"Who in the fuck are you?"

I folded my arms, glaring at the woman before me. I didn't like that she bore some resemblance to Natanya or that she shared the last time as he who-shall-not-be-named because it meant that everything that had happened would've been a lie.

"Synthella...Kane?" I stared at her confusion, my traitorous mind slowly putting together what I desperately didn't want to believe. "Does that," I swallowed deeply, the knot seemingly stuck in my throat but I knew it was all in my head. I could feel the dead hallway gradually started to get colder like ice, when it was so damn hot. "Does that mean you are..." I trailed off, unable to ask my own question with the clench of my hand.

"How's my darling Natanya?" The brown-haired woman slowly moved to cling at the bars of the cage, her chains rattling with every single movement that she made. I put a hand up to my mouth, stunned and crisp with disbelief. There was just no way that was true. It just couldn't be. My heart was not going to allow me to fully comprehend that the lady that was sitting before, bound behind bars, was Natanya's mother.

Didn't Natanya say that her father told her that she died long, long ago?

"That can't be true though," I sputtered, watching her recoil back. "Her father told her that you died," I watched as tears began to spring to her eyes, her mouth twisted in a gut-wrenching frown. "That would explain why she never came to see me..." Synthella whispered in a sad voice before lifting her head up, her face dripping with venomous anger. She grabbed at the bars, shaking them, and I stared, watching her intensely. "That damn Lucifer." She hissed darkly and I waited for her horns to grow and her skin to darken like a normal demon would when angered, but the halo around her head just gradually lightened.

"How long has it been?" She asked in a hoarse voice and I was unsure of what she was asking me. "Tell me," She took a deep breath. "How old is my precious Natanya?" Her voice hung low with a whimper and I was almost afraid to answer. "I don't know because demon years are weird," Synthella's eyes went extraordinarily wide as she let go of the bars to clutch her chest. "But as a human, I'd say she's 18." I shrugged and she let out a wail, blue tears cascading down her face.

"No, no no, my sweet baby, a demon," She lamented and I took a step back, wondering if this lady was on some intense demon drugs. "It's been 18 years since I last held you..." She wept and I blinked, wondering how the fuck she was kept down here for so long. "Were you," I took a deep breath, unsure of why it hurt to ask this question. "Were you Maddox's wife?" She tilted her head in confusion, narrowing her eyes. "Who is this person you speak of?" She asked, trying to stand up, the sound of bones cracking.

"I only know Lucifer." I was completely dumbfounded for a moment. "But didn't you just take his last name or am I missing something?" She shook her head. "That was the last name that was given to me when I married Lucifer." My mind was reeling with all of this confusion. She had absolutely no clue who the hell Maddox was, but she knew of Lucifer Kane, it seemed. I had to get to the bottom of this and figure out why she was still alive and why Maddox lied.

"Then why are you in here?" Synthella fixed me with a cautious stare, sniffing the air as if she could smell my true intentions. She looked pitiful and I almost felt bad for her. "I don't even know you," She spoke in almost a clean and foreign accent that made it hard for me to understand a singular word that she was saying. "You don't," I replied casually and she leaned against the bar, tears falling from her eyes.

"The man that I loved put me in here," She whispered sadly. "He just wanted me to create a child for him and after she was born, he ripped her away from me and threw me in here to rot away," I blinked, wondering if she was indeed telling the truth, but the look in her eyes told me not to assess her words. "Though as an angel, I cannot die," Synthella murmured and some things were starting to make even more sense.

"But why would he do that to you?" She sneered scornfully at me and I stared straight at her, watching her play with her hair. It just didn't sit right with me. The demon lord wasn't the type of person who would do something like that and if he did, then I really didn't know him as well as I seemed to think. "Hell if I know," Her words were spat coldly as if she wanted to slow cook Maddox in the lava waterfall just right outside the castle.

I took a step back and headed for the way that I came, unsure if I believed her or not. I just couldn't see Maddox doing a thing like that when he was so protective over the things he cared about. Something deeper was going on and I intended to find out.

First, I needed to take a deep breath. I walked outside of the castle onto one of the balconies and I leaned against the ledge, mulling over everything. I felt angry. I felt hurt. I felt betrayed. Jesus fuck, I was Troy Victorino Morelli and I never felt these things as hard as I did right now. Sure, I felt angry all the time but that was a constant emotion and I never had to derive it from anything else. This? Nah, this was something much more intense.

