Chapter 10

Quiet voices woke me from an otherwise perfect rest. I couldn't remember the last time I had slept so soundly. But the pinging irritation in my ears made me wrinkle my nose and my head throbbed with the beginnings of a headache.

Pulling a plush pillow over my eyes, I groaned into the mattress and wished my Virtues would quit whisperingso loudly.

Wait. Since when are whispers loud?

Tugging the pillow off, I glanced around the room, discovering that I was still alone.

But the whispers were very real, and unfortunately, they weren't due to my Virtues talking somewhere nearby.

I narrowed my eyes at the wall in the direction the whispers seemed to come from. They swirled around me, echoing in one ear and then the other, before retreating into a particular area.

The room where the crystal had been left in a vase.

The damn thing was hungry again, reminding me that we were on a time limit.

Sighing, I sat up in the bed, wondering what the hell I was going to do about that, when the door opened. The first thing I noticed was a tiny vase, but this one had dainty white flowers in it. The rest of the tray had a delicious-looking breakfast of waffles, pancakes, a bowl of mixed fruit, a glass of frothy orange juice, and a ceramic creamer cup with a downturned spout. My stomach loudly growled, making me place a hand over it in reprimand.

The meal was being held aloft by a very unamused demon. Cole's tail swished around his ankles as he balanced the tray. He wore a pair of pants and they hung low to allow his tail to slip out the top. But otherwise, they looked like they fit well. This place did belong to him, after all.

He nearly dropped the tray when Hendrik bumped him to force his way inside.

"Do you have a death wish, Dark Mage?" Cole said with an otherworldly rumbling growl to his words.

Instead of frightening me, the danger sent a thrill up my spine.

I have some serious demon issues.

Hendrik gave me one of his wicked smiles as he responded. "Been there, done that."

It was a subtle jibe that Hendrik was probably the only Dark Mage to have found a way back from the afterlife. Or get to experience any sort of afterlife at all.

It was a story I really wanted to hear, but Hendrik was supposed to be working on a portal spell, so I wasn't sure when there'd be time.

My mouth filled with saliva when Cole marched over to my side and propped the tray above my legs. "Eat," he ordered.

Chuckling, I watched as Hendrik pushed him away to drizzle maple syrup over some of the assortment. He was wearing a modern outfit he must have conjured himself, because it fit him well, too. He had chosen to wear a suit, and just like when Logan had worn one, I found myself squirming at how delighted it made me. Especially since Hendrik had rolled up the sleeves, showing off his muscular arms.

"Waffles and, uh, pancakes?" I asked, trying to pay attention to the food instead of drooling over my Virtues. "Why both? Aren't they the same thing?"

Hendrik shrugged. "Logan seems to think they're different and you would have preferences. Maybe it's a human thing… or a shifter thing. Who knows?" He finished dripping the sticky syrup, then went to the espresso machine and frowned at it. It did look rather complex. After he pressed a few buttons and a burning smell assaulted my senses, he rolled his eyes and bit his finger hard enough to draw blood. Then summoned me a cup of coffee, presumably with the pain that act had produced.

"That seems excessive," I said, glowering as he handed me the steaming cup that miraculously didn't have any blood on it.

But the contents did smell sinfully good.

Cole poured in some creamer, then plopped a sugar cube in the concoction as if the pair were mixing me a revival potion. Which, I supposed for humans, that was what a cup of coffee in the morning could be.

Plus, it was kind of adorable to see a rage demon and a Dark Mage spoiling me like this.

When I said as much, Cole responded as if he wanted to explain why he was doing anything remotely adorable. "Both of us are going to be occupied until it's time to rescue your remaining Virtues."

I sipped the coffee again, moaning at how good it was. Cole's tongue flicked out as if he could taste my pleasure. "So you're making sure to give me extra attention? That's even cuter."

And it felt so amazing not to be sick as I tried to bounce back and forth between the different parts of my genetic makeup. I could just exist with my Virtues whenever I liked.

After spending time with Dante and Asher, it would have been difficult to be in the same room as the Dark Mage and my rage demon. But I wasn't getting the kind of whiplash I was used to. Minus the growing headache that seemed to be getting worse, not better, I did like some aspects of being human.

Maybe I'll be able to keep this part when I go back to normal.

I chuckled to myself at my own thought, wondering what "normal" really even meant anymore.

"I know what Hendrik is doing," I said as I poured the fruit onto the plate, then dug into the waffles and pancakes with it. I simply ate them together because it was all amazing. "But what's going to be keeping you occupied, Cole?"

My rage demon stabbed one of the pieces of fruit with the point of his tail, then offered it to me. I glanced between it and the forkful I was holding, before gently using my teeth to take his offering. Sharp canines poked from his mouth as his lips stretched in an uncharacteristic grin. "I'm going to be scoping out Lucifer's compound. Hendrik needs a landing zone for his portal, so I'm going to map it out as much as I can."

I stopped chewing as I stared at him. "You mean you intend to spy? You're not exactly stealth material, Cole."

