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Nex would be lying on the ground if not for the chains holding his body up. He had no strength left at the moment and so he slouched over, ignoring the way the metal around his wrists cut into his skin from the weight of him hunching over. Venandi and Sicarius tried to keep him upright for a while but they, too, had little strength left.

Venandi lifted her head and struggled to strand, licking Nex's face and whining lightly. "I know," he said, his voice horse and barely recognizable. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Awww," Poena cooed, making Nex and the hounds stiffen. "How sweet it all is. Did you miss me?" Poena asked.

Nex didn't bother to lift his head. He heard her footsteps approach in the otherwise silent cell and didn't bother to look up because he already knew what was coming, he just was hoping they'd have a longer break this time.

"Don't tell me I broke you already," Poena pouted, nudging Nex's leg with her foot. "Where's that fighting spirit, huh?"

He had it still. He had plenty of it. But the highest priority was getting his hounds out of there and getting back to Katherine and that meant he had to be smart. If he fought back, Poena would enjoy it too much. The punishment would last longer the more fun she was having. If he bored her, she would want to move on to someone she could get a bigger reaction from.

"Nex," Poena whined, releasing a knife and bringing it to his neck as she grabbed the back of his head and jerked it back so he had to look at her. "Come on. You can do better than that. I want to see what impressed Lilith so much she made you a higher rank. Don't tell me my torture was too much for you after I was passed up on the higher rank because of you," she said, narrowing her eyes.

Nex didn't answer. It wouldn't help. He knew one of the reasons Lilith let Poena take lead on his punishment was because there wasn't a single chance Poena would feel pity and take it easy on him. Poena hadn't liked him since the day Lilith chose Nex over her for a promotion to a higher rank when Nex had far less experience. Poena had been bitter ever since, convinced the only reason Nex moved up was because Lilith wanted something else from him.

"Nothing to say?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. "After all these years of you supposedly being the stronger and smarter one, I have you speechless? You?" She laughed. "I don't think anyone ever thought you were capable of being silenced. Your pet human made you weak."

Nex said nothing. He wanted to bite back but it's what Poena wanted. She had little patience. She might lash out on him but then she'd get sick of not having him play her game and want to move on. As much as he wanted to snap back at her, he thought of Katherine and bit his tongue. He would find a way back to her, no matter what he had to do.

"Hmmm," Poena hummed, dragging the blade of her knife against his skin hard enough to make it uncomfortable but not hard enough to draw blood. "I think I know what would get a reaction out of you," she said, a wicked smile forming. "I wonder what your pet human is up to right now. Should I find out?"

Nex swallowed hard, narrowing his eyes at Poena. The action only made her smile grow wider.

"Oh, there it is," she said, bringing the knife up to the corner of his eye. "A reaction. I bet it would be even better with her here," she said, letting go of Nex's head and stepping back. "Perhaps I ought to go find her and bring her here. Let her see all the fun we've had."

"You can't go near her," Nex said, trying to remain calm. "Lilith is finally choosing you over me, you really want to risk pissing her off by getting her more in trouble with humans by bringing one down here?"

"Nice try," Poena laughed. "Lilith already gave me free reign to handle this how I like. The human is not off-limits. In fact, Lilith said this human may be the only way we truly get it through that thick skull," she said, tapping Nex's head. "What happens when you don't play by our rules."

"She has a church full of people that love her," Nex said, desperately trying to remain calm. "They'll talk, they'll ask questions. You'll only create more problems and then Lilith will resent you for not handling as discreetly as I would've. She'll compare your ability to mine, you know she will. I set a standard that you'll never reach if you get humans involved."

Poena's smile faltered just slightly, her eyes just barely narrowing. "I see you're still awfully full of yourself for someone that's responsible for a fellow demon's death," she said, gesturing to the pile of crumbled, almost dust-like stone that used to be Lucian. "For someone responsible for the pain of his hounds," she said, gesturing to the cut-up Sicarius and Venandi. "For someone who's now going to be responsible for the death of a woman he supposedly loved," she said, a breathy laugh escaping her. "I was going to save her for the finale but, you've moved up my timeline with your pathetic attempt at trying to get in my head," she said, crouching down and grabbing his chin. "I'm going to have to ask you to excuse me while I fetch her. It may take some time," she said, another wicked smile forming. "Because I can't just very well bring a human down here and not give her a tour," she said, tilting her head to the side. "I can't just not introduce her to our many demons who haven't yet earned the freedom of travel and would love to know what it feels like you have a human body pressed against them."

