“Why?” He mimicked my voice.

“Why do you want to do this?” My mouth was dry. “Do you really want to start the apocalypse? Do you really think this is going to work?”

Paimon tipped his head to the side. “The apocalypse?” His laugh was deep and it echoed through the gymnasium. “Oh, darlin’, is that what the Wardens think?”

“It’s what Hell thinks, too.”

“The Boss thinks that? Fabulous. While the apocalypse sounds like a good time, I could give a flying rat’s ass about that.”

Surprise shot through me. “You...you don’t want out of Hell?”

“Oh, what demon doesn’t want out of Hell? Take me, for example. I’ve served the Boss for over two thousand years. I’d like nothing more than to say au revoir to that life, but I’m not here because of what I want. I’m here for what I need. Just like you, another means to an end.”

“I—I don’t understand.” I really didn’t.

His lips, wide and expressive, twisted into a smirk. “It’s rather ironic that you don’t. Kind of sad, too.”

“Is it?” Naberius was messing with my hand, trying to turn the ring around. “Then explain it to me? If I’m going to die, I’d like to know the real reason behind it.”

Paimon looked over his shoulder and then his gaze slid back to me. “Have you ever been in love?”

“What?” I so wasn’t expecting that question.

“I said, have you ever been in love?”

“I...” I didn’t know. I loved Zayne, but I didn’t know what kind of love that was, and Roth... I thought I could be in love with him, if given time. Or maybe I already was, in a little way. “I don’t know.”

“Interesting,” the demon answered. “When you’re in love, you’d risk anything to ensure your loved one’s happiness. Even the end of the world.” He shrugged. “When you’re separated from the one you love, you’d do anything to be reacquainted with that person. Anything. What? You look so shocked. Did you think demons couldn’t fall in love? We can. Our love is a little dark and twisted. We love until death. Most wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of our affections, but we feel what we feel all the same.”

I had no idea what him being in love had to do with raising the Lilin, unless he thought his lover would be reincarnated into one.

His eyes rolled. “I can tell you still haven’t figured it out. It’s your mother, darlin’. That’s why it’s ironic.”

“Lilith?” I squeaked.

“You can’t call her Mother? I’m sure that would warm her cold heart.”

“No. No, I cannot.”

He prowled along the chalk circle. “Your mother is being kept in the fiery pits—exactly where a devil’s trap will send a demon. With the Boss in Hell, no one goes near the pits or gets out. And the only way I can get her out is to lure the Boss topside. Apocalypse now or later, the Boss will venture topside if the Lilin are there. And a minute with my beloved is worth the risk of an eternity without her.”

“Which leaves the pits unguarded,” I finished. When Paimon clapped his approval, I was stunned. All of this had been to free Lilith because he loved her? That was so twisted and...

“Naberius?”

“Wait!” Terror was starting to overcome the panic, which was way worse. “How do you know the incantation will work? You don’t even have the Lesser Key.”

Paimon frowned. “Like I need the Lesser Key. I had Lilith—I helped her get free so she could have you.”

“You love her, so you helped her get knocked up by someone else?”

“It’s the only way that we can truly be together.” He shrugged. “And you’re ready. I can see the taint of your soul.”

I didn’t know what surprised me more: that the demon could see my soul, that I had a soul or that he thought it was tainted. I just stared at him as I continued to twist the wrist of my left hand, hoping to slide it free.

“When I learned that the Boss was sending Astaroth topside, I was sure it was my birthday. Obviously the Boss thought I needed the Lesser Key and he sent him to help me obtain it.” He threw his head back and laughed loudly. “Can it get any easier for me? All I needed was time for Roth to get in your pants. And it really was only a matter of time. He is a demon, after all. I can smell your carnal sin, Layla.”

I didn’t know what carnal sin he was smelling, but it wasn’t that. I started to point that out, because that put a major kink in his plans. My status was intact, and if he figured it out, there was no stopping him from remedying the problem himself.

I was screwed, but mankind and Earth weren’t if I let him believe this. The incantation wouldn’t work. The Lilin wouldn’t be reborn and he wouldn’t get to free Lilith. Numbness settled into my bones as I stared at the demon. I was most likely going to die, but there was the bigger picture. Maybe it was the Warden blood in me that made my fate easier to accept, because I wasn’t ready to die. There was so much of life I hadn’t experienced. It wasn’t fair.

Or maybe it was the humanity I’d picked up from Stacey and Sam.

Letting my head fall back against the cold floor, I stared up into the dark rafters. Beside me, Naberius finally got the jeweled part of the ring to face the right way. He brought the blunt edge of the knife down, cracking its surface.

I bit down as pain exploded along my hand and then cool, sticky wetness spilled across my fingers. The moment the liquid dripped onto the floor inside the circle, the candles flickered.

The chattering and chanting stopped.

“The dead blood of Lilith,” Paimon said. “The live blood of Lilith’s child.”

A quick flick of Naberius’s hand, and a sting sliced over my wrist. The cut wasn’t deep at all. Really just a pinprick as tiny beads of blood flowed. A thin stream ran down my arm, pooling in the fleshy part of my elbow.

“Now,” Paimon said. “There’s just the question of your taking a soul.”

He didn’t know that had already happened? I opened my eyes as a new anxiety burst through me. Paimon yelled something in a coarse, deep language. Movement followed, and I strained to see behind me.

Shadows broke free, and as they came closer to the candlelight, I cried out. No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. I struggled wildly against the ropes.

Four Rack demons approached, two sets each carrying a hunched-over body. One set held Zayne and the other set held Roth. Both guys looked as if they’d played kissy face with a meat grinder. Their clothing was torn. Blood streaked their necks and chests.

Paimon smiled like a pleased parent. “Are you wondering how I got the Rack demons to do my bidding?”

“No,” I said hoarsely.

“Think about all the suffering they’ll be able to feed on once the Lilin turn Earth into a playground,” he said anyway. “Naberius?”

Standing, the demon backed out of the circle, careful not to disturb the chalk or candles. In his hand, that knife...

The candles flickered again, and my gaze darted to my arm. One drop of my blood had hit the floor and burned through it like acid. There was no time to wonder why.