by Diem, J. C.
I heard a muffled voice issue a command and a vague shape stepped forward. He cut his palm open and splattered his blood on the cage. It shrank back down to a ring again and dropped to the floor with a metallic ping.
Zach stood before me, but he’d changed drastically. During our journey to the palace, he’d assumed an image that was similar to a Demon Lord. He was shorter and less muscular than a normal lord, but his black leather armor and metal wrist braces were nearly the same. His horns curved backwards over his head, but they weren’t quite as lengthy as a lord’s. He had the typical scarlet eyes, long fangs and inky black skin that all demons shared, yet he differed from them slightly. He looked exactly like the dream that I’d had of him.
The creature that had once been my boyfriend grinned down at me. “I’m glad to see you still have your human form. It’ll make our time together far more pleasurable. Well, it’ll be pleasurable for me at least. I doubt you will find it quite as much fun as I will.”
Struggling against the leather ropes that still bound me, I didn’t tell him that I would soon turn into something far worse than he was. I’d let that be a nasty surprise.
His wound had already healed, so he sliced his palm open again and smeared his black blood on the bindings that were wrapped around me. The ropes retracted and became an innocent bracelet again. I stripped it off my wrist and threw it away from me. Bending to pick up the bracelet, Zach picked up the ring as well. He didn’t have any pockets to put them into now, so he held them on his palm.
“Shackle her,” Valac ordered.
Bob stepped into the cell and grabbed me by the throat. Twisted pleasure shone from his scarlet eyes as he lifted me off my feet and slammed me against the wall.
“You forget your place, underling,” Zach snarled at the smaller demon. “She is mine ! I’m the only one who has permission to harm her.”
Bob flicked a look over his shoulder at his master. Valac waved a bored hand and the captain reluctantly bowed his head to Zach. I wasn’t sure where Nephilim stood on the demon hierarchy. My ex was only a halfling, so he didn’t seem to engender the same respect as a lord.
With exaggerated care, Bob attached shackles to my wrists and ankles. My only consolation at being held in manacles again was that they weren’t attached to the wall this time. I had a few feet of chain to move around.
“Do not bother to attempt to escape through the wall,” Bob told me. “There is only solid dirt behind it.” He was well aware of my ability to create magical doorways. My cell was different from the others in the room. It stood alone at the back of the room with thick metal bars on three sides. More cells lined the walls to my left and right. They were separated by walls made of black volcanic rock. Glancing beyond my captors, I saw the door where we’d entered to the left. There was another door across from my cell and one to the right that led to tunnels.
Valac motioned for his son and lackey to exit the cell then stepped forward to shut the door himself. It closed with a clang of doom and he regarded me with a smug smirk. “I do not understand how you managed to defeat my brothers, but it is clear that you did not work alone. You have no friends here and you are at my mercy now. If you displease me, I will allow my son to unleash his perverse desires on you.” He flicked a look at Bob and I understood his unspoken threat. Zach wouldn’t be the only one who would be allowed to punish me. Bob would also be allowed to pay me back for every humiliation that I’d ever doled out to him. “I have business to attend to, but I will return soon,” the prince informed me. “Then you will tell me everything that I wish to know.”
With that threat, he turned and walked off. He headed to the door to the right with his entourage following him. Zach stared at me with hungry eyes then dutifully trotted after his father.
As soon as they were gone, I sank down to my knees. The metal shackles were too tight and my hands and feet were already growing numb. Knowing I would begin to increase in size soon, I took one of the items that I’d pilfered from the limo out of my back pocket. It was the bracelet that Brie had made for me. I slipped it onto my right wrist and covered it with my sleeve.
Even with the hoodie that I wore beneath my favorite black jacket, I still felt cold as I huddled on the floor. Bleakness settled over me. I was trapped and had no way out. The chains were too short to allow me to reach the door, not that I could pick the lock. I had to hope that they would shatter once I began to grow.
A couple of hours passed and I periodically checked on my growth. I was rapidly becoming a demon now that Zach’s stasis spell was gone. Unfortunately, the shackles were growing to accommodate my size. Upon close examination, I saw tiny runes inscribed on the metal. Trying to yank my hands and feet free, it was obvious that the runes were designed to imprison creatures that were far stronger than I was. I couldn’t deactivate them without my dagger, which meant I was stuck here.
Despair filled me and I settled down on the floor to wait. At least I didn’t have to worry about thirst or hunger, or the need to go to the bathroom for that matter. My cell was out in the open, so at least claustrophobia was no longer a problem. I just had to hope that Valac, or one of his minions, would do something stupid that would allow me to escape. Something told me that was unlikely. Deep down, I knew I was going to suffer horribly in this dungeon.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seventeen
By the time Valac and his underlings returned, I was no longer even remotely human. Only my long blond hair was the same. Everything else about me had changed. I was sitting cross legged on the cold stone floor when the door opened.
I’d drawn my hood up so it shadowed my face, but the prince still gave a soft gasp when he saw my new size. “Stand up,” he ordered me. He had no power over me, but there was no point in defying him. My chains clanked as I uncrossed my legs and stood. Bob stumbled back a step and Zach’s mouth dropped open. He had to tilt his head back to see my face. I was taller than a lord now, even if I was still smaller than a prince. “Remove your hood,” Valac commanded.
