Prologue
Melinda Thymes
The Past
He was there, as expected. A draining concealment spell kept me hidden in Grim’s woods. It wasn’t time to approach Grim or his family yet. I’d wait until things truly unraveled.
Tinkering with the future could be disastrous. I had to be careful how I intervened. After my vision, staying at a distance wasn’t an option. The Devil couldn’t help but wonder what this kid would turn into someday. When he touched the baby, he got a quick peek into her future. Naturally, he’d want to mess with his fate—and honestly, that was what unsettled me, because I knew changing the future was possible.
How I wished he hadn’t seen that single glimpse of her. Then, his fate would have taken him by surprise. But his presence in the woods meant the woman—the Kara of the future—rattled him.
If the Devil could harm the immortal child, he might prevent their shared future.
He came to those woods with a way to hurt Kara, so I had to do something.
I found the child outside playing. Kara was not by herself in the woods. Her brother, cursed with the sin of sloth, was supposed to be watching her. But Sebastian slept against a tree as Kara laughed and kicked her tiny legs in the pinkish water. Pink water! Whoever heard of such a thing? Grim, aka Death, created an exquisite landscape draped in majestic colors of pinks, purples, and oranges.
Amid the scenic backdrop, I noticed the Devil, his horns and tail visible, perched on a thick branch above Sebastian. He dug his long black claws into the bark and didn't even bother hiding how creepy he looked—maybe just trying to freak the girl out, even though he hadn't gotten close to her. The cracks in his dark skin revealed glimpses of Hell, and it was disturbing to see how much Lucifer had changed since his fall. The once-beautiful angel now looked terrifying with a chaotic lava substance swirling beneath fractures in his flesh.
It was hard to imagine any woman being attracted to him, even if she were destined to be his partner. The Devil had the power to appear however he wished, yet I doubted he would choose a human form just so people could look at him more easily. He seemed to appreciate his own appearance, or maybe he savored the reactions he provoked in others.
As an odd grin stretched across his face, goose bumps pebbled my skin. Suddenly, two menacing hellhounds appeared and surrounded the toddler. My eyes widened in horror. He was truly there to hurt her! She was immortal, but that would onlymean he could inflict pain beyond reckoning. Unless… he knew something I didn’t. The thought pierced my heart like a dagger.
Kara blinked, then gasped at the two massive beasts. She giggled and then charged. One of them growled, and I rushed forward—but before I could do anything, the child grabbed its right ear.
Mimicking the beast, she said, “Grr.”
Then, the child did something unbelievable. She threw the dog like it were a pebble. The hellhound yelped as it slammed into a tree. Kara locked eyes with the next hellhound. The beast was already turning away from her. Still giggling, she latched onto its tail and began spinning in circles. The dog howled as she twirled it through the air. When she released it, the hellhound vanished from sight, but its painful howl echoed back.
Kara clapped and said, “Again!”
So, the child had strength.
Still perched on the branch, the Devil glared, his tail twitching behind him. His scowl deepened when his two beasts fled. He pointed his finger at the child.
“You’re scared of that?” he asked .
With a loud gasp, Sebastian bolted forward, glancing left and right. When he saw his sister ahead of him, his shoulders sagged as he rubbed his eyes.
“Let’s go, Kitty. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
The Devil narrowed his eyes but retreated.
A few weeks later, the Devil returned to the woods. Once more, he tried but failed to harm Kara.
To be honest, I could have found him entertaining—if it weren't for the threat he posed to the child. He tried so hard, andall the child did was laugh, even when faced with his monstrous appearance.
On his last day, Kara grabbed his tail and flung him to the ground.
“Here, you insufferable child,” the Devil muttered as he stood up and flicked his tail like a rattlesnake, a clear warning. “Drink this.”
I didn’t know what was in the vial, but it would no doubt do serious harm if he wanted her to drink it. Before I could intervene, Grim did. He banished the Devil from the woods that day. Grim sacrificed his soul to keep the Devil away from the youngest, and it succeeded.
The Devil couldn’t enter, and Grim made sure the youngest daughter rarely ventured beyond the woods.
But none of it mattered in the end. The Devil found her in other ways and waited until Grim was gone to finish what he had started.
Chapter One
