Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

The once-vast Aegis serpent’s cave now felt suffocating. Walls seemed to close in, trapping us between the colossal serpent and something far worse. My lungs burned, each breath a struggle, as if the serpent’s massive coils were squeezing the life out of me.

I won’t hurt you , the serpent’s voice slithered through my mind. You’re not the enemy. But this one comes from the deepest, darkest depths of hell. Run.

Ice flooded my veins, and I risked a glance over my shoulder. The cave’s mouth gaped barely twenty feet away, yet it might as well have been a million miles. Justice, Damon, Zara, Brody, and Lisa huddled behind me, their faces etched with the same paralyzing fear I felt.

Brody was alive again, and Lisa was on our side, but Maci wasn’t done with us yet.

Maci stood before us, a vision of terrible beauty. Her long black hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall of midnight. Her pale skin had an otherworldly glow, contrasting sharply with the darkness surrounding her. Her eyes, pools of deep obsidian, glittered with malice and something else. A hunger that froze my blood.

She raised a slender arm, pointing a long, tapered finger at me. Her nail was more like a claw. Sharp, curved, and stained with what looked disturbingly like dried blood.

“You don’t think you can escape us?” Maci purred, her voice a hypnotic blend of silk and venom. A cruel smile played across her lips, revealing teeth too sharp to be human. “You foolish Chosen Ones. You’ll never leave this cave alive.”

The Aegis serpent hissed, its forked tongue dancing in the air. Its ancient eyes, gleaming with otherworldly intelligence, fixed upon our true threat. The snake was terrifying, but what terrified me more was the demon of rage.

He could have stepped off Wall Street. Crisp suit, polished shoes, manicured hands. But those eyes…endless voids swallowing all light.

No light.

No soul.

Only rage.

His shadow fell over me like an eclipse, transforming me from person to prey. I felt minuscule, insignificant. An ant waiting to be crushed beneath his polished shoe. Justice, Brody, and my brother were far from short, but this thing towered over them, a skyscraper of malevolence.

As he drew closer, I could see his skin. If you could call it that. It was almost translucent, a ghastly canvas stretched over a framework of pulsing, angry red veins. The effect was horrifying, like staring at a living anatomy model from some nightmare medical school.

His deep black suit was impeccable. It clung to his towering frame perfectly, as if tailored by demons with a flair for haute couture. He looked ready for a high-end fashion show, not a hellish confrontation in a dank cave.

But it was his face that truly paralyzed me with terror. Classically handsome features—high cheekbones, strong jaw, aquiline nose—were twisted into a mask of barely contained rage. Those eyes, like twin black holes, burned with an inner fire that threatened to consume everything in its path.

Then, he smiled.

Dear God, that smile. It was wide and predatory, filled with teeth too sharp, too numerous for any human mouth. That grin promised pain, reveled in the prospect of inflicting suffering. The smile of a beast that enjoyed playing with its food before devouring it whole.

The demon’s gaze locked onto me, and I felt naked, exposed, as if he could see every fear, every weakness I possessed. He took a slow, deliberate step forward, his movement liquid grace and lethal intent.

“You’re a pretty little thing,” he purred, his voice a blend of velvet and venom.

Justice was there, his broad back a wall between me and the approaching nightmare. “Stay away from her,” he growled.

At that moment, Justice’s presence overwhelmed my senses. The cool aura emanating from him seemed to wrap around me, a stark contrast to the paralyzing fear that had gripped me seconds before. His scent, a mix of earth after a rain and something uniquely him, filled my nostrils, grounding me in the midst of chaos. The low rumble of his growl reverberated through my body, sending tremors of fear and comfort coursing through my veins.

Justice would do anything to protect me. I knew that with bone-deep certainty. His unwavering loyalty had been proven time and time again, each sacrifice etching itself into my heart. However, though he was a vampire with all the supernatural strength and speed that entailed, a flicker of doubt gnawed at my mind. Was he strong enough to face this demon? The creature exuded an ancient, primordial power that made the air thick and oppressive.

My gaze traced the taut lines of Justice’s back, noting the tension in every corded muscle. He stood immovable, a shield of flesh and bone between me and oblivion. The sight of him, so fierce and determined, stirred something within me. He was more than my protector. He was my knight in shining armor, my north star in a world gone mad.

Memories flashed through my mind. Justice’s rare smile, the gentle touch of his hand, the softness of his lips, the depths of understanding in his eyes. Each tender moment we shared, each trial we’d faced together, had woven an unbreakable bond between us. His lips and his hands on my body, branding me, filled with a fury to protect me.

He was my life, the reason I found strength to face each new danger. The thought of losing him again, of watching him snatched away from me as he had been in the Unseelie realm, twisted my nerves into knots.

I refused to lose him again. Not to this demon, not to Maci, not to anyone or anything. My fingers twitched, longing to reach out and touch him, to infuse him with my own determination. In this deadly dance of monsters and magic, Justice wasn’t only my protector. He was my heart, beating outside my chest.

“Ah, the vampire.” The demon chuckled. “Her protector. Her true love.” His sharp voice grated on my nerves.

Justice gritted his teeth. “Like I said, stay away from her.”

I peered around Justice’s protective stance. The demon’s smile only widened at the challenge, his teeth gleaming in the dim light of the cave. The air thickened with fear and the stench of sulfur, making my eyes water and my throat burn.

I held the Crown of Envy and the mirror in my hands. My fingers tightened around the mirror’s ornate handle, its surface cool against my clammy palm. This was my trump card, my only defense against the demon. It had banished the other Seven Deadly Sins demons, sending them back to hell. I hoped it worked on the demon of rage.

With my hand trembling, I held up the mirror and flashed it toward the demon, hoping he would scream.

