Page 16 of Hunted By Fear

I hold out my arms, offering to take her, but Ruin makes no move to hand her over. If anything, I’d say he holds her tighter, his fingers damn near digging into her arm and leg.

“I’m not going to hurt her; it would be counterproductive, but if you think you can keep her from Rome, by all means.”

I take a step back, and his brow pinches, his nostrils flaring. He hates that he needs my help, and I love it.

I might not exactly have any hard feelings for Ruin, but I’m not super fond of angels as a whole, something I feel is more than understandable. Watching him squirm makes me happier than I care to admit.

“Ruin,” Bast hisses, clearly unhappy with his hesitation.

Ruin waits another moment before handing her over, careful not to touch me, his eyes fixed on her. It’s impossible to miss the pain that flashes in his eyes, even though he vanishes the moment she’s in my arms.

I move back a step, turning as I go, but I don’t make it far, a hand reaching out to stop me.

“Are you sure this will work?” The worry that shines in Talian’s eyes makes me pause.

“Yes.” I admit it’s not something I do often, so I understand their concern. Mortals aren’t meant to be in Hell or Heaven, the same way demons are unable to enter Heaven and angels cannot enter Hell. But every rule has its loophole, an exception, and as the King of Hell, I am that exception. I could have let Ruin in, but he didn’t ask, and I’m already doing enough charity work today.

I shake off Talian’s hold and head across the river; the others lag behind, their eyes fixed on me. She’s so small and light, ‌it feels as if my arms are empty.

They must not be feeding her enough, not that it’s any of my business.

Her face scrunches up as I grip her harder, letting my demonic magic continue to seep into her. It’s not enough to cause any damage or even be noticeable in the long term, but it is necessary. I look down at her; the way her face scrunches up, clearly uncomfortable, but there’s nothing that can be done about it. Without it, she would go insane, her brain turning to goo, and I don’t think Asta would appreciate that, though it would no doubt keep Rome away from her.

Unless she went to Heaven…

I look at her delicate features and feel her life force pressing back against my essence.

Yeah, she would definitely go to Heaven.

Rome shouldn’t have been able to sink his shiny golden claws into her; she’s good, yet because of him, she’s found herself in Hell with demons who may or may not be able to save her from his mind control.

Life isn’t fair, especially for the mortals whose lives are over in the blink of an eye, only for them to face divine judgment. I’d lived hundreds of mortal lifetimes before I fell, which only goes to show that anyone can change and nothing is black and white, not even the divine.

But believing anything that isn’t in line with God’s beliefs gets you banished, a lesson we learned the hard way. Although I can’t say I’m upset by it. I’m much happier in Hell, my domain, than I was in Heaven.

Ironic if you ask me.

The mortal's face relaxes once we make it over the river, and as I make my way back to the castle, I feel the others trailingbehind. A million questions run through my mind, theories on how they might be able to break Rome’s control over her, but I keep them to myself. I’d agreed to let them bring her here, but this isn’t my problem. I can’t afford to have a mortal taking my attention off the war that’s been raging on Earth, no matter how interesting she might be.

It’s been three days since we brought Aeri to Hell, and she’s still out. The only reason I’m not freaking out more is Kai’s ability to access her mind, and while it’s still full of Rome’s bullshit, at least it’s not mush.

Why she’s still asleep, none of us knows. She’d passed out when I visited her, but Kai kept her under until we figured out what to do. The last thing we needed was for her to wake up freaking out.

Kai kept her out temporarily so that we could transfer her, or so he says. I’m starting to wonder if he did more than that; it’s no secret he’s not her biggest fan. Even if he did fuck her, I know that doesn’t change anything; it shouldn’t have for me either…

Yet here I am sitting beside her bed like a fool, waiting for her to wake up. Bast sits opposite me on the other side of the bed, his eyes fixed on her. He’s more demon than man right now, and while that makes sense considering we're once again in Hell, I’m unsure if that was something he did on purpose or not. He looks seconds from going over the edge. If I weren’t already here because I have no willpower to leave, I might very well be here towatch him and ensure he doesn’t do something he might end up regretting.

Like tearing Aeri apart, because that’s what it looks like he’s about to do.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he growls, pulling me from my thoughts, and I turn my gaze from him back to Aeri.

I don’t bother trying to pretend I wasn’t watching him; it's not worth the argument right now.

“Why isn’t she awake?” Bast snaps, and while I’m the only other one in the room, I know he’s not talking to me. He knows I don’t know any more than he does, but that doesn’t stop him from asking every so often.

“I believe her body is acclimating to the…” Lucifer trails off, seemingly looking for the right words as he strolls into the room, completely unfazed by Bast’s glare at his sudden appearance. “Climate change, if you will.”

“What?”