his way.” Gavin’s voice arrived from behind, along with a squeeze of Calix’s shoulder. “Wasn’t sure what to expect when you returned. Just thought it better to have him here, in case.”

“I get it now.” Eyelids heavy, Ava lifted her chin to meet his gaze, and the glisten of a tear streaking down her temple churned knots in Calix’s stomach.

“You get what? What is it?” he asked, tamping down the dread that threatened to crush him from the inside.

“When Oliver said that being with someone other than the Sang would result in tragedy. He didn’t mean for you.”

“You’re going to be fine. You hear me? Fine.” Calix stroked her hair that still held the wet muculent texture of the cocoon.

“I love you, Calix. Just in case … whatever happens. You should know I’ve always loved you.” Her eyes shuttered close, and he frowned down at her, the knots in his gut twisting to an unbearable bulge that scarcely allowed a breath.

No, no.

“Ava? Ava!” He shook her body, but it didn’t move with the jostling. “Ava!”

“Doctor Drechler is here, Masters.” Anna’s voice couldn’t peel his attention from Ava’s face, so peaceful, as if she slept.

“Calix, let him examine her.” Gavin’s voice reached his ears, but failed to make him move.

“Ava,” he muttered, watching her blur through a sheen of tears. “Ava!”

A firm grip of his shoulders tugged him away, but Calix thrashed out of the hold on him.

“Ava! Wake up!”

Once again, arms wrapped around his chest, dragging him away from her. One singular objective called him to stay by her side. A sickness deep inside his gut told him she was drifting away, and all he could think to do was hold on to her. Calix twisted to get loose, but the arms that held him were unrelenting, and he stood, muscles-tense, while the doctor took his place beside her.

“I know what you’re going through, Brother. I know this pain.” Logan’s voice carried a tone in his ear like he’d never heard before. One brimming with understanding and true remorse, that if he’d not been reluctant to ignore everything around him, he might’ve been comforted by it.

As it was, nothing could comfort him right then.

“She’s dying.” Drechler’s grim words sent a cold stab of pain to Calix’s heart, and another shield of tears distorted his vision. “It seems the virus has entered her bloodstream, causing sepsis. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do at this point. It’s taken hold of her.”

“There is, though!” Spittle shot from Calix’s mouth, while the irritating blur of tears left him rapidly blinking them away. “Calla, she was cured. The baby’s blood cured her. All I gotta do is give her my blood. It weakens the virus.”

The doctor’s gaze fell away from his, shriveling Calix’s hope. “She’s too far gone for that, Calix. It’s spreading faster than your blood could reach it.”

“I won’t let her die! Not for me!” Calix jerked out of his brother’s grasp and fell to his knees, crawling across the floor to the bed. When he reached Ava, her body cold and lifeless, his muscles shook with rage and pain. So much pain, he could hardly hold himself upright. The agony roiled in his gut, while flashes of an impossibly happy life with her played behind his eyelids.

Her laughing as he chased her through the gardens. The contentment in her eyes as he held her in bed. The wonder and bliss that’d stare back at him as she held their son.

All of it crashed over him in tidal waves of misery and anguish.

“Ava.” He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it. “There are so many things that I need to say to you right now. But I’ve already told you the most important,” he whispered as he stroked her hair. “Do you remember?” Tears choked his question, and Calix swallowed back the urge to break down in front of his brothers, who stood around him while a somber hush blanketed the room. He pushed forward, pressed his lips to her forehead and spoke against her skin. “Not even in death.”

Calix couldn’t bring himself to back away from her, because the moment he did, he’d be faced with the reality that she was gone. Once a magnetic force in his life that’d kept him tethered, suddenly a hollow void that he’d never fill.

“I can save her.” The voice from behind wouldn’t have reached him, had it not been for her words. He peeled himself away, turning to see Thais standing in the doorway, where Xander held a chain attached to her throat. “There is a way.”

Anger snarled Calix’s lip as he made a slow rise from the floor and lurched toward the female. “And why should I believe you?”

