Kael's POV
The hunger hits me in the middle of shaking hands with a senator.
One second I'm smiling and making small talk at my own party. The next second, every nerve in my body is screaming that Marcus is dying.
I don't excuse myself. I don't explain. I just run.
People shout behind me, but I'm already gone, moving faster than human eyes can follow. The demonic blood in my veins burns hot, pushing me across rooftops, through alleys, up the side of Marcus's building like gravity doesn't exist.
My brother. My stupid, reckless, criminal brother who I've protected his entire life.
Something is killing him. I feel it.
I tear through his penthouse door—literally rip it off the hinges—and freeze.
Marcus is on the floor, clawing at his face, screaming at things that aren't there. Blood runs from his eyes like tears. His mind is breaking. I can smell it—that sharp, bitter scent of a human consciousness shattering into pieces.
Standing over him is the most dangerous creature I've seen in three hundred years.
She's small. Young. Human-shaped. But the silver light burning in her eyes isn't human at all. It's cold fire. Ancient fire. The kind that comes from places even demons fear.
And she's making my brother see hell.
"STOP!" The word comes out as a roar that shakes the windows.
She turns those silver eyes on me, and I feel her power slam against mine like two storms colliding. The air sparks. The floor cracks beneath us.
"Who are you?" she demands, still holding Marcus's wrist in a grip that should be impossible for someone her size.
"His brother." I let my true form show—just a glimpse. My eyes burn red. My shadow grows teeth. The temperature drops so fast my breath comes out as frost. "Let him go. Now."
She studies me with those terrible eyes. Not afraid. She should be afraid.
"Your brother sells cursed objects that kill people," she says. Her voice is empty. Dead. Like she's already forgotten what emotions sound like. "Children have died because of him."
"I know what he is." And I do. I've known for years. Marcus is weak, greedy, cruel. Everything our father was. But he's still my brother. Still the kid who used to have nightmares and crawl into my bed for protection. "But he's mine to deal with. Not yours."
"The law can't touch him," she says quietly. "So I will."
"The law?" I laugh, and it sounds harsh even to my own ears. "You're no cop. You're something else. Something that stinks of deals and darkness and—" I stop. Sniff the air. "Devil magic. You made a deal with a devil."
Her face doesn't change, but her grip on Marcus tightens. "Then you know I can't stop."
"You can." I take a step forward. "Or I'll make you."
She tilts her head, studying me like I'm a puzzle. "You're not human either. Half demon. Old blood. Very old." She pauses. "You're starving yourself. I can see it. You haven't fed in weeks."
How does she know that? How can she see—
Marcus screams again, louder. His back arches. Foam bubbles from his mouth.
"He's dying," I say, and my voice cracks despite myself. "Whatever you're doing to him—he's dying."
For just a second, something flickers in her silver eyes. Doubt? Guilt? But it's gone so fast I might have imagined it.
"He deserves it," she whispers.
"Maybe." I move faster than thought, crossing the space between us, grabbing her throat and lifting her off the ground. Her skin is ice-cold against my palm. "But you don't get to decide that."
She doesn't struggle. Doesn't panic. Just looks down at me with those horrible, beautiful eyes.
"Neither do you," she says.
Then her power explodes.
Silver light erupts from her body like a bomb. It throws me backward through a wall. I crash into Marcus's bedroom, concrete and steel crumbling around me. My ribs crack. My vision blurs.
When I stagger back to the main room, she's standing over Marcus again. But something's different.
Marcus has stopped screaming. He's just lying there, staring at nothing, drool running down his chin. His mind is gone. Completely shattered. I can smell it—that empty, hollow scent of a broken soul.
"What did you DO?" I roar.
"Justice," she says. But her hand is shaking now. Just a little. "He'll live. But he'll spend the rest of his life seeing what he did to his victims. Forever."
"That's worse than death!"
"Yes." She looks at me, and for the first time, I see the monster behind the pretty face. The thing that used to be human and isn't anymore. "It is."
Rage fills me like poison. My demon side surges forward, begging to be unleashed. I haven't let it out in years—not fully. But for Marcus, I will. For my brother, I'll become the monster I've spent centuries fighting.
I attack.
We collide in the center of the room, and the world explodes.
I'm stronger. Faster. Three hundred years of demonic power against her six months of devil magic. But she's vicious. Desperate. She fights like someone with nothing to lose.
My claws rake her shoulder. Her fist breaks my jaw. We crash through furniture, through walls, trading blows that would kill normal humans instantly.
She's incredible. Terrifying. Beautiful in the way forest fires are beautiful.
And I'm going to kill her.
I grab her by the hair and slam her face into the floor once, twice. Blood spatters. Her nose breaks. But she twists like a snake, wrapping her legs around my neck, squeezing with impossible strength.
"Your brother—was evil—" she gasps out, still fighting even as I crush her ribs.
"He was MINE!" I throw her across the room. She hits the window, and the glass spiderwebs behind her.
We're both panting now. Both bleeding. Both ready to finish this.
"Last chance," I say, my voice barely human anymore. "Walk away. Disappear. And I won't hunt you."
She wipes blood from her mouth. Smiles. It's the saddest smile I've ever seen.
"I can't walk away," she whispers. "I only have fourteen years left to live. And I'm going to spend every second of them hunting monsters like your brother."
"Then you'll die today."
I charge. She jumps backward through the window, glass exploding around her. Fifty stories up. She should fall. She should die.
But she doesn't.
She catches the edge of the building, swings down, and disappears into the darkness.
I stand at the broken window, staring at where she vanished, my demon blood screaming to chase her. To rip her apart. To make her pay for what she did to Marcus.
But something stops me.
Her words echo in my head: "Fourteen years left to live."
What kind of devil's deal costs you your life?
Behind me, Marcus whimpers like a broken child. I turn to see him curled on the floor, staring at invisible horrors, tears streaming down his face.
My brother. My responsibility. My failure.
I pull out my phone with shaking hands and dial Dr. Vale. "I need you. Now. It's Marcus. His mind is—" My voice breaks. "Just come. Please."
As I wait for help, I notice something written on the wall in shadow-magic. Words that make my blood run cold:
"THE PALE JUDGE SEES ALL SINS. EVEN YOURS, KAEL DRAVEN. YOUR BROTHER WAS FIRST. YOU'RE NEXT."
Beneath it, a second message in different handwriting—fresher, written in what looks like liquid starlight:
"UNLESS YOU FIND HER FIRST. TICK TOCK, HALF-DEMON. THE DEVIL'S ALWAYS WATCHING. - A"
Azrael.
The devil who made her.
I stare at the messages, understanding crashing over me like ice water.
This isn't over. This is just beginning.
She's hunting monsters. And I'm on her list.
But now I'm hunting her too.
And when I find her, one of us is going to die.
I just don't know which one yet.