by Logan Jacobs
At least I now knew why I’d recognized her voice.
“Ashe?” I said the name that suddenly popped into my head.
“You do remember!” she laughed, and the demonic sound rippled through my chest. “I hoped you would.”
“How could I not?” I chuckled. “You covered my ass against those throngs of mortals more than once that day.”
“And you did the same for me,” Ashe returned with a slight bow of her head.
I found myself crouching down to sit beside the huntress in the darkened street, and now that I’d recalled the hit in Rannicor, and Ashe’s name, I started to think that maybe I was lucky she’d been the one they sent after me.
If a demon could ever experience anything like luck.
I recalled her being a powerful demon, and she’d clearly only become stronger since then, but apparently, she disliked her own Lord Captain as much as I did mine. Enough to bad mouth him so openly, anyway.
Ashe seemed a lot less hostile now that I remember her name, too, and she even smiled without any malice as I settled in near her. Her silver-blue hair was disheveled from our tussle, and her pink eyes glinted in the moonlight. Then she noticed she still had Infernal Venom dripping from her claws, and we both chuckled as she retracted the weapons back into her hands.
“So… what the hell are you doing up here?” the demon woman asked me upfront. “Really, I can’t believe ‘the Atticus’ is--”
“Just Atticus,” I snorted.
“Well, I can’t believe you of all demons are causing trouble up here,” Ashe continued. “What is this about? Your band has to be burning straight through your arm by now, so whatever you’re pissed about can’t be worth all that.”
I considered lying to her, but I didn’t want to. She’d been sent here blindly, and she’d only followed her orders. I knew this wasn’t anything personal, so I couldn’t really be upset with her. She only tried to do her job, and she may have done it well if she knew who she was up against before arriving.
Plus, we did have Rannicor between us.
I sighed as I pulled my jacket off, and then I untied the wrapping on my upper arm.
The wound had started to heal better by now, but the deep gouges were still visible, and more importantly, there was no shackle in sight.
Ashe let out a gasp and jumped onto her knees so she could get a closer look at the wound. Then she gently ran a finger around the area where the shackle used to sit, and her presence heated the skin everywhere she touched.
“Atticus, what have you done?” the huntress whispered.
“What do you think I’ve done?” I retorted.
“No demon’s ever released themselves from the shackles before,” Ashe hissed, and she actually looked deeply concerned.
“Then I’m pleased to be the first.” I shrugged.
Ashe adjusted the way she sat after a long moment of silence, and then she returned to staring at my wound.
“What does it feel like?” Ashe almost whispered, and her pink eyes glinted with sin.
“Freedom,” I chuckled. “Pure, unbound freedom. It’s quiet in my head, and I can move and do and be as I wish for once.”
“Fuck, no wonder your LC was so set on you coming back,” she snickered and shook her head. “Did it hurt? Of course, it did. My question is foolish.”
“It probably would have been easier to cut my arm off,” I said honestly. I could still remember the burning pain as the hooked prongs wrenched at my tissue, and I was kind of surprised I’d managed to push through the process now that I thought back.
“You realize you’ll get caught, right?” Ashe asked.
“That isn’t my plan,” I said with a devilish grin.
“But why did you do it?” she pressed.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I replied. “Do you enjoy working under their thumbs?”
“Of course not, I taste fury all day, every day, but that’s… not the point,” Ashe scoffed.
“It is the point,” I growled, and my demon voice slipped out.
I’d held it back all day, but now, the flames grated in my throat as fury bubbled across my tongue, and I could smell the ash of the Hellscape building in my breath.
Ashe immediately tensed at the sound, but I could tell she wasn’t too scared. I’d only startled her, and I thought I saw her shiver a bit as she quietly sat beside me for a moment.
“I was sent here to take care of a few knights,” I told her in my human voice.
“Innocents?” she asked tentatively, and I smirked.
“No, it was nothing like that,” I assured her. “I could smell it on them, they deserved to die. They even begged for their lives.”
“I love when they beg,” Ashe sighed, but it sounded closer to a moan.
“Me, too,” I chuckled. “But after I siphoned them to the Hellscape… I don’t know. Something felt off, and I snapped. I couldn’t take one more fucking second of my Lord Captain’s bullshit. I walked off, and I started to taste just the hint of freedom. Then I made up my mind, and I’m not going back. Not after feeling what this is like.”
“So, you want to be free, but now you’re risking your life every day?” she snorted.
“We risk plenty for the Dark King every day.” I shrugged. “You and I just haven’t been caught, but you heard me warn you of that deacon earlier. He saw us using our hell powers right out in the--”
“A deacon’s just a holy minion.” Ashe waved the idea off.
“Yeah, well, that holy minion reports back to the Church, and they’ve got a dwelling in this city that’s larger than any I’ve seen on a mission before,” I informed her, and the huntress’ pink eyes snapped to mine. “I’ve seen it myself, so tell me why I was sent to this place to begin with. For five fucking knights? They threw me, ‘the Atticus,’ out here alone over five knights with that fucking church right down the road?”
