If he hadn’t had vanished and reappeared before her very eyes, she would not have believed it. Even with a satanic symbol around his neck, she wouldn’t have believed it. But that satanic symbol had allowed him to travel somewhere and back. Only a demon could do such a thing.

She had a demon in her kitchen.

A real one.

The only other time she had felt such fear was when she watched the demons attack her sister. She had been sent a mystery power to fight back then, but it wasn’t coming now. There was no time to pray for it. There was a demon in her home and she needed to defeat him immediately.

Annabelle reached deep within her, anger now flooding through to mix with the fear. She had trusted a demon with Joey. She had given up her body to him. She had believed every lie. The power she remembered came to her all on her own. She didn’t need God’s help this time. Like throwing a ball, she launched an invisible blast at Jack, sending him across the room and into the wall.

He slid to the floor and tried to get up, but Annabelle rushed over and threw another blast down at him. He cried out and clutched his chest where he’d been hit. “Annie, please!”

“Shut up!” she screamed. “You monster. You took advantage of me. You tricked me. I had sex with you, you sick monster!” Fury overflowed and she hit him with blasts over and over. He curled up and tried to protect himself. He wasn’t fighting back. Why wasn’t a demon fighting back? She ignored his pleading for her to stop, to listen. It was only when the electricity went out with a loud blast, sparks coming out of every outlet and appliance and shattering every lightbulb in the entire apartment, that she stopped and turned around.

Joey stood in the hall glaring at her. “Stop hurting him!”

“He’s a demon, Joey!”

“So am I!”

Then a realization came to her. The reason why Jack and Joey had been so drawn to each other, why Jack and his friends weren’t scared of the boy’s powers, why they had insisted on having him at their house every day. She looked back at the demon huddled on the floor and used a blast to roll him onto his back, then put a foot on his chest. He cried out in pain. She had broken his ribs.

“Why are you here?” she demanded. “Did you come to take Joey?”

When he didn’t answer, she pushed harder on his chest. He tried to wriggle free and she hit him in the stomach, ignoring Joey’s demands for her to stop.

“Answer me or I hit you again. Did you come to take Joey?”

“Yes, but—”

She stepped harder on his chest and watched him cry out again. “Tell me your plans. All of them. What were you going to do to him?”

“Okay, okay! Just stop hurting me, please.”

A demon begging for mercy. Begging her. It brought an inner strength she never imagined. She removed her foot but still stood over him. “Talk.”

“We were supposed to take Joey to Hell with us. Lure him and capture him. But I didn’t want to. I changed the plan. Convinced Lucifer to let him help us find the demon he came from. The one that attacked your sister. I wasn’t going to hurt him. Or you. I swear.”

Annabelle stared at him, taking in his words. He had lied about everything before; she was not about to believe him now. “Lucifer,” she said. “You mean Satan?”

“He prefers Lucifer, but technically yes.”

“Technically. You work directly for Satan. Everything…everything about you was a lie.” Tears began to fall but she held her strength. “I gave my heart to you. I loved you. I thought you loved me. But it was all a trick. You have mind control powers, don’t you.”

“No. I did—I mean, I do love you—”

“Liar! I will believe nothing you say.” They stared at each other for a moment; the connection they’d had was shattered, gone the moment she knew it was a demonic power over her. She felt it trying to reconnect. He was trying to take her over again. Instead, she threw a blast at his head to stop him. “As much as I want to destroy you, I refuse to kill. You will get out of my home, you will never come near me or Joey ever again, you will go back to Hell where you belong.” She stepped back to let him up. “Go!”

Jack struggled to get up, holding an arm over his chest. Without a word and without looking at anyone, Jack stumbled out of the apartment, Annabelle slamming the door behind him.

She leaned back against the door feeling all the strength and anger drain from her. Tears flowed freely. All that was left was heartbreak.

There was movement at the entrance to the kitchen and she looked up to see Joey standing there, arms at his sides, tears streaking his cheeks.

“You knew,” Annabelle said.

Joey nodded.

“That’s the real reason you didn’t want us together. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s complicated. But he really did love you. He lied about a lot of things, but not that.”

Annabelle shook her head vigorously. Love and demons did not belong in the same sentence. “You heard what he said. They were going to take you. They lured you. They wanted to hurt you.”

“But they didn’t.”

“Yet.”

“No. They’re trying to find Buriel. My dad. The monster that made me. That hurt my mom. They want to stop him.”

Buriel. Annabelle remembered her sister sobbing as she said that word many times after her attack. It never occurred to her that it was a name. She stood up straight and walked past him toward her room. “I can’t think about this right now. I can’t believe…I can’t.”