Nex's calm broke and he snapped his head forward, colliding it with Poena's face and enjoying the sound of her nose cracking. "You fucking touch her I'm going to spend the rest of eternity making your life unbearable," Nex warned. "Lilith will forgive me eventually, I'll steal your rank again, and then I will fucking tear you apart until you beg to go to The Praeteritus. And I'll have centuries of pent up anger leading up to that moment so don't you even fucking think about touching her."

Poena growled in annoyance, resetting her nose before grabbing her dagger again. "Well, because of that outburst now I'm just going to bring all those unforgiving demons down into this dungeon so you have to watch her suffer," Poena snapped. "Until I return, let this serve as a reminder that I have no problem taking this to a cruel level, even by demon standards," she said, lifting her blade and bringing it down on Venandi's head.

Except she couldn't. The blade didn't touch Venandi.

Poena frowned in confusion and brought the knife down again but again, it didn't touch Venandi. An invisible shield kept it from touching her. Poena growled and tried Sicarius but the same thing happened. She tried Nex last, shoving the blade toward his chest but it didn't hit him.

"What the fuck?" Poena spat. "In that name of all that's unholy-"

"It's actually not what's unholy, Poena," a voice said.

Nex and Poena's head snapped to the source of the voice, standing in white robes that somehow didn't have a speck of dust or dirt or anything on them despite the underworld being an unclean place. The dark lighting seemed to do nothing to diminish the faint glow Melchizedek had around him as he stepped into the cell with his hands tucked behind his back. "You may go, Poena," he said, inclining his head to the cell door.

"This is none of an angel's business," Poena spat, stalking towards him. "Get the fuck out of my dungeon!"

"I said," Melchizedek said, making Poena inadvertently stiffen, the hold on her dagger loosening without her permission, causing it to slip out of her hand and land on the ground. "You may go."

"You have no authority here," Poena seethed. "He's mine to deal with."

"My authority isn't limited to one realm," Melchizedek said, stepping to the side, giving Poena more room to leave. "And this is no longer your concern," he said, gesturing to the door. "You may go."

"I'm not leav-" Poena started but then her vocal cords failed. No sound would come out. Melchizedek sighed and shook his head.

"Poena, I'm afraid you're misunderstanding. When I say you may go," he said, gesturing to the door again. "I mean that Nex is no longer your concern and I need you to leave. I'm giving you the option to do it peacefully and without force," he said simply, clasping his hands together and offering a smile. "Please don't make me call Lilith to set you straight about whose authority you're required to submit to. I don't want to have to do that. I prefer to let you leave peacefully."

Poena growled but no sound came out. That only made her more frustrated and she lunged at Melchizedek but her blade didn't make it far. It stopped centimeters from his face where she tried to bring the knife between his eyes.

"That was quite unwise," Melchizedek sighed, stepping away from the dagger and shaking his head. "Didn't Nex just get punished for killing an angel? You really think coming after me is a good idea?" He asked, gesturing to the position he froze her in. "See, now you've made it more complicated and I really didn't want to have to do this but you aren't giving me many options," he turned to face her, his eyes flashing a white light that her stepping back before her whole body stiffened as if it were paralyzed, her arms dropping to her sides. "Poena, leave."

Poena had no control over her body as her legs just started walking her out of the room and far away from the cell, leaving Melchizedek alone with Nex and the hounds. Nex watched Melchizedek closely as Mel walked towards him.

"What are you doing here?" Nex asked. "Isn't it your duty to protect humans from demons? They're threatening to go after Katherine. If you want to abide by your precious duties, you should be watching over her."

"Katherine is safe," Melchizedek said, pausing in front of Nex. "I've made her untouchable. The highest rank demon couldn't hurt her even if they wanted to."

Untouchable. That wasn't something that happened often. They rarely made humans untouchable by demons. Nex opened his mouth to speak but frowned when Melchizedek crouched down, setting his hand on Venandi's head. The second he did, the deep cuts and scrapes, the bruises that were undoubtedly hiding under the fur were all gone. Venandi perked up, lifting her head towards Mel who patted her affectionately before doing the same to Sicarius.

"What are you doing here?" Nex repeated, feeling like he might be falling into some kind of trap.

