“How’s my mom?” I tried not to panic, but my shaky voice betrayed me.

“I’m fine, honey.” My mom’s voice was laced with fear, I could hear it. Something had scared the shit out of her however long ago, and she was still scared.

“We’re only a few blocks away,” I told them. “Michael is escorting us,” I added, so they wouldn’t worry.

“All right, we’ll meet you outside. Is there anything else you want to take from here?” Lincoln’s voice was full of concern, and it only hit me then that we were permanently leaving my home and all its possessions. I had all the pictures of my dad that I wanted, plus clothes and bedding. None of the other stuff mattered. After what happened in the parking lot, I didn’t think we should linger.

“No. Let’s just get my mom out of here,” I told him.

Noah pulled up to the curb of my old apartment building, and I glanced over to see he was looking quite ill. Sweaty and pale.

“You okay?” I asked.

He just nodded, mouth turned down in a grimace.

Wasting no time, I jumped out of the car, but when my eyes fell on Bernie’s tent, my heart stopped.

Bernie.

I heard the door open behind me and Shea stumbled out.

“Oh God. Who’s going to take care of Bernie?” she whispered.

Since we’d moved to Demon City, we’d always taken care of Bernie and Max. Always. I couldn’t remember a night when my mom, Shea, my brother, or I didn’t bring down a cup of hot soup, a bagel, or something for him. He was one of those misunderstood homeless people. No drug problem, no criminal record, just a blind guy who was human, and couldn’t hold a job.

“We are.” My voice was firm.

He wasn’t a demon slave. The only reason he lived there was because it was the only thing he knew. We were taking him with us.

I approached the tent and could see his shoes were off, feet sticking out.

“Is that you, Brielle?” Before I got too close, his sweet voice rang through the space. He peeked his head out, and Maximus barked in excitement.

“Yeah, Bernie, it’s me. Long time no see.” Bending down, I patted Max’s head and poked my head inside the tent. He had a little setup in there that would take quite a while to break down.

“You okay? You smell of blood.” Bernie frowned.

I swore the guy had the nose of a bloodhound.

“Got in a little fight, but I’m all right. Hey, Bernie? My mom’s moving to Angel City, and I’d like you and Max to come with us there. I can’t explain much right now, but we don’t have time to pack all your stuff.”

His mouth popped open in surprise. “They don’t like my kind on the fancy part of town.”

My kind. Homeless. Anger flared within me at his words. The high-and-mighty fallen were always looking down on these sorts of “unsightly” things. What kind of angel blessed were you, if you couldn’t reach out to those in need?

Lincoln and my mom burst from the back door then. The moment Lincoln saw me stooped down, talking to Bernie, a dawning came over his face. He knew what I was doing.

“I’ve still got my trailer. It’s all his if he wants it,” Lincoln offered.

Tears leaked from my eyes. When did I become such a crier?

“You hear that, Bernie? A silver Airstream just for you and Max, what do you say?” I started to grab his backpack, when he reached out and grasped my wrist lightly.

“I say thank you, Brielle. Thanks for thinking of me. And I’d love to.”

His hand on my wrist was vibrating, like a high-pitched buzzing, sending soothing vibrations up my arm and into my injured shoulder. Before I could think more on it, he let go.

My mom sidestepped Lincoln and gave Shea and I both a gentle hug, which hurt because my body was falling apart. Lincoln propped open the stairwell door, and we started to grab my mother’s boxes and suitcases.

“I’ve got a dead Abrus demon and three Snakeroot demons locked in the bathroom up there, so we need to leave, now,” Lincoln told us as he heaved Bernie into a standing position.

A dead Abrus demon! I didn’t even want to know the details. Not right now.

We opened the back of our large three-row SUV and packed Maximus in the cargo hold, with all of my mom’s stuff.

I’d forgotten about Michael, until he started to descend, and landed lightly on the roof of the car.

“Can you take it from here, Lincoln? I feel sick being in this energy for too long,” he called out to my boyfriend.

Lincoln nodded. “Yes. Thank you, sir.”

Interesting. Even the Archangels can’t be here for too long.

Michael’s gaze snapped to Bernie and a knowing smile lifted his lips. Before I could think any more on it, he was gone, a glowing white dot in the sky.

As we drove away from my home in Demon City, I looked back for the last time at the place that had ruined our lives. My father died here, and my mother and I were enslaved here. There was nothing about this place I wanted to remember.

Chapter Twenty

“Oh, honey, are you sure it’s not too much of a hassle having me here? I can stay at a hotel for a few days until I find a job.”

My mother was standing in Lincoln’s kitchen. She looked overwhelmed and grateful, but also in shock. The second we’d driven over the border, her slave mark had disappeared from her forehead, which was a part of the contract we’d made Grim sign. It was also why he tried to kill her before she’d crossed the border.

