Chapter 3

Cole tugged me away from Hendrik. "We have to take her to Seth."

Hendrik's grip on my arm tightened, preventing the demon from taking me. It also prevented me from falling, because apparently I was going to have to learn how to walk again without wings. "Seth?" Hendrik asked with a sneer. "We can't trust that Dark Mage."

Asher cleared his throat. "You do realize that you're a Dark Mage, too. Hendrik, was it?"

My Dark Mage glowered at the incubus. "Who the fuck are you?"

Asher glanced at me. "Someone who cares about her."

That was definitely the wrong thing to say to Hendrik. His old tendencies seemed to come out as his features darkened. "Listen, asshole—"

I buckled over, unable to hear the rest of his sentence as an invisible force wrapped around the center of my chest.

"We don't have time to argue about this," Cole growled. "I've already talked to Seth—"

"And you told us he's in league with Balthazar," Hendrik interjected so quietly that it was somehow more terrifying than Cole's snarl.

Cole bared his teeth, obviously not appreciating being interrupted. "Seth is a Necromancer. And not just any Necromancer, but the head of his clan. He'll keep Lily's soul where it's supposed to be while we figure out how to return her to the mortal realm."

My mind spun as I tried to unravel the web that Balthazar had thrown us into.

I'd underestimated him. Lucifer had always held my attention, but Balthazar was the key player, wasn't he?

He had plotted out a means to control death long before I even existed.

He'd found his way to another realm that had not yet been touched by Calamity, and one that would play a pivotal role in bringing an end to the chaos.

The only realm that had mortals left.

The only realm that had Necromancers. From what little information I'd gleaned about those, they were the only kinds of supernaturals who could help me in my unique predicament.

I'd found myself trapped in a realm that was trying to rip my soul out of my body and turn me into a Death Lotus.

The irony wasn't lost on me. The very object that was supposed to save me was now going to doom me.

Balthazar had just so happened to befriend the one supernatural who could save me. Not just any Necromancer, but the Necromancer in a world of Dark Mages so bad that even Hendrik didn't trust them.

"Now, Dark Mage," Cole commanded.

Hendrik growled, but Dante rested a hand on his shoulder. "Do it," he demanded.

Hendrik cursed but snapped his fingers and dismissed the fiery portal through which they'd come in. The ash fluttered around the disturbance and the sky darkened without the bright light to sustain it.

Hendrik lifted his hands, leaving me to lean into Cole's chest.

Bright green energy sparked between the Dark Mage's fingers as he drew a wide circle in the air. He took his time whispering a spell as he worked, painting out runes that seemed to require all of his concentration.

This was a portal to another realm. Hendrik was a Dark Mage, but if there were clans, maybe that was his specialty.

Maybe that was how he'd escaped his world and found mine in the first place.

I pressed my lips into a thin line as I watched. Cole's arms seemed to keep my soul in my chest as he squeezed them around me.

When we were safe and had time to talk, I wanted to hear the whole story.

For now, I kept my mouth shut as Hendrik worked. Dante pressed a hand on his shoulder, channeling power as magic rushed through him.

I knew how portals worked. A single misstep could mean that we'd end up somewhere else entirely. Or torn apart. I had no intention of becoming Lily-shaped confetti after all the shit we'd been through.

The air crackled around us when Hendrik neared completion of the portal. Tension built as power flowed through the air, igniting it with tiny flames.

The pressure on my chest released with a pop when the portal ignited, and a fuzzy image of a room appeared on the other side.

"Done," he said, wiping away a sheen of sweat that had formed on his forehead.

I blinked when Dante removed his hand from Hendrik's shoulder with a grunt. All of his scars had opened and blood trickled down the curves of his muscles.

"Dante?" I asked, my voice laced with concern.

He gave me a tight smile. "I'm fine," he ground out. "I'll explain when you're safe." He nodded to the demon holding me. "Take her in."

Hendrik held the portal open with one hand as he glared daggers at Cole, still clearly not approving of this plan. He obviously couldn't even go in with me. He had to hold the portal open from this side until we were through.

Cole led me toward the spiral of green fire. Energy radiated off of it and a tingling sensation ran through my body as we crossed the threshold.

It was unlike any portal I'd ever used. The ones I had been through with Dante were akin to tunnels that took some time to venture through.

Others had been like falling through the ground.

This one, though, was like walking through a thin, silky veil that sent prickling fire all over my skin.

Once on the other side, I frowned at the bright and colorful garden surrounded by benches and stone tablets. When I had imagined a place called the Netherworld, this was not what I'd pictured.

The only evidence that we were in a place of magic was the green tint to the air and the shimmer of something I noticed out of the corner of my eye. I twisted to catch it, only for the disturbance to vanish.

A chill ran up my spine and I leaned onto Cole's powerful arm, grateful that I wasn't alone in this place.

