VERMON

The surprise was still in my mind when I took notice of the messages.

Valentine Godfrey, out of everyone notifying me about her disappearance.

"What just happened?" I snorted at the sound coming from behind me. Of course, of freaking course, Zedkiel was still pretending that he didn't just see me change completely in front of his eyes.

"The Coven was attacked. She's gone. Did you delete my messages, Zedkiel?" My voice was supposed to make him flinch but all it did was made him frown.

"You never listen to me, Vermon. What do you want me to do?" He gritted out, his eyes on me. "You look..."

"This is my true form."

There, I said it.

If I was in a good mood, I'd definitely laugh at the face he was making now. But I didn't have time to wonder why he was acting so weird. The coven was attacked and she was missing. That should be my concern now. Though before I could take another step, he shoved me with anger blazing over his gaze.

"Oh for devil's sake, please tell me, you aren't the same Mikhail she mentioned earlier."

I laughed, the bitter tone not going unnoticed. "Vermon Mikhail Hernandez, yeah, I got a mouthful of names. Get over it. It's a constant battle of what's right and wrong when it comes to her, Zedkiel. She's my beloved yet she never opens up to me or anything. How could I know that fate just didn't make a mistake? I needed you to tell me that she didn't kill those people while she was still human. I needed something, anything to make myself believe that I wasn't running after a lost cause."

"Oh, fuck." He cursed, rubbing his forehead. "I thought she had a beloved. A seeker...you're one. Of course, your mother opened the gate of hell for me. You two are from the same bloodline. How could I be that stupid?"

"I'm a Seeker, I get it but I can control myself around her. She also has control, I've seen it."

"I'm older than you kid, I've seen things. You might have control but devil forbid if there's a time when you have no choice but to kill her what would you do? And I'm not talking about choices. Some things can't be avoided." He said deadpanned.

"You're not making any sense right now so let me take care of things that actually matter now. Like finding her." He looked extremely uncomfortable as I started to leave with my hands curled into a fist.

"Wait! You can't tell me Mandy didn't sit you down and tell you about the family histories then? Seekers are hard to find. You had to have known what a Seeker would do to a Reaper."

"What? Like I can kill her if not careful?" I scoffed, remembering the lectures I got from mom. "Or that a book is needed for the ritual to go through? I already took care of it, Zedkiel. That book is with her, with the Volkios so no one would dare to take it ever again. Now let me go if you're not going to be helpful."

"You little-fuck! I want you to trust me but there's more. When I told you that my clan was going to help Aaron, I kind of lied. I was using him as a spy to know more about the hellhounds." He did what!? I gaped at that but he didn't finish. "When Aaron was possessed, I caught some of the words like someone was going to use you to open the gate of hell. They said you felt a presence the last time you opened it. Pushing against you to come back-"

"Sage. I know. So, let me get this straight, you used my friend to know the secrets of the pit of hell. Then you ruined my love life...which was left of it anyway and now you want me to trust you, is that it?" No words could possibly describe how freaking angry I was right now.

Zedkiel lied.

The one person I actually thought I could trust...

"No, I want you to be careful. As long as the Reapers are living on earth, no one from hell can return. So, they will most likely trick you to kill her. I'm just being rational here."

"Then what now?"

"You look for Lana." I jerked at the words. Wasn't this whole conversation was about why I shouldn't be looking out for her?

"I...you..what?" I asked him confused.

"You look for Lana. If the Coven was attacked then it will not be a matter of time that every clan will know the threat. Some would want you safe and some won't."

Before I could listen to his warning, the pain started to make my way as screams of thousands of Raven could be heard near me. No way. I knew those sounds and I never wanted to hear it ever again. Zedkiel screamed at me to get out of here but before I knew it...

I was sucked into a vortex of everlasting darkness.

***

5132

Dark.

That's the only thing I saw nowadays. I had been locked up for weeks or months. Who kept notice anyway when my stomach was caving in from not taking in souls. They had humans around me but I just couldn't reach out and take the sweet taste of it. I tried to get out of the rope hexed by Sage again but it just caused me more pain.

"The pain will go away once you get used to It." A raspy voice said near me. Oh, if I forgot about the glorious details, she was always there to mark her presence. Keisha. That bitch just had to be the one with me. It's like Sage knew the irony and was punishing me with it.

"How long do you think we'll be here?" I asked, hoping she had some kind of plan. If I knew anything of my birth mother it was this, Keisha Deshayes always had backup plans.

