Licorice Love

Chapter 4: Phoenix's P.O.V.

~ Several weeks later ~

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"That month is closing in quickly," I commented, trying to sound casual.

I wanted to talk to Kee about this before Bex showed up. Bex is just getting more and more angry the longer this goes on. I know Bex agreed to wait a month before we told Pops that we had found his mate, but...

Well, Scarlett is his fu.cking mate. Not to mention Kasyn. He's carried some blame his whole life over the death of his mother. A mother he never got the chance to know. Scarlett not only has a mate that misses her, but she has five sons too. They all have children now. Some of their children have children.

Scarlett has missed out on so much already. Everyone has missed out with her. This isn't right and we all feel it. I know Kee does too. I know she feels guilty, but she's so damn stubborn.

That's Kee for you, Lyre, my wolf commented.

"I still have nine days," Kee replied, staring out the window.

We're in her castle right now. The one that appeared in her little section of Hell. A section that's been growing rapidly since Kee met Callum. The castle grew as Kee's power grew. Her section of Hell didn't just spread either, it covered all the old land. Hell looks different now. At least, a huge part of it does.

This part of Hell used to be barren. It was nothing but dry dirt and dark-red skies covered by black smoke-like clouds. Nothing grew here, no creatures resided here. It was a dead-zone.

Now though, now it's... different. Different from the rest of Hell too. The dirt hardened and turned black. It turned into igneous rock, like a volcano erupted and changed the land.

Surprisingly, a few trees sprouted as well. Not lush, beautiful green trees. No, these were black as well, with no leaves whatsoever. They grew rapidly, towering well over Kee's castle. There weren't many, but they surrounded the castle as if hiding it from view.

The skies were still a deep-red color, but they were almost always clear. It cast a red glow down on the black land. Honestly, it looked really cool. Scary as hell, but dope.

Kee's castle was bigger than Pops'. It seems to grow the more her power does too. I wonder if it was like that for Pops.

I like the style of Kee's castle better personally. It's European-style with tall towers that connected a stone barrier around the main part of her castle. Inside held a garden similar to Pops', only because Kee loved it so much that Callum planted it himself. Cute, I know.

The main part of Kee's castle had four main towers ranging in size. It was all black, but it was sleek, shiny, glossy, new. Just like the inside. Sleek, black marble floors, beautiful stone walls, a cozy atmosphere despite that it's the Devil's castle. There were several windows, a few balconies, and a section of flat roof for her to sit out if she wanted. Why she would ever want that in this realm, I'll never know.

It's all hers though. All Kee's. Like the realm was trying to welcome her home. The realm responds to her. It was a clear sign.

It was time for a change.

Kinda crazy we ended up being so close with the future Devil, Lyre said, slightly amused.

"You have nine days left to find the other girl, Kee," I said, ignoring my wolf. "None of this works if you don't find her."

"I know Nix," she replied tightly. "I'm trying."

"Look, I know you feel guilty about all of this. Maybe it's not a good idea for you to keep Scarlett a secret anymore," I told her.

Kee blew out a breath.

"She's right, Kee," Vessa chimed in finally. "I mean, I get it, but your guilt is eating you alive."

"She remembers everything," Kee mumbled.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"She got her memories back almost two weeks ago," she said without looking at either of us.

Uh oh, Lyre muttered.

"Kee," I said, frowning. "You promised Bex that-"

"I know," she cut me off. "I was going to. Scarlett is the one that told me to wait."

"What? She did?" Vessa asked, more intrigued than before.

Scarlett knows how important all of this is, Lyre said.

"Well, she asked why I didn't want to take her home right away," Kee said. "So I told her everything. I told her that Hell had been reacting to me, that I had figured out that it was trying to push me to take over. I told her that I had broken into the Silver City to see if the same thing was happening up there. I told her that similar things were happening there, but that it wasn't the realm itself preparing, but Abba and a handful of other Angels. I told her that I had a plan and that I needed to find the girl before I could take the throne. We have to take over together, or it won't work. Hell won't accept me without a balance."