"You know I'm not allowed to lie," Mel said, a white sheet forming in his hand, first as threads all separate that wove together and became longer until he had a full sheet in his hand. "Nor would I want to," he added just as the chains around Nex's wrists and ankles vanished.

Nex wasn't ready to lose the support and nearly collapsed but Mel caught him, gently pushing him back to sit up as he draped the sheet around Nex's cold and naked body.

"I said you could trust me and you can," Mel said, setting his hand on Nex's shoulder. All the pain, the bruises and gashes, the lashes from the whips, the cuts around his wrists all faded into nothing, until no pain remained.

"Why are you doing this?" Nex asked, holding the sheet around himself for warmth. Despite it being so thin, it seemed to banish out the cold in the room. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to right a wrong that happened years ago," Mel said simply. "Tell me, what would you do to get back to her? Anything?"

"I'm not in the mood for your fucking tests," Nex hissed. "Lucian died while you were doing whatever the fuck it was you were doing."

"I heard," Mel frowned. "And I'm sorry about that. I'll see what I can do for him but right now, I need you to let go of some of that anger because I want to help you and I can't if you won't tone down the animosity."

"Help me how?" Nex asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Katherine came to me for help," Mel said, making Nex's eyes widen in surprise. "She did. She drove to-"

"She drove?" Nex interrupted, not believing what he heard. Katherine drove?

"Yes," Mel said, a smile tugging on his lips. "It wasn't easy for her but she thought of you. She thought of you and she drove the car to her church looking for me. She wanted to talk. To ask me to bring you back or at the very least keep you from getting hurt."

"I thought that was against your rules," Nex said, not wanting to let himself feel hope for nothing.

"Well, perhaps, but things are phrased certain ways, aren't they?" Mel pointed out. "And humans have done quite an awful job of interpreting The Bible. They've twisted it, turned it into something it was never meant to be, used it out of context to justify bias and treating each other poorly," he sighed, shaking his head. "The ridiculous thing is they seem to think they know everything, enough to justify terrible behavior, enough to justify killing and harming under the name of their religion while conveniently forgetting that love is at the center of it all. Love perseveres," he said, watching Nex carefully. "Isn't that right? I don't think there's much you wouldn't do for love. Not exactly the typical behavior for a demon, giving up anything for love. And yet, here you are."

Nex frowned, still feeling suspicious. Venandi and Sicarus scooted closer to him, laying their heads in his lap.

"Put aside the anger you feel towards God as a demon and just really think about the question I'm about to ask," Mel said. "Do you think if there was a soul that was meant to come to them and instead it got lost, they would never find a way to bring it back? Do you think they wouldn't go after that soul to bring it home?"

Nex paused, not wanting to play his games but unable to stop himself from thinking of Katherine and wondering if playing nice would give him at least one last chance to see her. "I suppose they would always make sure they retrieved the souls they wanted," Nex said, feeling more confused and even more annoyed because angels never got to the damn point but had to make everything poetic to a confounding degree.

"I suppose they would too," Mel said, his lips quirking into a smile. "You know what's interesting? It's against our vows of protecting humans to allow a demon to be with a human," he explained. "So let me ask again, what would you do to get back to Katherine?" Mela asked. "Is there anything you wouldn't be willing to give up to be with her again?"

Nex needed no time to consider. "There is nothing I wouldn't do for her," he said, clutching the sheet tighter.

"Then trust me like you did before all this happened," Mel said, standing and offering a hand to help him up. "And come with me."

"Where?" Nex asked, eying his hand suspiciously.

"To ask them to do something for you I cannot do myself," Mel said.

"You think they'll let me go back to her?" Nex asked, trying to not let himself overthink it. Hope had never worked out well for him but Katherine changed that for him. Normally he would have no hope for a positive outcome but she'd taught him differently and so he couldn't help the little bit of hope that formed somewhere deep in his soul from a place that seemed familiar and yet so incredibly distant.

"I think your soul is more precious than you realize," Mel said. "Trust me," he said, sticking his hand out further.

Nex hesitated but accepted Mel's hand. Although he didn't care to have help up, he was weak from what Poena put him through. He stood unsteadily and Mel started towards the door but Nex grabbed his arm. "Wait," Nex said.

"What?" Melchizedek asked, glancing back.

"If I go," Nex said, stepping back and setting his hands on Venandi and Sicarius's heads as they stood next to him. "My hounds come with me."