Chapter 16 Confronting the Mother
AZRAETH'S POV
We land at the cathedral just as Lilith finishes drawing blood circles on the floor.
She looks up, smiling. "Right on time. The contract requires witnesses to activate. How convenient."
"Step away from that spell," Mireya snarls.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Lilith laughs. "If I die, the contract activates automatically. If I finish the ritual, the contract activates. Either way, you lose." She pulls out a document—old parchment stained with blood. "Your mother signed this twenty-seven years ago. Every clause written in her blood and witnessed by the coven. Completely legal by witch law."
Through the bond, I feel Mireya's desperation. She's trapped. No way to stop this without triggering the contract.
"What do you want?" I demand.
"What I've always wanted. Power." Lilith gestures at Mireya. "A demon-bonded witch under my complete control. She'll be my weapon. My puppet. And together, we'll rule not just the witch covens, but everything." Her eyes gleam with madness. "The angels are broken. The demons are scattered. This is my chance to seize control of the entire supernatural world. And you just handed me the key."
"I'll never serve you," Mireya says.
"You won't have a choice." Lilith raises the contract. "Once activated, you'll obey my every command. Fight it all you want—the magic will force compliance. Your body moves when I say move. Your power strikes when I say strike. You'll be conscious. Aware. Screaming inside while I use you to destroy everything you love."
She's describing slavery. Complete magical enslavement.
"There has to be a way to break it," I say.
"Only one." Lilith smirks. "Helena had to willingly release Mireya from the contract. But since Helena is dead—" She shrugs. "No release. The contract stands forever."
Mireya's face goes white. Her mother's death doomed her.
"Unless," Lilith continues slowly, "someone else assumes the contract. Takes Helena's place as Mireya's guardian and releases her willingly."
"Who would do that?" I demand.
"Family members only. Blood relatives." Lilith's smile is cruel. "Which means Celeste is the only person who can save her precious sister. And we all know Celeste is currently locked in an angel prison cell for helping the rebellion." She starts the ritual. "By the time anyone finds her, this will be finished."
The contract begins glowing. Dark magic spreads from it like poison.
Mireya gasps, clutching her chest. "No. I can feel it. The binding. It's wrapping around my soul!"
I grab her, but there's nothing I can do. This is witch magic, ancient and absolute. The bond between us can't protect her from this.
"Stop!" I roar at Lilith. "I'll give you anything! My power, my throne, anything you want!"
"I want her. And in three minutes, I'll have her."
The cathedral doors burst open.
Celeste stumbles in, bleeding and exhausted. She's escaped somehow, fought her way here.
"Stop the ritual!" she screams.
Lilith's face twists with rage. "How did you—"
"I'm family." Celeste collapses beside Mireya. "I can assume the contract. Release her."
"You're too late. The binding is almost complete!"
"Then I'll break it!" Celeste pulls out a knife. Cuts her palm. "I, Celeste Ashcroft, blood sister to Mireya Ashcroft, claim guardianship of the contract our mother signed. I assume all rights and responsibilities!"
Her blood hits the contract. The dark magic wavers.
"No!" Lilith lunges forward.
But Celeste keeps speaking, fast and desperate: "And I, as guardian, release Mireya from all obligations! The contract is fulfilled and dissolved! She is free!"
The contract ignites. Burns to ash in seconds.
Lilith screams in fury. "You ruined everything!"
The binding around Mireya's soul shatters. She gasps, free.
But the cost shows on Celeste's face. By assuming and releasing the contract that fast, she's taken all the magical backlash. Blood pours from her nose. Her eyes roll back.
"Celeste!" Mireya catches her sister. "No, no, stay with me!"
"Had to," Celeste whispers. "Had to make it right. I helped them capture you. Almost got you killed." She touches Mireya's face weakly. "You're my sister. I should have protected you from the beginning."
"You just did." Mireya's crying. "You saved me. You broke the contract."
"Good." Celeste smiles faintly. "Be powerful. Be dangerous. Be everything Mother was afraid you'd become. And when angels tell stories about the demon queen who ended their reign, make sure they know—" She coughs blood. "Make sure they know you had family who believed in you."
"You're not dying! Azraeth, help her!"
I examine Celeste quickly. The magical backlash is severe. Without immediate healing, she'll die within minutes.
"I can heal her," I say. "But it requires demon magic. She'll carry a piece of my essence forever. She'll be marked. Changed."
"Do it!" Mireya demands.
