I leaped into Azza's arms when I saw him, and he caught me easily, twirling me around before kissing me as if his life depended on it. I smelled roses and whimpered under his touch.

He looked different. His curls were gone; instead, his hair was now close-cropped, military-style. His body was harder, muscles more prominent. He wasn't bodybuilder muscular but was unmistakably more chiseled. His clothing style had changed, too. When with us, he'd worn either bespoke suits while working with Lucifer or jeans with holes in the knees paired with soft t-shirts when casual. Now, he was in leather pants and engineer boots. The only thing he wore which might have been exchanged between the two looks was the crisp, black button-up shirt with french cuffs and glittery platinum cufflinks.

"I love you, Olivia. So much," he proclaimed.

He set me down before turning to Lucifer. I held my breath as they stared at one another and watched Azza crumble and go to his knees, sobbing. Lucifer stepped to him and ran a hand over his head. He didn't reach for Lucifer, though he leaned into Lucifer's caress.

"I can't oath to you, Lucifer. Not yet. She needs to think I'm hers still."

"I do not understand, Azza. You were furious, but now you are not," Lucifer pointed out.

Azza removed Lucifer's hand and kissed it before letting go. "I have been given... an opportunity. I'm not allowed to talk about it."

Lucifer's shoulders slumped. "Ah. So, a deal with Him, then."

"Yes," Azza acknowledged. "Please don't turn me away because of it. It isn't detrimental to you—to us—I swear." He looked up at his would-be Lord, and I witnessed the agony he felt in the set of his eyes, the arch of his brows, and the furrows found between them.

"I am sorry for getting so angry," he continued, "but I had to unbind myself, and using a strong emotion like anger was the only way. I don't like that Olivia dies giving her energy, but you are right; it does her no real harm." He glanced at me. "And it's her choice."

Azza staggered to stand, mere inches away from Lucifer but didn't reach for him. "I want to kiss you, but I fear that Nyx will somehow know." He closed his eyes and whispered. "I hate that your mark on me is gone."

"I understand, Azza, I do," Lucifer assured him, reaching automatically for him but stopping short when Azza took a step back. Lucifer acknowledged it with a nod.

"I don't," I protested. "You kissed me, why not Lucifer, too?"

"She sent me to lure you to a trap... a party. I can play off any interaction between us as part of the seduction. Not so with Lucifer."

Lucifer stepped forward. "No. Azza. You cannot invite her. Do not take her from me!"

Azza turned to him, saddened. "I must, Lucifer. I am sorry, but she has to come. Nyx demands—"

Lucifer's face twisted into deadly fierceness. I couldn't help but take a step back with a gasp and watched the two of them wide-eyed. "No!" he shouted, "It is too great a risk!" How Azza withstood the onslaught, didn't know.

"She must, Lucifer! It is the only way I see to get Laz out and to fulfill my deal."

The muscles in Lucifer's jaw clenched, as did his fists, but I could see that he knew what Azza said was true.

Azza turned to me and held out a hand. I went to him immediately, and he pulled me in. "She is having a party that will last three nights, beginning at sunset tonight. You, and only you, are invited."

"Azza!" Lucifer exclaimed. "Three nights?"

"I don't care what the conditions are, Azza," I said, kissing his hand. "If there's the slightest chance of rescuing Laz and helping you with your deal, I will be there."

He nodded as he cupped my face. "She will try to break you, Olivia. She will use Laz or me or both of us to do this, and I must play along for now. There will come a time when I will do what I need, but I don't know exactly when. You'll have to trust me."

"I trust you with everything I am, Azza."

"She knows that you fed Laz. I had to tell her how you did it when he healed in front of her. She is fascinated and is torturing him so that you will do it again."

I shook my head. "I can't sense him, Azza. I don't know how he's doing or when to feed him! I think Laz is keeping the door between us locked."

Azza nodded. "He knows I plan something and has agreed to aid me. Fortunately for us, Nyx doesn't want to kill him, at least not yet, but she is cruel, and she enjoys torturing him." He pulled me against him, buried a hand in my hair, and brushed his lips on mine. "He was in bad shape when I left, Olivia," he whispered.

My eyes widened. "Help me feed him? I know you don't want to, Azza, but it's easier with your help."

His eyes were sad when he lifted me into his arms and filled me with his energy until I was panting.

"Please, Azza. Do it."

He silently handed me off to Lucifer, then opened a portal. Just as it shut, he yanked all his power away, and I crashed over into an ice-cold pool of darkness screaming Laz's name.

