She was an angel, doing business in Hell, and she would be the first angel to fall by the hands of Hell’s three most powerful commanders—Dani Asmodeus, Biast Sathanus, and me.
Eros gazed at me, brown eyes so big and sorrowful.He was a goner.He always had been.He had volunteered to come to Hell with me because he loved me.It was never true lust.He had learned that down here.
His wings had still been attached, but his parents ripped them off when he got here.And those wings had been the most sacred things to him.
I shook my head.No matter how much lust controlled him, he was always good.He’d had to ask for Dani’s permission to possess her; he hadn’t just taken it like the rest of Hell would have, if given the chance.
And Raphaela—the one woman I had trusted the most—had used me to get to this point.Pretending to be the third angel to fall from Heaven.I had known she would nevereverfall.She was too good for her own goddamn sake, too good for even me.
“You kill Raphaela, and I kill your beloved Eros,” Tonia said.
Eros didn’t move a muscle, and for once, he looked like he was in a deep state of fear.He had probably tried to get out of this, but with the Crucifix pressed against his neck so closely, he would die.
Dani went to lunge at her, but Biast caught her waist and held her back.She shook her head from side to side, tears filling her eyes.
“Let him go!”she yelled, but Tonia stood her ground and refused to move.Dani flailed around some more.“Let him go!Please!”
Eros stared at her like she was the only thing that ever mattered and shook his head, mouthing at her to calm down.Her freaking out would only hurt us all worse because Tonia was serious.She would cut Eros’s throat without a second thought.Eros was a demon in her eyes, and all demons deserved death.
Biast held her tighter as she continued to wriggle in his grip.I took a deep breath, trying to show Tonia that this didn’t affect me in the slightest, but it did.It hurt so fucking bad to see Eros with the cross by his neck—ready to die at any moment.
“Let him go, Tonia,” I said, refusing to show her my fear.
“Let Raphaela go first.”
Fifty-Two
I didn’t wantto do it.I wanted to keep Raphaela tied up until she released Eros.But Tonia had the power, and everyone here knew it.She could kill an entire army with that thing if she knew how to wield it correctly.
“Lucifer,” Dani said, her voice so shaky.“Lucifer, you have to.”
Eros stared up at the maroon sky, the Crucifix pressed tightly against his neck.I could already smell the scent of burning flesh.It made me shiver outwardly and lose all sense of thought.All I could think about was Eros dying.
He deserved everything in this entire world.He had saved me all those years ago.He had told me that he wanted to be with me again, and I wanted to be with him and Dani too.I didn’t want him to die.I couldn’t have him die.
I swallowed hard and tried to think clearly about this, but I couldn’t.
And so I walked to Raphaela and took her off the chains.Everyone stayed silent as I held her by the back of the neck, holding her upright.
I stared at Tonia and Eros.“Let him go, and I’ll give you her.”
“Give her to me now,” Tonia said through clenched teeth.
I knew what she was doing.I knew she wanted me to hand over Raphaela, and then she’d refuse to hand over Eros.I knew this was all hopeless.One way or another, someone was dying or leaving Hell today.
“Let him go,” I tried to say strongly.
But it came out weak and full of fear.
Tonia pressed the cross to the side of Eros’s neck, and I heard the burn.Eros cried out, his voice sounding strangled.I listened to the sizzling.I smelled the burning.
I shook my head and threw Raphaela to the ground.“Take her, just stop.”
I was desperate.Desperate for Eros to live.Desperate to start to feel for someone again.Desperate to keep the only man I loved for eternity alive.
Raphaela tumbled to the ground, then stumbled to her feet, hurrying toward Tonia.“Open the portal to Heaven,” she said.“Hurry!”
Before I could even comprehend what was going on, Tonia waved the damn cross in the air, and a portal opened to Heaven.A huge hole formed in the ground, where large white marble stairs ascended from … leading up and up and up and up.