“They couldn’t have known,” Ashe immediately argued.
“They knew,” I growled, and my demon voice slipped back into my throat, but I didn’t quench the fire this time. “They had to know because the same knights I killed today work directly for the Church. They’re part of a mortal king’s guard, but I watched some of them haul undesirables into the holy dwelling not two hours ago. This whole thing could have ended up being a suicide mission, Ashe, and what did they do when I disappeared? They sent you in here with no warning what you were walking into. Same as me. Something stinks in the Hellscape, and I’m guessing it’s not coming from the Dark King.”
My throat burned as the flames built in my chest, but I was too pissed at the thought to fight the fury. Ashe was a decent demon, and she’d clearly trained her ass off to get this far, but the truth was, I was her superior in age and experience, and they gave her no warning who she was tracking down.
“This doesn’t add up,” Ashe finally replied. “Why would they waste you like that? Why would they waste me? If I was captured by the Church, I never would have hunted you down.”
“Maybe they knew you would find me either way,” I replied. “You’re a talented huntress, and if you led the Church to me in the process…”
“No,” Ashe growled. “That’s--”
Ashe went silent as a strange expression took over her face, and her lip twitched back to reveal her stark white teeth. Then her hands clenched into fists, and I knew what was going on.
I recognized the rage in her pink eyes.
“Your Lord Captain’s finally checking in?” I guessed, and she nodded once as her lip twitched again. “I’d wager he’s telling you to be a good girl and finish me off.”
Ashe slowly turned her face toward me, and for a minute, I held my breath. I really didn’t want to kill her, but if she came at me with as much rage as I saw in her now, I’d be forced to end her. I couldn’t go back to the Hellscape, not for anything.
And not even for anyone.
Ashe held my gaze as the violet glow of my eyes lit her pale face, and potent fury wafted from her as the sec
onds ticked past. I could only imagine what kind of sick shit her Lord Captain was saying in her head, but it was completely silent in the deserted street of the Shadow Quarters.
Any moment, this could all change.
Then the Infernal Huntress ground her teeth.
“Yes, Lord Captain,” Ashe hissed in a smoky timbre. “I will obey.”
I sighed heavily, nodded, and got to my feet.
I could hear the demon woman doing the same as I put my jacket back on, and I tried to convince myself this would be easy. I ignored the rage in my gut at the thought of Ashe being driven to act on her Lord Captain’s will, but I couldn’t stop her. This was what she was trained to do.
Then her hand latched onto my arm, and I whipped around to find a deeply murderous cast in her pink eyes.
“Take it off,” the demon woman growled. “Now. I’m fucking done with this shackle.”
Chapter 5
“You’re sure that’s what you want--” I started to say, but the demon woman tightened her grip on my arm.
Her silver eyebrows pinched together in what almost looked like fear, and I waited as I wondered what her Lord Captain was saying to her this time.
“I’m sure… hurry!” Ashe finally hissed. “My Lord Captain just left to check on my hounds. When he sees they’re injured, he might decide I can’t handle this job and send another demon right away. They’ll track me straight to you!”
“We need to find something sharp with the strength to remove this from your tissue,” I explained as I caught her hand and jogged back in the direction of the inn.
The moonlit Shadow Quarters still looked deserted, and the shattered trees and stonework Ashe and I had left behind scattered the muddy streets.
“What did you use last time?” Ashe asked with genuine curiosity.
“An iron spike from a wall,” I replied. “It hurt like a bitch, but it did the job.”
“Sounds good to me,” she sighed blissfully. “Nice and sharp…”
I smirked at her demony sigh, but stress pumped through my veins as I searched for something to use for this task. Our clock was ticking, and if Ashe really wanted me to do this, then I had to make sure it happened now.
The Lord Captains would be pissed when they found out Ashe hadn’t returned to the Hellscape, especially if they realized I was the one who helped her manage it. They would send up Hellhounds, tamers, and even more hunters to complete the job Ashe failed to do.
I felt confident I could defend us from one pack of mutts, or even another Infernal Huntress, but it all depended on how angry the Lord Captains were. They had the power to send up whoever would fit the bill best, and there was a good chance they’d eventually choose someone more powerful than myself and Ashe put together.
We made an amazing team back in Rannicor, but the Hellscape was vast, and the number of voids couldn’t even be counted. Even I couldn’t guess all of what festered down there just waiting to be unleashed.
“Have you found a place to stay, or are we kicking back like rogue criminals?” Ashe’s question broke me from my musing.
Then she let go of my hand just long enough to run up the road and grab her discarded cape. As soon as she had it in her arm, she sprinted back to me, and I was a little surprised when the demon woman clasped my hand once more.
“I’ve found a place,” I replied as we jogged onward. “It’s controlled by a half-orc, but it’s somewhere to lay low for now.”
“Half-orcs?” she repeated. “Damn, these humans have everything living on their doorstep.”
“I killed a group of trolls yesterday to get some pieces,” I said as I tugged her around the next corner.
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot they have to buy things around here,” she snickered. “It’ll feel strange not fighting to the death for things.”