"Hey," I heard a voice come from behind me and I looked over to see Lexica waltzing over to me. I let out a sigh, not wanting to deal with her just yet. I had a lot on my mind and it was taking me some time to process it. It was taking a lot of energy because everything that I had ever known was blowing up in my face. I stiffened a bit, feeling her coming to lean on the ledge beside me, staring at the lava rainfall across from eyes.

"I don't remember who I was before I came here," She spoke after a moment of silence and I looked at her from the corner of my eye, watching her every movement. She paid no attention to me as she continued to speak. "I really have no clue but it feels like my mind is missing something. For some reason, I know that it wasn't always this way. I know that at some point, long, long ago, things were totally different. I do know that Hell was always here," Lexica strained her mind as if she was trying so hard to remember. "But we just weren't living in it."

Though her words made no sense to someone else, it made absolute sense to me. It just made comprehending everything else much more difficult because the only one who had the answers to such questions like this was the demon lord.

"So what was your sin?" I asked once more and I could hear her hitch a breath but she had to have known that I was going to ask. She could walk away now and forget that we had this conversation if it was too much for her to answer, but I had to find out because something told me that something bad was coming for us. It was that dark and stimulating feeling that I was consistently being watched despite knowing that Maddox saw all. It wasn't that type of feeling. It was as if someone was calmly calculating when and where to attack.

"Wrath."

I raised a brow, knowing full well that I was right. "I'm not sure when and I'm not sure how," Lexica shrugged, her face contorted into agony as she struggled to recall that moment but it was obvious that she wasn't able to. "But I killed someone," She softly confessed and I, for one, had no idea what to make of that news. Congrats, you killed your first person? No, that would've been extremely insensitive and uncalled for. She didn't know why or how, but she remembered that vital piece of information.

That, in addition to Availa's monologue, I was slowly piecing together what was happening beyond what we could see. "I need to find Maddox," I whispered and Lexica nodded, tapping me gently to transport me to the dark wing, where he resided.

Normally, my birthdays would feel like crap and I'd go to sleep to wake up the next day, realizing that it wasn't actually crap but it was just how the world was. But for the first time in a long time, my birthday was instantly ruined without even trying. I felt utterly totally trashed like my chest was broken or something. There was a gentle reminder, telling me not to get too close to the fire that he exuded, but I found myself taking a step towards the big and dangerous man as he sat, playing with my dog. 

I took a deep breath and gave it my all. "Yo, Maddox, I want to talk to you for a second."

He let Maddox Jr. run out of his grasp as he stood up, walking over to me with concern on his face. "What's wrong, Troy? Did someone upset you?" He came and he towered over me, so much concern in his eyes and I bit my lip, taking a breath through my nose. I had just decided to come out straight with it, hoping that he would just keep it real and stop dragging us all through everything that he was trying to hide.

"Why is your wife still alive?"

He looked genuinely taken aback and shocked but he seemed calm in all senses. "Don't even try to lie or any shit like that because I met the girl," I had no idea why I was so shaken up by it. If he wanted to lie about having a wife, that was completely fine by all means, but he had no right to try and snatch up what little bit of heart I had and use it to his content.

Damn, I sounded really bitter. "I see you've wandered where you shouldn't." That was all he said and I couldn't believe that he didn't have more to say. I took a step back and folded my arms, looking into his now black eyes. "First of all, I don't give a shit that you somehow left her alive or whatever you did," I really gave five shits and it was pissing me off that I cared so much because I had zero clues why I cared. Maddox raised a brow as if he could sense my unwinding emotions. "But the fact of the matter is," I gritted my teeth, trying to calm the throb of my heart.

"You lied to Natanya. She told me that you told her that her mother was dead. Obviously, she isn't since she's tied up in a cage like some heathen," I panted, feeling an irritating sting in my eyes. I clenched my fists, trying to tell myself to stop being so upset over something that had nothing to do with me.

But in all actuality, it had everything to do with me.

"What I do with my daughter," Maddox's voice remained casual but I could feel a slight tremor in the ground. "Is none of your concern, Mr. Morelli," I rolled my eyes, wanting this stupid bitch to tell it like it is and stop beating around the bushes. "Oh? So now we're back to that? Okay, let's play that game, Sir Alistair," I spat mockingly, watching him jolt in irate. "And as a matter of fact, it is all of my concern when she comes to me, crying her god damn eyes out because you don't tell her shit. You don't tell her anything and it makes her not want to be near you!"

