Chapter 40

The transition through dimensions unfolded just as Selene had remembered. The smell of ozone came first, followed by the sensation of being pulled. Then came the bone-melting squeeze, before ending with the feeling of being dropped from a great height. Though the journey from Rugby to Aurelia had felt like it lasted only a minute, this time, her experience of disappearing and reappearing into another place seemed to stretch on for hours.

When the sensations cleared, she opened her eyes. She was indoors, staring at a stone wall. The air was musty and dank, with a touch of something sinister like… sulfur? Or was it smoke? There were no sounds except faint creaks echoing above, like footsteps. Vaguely, she wondered why she couldn't move her arms. A groan sounded next to her, and the pressure restraining her arms lifted.

She sat up, realizing that she was in a room. A bedroom, more precisely, lit with electric wall sconces. She was lying on a tapestry rug spread over a marble floor. In the room's center stood a twin-size bed with linens the color of red wine, while a cold fireplace sat in the corner. The bed, desk, and nightstand furnishings were heavy but small, as if scaled for a child. A thick layer of dust covered the decorative carvings of skulls on each piece.

"This isn't my castle!" cried a voice beside her. "Where am I?"

She turned to see Zaybris lying on his back, rubbing his eyes. A burst of adrenaline cleared her foggy mind, and she scrambled away from him. Moving toward the bedroom door, she pulled the handle. Logically, she knew there could be any number of fearful things outside, but at the moment, all she could think of was escaping Zaybris. She pulled and then pushed at the door, her muscles straining with effort. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, the door didn't budge. It seemed to be locked from the outside.

Where are we?

She watched Zaybris rouse to look around the room. His eyes landed on Selene briefly, but he didn't seem to register her presence.

"This looks like… this is… " His dropped his head. "Her face… I was thinking of her face."

Creeping away from the door, Selene wedged herself in a corner on the other side of the bed. She watched the vampire rub the hole in his chest, and instantly her thoughts went to Sam. The image of him lying alone on the cavern floor, unconscious and with only one horn, made her stifle a sob. Was he dead? Could he escape? His betrayal had cut deeply, but that pain paled in comparison to the possibility of his death.

Her heart ached when she remembered how his face looked when he gave her the stone. Although his body was battered and broken, he was so proud. He genuinely wanted her to use it. He wanted her to go home, even though, for him, it meant losing everything. He said he loved her, and she believed him.

Yet his deception combined with his degrading talk of "needing her" made her feelings for him less clear. She had been so angry when he had acted like taking her to Underworld was the gift of a lifetime, and hurt when he revealed that he had "claimed" her as his mate. As if she were no more than a piece of luggage.

So why does the thought of never seeing him again make me want to die?

Zaybris eased himself against the wall opposite her. Squeezing back tears, she straightened her back, ready to assume a fighting stance even though it seemed ridiculous in her braless and barefoot state. Now wasn't the time to sort through her complicated feelings for Sam. Not when she was locked in a room with a thirsty vampire.

Seeming to remember Selene was there, Zaybris looked at her earnestly. "Your beloved demon. He had his mother's eyes." He gestured to the stone around his neck. "That's why we're here. I was thinking of her as I looked at him."

"Where are we?"

Zaybris coughed, then gave an odd smile. "The Underworld."

Selene reeled back. She touched the stone walls, noticing that the smell of sulfur seemed more prominent now. Did that mean she was dead? Were they both? The dead didn't have pounding headaches or racing hearts, did they? She held out her hands, half expecting to see decayed flesh or prominent bones, but they looked normal.

Zaybris gestured around them. "This is the demon spawn's room. This blasted stone returned me to the spot where I took him."

She looked around the room. They were in Sam's world, his home. In his own room where he must have played and slept before he was taken. The fact that it obviously had not been touched since young Sam had occupied it was heartbreaking. What terrible irony it was that she should end up here instead of him.

Zaybris laughed bitterly. "Fate has an absurd sense of humor. Don't you think, human? Lady? What was your name again?"

"Selene."

"I am Zaybris, your new ruler," he said. "I meant to take you to my castle to be honored as a giver of life, yet here we are. Intriguing, don't you think? I had always believed I was destined to regain Lilith's favor by ruling in her stead, but perhaps I was sent here to win her another way."

Without waiting for her to respond, Zaybris tried to stand. His legs were shaking, and each movement seemed to pain him. When he reached out to the desk chair for support, he lost his balance. Both he and the chair fell to the ground with a large bang.

"Hmm. It appears our journey has weakened me considerably," he said, rubbing his back. "Not to worry, though. Come here, Selene. I need a drop of your blood."

Before Selene could protest, footsteps pounded outside the room. She pressed back into the corner. Sam had told her that the Underworld wasn't all fiery pits and lakes of lava, but what if things had changed? Would the demons here help her escape, or was she about to be roasted on a spit?

The bedroom door flew open. It revealed an elegant woman with dark eyes and gray wings. She had pearlescent skin, tinged with green and copper, and waist-length auburn hair. She wore a fitted black dress with bell sleeves and tiny buttons down the front. A silver crown made of spikes rested above her pointed ears.

When the woman looked at Selene, her eyes were surprised. The woman's gaze whipped over to Zaybris, and Selene watched her beauty transform into something terrible and frightening, like a vengeful queen from a fairy tale.

