Chapter 16 Twelve Against One

Chapter 16 Twelve Against One
Dante's POV

Twelve demons.

The words echoed in my head as Elena paced the museum parking lot, phone pressed to her ear, arguing with the Council in three different languages.

Maya stood beside me, Lily in her arms, both of them staring at me with trust I didn't deserve. I'd failed to see that Bear was a demon. What else had I missed?

"How is that possible?" Vanessa asked. "Wouldn't you have felt that many demons in one town?"

"Demons can hide their signatures if they're patient enough," Elena said, hanging up. "These twelve have been here for years, maybe decades. Living as humans, building lives, waiting for the right moment to strike."

"What moment?" Maya's voice was steady despite the fear in her eyes. "What are they waiting for?"

"Valentine's Day. When the town magic peaks." Elena ran a hand through her blood-matted hair. "They're not trying to open a portal anymore. They're trying to do something worse."

"What's worse than a demon portal?" I asked.

"A permanent feeding ground. If they can corrupt the town's Valentine magic, twist it from love to pain, they can turn Rosewood Falls into a place where demons can live openly. Feed constantly. A town where everyone is trapped in toxic relationships, unable to leave, generating misery forever." Elena's ancient eyes met mine. "Maya's binding to Marcus was just a test run. They wanted to see if sustained emotional abuse could feed them long-term. It worked. Now they want to do it to everyone."

My stomach turned. "How many people live in Rosewood Falls?"

"About three thousand." Elena pulled out her tablet, pulling up files. "The Council is sending the demon signatures now. Let's see who we're dealing with."

Faces appeared on the screen. I recognized some immediately.

The owner of the flower shop where I bought roses. A teacher at Lily's elementary school. The mechanic who'd worked on my motorcycle. The woman who ran the coffee shop. People I'd smiled at, talked to, trusted.

All demons. All pretending to be human while planning to destroy an entire town.

"These are just the ones the Council detected," Elena said quietly. "There could be more hiding deeper."

"How do we stop them?" Maya asked. She'd set Lily down but kept one hand on her daughter's shoulder. Protective. Fierce. "We can't let them hurt this town."

"We need to identify them all before Valentine's Day," Elena said. "Then the Council can send enforcers to handle them. But that's thirteen days away. If the demons realize we're hunting them, they might accelerate their plans."

"So we pretend everything's normal," I said slowly. "Act like we don't know. While secretly figuring out who's human and who's pretending."

Elena nodded. "Exactly. But Dante, there's a problem."

Of course there was.

"You're bound to Rosewood Falls now. The Council's healing spell anchored you here. Which means the demons can't miss you. Every single one of them will feel your presence like a beacon." Elena's expression was grim. "You're a former Cupid. Your energy signature is different from regular humans, even now that you're mortal. The demons will know something's wrong."

"Then I'll be bait," I said simply. "Let them come for me. While they're distracted, you find the others."

"Dante, no—" Maya started.

"It's the only way. I'm already a target. Might as well use that." I looked at Elena. "Can you protect Maya and Lily while I draw the demons out?"

"I can ward their house. But Maya, you can't leave the property until this is over. If you do, the wards break and you're vulnerable."

"I'm not hiding while Dante risks his life!" Maya's eyes flashed with anger. "That's not happening."

"You have Lily to think about," I said gently. "She needs her mother safe. Please, Maya. Let me do this."

Before Maya could argue, Lily tugged on my hand. "Mr. Dante? The bad people hurt you before. Won't they hurt you again?"

I knelt down so we were eye level. "Maybe. But you know what? I spent three thousand years watching other people fall in love. I never understood what it meant to have someone worth protecting. Now I do." I touched her nose gently. "You and your mom are worth protecting. So I'm going to be very, very careful."

Lily threw her arms around my neck. "Promise?"

The word stuck in my throat. I couldn't promise. I was mortal now—fragile, breakable, temporary. But looking at this little girl who'd made a wish for her mother's happiness, who'd brought her great-grandmother's ghost back from the dead through sheer love, I couldn't tell her the truth.

"I promise," I lied.

Elena's phone buzzed. She looked at the screen and cursed in ancient Greek. "The demons just made their move. Someone set fire to the town square. Your mural, Maya—it's burning."

Maya gasped. "All that work—"

"It's not about the work," Elena cut in. "The mural was painted with the town's magic flowing through you. It was becoming a focal point for love energy. The demons are destroying it before Valentine's Day so the magic has nowhere to anchor."

"Can we stop the fire?" Vanessa asked.

"Already too late. The fire department is there, but the wall will be destroyed." Elena looked at Maya. "They're sending you a message. They know you're connected to the magic now. They're going to come for you next."

I stood up, putting myself between Maya and the world. "Not if I get to them first."

"Dante, you can't fight twelve demons alone," Elena said. "You're mortal. One of them nearly killed you an hour ago."

"Then I won't fight fair." I pulled out my phone, scrolling through contacts. "I know people. Humans who can help. People the demons won't expect."

"Like who?"

"Like every client I've ever given a meaningful tattoo to. Every couple I've helped stay together. Every person in this town who believes in love—and there are a lot of them." I started texting rapidly. "The demons think humans are weak. Let's prove them wrong."

Elena stared at me. "You're going to start a war."

"No. I'm going to finish one." I looked at Maya, memorizing her face—the curve of her jaw, the fire in her eyes, the way she held her daughter close. "The demons picked the wrong town. This is Rosewood Falls. Love is literally in the name. And I'm about to remind them why that matters."

My phone started buzzing with responses. People saying yes, asking how they could help, offering whatever I needed.

For three thousand years, I'd worked alone. Cupids didn't have friends, didn't build communities, didn't need help.

But I wasn't a Cupid anymore.

I was human. And humans? We protected each other.

"Gather everyone at my tattoo shop in an hour," I told Elena. "I'll explain the plan."

"What plan?" Vanessa asked.

I smiled, and it wasn't a nice smile. "We're going to use the one advantage we have. The demons don't know love. They've spent so long feeding on pain, they forgot what happens when people fight for each other instead of against each other."

Elena nodded slowly. "It might work. If we can identify them all before Valentine's Day—"

Her phone rang again. She answered, listened, and her face went white.

"What?" Maya demanded. "What happened?"

Elena looked at me with horror. "The demons just took hostages. They're holding the entire elementary school. Every child, every teacher. They say if we try to stop their plan, they'll kill everyone inside."

Lily's school. Her friends. Her teachers.

Maya made a sound like her heart was breaking.

And I realized with terrible clarity: the demons weren't just threatening the town.

They were threatening every single person we loved, all at once.

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"They want an answer by dawn," Elena whispered. "Either we let them have Rosewood Falls, or the children die."