Page 28 of The Daughter of the Devil

"True," one twin sighs dramatically, running a hand through his hair, which is shaved only on the left side of his head. His other half is only shaved on the right side. The only true way to tell the difference between those twins. "But as we said, there's such an appeal here, we just had to come." I can’t tell which twin even spoke, nor do I remember their names. It’s been some years.

"We figure there's no point anymore, you know, sending others in place to do dirty work. Might as well do it ourselves."

"Sending others?" I ask, confused.

"You're the ones who sent the Hound," Alistair affirms, the two twins stepping closer, their piercings across their lips tinkling as they snicker.

"I mean, Father gave it to us when we were younger."

"That's how they were all accounted for. Personal pets aren’t counted."

"That's right, big brother," they speak in unison.

"How did you get the Grim to attack?" I ask.

"Simple, we wore our big brother's clothes when we put the exorcism on it. Your scent is all it knows. We just had to release it at the right moment. Unfortunately, it was right after you touched Morgana, so your scent lingered as it did with the Hellhound."

"Wait," I say, stepping toward Alistair and letting go of Sierra, though it seems she isn’t a fan of standing alone. "The Hound and the Grim—you sent them after Alistair."

"Of course," the twin with the left-sided haircut responds. "But removing you from the picture is a side benefit of sorts. When we found out your powers were gone, the obvious play was to force Alistair to fight for you. Eventually, he will lose."

"And you're both here for what?" Alistair questions. "You can't battle me."

"No," they both say. "But we can bargain for what we want." My heart clenches as one of them pulls from his back waist belt a glowing blade sparkling with a bright blue fiery hilt.

"Where did you get that?" I question.

"Calm down, Princess. One step from this and your powers will come rushing back. It’s yours."

"What's the catch?" I snap.

"None for you, but we want the scythe."

My lips part as I want to respond, but I don’t. There is one thing I know above all else, and that is the power of the scythe. If Alistair gives up the scythe, he’ll no longer possess enough power to even keep his younger brothers at bay. If they want to, they will kill him. My head is rushing with scenarios, and the main one is that Alistair may choose to give it up for my powers, but that would leave him in a vulnerable position against the twins. He can’t die like this.

27

A Battle Unleashed

Alistair

Ifeel stupid for not realizing it earlier. There was clearly no singular person capable of being this devious, no demon capable of going against the Master. And yet here they stand, not one, but two stupid demons. And I call them my brothers. They've always been hot-headed, but I never imagined they’d pull a stunt like this. Lucifer is a formidable opponent, and no demon would dare attack an angel, let alone his daughter. Demons are immortal and live for centuries. They can have thousands of children. But Lucifer has only ever had one child. I'm not sure if it was by choice or by accident that he had Morgana, but all I know for sure is that he loves her more than anything. He would give up his magic, his power, all of Hell if it meant protecting her, and I should do the same.

"If you want the scythe, you have to tell me what guarantee I would have that Morgana would get her powers back," I state to the imbeciles. "Prove to me that she will return to her former glory."

"Absolutely not," Morgana interjects. "Under no circumstance would I negotiate with these two. They clearly don't realize what they've done. They've committed treason, and for that, my father will punish them beyond anything imaginable. They will die. And since they have the dagger, that simply means I'll get it back and I'll have my powers restored anyway. You don't need to bother with them."

"Unless they just want to try and kill us now," I whisper to her. Even though it's true and what they've done is unforgivable in the eyes of Lucifer, it still means we must get to him without risking our lives in the process. Unfortunately, with Morgana in a mortal state and Sierra never having faced a demon before, the only chance we have is myself using the scythe against my two brothers. My only hope now is to bargain with them and somehow trick them out of what they're after.

"Why do you even want the scythe?" I ask them aloud.

"We need it for something very important," they respond harmoniously, their snickering bothers me.

"If it is that important, you would have just asked for it."

"But then you would ask us what that important thing is," Astaroth says.

"And you wouldn't tell me why."

---