I nodded. I knew all about sickness, considering what we’d been through with my dad. Having cancer and being poor didn’t add up in your favor.

She ran a shaky hand through her hair. “She wouldn’t miss writing me, unless maybe she’s been tied up in the hospital with him.”

“He’ll be okay. You can’t go to worst-case scenario yet. Let’s see what tomorrow brings,” I tried to give sage advice. Maybe the asshole would actually call her wife and deliver good news.

She nodded curtly, seemingly composing herself. “Not a word of this to anyone.”

I bowed my head. “Of course not.”

She looked at me overly sternly then. “Is it true that you nearly killed a Grimlock demon to release your best friend from a demon contract?”

The memory brought a slight smile to my face. Lincoln nearly killed me for doing it, but I could look back now and laugh at how insane that was. “He submitted, or I would have.”

She smirked. “I’d have liked to see that. Come on. You’re training with the others today. Can’t be late.”

As we made our way back toward the main living quarters, I felt that I’d finally turned a new leaf with Raksha. Maybe, just maybe, if I could get her to trust me, she would help me get out of here.

‘Now we’re talking,’ Sera agreed.

Until then, I needed to lie low, do what I was told…

And stay alive.

Chapter Six

We stood outside two large double doors. Inside, I could hear grunting noises and the sound of punches landing. The way skin sounded smacking against skin could never be mistaken for anything else.

Raksha looked into my eyes. “I can’t protect you in there. The Dark Prince wants only the strongest in his inner circle, and if you don’t make the cut, he’ll dispose of you, or find a way to motivate you to do better.

I gulped. His motivation meant Shea or Lincoln would come to harm.

“If you prove yourself to be as powerful as he says you are, then it’ll keep him happy,” she continued. “When he’s happy, he’s not thinking about motivating you. Understood?”

I hadn’t really thought that if I wasn’t badass enough, it would make him mad, or make me seem useless. Now I felt like I was going into the job interview of my life, and my family’s safety hung in the balance.

“Understood.”

I squared my shoulders, trying to prepare myself to go into training with demons. Full blown, freaking demons. It was clear now that Raksha was just another prisoner. The smartest one, who kept him happy, close, and her family safe. Now she was trying to help me, and I took her advice seriously.

Stepping closer, she lowered her voice. “Remember two things. One, what you do here is a reflection of me.”

I nodded. We may have turned a corner, but if I disappointed her, she’d beat me into submission, I had no doubt. Her family’s protection was also my responsibility now.

“And two, first impressions are everything.”

“Okay.” I smoothed my shirt and hair, to look as presentable as possible.

Her hands landed on each of my shoulders, while she shook her head. “That’s not the impression I’m talking about. I want you to pull your wings out, pick out the biggest demon in the room, and kill him.”

My jaw dropped. “What!”

She rolled her eyes. “This is like the first day of prison. Go in there, and prove to them that you aren’t a little bitch.” Then she spun and threw the doors open, disappearing inside.

What the hell!

‘I think I like her,’ Sera commented.

‘She’s psycho.’

‘She’s trying to keep you alive. Shea and Lincoln too.’

Sighing, I pulled my wings out, relishing the feel of them emerging after so long, and followed Raksha into the room.

This was going to be interesting.

The moment I passed through the door, the smell of sulfur and acidic blood hit me. I scanned the area and my stomach dropped when I saw Lucifer sitting in the bleachers that stood off to the side of the fighting area.

Does he come here every day or just because I’m here?

A Brimstone demon was glaring at me from across the room. He stood next to an Abrus demon of all things. When I met his gaze, his tongue snaked out, and he licked the air in a sexual way, then winked at me.

“Come here, Barbie. I’ll give you the ride of your life.”

My eyes snapped to Raksha, who sat next to the Dark Prince. She gave a small curt nod.

Was that a ‘kill the Brimstone demon’ nod, or a ‘hey, nice to see you’ nod?

A few of the demon gifted were off to the sides, chatting, or going through weapons, not bothering to look at me.

The Abrus demon laughed at what the Brimstone had said, and then they started to goof off with each other, making crude sexual gestures my way.

First day of prison.

Walking past a weapons cabinet, I grabbed a small dagger that reminded me of Sera in both weight and length. Then I grabbed a larger sword, much like Lincoln’s, and moved into a fighting stance.

No one was paying attention to me, and the two demons were too busy laughing at each other, so I raised the hand with the dagger and closed one eye. Taking aim at the Brimstone’s face, I threw it.

As it sailed through the air, the demon-gifted humans off to my left took in a collective sharp breath. The dagger sank into the Brimstone’s collarbone with a thunk, his face a mask of shock.

The Prince of Darkness erupted into laughter and applause on the bleachers, and that’s when shit hit the fan.

