Page 91 of Their Demon

“I—I don’t know who, or what, it was.” I shrugged. “I got into the treasure room just fine. The grenade put the dragon to sleep.” I heard Ida mutter athank Satan, and I made a mental note to thank her at some point for that. “Then, I was attacked by… a green-skinned demon with orange eyes, but he looked like he was at death’s door. He tried to kill me at first.”

“At first?” Keir asked, confused.

“I freaked out. I was so angry and scared. There was this weird surge of energy within me, and the demon stopped attacking me. HeknewI’d bonded with the twins. Said he could see it in my eyes.”

“One blue, one red,” Nicholas said.

“Yes.” I looked at him. “How did you know that?”

“When you ran out, you stood in the flames… Your eyes… They were glowing, one blue and one red.” He looked at his twin. “I think your essence saved her.”

“Well, shit…” Aiden said, shocked.

“That’s not all,” I threw out there, making everyone look at me again. I swallowed before I said, “Hefilled the bag with exactly 666 ounces; it wasn’t me.” I waited for that to settle in before dropping the actual bomb. “Then he said, ‘You’re going to save us all’. He said I washer.” I took a breath. “He said he’d tell me what he meant when we got out, but—” I choked on my words,and Ida pulled me in for a hug. “He sacrificed himself so I could escape.”

The princes were already bouncing questions around each other.

“Who was the demon?”

“Who isher? What does that mean?”

“Why was there someone in there?”

“What do we do now?”

Ida cleared her throat, and I sat up. “I know… something.”

I furrowed my brows, the princes wearing similar expressions.

“Care to elaborate?” Keir asked for us.

Ida turned to me. “The demon you met in there used to be Lord Bellowig. He was once the ruler of the realm of fire. Satan had Bellowig cursed and thrown into the cave as punishment for standing up to him. He fed Bellowig’s wife and children to the dragon before sealing him in there. That was well over 600 years ago. I can’t believe he’s still ali—wasalive.” Pain flashed in her expression.

“Knowing who he is doesn't help us figure out what he meant. He’s dead,” Keir said rather harshly.

“For fuck’s sake, Keir,” Nicholas muttered.

Keir winced. “Sorry. I’m just frustrated. We have more questions than answers.”

“That’s alright. I think we are all with you there, but that’s not all.”

“There’s more?” I scooted to the edge of my seat.

“What is it, Ida?” Keir leaned forward.

“It could be nothing; it’s an old prophecy that’s millions of years old. Your father had it struck from every book, forbade anyone from talking or teaching about it. A lot of demons either don’t know about it or forgot about it entirely.”

“Well, now I’m super interested,” I said.

Ida flashed me a sympathetic smile, and I had the nagging feeling it was more like a silent apology for what she was about to say.

“It said that when Hell reaches its most dark, nightmarish times…” She paused to take a breath and glanced at each of us. “There will be a woman—ahumanwoman—who will open a portal to Hell and save its people.”

“Okay, that’s honestly not that bad, Ida. You had me thinking it was something bad.” A relieved laugh left Aiden.

I had to agree with him. I thought she was going to tell us something much darker, bloodier, especially for thehuman womanit was about. Saving Hell didn’t seem so bad. It was fucking huge, sure, but I expected worse, like I would be sacrificed or suffer something horrible—well, horrible-er.

Ida flashed an upside-down smile. “And become Satan herself.”

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