The Inferno

Chapter 1 #3

“The other bits are still on the table,” I say quietly. The image of blood dripping onto the floor and pooling in puddles flashing to life.

The moment I step back and begin rescinding the power coiling invisibly around my fingers, the fae advances .

The sudden movement causes my coils to tighten and pulse, emitting a wave of warning that has my eyes widening. Still only low in terms of my capability but more than I ever wanted to give them.

“Woah, woah! Calm down there, Red ,” the fae mocks, exaggerating the effect of my power by pretending to stumble.

His menacing smile is smaller than before, but still just as threatening, as he holds up his hands in mock surrender. He’s so much closer now, uncomfortably close. I can see the smooth curves decorating his palms as they flare, emitting an inky, blue light, and when they flare again, his power lunges out and knocks into mine.

Hard.

I physically feel the blow, electricity pulsing through me, and my power instantly retaliates, stabilising my footing and surrounding me in tight, invisible coils. I keep stepping away until the back of my thigh taps the arm of the chair Dark Eyes is sat in.

I freeze.

The demon doesn’t move, doesn’t react to my presence, but in my peripheral I can see him playing with the broken badge. He is completely unfazed by how close I am to his arm but of course he isn’t concerned. He’s a demon. Which means he has the power to kill me with one touch.

I stare back at the crazy fae whose hands are still raised in fake innocence, as though he didn’t just attempt to knock me into the demon or send his power into mine.

His head slowly tilts to the side causing his soft, curls to obscure some of his piercing gaze, a gaze which is currently searching every single piece of me. My coils keep me firmly covered, shielding my body in an invisible mask. He could easily penetrate the thin veil but I pray he doesn’t because, for some reason, my power is crawling over me with the need to fight back.

I glance down at the back of my thigh again, the one which is pushed against the leather arm of the demon’s chair, and tentatively begin to edge away. The fae moves forward again, causing my steps to falter and forcing me back against the chair.

“Oh, be careful,” he teases, eyes fixed upon my bare leg. “One more step and you’re as good as dead, Red. ” He enunciates the irritating nickname once more. His arms are back by his sides, hands tucked into his suit pant pockets. His head now tilting to the other side as though he wants to see my reaction from all angles, his taunting lips still in place.

I grit my teeth, both from his irritating act and the cliche nickname I'd heard constantly— particularly from our drunken patrons. His eyes flicker to my jaw.

"Ah, what's this? Have I hit a nerve?" The fae's smirk remains, his eyes glittering with real excitement. " Red ... Is that it?” He cants his head again. “Well, it's the most memorable thing about you.”

“Like those dimples and markings?” I’m desperate to retort but I mentally chastise myself.

“Red hair, red eyes, what more is there? Red is such a garish colour, clashes with everything."

Don't bite.

"It just screams ‘give me attention’, y’know? Like you’re lacking something more than just clothes. Did mummy and daddy not love their Little Red enough, huh? Have to dress like that and work in a place like this to feel some type of affection?” He takes a step towards me. “I’m sure if customers tip just enough you’ll give them more than a drink, right? I bet you make daddy so proud."

Do not bite.

Do not fucking bite.

"I mean, look at you.” And his eyes do just that, scaling my body meticulously. “You really need to get some control over that anger, Red. You’re gonna break that jaw if you grit your teeth any harder and that would be a real shame because I’d pay damn good money to see what that mouth c—"

“ Sai .” The demon’s voice is hard with finality and the fae, thankfully, stops speaking with a chuckle.

I somehow maintained my composure during the fae’s onslaught but my gaze still burns into him. He was right about one thing, my anger. I’d always struggled to contain my rage, even with my ability to steal and manipulate emotions. But I’d had years to practise in a building humming with vibrant feelings.

I breathe in, out, and unclench my aching jaw.

When the infuriating, irritating, smug fae finally takes his gaze from me, to look towards his demon comrade, I remember what Dark Eyes said. His name... and I hate how it fits him, I hate that I can’t openly reciprocate with my equally cliché nicknames, and I hate that I know I’ll never forget it.

Sai.

“Ah come on, I was on a roll then, mate! Our Little Red, right here, she’s hiding something...” Sai drawls, interlocking his hands and placing his index and forefingers out, together, pointing them directly at me. His gaze slides from the demon, to the vampire, then back to me.

My heart hammers as I clench my fists by my sides. My power remains at the same simmering level but I feel it building, pooling, ready if necessary.

“You’re right, her pulse is racing,” the vampire informs the room. I’m glad to know he hasn’t died from his boredom. “And I haven’t fed today.” Scratch that, I hope it kills him.

His words cause me to flinch, I can’t help it, it’s an instinctive reaction to a vampire saying that around my kind.

This time, when I move, the fae mirrors me. He copies every step to ensure he always stays in front. I can’t help scowling at him as my power begins to seep into the coils around me, exploring the emotions of the room to strengthen and feed, but my body tenses when I finally feel them.

Anger, frustration, excitement, hunger, lust and… pain.

You think they’d be easy to match up with the creatures before me but you’d be wrong. Especially the last one. I’m so shocked that I don’t even realise my power has decided to reach out to it, touching it just to check it’s really there.

There’s a grip around my throat before I even manage to move, I didn’t even see him.

The vampire has me pinned against the glass wall, his eyes staring down into mine as I grapple with his intense grip. My feet are barely touching the ground, my toes just scraping it even in platform heels. My eyes are watering and chest heaves in a desperate attempt to bring in air.

“Julien, careful.” The demon’s calm words barely register because my heart is thundering so loud it’s blocking everything else out.