“Because you don’t have a choice. It’s dangerous and painful. And could still kill her.”

Calix didn’t dare allow the blossom of hope in his chest to spread so much that he’d actually believe her. “What is it?”

“I would cleanse her with hellsfire.”

“Madness!” Drechler’s voice bounced off the walls. “This voodoo isn’t medicine, it’s unnatural! One slip could kill every person in this room!”

“Wait a minute.” Logan stepped forward, shaking his head. “I’m not putting my tazschla and child at risk. I don’t want to be a dick here, but you don’t fuck with hellsfire.”

Thais’s gaze remained fixed on Calix, as if she spoke only to him. “I can do it. I’ve done it before. The flame will touch no one but Ava.”

“My kids live under this roof as well.” Sabelle seemed to chew on her bottom lip, brows upturned.

“Are you certain this is safe?” Gavin asked.

“I’m certain all of you are safe, yes.” Thais’s attention snapped from Gavin to Calix. “The sooner we do this, the better her chances.”

“I’ll be no part of that.” Throwing his hands up in the air, Drechler made his way toward the door, stopping at Calix’s side. “I’m very sorry for your loss. But believe me when I tell you, what she’s offering comes with far too much risk. Would you have this poor woman’s final moments spent in agonizing pain?”

The question swirled inside his head, over and over, and brought to mind his own sister who’d suffered hellsfire for nothing.

“If it saved her.” Calix lifted his gaze to the surprised stare of the doctor he’d come to respect for so many years. Part of him felt shamed and selfish for such a confession, but he couldn’t deny the truth. He’d risk everything to save her.

“May the gods be merciful. And may her pain end quickly.” He shuffled past, glaring at Thais on his way out of the room.

“Calix, is this what you want for her?” Gavin’s voice held a somber tone as he approached from behind. “Either way, you have my support.”

“It is.” Calix could hardly speak past the tightness in his jaw, and his gaze fell on Thais once more. “What do you need?”

“Your brother. The one who commands hellsfire.”

* * *

Fuck, the nervous twist in Calix’s gut, as they waited for Ferno to enter the room, could’ve split him right in half. His slick palms slid across one another, as he sat rubbing his hands beside the bed, on which Ava hadn’t moved since Drechler had delivered the bad news.

Ferno had avoided females since the accident with Shey. Couldn’t even bear to look one in the eye, perhaps the only nick in the demon’s armor. It gave him a weakness, because gods knew, he was the most formidable of the brothers.

Asking him to do whatever Thais had in mind would be drudging every dark and agonizing demon from his bank of memories. He’d never agree to it. But if, by some miracle, he did and failed, it could very well throw him over the edge. If he didn’t take his own life, Calix would have to find the strength not to look at him with blame, or that alone would ensure his brother’s death.

“He’ll resist,” Gavin said beside him, toying with the cuff of his sleeves. “But if it’s successful, it might bring him back around. And if it’s not. We may need to have him locked away for a while, as he’ll be a danger, not only himself, but perhaps to anyone else he comes into contact with. My hope is that you’ve considered all possible outcomes, Calix.”

Gavin’s words only served to tighten the already-coiling knots in his stomach. “Do you think I would ask such a thing, if I had another choice?”

“No. I don’t. But I want you to be prepared. The very question could set him off.”

“I’m a ball of fucking nerves right now.” Gripping either side of his skull, Calix leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve never been so afraid of my brother in all the centuries I’ve known him.”

“Of him? Or for him?”

“Both.” Calix tipped his head back and shrugged. “Christ, I can’t even remember what he looks like without all that guilt weighing down on him.”

A tall silhouette took up the doorframe, and Ferno stepped inside, his eyes surveying the room. No doubt he wondered what the hell he’d been called in for.

“What is it?” The rasp in his voice upheld the same unfriendly vibe as his scars, tattoos—hell, his whole being.

