"He is outside," Chiron replied to Raine as he took Lilac into his arms.
"Outside?" Raine repeated the word in confusion.
"If he is outside, then why doesn't he come inside?" Hope asked Chiron warily, she felt something was wrong with his behavior.
On the other hand, Chiron didn't answer their questions and walked away with Lilac in his hands.
However, when the centaur turned around and showed his back, Hope could see the wound on the side of his body. It was as if someone had bit him and it seemed that the centaur didn't realize the wound was still bleeding.
"What happened to your body?" Raine asked grimly, she wanted to follow Chiron, but Belphegor intervened by stepping forward between them.
Hope immediately pulled Raine back to avoid the devil, but this move created quite a gap between them and Chiron, who was still holding Lilac in his arms.
"Chiron, what is this?" Hope asked incredulously. She had a bad feeling about this and felt that she wouldn't like the answer.
"Isn't it already as clear as a day? " Belphegor said, grinning triumphantly. "He is with us."
"No!" Hope screamed. "Impossible!" her eyes looked at Chiron, she tried to see any sign that would imply what the devil saying was wrong, but soon felt her heart thumping rapidly in her chest. "Chiron, what are you doing!?"
Hope had spent more than a year with the centaurs, the hunters and people from the village when Kace took her away from Serefina, they had grown closer during that time, therefore Hope couldn't believe that Chiron would betray them like this, after what they had gone through and all.
It couldn't be true, right?
The fact that Chiron walked away from them without giving an answer to Hope's question or even without sparing her a second glance, hurt Hope more than she could ever imagine.
Chiron was like a father to her. She used to listen to him and learned a lot of things in the process, while they still lived together. Not only that, the chief of the centaurs was one of the closest persons to Kace and this betrayal would hurt him too, like it did to her, or even more.
Raine tried to push Belphegor who was blocking their way, but the sloth caught her hand and pulled her closer toward him, while Hope rushed toward the door in order to go after Chiron, who started walking outside while carrying Lilac.
Hope thought that Raine would be right behind her. Therefore, in her rush, she didn't look back to check on the other guardian angel and just ran to catch up with Chiron.
"Let me go!" Raine growled as she gritted her teeth and glared at the devil viciously.
"Or what?" Belphegor smirked, his golden eyes shone brightly under the light of the thunder that was rumbling outside. "Do you want to call your mate?"
Raine tried to wriggle her hand out of his grasp, but he held her firmly, though it wasn't tight enough to hurt her, she didn't like to be close to him so she struggled trying to get away from him.
Raine narrowed her eyes and raised her leg to kick him, yet Belphegor saw it coming and raised his leg too, parrying her attack smoothly.
Seeing Raine became even angrier, the Sloth laughed happily, as if he found something that amused him.
"Where did you learn this?" Belphegor caught Raine's hand, which was about to slap his face and held both of her arms in one hand, while his other hand caressed her face gently.
Raine shuddered when his cold fingers traced her cheeks and her chin, as she shook her head to get rid from his touch.
"You look more adorable than the last time we got to see each other…" he said absentmindedly.
However, at the same time, there was another voice, that called out to Belphegor all of sudden, which was laced with impatience.
"Can you stop doing that?" Asmodeus appeared behind Belphegor and threw the two of them a disapproving look, as if she just caught the Sloth neglected his job once again, which was not totally wrong. "Will you bring her with us?"
However, it wasn't the appearance of the other devil that surprised Raine, but at the sight of someone familiar, who walked in after Asmodeus.
It was Serefina.
Her aloof expression met with Raine's gaze, but the witch chose to ignore her as she looked around the room.
"So, where are the other guardian angels?" Serefina asked, she crossed her arms in front of her chest as she walked across the room and found blotches of blood on the ground. Chiron's blood. "Did you hurt them?" the witch frowned at Belphegor.
"Or course not," The sloth pulled Raine closer and hugged her instead because she wouldn't stop trying to kick him. "That blood belongs the centaur."
"Serefina!" Raine called out to the witch while the witch glanced at her coldly. "No… not you too…" her voice was barely a whisper.
"Kill her," Asmodeus said lightly. "It will save our time."
"Kill her?" Belphegor tilted his head and looked at Raine, who had her back against his sturdy chest. "It is such a waste to kill her."
Asmodeus rolled her eyes dramatically and scoffed. "She will die sooner or later. You can collect her soul in Tartarus if you really want her."
Belphegor jeered when he heard that. "Who wants to go there?" and then he looked at Raine, contemplating. "I like her alive and admire her blushing like this." He traced his fingers along her jaw line and chuckled lightly when he watched her futile attempt to free herself once again.
"Stop playing with her, we have to go now." Serefina narrowed her eyes at the proximity between Raine and Belphegor and the way the devil wrapped his hand around the girl's neck. "Or else the Donovans will come and wreck havoc here."
"Alright, alright…" Belphegor said lazily. He spun Raine around and made the girl face him, but out of the blue, he leaned forward and pecked her lips. "A kiss from the devil," he said softly.
Raine was shocked from what Belphegor did, yet all of a sudden, she felt lightheaded and her vision became blurry as her body turned very weak.
She couldn't resist the sleepiness that suddenly urged her eyes to closed shut.
"What did you do to her?!" Serefina asked angrily and that was the last thing that reached Raine's ears before she was welcomed into the darkness.