“They’re a part ofme,zhizn moya. Of course they wouldn’t risk hittingyou. Had your friends come on their own, it would have been a different story…”
My hip bumped the corner of the broken table and I winced, turning my face only to find Arc’s exhausted eyes finally open. He pulled at the chain restraining him, his face contorting in pain at the burn on his wrists.
“What does Arc have to do with it? Let himgo.”
“Nocan’t do,chérie. Arc has a lot more to do in this matter than you and him even knew,” he said, casting a dark look his way. “Did you know his kind shouldn't exist? There’s a reason he’s the only one.”
Arc kept fighting. I needed to buy time. Needed to get him out and reason with Dimitri. But could he truly be reasoned with right now?
“Stop building up the damn suspense and give me a straight answer for once!” I yelled, my own voice surprising me.
“Asmodeus didn’t need your soul for himself,” he explained, tilting his head to the side, his red eyes glinting from the faint flickering neon light above. “No, he just needed an Astral. The soul was forsomeoneelse. My father.Arc’s father.” My heart stopped in my chest.Brothers? How—“You’ve met Lucifer, right? A few times, I believe. But what do you know about theotherPrinces of Hell? Asmodeus is the one who turned you, obviously…”
The seven Princes of Hell. The seven deadly sins. Each demon served under one, and balanced tie groups usually had one from each house. Dimitri stopped and crossed his arms while leaning his hip on the side of the table. My vision blurred but I blinked through it.
“Wrath, orSatanfor others—my dear father—has been busy plotting while I was left behind and fell in love with you. See, I’m his first born. But he hadmanyother Nephilims over the years. He’s been obsessed with siring a…perfectbeing. One of both Hell and Heaven. But all his attempts, whether he bred a human or Divine, turned unsuccessful.
“The children were either simple Nephilims—not even powerful ones—or in the worst case scenario, deformed stillborns. Which made sense; Princes of Hell might have been Archangels once, but theyfell. And not the cute way simple angels do now; the whole ‘you’ll be rulers and prisoners of Hell’ deal.
“So Wrath had an idea. Why not use the soul of an Astral? And even better, the one of aPhoenix…Because everyone knew back then that Phoenixes were the only of the three who wereactuallyImmortal. After all, they could even come back from their ashes if they wished to when they died of old age, and they were known to increase humans health and longevity.”
My breath hitched as his eyes landed on me.
“I’m sure you know where I’m going with this…” I did. “It was not a coincidence my father disappeared when we came close to your village, leaving me alone to fend the Hellhounds sent to bring him back to Hell—he had overstayed his welcome on earth, and Lucifer wasn’t happy with him. I had no idea what was going on, so I stayed put, like the good son that I was, waiting for him to come back. And then I metyou.”
He closed his eyes as he struggled to swallow, letting out a long sigh.
“Oh, howhappyhe must have been when you and I met. When he realized that you, a Phoenix withHeirblood, was my mate. All he had to do was todupeyour brother. Createchaosandconfusionwithin his heart. It took decades for me to understandwhyyour brother so eagerly pushed that damn Soul Shard in yourchest and fled after you killed your father. Until I ran into him and he folded like the coward he’s always been.
“Turns out he was so desperate to be free that Asmodeus didn’t even have to convince him. Just a little push, saying that hesawa future where you were the Shard Carrier, and he gobbled it all up. Talked you into revealing everything to your parents, and when it didn’t work out and shit hit the fan, took it upon himself to ensure the Prince of Hell’s so-called vision became true. Shoved the damn soul into your chest and ran off like a scared kitten.
“When Asmodeus got what he wanted, he gave your soul to my father. It took Satan a few tries, but there it is,” he said, waving dismissively toward a struggling Arc. “Thesonhe always wanted to have. An unnaturalmistake.”
“I thought—” I shook my head. “I thought your father was a Divine.Youtold me he was a Divine. Your teeth and—”
“Because he technically is,” Dimitri answered. “Princes of Hell were born Divine. The Nephilims they sire have both Heaven and Hell coursing through their veins.Ido. All my late siblingsdid.”
Dimitri noticed the confusion on my face before he groaned, looking at Arc once more.
“Do you think I found out about Arc’s existence as soon as he was born? No. It took a Hell of a long time as the damn Warlock who raised him made it almost impossible for me and others to know he was even created. I had to track down each and every one of Satan’s children—my brothers and sisters—in hope to find your soul, starting with the ones in Hell.”
“What happened to all of them?”
The red swirled in his eyes and the corner of his lips creased in a lazy smile.
“Most are dead.” My heart sank and his face took a somber expression. “What was I supposed to do? I had to get their soul out to check for yours.” He turned to Arc and let out an annoyed breath. “He’s been on my trail for a while, without knowing much about the whole thing. So when I came back to the house, I went through his room. Found all the articles he kept about the Nephilims found dead over the centuries and the mystery around it. It made sense why he didn’t trust me.”
I stumbled back until I hit the concrete wall and stared at him, eyes wide. “How—How many did youkill? Why not give them their soulbackinstead of killing them?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“Do not compare Nephilims to Astrals,” he said, pushing himself off the table to strode toward me. “They can’t live once it’s been ripped out and they were already dead thesecondI absorbed their souls.”
Absorbed? I gasped, as the realization settled in. Heconsumedthem? How did he even take their soul out in the first place?
“Good side was I grew stronger with each of them…Bad one was that the madness progressed faster, like in order to steal their strength, I also had to take their weaknesses…”
And I remembered now. The first time we saw each other a couple of decades after we parted ways for the first time, the single silver strand in his raven hair had taken over his entire head and the barely visible fleck of red colored both of his eyes. At that time, I had thought it was because we’ve been apart…
“How many, Dimitri?” I asked again.
