Princess of Hell

The silence stretched between us like a taut wire ready to snap. I watched as Galahad's face went through several expressions—confusion, disbelief, then something approaching horror as the implications sank in.

"Did I…" Galahad's voice came out as barely more than a whisper. "Did I hear you correctly? You're saying you're the daughter of Lucifer? The Lucifer?"

"I am." No point in sugarcoating it anymore. The cat was well and truly out of the bag, thanks to Kyriakos's deliberate slip.

Galahad collapsed into his chair as if his legs had given out beneath him. His hands gripped the armrests so tightly his knuckles went white. "One misstep," he whispered to himself, staring at nothing. "One bloody misstep and we could've had Lucifer himself storming through our doors."

Morgan finally broke her stunned silence, though her voice carried a note of grim understanding. "Well, that certainly explains the magic Princess Lily displayed during the Cain incident."

I winced at the title. "Please don't call me that. The relationship between us hasn't changed."

"Of course not," Galahad said quickly, though his tone suggested otherwise. Morgan nodded her agreement, but I could see the shift in their posture, the way they now held themselves with careful deference despite their words.

The relationship had changed, whether they admitted it or not. I could see it in how Galahad's eyes kept darting to me, as if reassessing every interaction we'd ever had. In how Morgan now stood with the rigid posture of someone addressing royalty rather than an ally.

"So," Morgan began carefully, her words measured and precise, "this situation with Kyriakos… was this perhaps some arrangement gone wrong? Some deal between your people and the lich that we weren't made aware of?"

I stared at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"It's a reasonable question," Morgan replied evenly. "We need to understand if Agent Clarke's transformation was part of some larger plan."

"This is exactly why I hid my status from you," I snapped, feeling my frustration boil over. "You'd start assuming there's some grand conspiracy behind my every action. That and the fact that back then I—"

"Isn't there one?" Galahad interrupted, leaning forward in his chair. His golden eyes fixed on me with uncomfortable intensity. "What would a princess of Hell want with our world? Beings of your caliber rarely care about a single mortal realm for no reason."

"I don't care about what happens to this world!" The words exploded out of me with more force than I'd intended. "I care about Faith!"

Both of them recoiled slightly at my outburst, but I pressed on. "Don't you see? Kyriakos is doing this to delay us. He wants us fighting each other instead of working together while he completes his research."

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what I was about to reveal. The last secret I'd been holding onto, the final piece of my human life that I'd kept locked away.

"The reason I care so much about Faith isn't because I want something from your world. It's because I was Liam."

The words hung in the air like a physical presence. I didn't care about revealing this fact anymore—that part of my life was gone forever. I couldn't return to my old self, nor did I want to.

"You heard me correctly. I was that mortal guy named Liam. And it wasn't some demonic plot or grand conspiracy. Back then, I didn't even know Hell was real. But then Cain happened—he took over my body, and I ended up as Lily."

Galahad's mouth opened and closed without sound, while Morgan's eyes widened with something approaching shock.

"Becoming a Princess of Hell doesn't change the fact that my experiences as Liam were real," I continued, my voice growing steadier. "I still care about Faith. Despite trying to distance myself to protect her, I still do. Every time I think I'm ready to finally move on, there's always something that causes me to gravitate back."

I met their stares directly, refusing to back down. "You can believe it or not, but I'm going to figure out where Kyriakos has taken Faith."

The office fell silent again, but this time it felt different. Less hostile, more contemplative. Morgan and Galahad exchanged a long look, some unspoken communication passing between them.

"We believe you," Morgan said finally, though her voice carried notes of confusion and concern. "But after this is over, we're going to need a full explanation of how exactly you went from being Liam to being… this."

Galahad nodded slowly, his grip on the chair finally relaxing. "The implications of what you're telling us… they're staggering. If a mortal soul can somehow end up inhabiting the body of Hell's princess…"

"One crisis at a time," I said firmly. "Right now, Faith is somewhere with a lich who thinks she's his personal research project. Everything else can wait."

But I could see the wheels turning in their minds. They believed me about Faith, about my motivations being personal rather than political. But now they were wondering about the larger implications, about what forces could orchestrate such an impossible transformation.

