Cyrus' POV

Mom and I cried in the kitchen.

It wasn't really out of sadness or anything, mostly just relief. Or shock. All I knew was that my mom was looking like she'd just taken a hit to the gut, and I wanted to comfort her. And all of a sudden we were hugging and crying.

"Where the fuck were you guys?" Nina snapped. She was looking a little strung-out herself. "It's been hours. Why are you crying?"

Mom and I pulled away and gave her an awkward look.

"I just met my dad," I muttered. Nina's eyes widened.

"Don't you mean our dad?" she asked.

We both looked at Mom. She awkwardly grimaced and shook her head. "No, he doesn't. I'm sorry honey. I should've said something, but—"

Nina looked floored and she hadn't even learned about Hell yet. "Cyrus isn't my brother? Wait, what the fuck is actually going on right now? Because hours ago your weird ass friends came over looking like they expected to find you dead."

Shit. I shakily took out my phone and sent a text in Mario Bros. I'm alive, guys, I said. Immediately I got back a bunch of texts expressing love and gratitude for the lack of my death by Satan.

When I looked back up, Mom was shakily trying to explain to Nina that I was half demon. Fuck, I was half demon. Was I going to start lighting on fire like Theo?

Theo. My heart squeezed a little bit at the thought of him. I missed him already and it had only been a few minutes since I last saw him. But he hadn't come with us from Hell and I honestly had no idea how to contact him again if I needed too. Maybe start drawing those Satanic symbols he put on my wall? But there was no way I'd ever see them again after covering them in paint.

He'd said he loved me. It was definitely soon, but I could feel it too. I knew that was what was happening. It had to be love, for me to put up with his weird tendencies and emotionally distant personality, right?

"Where's the weirdo?" Nina snapped, eyes wide and face pale. "This is obviously his fault, considering none of this bullshit was happening until he came into our lives and wouldn't shut up about world domination and drinking innocent blood."

"He's in Hell," I said numbly.

Nina grabbed her hair and tugged a little, muttering to herself. "Fuck, this isn't true. Do I have to send you both to mental institutions? Fuck, but..." She growled a little. "His hand lit on fire once, I remember that. And he acted like nothing happened so I wasn't sure if I was making it up. I wasn't, though."

Shit. She was actually pretty perceptive.

"Alright, I have questions," Nina said, squaring her shoulders and looking me in the eyes. With a glare and a different posture, she wore determination like a cloak around her fear. "Call your demon boy, I need answers."

Fuck.

I sniffled a little and looked at the ground. There was no way in hell I was ever seeing Theo again.

The grief hit me like a truck and I was left numb, staring at the ground in front of me with tears in my eyes. Theo had been breaking his father's rules when he came to...earth? Our realm? Either way, Satan isn't going to let it happen again.

"Oh, Cy...oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" Nina broke of and gave me a sad look. "C'mere."

And then I was getting a hug from my sister and Mom wrapped her arms around both of us. "I love you guys," I said, voice a little distorted from my nose full with snot. "This fucking sucks. I'm a demon, Nina. I might light on fire."

"You won't want to eat innocent blood, right?" Nina said, and then we both chuckled a little.

"God, no offense considering he's your father, Cyrus, but knowing that Aamon is a demon explains everything," Mom sighed, and then our chuckles turned into laughter, which definitely was a stress coping mechanism. But it felt a little relieving.

"Lucifer had the hots for Mom," I blurted out, making Nina gasp.

Mom's cheeks blushed and she broke our hug apart just to glare at me. "That is a lie, Cyrus! Lucifer was terrible."

Mom was blushing? What the hell? "Mom...?" Nina said warily. "Dude, Mom, you're kind of looking like you had the hots for Lucifer too. Wait, was Lucifer hot? Did he have goat hooves? Did he play the fiddle, like in that song? Did he look like the actor from Supernatural?"

I grimaced. "That's what Jax sounded like."

"Answer me!"

I waved a hand towards Mom. "She can tell you all about how hot he was. And he seriously was hot, which makes sense because he created Theo."

Nina grimaced. "Wait. You want to bang a demon. Mom banged a demon. Mom wants to bang a demon. Oh geez, I'm next!"

"I don't want to bang a demon!" Mom and I both yelled.

"...Because they're technically fallen angels," I finished off with a smirk. Mom hit me in the chest.

A knock at the door signaled the arrival of my friends, definitely, because who else would it be? I felt a twinge of relief to be able to distract myself.

Blue, Carlos, and Jax basically tackled me the minute they walked in the door. I was immediately surrounded by all of their voices, asking me questions and telling me how much they loved me. I noticed right away that Jax had dyed his hair blue and Carlos was wearing a cross around his neck. My going to Hell caused some big changes, apparently.

"Nina and I will leave you alone," Mom said, giving my arm a squeeze. "I think I have some questions to answer."

"Damn right you do," Nina muttered, and the two ladies left to go to the living room.

"Please tell us everything," Blue gushed. "You went to Hell and came back alive! What the fuck happened?"

So I told them the story, and it sounded insane even to me. But there was something a little therapeutic about taking the events and reporting them from my own perspective. And altering them, a little. I never mentioned my fear, or my disappointment, or my heartache. It made the events a little more bearable.

Jax broke the silence when I was done.

"You met Satan, he threatened to kidnap you, and you didn't say not today, Satan?" Jax said, baffled. "Are you stupid?"

I blinked. "Well shit, that was seriously a missed opportunity."

And we were probably going to get to be emotional, and hug again, and talk about how we would never mention Hell again and this whole thing, had been crazy, but something crazy happened.

A blaze of fire appeared in front of us, and a demon appeared.

All my friends jumped back, but at this point I was over it. "Isn't the fire a little overdramatic? For the love of God."

Empusa's smirk filled me with hope. Until she spoke, at least.

"Hi my brother's little human lover. Unfortunate that the idiotic actions of you both now keep you apart forever."