The star crossed lovers

IV

"You still have an option to blackout?" Lucifer's voice echoed through Davina's ears, that signature devilish lilt barely masking the smirk he always wore. His words hung in the air, tempting her. For a brief, absurd second, she considered running—maybe tripping over her own feet along the way just for effect—but she knew there was no escape. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Alex, a vague, haunting image of him standing there, staring right at her.

"Seriously?" Daeliah, her wolf, growled within her. "You're thinking of bolting now? Get a grip, woman."

Davina huffed, forcing herself to smile as she turned back to Lucifer. Her grin stretched wider than it should've, almost cartoonish in its defiance. "Needless," she quipped, though she could still feel her legs wobbling underneath her.

Lucifer's lips twitched upwards, and there it was—that evil grin of his. The one that said, "I know something you don't." He leaned in, his fingers ruffling through her hair in an intimate way—except, this was Lucifer, so it came off as sinister. "I hope it's worth it," he mused, a glorious, chilling hue reflecting in his long, dark lashes as he locked his eyes on her.

"Wow," Davina muttered under her breath. "That's one hell of a smolder." She shook her head to clear the ridiculous thought, but her cheeks flushed anyway.

Lucifer chuckled, clearly amused, and led her through the gates of Hell. Above them, the haunting inscription glowed: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." 

How welcoming, she thought dryly. Nothing like a good ol' pep talk before entering the depths of eternal damnation.

As they entered the Ante-Inferno, Davina glanced around and grimaced. Here, souls who couldn't commit to good or evil in life were doomed to chase a blank banner for eternity while hornets bit at their flesh and worms drank their blood. Lovely.

"Well, this sucks," she said, a mix of revulsion and pity crossing her face. "This is what happens when you can't pick a side? What if someone just had commitment issues?"

Lucifer shrugged, his smile never faltering. "Choices, darling. It's always about choices. I want to see where yours will end you or more like how long you can smile here . "

They crossed the river Acheron, the real boundary of Hell, and Davina's senses were assaulted by the sound of people crying and begging for their lives. Their wails echoed, the volume so intense it felt like their agony was clawing at her mind. She clutched her ears, her heart pounding. And worse, there was something eerily familiar about those voices.

With trembling hands, Davina clenched her fists, trying to suppress the rising panic gnawing at her insides. But fear, like a disease, crept into her bones, spreading quickly through her veins until it was all she could feel.

The cries grew louder, piercing her soul. The tortured wails of the damned reverberated through her skull, becoming almost unbearable. The voices sounded so familiar, so impossibly intimate, as if they weren't just the cries of strangers but those of people she had known—people she had failed.

The names. The faces. They blurred together with the sound, each scream sharper than the last. You did this, the voices seemed to say. This is your fault.

Davina's stomach churned. She couldn't breathe. Her lungs felt crushed, as though invisible hands were squeezing the life out of her. She wanted to run, but her legs refused to move. Her muscles locked in place, frozen by the pure terror surging through her body.

Her vision blurred as the world darkened, shadows closing in like an ever-tightening noose. The ground beneath her seemed to ripple and shift, warping into an abyss that threatened to swallow her whole. And still, those voices...