Kaitlyn staggered back as a fire suddenly leapt before her eyes. It crackled in the huge, marble fireplace, so bright she had to turn away.

She didn't wait, rushing through the room, flying past the chair and the four-poster bed she knew too well. The door was open and the hallway beyond empty. If she kept running, maybe he wouldn't be able to catch her. Maybe, then, she wouldn't betray herself, and Jacob—and humanity.

The door slammed shut and Kaitlyn stopped with a gasp.

'You really think you can get away from me so easily?' echoed Satan's voice around the room. 'Where are you going to go? Who is going to help you? This is my domain.'

Kaitlyn turned back towards the fireplace. He was standing before it, looking into the flames, bare from the waist up. The inverted pentagram was clear to see, covering most of his broad back. Unlike his other "tattoos", it was scorched into his skin. She'd touched it enough to know. Even now, she could feel its rough scarring beneath her fingertips. The flickering firelight sketched out the powerful muscles in his shoulders. Kaitlyn stared.

'I'm not like your protectors. I can change things.' Raising his hand, he clenched his fist and the flames turned orange, yellow, then green, then blue. 'I can make things.' He opened his hand and the flames turned back to normal. 'And I can destroy things just as easily.' He lowered his arm and the flames snuffed out. He turned to look at her, and his eyes drew Kaitlyn's gaze like a magnet. 'What can they do?'

'They were supposed to protect me,' she blurted before she could stop herself. She clapped a hand to her mouth. The rage and hurt rose to the surface like a hungry shark.

'They. They. You haven't yet told me who they are.' His eyes flashed. After days of not seeing him, he was more striking than ever. He looked so warm. So strong. So utterly handsome. Kaitlyn's chest ached. Even the sound of his voice made her quiver.

He cocked his glorious head as he studied her. 'But that can wait.' He smiled as his eyes raked over her. 'I like what you're wearing.'

She looked down at herself, then back up at him. She wrapped her arms around her chest. Her nipples had hardened within his presence and they were rubbing uncomfortably against her bra.

'You always say that,' she said.

'Because it's true. I'm drawn to you.' He smiled and Kaitlyn felt something inside her sag. 'You could wear a sack for all I care.' His eyes glittered. 'Or nothing at all.'

Don't be so weak!

One word from him and Kaitlyn would rip everything off. And he knew it. He knew it! She closed her eyes and took a breath as she tried to keep control of herself. 'My-my parents ... you were lying, right? You were just angry. They're not really here.'

'Ah ... yes. I almost forgot about that.'

Kaitlyn opened her eyes. His head was still cocked as he smiled at her. And it was a cruel smile in its playfulness. Kaitlyn fisted her hands at her sides as she tried to be angry. Tried being the critical word. 'You forgot about it? I ha-haven't. It ... it hurt.' To her dismay tears filled her eyes.

Stop it. Stop it! Don't let him control you. Don't let him manipulate you. Be angry. Be strong! Don't let him ...

She dropped her head as the tears flowed free. She choked on her words, 'Why did you have to be so cruel? I thought you ... I thought you cared about me.' She hiccoughed, then wiped at her eyes as she started to sob like a little girl.

Goddamnit, how she despised herself right now. She felt like the weakest woman in the world, pathetic and quivering. What would her mother think if she were watching? What about Jacob and the others?

Kaitlyn sucked in a breath as gentle yet strong fingers took her chin. She hadn't even heard him approach. Kaitlyn gazed back into his remarkable eyes. The sobs kept catching in her throat.

'Oh, Kaitlyn.' With his other hand, he brushed the damp hair out of her face and gently gripped the side of her head. 'Of course I care about you. How can you doubt me?' He frowned and Kaitlyn's heart lurched at the thought that she might have actually hurt him. 'You are all I think about. You are the core of me. How can you think otherwise when all I do is search for you? Every day, I hope. Every day, I wonder.' His frown deepened. Lines creased his perfect forehead. Releasing her chin, he stepped back. 'If anyone doesn't care, it's you. If you really cared about me, why do you run? Why do you run, Kaitlyn?'

Kaitlyn opened and shut her mouth. She was supposed to do something. Or was she supposed to not do something? She couldn't remember. It was always so hard to think when within his presence.

Lowering his eyes to the floor, he turned and walked away. Kaitlyn watched him, bewildered. Her feet felt like they were glued to the floor and yet they ached to race after him. She rocked on her heels, her heart pulling her one way, her mind pulling her the other.

Then something inside her snapped. She rushed after him, grabbing his hand. 'Don't go. I do care for you. I care for you so much it hurts.'

He turned back, still looking sad, still looking disappointed. Kaitlyn's heart lurched again.

Gently, he touched her cheek. 'Then tell me where you are, Kaitlyn. Let me find you.'

Kaitlyn felt herself falling into his glimmering eyes. She opened her mouth. 'I-I ...'

He brushed his fingers over her lips, then leaned in for a kiss. Kaitlyn closed her eyes. It was so soft, so sweet. It made her mouth water. It made her fingertips tingle. She almost seemed to float.

He pulled back, then lifted her hand to his mouth. 'Where are you, Kaitlyn?' He turned it over and kissed the heel of her palm. 'Tell me where you are, so we can be together. All I want is to know that you're safe.' He pressed her hand to his cheek. 'Please.' His eyes shone into hers. 'For me.'

'South Dakota,' she blurted. 'I'm in a—I'm in a police station somewhere close to a small town called Bowdie. I'm in a cell. I want to leave but they won't let me go.'

