CHAPTER FIVE: Lucifer’s Teaching Begins

"You are not human," Lucifer said. "You are not demon. Not yet."

He made her memorize the weak points of every hybrid race.

Taught her how to manipulate. To lie. To smile while killing.

He told her stories of war. Of how love gets you killed. Of how kindness is a luxury.

She listened.

But she never told him about the way her fingers shook when Caelia smiled at her.

Lucifer dropped her into a pit of illusions. Every vision was a nightmare. Her chained past. Her dead friends. Her own blood laughing at her.

She screamed once. Then silenced herself with a broken jaw.

Lucifer clapped.

"Now," he whispered, "we begin."