Calix stood from the chair and took cautious steps toward his brother. “I need your help. And believe me when I say, I wouldn’t ask you this if I had another choice.” His throat went dry as cotton, and Calix cleared the lump that formed there. “Thing is, see. I don’t have much time to tell you all the reasons why you should. Because every second that ticks by is another that I lose the most important thing in my life.”

“Spit it out.” Ferno’s voice held little patience, only stoking the worry in Calix’s gut.

“I want …” Calix rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat a second time. Damn the tightness in his chest and rapid breaths that left him dizzy. “I need you to inject your hellsfire into Ava. To cleanse her and save her life.”

Ferno’s brows pinched to a frown, and the twitch of his jaw told Calix the male sat on the brink of losing his shit. “Is this a fucking joke?”

“I wish it was.” Tears got the best of Calix, and he stared back at his brother, clenching his jaw to keep from breaking. “I know you’d sooner take your own life than hurt your brothers. I know this, Ferno. Zayne knew it, too. This isn’t about Shey. I wouldn’t ask you to do this, if you weren’t the only chance I had.”

“No. And fuck off.” He spun around, only to be stalled by Gavin and Logan blocking his exit.

“Ferno. Please,” Gavin said. “I understand this isn’t easy for you. If I could take this pain, this guilt that you carry around your neck like a goddamn albatross, I would. I’d take it all. She doesn’t have much time.” Gavin crossed his arms over his chest and let his gaze fall away. “It could make things right again.”

“Move.” The wobble in Ferno’s voice told Calix the male could crack any moment, and it broke his heart to place his brother in such a painful position.

“No.” Gavin shook his head, leveling his gaze on the giant before him.

The heaving of his chest confessed the panic swelling inside of Ferno. His mind must’ve been a warzone, pulling him under with Shey’s final moments. He paced like an animal caught in a cage, rubbing his skull back and forth with the kind of quiet suffering that set Calix’s teeth on edge. Only when he paused did Calix hold his breath, bracing himself for the onslaught.

“You want to see me kill again? Is that it? You want to watch her burn?” He pointed a finger back toward where Ava lay on the bed. “Hear her beg for her life?” His hands balled to fists that he beat at his temples, and the roar of pain that followed brought another round of tears to Calix’s eyes.

Gavin swiped at his own eyes and cleared his throat. “Shey was an accident.”

“Shey is dead! I killed her.” Ferno held up his scarred, tattooed hands. “With my own fucking hands!” He paced again, rubbing his skull. “And do you know what she said to me? Her last fucking words.” Coming to a halt again, he dropped to his knees and tucked his head into his elbows. “She said, tell Zayne I’m sorry.”

Not even Shey could let Ferno take the blame on his own. She’d recognized her own mistake and knew the pain Zayne would suffer as a result.

Ferno’s muscles shook as he cracked like the fragile shell of an egg in front of them.

If not for the urgency beating through Calix, he’d have told him everything was okay and released him from the request as an act of mercy. But Calix would do anything to save Ava.

Even if it meant putting his brother through hell again.

“Ferno, is it?” Thais’s voice snapped everyone’s attention to where she stepped forward from the shadows, and Ferno lifted his head, the fury and pain still clinging to his face. “I don’t know who Shey was, or the circumstances that led up to her death. You’re burdened with it, as you were burdened with the gift of hellsfire. Of all your brothers, you hold the greatest pain and the deepest sorrow, not just for what happened to this female, but because you know what you’re capable of on a daily basis. You hold it inside. You tamp it down.” She shook her head, looking down at him with mercy, and gods, Calix was grateful for it. “But fire is unruly. And hellsfire, it burns hotter at its core. It is a curse and a blessing, for you have the power to cure the only thing in the world powerful enough to wipe out entire species of demons.” She knelt in front of him, her eyes soft and understanding—something that Calix prayed would reach his brother as nothing else had. “More importantly, you have the power to give that young female another chance. She’s lived in pain for so long, and she doesn’t deserve this end.”

“I’ll kill her by doing this,” Ferno said past gritted teeth.