Grinning inwardly at the tension in his voice, I did as he commanded. Sounds of shock came from the lesser demons when they saw my horns and fangs.
“What are you?” Zach asked in bafflement.
We were the same species, but I was clearly very different from him. “I’m Hellscourge,” I replied in my deep, guttural voice. “And I am your doom.”
This pronouncement was enough to make the minions shuffled backwards as they prepared to flee. “Hold your ground,” Valac snarled. He was the only one who didn’t have to look up at me. At twelve feet tall, he was still two feet taller than me. “The shackles will hold her no matter how large she grows.” His gaze went to the stubs of wings he could see over my shoulders. He knew they would eventually turn into full wings just like his. The others hadn’t put it together yet, but he was aware that I would achieve the same rank as he had soon.
“Why is she so big?” Zach said in something close to a whine. “We are both Nephilim. We should look the same.”
“Don’t you know?” I said in mock surprise. “I’m different from the rest of our kind.”
“Different how?” Valac said with narrowed eyes.
“I didn’t just have demonic essence in me when I was conceived.”
His scarlet orbs widened when he realized the implications. “You are half angel, half demon?” he said incredulously.
“I was,” I shrugged. “But Nathanael stole my soul, leaving me powerless. It wasn’t until I started ingesting demonic essence that I began to change.”
“I have heard that Lord Vepar has your guardian in her grasp.” His lips twisted as he used that description for Nathan. “Your essence will no doubt be very potent. I am sure she will be able to persuade him to tell her where it is. She can be very inventive when the need arises.”
I refused to display any emotion at the thought of Nathan being tortured. He’d betrayed me and he’d broken my heart. I was beyond caring what happened to him now. “Good riddan
ce,” I muttered and he blinked at that. I gave a harsh laugh at his reaction. “Do you think I care what she does to him now that I know what he did to me?”
“Yes,” he said bluntly and seemed disturbed when I barked out another laugh. “Without your essence, you have been a human all these years. You cannot simply stop caring about someone so easily.”
“Do I look like a human to you?” I sneered. “Now that I’m back in hell, I’ve become just like you. Vepar can carve Nathanael apart and serve him to an arachnoid on a platter and it wouldn’t bother me at all.”
“What are we going to use for leverage now?” Zach said to his father in a low whisper. “Her imp friend is dead and her other friends have been captured by the angels. Her guardian is the only one we have in our possession.”
“You knew about Nathan?” I asked.
Realizing I’d heard him, Zach turned back to me and grinned. “Of course. Vepar has had an alliance with Hagith and Orifiel for months and she has an alliance with my father. They have been feeding her information and she passed it on to us. I knew that you were in love with your guardian angel as well as with me.” He put a hand on his heart mockingly. “It was so tragic that you couldn’t choose between us.”
“I would have picked him over you in a heartbeat,” I said flatly and his grin dropped away. “The only thing that stopped me was the restriction between angels and humans dating.”
“I would have had you tonight,” he snarled. “You were practically begging me to take your virginity.”
Bob sniggered and I cut him a glare. “I’d like to see either of you try to violate me again now,” I said in a growl. “I’ll break you in half if you ever touch me again.” My hands clenched and my shoulders hunched in anticipation of combat. My favorite jacket and jeans had turned into black metal armor. The twin skull buckles had formed a protective breastplate over my chest. The bronze was almost pretty against the darkness of the rest of my armor.
Zach rounded on Bob. “You tried to rape Violet?” he said in a near rage. “I thought my instructions that she wasn’t to be touched were clear!”
“You do not rule us yet, princeling,” Bob snarled back. “You have to earn the right to give us orders. Being the unnatural offspring of a Demon Prince does not make you a lord.”
Valac glared at them both and they fell silent. Stepping forward, he gestured at one of his soldiers. The demon scurried forward and handed his master a set of keys. Valac chose one, unlocked the door to my cell then stepped aside. “Remove Hellscourge’s armor,” he said to the soldier who had given him the keys.
Taking a frightened breath, the demon hesitantly entered my cell. He circled around me, stepping over the chains as he searched for a way to get my armor off. I waited until he was standing in front of me before I struck. Moving so fast that he never even saw the danger coming, I grabbed hold of his head with one hand and his shoulder with the other and twisted his skull sharply. He gave a short scream of pain that was cut off the moment his neck snapped. Tossing the body through the door towards Valac, it landed at his cloven feet with a thump. “Who’s next?” I said in a mock cheerful voice.
The prince took a step back before he could stop himself and stared down at the deceased minion wordlessly. He knew I could kill his kind, but this was the first body he’d seen in person. I’d taken the corpse of the only other demon that I’d killed in this realm through the portal with me. I’d destroyed his evil essence, leaving only a shell behind, which was why his body had remained in its true form. That was the theory that I’d come up with anyway.
“Call four of my lords down here,” the prince said to one of his lackeys. “They should be strong enough to hold her in place.”
