"Lust, do you love me?" Hailie asked, waiting for the answer impatiently, while Lust felt like being caught off guard.

A thousand thoughts ran through his head at once, while he was thinking about the answer. He wouldn't have guessed that Hailie would ask such a thing, that anybody would.

Did he love her? Was he even able to love anybody, after his dear daughter? After all the things he has done in order to change and became a ruthless demon that cared for nobody? Yes, he was able to have feelings. He was shutting them down, but they were always within him. It became clear some time ago. He could pretend, but it became too tiring. He was so tired of hurting others, those who actually meant something to him. From humans, he learned what a family means in their language. For him, his family was other sin demons. He made many mistakes, and he was probably going to make even more of them, but now he understood that it could've been forgiven, that he wasn't the only one making wrong choices.

After all, he got what he wanted. Hailie had feelings for him and even she couldn't hide or refuse them any longer. It was not the question that gave it all away, it was the look in her eyes. But she was uncertain, mostly because of Shane. She had feelings for him as well, but for Lust it felt like it was his decision. Looking at Hailie, he now knew that he could have her. It was only a matter of time.

But was he going to leave her heartbroken? After all, he was just a demon. They say a demon cannot love. Maybe that wasn't true. That's what Lust believed now, but it didn't matter. Whatever they were saying, one thing was quite right. The demon and a human won't last for too long. And so, sooner or later, he was going to leave her hurt and alone.

Besides, what life would be for her, if she were with a demon?

She wasn't alone. She had a chance for a life that might've been even good. He hated Shane. What a meaningless, weak human, compared to a demon. But for Hailie he was actually good, maybe even better, and Lust learned that Shane loves her dearly.

Loves her. Shane loves her.

But does he love her?

"I care for you, Hailie. More than you can imagine," he admitted, making a decision at last. "But a demon cannot love." She sucked in the air. "I'll always be here for you, but I don't want to lie. I desire you, but desire is not love."

"That's enough," she said, trying to stop the tears. No, she will not cry in front of Lust, neither will she cry in the presence of other demons. Once again, she put all her emotions aside. Just for now. She had to be strong. For now. "That's all I needed to know." Her sadness was overthrown by anger. "And for your information, I don't love you as well. I'm glad we're on the same page here," she said, trying to hurt him and she succeeded.

Hailie turned around rapidly, making her hair cut the air. She walked back into the gross hall. Lust wanted to stop her, to make it alright again, but he didn't do it. He watched her walk away, thinking that he just made another mistake. But he did it for her safety and happiness.

After a few minutes, Lust came back to the hall as well, making it right in time. The guards stepped away, making a way for the king of humans, who walked in with hesitant Shane, who became dumbfounded as soon as he saw Hailie. He abruptly stopped, looking at her like he was trying to understand what she was doing here, then both of them ran to each other. Shane embraced her tightly, asking her ten questions a second. Lust turned away, not eager to look at this scene of reconnection between the two of them.

"Hailie, how is it possible? You're not-"

"Dead?" she laughed it off, but Shane didn't seem in a mood for games. "No, I'm very much alive. We came here for you." She nodded at the sin demons. "To bring you back."

"You came here. That's so dangerous!" He was indignant. "Are you alright?" he asked, being full of worries now.

"Yes, thanks to demons. But tell me, what about you? Have they hurt you?"

He seemed more than fine, but they were only appearances. He could easily say that he had the chance to visit some unpleasant places In Between, but, maybe even luckily for him, he quickly ended up being thrown in the cell. He thought he was waiting for a second death, seeing how most of the other prisoners were tortured or taken away. They told him that his soul now belonged to the demon named Asmodeus, but most things that he found out about In Between and the Human's Kingdom was thanks to the souls that were imprisoned in the cells around his cell.

"I'll be fine," he said and, in his case, it was the truth. He saw horrible things but working as a policeman and living in a town where the Bloody Mansion stood, it had taken its toll on him a long time ago. "Will you be?" He had a feeling that Hailie saw a great deal of horrible things as well. She didn't answer, only hugged into him tighter. "We'll go through it. Together," he promised, although he had no idea how they wanted to bring him back from the dead. Was it even possible? He really hoped he wouldn't stay here any longer.

