She stopped in front of it.

  She closed her eyes. With them still closed, she kicked the door down.

  She walked in.

  She didn’t have to open her eyes to know that the 12 coffins had appeared. Nor did she need to see to know that there were 12 doors in the room now.

  Felicity had finally gathered the power to see them all, ha?

  How sad for her enemies. They were so close to winning, but now so far away.

  There was no one in the room.

  There was, however, someone hammering on the twelfth door.

  At first, Felicity thought it was the old blood witch who’d been running the school until Felicity had come along. Then there was something about the beating that got her attention.

  She whipped her head over to it. “Lucifer? Are you behind that door?”

  The hammering became more frantic.

  “Those bastards trapped you in there.” She strode toward the door.

  She didn’t get the chance to reach it.

  One of the coffins opened.

  The sound of stone grating over stone made her back itch. But nothing could have prepared her for what happened next.

  “You can’t go through there until I break that contract you have with Lucifer, sweetie.”

  Felicity turned. And there was Damien King.

  8

  Lucifer continued to pound on the door. The sound became a ringing mess between her ears.

  It was Damien. It wasn’t a spell. It was really him. In the flesh. Close enough to touch.

  “Come on, Felicity.” He opened his arms wide. “Come here. Let’s end this.”

  She didn’t move. A bead of sweat slid down her brow. Her heart hammered hard enough to pop.

  Finally she shook her head. “Damien?” she hissed.

  “Yeah. Come on, come here. We can be together again now. You saved me.”

  “How… how are you here?”

  “I saved you, baby. I sacrificed myself so they didn’t have to take you until you were ready.”

  “… Ready?”

  “I laid down my life for you, Felicity. I became a blood contract. And I’ve been sustaining the school since. Now you’re here – you’re finally ready to save me.”

  She couldn’t process what he was saying. “Lucifer—”

  “The demon? He’s been lying to you from the beginning. He’s been leeching off your power. And now he’s doing it again because you were stupid enough to let him.” Damien took a step toward her.

  Felicity was so frozen, it would’ve taken the full heat of the sun to melt her.

  Damien took another step toward her, his arms still held out wide. “You did all this for me, Felicity, but you didn’t understand. People lied to you – and none more so than Lucifer. This school can’t fail. It wasn’t the school that attacked me, anyway.”

  “Then who was it?”

  “The demon that has been poisoning this school. The same demon,” Damien spat, “that bound you. He’s the reason for everything bad in the magical community.”

  She shook her head weakly. “He’s only young.”

  “There were more demons before him. And when he dies, there’ll be more demons after him. Everything that’s wrong with this world is because the demons pushed their way into it and poisoned everything.”

  “No,” she said firmly.

  “He’s a goddamn demon, Felicity. Have you forgotten that fact? Has he somehow made you think that demons aren’t all that bad, after all? They are the denizens of Hell. Do you know why you truly exist? Blood witches are the only force that can break demon contracts. Now you’re here, you can save the school and you can save me. Though I am a blood contract, you’re strong enough to give me my life back. It won’t be a full life, but at least I’ll be able to leave this room. We can be together. And once the demon’s gone, we can ensure this school goes in the right direction.”

  Felicity just stood there.

  He took another step up to her.

  “Lucifer forced your grandmother to make a contract for your life. She was weak enough to do it. She was stupid enough to think it would somehow keep you safe. She didn’t know the truth. Only I do.” He smacked his hand on his chest hard. “Lucifer is at the heart of all this mess. Now remove the contract you have with him and end this. If you can’t kill him, I’ll do it for you.”

  Damien almost reached her.

  The pounding on the door became louder.

  Everything narrowed down into a point.

  It was Damien, the man she’d done all this for. It was Damien, almost in the flesh. Close enough to touch, close enough to kiss, close enough to hold. Close enough that, if she allowed herself to fall into his arms, nothing else would matter.

  “Felicity,” he whispered. With his arms still open, he took one last step up to her.

  She let him hug her.

  She remembered this embrace. She remembered the way it used to make her feel.

  The heat, the love, the possibility.

  But all of that was in the past.

  Just as Felicity almost allowed him to confuse her, something rose. It wasn’t even a memory of The Devil Man and Jane and the rest of her family.

  It was her forbidden magic.

  It reminded her, not of the contract she had made with Lucifer, but of Lucifer himself.

  It brought up the perfect recollection of one of his embraces, and it compared it side-by-side with Damien.

  There was no comparison.

  Still hugging her, Damien pulled back and kissed her cheek tenderly. “I knew you would come and break me free.”

  “And to break you free, all I have to do is break the contract I have with Lucifer and walk through the twelfth door?” she asked, her tone entirely dispassionate.

  “Yeah. But you won’t stay behind the twelfth door forever. It will just help you remove all of the insidious contracts he’s made. It will allow you to set me free finally.”

  “And what will you do once you’re free? Go back to your father?”