"You!" the woman cried, pointing at Zaybris. "How dare you show your face in the Underworld! Where is my son?"

"Lilith, my love," Zaybris said, walking toward her on his knees.

Lilith. Selene's skin tingled as she realized she was staring at the lost queen of Aurelia. Who was also apparently Sam's mother? The resemblance was clear—both in the set of her mouth and the tone of her skin. She wasn't much taller than Selene, but her bearing made Selene feel like a child cowering before a giantess.

Zaybris moved to wrap his arms around Lilith's legs. "Sweet Lilith, destiny brings us together so that we may never again part."

"Don't call me Lilith!" She kicked him hard in the chest. "I gave up that name when I began my new life just as you did, Lawrence. Tell me where my son is!"

"W-what should I call you?" Zaybris asked, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

She placed her hands on her hips, causing the sleeves of her dress to billow. Wispy shadows chased around her skirts. "I am Lamia now. Queen of the Night and the Underworld. The Maiden of Desolation, and first Shadow demon of her kind. Mate of Asmodeus, king of the Underworld and mother to Samael, the lost prince of Vengeance. Now I command you to explain to me why this room was filled with your stench the night my son disappeared!"

Zaybris swallowed. "I didn't think anything could top your Goblyn beauty, but how lovely you are as a demon now. More humanlike. Was the transition painful?"

The queen kicked him again, this time in the stomach. "It was glorious," she shot back, then turned to look at Selene. "Who are you?"

Selene's adrenaline was off the charts, yet she tried to appear calm and unthreatening. "Queen Lilith—I mean Queen Lamia, my name is Selene. I was in Aurelia, but Zaybris took me here. I-I know your son."

The queen took a step closer. "I can smell him on you." Her eyes brimmed with tears that she quickly blinked back. "Samael is in Aurelia?"

"Yes," Selene said.

"Has he been there the whole time?"

Selene nodded. "Since Zaybris took him as a boy."

Queen Lamia closed her eyes and murmured, "I was sure he was in Gaia. We've spent decades searching for him. And for Zaybris." When her eyes opened, they glowed red. "Oh you despicable leech, I always knew you took him. I just didn't think you would be so cruel as to take him to Aurelia."

Zaybris shrugged. "You give me too much credit. I merely thought of the only other realm I knew, besides Gaia, which was Aurelia."

"A closed dimension," Lamia said.

"Not to me. I can go anywhere I wish now."

"Then take me to him at once! How did you even come to the Underworld without being dead?"

Zaybris carefully rose to his feet then gestured to the stone suspended around his neck. "A traveler's stone. After you left, I spent years searching for a way to rescue you. Then I met a man who had used a traveler's stone to transport himself from Atlantis dimension to Aurelia. I killed him for it, so it now belongs to me."

"Rescue me?" Lamia asked. "Yet, you chose to abduct my son instead."

"I didn't plan to," he spat. "When I arrived in this foul place, I followed your scent, which led me to this room. When I saw a young demon sleeping in that bed with your features, I… I became enraged. I couldn't believe that you had chosen to breed with… with…"

"My fated mate?" Lamia supplied.

Selene's breath caught at the familiar term fated mate, but before she could dwell on it, Zaybris said, "I saw that you had built a life in the Underworld. Without me. So I did the only thing I could think of to make you notice me. I took your child." A smirk overtook the vampire's face. "I wanted to hurt you as you hurt me. To take something dear to you just as your demon lover took something dear to me. I was your most trusted advisor, yet you spurned me for a fiend you barely knew."

Lamia laughed. "I knew Asmodeus long before you met me. You have him to thank for your relocation to Aurelia. He didn't like how your kind violated the line between human life and death on Gaia and asked me to intervene. We fell in love, and—"

"Then he coerced you to leave me! Or did he possess you to choose his wickedness?" Zaybris demanded. His knees trembled, causing him to fall back onto the edge of Sam's bed.

"It was you who coerced me!" Lamia shouted. "I was already with child when you tried to attack me. I was preparing to leave Aurelia to live in the Underworld, planning for the protection and care of my people. I hadn't even had a chance to tell my sisters yet. And then that night when I saw how crazed you had become, how possessive, I was frightened. Asmodeus didn't want me to live with him until I was ready, but I couldn't risk staying near you another moment. I transported myself to Gaia where Asmodeus took me to his home."

"It's all in the past now. I forgive you for leaving me. Won't you forgive me too?" Zaybris pleaded.

"Absolutely not! Now take me to Samael at once!" said the demon queen. She drew herself up to spread her wings, and Selene tensed, certain she was about to see Zaybris burst into flames or get turned into a toad before he could take the queen anywhere. The shadows around Lamia's skirts grew more menacing. Then a roar from outside the bedroom made them all turn. Heavy footsteps shook the room like an earthquake.

Selene gulped as an enormous demon filled the doorway. He stood at least seven feet tall, eight if you counted his great black horns. They were gnarled and thick as tree branches, rising from the top of his bald head to point forward menacingly. Upon his brow was a crown of spikes similar to Lamia's, but his was chipped and battered like he had used it as an actual weapon. His goat-like legs stamped the floor as though he were about to charge. His expression was dark as a thundercloud.

There was only one person this could be—Asmodeus, king of the Underworld.