"Wait." Celeste grabs my wrist. "Will I become like you? Demon-touched?"
"Partially. You'll have demon traits. Power. Longer life. But also the stigma. Angels will hunt you. Humans will fear you." I meet her eyes. "Are you willing to pay that price?"
Celeste looks at Mireya. At her sister who became everything the family feared—and survived.
"Yes," she says. "Save me. Change me. I'm done being what angels want me to be."
I channel power into her. Dark magic floods her body. She screams as the transformation begins.
Her eyes shift—not fully black like Mireya's, but silver-flecked. Small horns press through her skin. Demon marks spread across her arms.
When it's done, she's alive. Changed. Demon-touched.
"What have I become?" she whispers, staring at her transformed hands.
"Someone brave enough to save her sister," Mireya says. "Someone who chose family over fear."
Behind us, Lilith has been trying to escape during the chaos. But Nyx blocks her path, blade drawn.
"Going somewhere?" Nyx asks.
"You can't kill me!" Lilith backs up. "I'm protected by coven law! I'm—"
"You're nothing," I say, advancing on her. "Your contract failed. Your power is gone. And you tried to enslave my bonded mate." I let shadows coil around my hands. "Give me one reason I shouldn't end you here."
"Because I have information!" Lilith's voice cracks with desperation. "About the Obsidian Prison! About what's really hidden there!"
I freeze. "What do you know about the prison?"
"More than you think. I've been studying it for decades. Trying to find a way to harness its power." She sees my interest and keeps talking fast. "Morwenna didn't just hide evidence there. She hid something else. Something that could destroy angels completely if used correctly."
"What?"
"A weapon. Built from the prison's torture magic and demon essence. Something so powerful, it could strip angels of their stolen power permanently." Lilith's eyes gleam. "But it's unstable. Dangerous. One wrong move activating it, and it could kill everyone within miles. Demons included."
Through the bond, I feel Mireya's shock. This changes everything.
"You're lying," she says.
"Am I?" Lilith pulls out a journal—Morwenna's journal, I recognize the handwriting. "I stole this from angel archives years ago. Read it. See for yourself."
Mireya takes the journal. Flips through pages. Her face goes pale.
"It's true," she whispers. "Morwenna designed a weapon. Called it the 'Reckoning Device.' It uses demon souls to power a magic that can sever angels from stolen power permanently." She looks up at me. "But Azraeth, the activation key—it requires a willing sacrifice. A demon king's essence. Your essence."
My blood goes cold.
The weapon can destroy angels forever. But using it will kill me.
"No," Mireya says immediately. "We're not using it. We'll find another way."
"There is no other way!" Lilith argues. "Angels will rebuild. They'll hunt you forever. This weapon is your only chance to end them permanently!"
"Not if it costs his life!"
Through the bond, I feel Mireya's absolute refusal. She won't sacrifice me. Won't even consider it.
But I'm looking at the journal. At Morwenna's notes. At the weapon that could finally free demons from five centuries of persecution.
"How long do we have?" I ask Lilith. "Before angels regroup and attack again?"
"Days. Maybe a week." Lilith sees her opening. "Use the weapon now, while they're scattered. Or fight them forever and probably lose."
"We'll fight forever then," Mireya says firmly.
"Even if it means thousands of demons dying in the process?" Lilith presses. "Even if Kael and all those refugees you swore to protect end up slaughtered because you wouldn't make the hard choice?"
Mireya's face crumples. She knows Lilith is right. Without the weapon, this war will drag on. More will die.
Through the bond, she feels my thoughts. Feels me considering the sacrifice.
"No!" She grabs my face. "You're not doing this! We survive together or not at all! Remember?"
"I remember." I pull her close. "But sometimes surviving means making impossible choices."
"Not this one!" She's crying now. "I just got you back! Five hundred years we were apart! I'm not losing you again!"
Outside, warning bells ring. Angels are regrouping faster than expected. We're out of time.
"They're coming," Nyx reports, returning from the window. "Full force. Thousands of them. They've called every angel from every territory. This is their final attack."
I look at Mireya. At Celeste, newly demon-touched. At the weapon plans in the journal.
At the impossible choice: sacrifice myself to end the war, or fight knowing thousands will die.
"What do we do?" Baal asks.
Through the bond, Mireya sends pure desperate refusal. She's already lost her mother. Lost years of her life. She won't lose me too.
But I see in her eyes that she knows the truth: without the weapon, we probably can't win. The angels are too many. Too organized.