Page 96 of Demon's Heart

Doubt turned Dante’s stomach. He couldn’t let them go without a guarantee they wouldn’t attack again. They could be lying or decide Dante was a risk they didn’t want to leave unmitigated. He also couldn’t let their actions go without consequence, but re-trapping them in Hell seemed like something Luc would do.

No, that wasn’t quite true. Dante was giving them a second chance. All they had to do was follow Luc through the sealagain. Because Luc would be back. He might be planning to enter the Human Realm any second.

But it was wrong for any demon to be trapped in the Realm of the Damned. Should he, Ash, and Onyx have done more for the rest of their kind over the years?

Before escaping, they’d considered freeing more than themselves but couldn’t completely break the containment. Luc alone held that key. Dante, Ash, and Onyx escaped because their magic helped bind the prison together. They couldn’t get anyone else out with them.

Ash dropped his invisibility, and Lillian and Maxwell’s attention snapped to his massive form. “Send them back. They can escape again.” He fixed burning orange eyes on the two. “While you’re down there, let everyone know we aren’t on Lucifer’s side. Anyone else you share the secret to escaping with better come through knowing where we stand. We don’t need enemies among ourselves here.”

Onyx also dropped his invisibility, adding his cold glare in rare agreement with Ash.

Lillian straightened. “Understood.”

“Wait.” Maxwell turned frantically, glancing between them all. “Just wait.”

“No.” Lillian grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry, but what they’re suggesting is fair. We’ll earn your trust,” she said to Dante. “I assume your certainty that another opportunity to escape will present itself is because Lucifer isn’t in this realm anymore?”

“That’s correct.”

But Dante planned to hunt Luc and trap him. There was no more reason to delay with Onyx on board. Would there be another opportunity? Not if Dante acted now. But they couldn’t leave everyone in the Realm of the Damned for eternity.

Fuck.

Ash stepped forward, an orange glow swirling around him.His connection to the containment magic had always been stronger than Dante’s or Onyx’s, and it would allow them to send Maxwell and Lillian back.

The warm glow of power tugged on Dante’s magic, and he let his join Ash’s spell. Onyx followed suit, blue and black now mixing with Ash’s orange.

“I hope we meet under better circumstances next time,” Ash said as the swirling spell engulfed the demons.

In a blink, they were gone.

27

OLLIE

Ollie was having a great Saturday.Relief that Dante and the others had caught and banished the demons hurting his birds cured the tension he’d been carrying around all week. It was one less thing to worry about.

“We’ve got overlapping lunches today,” he said to Ellie as he organized his station.

“I saw that.” She passed him a comb she’d borrowed. “Sushi?”

“And coffee.”

“Uh, totally. I’m going to need an extra-large by the afternoon. I really should stop going out on Friday nights.”

Ollie laughed. “You need gaming friends. Though that might not help with the late nights.” He and Dante had playedWorld’s Endfor hours last night.

Ollie had a few new clients scheduled that day, one an artist that Onyx had apparently referred. Ollie swallowed his surprise. Onyx was nothing like Ollie’s first impression of him, and the artist turned out to be a generous tipper.

The morning flew by.

As Ollie stood in line getting coffee whileEllie got their sushi, he pulled out his phone to thank the demon for the referral. A message was already waiting. Onyx had added him and Harper to a new chat. Ollie rolled his eyes at the group name, smiling.

Your Favorite Group Chat

Onyx:

I’m taking you mates out. Let me know when you’re free.