With the door closed she collapsed on her bed and sobbed into her pillow. Everything was making sense now, everything about the demon named Jack. The fact he was always so warm, that his beard and hair never changed, that he believed in God but insisted he was Hell bound and accepted it, that strange but admittedly amazing feeling of him touching her soul. For her whole life she had been taught about demons and their goal of tempting people away from God. Yet she had fallen prey to one so easily. Fallen in love, dreamt of spending the rest of her life with him. All of her dreams were crushed by three words: I’m a demon.

She prayed hard, once again begging for forgiveness. Pleading for it with all her heart. Promising to give Simon a chance, admitting her parents were right. Suddenly she felt extremely sleepy even though it was early evening. Perhaps using all that power had caught up to her, or the crushing of her dreams had drained her too much. She decided a nap would be good for calming down. She was asleep in seconds.

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* * *

Jack sat in an alleyway not far from Annabelle’s apartment. He was curled up against a dumpster, shivering since his coat had been left behind. His body throbbed; every invisible blast she’d hit him with had felt like a massive cinderblock had been shot from a cannon at him. Lesson learned: do not piss off angels.

He knew he was supposed to be going back to brief his companions about Buriel’s supposed attack and report back to Lucifer, but he did not want to face them. They would question his injuries and there would be no point in lying about it. He would need to be healed by Osé and there was no option to lie about why. It was over. They pain he felt now was nothing compared to what awaited him.

He wished he could run away, to take his pendant off and throw it in the dumpster and run. He had always been told that taking the pendant off was forbidden, that it was actually impossible while on Earth. Curious, he tried to lift the chain over his head, but a sudden painful shock like a fist grabbing something in his chest and squeezing stopped him. It really was attached to him somehow. There was no escape.

Then the pendant pulsed and glowed again. Lucifer would likely demand to know why he hadn’t returned. Before he could come up with the best way to tell him, he was dragged through the vacuum and collapsed on the seal. Dorian, Miles, and Cameron stood around him, shocked that they were there, but even more so that Jack was lying on his back, groaning in pain.

“Jack!” Miles knelt beside him. “What happened?”

Jack said nothing. However much Miles cared about him, it would all be gone soon.

“Did you get mugged or something?” Cameron asked.

That would be one excuse to go with. But Lucifer would see through it, especially if he was analyzed. “Annabelle did it. She beat the shit out of me.”

Dorian scrutinized him from above. “Lucifer called you while you were with her. That’s what happened, isn’t it.”

Jack closed his eyes and nodded.

“She saw it?”

He nodded again.

Gripping his hair, Dorian said, “And what did you tell her?”

“Everything.” The word was barely a whisper.

“Fuck!” Dorian screamed. “You idiot! You fucking—how could you? You ruined everything.”

Miles sighed and looked away, while Cameron stumbled backward into the wall, shaking and covering his face. He had obviously drunk many more glasses of wine, but it clearly was not helping his anxiety.

“I’m sorry,” Jack croaked.

“Sorry?” Dorian’s yell echoed off the stone walls of the transportation chamber. “You just ruined this entire mission, all because you couldn’t control yourself. Now we will all be punished. All because of you.”

The swirling portal that led to the hallway to Hell vanished, Lucifer standing in its place. “What in the fuck is going on?” he boomed. Looking down at Jack, he furrowed his brow. “What happened to you?” Then he caught a glimpse of Cameron swaying against the wall. “And you?”

Dorian stood up straight and pointed down at Jack. “He told the angel everything. Ruined everything. He was obsessed with her, fornicated with her, and gave us all away. And these two—” he pointed at Miles and Cameron—”did nothing. They supported him. I’m the only one who stayed loyal.”

“Dorian, you bastard…” Jack looked up at the demon who had just thrown them all to the violent hands of the Dark Lord. Miles stood and clenched his fists, ready to pounce, while Cameron stared in sadness.

But Lucifer only looked at Jack, stepping closer, seemingly speechless with his mouth agape. His face became curious. “You fornicated with the angel?”

Jack swallowed, then nodded.

“And she survived?”

“Yes.”

Lucifer shook the curiosity from his head, anger roaring back. “You told her what you are? Just…said it?”

“I’m sorry.”

Swiftly Lucifer reached down and pulled Jack to his feet by his shirt. Jack cried out from the pain of his broken ribs and stumbled, but Lucifer held him upright. “She attacked you. Malphas detected it. And you dared to attack her back? Is she injured?”

“I didn’t attack her. I didn’t fight back at all.”

“Then explain the demonic energy Malphas detected.”

“Joey did it. The cambion. He tried to stop her.”

Curiosity came to Lucifer’s face once more, but only for a moment. He released Jack but grabbed him by the back of the neck. Jack felt as if a steel grip had tightened around his entire neck, unable to move it at all. Then the portal came back and Lucifer led everyone through it.

