"I don't know what's true or false anymore, so I'm gonna say some things, and you have to tell me if it's true or not. Okay?"

Nyx clambered onto the bed without help from Neo, who scoffed and sat opposite.

She pulled the duvet over her lap and sat cross-legged as she decided how to interrogate the Demon.

"Micah showed me a vision of my mother giving birth to me, and you were there. You were the one who killed her and told her I was going to be a weapon. True or false?"

Neo's expression hardened, and he offered his hand palm up to her. "Show me this vision."

"How?"

"Just give me your hand, and I will see it."

She obliged and felt the world melt away as the same images flitted behind her eyes.

The space was dimly lit and windowless. A heavily pregnant woman lay panting on a rusty hospital gurney as creatures scurried around her. Her auburn hair plastered to her face, and her hands cradled her belly as she groaned and squirmed.

"Do the final transfusion. This time it should work." A husky voice sounded from the darkness, and a dark-haired man stepped from the shadows with a syringe full of blood. "It's the angels'. Do it now." The man—a splitting image of Neo hissed.

Neo grunted as he snatched his hand away and stared at it with a scowl. "That bastard is my father. So no, it's false."

He stood and paced the room, his jaw clenching and unclenching. "The fact that Micah showed you this means he was in that room while your mother died. Perhaps he gave his blood willingly."

Nyx felt like she had been punched in the gut a second time. She swallowed and swallowed, but the dryness wouldn't ebb.

"After my father died, I forbid the demons from interacting with the humans, whether that meant possession or experimentation. That's why everyone is trying their damndest to overthrow me." His voice darkened, and he turned his back to her. "I'm not the devil that you might expect me to be. I am in charge of Purgatory and Tartarus. My father left me Tartarus while Purgatory chose me to be its steward after the last one passed."

"I don't understand. Tartarus, like Greek Mythology?"

Neo turned and sat at the edge of the bed, his hands gripping the duvet like a lifeline. "Yes. There are seven hells, and depending on a human's belief system, they will finish their penance in Purgatory and travel to the Hell or Heaven they recognise. Every Hell has its demons and master. I am only considered the King of Hell because Purgatory chose me."

Nyx sat in silence, letting the thoughts process. "Was your father Hades then?"

Dark eyes regarded her, and their owner nodded silently.

"And your mother?"

"A fallen angel, Brighid. She loved a human and chose to fall, but my father found her first and brought her here. He had lost his first love and forced her to have me." He swallowed and turned his face away. "Next question."

Uncomfortable guilt swirled in Nyx's stomach as she regretted all the beliefs she had built against Neo. She was wrong about everything so far.

She couldn't think of another question for a while until her head bowed, and her gaze lingered on her outfit.

"Did you dress me while I was unconscious?"

"No."

Nyx frowned and waited for a better explanation, but it appeared she wouldn't get one.

"Then who?"

Neo turned towards her again, and his expression lightened. "The only person I trusted with you."

Who the hell would that be?

"Ask the questions aloud, Nyx."

Nyx wanted to smack the smile right off his perfect face, but she thought harder. Then, finally, she remembered one of the main reasons she started to hate him all those years ago and asked the last question that gnawed on her still.

"Why did you kill Iris?"

He scoffed, and Nyx's heart felt like it would shatter in a million places until Neo turned his twinkling eyes toward her. "I didn't kill her. She died, and I took her to Purgatory personally because I saw how much you cared about her and when her penance was complete, I offered her a job."

Understanding very slowly dawned, and Nyx leapt forward onto all fours clambering towards Neo. When she reached him, she grabbed his thick wrist and squeezed. "Where is she?"

Neo's ghost of a smile grew, sending strange flutters through Nyx's body. "She's busy right now, but I'll make sure you have time to talk before I take you back."

Nyx's lips quirked up in the corners, and tears flooded her eyes before she could stop it. Neo watched in curiosity as Nyx's smile rapidly turned downward, and her tears raced down her cheeks. 

"How could you let me go on hating you for this long when you did nothing I accused you of?" She sobbed, but Neo placed his thumb and forefinger under her chin, wiping the tears with the other hand.

"It doesn't matter."

"You must hate me."

Neo frowned, and his mouth twisted. "I have never hated you, Miss Knight. Ever. I hated how I felt about you because of how easily I knew you could have been taken from me."

"What?" Nyx stared with parted lips and a softly furrowed brow as Neo clasped her hand and placed a kiss across her knuckles.

"I heard you call out to me when he killed you. Your fear drove me insane, Nyx. I thought it was too late, but-"

"I came back," Nyx interrupted with a whisper. She mustered bravery and crawled closer until she was only inches from the Demon. She raised up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck, waiting for his rigid torso to relax. After a second, his warm arms wrapped around her, and she let herself sink into his embrace. Her ass softly planted on his lap, and she resisted the urge to wriggle as his fingers slid down her back.

"What was that for?" Neo asked hoarsely.

"An apology," Nyx whispered into the soft skin of his neck. "And a thank you," she finished, planting a butterfly kiss on his cheek.

The silence stretched on between the pair as their breathing deepened. Nyx's heart fluttered in her throat as fast as a hummingbird as Neo tilted his head down, resting his forehead against hers. Her eyes locked on his chest, which rose and fell with burning tension.

She knew all it would take was a slight adjustment. If she just let her head fall back an inch, their lips would meet, and she would get to make up for the lost time. The thought of his mouth on hers invoked memories of their first lusting kiss that ended far too soon.

Nyx replayed the moment over and over until she noticed a pressure mounting against her ass, and a small sigh escaped her lips.

"You will be the death of me," Neo growled, attempting to lift her off his growing erection, but she gripped his face in her palms.

"I trust you." Nyx wasn't sure what came over her, and Neo's sudden rigidness sent an ice bucket of reality over her head. He doesn't want me. She bolted off his lap and pulled her nightdress down as she moved across the bed, face flaming red. Then, before she could bury herself under the duvet and die, she felt a sudden jolt against her hip, and she spun, falling flat on her back. A yelp escaped her lips as Neo hovered above her, his eyes growing dark in the dim light.

"You are mistaken, Miss Knight. I have never wanted anything more in my life."

Her breath hitched as his knee slid between her legs, the emerald nightgown now flirting with her underwear.

"But I will not hurt you." He pulled away again and stood as Nyx lay panting atop the bedspread. She quickly tugged the slip down again and sat up.

"You won't hurt me. You never have."

Neo faced the door, hiding his face from view. The only indication of his emotions was his broad shoulders' jerky rise and fall.

"And I won't start today." With that, he left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving the sexually frustrated Nyx sprawled on the bed.

"What the hell just happened?" she groaned, burying her face in the nearest pillow. After everything that's happened to me, the last thing I should be thinking about is how much I want to fu-

"Nyx?" a familiar voice called from the door, accompanied by a knock. "I'm coming in, and you better be decent."

Nyx threw the pillow aside just in time to see Iris-freaking- Jameson sauntering through the door. Her dark blue eyes sparkled under hooded lids, framed by her perfectly styled curtain layers. Her hair, the colour of rich cacao, flowed freely down her back as she stopped at Nyx's bedside.

"Didn't think you'd see me again, huh?"

Tears sprung to Nyx's eyes, and she threw herself into Iris' arms. The woman gripped her surprisingly tight, almost toppling over from the momentum.

"Jesus, okay, nurse. Settle down," Iris said with a chuckle. When Nyx finally composed herself, Iris looked down at her with a wry smile. "What did I miss?"