Which is all true.

It was before Callum that Kee noticed the small changes in Hell. Shortly after meeting him, she pieced together that something was happening. She investigated and told us all about it. When she went to the Silver City, they were all preparing for the arrival of someone. Only a select few knew who that person was.

Kee doesn't know how Abba knew that Heaven was ready for a new God, but he knew. He even gave Kee a little hint about who she was. Apparently, she is his daughter. We just don't know which one.

"Okay, and she was just cool with staying away from her mate?" Vessa asked.

"Not exactly," Kee replied. "She just... agreed that it was better to wait."

She probably misses her mate so much, Lyre whined softly.

Will you stop with the commentary? I snapped, making her laugh.

My fu.cking wolf is a nutjob.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked her.

Kee sighed heavily as she closed her eyes.

"Because I feel awful," she admitted. "It's all my fault."

Vessa and I shared a look.

"Do you know that my power is growing the more that I connect with this realm?" Kee asked us.

"No," Vessa replied.

"I can feel it, but I never thought about seeing what I could do, if I could do anything," she said. "But something happened when I was with Scarlett yesterday. I think that, because I've been spending so much time with her, that we built this connection. Me being who I am and her being a Phoenix..." She trailed off.

"What?" I pushed gently.

"It was like... information just sprouted inside my head. Like how Epperly said what happened to her when she broke that seal." Kee told us. "It wasn't a lot, but..."

"But what? You're killing me here," Vessa complained.

"Do you know that Pops' and Abba's parents are still alive?" She asked.

"What? No way!" Vessa replied.

"They live in a different realm, with the Fates," she said.

Vessa and I froze.

"The Fates...?" I asked nervously.

Kee nodded.

"They aren't part of them, but they get to make up rules when it comes to their blood. It was part of some deal with the Fates," she said.

"So... what does that mean then? Why is that important right now?" I asked.

"Because they're testing me," Kee muttered, narrowing her eyes at the sky. "My whole life they've known this would happen. They knew I would grow more powerful than Pops. They knew I would take over. They've been testing me. My kidnapping, my addiction, my need to protect my family, the council, finding this girl, and... Scarlett. It's all tests. They've made my life difficult so that I would be a true Devil."

Vessa gasped as she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Just like with Pops," I mumbled.

"Yeah," Kee agreed softly.

"They weren't counting on you having a mate, were they?" I asked.

Kee shook her head.

"The Fates stepped in," she replied with a small smile. "I don't think they get along with my great-grandparents."

"Who would?" Vessa grumbled.

"So, what does this mean?" I asked.

"Not sure," Kee said. "But I think the last trial of theirs is going to be this girl. Finding her is already hard enough. I doubt it'll be easy to convince her to rule over Heaven and all the Humans and Angels."

"If it's destiny, then she will," I tried to reassure her.

"Let's find her first and worry about that later," Vessa said. "Maybe when she finds out that Angels are mostly all a.ssholes, she'll see that it's time for change."

I gave Vessa an incredulous look.

"What?" She asked, frowning at me.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at her.

"You gonna tell Bex all of this?" I asked Kee.

"I'm gonna have to if Scarlett insists on staying here," she replied.

"What if we brought just your dad?" I suggested.

Kee shook her head.

"I haven't even let Ares or Tre see her. Only the five of us know she's here, and Callum only knows because we're mated," she said. "I don't want to make things harder for anyone."

"It's going to be okay Kee," Vessa told her.

"It is," Kee agreed. "I just have to figure out who else my uncle slept with and hunt down every last cousin I have."

"Traumatizing," I joked.

Just then, the door to Kee's sitting room burst open. We all turned our heads, to see Bexley rushing towards us. She has a huge grin on her face, meaning that she has some good news.

"I found her!" She shouted.

"Found who?" Vessa asked.

"Kee's cousin! The one! The girl!" Bex exclaimed. "I found her!"