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Damon

“You actually traded yourself for that weak little girl?”

the purple skinned archdemon laughed at me through the bars. “This is exactly what I had hoped for. Without a guard, the Hellgate will be down in no time.”

Fuck, I didn’t want to imagine my sweet little bird in this disgusting place. Not even for a second. She was so innocent to the darkness of the world. There was only one thing worse than being killed by a demon, and that was being captured by one.

It wasn’t my first time in Hell. As the Guardian of the Hellgate, the Lord of Nightmares occasionally had to keep things in check. My first time at eighteen, to ensure the inner framework was still in place. With the demons constantly hammering away at the magic, I knew it wouldn’t make it another thousand years, maybe not even one more year.

“Not speaking to me, Lord of Nightmares?”

the demon asked, shaking his head and chuckling. “I thought we were becoming friends over the last nine years with our agreement. You keep yours on your side, and I’ll keep mine on my side.”

My eyes flicked over to him, “Except you haven’t been keeping your side of the agreement. Why are you letting them out?”

“Let them? I have a horde of prisoners, and I haven’t let any out intentionally. You try reigning over this side of the Hellgate, and then tell me how it goes. Besides, there have always been loose demons on Earth, and kitsune are always nice enough to escort them home with their magic. As your goddess ordered long ago.”

The demon showed me his row of sharp teeth, fit only for eating flesh. “Does it matter? You’re my prisoner now. Our contract is null and void.”

The cell was in the deeper trenches of Hell. The bars were reinforced with demon iron, a tight lattice to ensure not even a hand could slip out of the cell. The bed was made of stone, but a dingy sink and toilet rested in the corner, providing some dignity for the more worthy prisoners.

I slipped into the archdemon’s mind as he distracted himself by lording over me. It was a repulsive place. The glee of torture, the excitement of his newest deal, his plans for me.

I confessed, it was disappointing how easily the others agreed to my plan. Not even trying to come up with an alternative. But it was better than Dove being in this goddessforsaken place.

The archdemon continued, “I knew her, you know—your goddess—saw her make the deal myself. To protect her kind from us, and to protect us from her. I had just barely become a demon back then. Your goddess helped them build the Hellgate.”

Them, the royalty of Hell. They lived far from this disgusting torture chamber. If anyone could believe it, in the nicer parts of Hell.

“It’s too bad your goddess didn’t live the eternity she traded for.”

Then he flashed the images in my mind. Like a dusty portrait held in an attic for a thousand years, he showed me the cracked and diluted memories from a millenia ago.

Her katana sliced through flesh like fire through paper. Flames flickered over her skin. Her true power was killing. Her blade hummed with life as she killed another dozen, and then a dozen more. Demons desperate to stop her from breaking through their defensive lines. If they died in Hell, they were truly killed, never able to come back to life.

And there he was, the lover she fought so desperately for. The first Fated pairing known to our kind. She killed everything in her path, hordes of demons never ending, all ready to die to defeat her.

She reached him. He was limp and tortured, blood that leaked from his body now dried, teeth marks covering him like he was used as a blood bag for a hundred demons.

She fell to her knees beside him, demons still coming at her from all angles, swarming her like an angry wasp nest. Teeth and claws ripping and nipping at her like she was next.

She screamed, not from the physical hurt, but from the loss of her Fated mate. An agony far more painful. She exploded, her fiery light blasting through the demon throng around her and her mate, killing them all like an atomic bomb.

That’s when she became the bad guy.

When she embraced her rage.

When she became the goddess.