Because something didn't feel right.

The rest of my mates passed through the portal and Hendrik was last, shutting it closed behind us.

The light dimmed, leaving the faint light of a faraway moon.

I stared past the open ceiling, realizing there were, in fact, three moons.

But they seemed obscure, as if hidden behind a sheet of silk.

Unease crept over my skin as we ventured deeper into the area. Walls surrounded us on all four sides, boxing us inside the open garden. Even though I could see the sky, and the garden itself was quite vast, I felt trapped.

"I don't like it here," I told Cole as I shamelessly used him for support. I probably seemed like a feather against him that he barely felt.

Hendrik grunted at the demon in a way that said, I told you so.

Asher and Kaito walked ahead of us and inspected the flowers.

"Magical blooms," Kaito confirmed.

Asher nodded in agreement. "Much less powerful than Ambrosia or a Death Lotus, but yes, I sense they're magical in nature."

Kaito raised a brow at the incubus, as did I.

What did Asher not know?

Hendrik joined them. "They're used for the Alchemist Clan," he said with a scowl, then glanced back at me. "My memories came back. All of them, this time."

It was both a relief and a cause for concern that Hendrik remembered who he was.

Was he going to want to stay?

He didn't seem very happy to have come here, wherever here was. But still, wasn't this his home?

I didn't get a chance to obsess over my worries because a new supernatural joined us.

A powerful one, judging by the way the air warped around him and the flowers in the garden leaned toward him as he walked. The tall male exuded magic and a sense of wrongness. The hairs on my arms stood on end as bumps prickled over my skin.

"You must be Seth," I said, finding my voice as I tugged myself from Cole's protective hold. My body reacted to his presence, but it didn't mean I had to cower.

Even if I was a human, I knew my worth. Balthazar had centered everything around me and I was going to play his game.

But I wasn't going to let him win.

The male with eyes as black as coal tilted his head. He was clearly another Dark Mage, but he had to be the most ancient one I'd ever seen. His movements were too unnatural, as if he lived in this strange realm more often than he did in a corporeal one.

Because this was some sort of ethereal realm. I could feel the weightlessness grabbing my body, tugging at it from all sides. The air shifted even though there weren't any currents to move it.

I'd been in enough spirit realms to know one when I saw it. Hell's Heart had been similar, in its own way.

This wasn't Hell's Heart. This was his realm.

The male's long white hair flowed over his shoulders and he wore a lengthy dark robe that conjured a greenish mist of magic all around him.

His profile seemed to blur as he moved. "I am," Seth confirmed with a smile.

One that seemed too forced. I recognized a creature incapable of love or loyalty. This was the epitome of what a Dark Mage was supposed to be.

Maybe this was what Hendrik had been running from. He hadn't wanted to become like this.

Seth waved open his arms, making the flowers lean back in response. "Welcome to the Netherworld." His hands dropped, sending his robe fluttering. "Well, the Necrofields, if I'm being precise. Only Necromancers or free souls can venture into the depths of the Netherworld."

So that makes this a spirit realm for the dead and Necromancer mages. Great.

He glanced at the place on my chest that had been aching a moment before. "Your soul seems to be secured to your corporeal form, for now. At least while you are here."

A swallow worked down my throat at his appraisal, as if I were a bauble placed in front of him that he was deciding to buy.

There was hunger in his gaze. Not sexual, like I might have expected.

But I recognized the look in his dark eyes. He wanted power.

I had little of that right now, at least magically speaking. But I was a bargaining chip and I knew it. "Is my soul of interest to you, Seth?" I asked, still holding Cole's arm. Now it was to show him what kinds of allies I had.

What kinds of mates.

His jaw ticked as I said his name. He was probably used to some other title around here, but I wasn't from here. Whatever rules or customs he expected, I wouldn't have followed them anyway.

Not when Seth was working with Balthazar, the demon who had done this to me in the first place.

"Souls are always of interest to a Dark Mage," he said with a charming grin.

Hendrik released a growl in response, as did Logan. Kaito, Cole, Dante, and Asher didn't seem very pleased by Seth's response, either.

He couldn't have my soul, but there was something else Dark Mages wanted. Thanks to Hendrik, I knew that well.

Cole walked in a small circle around Seth, seeming to appraise him. "Tell me more about this deal you made with Balthazar, Seth. Then we'll see what kind of deal we want to strike with you now. I agreed to bring Lily here, but the rest is up to her."

Seth chuckled as he moved to an opening in the field. "How progressive of you, demon. Letting a mortal make her own deals," he said as he walked.

I glanced at my mates, then followed him.

"Mortal deals, immortal consequences. My favorite game to play," Seth muttered. His words seemed to stir the air around him, making it curl its invisible fingers through my hair.

Jerking my head, I pulled away from the sensation and vowed not to fuck this up.