“No clothes for any of you,” he shouted, snapping his fingers. Jack heard the gasps of his companions, unable to turn his head to look at them, but he felt the air rushing freely between his legs, knowing he was now as low as the lowest disobedient servant.

The walk to Lucifer’s castle seemed like ages, Jack’s neck aching terribly by the time they arrived at the throne room and he was thrown to the floor. The other three naked men knelt beside him, Miles to his left, Dorian and Cameron to his right.

“So,” Lucifer said, “I was already worried about a holy war starting this morning, but now it is a guarantee!” He looked at the other three, then addressed their confused expressions. “Oh, I assume the Soul Reacher didn’t get a chance to tell you because he was busy ruining my plan. Buriel may have attacked a large Christian event this morning, and didn’t hide it very well, so the humans suspect demons. No doubt God noticed that. And now an angel, a direct link to God, knows there really are demons roaming Earth.”

“She doesn’t know she’s an angel, my lord,” Jack said quickly. “It’s unlikely she’ll report—”

“Shut up, fool! Whether she tells them directly or not, they surely know. She beat the shit out of you with her powers, and the entire supernatural world knows about it. They will send reinforcements to find Buriel, which will start a massive battle, and they will likely destroy the cambion as well since he seems to be fighting against them.” Lucifer paced, clenching and unclenching his fists. “We need to get the cambion immediately. He is too powerful to be uncontrolled. He will make the battle worse. I will assign a new Soul Reacher to lead you. Osé will change his body to match this one, and he will be given the powers of Amdusias and the memories of your current songs. It is possible that after you capture the cambion, you will need to continue with music to capture Buriel. He will escape once again now that we are delayed. Though a new Soul Reacher won’t be as powerful as this one, he’ll at least be obedient and get this job done. And he will keep the three of you from straying. I need at least some of the original team to be out there.”

“My lord,” Dorian said, “I think perhaps if you simply made me leader, I could—”

“Silence! A Soul Reacher must lead, and you will follow or suffer the consequences.” Lucifer walked closer to Jack, who didn’t even try to hide his terror. If he was being replaced, there was only one thing that would be happening to him.

“You…” Lucifer growled. “You disappoint me. I believed you to be one of the strongest demons in all of Hell. But you are nothing but weak. You are sentenced to eternal torment in my castle.”

Blood roared in his ears, but he still heard Miles whimper, “No!” and Cameron gasp. Dorian shifted beside him, and Jack glanced over, wishing he could connect and tear his soul out. One last bit of revenge before entering an eternal world of agony. Dorian did not meet his eyes, but rather stared at the floor. At least there was no satisfaction anywhere on his face. He was expressionless.

“It’s a shame,” Lucifer said, his voice soft, and Jack looked up at him again. “I really did enjoy the music you made. No other Soul Reacher will be able to play and write songs like you do. I hoped to have you in my personal entourage after this was over. But I will have to settle with watching you suffer instead. And I will enjoy that.” He instructed his guards to take Dorian, Miles, and Cameron to separate cells in the dungeon while he himself escorted Jack to an office.

It was a massive room, one side occupied by a large stone desk and bookshelves filled with dusty volumes, all the covers black. The long wall was one giant window overlooking a steaming pool of lava, a lavafall pouring into it. On the other half of the room were couches and chairs covered in black silk, all facing a stage. Jack assumed this was where musicians would perform for the Dark Lord, a stage where Buriel and his dukes likely spent time at quite often.

Lucifer instructed his guards to chain Jack, and called for Duke Vapula to come and install a large glass box on the stage. The same glass box that Jack often saw outside the castles of leaders, showcasing the tormented. But he would not be showcased to the general population. He would be Lucifer’s personal entertainment for eternity. While waiting for the torture chamber to be finished, Lucifer removed copies of memories from Jack, tons of them he was sure as it lasted so long and hurt so much that he thought he was going to pull his entire brain from his skull. Lucifer smiled at the sphere he had and placed it on a stand on his desk.

Vapula finished the box, and two servants of Osé arrived soon after, kneeling before the Dark Lord, clearly shocked to be in his presence. Then two more servants entered. The sigils tattooed on their backs were ones that Jack had not seen before, but as they dragged Jack into the box and hung him by his wrists, he got a closer look at the name that surrounded the symbol: Beleth, the leader of the evil hierarchy of the east. The one that Duke Valefor served under. The one that Miles was a part of.

Jack did not listen as Lucifer explained the torture he wanted him to endure. It didn’t matter. It would be brutal agony no matter what. And he would be healed then tortured again, over and over. Never to end.

Beleth’s servants approached him and Jack closed his eyes. A flash of Annabelle and Joey crossed his mind, erased by the pain that began.