Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates! I had writer's block and I managed to post a new chapter today. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoy :) 

Song:  Gasoline X Halsey

"We know what we are, but not what we may be."

- William Shakespeare

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Angelo's words rattled through the bones of my body. "W-what do you mean by 'mark'?" I asked him. "You mean that there's more than one type of mark than this?!" I exclaimed as I showed him the mark Daemon gave me. Swirls of gold and onyx embedded my skin from Daemon's ink infused with Angelo's golden ones.

"Yes, and no." Angelo replied hesitantly.

"Why don't you enlighten us, angel boy. After all, being in the dark about everything Heaven and Nether Realm has been helping us a lot." Brittany said with a tone of sarcasm. Her mascara streaked down her cheek from crying at Summer's funeral and her once silky hair was a rat's nest. There was a determined glint in her eyes and I knew she was no longer the self-centered friend I once knew before the game.

I wished I could be like her.

Angelo's eyes were weary with exhaustion and as I looked into them once more, I realized his eyes revealed so much history and weight of knowledge that he hid to protect me.

"The truth will hurt, but I know it will strengthen us in the long run." I said.

Everyone braced themselves for the possible horrible news that Angelo will drop on us and I found myself grasping onto Brittany's hand for support.

Angelo sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. "It's better to show all of you, rather than tell all of you." he took my hand into his and intertwined our fingers together.

"Link your hands together and close your eyes. The past will reveal itself to you." he ordered us.

As I closed my eyes, a pressure began to form in my head and I saw everything.

**********

The night was young and the moon hung carelessly above the starlit sky. The City of Angels was having its first peaceful month in years. However, in the dangerous streets of LA, a man in his early thirties was desperate for a cure for his sick pregnant wife. John Beaumont has aged drastically the past few months from overwork as he saw slivers of his reflection on a closed liquor store window. He was nervous because the man he was about to meet was a dangerous and important one. The man he was about to meet was his only hope to save his unborn daughter and his dear wife.

John waited at a street corner impatiently for a stranger whom he didn't know was watching his every move from the shadows. Slowly, like a panther taking its predatory steps towards its prey, the stranger from the shadows revealed himself to the weary man.

"I heard you were in need of my assistance." the pale dark haired stranger said with his soft silvery voice.

"My neighbor Ramon said you were the person to turn to about my problem. Daemon, is that correct?"

"At your service." Daemon replied with a ghost of a smile. The sharp angles of his face were emphasized from the moonlight that heightened the aura of danger in this man. Daemon was not to be trusted, but John was desperate.

"My wife—" he began but Daemon stopped him.

"There's no need to explain. I have already postponed your wife's and unborn daughter's death date. As Ramon had said, I require payment."

"I don't have much money to give you, but I'll give you everything I have." John said.

"I don't need anything of the sort," Daemon said waving his hand. "What I want, is your soul."

John hesitated for a moment. He knew he was making a risky deal with the devil himself, but the lives and future of his wife and unborn daughter were at stake.

"Alright." John said finally.

Daemon placed both his hands on the aging man's head before chanting a language that was frequently used before the beginning of man.

Pain racked John's entire torso, as if whatever Daemon's doing was ripping his soul away from him. John began to feel a scorching burn etching into his shoulders. It felt like hell, and perhaps, this was what hell would feel like because John had just surrendered his soul to the devil to save his wife and his unborn daughter.

Once Daemon was finished devouring the mortal's soul, John fell to the ground on his knees groaning, the mark burning brightly on his shoulder. Standing over him was Daemon with a smug look plastered on his gorgeous face. He didn't understand why the man would sacrifice the souls of his family for the Nether Realm to live a few measly years on Earth.

**********

Like a painting that's been splashed with white paint, the memory faded away and replaced it with the surrounding I was in. I didn't know tears were streaming down my cheeks until one crawled its way down my neck.

Like myself, my father has sacrificed his soul to the devil just to save me and my mother.

And like myself, he didn't know that there were strings attached to Daemon's deals.

"Is my father ever going to wake up?" I asked Angelo.

"It's...complicated." he answered sadly.

"Then make it easier for me to understand!" I demanded, anger surging through my veins. I was tired of Angelo's facade of "protecting" me. His "protection" caused Summer to die because of me.

Daniel rubbed my back in comfort. "Celeste, it'll be okay. Angelo's going to tell us everything, right?" he said as he spared a glare towards Angelo.

"Tell us everything." Brittany demanded. "How much advantage does Daemon have over us?"

"I'll tell all of you everything when—-"

"TELL US NOW!" I screamed at him. His secrets increased the doubtful feelings that gnawed in my stomach. I thought I was able to trust him but the confrontations that are facing him was making him agitated and jittery as if he was a criminal that has been caught and had nowhere to escape.

"Y-your soul as well as your mother's already belong to Daemon. Your father unknowingly sacrificed your souls as well as his because he wanted to save both of you from dying early." Angelo rubbed his temples and continued, "Since your father is in a coma, his soul is still in Chinvat because he still has the potential to wake up and live or succumb to his slumber and die. If he's still in Chinvat right now, it means he's trying hard to open the door to Earth but Daemon's slaves are preventing him from doing so. Instead, they're trying to drag him towards the doors of the Nether Realm."

"Your father's a tough one, you know...I can see where you got your determination from..."

These certain words rang inside my head and I ended up falling on the floor, a knot in my throat threatening forming knowing that my father was suffering in the Nether Realm for my sake. My vision blurred and my head started to throb. I was on my knees with my head down before T ed shook my shoulder slightly.

"Celeste...Celeste please talk to us..." he begged softly.

Another tear of mine fell before I wiped it harshly. My imagination ran wild on the torture Daemon could have done to my father. What he felt for me wasn't love. He mistake hate for love.

"What can I do to save him?" I asked Angelo weakly.

"There's nothing you can do, Celeste. The deal made between your father and Daemon is way out of your hands." he replied. "What we can do right now is to help each other win each remaining level of the game so your father's sacrifice for your soul will not be all for nought."

I nodded blankly before Angelo handed me a rough dusty box from his bag. As I looked at it closely, I realized it was a book with thin flimsy pages that were yellow with age.

"This book will explain everything about your identity and the questions you may have." Angelo explained.

"I bet it's going to give us a huge advantage on the next game." Daniel said excitedly.

"Where did you get this book?" I asked Angelo suspiciously.

"The library." he shrugged.

"Why the library?" Brittany asked.

"It turned out that there's already someone who knows about what's happening to us before it even occurred. The book was shelved between the nonfiction and fantasy section." Angelo added.

I wiped the dust that covered the title of the book. Fructus Est Nuptialis. Exotic symbols and roses engraved its cover giving the book a rough texture.

As I opened to the first page of the book my hands shook and dropped it when I saw the familiar devilish features of Daemon printed on the page's surface. 

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Xoxo,

Angelique <3