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Lucius released a sigh and told me,

“That may be so, but without a way to free her from it, then we must plan for the war to come.”

I shook my head, my brain scrambling for the right words to argue against it.

“He needs time,” Orthrus said.

“Unfortunately, HellBeast, time is one thing we may not have,” Lucius replied before walking away, leaving my brother and I alone.

“Don’t listen to him, we will get her back, J, I promise you, we will find a way.”

I nodded, my emotions too raw to speak, as all I could see was the memory of her trying to kill me. A memory that played on a cruel loop, like my own personal torture. That was until my brother pulled me out of it, by taking my hand and putting something in it.

“Here, when they brought you through, you were clutching onto this.”

I opened my palm to see the blood-stained ring, the one I had given her when she agreed to make me the happiest man alive. Obviously, the irony wasn’t lost on me.

“Her engagement ring,”I muttered, my tone void of hope.

“And it will be on her finger again soon, don’t lose hope, brother, there must be a way.”

“But how… you heard the Vampire, she tried to kill me. She would have succeeded had I not been saved.” I swallowed the thick lump down, one that consisted solely of bitterness and heartache.

“Lerna and Koro found a way once, maybe they know,” he suggested, which was enough of a spark that it gave me cause to nod, telling him,

“You’re right. You’re right, they did, which means they must know something.” His grin in return gave me strength.

“There he is, the cunning bastard brother I know and love… come on, time to get your ass out of bed then, you lazy git.”

I chuckled, my arm going to my stomach before telling him,

“It fucking hurts to laugh, so stop trying to make me feel better.”

He laughed before helping me up, and I swear the last time he did this was over a hundred years ago. And back when I got my drunk arse shitfaced on devil’s rum.

I also discovered as I stood that I was wearing loose fitted black pants and nothing else, but the thick bandage wrapped around my waist spoke volumes. One scar she had given me that I was most definitely going to let heal, as it wasn’t exactly a memory I wanted to hold on to.

And speaking of healing, I knew I would only need to give it a few more hours and I would be good as new. Still fucking devastated and heartbroken, but at least I would be able to fight. Although clearly, Ella was one person I couldn’t fight against. Which was why we needed to get her back to the Ella I knew and out of Garmr’s control. Talking of freedom…

“How did Lucius save me?” I asked as Orthrus walked me from the room, making me almost want to groan out loud at the sight of another damn castle. One that obviously belonged to Lucius in Hell, as I had been to his place in Germany before, and this… well this most definitely wasn’t it. Like the room I woke up in, it was made from gigantic shards of Obsidian, the hallways void of everything else but the black glass walls.

“You will soon find out.”

“So, it wasn’t you?” I asked, surprised.

“No,” he gritted out as if annoyed by the fact that he had listened to me and allowed me to go in alone. And a good job too, or it might have been both of us bleeding out on the floor.

Orth led me to a room he knew they must have all been waiting in, and one that looked as if used for one purpose…war.A room decorated in every demonic weapon imaginable all mounted on the walls. The large table and chairs in the center were the only furniture the room held, telling me this was solely used for planning and not exactly fit for throwing dinner parties.

“Jared!” Lerna shouted when she saw me, and she was joined by an even more familiar face.

“Uncle!” Amelia ran at me at the same time Lerna did, neither woman paying any attention to the bloody big bandage around my waist, as they threw themselves into me.

“Humph… ah ah oww,” I moaned as pain flared once more, making them both back away slowly.

“Sorry.”

“Oops, my bad,” Amelia said getting it straight from her aunty Pip. Although the kid called us family, as most of us had watched her grow up. I wasn’t really her uncle, just like Pip wasn’t her aunt. As for Lerna, she walked back to sitting next to her husband, who looked like he had hard time watching as his woman ran off to another man’s arms. Although, I had to say, as innocent as I knew it was, it still felt good to know she cared at least.