They thought they'd been dealing with a powerful demon with mysterious motives. Now they realized they'd been working alongside someone whose very existence challenged everything they thought they knew about the supernatural world.

And somewhere in the back of their minds, I could see a new suspicion forming—that perhaps Kyriakos hadn't just stumbled upon Faith by accident. That maybe the ancient lich had orchestrated this entire situation as part of some game I didn't even know I was playing.

* * *

"I'm going back to Hell," I announced, breaking the contemplative silence that had settled over the office. "I need to see what I can do from there, check if Kyriakos left any clues in his hideout. Worst case scenario, I'll involve my parents."

The mention of my parents made both Galahad and Morgan straighten slightly. I could practically see them imagining Lucifer and Lilith descending upon Earth in search of answers about Faith's disappearance.

"Meanwhile, you should try to locate Faith from this end," I continued. "Use whatever resources you have. Scrying spells, divination magic, anything that might give us a lead on where he's taken her."

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Morgan nodded slowly. "We'll mobilize everything we have. Full surveillance networks, magical tracking, contacts in the supernatural community." Her tone had shifted completely from her earlier reluctance.

The change wasn't lost on me. Initially, when I'd arrived, I'd overheard Morgan arguing with Galahad against sending people after Faith, claiming it was too dangerous. But now that my true identity was revealed, it seemed she was suddenly prepared to throw the full weight of the AOR behind the search.

Most likely, Morgan was afraid of what my parents would do if they failed to find Faith.

I turned toward the door, already mentally preparing for the journey back to Hell and the investigation ahead. But before I could take more than a step, Galahad's voice stopped me.

"Wait."

I paused, looking back over my shoulder. "What is it?"

Galahad opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a sleek black device about the size of a smartphone, though it had an otherworldly quality to its surface that suggested it was far from ordinary technology. Crystalline veins ran through its dark casing, pulsing with faint blue light.

"It's the device you wanted," he said, extending it toward me. "It will allow us to communicate even when not in the same world. We've been working on it since our last conversation, but with everything that's happened…" He gestured vaguely at the chaos of the situation.

I took the device, feeling the subtle thrum of magical energy beneath its smooth surface. The weight was reassuring, solid and real in a way that made me feel less isolated in this crisis.

"Thank you," I said, meaning it. Having a direct line of communication would make coordinating our search efforts infinitely easier.

Galahad nodded curtly. "We'll contact you the moment we have anything. And Lily…" He paused, seeming to struggle with how to address me now that he knew my true identity. "Be careful. Liches are very careful and methodical. If he's hidden Faith somewhere in Hell, it won't be easy to find her."

I slipped the communication device into my spatial ring alongside my other essential items. "I'll find her," I said with more confidence than I felt. "One way or another."

Morgan stepped forward slightly. "We'll coordinate from this end. Full magical surveillance, every contact we have in the supernatural community. If Faith is anywhere on Earth, we'll locate her."

I nodded and headed for the door. Morrison was waiting outside, having clearly been stationed there during our conversation. His expression was carefully neutral, though I caught him glancing at me with what might have been curiosity.

As we walked toward the elevator, I wondered how much of our conversation he'd overheard. Probably fragments at best, but he'd definitely picked up enough to know something significant had changed. He already knew I was a demon, but the specifics of my parentage and past were likely still unclear to him.

The elevator ride to the surface felt interminable. Morrison maintained his professional silence, but I could sense his questions. When we finally reached the lobby, he escorted me to the main entrance with the same courteous efficiency as always.

"Good luck," he said simply as I stepped out onto the London street.

I nodded my thanks and immediately began making my way toward the nearest transport gate location. The device Galahad had given me felt like a lifeline in my pocket, a tangible connection to allies who were finally taking this situation as seriously as it deserved.

But as I walked through London's bustling streets, my mind was already racing ahead to Hell. To the Northern Caves where Kyriakos had maintained his laboratory. If he'd left any clues about where he might take Faith, that's where I'd find them.

The question was whether those clues would be enough, or if I'd need to take the nuclear option and involve my parents. Either way, Faith was going to be found.