Lincoln waved a hand in dismissal. “Not a hassle at all. To be honest, I’m hoping you’ll cook for me. I’ve missed home-cooked food. Brielle never makes me anything,” he pouted.

My mom grinned. “Yes, I’m afraid my cooking skills rubbed off on Mikey more. Brielle is more like her father—a good eater.”

Haha! I laughed but then held onto my ribs. Even though I’d spent a few hours in the healing clinic, after dropping Bernie and Maximus off at their new digs, I was still in a shitload of pain and felt like I could sleep for a year.

“Honey, why don’t you go lie down. I’d like to keep an eye on you over the next few days, make sure you heal okay,” my mother trilled.

“Yes,” Lincoln agreed. “Come on.” He started to walk me into his bedroom and then stopped.

“Er,” I mumbled and started to turn around.

‘Oh my God, I should lie down in my mom’s bed, right?’ I asked Sera.

Before my weapon could answer, my mom held up her hands. “Please. We’re all adults here. Brielle is twenty now. I don’t mind.”

My cheeks went bright red with embarrassment. My mom was always cool like that. For my fifteenth birthday, she gave me condoms and a pack of birth control, even though I wasn’t having sex.

“Right,” I squeaked and shuffled into Lincoln’s room. There was no way I was having sex with her in the other room, but I wouldn’t mind sleeping next to Lincoln. I fell into bed, careful not to land on my bad shoulder, though pain started to flare up everywhere else as my joints settled.

“You did it, Bri. You got your entire family out of Demon City.” Lincoln’s voice was soft in my ear, his fingers trailing along my skin.

I had. I’d saved my family.

It was a beautiful thought. A huge relief.

Which was why it surprised me to fall asleep with such happiness, and wind up sucked into such a nightmare.

I was walking through that alleyway in Hell, and all of the demons were surrounding Sera. But Sera wasn’t a cactus. She was a small child, and that old lady was there again, screaming. Everyone slowly turned to look at me, smiling and welcoming me like I was home. I was sweating profusely, looking for a portal or a way home.

Then Lucifer showed up and he started to train me, just like James said. We worked on my dark magic, and I was a willing student. It was awful. In the dream, I would do as he told me, but in my head, I knew it was wrong.

I wanted out.

But I was stuck in Hell.

“Brielle!” Lincoln’s voice jarred me from my sleep and my eyelids snapped open. It was the fourth time he’d woken me that night.

I looked over to the clock, and saw it was seven in the morning. I didn’t want to fall back asleep, although I was exhausted, I couldn’t risk being sucked back into the nightmares.

“You’re soaking wet.” He touched my back gingerly.

“Nightmares,” I croaked.

Lincoln’s dark eyebrows were drawn together with concern. “What about?”

I didn’t want to make a habit of lying to Lincoln, and I had yet to tell him about what James had said. Sitting up, I hugged my knees. “Hell. Lucifer. General bad things.”

Lincoln sighed. “Okay. Well, you used a lot of your dark magic. You took off the necklace. All of that was probably too much for you.”

Remembering the necklace still in my jeans pocket, I nodded. Reaching down, I pulled it out, heavy in my hand. “Will you?” I asked him and lifted my long blonde hair.

He took the necklace from me. As he was coming over my head with it, it laid against my chest and… cracked.

The sound was unmistakable. I gasped, looking down to see the crystal split right down the middle.

“What does that mean?” I turned to my boyfriend.

Lincoln looked scared for the tiniest second before it vanished. “Nothing. We’ll just have Mr. Claymore make a new one.”

Nodding, I reached for his hand. “I have to tell you something, but I need you to not freak out.”

His hand tensed, eyes widened. “Okay.”

He was totally going to freak out.

‘As he should,’ Sera piped up from her place on the floor.

‘Not helping.’

“So… my old friend from Demon City is Sighted.” I let that sentence linger. The Sighted were so freaking rare that knowing one was akin to being besties with one of the fallen archangels.

“And?” His hand was starting to sweat in mine.

I gave a nervous laugh. “And I saw him at the fight. He told me he sees a different prophecy for me.”

Lincoln breathed in and out deeply. “Which is?”

I chewed my lip and decided to just blurt it out. “I go to the underworld and train with Lucifer to use my dark magic.”

Lincoln’s eyes widened so far, I thought they might fall out of the sockets. “What! That’s ridiculous!”

“I know!” I told him. “It’s just as ridiculous as Raphael’s prophecy that I’ll go down there, and kill Lucifer.”

Lincoln was silent.

I shifted uncomfortably. “You don’t think I’m going to actually do that, right?”

He did. I could see it in his face. “I don’t want you to. It’s too dangerous. But…”

I swallowed hard, my heart rate starting to pick up speed. “But?”

Lincoln stroked my thigh with his thumb. “But you have these incredible powers, and black wings, you even went into Hell to get Sera and it didn’t seem to affect you. If anyone could do it, and end this war… it’s you.”