Sera's POV
I'm three rooftops away when I realize Kael isn't following the plan.
We're supposed to be partners now. Forced allies. But the way he's chasing me—red eyes blazing, power crackling around him like a storm—tells me he hasn't accepted Azrael's deal yet.
He still wants me dead.
"Sera!" His roar shakes the buildings. "We need to talk about Judge Brennan!"
Talk. Right. Because the half-demon currently leaping between skyscrapers like gravity is optional definitely wants to have a nice conversation.
I push harder, using my devil-enhanced speed to jump gaps that should be impossible. Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty. The city blurs beneath me. If I fall, I die. But if Kael catches me, I might wish I'd fallen.
He lands on the same rooftop two seconds behind me. Not even breathing hard.
"You can't run forever!" he shouts.
"Watch me!"
I sprint toward the edge and leap—a fifty-foot gap to the next building. For a moment I'm flying, the wind screaming past my ears, the ground impossibly far below.
I barely catch the ledge. My fingers scrape concrete. My shoulders scream.
Kael doesn't even slow down. He jumps the gap like it's a puddle, landing in a crouch beside me as I pull myself up.
"Enough!" He grabs my arm. "We need to—"
I twist, bringing my knee up toward his face. He blocks it, but the distraction lets me break his grip. My silver power flares, and he jerks back as energy crackles between us.
"Don't touch me!" I gasp. "I don't care what Azrael said. I don't trust you!"
"The feeling's mutual!" Kael's eyes are fully black now, his demon side showing. "But did you even listen to his threat? Maya dies if we don't cooperate!"
"Then stop chasing me like you're going to rip my throat out!"
"I'm not—" He stops. Takes a breath. The blackness fades from his eyes, replaced by crimson. "You're right. I'm sorry. My demon side... it's harder to control around you."
"Why?"
"I don't know." He runs a hand through his silver hair, looking frustrated and confused. "Your power does something to mine. It's like oil and water trying to mix. It makes me aggressive."
"Great. So we're chemically incompatible on top of hating each other."
"Apparently."
We stand there, both panting, both ready to fight, neither making the first move.
"Judge Brennan," Kael says finally. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing yet. You interrupted, remember?"
"So he's still alive? Mind intact?"
"For now." I cross my arms. "But he deserves—"
"I know what he deserves." Kael cuts me off. "Seventeen rapists freed. Eight murderers walking the streets. Two million in bribes. I read his file too."
"Then why stop me?"
"Because Azrael's challenge was to balance justice with mercy. Your power, my judgment. You wanted to shatter his mind. That's not balance. That's just revenge."
"It's what he deserves!"
"Says who? You?" Kael moves closer, and I force myself not to back up. "You've been the Pale Judge for six months. You've killed twelve people. How many were necessary, and how many were you just working through your anger?"
The question hits like a slap.
"All of them were evil," I say.
"Were they evil enough to deserve eternal torture? Or were some of them people who made bad choices? People who could have changed?"
"People don't change!" The words burst out of me. "Evil is evil! The girls who bullied me didn't change. They grew up and became bullies with better jobs. The system that failed me didn't change. It just got better at hiding corruption. Nothing changes unless someone MAKES it change!"
"By becoming worse than what you're fighting?"
"If necessary!"
Kael stares at me, and something like sadness crosses his face. "You really believe that."
"I have to." My voice cracks. "Because if I don't, then what was the point? Why give up thirty years of my life? Why become this... this thing I'm becoming? It has to mean something, Kael. It has to matter."
For a moment, neither of us speaks. The city buzzes below us—cars honking, people talking, life continuing while we stand on this rooftop deciding whether to kill each other.
"It can matter," Kael says quietly. "Without destroying you in the process. That's what I'm trying to tell you."
"How would you know? You've spent three hundred years running from your demon side. That's not exactly conquering darkness—that's just hiding from it."
His face hardens. "At least I'm not embracing it."
