Chronus cleared his throat. “And before you ask. As with life, there are no rules. Nothing is fair. Winner takes all.”

Wonderful. Least they could do is let him have a friend or two for the journey. Someone he could put at his back that he actually trusted.

But then maybe that was the point. There were times in life when you had no one at your back but your enemies.

Like his mom so often said, some doors had to be walked through solo.

“So when do I start this disaster?” Nick asked.

Laughing, Tiamat stepped back, and snapped her fingers.

An extremely offended Livia appeared in front of him. Until she saw Chronus and Tiamat.

Her features paled instantly.

With a yelp, she rushed to hide behind Nick so he could protect her from them. Not that he was much more than a flesh wall.

“What is this?” she whispered to him.

“We’re getting the cure for my mom and Caleb.”

She clutched at him. “What?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

“They”—he jerked his chin toward Chronus and Tiamat—“are giving us the chance to heal them.”

Biting her lip, she swallowed hard. “Are you sure we can trust them?”

“Not at all. But it’s the only chance they have. So, I’m taking it.”

“W-w-w-where are we going?” She’d barely finished asking the question before everything around them went pitch-black nasty. It was so dark, it hurt his eyes and made him see weird spots all around as his eyes struggled to see something out of the absolute nothingness.

When the light unexpectedly returned, Nick flinched in physical pain from it, and found himself in a dark, foggy forest, instead of the streets of New Orleans.

Moonlight cut through spooky trees with knobby knees and hanging moss and thick underbrush and thorns. He’d never seen anything quite like it. Not even Azmodea. Off in the distance, he heard the sound of numerous animals, including wolves. The stench of death, pine, and mistletoe hung heavy around them. It was so pungent, he could taste it.

“What is this place?”

Livia cursed under her breath before she answered him. “Agonia.”

“Aga-what?”

“Aga-nee-yah. It’s a hell realm, Nick. The one Xev was banished to centuries ago as punishment for betraying his people and killing Caleb’s wife.”

Oh …

Turning around slowly, Nick studied it with care and great curiosity. Other than being dark and a little damp and cold, the place held a strange ethereal beauty to it.

“It doesn’t look so bad.” Certainly not as horrible as he’d envisioned it from the way Xev acted about it. He’d expected it to be a blistering desert hell with no comforts at all.