  “He’s been maligned, Felicity, and it is so damn unjust. He is the only one who knows the truth about Lucifer, but Lucifer bound him. My father’s been doing everything he can to go against that contract.”

  “And what about your brother, Jake?”

  “He was always confused.” Damien’s register changed. “He never understood. Lucifer got to him, too.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “Up in his room. Why do you care?”

  “Because, Damien,” she lifted her hand and placed it on his cheek, “you’re lying to me.” She pushed his cheek away. Felicity stepped back. “If Jake isn’t dead, he will be soon, right? It will just be another sacrifice, just another acceptable loss. I can’t say I liked him. He was a conflicted bastard, but he was trying in every way he could to change this world. You,” she growled, “are just trying to destroy everything I love.”

  It was her turn to take a step forward. She rounded her hands into fists and started to call on her forbidden magic.

  Damien didn’t back off immediately. His expression was one of startled surprise. He looked like an owner gob-smacked by the fact a loyal dog had just bitten him. “Felicity, Lucifer has sunk his claws into you. He is manipulating you—”

  “I’m the one who made a contract with him, Damien. It was my decision, and they were my terms.”

  “He’s stopping you from using your magic—”

  “Incorrect. I am stopping the likes of you,” she growled, “and your father from ever using blood contracts again. If you want to assure people’s loyalty, you will have to earn it.”

  With that, Felicity fought.

  It took Damien a few seconds to realize this was no game. As soon as he did, all pretense was dropped.

  He fought like a vicious predator.

  She smashed her magic into him, but he took it. He would have to be the strongest blood contract the school had.

  There was something about his magic that was awfully familiar. It didn’t take her long to connect the dots. He would be the other student who’d received Felicity’s blood – the one that Bethany had warned her of.

  “You’ve got my blood, don’t you? Why is it still working?”

  “It’s not. You’ve given it all back to that damn demon. You might be able to sense it, but it’s just a shadow of what I once had. How can you do this to me, Felicity? For the past three years, you’ve been trying to save me. Why remove your help now?”

  “For the past three years I’ve been trying to get over your memory in any way I knew how. I’ve finally found out how to do that. It’s time to bury you once and for all.”

  Despite the fact that Damien tried to pretend that he was being rational, he was vicious with every blow. He took control of the floor and ceiling and tried to squish her, but every time, she fought back. He tried to come at her with fists blazing with magic, but every time, she parried.

  “Tell me, Damien, what will happen when I finally break Magnum Optimus? What will happen to your supposedly great father? I can tell you. He will be brought to trial. All of the protections that have kept him at the top will crumble. This world will be realigned.”

  “Listen to yourself,” he screamed, his voice a chaotic mess of anger and viciousness. “You’ve bought everything that demon said. He’s manipulated you from the beginning—”

  “And what have you done, Damien?”

  “I’ve loved you.”

  “Your actions suggest otherwise.”

  “I’m just trying to stop you from doing something stupid.”

  “And I’m fighting you to save everyone.”

  Felicity let all her magic sail over her body. It wasn’t tinged with anger, even though it should be. She’d come full circle with Damien once more. Then she’d turned a new corner.

  Her relationship with Damien hadn’t been real. Her relationship with Lucifer was.

  The fact she could now see the difference gave her the strength to suddenly shove a hand out and grab hold of Damien’s fist as he tried to punch her in the back of the head. She twisted around and stared at him as he attempted to yank his hand out of her grip.

  He buckled forward and snarled. Right there in his eyes, she swore she could see the whole school. Hell, she swore she could even see the original principal. “You’re connected to the school, aren’t you, Damien? You are connected to the vicious minds that ran this place. Hell, I’m pretty sure I can see the first principal in your eyes. Tell me, why did you make a blood contract with the woman you supposedly loved?”

  Damien’s voice changed. “Because she was a blood witch like you. And blood witches like you must be controlled. They cannot see reality.”

  Felicity laughed. “If by that you mean that we cannot see your reality, then that’s good. I don’t want to see – let alone live – in your twisted world.”

  She threw Damien back.

  Though he tried to adjust the momentum of her move, he couldn’t, and he fell flat on his back. He immediately jerked to his feet and came at her again.

  She just dodged.

  Damien was no match for her. Because Felicity wasn’t just relying on her own magic, was she? She’d bound herself to Lucifer, and their powers were now combined.

  The look in Damien’s eyes continued to change. She swore she saw all of the principals of Broadstone – all of the people who’d ever fed this spell and allowed it to control their lives and everyone else’s.

  All of them faced her with fear.

  For they would realize that the gig was now up.

  Damien came at her again, his desperation as bright as an exploding star.

  Felicity opened her arms.

  She’d spent her whole life running. The past three years had pulled her away from Broadstone then right back into it. They’d pulled her out of one lover’s arms and into another’s.

  But that was a simplistic view of events. The past three years had seen her change every aspect of her life.

  Felicity no longer shrunk away from a fight. She no longer let her heart be dictated by other people.

  She had begun this wanting to destroy Broadstone.

