Kael’s POV
Caleb still wouldn't shut up.
He trailed behind me like a persistent shadow.
“Just one hunt, cousin!” he begged, tugging at my sleeve like a needy pup. “Come on. You need it. A little blood. A little sweat. A little sin. You’ll feel better.”
I didn’t answer.
I never did when my mind was elsewhere.
Ahead, the gates of Lucifer’s mansion loomed, black as coal, etched with veins of silver light that pulsed like veins beneath the skin. As they groaned open, heat spilled out, thick and alive, wrapping around us like a dragon exhaling.
Inside, the corridor twisted like a serpent’s spine, walls carved from polished obsidian. Each step we took echoed off the glassy dark.
Candles hovered midair, suspended in gravity’s rebellion, their flames whispering like a hundred secrets on th