Brimstone’s head snapped up to look at me, and then he roared. Black smoke spewed from his horns, falling in tendrils to the floor. Shoving the Abrus demon beside him out of the way, he started to run right for me at full speed.

All normal laws of nature dictated that I should’ve been scared right then, but I wasn’t. Something deep and dark snapped within me.

Rage.

I’d been taken from my home, ripped away from my family who were made to think I was dead, and now I had to fight these assholes just to prove I was worthy to the Devil?

Screw him. Screw this whole place.

I gripped the large sword tightly, and burst from the ground, pumping my black wings. The Brimstone demon was right below me. As I flew over him, he pulled the dagger from his shoulder and tossed it upward, trying to hit me with it. I dodged it successfully, curling my wings around my body to spin in mid-air.

Once I’d flown past him, I quickly dropped to the ground just behind him and spun, slashing out with my sword, cutting into his back like a maniac.

“Bitch!” he roared, pivoting on his feet, and swinging his right fist toward my abdomen.

I tried to back out of the way in time but was too late; all I could do was flex my muscles and brace for impact. His fist connected with my stomach and knocked the wind out of me. The rest of the group went wild with applause.

Assholes.

Gasping for breath, I brought my sword up and sliced off one of his horns. As it fell to the ground, I faltered. This was just a training practice, and I’d cut off his freaking horn. Granted, he was a demon who’d just socked me in the stomach, but…

“Kill him!” Lucifer roared.

Well that explained that. Training in Hell ended in death.

Awesome.

While I was having my moral dilemma, the Brimstone demon took in a deep breath, and then spewed fire from his mouth in my direction. I saw it coming, since that’s what Brimstones were known for, so I was able to bring my arms up to cover my face and hair, but the hot flames splashed onto the backs of my forearms and elbows, singeing the skin there. With a yelp, I jumped and dropped my sword, pain sizzling along my arms as I staggered backward.

The Brimstone demon grinned, stooping low to pick up my sword, and then advanced on me.

“Show him what you’re capable of!” Lucifer screamed like an enraged father, watching his kid lose a soccer game.

I wanted to flip him my charred middle finger, but I was in too much pain to move. Instead, I flapped my wings and shot up into the air once more. The ceilings were pretty high in this room, twenty feet at least, so I decided to get some air and think. My skin was burning so badly that I found myself wondering if it would scar. Hopefully my angelic healing would kick in soon.

Thoughts of healing led me to think about Raphael and how much I missed him. He was like a father to me, not this crazy asshole leering at me down below with matching wings.

Raphael’s words came to me then, the ones he’d spoken in his office about me needing to stop feeding my dark magic.

Yes, I was angry. Livid really. But more than that, more than anything in this world, I was in love. With Lincoln. That love was like the brightest light I’d ever known, and it was inside of me, right now. Even as painful as it was to be apart from each other, it didn’t diminish what I felt for him. It was this ever-present force inside of me.

‘Yes. Now you see. You have no idea what the light magic is capable of, Brielle. More than all dark magic in this world,’ Sera encouraged.

In that moment, everything became clear to me. I had a choice. I was in control of my reactions and thoughts, and I could choose not to go down this dark path.

It was as if the future laid itself out before me in that moment. If I kept letting Lucifer and his demons enrage me, I used my black magic powers, and fed the darkness inside of me, I would lose myself. I would lose that one thing that was most important to me.

Love.

Love for Shea, my mom, my brother.

For Lincoln.

The feeling of being in love was like nothing I’d ever experienced in my life. Like my mother always said, it could make or break a person, and I think it did both to me, though it was broken only because we were apart. I wouldn’t allow the darkness to snuff out the one light force that was left inside of me.

With a smirk, I dropped to the ground, no longer aware of the pain along my arms.

Lucifer wanted an archdemon, an evil daughter, a prodigy. I wasn’t going to give him that.

I felt the light inside of me rip through the darkness then, like a zipper tearing open. Thrusting my hands out to the Brimstone demon, I screamed at the top of my lungs. A bright white light shot from my palms as he roared, more fire spewing from his mouth. With a loud crash, the fire and white light slammed into each other, and my light threw the demon on his ass, simultaneously extinguishing the fire.

I pushed then, just a little bit, letting the Celestial power flow from me. It wound around the demon like a cocoon, and he writhed in agony, shrieking as if I’d covered him in fire.

Walking over, I picked up the sword I’d been using before, then stood over the screaming demon, holding the sword to his chest.

“I would say to go to Hell, but you’re already here.” Gripping the hilt tightly, I slammed the sword into his chest, and he stopped moving. The white light dissipated, breaking apart into a fine mist.

Turning to meet the eyes of the crowd, there was only one pair I searched for.