“I won’t let you.” She reached out a hand to him, and the seconds that ticked by had Calix’s heart ready to pound right out of his chest. “When controlled, hellsfire can heal with as much potency as it harms.”

“And it’s safe?” Logan stood with his feet set apart, hands at his hips. “Or do I need to relocate my tazschla and daughter a few cities over?”

“I can assure you, I’m very adept with the flame. It’s something of an art for me. I’ve held his fire before.”

Gavin stroked his jaw in contemplation, as he stared down at Ferno. “Is this true? She’s already wielded your hellsfire?”

Not bothering to lift his gaze, Ferno gave a subtle nod. “Once.” When Ferno rose to his feet and rolled his shoulders back, it was clear in the female’s raised brows that she couldn’t anticipate his next move.

“What do I have to do?” he asked, looking every bit defeated.

Like a fucking answered prayer. Calix exhaled a relieved breath and ran a trembling hand through his hair.

Taking the demon’s hand, Thais led him to the bed beside Ava. “Close your eyes. Relax.”

Ferno took one look around the room, his jaw set to a hard line. He didn’t have to say a word. The conflict burning in his eyes told every brother in the room that if it didn’t work, he didn’t plan to come back. He’d very well set himself aflame.

Turning back toward the woman, he took deep breaths and closed his eyes as Thais had commanded.

In the next inhale, she set her hand against his chest, pulling away a flickering red and blue flame. It danced across her palm, as if reveling in its freedom, and the very sight of it had every muscle in Calix’s body stiff as a plank. That flame, as small as it was, could take out half the damn city, and the female planned to channel it through Ava’s veins.

A thought that spurred sickness in Calix’s stomach.

“The calmer you remain, the calmer the flame, the easier it is to control. I want you to put yourself somewhere peaceful, Ferno.” Thais’s voice held a soft calm that must’ve struck Ferno like a balm, from the way his breaths slowed and he licked his lips. “Somewhere that pain can’t touch you.”

His brow flickered along with the flame, but quickly eased.

Thais held out her palm, closed her eyes, and spoke a chant that filled the room like a song. Soothing as a lullaby, yet it carried all the determination of an overture.

Calix stole a glance toward Gavin, whose eyes remained fixed on the flame. No doubt, he worried that one faulty move could send that fire throughout the room and wipe everyone, except Ferno, out.

The flame moved like the dragon costumes Calix had seen during a Chinese new year celebration, bouncing and slithering toward Ava.

A tight fist gripped his lungs when the flames disappeared beneath her skin, adding a soft orange glow that shot through her in all directions.

Her body arched on a gasped breath, and she convulsed.

Calix clamped his eyes shut, praying to whatever gods would listen to a bastard son that she’d survive it. That Ferno wouldn’t have to live with the agony of having killed a second brother’s female. That Ava would come back to him.

He opened his eyes again, to find Ferno’s fist clenching and unclenching at his side, and Calix felt the first twinge of fear. Should his brother lose his calm, lose control, and that flame become erratic, it would burn Ava from the inside out and quickly catch to everything else in the room.

“You’re doing great, man.” With a stiff jaw, Calix forced the words and swallowed a harsh gulp, but it seemed to put Ferno at ease.

The demon slipped back into a peaceful state, taking deep breaths, while the chants continued over Ava’s grunts and whimpers.

Calix fell to his knees. The next few minutes would be agonizing. His mind refused to entertain the thoughts that Ava might never wake. That she might never rise up from that bed, cradle his face in her hands and tell him she was his.

“C’mon, Ava. C’mon!” Urgency in Thais’s voice prompted Calix to clasp his hands in prayer.

“Gods. Please.”

“Hang in there, Ferno. Hang in there.” Thais curled her fingers around Ferno’s wrist, and by the slouch of his brother’s body, it was clear he’d grown tired and weak.

Calix pushed up and rushed forward, hooking Ferno’s arm around his shoulders to hold him up. At the opposite side, Logan did the same, and behind him, Gavin stood with his hand clutched to the demon’s shoulder.

