Godchild, Volume 7 by Kaori Yuki

With the betrayal of the last book still reverberating in his life, Cain is suddenly lost and without direction. He even seems to have lost interest in life. Dominic Crehador, completely on his side now, must push Cain into keeping investigating the schemes of Delilah.

At a party, Cain runs into a girl named Mikaila, who has grown what seems to be four or five years older in the space of only a few months. She says she has grown up fast just to be with him, and wants to marry him. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Suzette, one of Cain's cousins. She pushes aside another girl, who then seems to be covered with spiders. Not only that, but spiders cover the window to the room, and Cain must save Fiona from the spiders.

He quickly twigs to the idea that Mikaila is behind it and knocks her out with a blow to the stomach, whereupon the bugs disperse. He tries to take her home, but meets with Jizabel Disraeli, who warns him about the girl. Cain passes out, and wakes up in a home with his father, who blames Cain for the death of his mother, Augusta. Not only was she Cain's mother, but his father's sister, who he seduced with false words of love. He wants to see how a child cursed by God, who grows up with no love, turns out. So he has arranged for Mikaila to bear Cain's child, and Cain's father will raise the child.

Cain is injected with Spider Venom, and offered an antidote if Cain will impregnate Mikaila, to die otherwise, but Cain rejects the offer, telling Mikaila that his father doesn't love her, he loves only himself. Mikaila says that he is a liar, but Cain reveals the horrible sight beneath her bandaged arms... skin that looks like raw beef. Mikaila screams at him that he should die, and Cain's father sends the traitor to kill Mary Weather, who has seen Cain's predicament in her Tarot Cards.

Cain gets the antidote and is rescued, but saves his family from harm. He also saves Mikaila to get information about Delilah and his father, Alexis. We also get to hear Jizabel's story of how he became the twisted man he is, and Mikaila is offered a horrible bargain by one of Alexis' men. To live, she must kill Mary Weather and bathe in her blood. But is she twisted enough to do it?

Cain is getting closer to his father and his father's organization. We are almost at the final volume of the series, and the reason behind his father's mad schemes to remake the world. Apparently, it all revolves around Cain's mother, and his father's twisted lust for her... or does it? Reading between the lines, and a chance remark by Alexis make it seem that there is more to the story than meets the eye, or than what we have been told and shown so far in the tales.

This fascinating series draws to a conclusion, and I still see no good outcome for Cain or his half-brother, Jizabel. Others have been warning both of them that Alexis will be their death, but the truth remains to be seen. Jizabel's story is especially horrific when we see the warm, happy child he once was, twisted by his father's painful "lessons" and several horrific acts he was forced to perform. This may incite our sympathy for his past, but the present Jizabel is quite insane and loses any sympathy for his past from crimes he has done and continues to perform in the present.