Chapter 13 #2
The trip was fraught with incidents.There was a delay at the airport and they were both taken to separate rooms to be checked for illegal substances.
It had taken them hours to find a company willing to rent a car to them.
Once on the road, there was a black car that followed them most of the way before disappearing at a roundabout.Then Ash insisted on stopping at a store and bought the only mirror there.Morgan grumbled as he handed over his card.
They had stopped at a roadside chippy. They managed to find a hidden alcove so Ash could come out.
“This… fish and chips,” the demon sneered after they stopped at a roadside pub. “You call this food fit for mortals? Oil and grease. A disgrace. Where is the venison? The blood still warm?”
Morgan bit into his battered cod with deliberate exaggeration. “Welcome to the twenty-first century. Get used to it.”
Síofra muttered, “Some of us like chips,” just to see Ashmedai bristle. He did.
By the time they reached Leap Castle, dusk had fallen. The fortress loomed black against the bruised sky, its jagged silhouette bristling with history and unease. The air was colder here, unnaturally so.
Ashmedai stirred, eager,as if smelling blood. “Yes. Here. Take me inside.”
They moved through the ruin cautiously, footsteps echoing across stone halls.Most of the halls were empty of visitors this late in the day.
Dust and shadows clung thick, as though the place itself was listening.
Morgan’s wolf prowled restless and uneasy in a place where the very stones had soaked with so much blood.
Ashmedai led them unerringly to the infamous oubliette. It yawned like a black throat in the floor, narrow and deep.
“This was no ordinary prison,” Ashmedai said, his voice curling through them both. “Victims were thrown down, left to starve or break upon the spikes hidden below.”
Síofra shuddered. “There’s nothing here now.”
“Nothing to see,” Ashmedai agreed, his voice dark with memory. Then his eyes flared gold. “But much to remember.”
Morgan’s body stiffened, and he felt the pull of Ashmedai sliding into the driver’s seat. Smoke curled around his shoulders as the demon spoke in a language that scraped the air raw. Ancient syllables buzzed through the air, heavy with power.
From the slit of the rille, a shimmer made it through. And then a pale hand held on to the bar.
Síofra gasped, stumbling back.
“Do not look directly at her. Look in the mirror,” Ashmedai warned sharply, his tone formal, commanding. “Her gaze binds, even diminished as she is.”
Síofra peered into the mirror that Ashmedai had handed her. A woman’s face framed by thick locks of blonde hair, eyes luminous with doe-like beauty. Her lips curled into a sensuous smile.
“Hello,” the Gorgon purred, her voice as rich as honey and just as dangerous.
Morgan’s pulse thundered as Ashmedai purred. “Stheno, charming to see you again”
Stheno’s voice slipped through the shadows like silk and smoke.
“Ashmedai…” The way she said his name made it sound like both a prayer and a curse. “You look almost mortal in this light. Tell me,have the centuries softened you, or only honed your cruelty?”
Ashmedai smiled, slow and sin-laced through the mirror. “Careful, witch. You remember what I become when you tease.” His eyes gleamed, and for a heartbeat the cavern itself seemed to shiver from the intimacy. “And if I recall, you liked me better when I didn’t hold back.”
Stheno laughed-a sound too beautiful to belong to something so dangerous.
“I liked you better when you didn’t hide behind your bargains.
” Her slender hands reached through the bars, her wrists still bound in chains that shimmered faintly.
“Let me out, Ash. I can be… persuasive. Remember how my mouth feels wrapped around your cock”
“I remember you have very sharp teeth,” he echoed. “And you distracted me while those parasites set their trap.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice until it wrapped around her like smoke. “But I am willing to put that behind me.Freedom comes at a price. A lock of your hair.”
Hersmile faltered. For a moment, silence pressed in like a held breath.
Then her golden hair began to move-one strand, then another, twisting, writhing-until the illusion of beauty gave way to eyes of stone.
Serpents slithered where hair had been, tongues flickering, fangs glistening with venom.
They hissed and spat at the invisible ward that kept her confined.
