Traveling between realms was never pleasant but unpleasant was a massive understatement, especially for Nex in that moment. He kept his eyes shut as he felt the familiar, unbearable speed that he had no control over. He learned a long time ago leaving his eyes open through this movement would make him sick and so he kept them shut until everything stopped.

He opened his eyes, finding himself exactly where he'd been before he was summoned. Out away from where most people lived, in the empty wilderness where his hounds could hunt for food. Part of him missed the underworld for a while but now it was the last place he wanted to be.

Knowing Lilith would've felt him coming back, he sprinted towards Marcus's lair. It was on the way out of the underworld and as long as he was breaking the rules anyway, he was bringing his hounds with him back to Katherine.

He reached Marcus's place of living but Marcus wasn't there. Venandi and Sicarius were. He wasn't sure what to expect after someone else had been taking care of them but they looked fine. Venandi was still bigger than Sicarius, both their fur looked healthy, still coal black and smooth. The only thing was that they didn't seem to be getting as much exercise as they had with Nex.

The moment Nex stepped inside, both rushed over to him. Venandi was bigger but both were so big, their eyes were nearly level with Nex's. Nex wrapped his arms around Venandi who reached him first. "I know girl, I know," he said, scratching her ears then patting Sicarius. "We have to be fast," he said, taking off with them following close behind. They made their way to The Lacus, a place that looked like nothing more than a cave but was actually the way in and out of the underworld when travelling without a summoning.

They almost made it when Nex suddenly lost control of his feet. They stayed in place, as if they'd become one with the ground. Nex let out a low growl, his nails growing to claws as he prepared to make a move but the thing about Lilith was, he would never be as strong as her.

"Nice try," Lilith said casually, walking over and kicking the back of his knees, making him collapse. He was stuck again, like his knees became stone along with the stone he knelt on. "Stop," she said, holding her hand out as Venandi and Sicarius made a move towards her. Instead they cowered and whined, sinking to the ground. "You didn't actually think you'd get out of here, did you?" Lilith asked, crouching down and grabbing Nex's hair, yanking it back so she could see him. Just like that, his powers were gone again. "I always thought you were smart but you suddenly seem very... Stupid. Did being around humans dumb you down?"

"I'm sorry I made you look bad," Nex said, lifting his eyes to hers and biting his tongue. He wanted to scream at her but he wanted Katherine back more than that. "I swear it won't happen again. Punish me how you like but then let me go back to the mortal realm."

"Oh I will," Lilith said, smiling lightly. "I will," she said, standing and clearing her throat. "Maybe in about three hundred years or so, after I'm confident you've learned your lesson, long after your precious human is gone. Maybe then you can visit her grave," she shrugged. "Unless of course she's buried on holy ground, but then I suppose you can just watch from a distance."

"Don't do this," Nex pleaded. "I'm sorry for the position I put you in. I've been good to you aside from this, you know I have. Just give me your worst punishment but then let me have my freedom of travel back."

"Oh, I don't think you're ever getting that back," Lilith said, narrowing her eyes. "You've broken my trust. It's even worse because I really did trust you, Nex. I did," she said, pain flashing over her face. "I trusted you to keep a level head, to be a good leader despite the fact you have less experience. I really thought I could trust you to do things right but now that you've proven to me your loyalty can switch so quickly over one single human," she hissed. "And completely fuck me over, you're not getting that trust back. You'll be lucky if you ever move up from torturing again after pulling this shit."

"Lilith, I'm begging you," Nex said, looking up at her. "Please."

"Did you say please?" Lilith asked, her eyes going wide before she started laughing. "Oh that's adorable. This human really did change you, didn't she? Well, at least you'll always have that to remember, while you rot in a dungeon," she said, snapping her fingers. Four demons appeared, approaching Nex and Lilith. "Take him away. His hounds too," she said, nodding to Venandi and Sicarius. "If you really want to get to him, you hurt the things he loves. Isn't that right?" Lilith said, tilting her head to the side. "All the things he loves."

"No," Nex breathed, his eyes going wide as they wrapped chains around Venandi and Sicarius's necks. "Don't hurt them and Lilith don't you dare hurt her!" Nex roared, jerking against the force holding him down. "You have me, don't hurt Katherine!"

"My, my, someone has certainly forgotten who makes the rules around here," Lilith said, glancing back at him briefly before darting her eyes to the other demons. "Make sure he doesn't forget again."

"Lilith, don't you fucking touch her!" Nex growled, struggling against the demons as they dragged him away.

Trigger warning: This half of the chapter contains mention of torture and violence. If that's something that's too much for you to read, please skip and I'll have a summary at the end for you.

Normally, he would have no trouble breaking out of the grip of lower-ranked demons. But he was now one of them. He felt it. The usually held he had was gone, the usual strength he had was gone and he couldn't teleport out of their grip. What made it more hopeless was he knew the demons taking him and his hounds to the dungeon and they were not friends. They would be no help to him.

They dragged him down into a series of tunnels that lead to various caves where screams echoed through the corridors. They took him down deep, down steep inclines where the temperature instead of being overly hot became overly cold. A bitter cold he wasn't used to, especially not with his usual ability to keep himself warm.

His hope started to dwindle further as they went to the last of the tunnels. He was familiar with this place, this wasn't a place that people came out of quickly, if they ever came out. Every descent down was another level of torture they had to endure and he and his hounds were at the bottom.

They threw him inside one of the caves and it wasn't the screams that were unsettling but the unbelievable silence and freezing temperature. Not even footsteps could be heard as they stripped Nex down and left him with his hounds, alone in that cave. Venandi and Sicarius whined and surrounded Nex to try to keep him warm as the cold settled, as the freezing stone floor seemed to make the cold even more unbearable.