He stared at her, silent. 'And what of your angels? Where are they?'

Kaitlyn bit her lip as she struggled against another wave of tears. 'They-they left me.'

He smiled, then leaned in to press his forehead against hers. 'Just like I won't. Thank you, Kaitlyn.'

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. Then his eyes snapped open and he grinned, showing all his teeth. All the warmth in his eyes, all the sadness in his face, suddenly vanished, replaced with something that made the hair stand up on Kaitlyn's arms. His upper lip curled into a sneer. Then he sniggered. Something cold and dreadful slipped into the pit of Kaitlyn's stomach.

What had she done?

He watched her as she stepped back, still bearing that wicked sneer. His eyes were suddenly different, no longer so magnetic. As she stared back in growing horror, she felt something loosen in her chest, as though something that had a hold of her had released its grip.

What had she done?!

Then she saw it, that deep, fiery glow in the depths of his eyes.

'No!'

He laughed, and he laughed so hard the sound of it boomed around the cavernous room. Tipping his face towards the ceiling, he raised his muscular arms.

'No!' Kaitlyn raced over. 'Don't tell them!' She grabbed onto his left arm and tried to yank it down but it was as strong and infallible as a tree branch. 'Stop!'

Failing that, she tried his other arm. It came down. His laughter snapped off. Satan lowered his head. Kaitlyn stepped back with a gasp. His eyes—gone was the beautiful blue she'd come to know so well, gone was the fiery glow. Now they were empty, black, soulless, just the same as his dark angels. And that wasn't all. His golden skin began to pale until he looked sick. He paled further and further still until he was so white he was almost translucent. Kaitlyn wasn't sure he wasn't simply going to vanish like a ghost. His once short, golden hair turned raven, spilling down his shoulders like oil. The tattoos on his chest were laced with blue veins.

Kaitlyn stared, frozen. His arm shot out, grabbing her wrist in tight, bruising fingers. She jerked back with a shriek but all he did was yank her to him with impossible strength. She slammed into his chest.

He yanked back her head and then his lips were upon her. And they weren't nice. Harsh and foul as he mashed his mouth against hers. His tongue was so wet and slimy. It flicked against hers like a slippery eel. His breath—it smelled like death.

Kaitlyn tried to thrash away her head. She shoved against his shoulders but it was like shoving against a wall. He stopped kissing her, raising his face with a gasp.

'Let go!' She squirmed against him, thrashing her head from side to side. 'Let go! Let go!'

All it did was make him smile, his eyes so black, his skin pasty white. His lips were so thin they seemed to disappear into his face. Unable to fight out of his embrace, all she could do was stare up at him in horror. Goose pimples raced up her arms. He was like a block of ice. Her chest was freezing against his. He was so cold her breath was coming out in a mist.

She cried out when he kissed her again. She gagged on his tongue. His icy lips were bruising. Then he tightened his hold on her and she screamed as he hauled her over his shoulder. Kaitlyn clawed at his back helplessly as he marched over to the bed. She screamed again as he tossed her onto it.

Then he was on top of her, her clothes shredding like tissue paper in his hands. Her breasts popped free as he snapped at her bra. She felt his cold hands against her thighs as he ripped away her pants, then her underwear. She felt his nails claw at her skin. They cut. His fingers bruised.

'Stop it!' she shouted.

White face. Greasy black hair. Thin lips. Dead eyes. And yet they weren't dead—she could see the hunger in them. She could see the fury. He wasn't like the others. He wasn't like his "servants".

'Stop it!'

In one big hand, he pinned down her wrists. With the other, he wrested off his pants. His erection burst free and it was as pasty and horrifying as the rest of him. It reminded her of one of those terrifying eels that inhabited the deepest depths of the ocean. That great big pulsing vein was a deep blue.

'Stop!' She snapped her knees shut.

Releasing her wrists, he wrenched her legs open with a snarl. He tried to wriggle over her. Kaitlyn sat up and shoved her hands in his face, pushing him away. But he was wild and strong. She cried out as he pinned her wrists back down and wriggled between her legs. She could feel his erection pressing up against her labia. She could feel the hardness, the unnatural icy coldness of it. What would happen if he put it into her? Would she turn into something like him?

She took a breath. 'Lucifer!'

He jerked back. He was still pinning her down but he wasn't moving, expressionless, frozen. Kaitlyn stared up at him in terror, her breasts heaving. Then his lips fell into a frown. His forehead furrowed. Something seemed to change in his eyes. He blinked, then turned his head. Releasing her wrists, he pulled back and Kaitlyn was able to cautiously slide out from beneath him.

Huddling against the headboard, she tried to conceal her nudity as she waited for what was to come next. Pieces of her clothing were strewn over the bed. The room was quiet except for the sputtering of the torches and the faint sound of screaming from those burning outside.

Nothing happened. He just knelt there, his head turned, his eyes unseeing and lowered to the bed. Kaitlyn slipped to the floor, then ran. She glanced over her shoulder but he wasn't following. He wasn't there at all, in fact. He'd vanished, leaving behind rumpled sheets and an empty room.

She shoved open the door and fled down the hall. She had to get back. She had to let everyone know what she'd done.

'Wake up. Wake up. Wake up!' she gasped as she ran.

But it didn't work. Not this time.

Something scuttled across the floor in front of her. Something black and creepy. Kaitlyn's eyes widened. She tried to avoid it but her legs tangled up.

She sucked in a breath as she fell.