“You would dare ask that of me?” she hissed, voice trembling with fury.
Ashmedai’s expression softened, though his tone stayed measured. “A small offering for your freedom, my love. Power demands sacrifice. You taught me that.”
Stheno tilted her head, eyes blazing grey. “And desire,” she whispered, “demands danger. Tell me, Ashmedai, do you still crave me?”
Síofra felt her heart stumble. She had come to think of Ashmedai as hers in some quiet, foolish way. He was the one who’d stood beside her, the demon who teased and protected and looked at her like she was.. more.
Now, watching him with her, that illusion splintered.
“Treachery can turn desire sour. You don't interest me anymore, Stheno”
The word hung between them like a blade.
Stheno’s gaze flicked toward her, amusement lighting her face. “Oh… so that’s the little mortal who thinks she’s tamed the king of demons.”
Heat climbed Síofra’s neck. She opened her mouth, but the words tangled in her throat.
The Gorgon’s smile widened. “She’s sweet,” she purred, “like a lamb standing too close to the slaughterhouse door, too young to recognise the smell of blood.”
Ashmedai’s eyes darkened. “Enough, Stheno.You may not realize this but you are talking to my queen.”
But the Gorgon wasn’t done. Her serpents reared, tongues tasting the air. Venom hissed against the ward as thin, silver streaks that sizzled on contact.
“She’s not worth your protection,” Stheno whispered, her voice a blade wrapped in honey. “You could have eternity again with me.”
The serpents lunged, spitting through the rapidly weakening barrier. The veil was always thinner during the twilight hours. One droplet of venom arced toward Síofra-too fast for her to react.
Ashmedai moved before thought could catch him. His arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her close as he murmured a single word in a language that felt like thunder. The venom struck something invisible and burst into sparks, dissolving in the air.
Síofra’s breath caught; she could feel his pulse thundering through the chest pressed to her.
Ashmedai turned back to Stheno, his expression no longer soft. “Another trick and I leave you here. Trust me, no one will go against me to release you. And you are not the only gorgon walking this earth.”
Stheno’s serpents stilled. Her voice came quiet and trembling, more fury than fear. “Leave my sister be. I forget nothing,demon. Least of all what I owe you.”
Ashmedai’s power burned like a shadowed flame, spreading through the cavern. “And I forget nothing of what you destroyed. I am running out of patience.”
For a moment, it was as if the centuries themselves held still-their gazes locked through the mirror, ancient hatred and hope entwined in equal measure. Then Stheno smiled again, slow and cold.
“Still protecting your plaything. Very well.”
Ashmedai didn’t answer. His hand tightened on Síofra’s arm as he drew her behind him.
“Free me,” Stheno whispered. “Break the seal, and I will give you what you seek. Then we can take up where we left off.”
Morgan’s hand controlled by Ashmedai flexed at his side. Síofra’s jaw was stiff with tension, fury sparking hot at the way the Gorgon’s voice wrapped around him like silk. She didn't understand half of what was being said, but she was a woman and she understood the tone.
But Ashmedai’s face remained carved from shadow, golden eyes cold.
“Stheno, I am already mated. Your wiles will not work on me.” His voice reverberated low, absolute. Then he turned, looking at Síofra with unnerving clarity. “I am claimed.”
The words, simple as they were, made heat rush to her cheeks.
Stheno hissed, serpents writhing. “Foolish king. You think her enough for you?”
Ashmedai’s grin was razor-sharp. “More than enough.”
And with a cry that was equal parts fury and surrender, the Gorgon shed a lock of her serpent hair.
It writhed and shimmered before falling to the floor at his feet.
Ashmedai quickly used a cloth to wrap it carefully.
Then he muttered something in a language that they couldn't understand and as they watched, the bars of the prison slowly began to rust.
Stenos’s chains rattled, her voice fading into the shadows of the oubliette. “Take it. But my freedom will come soon. And when it does, you will regret choosing her.”
As they walked out with the first artefact carefully wrapped in his bag, Morgan pulled Síofra closer and said in Ashmedai’s voice, “I have no interest in other females. I see only you.”