"Until Sage wants or you have some plan." She tiredly replied instead.

"What happened to you?" I asked in disbelief. "Where the hell is that woman that was feared by every clan? Where's the woman who always had tricks down her sleeves cause I don't see her."

"Maybe you never knew her." There was an odd tone in Keisha's voice that almost made her sound human for once. Someone who cared.

Cry me a freaking river.

She wasn't that deep.

"Well, I don't want to know her. Now can you be useful or should I do all the work?" I looked over her shoulder to see if we had a new threat. Sage was always up to something. He was almost like Byron at some points. Well, at least Byron was easy to crack. This one seemed to have a personal vendetta against Reapers.

Keisha sighed. "I know you think I'm not useful, but I just need some souls. I have been here longer than you, Lana. My body is almost shutting down at this point. Just a little taste then I can get back to become strong enough to hurt Sage."

"Then why didn't you try something like this when we were caught first? If you are right...how do you plan to get out of this?" I pointed at the rope.

"We need to work together. Do you know any spell at all?"

Oh, you got to be kidding me.

"Spell? I don't have single magic in my bone. I am not even a good Reaper. If you didn't notice before, I'm kinda fucked up. So no. But you can channel me. That seems to work sometimes."

"Dammit. Try to visualize my power radiating from you. You should feel the pull. I'm trying ancestral magic here so they don't get suspicious." She whispered through the bars.

I nodded, trying to do what she said. The pull she was talking about was weird. I had flashes of a woman running barefoot and then drowning over and over. Water bubbled up to my throat, suddenly light peering through the room and I flinched.

The fuck was that?

When my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around and froze. The entire place was empty and only some nagging human scents were here and there. I looked at Keisha and she also looked around with disappointment. There went the thought of some souls. But at least we were free.

"What the hell did I just saw?"

"My time in Sparkas." Keisha whispered. "It wasn't always like that, the pain I mean but I chose that life myself."

"Shit, ok. Can you open the cage?" I asked, bending the iron with my hands. They might've been filled with some kind of herbs but I was immune to the small pain. Bending to the point of finally breaking, I crawled out of the cage to see my birth mother trying to lift the bars and failing.

"Let me help." As soon as that bar was broken too, Keisha crawled out of her cage, standing wobbly around me.

"I don't know what Sage's game is but we need to leave limbo as fast as we can." She spat, wavering around the place. I followed her, keeping an eye on anything that looked out of the ordinary. Funny how everything looked like we were still on earth but we weren't.

"What the hell is a limbo? Sage never explained that one clearly." I wondered aloud once I saw the calculating look in Keisha's eyes.

"Just like Sparkas, it's a pocket universe. Think of it as a two-way street portal. It allows Sage to meet people from the earth just as it gives people from earth a chance to meet the hell's resident."

What?

"Then what is his problem? He can just meet them while sitting here, looking pretty." In theory that sounded good but obviously, there were some holes in it. Keisha shook her head, her ears perked up for any noise.

"He still can't return to earth. In the limbo, there are only two main doors. The door to earth is only open for the people coming from the earth and vice versa. His body will kick him back into the limbo if he tries to cross it."

We were toast.

"Fine. Do you even know how do we leave from this limbo?"

"Who said we are leaving? You are leaving. I think you forgot the fact that I'm banished to hell forever. Like him, I also can't return to earth." She said with a dark look and I swallowed hard. None of this was adding up. Was it a game to see if I ran? Were they playing a sick joke?

"Then why are you helping me?" Keisha should save her skin since that's the type of person she was. Instead, Keisha's dark brown eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"I know you hate me as I hate myself. You weren't wrong about your sister. I warned her but she never listened. Didn't even let me tell her the entire truth. I did kill her. I admit it was my fault that she's gone. But you are smart. You know what's at risk. This time I won't let him ruin your life." Fuck. If this Sage never existed then I would've lived a happy normal life with my family. But that bastard had to drag himself in. He had to destroy everything...

So, he was so going to have to pay.

Badly.

"Interesting sight to see but we have bigger problems in hand now, don't we?" Suddenly my gaze found the culprit as his face looked like he was smirking. The bastard I so wanted to avoid at any cost.

Breathe in...

Breathe out...

I didn't want to kill him...

Not yet...

Get a grip, Lana...

"Long time no see, Mikhail." And then I coiled my fists only to throw it on his face hard.

***

So they meet again! What do you think is going to happen next? Will Mikhail be able to control himself from killing Lana? Why do you think she'd pissed? Let me know!