His skin was hot to the touch, burning up as if he’d spiked a massive fever. Calix almost couldn’t stand the scorch to his skin, but as he stared down at Ava, he tucked those thoughts away. If she could suffer the flame, then so could he.

“Fuck’s sake, he’s going to implode.” Logan clenched his teeth, muscles trembling.

“Almost there,” Thais assured, weaving her fingers through the air. “A few more seconds.”

“Gods, he’s burning up!” Calix’s knees buckled, threatening to take him and his brother down.

“Okay, it’s done.” Thais gathered the flame into her palm and closed her eyes, holding it to her chest where it disappeared inside of her. When she opened them again, the fire materialized along her arm outstretched to Ferno’s chest, before it retreated within him.

On a groan, his weight slouched in their arms, and both Calix and Logan set their brother on the floor. The red of his skin took a deep shade Calix had only seen when demons took their natural form, his breaths arriving as puffs of steam from his mouth.

“Anna, please start a cool bath. Frigusza herbs for cooling.”

“Right, Master Gavin.” The second she’d shuffled out of the room, Gavin lifted his gaze to Calix.

Without a word, Calix swung around to Ava on the bed. Thais fussed around her arms, checking her pulse. Someone had fetched cool washcloths that she set to Ava’s forehead.

“Is … is she—” Gods, he couldn’t bring himself to ask. Damn the shakes that settled over him and the harsh grip of his chest that left him oxygen-starved.

“Faint. She’s burning up. His fire is powerful. I’ve never seen flames burn so intensely before.” She glanced back toward Ferno, who it took all of Gavin, Logan and Xander to lift from the floor, before they carried him from the room. “We need to move her to cool water until her temperature stabilizes. And you’ll need to watch her until she wakes.”

“She will wake, right?”

“Look, there are no guarantees. Prepare your mind for the possibility that she might not. And ready yourself for how your brother will receive such news.”

“Will he recover?”

“Yes, he should be okay in a few hours. A steady stream of controlled fire takes quite a toll on his body.” Thais threw the sheet back from Ava, revealing a bronze glow to her skin—one he hadn’t seen in a long time. “The pigment will remain. Her skin color won’t return to its original hue.”

“I don’t quite give a fuck.” Calix slid his hands beneath her body and lifted Ava’s limp form from the bed, tucking her close to his chest. Like Ferno, her skin felt hot to the touch, and he yearned to cool her.

Thais followed behind as he carried Ava into the adjacent bathroom, and she jumped ahead to flip on the water in the oversized bathtub.

“You may need to go in with her. That’s … an impressive tub.”

With a nod, Calix set her down into the water and quickly removed his pants, his shirt and his boots, until he stood in nothing but boxers. Tucking his finger into his waistband, he lifted his head without meeting her gaze.

She cleared her throat and turned around, while he removed the boxers and stepped into the water, positioning himself beneath Ava’s body. Water had begun to rise to the level of her legs, and Calix lifted her shirt away, exposing her breasts. Scooping water into his hands, he spilled the cool fluids onto her chest and neck, dispensing it all over her body.

Thais crossed her arms and stared down at them, the chain of her imprisonment still dangling from her neck. If the trick worked and saved Ava’s life, Calix would personally make an appeal to the Sentinels on the female’s behalf.

“Now we sit and wait,” she said with only a half-smile. “I’ll give the two of you some privacy.”

“Thank you. For everything.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”

* * *

Perhaps an hour had passed, Calix had no concept of time, as the water chilled their bodies. The prune of Ava’s fingertips passed beneath his own as he stroked her hands.

Wrapping his arms around her, he stilled and closed his eyes, breathing in her scent.

A twitch jerked beneath him.

His eyelids shot open.

Had she moved?

The answer arrived in a second twitch, with an accompanying arch of her back that pressed into Calix’s chest.

He swallowed back the excitement, careful not to get his hopes up too soon. After all, her twitches could’ve been brought on by the fever, though she hadn’t moved since being set in the water.

A gasped breath brought a smile to his face, though, as Calix watched her come to life.