Michael Gabriel grabs the Abomination by her throat and flings the startled Succubus into the peripheral mist and out of the nexus.

Jacob crawls on his hands and knees into his father’s warming embrace.

The two exhausted Gabriels hold each other, feeding off each other’s energy as they stare into the haze, waiting for the she-devil to return.

Father … we have to leave the nexus.

I can’t son. Not until the Nephilim have been freed.

A baritone growl.

Two pinpoints of scarlet mark her eyes, and the demon reappears … smiling her wicked vertical slit of a smile. One Hunahpu … finally lured out of your cage. You and your son’s aura will allow Devlin to wedge open the Gates of Hell.

She disappears into the haze.

Jacob feels ill, as if he has just stepped off a precipice. Dad, what does she mean? Is Lucifer really coming?

Mick whispers into his son’s consciousness, There is no Lucifer, Jacob, there is no Hell.

But evil—

The Devil is man’s creation, son, not God’s. Evil is the human residue of free choice. Hell is a self-imposed prison in the spiritual realm. This purgatory … none of it is real, it was all created from the demented subconscious of Devlin Mabus and the tortured minds of the Nephilim. My own anger, my own self-loathing imprisoned my tainted soul within its walls … until I felt your love. But I chose to stay … to help the Nephilim. To allow them to bathe in my warmth.

Then I must kill Devlin and Lilith.

You can’t, Jacob. They’re already dead.

What?

I killed them long ago, back in 2012, when they attempted to use Tezcatilpoca to return to Earth. I entered the serpent’s nexus to greet them. They tried to trick me, but I saw through their ruse and killed both of them.

But—

God will not allow evil to enter His spiritual domain. So angry at God was Lilith that she refused to accept His terms. She and Devlin created their own netherworld, entrapping the confused, guilt-ridden souls of the Nephilim within its borders. Here, they can coerce and torture them, keeping them clear of God’s embracing light while Devlin, using his pure Hunahpu lineage, feeds off their energy to forge his own version of Hell.

Why are the Nephilim so filled with guilt?

Because they survived Earth’s holocaust when so many others died. It is my aura that soothes their souls, just as you soothed mine. Yours was a beacon of love … and love is God’s light. Lilith dampens this light, feeding it to the Nephilim in small morsels, crediting its energy to Lucifer so as to keep them under control.

Then the Nephilim … they’re dead as well?

Yes. They perished long ago, when they attempted to cross over into the spiritual realm.

Do they even know they’re dead?