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CHAPTER3
Cinder twirled the ancient key between her forefinger and her thumb, marveling at it.
“So much trouble for such a little thing,” she murmured, watching it spin. The feeble light in her cramped room was just strong enough to wink off of the golden sheen, but that wasn’t all.
Magic pulsed off of the metal. As a witch, she was used to power, even if hers was a different type. She recognized it, and for the first time since she’d emerged from Hell a few days ago, she relaxed.
Was it because she’d done what she was sent back to the human realm to do? Maybe. When Lucifer opened a portal, then instructed one of his low-ranking demons to shove her through, all Cinder had with her was her familiar, a name she chose for herself, and her instructions.
Crow was perched on the scuffed wooden table in her tiny kitchen. He ruffled his feathers, letting out a soft caw whenever he tilted his head at the key. Her poor familiar didn’t know what to make of it, either.
She had to take it; or, rather, send Crow to follow the blonde human who had the nerve to steal it from Lucifer in the first place. Those were her instructions, after all. Knowing that his enemies were willing to do anything to get his key, he’d handpicked Cinder, offering her the chance to make a second deal with the devil.
She didn’t remember the first. Just the fact that she woke up in Hell four decades ago, her soul in Lucifer’s possession, told her that she’d made one. No denying it when she was a slave to his whims. Lucifer said ‘jump’, if one of his souls didn’t say ‘how high’, they were sent to be tortured. Cinder had been—Lucifer made sure she knew that—and whatever he did to her broke her so badly that she clung to Crow, her new chosen name of Cinder, and the hope that she’d one day find a way out of Hell.
This was her chance.
So she didn’t know how she ended up one of Lucifer’s demonesses. It didn’t matter. With the second deal, she finally found out how she could leave.
Get the key from anyone who dared take it from Lucifer and he wouldn’t demand her return to Hell until she died a second time. It was an opportunity she couldn’t refuse, and even if she had no idea how it all went wrong the first time, Cinder was determined to get it right.
The whole thing was strange. As powerful as Lucifer was, there shouldn’t be any soul who could take something from his possession. The lord of Hell was a trickster deep down; the only things that kept him in line were the contracts he used to collect souls. Eventually, she decided this was all just another game to him. If he lost it, it didn’t matter because he already had a witch waiting to get it back for him. Cinder wouldn’t even put it past Lucifer to toss it if only to enjoy making Cinder work to retrieve it.
She’d done it anyway. Because, at the end of the day, if he was willing to give her some freedom, she wasn’t going to ask any questions. After the key was “stolen”, he pointed out the human who had it, then sent Cinder and Crow after it like a pair of hunting dogs.
It was easy. The human had been with a faction male, but even he wasn’t quick enough to stop Crow from grabbing the key from the blonde thief. Cinder was watching from below the back of the hotel, eyes on the balcony where the woman stood, wrapped up in the arms of the dark-haired, white-winged male, and she shot a warding spell at him to keep him from flying after Crow.
Later, she’d asked herself why she’d used a warding spell instead of fire. Fire was her calling card, after all, and after four decades in Hell, she was eager to do some burning of her own for a change. But she hadn’t. She’d stayed her hand at the last moment, keeping from burning the male’s chest.
Now she had the key. She had no idea what it did, or why Lucifer wanted it so badly, but once she gave it to him, she was going to forget all about this ordeal.
Why not? Cinder forgot everything else anyway.
With a sigh, she placed the key down on the table next to Crow’s feet. After rubbing the top of his head with her forefinger, she was about to cross toward the fridge and grab something to drink when, all of a sudden, she felt the little hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
She froze.
As a witch, she was tuned to danger. It was an ingrained instinct, and one she hadn’t lost during her time in the Pit. In fact, she’d only honed it. She could sense eyes on her from thirty feet away, and picked up on a powerful aura from even further.
Someone was coming. Weird enough when Lucifer had put her in a small cabin on the edge of the desert, but the celestial aura licking at her was almost as strong as the magic pulsing off of the golden key.
Rushing back to the table, she grabbed it, then shoved it in the black bag Lucifer gave her right before he sent her topside. Once inside, the key’s power faded, making it easier for her to conceal. She hid it in one of the empty drawers in the kitchen just as someone knocked politely on her door.
Cinder didn’t remember much of what she used to be like, but being a coward just wasn’t her style. Pausing only to check for the stink of sulfur—the mark of a being from Hell—she moved toward the door when she couldn’t find any.
Whoever was out there was some kind of celestial being. What kind? She had no idea, but she was only proven right when she tugged her door inward and found a man sporting a beautiful set of shimmering black wings.
She gulped, momentarily stunned.
His wings were beautiful, but so was he. His skin was a golden shade, setting off the highlights in his sandy brown hair. A pair of pale blue eyes shone out of his gorgeous face. He was a few inches taller than her, though his dark wings made him seem so much bigger.
He was stunned, too. Staring at her as if he could hardly believe what he was seeing, the male’s wings drooped as his lips parted.
“Phoenix.” His dazed eyes cleared as his chest rose, then fell, a frantic breath. “It’s you. I can’t believe it’s you! And Crow, too.”
Her familiar had settled on her shoulder, eyeing the male closely. If that wasn’t weird enough, the emotion in his words seemed to lash at her.
Crow gave her the strength to keep from slamming the door closed. Instead, she offered the stranger a small smile and said, “Can we help you?”