* * *

I stormed through the Academy's corridors, my mind racing with fury and fear in equal measure. Kyriakos had taken Faith. The bastard had actually kidnapped her right from under the VCD's nose, and for what? His precious research?

I burst through the door to my shared dormitory, finding Aria lounging on her bed with a book. She looked up with a bright smile that immediately faltered when she saw my expression.

"Lily? What's wrong? You look like you want to murder someone."

"Get ready," I snapped, moving to my wardrobe and pulling out practical clothes suitable for cave exploration. "We're going to the Northern Caves. Now."

Aria sat up straighter, confusion replacing her initial concern. "The Northern Caves? What's going on? And where's Faith? Weren't you supposed to bring her back today?"

I yanked a sturdy tunic over my head, my movements sharp with barely contained rage. "Kyriakos vanished with her. The lich kidnapped Faith right from the VCD medical wing."

"He what?" Aria's voice rose an octave. "But I thought he was helping—"

"So did I." I grabbed a piece of parchment from my desk and quickly scrawled a message. "Apparently his idea of helping involves treating Faith like a laboratory specimen."

The magical ink flowed across the page as I wrote: Isabella - Need you at our dorm immediately. Kyriakos took Faith. Going to Northern Caves to search his old lab for clues. This is urgent. - Lily

I folded the parchment and channelled a small amount of energy into it. The paper burst into flames, disappearing in a puff of smoke that would carry my message directly to Isabella wherever she was.

Aria was already moving, pulling on her boots and checking her spatial ring. "That manipulative skeleton. I knew there was something off about him from the beginning."

"He claims he won't harm her, but I don't trust him." I strapped my silver whip to my belt, the weight of it reassuring. "Faith is already dealing with a partial transformation. Whatever experiments he has planned could make things infinitely worse."

A few seconds later, another puff of smoke appeared above my desk, resolving into a brief reply written in Isabella's elegant script: Be there in 10 minutes.

I showed the message to Aria, who nodded grimly. "At least we won't be going in alone. The Northern Caves are dangerous enough without adding a furious lich to the mix."

"He won't be there," I said, pacing the small space between our beds. "Kyriakos is too smart to take Faith somewhere we'd think to look immediately. But his old laboratory might have clues about other hideouts or research facilities."

Aria finished gathering her supplies and stood, her usual cheerful demeanour replaced by determined focus. "What about your parents? Shouldn't we tell them what's happened?"

I paused in my preparations. The thought had occurred to me, but involving my parents felt like escalating to nuclear warfare. "Not yet. I want to try finding her ourselves first. If Kyriakos realizes I've brought the full power of Hell down on him, he might panic and do something drastic."

True to her word, Isabella arrived exactly ten minutes later, barely knocking before entering our room. Her usually composed expression was tight with concern.

"What exactly happened?" she asked without preamble.

I quickly briefed her on the situation—Kyriakos's betrayal, Faith's kidnapping, and our plan to search his abandoned laboratory for any clues about where he might have taken her. Isabella listened without interruption, her face growing darker with each detail.

"The audacity," she said when I finished. "Taking Faith for his research. He's either completely mad or far more confident in his abilities than he should be."

"Probably both," Aria muttered, checking her collection of potions. "Ready when you are."

The three of us left the dormitory together, moving with purposeful urgency through the Academy's halls. We were almost to the main entrance when a familiar voice called out behind us.

"Well, well. The little clique is off on another adventure."

I turned to see Valentina approaching with her usual smirk, clearly preparing to launch into one of her typical confrontations. Not today.

"Move," I said, my voice carrying enough menace that several nearby students instinctively stepped back.

Valentina's smirk faltered slightly, but she pressed on. "How rude. I was simply going to ask where you three were rushing off to in such a—"

"I said move." The words came out as a low growl, and I took a step toward her. Whatever she saw in my expression made her mouth snap shut mid-sentence.

I brushed past her without another glance, Aria and Isabella flanking me as we headed for the Academy's exit. Faith was out there somewhere, and every second we wasted was another second Kyriakos had to do whatever twisted research he had planned.

The Northern Caves awaited, and with them, hopefully, the answers we needed.