Mammon and Asmodeus emerged from the pit as I stared at Charlotte, trying to make sense of her words. Her lips pressed
into a thin line as Gray dropped his hand to my shoulder, brushing his touch against the mark of the devil’s eye on my skin. I jolted, pressing forward to get away from the touch, as I spun to look at him over my shoulder.
Those steely eyes held no apology as he watched me, as he watched understanding dawn on me. “You once asked me my true name,” he said, the cruelty in those words sinking into my gut. “Are you ready for the answer yet, wife?”
I turned forward, staring at Charlotte as my jaw set tight, and my teeth clenched together.
No.
Charlotte smiled again, squeezing her fingers over my hands. “It’s time to let go now,” she said, staring down into the pit below. Lesser demons climbed up the stairs, rallying to the surface now that the archdemons weren’t there to fight them off. The souls of the damned would spread across the earth if I didn’t let go of the magic, but I didn’t know how.
Charlotte’s legs evaporated into mist slowly, blowing away even though there was no wind within the Tribunal room.
“I don’t know how,” I said, shaking my head. More and more of her vanished, until she was nothing but arms and a head and neck floating in the air.
All the sacrifice to bring her back, and she faded into the magic of the mirror.
“Please don’t go,” I begged, latching on to the one kindness. On to the one person who would help me.
I didn’t know how I was so certain she would, given everything that had been taken to bring her here in the first place. Only that she would.
“I’m always with you,” she said. She raised her hand from mine, her flesh fading to dust.
“No,” I said, staring at the other hand as she lifted it finally. “Now, Willow!” she screamed.
I grimaced as I pulled at my hands with all my strength. The seal held me tight. My scream echoed along with hers as Gray wrapped his arms around my waist. He yanked me back, tearing my hands from the glass as it reformed.
Charlotte faded away, smiling peacefully as she became ashes on the wind.
I scrambled away from Gray’s touch, staring at the repaired glass of the mirror and finding only my own reflection in it. The bones around my neck rattled as if they felt her leaving, drawing a strangled sob from me that I couldn’t seem to suppress.
I tucked my knees beneath my body, curling my torso over them and squeezing tightly. I didn’t dare to look behind me, to look at the seven monsters I’d set free upon the world.
The first of them stepped up beside me, holding out a hand that I ignored.
“Come, Willow,” Gray said. The steely command in that voice brought my rage to the surface burning away my horror.
“I will never forgive you for this,” I seethed, ignoring his offered hand. “You will,” he said softly, running his knuckles down the side of my
cheek and drawing my attention to him. “In time, you’ll realize just how fleeting human life is. How little it matters. When everyone you know has died and lies rotting in the earth, you and I will remain. You will find that anything can be forgiven, if given the time for memory to fade.”
“I’m human. I will die like all the rest,” I said, pushing to my feet and ignoring his outstretched hand.
“You will not remain that way for long,” he said, reaching down to take my hand.
I couldn’t think about the promise in those words, about what they meant for my future, as he guided me toward the cot where Lucifer slept.
They’d turned him to his back since carrying him out of Hell, his sleeping face visible as we approached his side.
He wore nothing but a simple pair of black pants slung around his hips, and my eyes tracked over the gleaming, sweat-glistened muscles of his torso to rest upon his face more fully. His shoulders were broader than his tapered waist.
His face was familiar, as if Gray’s Vessel had been molded to his likeness. It dashed any hope I had of escaping the truth staring me in the face.
That I’d fucked the goddamn devil himself.
I swallowed, covering my mouth with my hand and ignoring the six other archdemons who surrounded us.
What the Vessel hadn’t been able to do was accurately capture the ethereal beauty of the archdemon in front of me. It hadn’t been able to express the presence he held, even in his unconscious state.
Gray took my hand, placing it against his chest. I realized he’d unbuttoned his shirt, giving me bare skin to touch.
“Put me back,” he said, the words both an order and a request as he gazed down at his body.
I tugged my hand back. “Are you out of your fucking mind? No,” I snapped, wincing when he crushed my hand to his chest and my bones ground together.
“Over a dozen have already died today,” he said, sweeping his hand out to gesture to the mostly empty Tribunal room. The bodies of the witches still lined the floor, but there was no sign of my father, the Covenant, or Charlotte to mark the deaths that had occurred. “How many more do you think I will add to that in order to get you to do what you’re told?”
“Please, Gray,” I murmured, even if the name felt wrong. Like I was still lying to myself.
That wasn’t his name.
“I cannot love you in this form,” he said, his voice softening as he took my other hand in his and rested it atop the chest of his other body. His true body. “But I can in my own. Let me love you as you deserve, Witchling.”
I scoffed, not believing for a moment that he cared about that. Whatever he hoped to gain from having his body back had nothing to do with me.
Still, my eyes drifted closed as the magic of the bones called, arching between my fingers and spreading through my body. I couldn’t bear to
watch as they did what they’d been created for, only hoping it would save lives to give him what he wanted.
Gray crumpled at my side, his Vessel falling to the floor as my eyes flew open. I turned to look down at the body on the cot, waiting for the moment life returned.
His chest expanded with his first breath.
And Lucifer the Morningstar opened his golden eyes.
The end…for now.