"That's what I tried to tell him," Hendrik said as he plucked a bloodied piece of paper from his suit pocket. "Just because I have my memories back doesn't mean I can simply whip up a portal spell into a territory infected by Calamity without something going wrong. This is probably going to be harder than it is to realm-travel."

I winced, remembering when he'd literally stabbed himself in the heart to complete a realm portal between Hell and Earth.

"Don't worry, pet. I'm taking my time with this one," he said, seeming to be able to read my thoughts without actually having access to my mind.

My lips quirked in a soft smile, enjoying the fact that my Virtues and I were starting to really get to know one another.

"That's good to hear," I said quietly, then took my time finishing off my plate.

I listened as Cole and Hendrik picked up a conversation—or argument, rather—that they'd likely been having all night.

Cole had a ploy to waltz right in and declare his new allegiance. With Lucifer tied up, there wouldn't be anyone to contest him. If Lucifer's army bought the act, then he could scope out the place unimpeded. Perhaps he could even sneak the twins away with no one being the wiser. Assuming they willingly went with him.

There was another problem. Orion had to buy it, too.

Hendrik spread the piece of paper out on the bed. I noted that it was a half-finished map with different types of runes on it. He speared a finger onto one of the bloodied spots. "Dante is a better choice. He can place a rune here and—"

"We've been over this," Dante said from the doorway. The room seemed to darken at his presence, and my heart skipped a beat in a girlish reaction to all the things he'd done to me the night before.

Hendrik's dark eyes narrowed. "So you think it's a better idea to go with the idiot demon's plan?"

Cole's tail flicked out so fast I didn't even see more than a blur before a red line appeared across the Dark Mage's cheek. "Call me an idiot one more time and I aim lower," he rumbled in warning.

The whispers jumped in my head, making me stick a finger in my ear as if I could wiggle it out.

It was a small gesture, but all of the males in the room quieted and watched me.

"Hendrik," Dante said, tilting his head. "When those memories of yours came back, did they tell you anything useful about crystals that come from the Necromancer Clan?"

Hendrik scoffed. "Nothing good comes from the Necromancer Clan." He eyed me warily, then his gaze settled on my hand. "Does it let you know when it's hungry?"

I hated that Dante had already seen the brand, so of course he'd told Hendrik about it, and probably the others, too. I turned my palm over and ran a finger along the raised lines. It didn't hurt, but I knew a magic rune when I saw one and I preferred they weren't etched into my skin. "They're like whispers," I explained. "It was getting really demanding last night." I glanced up at Dante. "It took a lot more than I thought it would to satisfy the damn thing."

"I'm not surprised," Cole said as his ruby eyes gleamed with inner fire. "Seth made a deal with Balthazar, and part of that deal is unlimited access to your power. You were linked to the Netherworld the moment Balthazar managed to get you to agree to it."

I pondered that for a moment, then my stomach sank. "But I'm not linked anymore, not to the Netherworld or to Hell. Has anyone checked what's going on down there?"

"Hell's fine," Cole immediately said. "Sonya is back on the throne and keeping things stable. Calamity is still causing problems and shifting realms. With the latest surge, it moved Sonya's throne room directly into the upper layers."

My fingernails cut into my palms and I forced myself to relax. "What does that mean?"

Cole lowered his chin. "It means we still have time, but things are going to get harder. The Academy's defenses are weakened, and right now everyone is holing up trying to weather the storm. We aren't going to get much support because the Academy can barely keep itself alive. There are raids they have to deal with and those who have sided with Lucifer. Sonya is losing respect after she let Hell frost. That's something that never happened under Lucifer's rule."

I ground my teeth together. "Lucifer is the reason it frosted in the first place!"

"Calamity is the reason," Hendrik clarified. "And Balthazar, because he's the one who escaped Hell's Heart and allowed the realm shift to worsen."

Balthazar. I swear, he seemed to be in the center of every fucking thing.

He had found a way to take all of my magic.

He had been the cause for the Netherworld to start draining me and making me weak enough to agree to such a stupid thing.

He had known I'd be desperate enough for the Death Lotus that I would have agreed to anything.

I chewed my lip, not liking how I'd played right into a demon's plans. My brows furrowed as I wondered how far this really went. "Random question, but does Balthazar have any ability over illusions?" With the level of plotting that had been going on, it wouldn't surprise me if an immortal like Balthazar had been setting up this particular game longer than anyone realized.

Cole's tail stopped flicking. "How do you know about that?"

Dante cursed, but he must not have shared Asher's story about my death with the others, because both Cole and Hendrik looked at us expectantly.

So, Balthazar had already killed me once.

If it fit his plans, he would kill me again, and wouldn't that be easy now? I was human.

Helpless.

And despite the powerful males at my side, I suddenly felt cold and alone. I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to keep my breakfast down.

"We need to get into that compound," I said softly as I glanced at Hendrik's map. "Before we fall into whatever Balthazar has in store for us next."