Chapter 23 Working Together
Cressida's POV
I wake up somewhere that isn't anywhere.
No ground beneath me. No sky above. Just endless gray nothing stretching in all directions.
"Hello?" My voice echoes strangely, like I'm underwater.
I look down at myself. I'm translucent—half solid, half light. Black and silver energy swirls beneath my skin like blood and stars mixed together.
I'm not dead. But I'm not alive either.
"Welcome to the In-Between," a voice says behind me.
I spin around. A figure stands there, flickering between forms. One moment human, the next something else entirely.
"Who are you?"
"I was Sable. Before that, I was Marcus Webb. Before that..." The figure shrugs. "I've been so many things, I can barely remember who I started as."
"You're still alive? But I consumed you. I felt you die."
"You freed me from being devil. But we're both bound to this place now. The space between mortal and immortal. Between corruption and redemption." The figure that was Sable gestures at the gray emptiness. "This is where broken souls wait. Devils who want to die. Humans who became monsters. All of us trapped."
"How many?"
"Thousands. Tens of thousands. Every devil that was ever created from human suffering." The figure moves closer. "And now you can help them. Your hybrid energy can do what nothing else can—give them true death. True peace."
"But I just saved Veridale. I broke one contract. I can't save thousands of—"
"You don't have to save them all at once. Just one at a time. Find them. Listen to their stories. Free them when they're ready." The figure's form stabilizes, showing a middle-aged man with kind eyes. Marcus Webb, before he became Sable. "Please. There are others suffering like I suffered. Others who want to end but can't. You're the only hope they have."
I think about what he's asking. Hunt devils not to destroy them but to free them. Save monsters by ending their existence.
"I can't do it alone. I need help."
"Then ask for it." Marcus gestures and suddenly I can see through the gray. See the mortal world. See Thaddeus staring at his phone with my message on the screen.
"Will he help me? After everything?"
"Only one way to find out."
I watch Thaddeus type his response. One word: "Yes."
Something warm floods through me. Relief. Hope. Maybe even happiness.
"How do I get back?" I ask Marcus.
"You're not back yet. Not fully. You're between worlds, between forms. You'll need to learn to shift—become solid when you need to be, become energy when you don't." He shows me his own form flickering. "It takes practice. But you'll learn."
"And the other devils? How do I find them?"
"You'll sense them. Their suffering calls to you the same way human suffering called to us when we were devils." His form starts fading. "Go. Save them. Save us all."
"Wait! What about you?"
"I'm already saved. Finally." Marcus Webb smiles—genuine and peaceful. "Thank you, Cressida. For setting me free."
He dissolves into light and vanishes.
I'm alone in the gray nothing. But not for long.
I close my eyes and think of Thaddeus. Of Isolde. Of the mortal world.
My body shifts. Becomes more solid. More real.
When I open my eyes, I'm standing in Thaddeus's apartment. He's sitting on his couch, staring at the phone.
"Hi," I say.
He jumps about three feet in the air. "What the—how did you—"
"Long story. Short version: I'm kind of dead but also kind of alive and I need your help hunting devils who want to be freed from existence." I sit beside him. "Also, I'm sorry for disappearing without warning. That was rude."
He stares at me. At my translucent form. At the way light and shadow swirl beneath my skin.
"You're really here? This isn't a trick?"
"I'm really here. Well, mostly here. I'm still figuring out the details." I show him my hand—solid one moment, energy the next. "But yeah. It's me."
"You saved everyone. Broke the contract. Cured the whole city." His voice cracks slightly. "Do you know what you did? The thousands of people who are alive because of you?"
"I just did what needed to be done."
"No. You did what no one else could have done." He reaches out slowly, touches my face. His hand passes through slightly but I focus and make myself more solid. "You're a hero, Cressida."
"I'm a mess who got lucky."
"You're both." He smiles. "So. Devil hunting but with therapy instead of stabbing?"
"Basically."
"And you want me—a celestial hunter trained to kill first and ask questions never—to help you talk to devils and free them peacefully?"
"When you say it like that, it sounds crazy."
"It is crazy." He stands up, grabbing his blade. "I'm in. When do we start?"
Relief floods through me. "Really? Just like that?"
"Cressida, I've spent seventeen years killing things. Maybe it's time I tried saving them instead." He looks at Lumiel's mark on his chest. "Besides, I think my passenger is curious about this too."
As if on cue, Lumiel's voice echoes: "The hybrid has created something unprecedented. I wish to study this phenomenon further."
