Rocco's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe me — I could see it in the way his gaze dropped to my shoulder, the way his hand hovered near my arm without touching it. But he didn't push. There wasn't time. He filed it away the way he always did — another thing he'd blame himself for later.
Lucien pressed his palms flat against the door. “It’s cold. And it’s vibrating.” His voice dropped. “This is where he took her.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. Behind that door, Raven was either alive or she wasn't. And if she was, every second we stood out here debating was a second closer to midnight. I couldn't beat Vex — I knew that. But I didn't need to beat him. I just needed to get between him and Raven long enough for someone who could. I'd done it once with the baby. I'd do it again.
Lucien and Rocco dug their fingers into the edge of the door and pulled. The muscles in their arms corded. Sweat rolled down their faces. The stone groaned, resisting them like something alive, then inched open — just enough for a slim body to slip through. Not enough for either of them. Their shoulders were too broad, their frames too large.
But I could fit.
The realization hit all three of us at the same time.
“Selena, wait—“ Rocco’s voice was sharp, desperate.
But I was already through.
The door slammed shut behind me like a jaw snapping closed.
Total darkness. The air was thick, hot, reeking of sulfur. I spun around and pressed my hands against the door. Solid. Unmovable. On the other side, Rocco was screaming my name, his fists pounding against the stone.
Terror seized me — not of Vex, not of the dark, but of being cut off from Rocco. The bond between us pulled taut like a wire about to snap. Every cell in my body screamed to claw through the stone, to get back to him. I was alone in a demon's lair with no magic, no backup, and a shoulder that barely worked.
But Raven was in here. And I was the only one who'd gotten through.
I turned slowly and looked down the stairwell.
Two golden eyes stared up at me from the darkness.
“Welcome, Selena.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Rocco
“Selena! Selena!” I slammed my fists against the stone. “Answer me!”
Nothing. Just silence on the other side. Silence and the fading echo of my own voice.
Damn it. What was she thinking?
Then a scream—muffled by stone but unmistakable. Selena’s scream.
My heart stopped.
“Help me!” I grabbed the edge of the door. “Lucien, now!”
Lucien and I pulled and pulled and pulled. From somewhere deep inside me, I found strength I didn’t know I had—raw, desperate, fueled by something far more powerful than vampire blood. The stone groaned. Shifted. Gave.
We forced the door open and charged through.
“Selena!”
My voice echoed down the stairwell and came back empty.
She was gone.
Lucien and I tore down the stairs, but that same invisible force shoved back against us with every step. It didn’t matter. Adrenaline was a furnace inside my chest and nothing — no magic, no demon, no force in hell — was going to keep me from reaching her.
What if Vex possessed her? What if he summoned another demon to crawl inside her skin and wear her like a suit? The thought nearly buckled my knees. I knew what that felt like — the horror of being trapped behind your own eyes while something monstrous used your body. I wouldn’t let her experience that. I’d tear Vex apart with my bare hands first.
