Will lashed out as Sammael released him, but Merodach appeared at his side and struck him—hard. Will’s head snapped to the side and he grunted, falling to one knee. A deep gash struggled to heal on his cheek. Merodach grabbed Will around the throat and raised his fist.

“That’s enough,” Bastian bellowed, and Merodach froze. “Bring him to me.”

Merodach held on to Will tighter and shoved him toward where Bastian stood. I thrashed against my chains and screamed obscenities at them, swearing to tear them apart if they harmed Will. His head hung loosely, the sense knocked out of him. A thin trickle of blood grew out the corner of his mouth. I ached to run to him, to hold him and comfort him, to tear away Merodach’s harsh hands. I felt like I was falling deep through the earth, falling fast into the underworld.

Kelaeno took hold of one of Will’s arms while Merodach took the other and held an iron grip around the back of his neck, forcing him to his knees and his head down. Bastian stepped up to him, crouching down to peer into Will’s face.

“William,” Bastian murmured almost gently. “I didn’t want you to come here.”

Will spat blood onto Bastian’s shiny black shoes. “Then you shouldn’t have taken her.”

Bastian’s cerulean eyes fell to the splatter of red on his shoes. “You go where she goes, yes? And yet again, here you are at my mercy. I thought you would have learned better.”

“Torture me again all you’d like,” Will growled. “It won’t make any difference.”

“I don’t want to torture you. Merodach and Kelaeno were under specific orders not to kill you. I am to have that honor. It’s my desire to make your death quick and clean.”

Will gave a laugh that sounded more like a grunt. “That’s sweet of you. Really. I’m touched. Why the change of heart?”

“I learned something about y—” He stopped midsentence when Sammael came toward them, scythe in hand. My heart dropped into my stomach. No … no, no. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t watch Sammael take Will’s soul like he had Emma’s.

“This one,” Sammael said, studying Will with a gaze that seemed to see through skin and bone altogether. “He is not human. He is a reaper born of the Grigori. I have no use for his soul.”

Bastian stood and faced Sammael. “You were never to take his soul.”

Lilith snarled, baring teeth. “The Lord of Souls may take whomever he chooses.”

“He is to die at my hands if he refuses me, and no one else’s,” Bastian said firmly. “He is too dangerous to let live.”

“Why the compassion, Bastian?” Will asked in a sarcastic, bitter voice.

Bastian ignored him. “I need to speak with the Guardian for only a minute, my lord,” he pleaded to Sammael. “Before we continue with the Preliator.”

“I am anxious to devour Gabriel’s human soul,” Sammael said, tightening his grip on the scythe. “My stomach growls for her.”

“One minute,” Bastian repeated. “That’s all I need.”

The tension in Sammael’s shoulders eased. “Very well. I have waited a long time for this moment. I can wait a little longer. Patience is something I have come to know dearly.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Bastian bowed to him and looked again to Will as Sammael stepped away to rejoin Lilith. “I truly wish you had not come here, but since you have, I might as well make you an offer.”

Will huffed in amusement, not quite a laugh. “Is that so?”

Bastian remained calm. “Sammael cannot be stopped. You know now there are only two options. One of which is death.”

“And the other is to join you?” Will laughed. “You’re a fool for even considering I’d say yes.”

“Do you choose death, William?”

“Not going to happen,” Will said through gritted teeth.

“Then join me.”

Will shook his head. “Never! I am angelic and sworn to protect Gabriel’s vessel and all human souls.”

“I don’t want to kill you,” Bastian confessed.

“I will not join you, and I will not let you kill me,” Will said, his head held up in defiance. “My mission is not yet over.”

Bastian stared at him for a moment, and then he paced slowly left and right, his gaze quietly on Will. The longer the silence dragged on, the whiter the knuckles on Will’s balled fists grew. He pulled against Merodach and Kelaeno, but they held him tightly.

“I learned something very peculiar recently,” Bastian said. “About you. You are the son of Madeleine.”

Will let out a small, exhausted laugh. I could tell from here that all he wanted was to end the talking and start the fighting. “And? What does my mother have to do with this? How do you even know who she is?”

“It means that you are my son as well.”

I stared at Will, who gaped speechlessly up at Bastian. It couldn’t be. Bastian was demonic. If Bastian was Will’s father, then Cadan was—

“You lie!” Will roared.

For the first time, Bastian’s cool expression cracked like ice and real emotion seeped through. He snarled, but he looked more insulted than furious. “I loved your mother!”

Will tore against Merodach’s and Kelaeno’s grips. “Liar! You are incapable of love!”

As I tried to decide the possibility of this, I became more afraid for Will by the moment. A reaper’s heritage was determined by his mother’s lineage, not his father’s. Madeleine had been angelic, and therefore it was a genetic possibility for Will to have a demonic father, as unlikely as it was. The reason why Bastian’s face always looked so familiar to me, the reason why I was so instinctively comfortable being near Cadan … they were Will’s father and brother.