Page 56 of Her Twisted Sinners (The Seven Sinners of Hell's Kingdom 5)

The door to the building behind Lucian creeks open, and Cassius pokes his head out. His eyes flick from the asshole on the ground and to the old man. Blue light shines in his gaze, and he ruffles his feathers.

“The circle is ready. Are you guys set?” Cassius asks, opening the door wider to show off the shithole apartment. It looks as if he found an old safe house used by angels. Hell, he probably used it himself.

“Fuck yeah. Let’s catch ourselves a feathered bastard. They can ride to Hell together.” Dante grins and reaches down, grasping the dark soul’s chin. “Whichever bastard who comes could ride your ass down. What do you think about that? A dry pounding might be just the way for you to go.”

The man begins to sob again, and I growl, flashing my devil form as I drag my claws through the front of his shirt. Cassius barely has time to open his arms before I toss him toward the empty building into his arms.

He only holds him for a second, scowling at me before dropping the dark soul to the ground in disgust. “The world will be a better place with you gone.”

Damn. I like this side of Cassius.

Dante whacks me on my back, offering me a weak smile. Now that our minds are no longer focused on getting a sacrifice ready, it’s hard not to think about why we are doing this in the first place. An ache squeezes my chest, and I wish that it would yank my heart out for me. I can’t stand knowing that Raven is gone. I believe that we will get her back, but every second that passes is like a century without the woman I love most in the entire universe. And I can’t stop thinking about what happens if we do fail. I don’t want our children to know that their fathers have broken their promise to protect their mom always.

I blink my unexpected tears away, channeling my rampant emotions into my wrath. I’m pissed. I just want to fuck shit up. I want to destroy everything that comes in my path, starting with the guardians. I’m going to destroy the veil after that. Heaven will be no more. Once we get Raven back, we’ll figure out how to make Elias finally do what he was supposed to and jump. We will have everything that we have fought so long to get.

“Please, God. Forgive me for everything I’ve done. Don’t let them do this. Please.” The dark soul gasps with his breathing, his voice choking with every step toward the angel trap. It’s intended to temporarily capture our sacrifice’s soul, drawing the angel out of hiding.

“The Almighty has already answered our prayers. This is your way of redeeming yourself. Your actions will save humanity. It will not be forgotten. But still, it’s not enough to save you in the end. Maybe you will learn and end up somewhere else in Hell.” Cassius tightens his jaw, acting as if that’s even possible for this guy. I think he only says it to get him to shut up. There’s no way he’s going anywhere other than the pits.

“You think so? I can get into Heaven?” The man stops blubbering and looks at each of us.

Lucian cackles, transforming into his beastly form, his horns jutting toward the ceiling and scraping the paint off. “He’s just fucking with you. You’re going to be my bitch. Now, it’s time.”

The dark soul shakes his head. “You can’t make me.”

We all look at each other, a smirk mirroring across our faces.

The old man groans, wobbling on his feet.

“You want to bet, fucker?” Lucian manifests a blade, slapping it into the guy’s hand.

In a moment of desperation, the guy swings his arm, trying to fight Lucian. But it’s pointless. Lucian moves out of the way and gets in front of the old man. Groaning, the dark soul lunges at the same time Lucian moves out of the way. The dark soul can’t stop himself in time, colliding with the old man.

All it takes is our sacrifice to swing his arm and slap the dark soul across the face. It happens so fast that I don’t even get a chance to brace myself for the blinding heavenly light exploding from the old man’s body. The angel trap ignites in blue fire, set off by the old man’s soul now escaping his body, dead from a stab wound right through the neck a second before he was going to die from old age.

I never like to give credit to miracles, but this was one if I ever saw it. A true miracle without influence from divine intervention.

Tipping my head back, I stare at the ceiling and whisper a silent thank you.

The dark soul pushes himself off the ground and spins around, realizing he’s within the angel trap and surrounded by fire. The world shifts and moves, and I watch as a figure materializes within the bright haze created by the trapped soul.

I crack my neck, gathering my red power in my palms. I can taste the sweet revenge already.

The dark soul sees the angel and cries out, grabbing him and latching on as if the angel could even save him. This couldn’t get any better.

The angel’s so distracted by the dark soul tainting the air around him as he tries to grab the pure soul that he doesn’t see Dante come up behind him. Lucian opens a portal to Hell, knocking the evil soul in, ending his life as he deserved.

The angel gawks in surprise. “Heaven, help—”

With a swing of his Hell sword, Dante cuts off one of the angel’s wings. I can’t let him have the honor of doing the other one, and I summon my own blade and beat Lucian, slicing the angel’s other wing off, sending him to his knees.

“Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. May your choice to cycle or to enter the heavenly plane be as magnificent as you are.” Cassius uses his blue power to open the angel trap, releasing the pure soul. It disappears, choosing to go through another lifecycle.

I knew the old man was a smart bastard. I hope to one day see the fucker again. Maybe next time, he’ll do something to end up in my kingdom, and we could throw a fucking party. Hell doesn’t have to be torturous for everyone. He’ll make a fine demon.

The angel jerks his attention toward Cassius, his eyes widening as he gathers heavenly light in his palms. I summon my ruby energy and thrust it at the angel, winding him. He can try as hard as he wants, but we’ve won. This bastard is going to Hell...after he opens Heaven.

“All right, fuckhead. You obviously know who we are, so instead of resisting or trying to defend the wrong side, why don’t you make the right decision for once? Think with your damn head instead of being a follower to Mikail. You’re new enough to have living relatives. Do you truly want to destroy them?” Dante hisses, flicking his forked tongue with his words.

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