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In the silence that followed, her hair pulsed with color. “What I feel for you,” she said, “wasn’t supposed to happen, either. And now we’re here, standing at the edge of your world and at the beginning of mine. What do we do now, Jame?”

Gazing out, I followed the volcano’s slope to its snowcapped summit. Somewhere on that mountain was a cave that led to a portal that led to Abyssos, the homeland of the Infernari. A cave guarded by some number of Infernari. They were waiting for us, waiting to take down the infamous Jame Asher and the traitorous woman in his arms.

Reflexively, I squeezed her closer to me.

We could still run from this fate we were hurtling toward.

The Infernari would continue to cull, but why did it have to be my problem? We had seven billion people, they had a thousand. Was it that hard to believe that their race deserved to live as much as ours? Wouldn’t it only befairto let them cull from us?

For two years, I had buried those questions.

Now they clawed back to the surface. WhywasI so angry?

I tried thinking about it the way I was used to, putting myself in my demon hunter shoes.

Every day that portal was open, more demons arrived on Earth... and they were after my blood, they were after Lana’s, and they were going to kill and cull and curse everything that breathed until we were all dead. We couldn’t just run; it would be suicide. Our only hope was to head them off at the portal.

Which might also be suicide.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I never imagined I’d get myself into one of these conundrums the Infernari so often found themselves in.

I nuzzled Lana’s hair.

Nor had I ever imagined wanting to know anything about an Infernarus aside from the best way to kill it. But holding this proud, strange creature in my arms, I was curious about her the way any man would be curious about a beautiful woman. No, I was more than just curious, I was fascinated... I was obsessed. I wanted to know her fears, her desires, what made her laugh. Why her hair lit up, what each color meant.

I wanted to learn everything about her, absorb her into my pores, memorize her.

And I hadn’t felt that since Nikki. And even then... Lord forgive me, the pull had never been like this. Nikki hadn’t had to overcome my hate; back then I hadn’t harbored hatred.

Goddamn, but none of it was fair.

Lana’s fingers trailed over my forearms. “I think sunsets are tragic,” she mused.

And then she said shit like that. My heart squeezed. I wanted to see the world the way she saw it. Like the world was beautiful. Like it was good. Like the saddest thing out there was a sunset.

All my jaded layers were dissolving away around her.

I was so fucking doomed.

Lana

By the timethe sky was a deep blue, the two of us were sitting on the balcony, Asher with his back pressed to the now closed doors that led back inside, and me between his legs.

Just this contact was almost too much. And it might be casual for him, a human, but nothing about this was casual for me.

“Do you fear death?” I asked, softly, like raising my voice might catch the attention of the gods.

I felt him shake his head behind me, trailing his thumb over one of my arms as he did so, the gesture almost absent. “For a very long time I wished for it. Death is easy. It’s life that’s hard.”

“That makes me sad, Asher.”

He peered down at me, a wry grin lifting the corner of his mouth. “Lana sad? Is that even possible?”

When it came to him, a great deal made me sad.

“What about you?” he asked, his tone turning serious. “Do you fear death?”