I have never felt so much pain in my life.

The blade wrenched from my gut barely scraps the surface of the broken heart tearing its way from my chest.

"Maria. . ." Magnolia stares at me. Her face is smeared with bright red blood, and her eyes hold no light. The thing that scares me most is the lack of regret, the lack of guilt. Her spear drips my blood from the tip of the silver blade.

"Magnolia." My voice is raspy and wet, like someone poured wet gravel in my throat. "Why. . ?"

\Two years prior/

"We'll get out of here," I say, staring into the sky. "I'll make sure of it."

Magnolia nods.

I cross my pinky finger over hers.

"Promise."

For two years, we were inseparable. They say hard times make the best companions, and that was certainly true of us: two young warriors trapped in Hell, sticking together like scared little girls. We crossed the harsh landscape together, beneath the red sky, avoiding lakes of fire and legions of demons. We took turns sleeping at night, and in between those turns we sat beside the fire and told each other everything.

Magnolia knew secrets about me that I didn't even know I was keeping so tightly. I told her about my family, and the more I talked, the more I realized just how badly I had wanted to please them. Then she told me about the boys who had broken her heart up in the real world. We laughed. We cried. We saved each other's lives so many times, in so many ways.

I should have known better, even then. I should have realized that the real torment of Hell comes from false hope, from building beautiful things up only to tear them down.

When we finally reached the gates, they were locked and stamped with a twisted, ghoulish face. The demon's voice told us that only one of us could escape.

We both knew what he meant, but I never thought Magnolia would do it. She was always so clever. I thought she would find a way to outsmart the demonic gates and save us both.

I look down at my torso, where my life drains away into the red pool around my feet. The edges of my vision turn black and fuzzy. My knees collapse as I fall to the ground, gasping. I try to call out to her again, but my lungs aren't working right.

"You already know why," she whispers to me as she dips her spear in my blood. The terrible stone face smiles, a harsh contrast to Magnolia's emotionless mask.

I do know. And that hurts even more.

There is no way for a demon to rise. There are plenty of ways for an angel to fall.

Magnolia knew this better than anyone, her grandfather being one himself. His descendants, given a chance on Earth, had never been meant to succeed. Magnolia's mother had died by her own hand when Maggie was 10, and Maggie had said she had felt doomed ever since. She lost herself to drink, drugs, heartbreaker boys who had nothing but their own twisted joy in mind.

Maggie had not led a sinners' life by my standards. But the powers that be had dictated it, and so she had ended up here with me.

***

Maria is a sinner, and she was close to me, easy, soft flesh. That was the only reason I had done it, I told myself. If I could not escape this realm, I would at least better it, and maybe, just maybe, I could see the sky again. Poor girl, I thought, as if pity could absolve me. She was never dealt a good hand in life, with a family that derisive and a society so cruel. But she had done it. She had been the bitch who had charmed my mother's boss into firing her all those years ago. It was her fault I was here in the first place.

Before I could think on it any longer, I dropped the knife and ran, hoping to pick up enough speed to fly.

***

I expected oblivion when the blood stopped flowing from me and my head hit the floor. Instead, the darkness held me like a clenched fist.

Something ancient stirred beneath my skin, curling around my bones like smoke. My blood pooled beneath me, but it didn’t stay blood for long. It shimmered, thickened, and began to crawl back toward me.

"Hell doesn’t let go of its own." A voice whispered inside my skull. “You were chosen long before she betrayed you.”

My eyes snapped open.

The world was red, but now I could see every shade of it.