"It's going to be fine," he said, petting Siacrius and then Venandi.

"You don't really think that," a voice said.

Nex sighed, not sure if he was feeling more annoyed or terrified. Annoyed because he already knew this trick and the fact she would try to use it on him as a scare tactic was almost insulting.

"Aren't you too old for this shit, Poena?" Nex asked, not bothering to look around. He wouldn't be able to see her.

"Well don't take all the fun out of it," she said, emerging from the shadows. Her horns were long, curled back and almost touching her neck. Her claws were so long, Nex wondered how she could accomplish anything with them that long. Her eyes were a dark green that seemed much too happy to see him here. "It's so much more fun when they don't know what's coming," she sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. "That's all right though," she said, holding a hand out where a chain slowly appeared, starting in the palm of her hand and spreading until it reached the ground. "It's like a challenge. Now I can get creative."

Nex tried to usher the hounds back behind him but for once, they didn't obey. Both stepped in front of him and growled at Poena, batting their paws against the ground like they would charge at any moment, baring their teeth at her.

"Aww," she cooed, grasping a whip from her hip. "Look at them. So ready to protect you. Stupid mutts," she said, her smile wide as she snapped the whip towards Sicacrius.

Sicarius dodged it and snapped his head to the side, catching the whip in his teeth and growling at Poena. Venandi charged at her and Poena laughed once again.

"Goodness, I underestimated them," she said, her eyes flashing a bright green. Venandi and Sicarius both went still as statues and Nex growled, lunging forward.

Chains came from nowhere, locking around his ankles and wrists, jerking him back against the wall. "Oh come on," Poena said, rolling her eyes. "You're acting like you don't know how it works down here. You know you can't touch me," she said, flicking her wrist and sending the whip across Venandi's ribs, making her whimper as a deep cut formed while she remained unable to move.

"Bitch," Nex hissed. "Leave them out of it."

"No, see, that's what will make this worse for you," she said, whipping Sicarius's back similarly, earning another whimper as he also stayed in place. "You're acting so foolish," she scolded, stopping in front of Nex, grabbing his chin and tilting it up towards her. "You know there's no hope. But by all means, keep thinking there is," she said, a wide smile forming, showing her sharp teeth. "Because it is so much fun to watch hope leave a person's eyes. But we're not quite there yet, are we? No, we have something else to settle first."

She smiled and stepped aside, inclining her head to the metal bars keeping them inside. The door opened and Lucian was shoved inside, his body covered in cuts and bruises, his eye so swollen he couldn't open it. Nex's eyes widened and he tried to move but the chains held him back. Lilith strode in, grabbing Lucian's shoulder and shoving him forward until he was on his knees.

"Now look at what you made me do," she said, frowning. "I have to kill one of my own and send him to The Praeteritus because of you. And I liked him Nex. I really did."

The Praeteritus was a place of lost and forgotten souls. A place some argued worse than torture, where there was no escape and no finding them once they were gone. A place they were locked inside with no way out, endlessly wandering around for eternity in anguish with no memory of who they were or what they'd done so even if someone came looking, they wouldn't be recognizable.

"You don't have to kill Lucian," Nex said. "For fuck's sake, Lilith, don't punish Lucian because of me!"

"I have no choice thanks to you," she said, narrowing her eyes and withdrawing a knife from the sheath resting against her hip. "He killed an angel for you and that human. You both knew that was unforgivable. You both knew there would be a consequence for that," she said, shaking her head. "You're lucky you didn't have your powers to do it yourself, otherwise, this would be you," she said, grabbing Lucian's hair and jerking his head back, exposing his neck. "I hope you're happy. I hope fucking her was worth the pain you'll endure. I hope it was worth getting your friend killed," she said, bringing the blade to Lucian's neck.

"Lilith don't!" Nex snapped. "Kill me instea-"

It was too late. She drew the blade across Lucian's throat. A choking sound escaped him as the blood poured from his throat, his one eye blinking slowly before staying open as he fell face-first to the ground, his body turning to a stone similar to the ones in the cave before crumbling, his soul bounded around the room for a moment before it disappeared in the ground.

Summary: Nex is trapped and he and his hounds are being hurt. Lilith kills Lucian because he was the demon that actually killed the angel.

A/N:

Heyyyy.... See you wanted an early update and I planned to give it to you obviously but I was scared because... Well...this... is another cliff-hanger... possibly a worse one 🙈 You guys, here's the thing, I knew Lucian was going to die a long time ago, I didn't know you'd get so attached to him but I couldn't change it 🤷‍♀️ Don't hate me, I'm going to run away now 🙈

So.. Let me know what you thought of the chapter 😅

Hey, on the bright side, you got to see the doggos! What'd you think?

Aww the doggos trying to protect Nex tho 😭

Hmm, where do we go from here? 🤔

Someone brought to my attention that they read this whole story somewhere else with some ending someone made up about Lilith somehow getting into the church and luring Kat in which I'll just tell you right now is definitely NOT how the book goes (stealing my work again but apparently trying to end it without the rest of the book finished) but they couldn't remember on what platform and haven't found the book on. Now, it could be that it was taken down but based on how she told me it ended, I haven't seen it and people have gotten creative with muting me because they think that'll somehow keep me from finding it (it won't) so I'm thinking it's still out there. However, since I'm having a hard time finding this particular one, please keep an eye out for me and let me know if you see it ❤❤❤

If you're on Patreon, please don't give spoilers about the ending, thanks ❤❤❤

Dedicating this chapter to my awesome reader lilbitchboooo who made an awesome over for me! Check it out below ❤ Thanks love!!!