We had to say goodbye to our phones before we got into our taxi. We couldn't risk being tracked and I didn't have anyone to call anyway, although I had scribbled Dev's number down with a pen from Carmen's handbag. I needed to let him know what was going on and check that he was still actually alive. 

We were both quiet in the taxi. I was tired and the rest from using my power was welcome, yet I felt myself growing more anxious as the ache in my bones diminished. I was about to tell Carmen everything I swore to never disclose to her, and it was creating a nervous pit at the base of my stomach, fear swirling within me. She was going to leave me. It was unavoidable. How could someone as perfect as her want a monster like me? 

I didn't think I could handle her walking out on me right now. I'd lost so much already in the last half an hour. Since I wasn't accepted by the community of Hell anymore, the money and glory I'd worked decades to achieve was gone. Wasted away. Dead. Those pillars holding my life up had crumbled. 

And I couldn't even do anything about it. The only money I had access to was the cash reserves and the properties they were in, but the bank accounts with millions of dollars would be seized for sure. My reputation would turn to ashes by tomorrow: I was sure my demonic enemies would be very willing to spread the news of my betrayal around Hell. I could never return to my homeland. 

Unless it was to the lake of fire. 

I suppose it had gotten to the point where I was worth more dead than I was alive. Sure I had my physical power, but how could I govern a race who had no respect for me? Perhaps it would be best to start again: clearly I wasn't fit for my purpose anymore. 

In any case, I had no idea that my personal dislike of Satan would end up causing me to lose so much. If I had known that my decision to keep Lucifer from becoming the Antichrist for as long as possible would've caused this, then I may have reconsidered. 

Or would I? Surely if I allowed the world to end my decadent life on Earth would be cut short anyway. Maybe my decision just caused the consequences I would've faced at a later date to be dealt with now. Maybe I never had any hope either way. Maybe that was why The Oracle had chosen me to hide the book: she must've known that I was doomed whatever I chose to do. 

It was obvious now that Satan knew about us discovering Il Libro Dei Demoni. Rex had said the reason a price was on my head was because I was hanging out with Carmen, but that was a load of crap. No one knew about her until half an hour ago so that couldn't have been the reason for my loss. 

It seemed like Robbins had grown too load whilst I was on holiday, and perhaps it was my selfish desire to relax for a week with the gorgeous woman sitting next to me that had caused all of this. I should've went to Darcy straight away. But I didn't. I wasted precious time. And now I was paying the price. 

The taxi suddenly stopped and the safe house came into view, pulling me away from my regret. It wasn't as luxury as my beloved penthouse flat but it was still reasonable, and besides I now had to be thankful for what I had left. I couldn't afford to be a snob anymore. 

We got out after Carmen fished some cash from her purse for the taxi fare, and as I nursed my injured masculinity we made our way over to the door. My apartment was on the top floor but it was only three stories high, so there wasn't any spectacular view when we got up there. 

I keyed the code into the security box to get in the compound, which was a standard concrete block of vertical flats in a modern style, and we walked into the hallway before I pressed the button for the lift. 

Carmen remained silent, stoic even, as the machine took us up to the top floor. I had no idea what she was thinking which was frustrating and nerve-wracking, causing my anxiety to skyrocket within me. Why did I do this to myself? I should've just asked her to leave right now. 

But if she did that her life would be in danger. I knew exactly what Hunter Demons were like. They would do anything, use anyone, to get their jobs finished and the morals concerning these methods were non-existent. 

We got out of the lift and made our way over to entrance of my flat, which was once again guarded by a code box. I typed it in and opened the door, revealing an average sized living room paved with wooden floors that lead to a kitchen and two en-suite bedrooms. The flat could've looked welcoming and homely if it meant more to me than it did. There was a leather sofa and a reasonably-sized television, but the white paint of the walls looked faded and miserably bare with no picture frame in sight. The other rooms were all the same too. Everything was there but it wasn't: a house without a home. 

Carmen plunked herself down on the sofa as I went further into the apartment to my bedroom, where the safe was hiding behind a wardrobe. The code was the same as the one to unlock the apartment, and sure enough it swung open as soon as I typed it in. The file on Robbins was there- thankfully- and a bag full of wrapped up dollars lay next to it. I left the latter for tomorrow and got out the former with the intention of highlighting Robbins' address. I needed to see her after all of this. 