"Maybe you should!" The words surprise even me. "Maybe that's your problem, Kael. You're so busy being ashamed of what you are that you can't see the good you could do. You have power. Resources. Three centuries of knowledge. And you're wasting it all pretending to be human!"
"I'm trying to BE human!"
"Why?" I step closer, anger and frustration burning through me. "Why is being human so important? Humans are weak! They let evil win! They stand by and do nothing while innocent people suffer! I was human for twenty-five years, and all it got me was pain!"
"And now you're becoming a monster. Is that better?"
"At least monsters get things done!"
We're inches apart now, both glowing—my silver, his red—our powers pressing against each other like two magnets with the same charge. The rooftop is cracking beneath us.
"This is exactly what Azrael wants," Kael says through gritted teeth. "Us fighting. Destroying each other."
"Then maybe we should give him what he wants." My hands ball into fists. "One of us walks away. One of us doesn't. Clean. Simple."
"Except Maya dies."
The name stops me cold. Maya. My friend. My ally. The only person who knows what I am and hasn't run screaming.
"There has to be another way," I whisper.
"There isn't. Azrael's got us trapped." Kael's power dims slightly. "So we have two choices. Kill each other and let Maya die. Or figure out how to work together."
"I can't work with someone who wants me dead."
"And I can't work with someone who tortured my brother." His voice breaks. "But maybe we don't have to like each other. Maybe we just have to survive each other long enough to save Maya and break free of this deal."
Before I can answer, my phone buzzes. So does Kael's.
We both pull them out. Same message from Azrael: "Having fun, children? Time's wasting. Maya's at the precinct working late. Zuriel's watching her through the window. You have two hours to move into the penthouse, or I let daddy dearest have his snack. - A"
Attached is a photo. Maya at her desk. And behind her, reflected in the dark window, glowing red eyes.
My heart stops.
"We have to go," I say.
"Agreed."
We start running together—not chasing, not fighting, but moving as a team toward the address Azrael sent. The penthouse prison where we'll be forced to live together.
Neither of us speaks. But I can feel Kael's presence beside me, his power matching my pace, and it's strange how naturally we move together despite hating each other.
Like we've been partners before. Like our powers recognize something our minds don't.
We reach the building—a luxury high-rise in Manhattan's most expensive district. The penthouse takes up the entire top floor. The elevator opens directly into our new shared prison.
It's beautiful. Massive. And has exactly one bedroom, just like Azrael promised.
"You take the bed," Kael says stiffly. "I'll sleep on the couch."
"No, I'll—"
"Sera." He cuts me off. "I'm three hundred years old. I've slept in worse places. Take the bed."
I want to argue, but I'm too tired. Too confused. Too scared about what we're becoming.
"Thank you," I say quietly.
Kael nods and walks toward the living room. But he pauses in the doorway.
"For what it's worth," he says without looking back, "I'm sorry about the bullying. About everything that made you think this was your only option. You deserved better."
He leaves before I can respond.
I stand alone in the bedroom that smells like devil magic and expensive furniture, my reflection staring back from a full-length mirror. My eyes are silver. My skin is pale. I look like a ghost.
Or a monster.
My phone buzzes one last time. Not from Azrael this time, but from an unknown number: "Help me. He's inside my head. I can hear him laughing. Please, Sera. Make it stop. - Marcus"
My blood freezes. Marcus. The brother I broke. Somehow texting me from his hospital bed.
A second message: "He says you and Kael are going to destroy each other. He says you're falling in love but don't know it yet. He says it's going to be beautiful to watch. Who's 'he,' Sera? Who's in my head? - Marcus"
I stare at the messages, horror crawling up my spine.
Marcus shouldn't be able to text. His mind is shattered. Unless...
Unless someone is using him. Controlling him. Speaking through him.
A third message appears: "Found you. - Zuriel"
The lights in the penthouse go out.
In the darkness, I hear footsteps. Heavy. Wrong. Not Kael's.
And then, from the shadows, a voice like grinding bones: "Hello, little judge. My son told me all about you. Let's see if you're worth the fuss."