"I'm so happy we found you. You have no idea how-" She couldn't end the sentence, because the tears flooded her face. "I was so scared," she whispered, "that I'll never see you again."

"Shhh, I'm here, Hailie, I'm here." He stroked her back and held her against him, glad to finally embrace her. He had no idea how much time had passed, but for him it felt already like infinity.

"You may find it hard to believe, but Lust did everything he could to find you," Hailie said, after a few more minutes of just hugging each other. She wanted to stay in his arms, but at the same time she couldn't stop thinking about Lust. "He even put his own life on a stake to win your soul back from Asmodeus."

"That's indeed past my belief," he sighed, remembering what happened seconds before his death. Memory of it made him a bit angry. When Hailie moved aside, Shane walked straight to Wrath and without hesitation hit him in the face with his fist, making Wrath almost fall on the ground from a punch.

"That's for killing me."

"Shane!" Hailie squealed, while Wrath groaned.

"Fine, I deserved it," he admitted.

"Yeah, you do," Pride agreed.

Shane turned to Lust. "And if it comes to you," he started, making Hailie scared that Shane would hit him too, "thank you. Actually, thank you all. Hailie told me how much you did to find me."

Sloth yawned, already thinking about coming back home and getting a nap, before another big problem that was waiting for them to solve. The problem of getting out of the house. But first, there must've been a nap. Definitely.

"Dude, sorry to break the illusion for you. However, Lust and Hailie, and maybe Pride, indeed cared for you to come back, we kind of were into it mostly because killing you created a worldwide problem."

"Oh." Shane frowned. "Well, thank you anyway. Especially to you, Lust." Shane embraced Hailie with his arm. "For taking care of Hailie, while I was gone. Luckily, I'm back."

"Sure," Lust replied, feeling how in this one moment all the momentary sympathy for Officer Let-Me-Remind-You-Whose-Girlfriend-Hailie-Is-Not disappeared.

Chill out, Lust, chill out. You didn't come all this way just to change your mind, he thought.

"So, how are you going to bring me back?" Shane asked, hoping they've got some kind of plan.

The demons gazed at Greed, as if they were looking for an answer. After all, she knew the most about the Twin Blades. Shane was killed by the Spell Breaker, so, how were they supposed to transport his soul back to his body on Earth? Especially, if the body was the source of the darkness now.

"Um, yeah, about that," she got nervous. "Since it's probably the first time in history, when we face that situation, there isn't much material I could read on."

"You don't know," Pride sighted.

"I suppose, the best way is to use the spell that brings back together the soul and the body. It should work, because of the anomaly. Shane shouldn't be dead. And once it's connected back again, the darkness should disappear, and everything should be fixed."

"That's a lot of 'should' in here," Sloth dared to notice. "But we must try."

Hailie caught Shane's hand tighter. She thought it was a safe procedure, but now it turned out to be extremely uncertain.

"We should do it as fast as we can, but is it the right place?" Pride whispered.

"Traveling with a living human was troubling enough, now we also have an important soul, I don't think it's wise to relocate now," Lust said, and the others agreed. He turned around to the king, who was quietly standing next to his guards. "We need to stay here a little bit longer. Will that be a problem?"

The king spread his hands to his sides as if he were inviting them. "Be my guests," he said, making Lust even more careful. It wasn't that long ago when he wanted to get rid of them as fast as possible.

While Lust was talking to the king, Hailie turned to Shane. "Tell me it will be alright."

He touched her cheek. "It will be alright. It must be, because I think I've got enough of this vacation from living," Shane joked, making her chuckle.

"That's not the right moment for joking around! You're still in danger."

"Well then, it's the perfect time for laughing. I think you need even more jokes right now."

"How can you still not break down, after all this?" she asked, full of admiration for his courage.

"Because I have you. That's all that matters."

Hailie weakly smiled, but after a short moment, she looked at Lust. Maybe she was stupid, thinking that this journey changed anything. He was a demon. That's what he said. He only cared for her, but he didn't love her.

"Do you need anything else?" the king asked.

"Privacy," Lust replied, thinking that he looked like he was waiting for something. But for what? For them to end and leave?