The demon’s laughter erupted, a sound so terrifying it seemed to shatter the air around us. The thunderous echo ricocheted off the cavernous walls, driving icy shards of fear deeper into my bones. His eyes, like twin pools of molten hatred, locked onto mine with such intensity I felt my soul withering beneath his gaze.

“Your little trinket doesn’t work on me like it does my brothers.” His voice was a guttural growl that vibrated through the stone beneath my feet.

Each step he took toward us sent shockwaves through the ground. The earth convulsed as if trying desperately to retreat from his corrupting touch. Stalactites shivered overhead, threatening to rain down upon us.

“No one messes with my brothers,” he roared, the sound so deafening it threatened to rupture my eardrums. “And you’re going to pay for this.”

Shit-shit-shit-shit.

His promise of retribution made me feel like I was on an icy pond. All he had to do was step on it, sending cracks and splinters racing outward until I crashed through the surface and plunged into a frozen hell. His words chilled my breath, leaving me gasping, trying to claw me out of the abyss.

The mirror hung uselessly at my side. The demon stared at it with a superior smile. I followed his gaze to see the mirror’s usual protective glow dimmed to a faint flicker.

Justice’s grip on my arm tightened, his fingers digging into my skin as he pulled me back. “We need a plan. Fast.”

The Aegis serpent’s voice slithered through my thoughts, urgent and tinged with fear. You need to run now . He’s more powerful than the other demons.

I grabbed Justice’s hand. “We need to get out of here.”

I can give you time to escap e, the serpent told me. But it won’t stop them for long.

The Aegis serpent coiled tighter, ready to strike.

Maci emerged from the shadows, her gaze locked on me. The air shimmered around her, a sight I’d seen before that never failed to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Her body expanded rapidly, skin hardening into iridescent, gleaming scales. Horns erupted from her elongating skull, and massive wings unfurled from her back, scraping against the cave walls. In seconds, where Maci stood now loomed a colossal dragon, her golden eyes blazing with fury and triumph.

The Aegis serpent sensed the escalating danger and sprang into action. Its massive coils tensed, muscles rippling beneath scales. With a powerful motion, it lashed its tail against the cave ceiling. The impact reverberated through the cavern like a thunderclap.

For a heartbeat, everything seemed to pause. Then, with a sickening groan, the cave began to give way.

Rocks ranging from pebbles to boulders showered down in a deadly cascade. Thick clouds of dust billowed through the air, choking and blinding. The sound was deafening, a cacophony of splitting stone and human terror.

Zara and Lisa’s screams pierced the thunderous chaos, barely audible above the rain of stone and dust. Through the choking haze, I caught glimpses of my brother and Brody diving for cover, their faces contorted with panic. Suddenly, my foot caught on a rock, and I felt myself falling. Time seemed to slow as the ground rushed up to meet me, the sound of splitting stone drowning my startled cry.

Then, out of nowhere, strong arms wrapped around me. Justice. He pulled me against his chest as a massive boulder crashed down where I had been standing moments before. I felt his heart pounding as he shielded me with his body, his breath warm against my ear. A fierce protectiveness that I’d never witnessed before filled his eyes.

As the cave continued to crumble around us, Justice’s grip on me tightened, his face a mask of determination. At that moment, with my own heart threatening to burst from my chest, I realized how far he would go to keep me safe.

The demon of rage, momentarily forgotten in the mayhem, seized his chance. With inhuman speed, he bolted forward, his form a blur of malevolent energy. But fate, or perhaps the Aegis serpent’s calculated attack, intervened. A fresh wave of debris crashed down directly in the demon’s path.

Forced to halt his charge, the demon’s face contorted with fury. He threw back his head and howled. The piercing, utterly alien sound cut through the din like a knife, sending daggers of pain through my skull. I clamped my hands over my ears, but it did little to muffle the horrifying sound.

My eyes watered, and I shook my head, trying to focus. Justice pulled me tighter against him.

“Everyone, move!” Justice’s voice carried over the tumult, sharp with command. It snapped me out of my daze, reminding me of the deadly peril we were in.

As I stirred, seeking any path to safety, a furious shriek cut through the air, different from the demon’s howl but no less terrifying. Maci, in her massive dragon form, was struggling against the collapsing cave. Her wings flapped frantically, stirring up more dust and debris. Each beat sent gusts of wind through the cavern, further destabilizing the crumbling structure.

Maci’s eyes glowed with rage and frustration as they locked onto me. She blamed me for this. The look in those draconic orbs chilled me to my core. A promise of vengeance, a vow that this was far from over.

Justice pushed me ahead of him. “Keep moving. Head for the tunnel!”

The cave continued to disintegrate. The air was thick with dust, making every breath a struggle. I coughed and sputtered. The sounds of splitting rock, human panic, demonic rage, and draconic fury blended into a nightmarish symphony.

Please-please-please-please don’t let anyone else be hurt.

I didn’t want to lose anyone again like I had Brody.

As I raced toward what I hoped was safety, I had the feeling we were running from one danger into another. Were Maci’s other demons waiting for us? I clutched the mirror, ready to send every one of them back to hell.

That was if the mirror worked. Rage may have drained its power.

The tunnel mouth loomed ahead, a dark promise of potential escape. As I dove toward it, I silently prayed we’d all make it through and whatever awaited us on the other side wouldn’t be even worse than what we were leaving behind.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins, sharpening my senses and propelling me forward. I found myself moving ahead of my team.

“Sawyer, wait,” Justice called from behind me.

But I had the mirror, and I wasn’t going to stop.

My heart raced, but my grip was steady. If the demons were there, I was ready to send the bastards back to the fiery abyss they’d crawled out of.