“I didn’t ask how,” I said, raising my chin. “I want to know why. So I’ll repeat: What do you want?”

He spread his arms and smiled a smile he probably thought was charming. It turned my stomach. “You’re going to free me from this infernal prison.” He motioned to indicate the Liminal as a whole. “And then you’re going to take me to Irkalla to claim what is mine.”

My mouth fell open. “You can’t be serious. Why would I release you?”

“Because if you don’t,” he said, his lip quirking, “I’ll kill your sister.”

“Not if I kill you first.”

He tilted his head to the side. “I admire your bloodlust, my darling, but we both know if you kill me, your sister will die anyway. Along with the six other beings you love most in this world.”

Images flashed through my head, the faces of those I loved. Who would the victims be? Adam, Giguhl, and Rhea, definitely. And the others? Pussy Willow, Georgia, Mac, Slade, Zenobia? Which of those would also suffer for my revenge? I couldn’t stand the idea of any of them dying.

My fists clenched. Dammit! I wanted to raise my face and howl at the God of the mortals who promised vengeance sevenfold to anyone who killed Cain. How could a just God protect this beast? This murderer? “I won’t break the spell!”

“You have no choice. Because after I kill your sister, I’ll pay a visit to your mage’s dreams and finish what your sister started on my behalf. I’ll make him slit his own throat at your feet.” He took a step toward me.

“Don’t you fucking take another step!”

“Do you really want their blood on your hands?” Another step. “Again?”

I backed up, my legs bumping into Maisie’s kneeling form. My heart felt like lead in my chest. “What makes you think I can access Irkalla?” I said, changing the subject to distract him from the idea of killing the people I loved most in the world. “Or that if I can get you there, that Lilith will go with you?”

“Because she has been waiting for centuries for me to free her from that bastard demon king.”

“You’re insane. She chose Asmodeus.”

“She chose me!” His roar shook the stalactites. When the rumbling subsided, he smiled again. “Just as you must choose.”

Panic rose in me like a flash flood. I had no idea how to talk him out of forcing me to make such an impossible choice. But just then, a flash of gray zoomed through my peripheral vision. Giguhl launched himself at Cain’s face. The cat sunk his claws into his lips, his throat. With his teeth, he bit at the madman’s eyes. Cain screamed like a little girl. He thrashed around wildly, trying to rip the cat off his head.

Magic rose in the cavern, making my ears pop. Cain morphed from his human form back into that of the stag. With a mighty whip of his head, the beast threw the demon from its muzzle. Giguhl slammed into a hard, rocky wall with a whimper. His little body slid limply down to the black sands, where it lay still. Too still.

“No!” I screamed. I launched myself at the beast. Willing a sword into my hand, I swung it at the stag’s antlers. I couldn’t kill Cain, but I sure as hell could make him bleed. The steel slashed just below the beast’s right antler, lopping it clean off the scalp.

I spun, bringing the blade around for another punishing slice. This time the tip scored the beast’s chest. Bright red blood stained the pristine white fur. I backed away, trying to make my way to Maisie. My only real choice now was escape. I needed to get Maisie and Giguhl the hell out of the Liminal before the beast could carry out his fucked-up plans.

Behind me, Cain howled. The same howl I’d heard during my first visit to the Liminal. The hairs on my arms rose. I heard him coming, his hoofs pounding the sand. I swung around, raising the sword. The steel reached its apex over my head at the same instant the stag slammed into me.

White lightning exploded in my chest. The air whooshed from my lungs. The left antler’s three sharp points were impaled in the skin just over my left breast. Blood spray coated my torso and dripped from each of the wounds. But my broken ribs and torn muscles were nothing compared to the agony of knowing I’d just doomed us all.

Time slowed. The sword fell to the sand. My knees buckled. I clawed at the antler but I was too weak from pain and fear. Finally, the stag reversed direction, pulling the sharp points slowly from my flesh. I screamed. The pain was so intense my vision blackened. Gravity betrayed me and I fell face-first into the sands.

Magic snaked through the cavern once again as Cain changed forms. Bare male feet passed my face. As if from far away, I heard him talking to Maisie. I tried to yell, to warn her to run, but a violent cough racked my chest. I tasted blood on my tongue. My blood.

The male feet reappeared beside me. Two smaller feet beside it. I couldn’t make out Cain’s next words over the roaring in my ears. But in the next instant, Maisie knelt next to my face. She tilted her head to look me in the eyes. “Don’t worry, sister,” she whispered. A gentle hand wiped my brow. “It’s almost over.”