"Surely that's essential," he scoffed. "But let me ask of you one thing. How do you want to bring back to life that unfortunate soul?"

"Why do you ask?" Pride took a place beside Lust. "You plan on coming back on Earth?"

The king laughed it off. Earth? How pathetic. It was nothing compared to his kingdom. What a bizarre idea. Living on Earth must've really messed those demons up.

"I'm asking out of curiosity." It wasn't a lie. He just never heard of the people from Hell or In Between coming back to life.

"Unfortunately, it's not your business how and why we're going to do this." Lust wasn't eager to share the story of killing and resurrecting Shane. Actually, the less demons knew about that, the better. He hoped that maybe, with a bit of luck, nobody will find out.

The king wasn't surprised by this answer. "I've heard a lot about the seven deadly sins demons. Your reputation precedes you. I had a feeling we won't like each other, especially that you seem to be prejudiced against me."

"We've heard a lot about you too. And seen quite enough." Pride knew that the king was a lying and manipulating bastard, who should not be trusted at any chance. It was more than weird, that he didn't try any of his tricks, since their arrival.

"It's a shame we couldn't be allies. Maybe then things would've gone differently, but I always, um, how humans say it? Uh, I'm betting on a better horse."

Shane instinctively came closer to Hailie. Greed was ready to shield them, sensing an upcoming trouble.

"Don't try any tricks, or they might be your last," Lust warned him.

"Tricks?" the king laughed. "No, I wouldn't dare. You're the seven deadly sins demons. So powerful. I humbly say, I am nothing compared to you." There was a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "But even though you're so powerful, you're not powerful enough. There's always someone with more power."

"We need to go!" Greed ordered at once, but the demon guards blocked their way out. The others didn't know why she got so scared.

"We will go now," Lust stated, realizing the same thing that Greed did. He quickly came to Hailie and caught her by the arm. She didn't try to break free, and Shane didn't say anything as well. "You don't want to fight us. Order your guards to stand down."

"I won't fight you," the king replied, satisfied with his victory. "It's simply already too late."

Suddenly flames, that came from nowhere, engulfed Shane's silhouette, making him disappear in seconds. Hailie screamed, while Lust embraced her tighter, not letting her go at any case.

"We're so fucked now," Greed sighed and let the flames take her as well.

All of them – Pride, Sloth and Wrath – were taken one by one, leaving in the hall only Lust and Hailie.

"Where did they go? Lust! Where are they?!" she yelled, feeling how her body was trembling.

"They were summoned."

"Won't you explain it to your human friend?" The king stuck out his hand and one of the demons brought him a glass of wine. "The only one, more powerful than seven deadly sins demons, is the ruler of Hell and In Between. The Devil. He can summon them, but only if he knows the exact place they're in at the moment." He took a sip of wine. "I wonder, how did he find out?" The king smiled.

"But we're still here," Hailie said. Lust was one of the seven demons, but he wasn't summoned. Why?

"Because I'm no longer only an original demon. I'm also a prince of Hell. Lucifer is the king but considering that he also was one of the princes, he cannot summon me without my permission. And you're a living human. You do not belong to Hell, neither to In Between. And so, you're not under his reign."

"Nicely put, but I assume you'll join your friends at Lucifer's." The king seemed to have a marvelous humor.

"You'll pay for this betrayal," Lust warned him.

The king put the glass with wine aside. "Maybe I will," he agreed, but highly unconvinced. "But not today. And if you're going to come for me in the future, let me remind you, that even if I can't kill you, I can kill your human friend over there." He, himself, couldn't go on Earth, but there were demons that could. And with a good payment, they were ready to do what would have been told to them.

"And the Human's Kingdom will not exist anymore," he said, ready to wipe it out of existence. "Enjoy your reign, because today you earned yourself an enemy that has all the eternity to hunt you down."

"Lust?" Hailie caught him stronger, scared of what was about to happen next.

She survived meeting with Death. It was frightful, but the thought about standing in front of the Devil made her completely shaken.

"Do not speak without his consent. We will be back on Earth soon, I promise. You and Shane will be just fine," he promised her, ready for the inevitable. "Here we go." He embraced Hailie and created the flames that swallowed them, teleporting to the place, where everybody was already waiting for them.