FAZER LOGINThe morning felt⦠different.Not like other mornings when Aria would lay in Lucas's arms, talking about random things. Or the mornings when she'd wait patiently while Lucas made breakfast.This morning was too different.Justāoff.Aria moved quickly around the room, her energy lighter than usual, almost buzzing beneath her skin as she pulled on her shoes and reached for her bag. There was a quiet excitement in her chest she hadnāt felt in a long time.Something simple.Something normal.And she liked it.A lot.āI donāt like it.āLucasās voice cut through the space before she even reached the door.Aria paused, her hand hovering midair before she slowly turned to look at him.He was watching her.Not casually.Not the way he usually didāwith that quiet, steady calm that made everything feel grounded.This was different.His gaze was sharper.More focused.Suspicious.āā¦Donāt like what?ā she asked carefully.āThe way youāre eager to leave.āHer brows pulled together slightly. āIām not
Time had never moved this slowly before.Aria stared blankly at the board, her chin propped against her palm as the instructor went over something she already knewāsomething she had perfected days ago.Measurements. Ratios. Techniques.All of it felt⦠repetitive.Familiar.Too familiar.A quiet yawn slipped past her lips before she could stop it, her eyes watering slightly as she blinked away the heaviness pulling at them.Lack of sleep.That was Lucasās fault.Her lips twitched faintly at the thought.He had been particularly unreasonable the night beforeāpersistent in that calm, unshakable way of his that made it almost impossible to argue.Or leave.Or sleep.She exhaled softly, shifting in her seat before finally giving in, letting her head fall forward onto the desk.Just for a moment.Just to rest her eyes.The faint hum of the classroom blurred around herāvoices, movement, the soft scrape of tools against surfacesāall blending into something distant.Muted.Safe.It was barely
Peace, Aria realized, was a dangerous thing.Not because it was fragileābut because it made you forget.And she had forgotten.Not entirely, not in a way that erased what Selene had said or the weight of it⦠but enough that the sharp edge of it had dulled. Enough that the fear no longer sat in her chest like something alive.Days had passed. Then weeks.Nothing happened.No looming threat. No whispers in the dark. No signs that anything had shifted beneath the surface of their world.And somehow⦠life had continued.Better than continued.It had bloomed.Lucas had a way of making everything feel⦠effortless.He showed up without warning, sometimes with nothing but that quiet, knowing look in his eyesāand other times with things that made no sense coming from someone like him.Flowers. Books. Jewelry he claimed was āinsignificant,ā though Aria was fairly certain entire fortunes had been spent on them.And then there were the days he took her out.Not extravagant in the way that would'
Aria hadnāt opened the door in hours.At first, it had been angerāsharp, defensive, hot in her chest like a shield she refused to lower. But anger was a short-lived companion. It burned fast, bright⦠and then it left.What remained was something colder.Quieter.Something that sat in her ribs and refused to move.She stayed curled on the edge of the bed, still dressed, still unmoving, staring at nothing in particular. The curtains were drawn, the room dim, but not dark enough to hide from her thoughts.Seleneās voice hadnāt left her.YOU DONāT BELONG HERE.YOU'RE DESTROYING EVERYTHINGYOU WILL BE THE REASON HE FALLS.A knock came again.Soft this time.āAria,ā Leviās voice filtered through the door, smooth, careful. āYouāve been in there all day.āShe didnāt answer.There was a pause, then a quieter addition, almost reluctant."You shouldn't be like this... he's worried."Her fingers tightened slightly against the fabric of the bedspread.Still, she said nothing.Footsteps retreated.
āThe mansion felt different at night.āColder.āNot in temperatureābut in presence.āāThe silence stretched longer, deeper, as though the walls themselves were listening. Shadows clung to the corners more boldly, shifting with a life of their own, bending around the dim glow of the chandeliers that barely pierced the darkness.āāBy the time Lucas stepped into the grand hall, the air already carried her presence.āHe didnāt need to look.āHe knew.āSelene stood by the towering window, her back to him, her silver hair catching faint light as it spilled over her shoulders like liquid moonlight. Beyond the glass, the night stretched endlessly, the horizon swallowed in darkness.āShe didnāt move.āāDidnāt acknowledge him.āāLucas stopped just a few steps behind her.āSilence settled between them.āāHeavy.āāUnspoken.āāTime passed.āāSecondsāor minutes.āāThenāāāāYouāre unusually quiet,ā Selene said at last, her voice smooth, almost bored. āI thought you would have come in here
The apartment was quiet. Not the heavy, suffocating silence of Lucas's mansion, where every shadow seemed to watch and every corner felt like it held secrets older than time itself. No. This silence was lighter. Human. Ordinary. And yet...it still didn't feel like home. Aria stood in the middle of the living room, her arms loosely folded as she took it all in again_as she had done every morning since she moved in. It was a modest space, but carefully chosen. The walls were painted in soft neutral tones, the furniture modern and simple, with just enough elegance to remind her that this wasn't something she could have afforded on her own. A wide window stretched across one side of the room, letting in morning light that spilled across the polished floor in warm, golden streaks. Outside, the city stirred_cars passing, distant voices, life moving on without hesitation. It should have felt comforting. And in some ways...it did. It was nothing like the mansion. Nothing like the
The massive gates of the throne room closed behind Lucas with a thunderous boom that echoed through the dark corridors of Hell.For a moment, he simply stood there.His chest burned where Lucifer's power had crushed the air from his lungs. The pain in his ribs throbbed with every breath he took, bu
Aria felt it before she heard anything_the suffocating presence of Selene. She didn't need to be told before she knew that the goddess was back from the witch haunt. She stepped out of the room to see her walking down the corridor like a storm that had learned how to wear skin. There was a wild spl
The chamber was unnervingly silent. The kind of silence that presses against your chest and makes every heartbeat feel like a warning. Lucas stood by the tall arched window, his back rigid, shoulders tensed. Moonlight poured in, painting his form in silver, and shadows highlighting the taut muscles
Levi held the car door for her, and helped her get in. As the car doors clicked shut, and the engine came alive with Levi behind the wheel, Aria let out a breath. All these while, she had been worried that the witches would catch up with her, but now she was out of harm's way. What excited her more