But I couldn't think about that now. I had another hurdle to jump across, and it was currently waiting for me in the living room. 

With a quiet sigh, I made my way back to the sofa and sat down next to her. "I would offer you a drink, but we only have water in the house currently." 

"That's fine. I don't want a drink I want an explanation for all the crazy shit I've just seen." 

I nodded. "I understand. You deserve to know." 

She said nothing and waited for me to continue, her impassive reaction making this all the more harder. But I had to push through. 

"As you've probably guessed from today I'm not completely human. Half of me is, but the other half isn't." 

Curiosity glinted in her eyes as she started at me intensely, unflinching. 

"That inhuman part of me comes from deep within the pits of Hell. I'm a demon, a servant of Lucifer himself. I'm bred from pure evil." I tore my eyes away from her, unable to face her as I continued. "In the night time I call the shots, but in the day my human half has control. We share this body but our inner desires make life complicated." 

Although we had been pretty civil with each other recently, united, I suppose, with common goals and common enemies courtesy of Satan and Carmen herself. 

There was a silence and I waited with bated breath, forcing my head to turn and look at the woman I was sure was about to leave me. My heart felt so heavy I thought it was going to fall out of my chest. 

She wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were trained on the back of the sofa and her face was titled away, unable to glance at the monster beside her. Who could blame her? I would've run a thousand miles from a man like me. 

I decided to continue on, unable to bear the silence that allowed my thoughts to yell at me within. "Being a hybrid allows me to teleport- which we call shifting- control fire and electricity, and turn invisible. It gives me a lot of power." 

She didn't make a sound, as if she had become deaf to my words. I could feel the knot in my stomach constrict as the noose hanging over our relationship tightened. The end was coming. I was sure of it.  

"Have you killed anyone?" She said finally, her voice a frightened whisper. 

I flinched. "Yes." She finally met my gaze. "When I was first in training to allow my demonic half to grow, Satan forced me to kill twenty humans in the day and twenty demons in the night to demonstrate my loyalty to him." 

She let out a gasp and visibly paled. I stood up and started to pace, trying to dispel the disgust within me. I hated even thinking about that time. It was my Fields of Ahaz- Lucifer's attempt to completely remove and destroy any possibility of humanity left inside. By becoming a killer I became exactly what he wanted me to be. 

"Are you...are you going to hurt me?" 

I stopped my pacing and whirled around.

"How the hell could you say that?" I snapped at her, my gaze blazing. "How the hell could you possibly think I could hurt you after all the time we've spent together? Do you think I don't care about you at all?" 

"Well I don't know," she retorted, trying to inject a bite into her voice but failing as tears blurred her eyes. "You are a demon after all. Can you even fall in love?" 

I sat down next to her and held her gaze. "I wasn't sure before but I know you can now." 

The tears that had started forming in her eyes suddenly fell down onto her cheeks. "You...you love me?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" I took her face in my hands and inched closer. "I can't stay away from you. Demons...we're not allowed to have relationships with people, but you...you make me break all the rules. I can't resist you." 

"Is that...is that why you're in trouble?" 

"No." I wiped her falling tears away with my thumb. "But I'm sure it hasn't exactly helped the situation." 

"What's happened then?" 

I sighed. "It's a long story. I'll explain on the way tomorrow." 

"Okay." 

"You're not leaving then?" I asked, unable to hide the anxiety in my voice. 

"I can't," she whispered in anguish. "I know I'm an idiot. You're a killer; I shouldn't be here with you. But the thought of a life without you is...unbearable." 

I nodded as relief flooded in through me. "You love me?" 

She looked down to avoid me but I lifted her chin up with my fingers, desperate for her answer. I needed to know how she felt. I didn't want her to hide anymore.

"You know I do," she said with a hint of sadness. "That's why I'm still here, even though I'm angry at myself for it. Demon or not- I can't leave." 

"Say it." 

"Say what?" 

"That you love me." 

"I love you." 

I grinned in triumph and crushed her to my chest, pushing her face up to me so that I could kiss her hard. "I love you too." 

She smiled and returned the kiss before drawing back from me, her eyes suddenly darkening with naked lust. "Make me forget about your baggage." 

"How?"  

"I think you know how." 

I didn't need to be told twice.