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“Is that really you?” Then he mutters under his breath as he looks around again. “Was it really this easy?”

Something clicks when his hand touches my shoulder. I blink a few times, and it’s like I’m seeing him in a new light. I still don’t know why I feel like I know him, but it’s worse now. And on top of that, I have this sudden urge to take him somewhere. It’s like directions were just forced into my head by… something.

“Felix…” The name leaves my mouth, and I assume it’s his, but I don’t know how I know that.

“Are you okay? Where is everyone? Did that son of a bitch hurt you?” He runs his hands up and down my arms, glancing all around. “I’ll kill him, I swear.”

“No,” I hiss, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the front door. The urgency to leave is at an all-time high. “We have to go. We have to hide if we want to escape.”

”Hide? What are you talking about? Zia, we have to go. I need to get you out of here safely before I come back and murder that bastard.”

I look around, noting there isn’t a single guard around, which is odd. They’re always here. But I’ll take it because there is a deep urge to take this Felix man and run. So that’s what I do. It’s a compulsion that I can’t push away. I have to do this.

“Zia,” he hisses. “This isn’t the way I came. I don’t know if this way is safe. We need to go that way, Silas and—”

“Just hurry up,” I say, tugging his hand. “Trust me. We have to hurry.”

He blinks at me a few times, then nods. Relief floods me. I let instinct guide me as we go, unsure where my end destination is, only knowing in my gut which way to go.

We run down the desert-like roads, sweat dripping down between my breasts and across my head.

“It’s not much further,” I pant. “Then we will be safe.”

There’s a thick patch of dark trees ahead—that’s it. That’s the place. I pull on his hand and run that way, moving faster. Felix follows willingly. When we get deep enough that I feel safe, I turn to him and hug him.

“I missed you.” The words fall out of my mouth. I don’t feel like they’re mine, but they seem right. Like somewhere deep down, I do miss him. Blinking a few times, I look him over. Though he looks sick, he isn’t ugly. He’s got a nerdy thing going for him that I don’t hate. He’s nothing like my husband, yet… I shake the thoughts from my head, confused over what I’m feeling. Everything is foggy again, like I’m dreaming. But I’m pretty sure this is real.

He’s panting, but cups my cheeks in his hands and leans in to kiss me. I pull away and find him frowning, a look of confusion on his face but I smile and he smiles back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

He looks around. “Where are we? Why did we have to come here? Shouldn’t we leave?

“It’s just where we are supposed to be,” I tell him with a shrug.

Again, I don’t know how I know that. I just do… but the more I think about it, the stranger it seems. It almost feels like I wasn’t in control of my body. That maybe I’m still not…

And when I hear quiet footsteps behind me, something that should have my spine tingling yet I feel as calm as ever, I really know something isn’t right. But I can’t put my finger on what it is. Then someone is speaking, and my stomach knots up… but I can’t figure out why.

“Hello, darling. I’m so glad you’ve come back to me.”

Chapter Twenty

Felix

One hour earlier…

Hell isn’t full of flames like everyone pictures it.

Sure, it’s hot as fuck, and occasionally one might come across a flame geyser or tiny volcano but it’s not the way it’s painted in all the human religious texts.

There’s a fire under my ass right now, though.

And Davina unknowingly lit it.

Running over uneven terrain, I keep my head down and eyes focused the best I can, pushing through the wall of sand and wind as I head deeper into Hell.