"See? Even the celestial entity is on board." Thaddeus grabs his jacket. "Where's the first devil we need to save?"
I close my eyes, reaching out with my new senses. Immediately, I feel it—a pulse of suffering. Desperate. Crying out.
"Chicago," I say. "There's one in Chicago. Female. Been trapped as devil for almost a century. She's ready to die."
"Then let's go free her."
We head for the door. Isolde appears in the hallway, looking worried.
"Where are you going?" she asks. Then she sees me and gasps. "Cress? You're alive?"
"Sort of. It's complicated." I hug her. She feels solid and warm and completely human. "How are you feeling?"
"Normal. Completely normal. No corruption, no hunger, no darkness." Tears fill her eyes. "You saved me. You saved everyone."
"I did what I had to do. Now I'm doing what I want to do." I step back. "Which is hunt devils with Thaddeus and give them the peace they deserve. Want to come?"
"To hunt devils? Are you insane?"
"Probably. But I could use someone good with computers and research. Someone smart and brave and loyal." I smile at her. "Someone like you."
Isolde looks at Thaddeus. "Is she serious?"
"Completely," he confirms. "Fair warning though—it's going to be dangerous. Strange. Probably terrifying at times."
"So basically like last week except hopefully with less me turning into a monster?"
"Hopefully."
She grins. "I'm in. Let me grab my laptop."
Five minutes later, the three of us are in Thaddeus's car, heading for Chicago.
Isolde is in the back researching. Thaddeus is driving. I'm in the passenger seat, learning to keep my form solid.
"So how does this work exactly?" Isolde asks. "We find the devil, you talk to them, then you... what? Absorb them?"
"I consume their devil energy while preserving their human soul. Let the human part finally die peacefully while destroying the devil part completely." I practice making my hand solid then energy then solid again. "At least that's the theory. I've only done it once."
"With Sable."
"With Marcus Webb who became Sable. Yeah."
"And these devils we're hunting—they want this? They want to die?"
"The ones I can sense do. The ones suffering. Trapped in forms they never wanted." I think about Marcus's kind eyes. "Not all devils are evil by choice. Some are victims who got twisted into monsters."
Thaddeus glances at me. "You really believe that? That devils can be victims?"
"I know it. Because I almost became one." I meet his gaze. "If you'd killed me that night at the hospital, would I have died evil? Or would I have died fighting to stay good?"
He's quiet for a long moment. "Fighting to stay good. Definitely fighting."
"Exactly. These devils—the ones crying out—they're still fighting too. They just need someone to hear them."
We drive in comfortable silence. The city lights fade behind us as we hit the highway.
My phone buzzes. Unknown number. A text message.
I open it.
The screen shows a photo of a woman. Young, pretty, with desperate eyes. And underneath: "Thank you for answering. I've been waiting so long to die. Please hurry. I don't know how much longer I can control myself. -Devil of Chicago, formerly known as Sarah Chen."
I show the message to Thaddeus.
"Sarah Chen," he reads aloud. Then his face goes white. "Wait. Sarah Chen? That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because Sarah Chen is the name of a woman I investigated three years ago. She was a devil-contractor who killed three hundred people before I finally tracked her down." His hands tighten on the wheel. "I hesitated. Thought I could save her. And in that hesitation, she transformed completely and slaughtered an entire city block."
"The case that taught you never to hesitate," I say quietly, remembering what he told me.
"Yeah. That one." He swallows hard. "I finally killed her. Put my blade through her heart. Watched her body dissolve."
"But you didn't free her. You just destroyed her physical form." I look at the message again. "She's been trapped in the In-Between all this time. Suffering. Wanting to die but unable to."
"God," he whispers. "Three years. She's been there for three years because I didn't know how to properly end her."
"You didn't know. Now you do." I touch his arm. "Now we can actually save her."
But something about the message bothers me. The timing. The directness.
My phone buzzes again. Another text from Sarah Chen.
"I'm so hungry. So desperate. Please hurry. Before I do something terrible again."
Then a third text, just seconds later.
"Too late. I'm sorry. I couldn't hold on."
A news alert pops up on all our phones simultaneously.
"BREAKING: Mass Attack in Downtown Chicago. Multiple Casualties. Witnesses Report Monster with Black Eyes and Sharp Teeth."
Thaddeus floors the accelerator.
But we're still two hours away.
And Sarah Chen just lost control.
Again.