"We're here." 

Spence's voice had turned into a tired groan by the time we'd reached a set of short, stone steps leading up to a wooden door. The torch light shone on a strangely-shaped golden knocker like an illusion of sunshine. 

It felt like an age since we'd been outside. 

My eyes squinted at the exit in front of us, too exhausted to feel shocked at finally finding the way out of this seemingly never-ending tunnel. I'd guessed that we had spent more than a day wandering these corridors, only allowing ourselves an hour of sleep as a reprieve from our constant walking. 

Apart from the interruption of The Oracle and the cryptic message she brought with her, our journey was pretty uneventful. But it had been hard. I was hungry and could barely keep my eyes open, and Spence was struggling even more so, made clear by his embarrassing attempt to unlock the door to our exit. 

I took the key from his grasp to stop his pitiful effort and opened the door myself, revealing a small, dingy room that resembled some sort of basement. 

"Thanks," Spence grumbled, before walking over to a wall of metal that was juxtaposing to the rest of the room, a flickering bulb bringing a dull light to his movements. He typed in a code on a keypad and suddenly the steel wall started to split into two, sliding apart to expose a stairwell. 

I followed him up the stairs until we reached a landing that had two possible exits: another set of steps going upwards to our left; and a large, ornate door that looked far too regal and imposing for us to touch. But that was how I knew where we were: mafia mansions were always made to be expensively intimidating.

Spence ignored the stairs and wondered towards the oak door as I trailed behind him like a lost puppy. This place was unknown to me. The window to my left showed a large forest and beyond that there didn't seem to be any buildings in sight. We weren't in L.A anymore. 

I just had to hope I knew some guys from this base so I could really get the vital information I needed. I'd already asked Spence whether he knew anything, but it didn't seem like he had any more knowledge on the mafia's decline then I did. And that was quite a surprise: Spence always knew what was happening. I just had to assume that they were probably keeping everything quiet to prevent panic or suspicion within the family, which was sensible. It's exactly what I had to do with the Il Libro Dei Demoni situation. 

Spence opened the door to reveal an extremely large, opulent dining hall with tall, sloping wooden walls and one long, elegant table clothed in white that had the effect of splitting the room in two. Various men were clustered around the hall in groups, whilst other, solitude figures were alone in corners in urgent conversations on the phone. The latter were the only people in the room who didn't bother to look at us as we entered; but everyone else did, and I was surprised at how disconcerting it felt to have twenty pairs of eyes staring solely at me.

"Spence?" One of the men yelled out, getting up from his seat to walk towards us. "And Mr Axon? Where the hell did you come from?" 

I almost sighed with relief. The bulky, dark haired man coming towards us was a guy called Victor Manidov and luckily he was one of the mafia higher-ups I knew quite well. He was more powerful than Spence and that meant if anyone in this room could tell me what was actually going on, he could. He usually knew pretty much everything concerning the mafia and was therefore a very useful connection. 

When he approached us we both shook hands with him, before Spence launched into an explanation of the events that transpired in Bel Air. Victor remained stoic throughout Spence's description but I could see his eyes narrowing in anger ever so slightly, perhaps showing that he was struggling to keep his cool. I couldn't exactly blame him: he may have lost more than thirty men and an entire estate if he didn't stage an operation to take it back. 

Victor wasn't the boss of the L.A mafia, however- I'd never met the actual guy who ran the whole thing- but he was part of a group of four men who were directly under him. Whatever decision the mysterious leader made was carried out by these pawns without any kind of complaint. The real boss had an insane amount of influence in the world of the mafia, one that could be rivalled by no other. Maybe he could sort out the disaster of the Bel Air situation, if anyone. 

When Spence finally finished explaining Victor's brown eyes had almost turned into slits, but he managed to keep his cool. "Let's go to my office. There are some things I need to tell you two, and then you can go to sleep because I can tell that you're exhausted." 

Victor then led us out of the massive dining hall and back through the door we came through, this time opting to take the steps going upwards that Spence had previously ignored. We followed him up three flights of stairs before we finally came to a landing that had another impressive oak door, which Victor opened for us. When I stepped inside I knew this was our destination.  

The decor was very masculine and kind of reminded me of my office back down in Hell, with its impressive beast-of-a-desk that housed a selection of decanters of liquor, and it's leather seats. But that was where the comparisons ended. This room had a rustic, almost pub-like appeal with its dark wooden walls, plush green carpet and a large snooker table. There was one window but the curtains were drawn, so the only light of the room came from two dim, dangling bulbs attached to the sloping roof. Perhaps they added to the intimidation tactic.  

"So what's going on then?" I asked, getting straight to the point as we all took our seats around the desk. 

Victor let out a sigh before giving me the information I had walked so far for. "The masked men who attacked you guys...we've encountered them in the past. Not on this big of a scale- they've never tried to steal our property before- but they have killed quite a few of our guys. We managed to capture one of their men and torture him until he told us what the group wanted. According to him, they're an anti-crime security which uses extreme violence to protect their citizens from any possible threats. They're backed by a prestigious law firm in L.A that fund..."

"Wait," I stopped him, my heart thumping in my chest. "Which law firm funds them?"

Victor gave me a confused look. "A business called Robbins and Co. Why?" 

My blood ran cold. I almost couldn't believe what I'd just heard, but it was staring at me right in the face, taunting me into a shroud of fear. 

It was Robbins. She was attacking the mafia internally and externally because she knew it was a large place of demonic influence. And that meant she definitely had Il Libro Dei Demoni. She was striking at every angle possible because the book was telling her how to bring down the darkness of my world. She couldn't just be considered a vague, God-influenced threat anymore: she had the potential to destroy everything we had worked for with a deadly mix of power, knowledge and violence. She killed with God and guns.

I had been completely wrong about this woman. She wasn't a ditsy, middle-aged church goer who had somehow stumbled upon one of the most important religious weapons on a morning walk. No. She was calculating, strategic and secretive: a wolf in sheep's clothing, a predator in disguise. Her public persona was completely different to the real Darcy Robbins, but revealing the truth would involve exposing the L.A mafia, which would make matters even worse. 

"No reason," I said, calming myself down. "I just wondered if I knew the company. But I don't." 

Victor gave me an odd look but continued anyway, leaving me to my own devices. I didn't listen to anything else he said as I just began to absorb the fact that bringing down Mrs Darcy Robbins was going to be so much harder than I had originally thought. I wasn't dealing with a kind, old woman; I was dealing with a figure full of icy power and intelligence, who had constructed a mask so intricate and deceptive that few would be able to see past it. She needed to be dealt with. 

But then I was reminded of The Oracle's warning, who must have known the real person behind the fake identity. She wouldn't have told me to find out more if there wasn't a good enough reason to, if there wasn't a darker consequence of the book falling into the wrong hands. I still didn't have enough information to see the full picture. 

I knew I had a big decision ahead, but that didn't mean time was on my side. The longer I spent allowing Robbins to keep Il Libro Dei Demoni, the more danger there was to the mafia and its demonic influence and power. 

I felt like there were wrong turns in every direction I could possibly take, and as the challenges were increasing so were my stakes. It was becoming clear that my whole world was in danger and the only one who could actually do anything about it was me.