PENRYN

I keep walking cautiously, waiting for the pain to start, for my throat to close up like Dee's did. I take each tentative step wondering if it will literally be my last. But so far I feel fine, and I take that as a good sign.

"Penryn! Penryn!"

The breath whooshes out of my lungs as the voice travels through the cave towards me. It's Raffe voice- and it sounds so incredibly pained that I don't even resist the urge to run to him. I let my legs push me forward until I round a corner, and suddenly he's there, behind a huge gate, looking dishevelled but gorgeous as ever. His eyes widen when he sees me, and I slow my pace as I walk up to the fence. I reach out to open the latch, and I push the left side of the gate inwards, taking a step towards him.

We stare longingly at each other for a moment before I finally find my vocals, which come out shaky and low. "Come with me." I say, and then in a smaller voice- "Please."

Raffe stares at me as if I'm the only sunrise among a thousand sunsets, and he reaches out his hand to me. "Penryn... I can't leave. I'm a demon, I'm stuck here forever." He whispers, and I try to make sense of his words, to no use.

"What?" I ask confusedly, "I thought you made a deal with Lucifer, and once you realized I was alive..."

"I tried to call it off. But he tricked me, he-"

And it is at that point that I simply can't take it anymore. The thought of him being here forever without me is too much. I sprint forward and throw myself at Raffe, and the force of my jump knocks us both to the ground. I bury my face in his shirt, taking in every inch of him- his eyes, his hair, his sweet scent. One quick glance up tells me that we are in a city pretty much exactly like the one we just left.

"The Underworld looks just like San Francisco." I say to Raffe, who is lying under me, my hand on his chest. He frowns.

"You see San Francisco as your Hell as well?" He mutters incredulously, but the end of the sentence is marred, because then I'm kissing him. And he's kissing me. And everything finally feels like it's going to be okay.

"I've missed you so much." Raffe mutters, his finger tracing patterns on my cheek. I smile at him, just as a shadow falls over us. I peer up at a man I recognise as Lucifer, and immediately I stand up, pulling Raffe with me. Raffe doesn't let go of my hand, and Lucifer stares at our interlaced fingers with sheer amusement.

"Nice of you to join us, Penryn." Lucifer addresses me, and Raffe stiffens noticeably beside me.

"Penryn was just about to leave- she's human, so she can." Raffe says confidently, and I shoot him a dagger glare—I'm not going anywhere without him.

Lucifer grins, his dark hair falling over one crinkly eye. "Well as you can see, Raphael, the girl is clearly not human. Had she been a human such as her friend- Dee, was it?-" He glances at me, and I bite so hard into my lip that I taste blood. "She would've been killed in my caves. You see, Penryn," He looks pointedly at me again. "Any human or Angel who enters my caves is incapable of withstanding the evil, and they simply explode. Give that you were not killed, I think it is easy to say that you one of us, a demon, and are bound to this land just like your companion friend." Lucifer shoots Raffe a content look, and I stare at him in alarm. Raffe does nothing, he just stares at Lucifer in shock, much like I had in the basement when I saw the two striking a deal.

"It's not true. I am human." I insist, stamping my foot like a child. Lucifer flourishes at the black Iron Gate, his eyes smiling.

"If you are human, Penryn, then please, you may leave." He nods at me, his lips curving into the grin of a snake. I take slow steps towards the fence, and my foot crosses just over the line when I hit a wall. And I can't see the wall, but it's there, stopping me from passing through. I try again, with the same result.

I turn to Raffe with a look of disbelief and finality. I open my mouth, but for a second the words don't come. And then they do, and they cut through the silence like a knife laced in blood.

"I can't leave." I say, paralysed with fear. "I'm...I'm a demon."


RAFFE

She's a demon.

She's a... demon? How is that possible?

"What? No! My mother's human!" Penryn screeches as I stand watching the scene unfold. Lucifer sighs at us as if we're missing something very obvious—which maybe we are. He walks over and perches on the edge of the gate, his eyes glazy.

"Maybe your mother is." He allows. "But Penryn, what do you know about your father?" He teases, and I look over and Penryn, who's face is white as paper. I feel my stomach drop to the floor.

"Penryn..." I whisper in a strained voice, turning to face her. "Penryn." I choke out again, and Lucifer turns to me, raising and eyebrow.

"Why don't you inform her as to why she is not completely human?" Lucifer suggests, and I look at the girl next to me, dread seeping slowly through my body. She seems detached as she stares at me, her usually warm eyes cold and heartless.

"What am I, Raffe?" She asks, and I blink, looking at the ground for a moment.

"Penryn, I'm so sorry." I breathe. "The night I met you—when I got my wings cut, I was on a mission. The Messenger had told me that a woman in Silicon Valley had had an affair with the Archangel Gabriel years ago. He'd said that the women had two children- two nephilim children- who still lived in the area. I was supposed to find them and... and kill them, but then Beliel and his men cut my wings and you nursed me back to health and I was so focussed on getting my wings back that I completely abandoned the mission. It never even crossed my mind that you and Paige could have been the nephilim I was looking for." I say, reaching for Penryn's hand, but she jerks away.

"Are you lying? Did you know that I was nephilim the whole time? And you let me just go on believing I was a normal girl?" She yells, and tears brim over onto her cheeks, catching in her long eyelashes. I resist the urge to wipe them away, knowing that my touch is the last things she wants right now.

"No!" I shake my head violently. "Of course not! If I'd even thought for a second that you were a nephilim don't you think I would have-" I trail off, mentally cursing myself.

Penryn takes a step away; the hurt and rejection clear on her delicate face. "You would have what?" She spits. "Murdered me? Locked me up and tortured me? Go for it! Get your mission over with and just kill me now. What do you have to lose, right?" The tears are streaming down her face more rapidly now, and my heart aches to comfort her. There are a few beats of silence when I try to let her come to terms with what I've just told her, but after a while I speak quietly.

"I am not going to kill you Penryn; I don't care that you're nephilim. I don't even care if you're half garden gnome—I love you, Penryn. I love you." And I mean it. I mean everything. "We'll find a way around this like we always do. You'll be stubborn and you'll boss me around and I'll tell you that you're acting like a child, but we will get through it." I plead, and when I look up at her, there's resolute in her eyes.

She crosses her arms over her chest, sniffing. Her body is angled away from me, and she's peering over her shoulder at my desperate position.

"See, I want to believe you Raffe, I really do. But this-" She gestures at her surroundings, "-this is a world of magic and secrets and lies. So how do I know who I can really trust? I can't even trust my own mother anymore! I get that I'm the offspring of Gabriel and my mother—if I weren't than I would be able to leave the Underworld, I understand that. But now... look, I just need space, okay Raffe? And time. I need to seriously think about things and figure out what I'm willing to believe in."

And then she walks away, leaving me staring after her.