Olivia...

"Love? Olivia, come back, love," Lucifer called to me, drowning out Laz's voice.

"I'm here," I slurred.

He laid me gently on Laz's bed, then rolled me over to spoon me, wrapped in the warmth of his feathers. I slept.

Olivia...

"Laz?" I woke and looked around. It was as black as a great void and as silent as a tomb. I became dizzy and disoriented from lack of sight and sound. I fell to all fours to combat the motion sickness.

A light clicked on behind me, shining down from some unknown source. I whirled to face it. Beneath the lone beam was Lazarus, naked and stretched out on a table of black stone, tied in place with black rope at neck, ankle, wrist, waist, and thighs.

A sigil carved into his flesh covered his chest. Blood ran off of him, pooling onto the table beneath him. He was motionless, and I feared for his life until I saw him breathing; he was unconscious but alive after Heaven-only-knew what else Nyx had done to him.

"Laz!" I scrambled to him but stopped short. From the darkness, I heard the sharp clip of heels on marble. Nyx, powerful and frightening, strode into the light. She was no longer in the black and gold period garb I'd seen her in the first time we met. Instead, she wore a tight-fitting black leather dress that hugged her hips and crisscrossed over her cleavage and abdomen with lacing. It was a sharp contrast to my jeans and t-shirt.

She sat, perching on the edge of the stone table beside the unconscious Lazarus, and stared at me, waiting. I had no idea what she wanted, so I remained silent.

To my horror, Azza came in to stand behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder lovingly, rubbing a thumb along the line of her neck. He was shirtless, clothed only in leather pants and boots, wings unfurled and magnificent. His face betrayed no emotion; he was empty, yet, the sexual energy was nearly physical. With a start, I saw that his tattoo, the one proclaiming 'Sovereignty Before Authority' as Lucifer's did, was gone and in its place was an owl flying from a crescent moon, her symbols of the night, I presumed.

"Azza?" I said softly and, when he made no effort to acknowledge my existence, I knew that he was either a consummate actor or well and truly in her power. I remembered his arms around me moments before and his insistence that I trust him. I had no choice now.

Nyx laughed. "He is my creature, Death. When Lucifer cast him aside, the first thing he did was run to me."

Somehow, I knew it was important not to correct her version of the story. Lucifer had never, would never, cast Azza aside.

"Azza has told me that you have accepted my invitation," she stated, patting his hand as it rested on her shoulder.

"Yes," I spat at her.

"Good. I very much enjoy it when you heal Lazarus and allow me to play with him more, especially when he will be mortal again soon." She grinned, sarcasm dripping from it. "We wouldn't want something to happen to him!"

"Why are you doing this?"

She laughed loud and long before smirking at me. "Because I can."

It was an incomplete answer; I knew then she had other plans for Laz.

She flicked her hand in Azza's direction, and I felt the trickling of his power in me.

"Azza. Don't do this," I pleaded, falling to my knees under the wave of pleasure he was using to drown me. "Don't be her creature," I whispered.

"Oh, he will do whatever it is that I want," Nyx proclaimed, calm and confident. "What I want now is to feel this power for myself. Azza will bring you to the edge, and you will scream my name as he smashes you on the rocks of his prowess."

I shook my head. "No. I will not."

"You will." I saw a knife appear in her hand, and she flashed it in the light. "Or I will continue my game and flay your Lazarus upon my Altar of the Night. Then, I will leave him to die his last death and rot away."

"No, please, don't," I found myself begging.

"Then give me what I want. Show me what it is like to feel you die by Azza's power." She looked up at him over her shoulder. "You will do this for me, won't you, Azza? Kill her for me?"

He looked down on her, the adoration he once had for Lucifer now directed toward her. "Of course I will, Nyx. I am yours to command."

She refocused her terrible gaze on me. "You will give me what I want," she stated.

"I want your oath that you will allow Azza to tell me when Lazarus needs to be healed."

She stared at me, contemplating my demand. "I do so swear that, if you give me the power you create when Azza brings you, I will have Azza contact you to heal Lazarus whenever necessary."

I felt the ripple of binding truth pass by me. I looked at Azza and nodded. "Yes," I said. I didn't know if he needed, or wanted, my consent, but I gave it anyway. More power flooded into me, and I writhed on the cold stone at her feet.

"Now, Azza. Do it," she ordered.

He slammed me over the edge, yanking away the energy I craved. I kept my end of the deal and screamed her name before I went under again.