  She would end this understanding that the destruction of one’s foes led to nothing. Before you destroy, you must create a path forward.

  If you remove the shackles from a broken world, it will grow once more. If you cut it down at its knees, it will just crumble and leave a void.

  Damien reached Felicity. She wrapped her arms around his back just as he wrapped his around hers.

  “You’ve finally—” he began.

  “Outgrown hate.” With that, Felicity defeated Damien. She used her forbidden magic as it had always wanted to be used. Chaos does not destroy automatically. When used hand-in-hand with understanding, it brings change to a stagnant world. It brings possibilities to those who have had every option removed.

  She would never forget that lesson – and she would ensure no one else did, too.

  When the dust had settled, she reached into her pocket space, pulled out the rose petals she’d taken from her family home and her lock of hair, and left them on the floor.

  She freed Lucifer and walked away.

  Epilogue

  So it was over, ha?

  Yeah, kind of. The world was changing. Rapidly. In insane ways.

  It hadn’t taken long for the sane people around Patrick King to take him down. And without blood contracts ensuring people’s loyalty, his so-called friends had sung like canaries.

  Brown had been removed from Broadstone. She’d been replaced by a teacher who’d once been a bursary scholarship – and it hadn’t even been Felicity who’d suggested that. Hell no – that suggestion had come from Jake.

  Jake had also put his hand up to go to jail for his crimes. He’d said it was the only way to save the little dignity his family still had left.

  Jane was back at school, though she came to the club most days to hang out.

  Felicity was sitting on Lucifer’s desk, kicking her legs in and out as she stared through the window at the rest of the city.

  She now had full control of the surveillance spell, and every time she darted her eyes to the side, she saw a different part of the town.

  Someone chuckled from behind her.

  She leaned back just in time to take full advantage of Lucifer’s touch as he nestled his hand on her arm. “You look like a hawk.”

  “Wrong word,” she corrected smoothly as she reached up and tenderly patted his hand. “I’m not looking for prey. I’m just looking for people to save.”

  He chuckled. “The time for you to save everyone is over. You’ve removed the shackles that once bound the magical world. Now let them save themselves.”

  She turned to him. She pouted. “How come, after all this, you’re still wiser than me?”

  “I’m older than you.”

  “Not by much. You’re only a young demon.”

  “But I’ve seen a lot.” As he said that, he locked his gaze on her, and it was clear that of all the things he’d seen, it was the sight of her that mattered the most.

  She shrugged. “Trust me, Lucifer, I’ve seen a lot, too.”

  She jumped off the desk, locked her arms around his middle, and nuzzled her head against his chest.

  He stiffened slightly.

  “What is it? Do you regret the fact that I bound us together?”

  “No. I was just hoping for something slightly more passionate.”

  Felicity spluttered.

  Why was it that her cheeks still turned red at the prospect of getting intimate with Lucifer? It had been a few months now, and… let’s just say they’d crossed that bridge many times.

  Lucifer trailed his fingers down her cheek. “Why do you still blush?”

  Felicity backed off, broke her grip, and grabbed her cheeks defensively. “What? You’re a hot demon.”

  “Don’t tell me that after all this time you’re a demon fancier? You do know that my face is a trick of magic, right?”

  “It’s not your face I’m attracted to. It’s you. Your energy. Your—” Felicity stopped herself very quickly.

  This was already awkward – why throw more wood on the fire?

  “I had hoped that I could come in here and sweep you off your feet. This interaction has not gone according to plan.”

  Felicity dropped her hands. “What, you’re too much of a bad boy to get with a blushing woman?”

  “Oh,” he leaned forward and brought his lips close to hers, “I don’t care how hot your cheeks are.”

  She actually giggled. “Go on, say it – say that you only care how hot my—”

  He let his lips lock against hers.

  The need to play with him disappeared.

  Felicity had once had an act around Lucifer – this game she’d played in order to hide her true feelings.

  What was the point of it anymore?

  They were together – and they would be together until the end.

  They were bound as one.

  It was kind of a dampener on Lucifer’s career. He could no longer make contracts with anyone else. But that hadn’t changed much. He continued to help people – he just didn’t have to create a contract with them to do it.

  Felicity had once thought that Lucifer had made contracts with anyone who’d offered him power. She’d quickly found out that wasn’t the case. Everything he’d ever done was to circumvent the power of the Magical Enforcement Unit and to buy Felicity a chance.

  That chapter of their lives was long past.

  She pushed up onto her tippy toes and planted a hand on the back of his head as she pulled him closer.

  He chuckled around their locked lips. “It’s the middle of the day,” he whispered against her. “And we have work to do.”

  “What are you talking about? The only thing we have to do from now until the day we both die is be together. Case closed, job done.” She let her hands slide down and lock against his back.

  Felicity, unconsciously, had been looking for someone like Damien – someone who could sweep her off her feet, someone who could pick her out of the crowd, someone who could close their arms around hers and block out the rest of the world.

 

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