Page 2 of Hell's Storm

“Everyone, calm down!” a voice comes. Heads turn to see Ryker and his hounds with other Soul Reapers behind him.How did he sneak up on us?His pink eyes drop to Asura, and his jaw tightens. I pull her closer to my body, protectively. His pink eyes are filled with concern, but... I hope he gets burned trying to comfort her. I was her boyfriend, not him. “Everyone, stay calm. We will take it from here. Take her to the nearby triage.”

“No!” Khazon snaps. “You can’t just come here and think you know what’s happening. Asura is Queen now. She can’t—”

“Dad’s dead?” Killian’s small voice asks.

A wave of emotion rushes over me as we all look at him.He doesn’t know that she has the flame, meaning… the Devil is dead.

“Dad’s dead, too?!” Killian shouts, voice breaking. “How could someone kill the fucking Devil?! We have guards! My father is basically immortal! How?”

“Get them out of here. Get the queen and heirs protection, please. Process and question them all. Theslightestscrap will have you in jail for treason,” Ryker orders the men behind him.

One of the Soul Reapers reaches out for Asura. He has a medical symbol on his tactical uniform.

I growl at him, pulling her away. “She’s hot. Don’t touch her.”

“It’s fine.” Ryker dismisses my attitude. “He can go with her. Take them away.”

The group of Soul Reapers start ordering us away like a horde of cattle. None of us objects to escape the horrors of last night.

Killian and his brother end up being taken away to be with a family friend while Asura recovers until it’s safer for them. Jigsaw, Hazen, and I—after processing—sit in the waiting room in silence, waiting for Asura to wake up or be cleared.

Come to me, my child, a voice whispers in my head. The voice is familiar… comforting, like a warm hug.Child… Come here.

Dad?I ask back. My eyes wander about this dark and cold place that I am in. I don’t have the slightest clue of where I am.

Yes.

The scene of my father trying to reach Fenric enters my head like a flashback. His body, crawling to get his youngest son…Heat kisses my body as a growl leaves my mouth. The pain of seeing… The pain of knowing my brother is… dead.

Diaboli,the voice speaks, almost…almostcalming me down.

But the unbearable rage that enters my body shakes me to my core.I wanted to kill. I wanted to hurt someone or something. The masked figures. They deserve it. I will kill them! I will kill them!

A body-shaking scream leaves me, flames erupt around me in the hospital room. They flicker and hit the stainless-steel walls but quickly die. I let it out, slamming my fist against the wall until there’s a dent they will never get out. After a moment, which raging fire inside of me dies down to a sob.Two of the people I love are gone.

“It’s going to be okay,” Khazon’s voice comes from the open door.

I send him a glare, but he doesn’t waver. He knows I could burn him to ash by just a thought. He shoves his hands in his pockets, sad brown eyes meeting mine. His short chestnut hair is messy, and his eyes have bags under them like he hasn’t slept in days. He lost someone important to him too. I find my shoulders starting to loosen up, and my jaw unclench. He was at my house every day as a kid, hence him growing up with my father, who was always another important figure in his life. He lost that.

“It’s going to be okay, Asura.”

“You don’t know that!” I growl, clenching my jaw. “You are just saying that fucking bullshit because you think that’s what I want to hear. It’s not.”

“Calm yourself,” Khazon snaps. “You’ve already burned another room before this one.”

Silence fills the air, and my jaw clenches and unclenches. The anger burning in my chest is intoxicating.

“W-What happened, Asura?”

I swallow the spit in my mouth, which travels down my throat like a lump. I wish I could answer that question, but I can barely understand what happened last night. “I don’t know.”

Khazon let out a shaking sigh. “I can’t even imagine what you are going through.”

My eyes close, and I inhale deeply. The only thing I know right now is that I have inherited my father’s powers. The flame that declares me the ruler of Hell. “I can’t be Queen… I can’t protect anyone.”

“We will figure it out. Right now, you should worry about yourself and healing. Everything is going to be okay. The council is here, talking about a plan of action.”

The council?Picking up my head, I rip the small remains of a cover off my body and stand.

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