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Two attackers. Was that how they got around his deflections? By combining their power?

Before the newcomer could make a move, blue lightning struck her chest. Eyes popping, she froze and dropped from the sky like a rock.

Ash caught her and Onyx was there in an instant to help.

Dante shot the other rogue with lightning and he went rigid. “Let’s bring them into the trees.”

Ash and Onyx flew off without a word, still invisible to their attackers.

Dante adjusted his grip on his captive. “Come on.”

The demon went limp like the fight had left him. Dante dumped him next to his companion. Neither made a move, seemingly cowed by the invisible threat of Ash and Onyx.

Interesting. They’d given up more easily than Dante had expected.

“You killed my birds.” Dante stood before them and spread his wings imposingly, his eyes glowing with raging fire.

The two shared a glance. “How many are with you?” the green-eyed man asked.

“It can’t be more than one,” the woman said. “Hitting and then catching me isn’t that hard. We can still take them.”

The man didn’t seem to share her confidence, his eyes darting frantically around. “What if it’s Lucifer?” he whispered.

Lucifer? Dante almost laughed. These demons thought he was on Luc’s side?

“What are your aims?” he demanded. “You killed my birds, then attacked the sanctuary. Why?”

“To flush you out,” the man said.

The woman grabbed his arm. “Shut up.”

“We could’ve taken one Hound alone, not two, not one with Lucifer.” He glared at her, green eyes flaring. She glared back.

“How did you escape the Realm of the Damned?” Dante asked, changing tactics.

The man swallowed. “The seal was broken briefly, and we slipped through before it closed.”

“I see.” At least that lined up with Ren’s story. Dante pretended to consider the man’s words. “Then why not run off and hide?”

“If Lucifer ever found out we escaped, we’d be hunted. You have his permission to be here and would have come after us as soon as he asked. There’s no hiding forever. I’d heard one of you controlled the birds?—”

“That’s enough,” the woman interrupted, and he fell silent.

So they’d been hoping to rid themselves of an enemy. What had they been planning to do to Dante? Surely not kill him.

He suppressed a shudder.

“Did you ever consider I might not be on Lucifer’s side?”

Shock transformed their faces, the woman’s stern features cracking for the first time.

“You escaped ? He didn’t send you here?” The first demon rounded on his companion. “I told you. I said Lucifer planting them here didn’t make as much sense as the other rumors. How could they be looking…?” He shut his mouth, silencing himself for once.

He seemed to have heard a very different story than Ren. Had Luc spun a lie saying he sent his Hounds to Earth? It was plausible. He’d have wanted to save face. But what did this demon think Dante and the others were looking for? Surely not mates.

Lucifer had clearly given up on mates. But was there an advantage to convincing his masses all wasn’t lost?

It was a mess. No one in the Realm of the Damned knew the truth. There were probably dozens more stories circulating. Confusion was certainly to Luc’s benefit.

“He could be lying,” the white-winged demon muttered. “Lucifer could still be hiding right behind him.”

“Well, we’re screwed if that’s the case,” the first reminded her.

At least Dante could be reasonably sure these two weren’t working for Luc. His lackeys tended to go for threats and intimidation, never giving up when they thought Lucifer was in their corner.

It was lucky for Dante that Luc seemed to have no allies. All he apparently needed to get past Dante’s counterspells was a little backup.

“What are your names?” Dante asked.

After a pause and a reluctant nod from his companion, the first demon said, “I’m Maxwell, and this is Lillian.”

“All right, Maxwell and Lillian.” Dante drew in his wings. “I might have forgiven you for thinking I was on Lucifer’s side. I’m sure he worked hard to convince everyone of that. But I can’t forgive you for killing my birds. ”

Maxwell shared an outraged look with Lillian. “They’re animals.”

Dante growled. “You think animals should be killed for no reason? I disagree. And what were you planning to do to me when you drew me out into the open? Have a civilized chat to figure out whose side I’m on? Let me go on my way unharmed afterward?”

Their silence was heavy with guilt.

“I didn’t think so. I’ll give you credit and assume you weren’t planning to commit the offense of permanent death, but you’ve still made an enemy of me.”

“Wait,” Lillian held up a hand. “You’re right. We should have considered the other rumors more seriously, but it seemed na?ve to hope you’d escaped and were no longer in Lucifer’s pocket. What else were we supposed to do?”

They would have had to risk exposing themselves. Ren’s peaceful move was bolder than Dante had given her credit for. Could he really blame these two for not doing the same when they had a very different impression of where Dante’s loyalty lay?

Maybe not, but he couldn’t appear too forgiving and risk being taken advantage of. “If you escape again and find me without your fangs drawn, maybe we can start over.”

Lillian’s eyes flashed. “Escape again? No, please. Don’t send us back!”

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 seal again. 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.