That gave Lily just the laugh she needed to relax. “Okay, let's do this.”

“Are you sure? We can still turn back.”

They ported in near what looked like a small town; where the non-royals must live. The obviously poor conditions were so at odds with the brightly lit castle in the distance.

“No, let's go.”

They made their way to the castle unnoticed. It helped that dead guards lined the castle wall. Inside, they turned right. Lily remembered exactly how to get to the prison and how to get to the big hall where the guards had dragged her before. The halls were shockingly devoid of servants or guards, which only heightened Lily's unease until her arms shook.

“Something's wrong,” she whispered.

“I know,” Rosa said.

She tried to tread softly but soon her steps fell faster and faster until they were running down the halls their feet slapping against the stone. She slowed as they neared the end of the hall that formed an “L” at the end of which was the stairs that led to the prisoner's dungeon.

Lily peered around the hall and cursed silently. Looking back at Rosa, she extended her index finger to show the number of men down there. Rosa nodded and pulled out one of the potions she'd made the other night. It'd turn the demon to stone. Lily let out a deep breath then grabbed the bottle out of Rosa's hand and ran down the hall.

The guard's eyes flicked to hers and, in a second, he pulled the sword from his sheath and charged at her. Over two hundred pounds of trained muscles barreling at her; for a second it felt like the football game at her birthday party all over again, but the price of losing here wasn't a sore victor.

She stopped partway down the hall, pulled back her arm and threw the bottle like a baseball pitcher going for a strike. It hit the demon dead center of his chest. He had only a second to make a gargled cry before his body froze, hardened, his right arm frozen in mid jog, his back left foot still off the ground from momentum.

“Come on!”

Lily and Rosa skirted around his frozen body and checked to make sure the stairway was clear before they made their way down the stairs. Another door sat at the foot of the stairs, the same one where she'd last seen her mother being dragged out the opposite door.

Lily slowly cracked the door open to glance inside when the door was ripped open from her fingers. Lily screamed at the brown-skinned demon right before he pulled back his hand and slapped her so hard her brain rattled in her skull and she crashed into the door from the force. Running on adrenaline, Lily slashed forward with her enspelled dagger; she got lucky when she felt the steel break past skin and muscle because she saw two of him.

Rosa pressed up behind her and buried her dagger in the demon's gut.

“Hurry, there's another ahead!”

Another demon guard charged at them from the other side of the corridor. Rosa pulled another potion out of her satchel and threw it at him. The demon dropped to the ground in a roll and the potion flew behind him to splatter to the ground. Lily's mind finally stopped spinning from the brutal slap, though her cheek burned with heat. She bent her knees holding the knife in front of her in what she hoped was a defensive pose.

The demon pulled two scimitar-like blades from his hips and thrust forward out of his roll in a graceful move. Lily froze as the blade met her stomach but didn't sink in. Shaking, she looked down, breathing hard to see the blade bent at a clear ninety-degree angle.

The demon spoke in harsh garbled Demonic then swiped at her with his second blade. The blade stopped from an unknown barrier right at her neck.

“How?” she said feeling numb.

“It's the protection spell and your bracelet,” Rosa said.

Lily gathered her wits, shaken from her near death, and buried her blade in the demon's heart. Guilt swept over her, making her chest tight as the demon's blood spilled on her hands. She watched him fall to the ground his eyes glossing over with death and she didn't feel good. She felt like crying, like taking this all back.

“He was just doing his job.” Her eyes watered.

Rosa took her by the shoulders. “Look at me. Look at me, Lily.” Lily looked at her friend's pretty brown eyes, her face wobbling in her vision. “Don't cry. Your mother's here and we have to help her. She needs you and your strength right now, okay?”

Lily sucked in a deep breath and let it out, wiped her tears on her sleeve. “Yeah, of course. Sorry. I've never...”

“I know. Neither have I.”

Some of the prisoners clung to the bars, eyes wide yet wary. Lily patted down the guard and found the keys then started at the nearest cell and opened the doors.

“Everyone get out! Leave!”

The cell doors opened but the prisoners stayed inside their cells, huddled in their dirty clothes. Whatever, she didn't speak demonic and she didn't have time to try to convince them to leave.

She unlocked her mother's cell then tossed the keys to Rosa. “Unlock the rest.”

Her mother sat curled up in the corner of her cell with her knees bent and arms locked tightly around them. Her hair covered her face in dirty streaks that hid her eyes.

“Mary? It's time to go now. I promised you I'd come back.” She held out a hand to her and slowly made her way in the cage. She started muttering the words incoherent to Lily but recognizable—she spoke in Demonic. “I can't understand you. Can you speak in English please? Remember me? I'm the succubus.”

Lily stopped several feet away from her. She wanted to rush forward and grab her but she had a feeling her mother would fight back. Something wasn't right in her mind.

Her mother looked up at her through strands of matted dirty hair with eyes so blue it was like looking at Willow. Lily's chest squeezed tight and she almost succumbed to tears again. Aside from pictures from Papa, she'd never seen her mother, had been too young before to remember how she looked.

“I-I remember you. You were in the cage next-next to me.” She started rocking, her dirty hands clinging to her bony knees.

“Good, that's good. I told you I'd get you out and I'm here to do that now. Can you stand up?”

The woman was slow to move but when she did Lily let out a breath she'd been holding. She braced her hands on the dirty wall behind her and the bars of the cage and pulled herself up. Lily saw deep purple and blue bruises covering her legs and wanted to rip the motherfucker apart who'd hurt her.

“Come on now. No one’s going to hurt you anymore. I'm going to take you out of the rift, going to take you home.”

Her mother choked on a sob and then lumbered towards her. Lily stretched out her hand to help hold her up but she jerked away from the touch. It hurt but she understood it. The important thing was getting her out of here. “Okay, good, now let's go.”

Lily saw that Rosa had finished opening the last of the cages and some of the prisoners were slowly ambling out looking cautious. “Telal Demuzi is taking over the kingdom. You're safe to leave now.”

She didn't know if they understood her or not but she left it alone. Lily, Rosa, and her mother made their way back down the corridor and up the stairs. Her mother moved much slower than they did so they slowed their pace to match hers.

At the top of the stairs Lily heard what sounded like a battle going on in the area of the dining hall. Something compelled her to go, the urge irresistible in her gut. Lily pulled a porting pot out of her bag and turned to her mother. “I need you to drink this. It will transport you out of the rift and to a castle—a safe castle. You have friends there.”

Her mother shook her head, eyes wide and backed up a step. “N-no, no, no.”

Lily heard male voices shout and recognized one of them. God, she didn't have time for this. “Please, just drink it; it'll send you out of here. Don't you want to get out of here?”