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“Come on, Ray. Let’s let him sweat for a bit and see if we can find Micah and Elias. Maybe it will help you to see your soulmate.” I kiss her on her forehead, hoping that she will come out of the darkness twining around her and acknowledge me.
“Elias is here? I don’t understand.” Cassius flares his nostrils, unable to remain silent at hearing my words. “Hell? He was not Hell-bound. He should have entered Heaven.”
“He wouldn’t leave me,” Raven whispers, answering Cassius. She digs her fingers into my sides and continues to just breathe in my scent.
“He wouldn’t have had a choice.” Cassius attempts to break through the fire cage, sending flames shooting toward my palace ceiling. He growls and swipes his sword, trying to snap it open.
It’s so fucking satisfying seeing him trapped after he just said that he was standing in the cage to prove that he wasn’t here to fight. Like I said to Raven, he is a lying bastard.
Raven finally eases her head away from my bare chest. “He was mortal. He—”
I press my fingers to her mouth, cutting off her words. Tilting my head, I brush my lips to hers, ensuring that she doesn’t say another word. She’s already said too much. Fuck. Actually, it was me. I didn’t really think much about it. I thought that Cassius was smart enough to figure it out by now. But I guess only one of us can have the brains and brawn.
“He’s not on our side. Let’s not give him something to use against us.” I lace my fingers through hers and tug her until she shuffles by my side, quietly following me away from Cassius. “I just want you to take a breath and remember the fun fucking time we had together. I will handle this. I will also summon Kase and Dante so they can come to you. I know how much you appreciate their ability to help you through spiritual turmoil. I’m not good at that kind of thing.”
“Obviously,” Cassius says, his sharp voice stabbing me enough to get me to spin around and snarl at him in my devil form. “There’s a reason why you’ve been isolated for so long.”
I know I shouldn’t react. I should ignore him and take Raven out of here. My wrath gets the best of me, and I charge at Cassius, ramming my clawed hands into his chest, knocking him twenty feet away until he crashes into the wall. I jab my fist at his face, punching him in his jaw. He doesn’t fight back and goes limp, crumpling to the floor as if my one swing incapacitated him.
“Lucian, please stop.” Raven’s whispery voice cools my boiling blood, smothering out the fire raging inside me. “Beating him up will accomplish nothing. I know you have the need to punish him, but why don’t you prove to him that he’s wrong instead. You have helped me on a spiritual level. You were the first devil to glimpse my soul. Cassius only says the bullshit that he does because it’s the only way to make himself feel better. Your roles have reversed, and while he’s losing everyone he has cared about, you’re gaining what you’ve always wanted. His pride can’t stand it.”
Damn it. I had no idea that I could want to fuck her brains out more than I do in this moment, especially feeling the seething rage and annoyance flitting through Cassius. Raven struck a nerve, and if he could shoot fire, he would.
“Enough!” Cassius flaps his wings, launching past me and toward Raven. “I’ve had enough!”
Summoning my fire chain, I whip it toward Cassius, missing his wings by a foot as he flies at Raven. She raises her hands protectively, and I charge forward, hollering. I don’t know what bullshit he plans, but he can’t take Raven from Hell. I’m afraid he will hurt her in the process, his pride too much to allow him to see clearly, especially in the one place that thrives with the sin that will be his downfall. He’s so close to planting his ass on a throne that I consider letting him try to capture Raven. If she didn’t scream my name, I would.
The last thing I want to do is jeopardize the relationship she’s finally accepted. She doesn’t allow anyone to push her around, and if she decides I’m on her shit list, I’ll have eternal blue balls.
Closing my eyes, I gather a wave of hellfire and release it at Cassius. It swells over him, burning the feathers on his wings and throwing him off course. He yowls in pain, but instead of slowing down, he propels off the ground and opens his arms wide. Pitch black shadows explode from Raven’s hands, creating a wall of darkness. Cassius disappears into it, the shock of Raven creating another plane right in the middle of my palace utterly mesmerizing and shocking.
As quickly as Cassius disappears, so does Raven, and I rush toward the spot that swallowed them and stole them from existence. This should’ve been fucking impossible. Raven wears the ring with a tether to Hell, not unlike the power source that Micah currently holds within him.
“Lucian!” Raven’s scream rips through the air, and I spin on the balls of my feet, trying to glimpse even a flash of her soul.
The ground beneath me trembles and shakes, and I head toward the archway that leads to the rest of my kingdom. I can still hear and feel Raven despite not being able to see her. If I can just get within reach of her soul, I can reel her back to me.
“Get away from me!” The fear in Raven’s voice tightens my chest.
Her screams strike me in my very being, flooding me with rage and fury. How could I have let this happen? I should’ve been faster. I should’ve tried harder to stop Cassius. Now, I’m afraid I have failed her. Raven deserves a man who can protect her, not some asshole like me.
“Raven!” I yell, stomping my hooved feet, shaking the ground. “Raven, look for my darkness. Grab onto me. Use your ring to find me. It is tethered to my power and kingdom.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, gathering more of my Hell power in my hands. To her, it’ll look like black shadows that entangle my being, keeping me bound to my kingdom. If she’s in another plane, she should be able to at least get near enough for me to peer through all the planes.
“Lucifer, control your souls. They have followed us into a weird spiritual plane that seems to be intended for darkness. They are the worst of the worst. Irredeemable.” Cassius’s voice hums in my ears. “Call them back to you. Your anchor has backfired. They are surrounding her as if she is you.”
Fuck. I can’t believe that this has happened. If those souls get to Raven, they will destroy her light completely. I know it. She might be tough, but she is not invincible. She has her breaking point.
Rushing toward the fiery pits surrounding my palace, I stop at the edge of the lake full of souls trapped in agony and raise my hands out. “My souls, return to me. Bow to me and beg me for mercy, for I am your keeper.”
Fire swells from my hands and crashes into the lava lake. Energy hums around me, and I can feel the souls beginning to gather to swarm in my direction. I continue to shoot my power at the lake, screaming at the top of my lungs for the souls to obey me. I demand their attention and turn myself into a vortex of pure power to suck them back.
“Lucian! Lucian, it’s working! Thank fucking Hell!” Raven’s voice booms in my ears, her new confidence giving me the strength to continue on even though I want to drop to my knees from the force of having to bring back the souls from my kingdom. “Lucian! Look for my light. I don’t know how to get back to you. Please.”
Shadows surround me and I spin slowly, narrowing my eyes to search the abyss of my kingdom. It takes me a moment, but I finally manage to spot a breath of light within the masses of damned souls. Focusing on Raven, I summon my fire whip and lash out. It cracks in the air and breaks through the shadows, whipping around her pure light. I yank it back and spot her flying through the air toward me.
Opening my arms, I brace myself to catch her. Her whole being crashes into me, flooding me with the purest light I have ever felt, even more so than when I have previously touched her soul. This is new. This doesn’t belong to her but is still a part of her. And for the first time in what feels like all my eternity, I feel as if I touch Heaven. But Heaven isn’t the same. This paradise that I carry in my very being at the moment is Raven. It’s my perfect woman and soul.