Then she lifted her wrist to her mouth and bit down hard with her fangs. The world tilted and I was suddenly looking up at her. The haze of pain and confusion blurred my vision. A shadow leaned over me. My nose filled with my sister’s familiar sandalwood and copper penny scent. I blinked to clear my eyes.

“Repeat after me, little one.” Cain’s voice came from far away, echoey and menacing. “Ati me peta Babka.”

I’d heard these words before. In the cemetery in New Orleans when the Caste members tried to summon Cain. It had to be the reversal spell to break Abel’s magic and free the monster from his coma.

“No!” I yelled. “Maisie, don’t!”

But my sister’s eyes had glazed over. Cain controlled her now. And he was using her voice and our blood to free himself. She repeated the words in a mechanical voice.

“The blood,” Cain commanded. “Now!”

Maisie raised her wrist over my chest. When the first drop of her blood landed in my wound, fire spread through my veins. My back arched up and a scream escaped my lungs.

Cain inhaled deeply, his chest expanding as if inhaling power deep into his center. “Good. Good!” He stepped closer to Maisie, urging her on. “Wussuru Mahan ana harrani sa alaktasa la Tarat!”

I strained to rise, to stop them. But I was too weak. My chest itched and throbbed hotly. “Maisie,” I pleaded. “Honey, don’t. Don’t say it!”

Maisie paused, her mouth open to repeat the words that would free Cain. Her eyes flashed clear for an instant. “Sabina?” She sounded scared and confused. She began to pull her wrist away.

“Run, Maze!”

But Cain came up behind my sister. He placed one hand on her shoulder. The other grabbed her bloody wrist and forced it over my chest.

Another searing infusion. I hissed against the pain as her blood mixed with mine. Cold sweat bloomed on my upper lip. My jaw cramped from lack of oxygen. I panted shallowly, struggling to fight off the panic attack.

Cain leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Almost done, my sweet. Focus.”

Maisie struggled against him, her head shaking from side to side in frantic movements.

“Wussuru Mahan ana harrani sa alaktasa la Tarat!” A knife appeared in Cain’s hand. The blade glinted evilly against the vulnerable skin at her throat. “Say it!”

She stiffened back into her robotic posture and her eyes glazed over again.

“No!” I cried. Hot tears burned my throat. Another drop of my sister’s blood hit my wound like acid. Cain’s form flickered and flashed. His full lips spread into a victorious smile.

“Wussuru Mahan ana harrani sa alaktasa la Tarat.”

It happened fast. The instant Maisie stopped speaking, Cain dragged the blade across Maisie’s throat.

“No!” I screamed, my voice hoarse with fear and shock.

My sister’s eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips. Blood gushed from the angry wound. A gurgle escaped her mouth and more blood poured from her throat.

His form wavered again, going transparent. But Cain wasn’t content to exit the scene without one final fuck-you.

“See you soon, Sabina Kane.”

The air popped, signaling Cain’s escape from the Liminal.

Fear shocked me into action despite the pain. Riding a surge of adrenaline, I lunged for my sister just as she started to slump over.

“Nonononono!” I ripped my shirt off my chest and pressed it against her throat. Wrapping my free arm around her, I forced my sister to look up at me. The whites of her eyes were impossibly large. Her lids flickered, like wings. “Honey, stay with me. Maisie?”

So much blood. Rivers of it. On some level, my mind demanded to know why her body wasn’t healing the wound. I looked down at my own chest wound, which was already closing. Was it possible the spectral blood Maisie dripped into the wound was some kind of healing spell? And more important, could I do the same for her even though she was only in the Liminal in her spectral form?

I shook her roughly. “Maisie, you have to fight! It’s just a dream!” I lifted my wrist to my mouth and slammed my fangs into the thin skin. Blood oozed thickly from the wound. Held it to Maisie’s mouth. “Drink, Maisie.”

Her mouth worked but no sound came out except a wet gurgle. She shook her head, turned her face away from the healing I offered. “Dammit, Maisie! You have to drink!”

I realized then that my blood and my magic couldn’t save her. If she was going to survive, she had to consciously will herself to heal. She had to choose to live.

But her eyes told me the story. She’d already surrendered.

“No!” I screamed at her. I shook her harder, slapped her face. Forced her lips to part so my blood could find its way down her throat. But it oozed down her lips, her chin, her throat to mix uselessly with her own. “Don’t you fucking give up!”

But her lips were already turning blue. Her muscles didn’t strain. She blinked once, twice. I squeezed the material tighter around her neck, trying in vain to stanch the tidal wave of blood.