I heaved in anger, making sure that he really understood what I was getting at. His face was contorted into pain and he looked extremely taken aback and wounded. "...she said that?" I nodded slowly. "Not in so many words, but you get the gist. I don't know why you're hiding your wife and her mother from her," I took a step back, my heart thumping dully, making it hard to breathe.

Maddox narrowed his eyes at me, an air of blue fire started to circulate around him. "She's not my wife." His tone was very dark and adamant. "She's not my wife, Troy," I didn't know who he was trying to convince, me or him, but he was so very sure of himself. It was almost as if he was begging me to believe me, but I didn't need to believe him.

But the reassurance was nice.

The demon lord's eyes turned back to gold once he saw my passive nature and he took a step closer to me, reaching for my hand. "I wouldn't lie to you, Troy," His eyes were gleaming, asking me to just listen to his words. He grabbed my hand, his warm palm seeping into my very own as our fingers intertwined. I didn't even think that he was blindly aware of what he was doing and I didn't think he realized what it was doing to me.

"...another thing. Why is it that every demon I talk to, they seem to know that this was never where they came from?" I narrowed my eyes, watching as he instantly dropped my hand, stepping back away out of my personal space. I knew I had touched a serious subject, but someone had to address the elephant in the room or the lair of secrets would just get bigger and bigger. "They seem so upset and I think that you should tell them what you know," It had to be something bad because judging by the stern and harsh look on his face, the stoic glare of his eyes and the firm frown on his lips, he was getting pissed.

"Do not try to make an argument about something you can't come to possibly understand."

Okay, now I was starting to get irritated. I didn't know what he was thinking, but all of this mysteriousness and secrecy was putting a breach between him and the only people he had ever trusted. "Who gives a fuck when you're not allowing your own people to be happy?!" I screeched, wanting him to see the severity of the situation. He just stared at me, his right hand emitting blue flames. I took a step closer to him, anger growing slowly inside of me. 

"We can't understand jack shit if you don't open your fucking mouth and tell us what's going on! You," I sputtered, throwing my hands in the air, staring at the man before me, wondering why I somehow thought that I had some attraction towards him. "You let those people on Earth suffer and grieve in agony because they think their family is dead. You let your people live in fear of the unknown because you're scared." Maddox said exactly nothing but his jaw tightened as I relayed word for word on him, jabbing my finger straight at him and he could do nothing but listen because he knew I was completely right. 

"I don't know what shit you're on, Maddox Kane," I sneered, watching his eyes trail from my own to my lips, his black wings coming out to coat his entire being like some cloak. "But you cannot expect anyone, whether it's your own people or it's us, humans, to have your back and help you when you need it," I stepped closer in his personal space, his eyes turning a dark blue as I pushed my finger into his chest, ignoring the fire and sparks that lit up between us. "If you don't tell us what we need to be looking out for, what we need to be wary of. You need to tell us why we are here in the first place and maybe you'll see a change."

I could feel the ground tremors increasing, causing me to stumble as Maddox let out a deep breath through his nostrils, his hands clenched as he stared down at me like I was completely insignificant yet so above him. I folded my arms, tilting my head at him. "Are you mad, Sir Alistair? Stay mad, cuz I don't give a fuck."

I shook my head, heaving a sigh. The feeling in my heart was slowly numbing as my hand throbbed, remembering the clutch of his touch. I just wanted to know why my body was instantly warm. Maybe he was trying to warm me unconsciously. Either way, he jumbled my mind up so much and he confused me. He was hot and then he was cold and it made me want to dig deeper into that mind of his, but I knew that it would cause me to fall. 

Nevertheless, I pressed on, feeling the slight blush of my cheeks. It was awkward to look him straight in the eye because I could see my entire being reflected into those darks orbs. "You can't call yourself trying to look out for others when all you do is keep them in the dark and pushing them away." I retorted, hoping that would open his mind up. He had to know that his demons would do anything for him and if it came down to it, I'd manage to do what I could for him. I wouldn't admit it to his face or to myself, but it bothered me to see him so pent up and afraid of something we cannot see.

I took a step back, pivoting on my foot as my hand slowly left his chest. I went to walk away, but my arm was caught in a death grip. It didn't hurt, the opposite actually. I couldn't stop the doe-eyed expression that my face took nor could I explain the sudden intake of air that my heart needed for its rapid beating. I couldn't describe what I was feeling because I had never experienced in my entire life, but I knew it was there. However, I had to stay firm, no matter how tightly this puppy lord clung to me.

"Sometimes, the truth will set them free."