“They do that, too,” I assured the demon. “I know they have their own fights and mortal wars, but I don’t think they’d do all that shit just for food. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we’re safe and well fed. You’ll have everything you need.”
I noticed Ashe hadn’t taken her eyes off the buildings around us, and she’d occasionally turn her head around to see what was in the opposite direction.
“I think I can smell more than the half-orcs,” Ashe whispered.
“There’s a whole slew of non-human creatures around here,” I replied.
“That explains the Church’s presence,” the demon woman mumbled.
I came across an old, abandoned cart, and I started rooting around as I thought about the creatures I’d encountered already. The cart looked like the same one I’d seen earlier that day, with the man pulling vegetables on the back, except this one was completely empty apart from a couple of items. There was an empty brown sack that felt rough on my fingertips, clumps of dirt spread around the floor of the cart, and also a thin piece of metal. The metal held no clues about what it had been used for, but it looked to be the perfect size to help free Ashe from her shackle.
I ran the base of my thumb over one of the edges to get an idea of how sharp it was, and while it didn’t break the skin of my human form, it certainly looked sturdy enough to complete the task. I kept a tight hold of the metal since we didn’t have the time to look for anything better.
Ashe was expected back in the Hellscape imminently.
When we arrived at the inn, the half-orc was nowhere to be seen, and it almost felt like we were the only ones in the building.
“It’s better than a void, I guess,” Ashe commented.
“It has a bed that’s not as hard as nails, too,” I replied.
We rushed up the stairs, down the hall, and into room seven, and I barely gave any notice to the weapons and coins that were still safe where I’d left them. The whereabouts of a few mortal weapons was the least of my worries right now, but I did notice Ashe’s face formed into the same angry expression.
Her Lord Captain was talking to her again, and knowing what kind of snide shit he’d be saying to the woman made my own fury mount in my chest.
Not that it was my job to skin a fucker alive for the way he spoke to the Infernal Huntress, but this was Ashe. We had some form of history together, however brief our time in Rannicor had been, and now, she was trusting me to get her out of the Hellscape.
Everything about her expression proved she needed the shackle off her arm once and for all, and I was more than happy to be the demon who freed her from the fury of the voids.
“He’s found the hounds,” Ashe growled. “Quick, before he can track my exact location.”
Ashe sat herself down on the edge of the bed with her left arm angled out in my direction, and I ripped my jacket off and tossed it toward the table across the room.
I wanted to make the process as easy as possible for her, but I knew we didn’t have the time for a gentle approach. It would have to be hard, fast, and painful, but it was the only option we had. I started at the top of the shackle and slid the metal in between the hell gold and her skin. I felt the restriction as it met the first prong, and I pushed the gold away and spotted the blood that began to trickle down her arm already.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I noticed her eyes begin to roll to the back of her head.
“Yeah,” she blew out a deep breath. “Thank you.”
“You sure?” I checked as I pried the metal firmly to the side, and the demon woman just drew another deep breath and offered a small nod.
“Keep going,” Ashe murmured in a low, sultry tone. “It’s delicious agony. I could never do it to myself, but when you do it…”
For a second, I was surprised she took the pain so well, but then I remembered from our time in Rannicor that Ashe was from the Fiendish Void.
The thrill of pain and torture was practically infused in her sinews.
I did begin to wonder, though, if it was a bit of a kink for her as well.
The longer I tore at her flesh, the more Ashe seemed to enjoy the sight as the dark red, congealed blood contin
ued to flow down her arm, and instead of fighting back the painful cries, the demon woman turned them into subtle moans.
The noise hummed from behind her lips, and my neck began to prickle as my blood started to heat up.
Fuck, I hadn’t been this close to a demon woman in a locked room since before I could remember, but I was starting to understand why the Dark King forbade it.
“That’s one half done,” I said as I removed the metal object and angled it underneath the rest of the shackle. “Is your LC--”
“Yes,” Ashe growled in a smoky timbre. “Keep going, I don’t fucking care what he says anymore.”
“Good,” I growled back.
Due to the position of the prongs underneath the skin, I noticed the lower half had been harsher to remove than the top, and this became clearer when Ashe let out the first pained groan since I’d started.
Her pink eyes winced closed, and she pushed her chin into her shoulder to hold in the fire. Then she felt around for her cape and bundled the material up against her arm to stop the blood before it splashed onto the wooden floor.
“Only two more to go,” I said softly.
“Fucking hell,” she moaned. “I thought I could handle pain.”
I decided not to reply verbally since her moan caused my throat to constrict, and I continued with the job while I started grinding my teeth together.
The shackle hung off Ashe’s skin with only two prongs to release before she was free, but as I knew, they were the hardest ones. Ashe dug her front teeth into the flesh of her bottom lip, and as the same pained moan vibrated through the room, I could have sworn I felt it deep in my gut as well.
The second the shackle fell to the floor with the metal I’d been using, Ashe collapsed back on the bed and took a few deep, ragged breaths. Her cleavage rose and then lowered with each breath, and her body trembled lightly in a way that made it hard to keep my eyes off her.