“Do you really think that’s wise?” I said in a conversational tone that momentarily threw him. “You know what happens when my wrath takes hold. Push me over the edge and you’ll end up dead, just like all of the other Princes I’ve killed.”
“Then I will have to be careful not to push you too far,” he said craftily.
I mentally kicked myself for giving him a tip on how to torture me without suffering the ultimate retaliation. “It won’t take much,” I warned him. “I’m already on the verge of it now. How else do you think I could kill your servant so easily?”
That made him pause and reassess me. “So, you are not deadly all the time. You are only dangerous when your wrath takes hold.”
My ruse had worked and he would now underestimate my killing abilities. I hid my glee behind a scowl and let him think he’d outwitted me. No matter what I said, he was going to torture me. With Raziel and the other angels inside me, I wouldn’t be able to heal my injuries. With luck, Valac would go too far and I’d bleed to death before he could think to heal me himself.
A tiny voice in my head howled in protest at my wish to die. I clamped down on it, knowing Sam was desperately trying to reach me. He and the rest of the souls would die along with me, but I told myself that it was better than being trapped in hell forever. I couldn’t see any way to escape from this trap. Frankly, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to keep on fighting. What did I have left to fight for now that I’d lost everyone I cared about?
₪₪₪
Chapter Eighteen
Four lords were summoned to the dungeon. They entered through the door to the right that led to the palace. They tried to hide their surprise when they saw me and failed badly. “Is that…?” one of them said and her words trailed off.
“It is the much anticipated Hellscourge,” Valac finished for her. Apparently, word of my capture hadn’t spread to the rest of the palace yet. “You four will assist me to question her.”
Instead of being eager to comply, they shuffled their feet. The body of the dead soldier had been removed, but they knew about my deadly reputation. At a pointed stare from their ruler, they started towards the door of my cell.
“I’m going to give you one warning,” I said and they stopped in their tracks. “I will kill you all as soon as I break out of here.” I swept my eyes over their faces, committing them to memory. “I’ll kill every single demon in this entire palace if I have to.”
Valac’s smirk held more bravado than confidence. Maybe he was having regrets about his plan to capture me. Imprisoning the only being who could kill his kind wasn’t such a great idea. He’d backed himself into a corner and he couldn’t get out of it now. The princes ruled through fear and intimidation. He couldn’t allow his minions to see that he was frightened. “Get in there and hold her still,” he ordered his lords.
Summoning their courage, the three males and one female moved to surround me. Two of them grabbed my shoulders and the other two took hold of my arms to keep me still. The Demon Prince called on his weapon and a gigantic crimson sword appeared in his hand. Just like his soldier had done earlier, he circled me as he searched for a way to peel my armor off. I’d spent a good half hour searching for seams and hadn’t found any. I was pretty sure the only way to remove it was for me to will it away and that wasn’t about to happen.
“Where did you get this from?” Valac asked and rested the tip of his sword against one of the brass skulls that had once been buckles.
“A store in New York,” I replied truthfully.
His fist came at me so fast that it was a blur. It crashed into my nose and blood splattered when it broke. “Do not lie to me,” he said coldly.
“She isn’t lying,” Zach said. “I think that’s the cheap, fake leather jacket she wears almost constantly. It looks like it’s changed into armor.”
Cocking his head to the side, the prince frowned. He rapped his knuckles against the skull and it gave a metallic ring. “How do you take it off?”
“I don’t,” I replied and did my best to ignore the sick throbbing from my broken nose. My skull and the scratches on my hands still hadn’t healed properly yet. “It changes back into a cheap, fake leather jacket as soon as I return to Earth.”
I sent a glower at Zach as fresh humiliation swe
pt through me. He’d been laughing at me behind my back every time we’d been together. My wrath stirred when I thought of all the times I’d been in his arms. It had all been a lie and he’d just been toying with me. When I’d finally been ready to succumb to my lust, he’d planned to divest me of more than just my innocence. He’d intended to steal my essence as well.
“I believe Hellscourge is becoming angry with you, Zachariah,” the prince said. “Go upstairs and wait for me in the throne room.”
Zach muttered beneath his breath, but he obeyed his father’s order. I watched him go with my upper lip curled. One way or another, I would see him dead for what he’d done to me. He would pay dearly for betraying me.
Valac waited for Zach to leave before he tested my armor. His sword was fearsome, but it just bounced off my chest when he stabbed me. “This is not going to be as easy as I thought,” he said almost to himself. He examined me again and determined my only weak spots were my hands, feet and face. The rest of my body was covered by seemingly impenetrable metal. It was one more thing that set me apart from them. My weapon could easily cut through even the princes’ armor.
Willing his sword away, he held out his hand to one of the soldiers. “Give me your dagger,” he ordered. Most soldiers carried axes or swords, but some of the weaker ones only had the daggers that looked so similar to mine. The soldier handed his weapon over and crimson light flared along the blade. “It appears that you do not have the same healing ability as we do,” Valac mused as he studied my broken nose. “This will require some delicacy.”
My hope that he would injure me badly enough for me to bleed out faded as he pressed the blade against my cheek. With one swift slice, he cut a long gash down my face. I clamped my lips together to hold in a groan of agony.