“You dare let your power touch me?” His words are not loud but his quiet murmur is somehow worse. “You dare to touch me?”

Dark maroon eyes bore into mine, reminding me of my place, urging me to submit and my body shivers in response. His grip is loose enough that I can gasp for breath but can’t fill my lungs. I’m at his mercy, painfully staring up into his gaze, one that is purely murderous and intent on inflicting harm.

My power finally reacts and tightens its coils around me in preparation, if this is how we go, we’ll be taking him with us.

Slowly, Julien moves in closer and my power halts in wait. He tilts my head to the side with his thumb pushing my jaw. When he leisurely trails his nose along my throat, deeply inhaling my scent, ice-cold fear pulverises me.

And then he repeats the action once more.

“She’ll need to be punished for this infringement,” he drawls, his thumb now pressing uncomfortably against my thumping pulse. He continues skimming my neck. “A slow, tortuous punishment.”

Under direct threat, the fear once flooding my body begins to change and alter into something new. As it grows, I urge my body to focus and push through the adrenaline pumping in my veins, to think back to my training with August and his pack, to remain calm and breathe.

I manage to adjust one of my hands, placing it, palm flat, against the glass behind me. Shattering it would give me a diversion but would it be enough for him to release me? Falling through the glass onto the next floor? But the speed at which he moved before...

His teeth are dangerously close to my skin now, his lips lingering by my ear as he whispers, “Your kind may taste divine but they never knew their place, never knew how to follow orders, that is why there are so few remaining.”

The words, although absolutely terrifying, begin to stir a deep, dark emotion within me.

“Should I remind you where you belong?” he taunts darkly, the skin of my throat tightening under his grasp. “Should I remind you how insignificant you are? How worthless ?”

I try to swallow but his grip is punishing.

“ You are so small. Minute. Barely a speck to me.”

Heat floods my body and my blood becomes unbearably hot, boiling, burning beneath my skin.

“What a disappointment.” The edge of his fangs skim my throat and the fire in my body grows, blooms, at an exponential rate.

Lies .

Julien's grip begins to feel looser, not because he has loosened it but because my coils have begun to seep out of their intense locks. He feels it.

Yes, my kind are rare. Because of their ability to feel, enhance and meddle with emotions. We are able to feed from them and grow. Unfortunately, it makes us a tasty treat for a variety of creatures, vampires being one of them.

Their place? It used to be at the bottom of the power pile, owned, marked and abused by every single powerful being there was. Vampire, fae and demon alike, just to name a few.

Until empaths realised what they were capable of when they were pushed. When they realised they’d been abused into submission not because they were weak but because they were powerful beyond imagination.

Julien's eyes come back into view but now there’s a change, we both feel it. I’m no longer scrambling at his grip, my hand is simply resting upon his and, whilst it’s there, I take what I can.

“You’re nothing.”

My power pulses, his words no longer creating fear but spurring me. It latches onto his skin and quickly sinks into him, seeks out the pain and enhances it enough that both our eyes instantly turn black.

We stare into one another.

Two bottomless abysses mirroring; reflecting each other in an infinite darkness.

But it’s not enough.

I amplify it, again and again and again.

My power builds and builds, waiting for a chance to escape, to wreak havoc throughout the entire building, erupt, feed, cause chaos... but I’m still in control. I’m focused upon this one feeling, this pain, his pain, and pushing it as far as it will go.

The pain intensifies and keeps growing until I finally feel something— his grip releasing.

I fall onto the floor, knees buckling when I do, but I refuse to let go. My power stays attached to his pain and I amplify it even further. I stare up at him; he glares down at me. Gazes mirroring one another.

I soon become terrified at the amount of agony which is pulsing through us. The pain he is yet to succumb to. There’s no tremor in his movements, his stare is steady with mine, his expression blank .

He should be on the ground with me, writhing in agony and begging me to stop, pleading, but he stays stood; stoic. Those black eyes of abyss staring straight into me and imagining all the ways he’s going to ruin me.

When I feel like the pain can go on no longer, when it’s at the precipice of where it will snap and surely send us both into hell... he smiles.

The expression is so horrifying when paired with his black gaze, I scamper backwards, hitting the glass wall. The cold sensation hits my burning spine and my power stutters in shock.

“No, don’t stop,” his sudden command makes my mouth pop open. “Keep going.”

What. The. Fuck.

I nearly say the words aloud but his terrifying smile stops me.

It’s only now that I realise what I’ve done. I close my eyes and wince.

They manipulated me.

I played right into their hands and I just kept going.

I bit.

My power snaps back and my eyes return. My expression is one of pure horror as I stare at my hands as though they’re the real enemy. What’s even more terrifying is that I’ve only revealed half of what I’m capable of, even with my mark, and the feel of Julien's hungry gaze is telling me he knows it.

“ Little Empath, it was a mistake to think you could hide from us.” Julien's words are venomous, dripping with a raw hunger as his black eyes flicker back to a deep red. They scan my body which is still tightly pushed against the glass wall, like it will somehow save me from him, but no one will—no one can.

“Sai.” The demon’s voice cuts into the silence, I watch him raise a brow at the fae who observed the entire ordeal completely fixed to the spot. It seems the demon was indicating something by saying his name and I wonder if they can communicate another way.

“What can I say? Our Little Red here blocked me out.” Sai dramatically throws his hands into the air and then moves closer until he can lean against the glass above my head. He glances down at me, his gaze almost blinding after staring into the shadows of Julien's. “Pretty rude if you ask me. ”

I stare up at him, perplexed, not knowing what I’m supposed to do or say now.

“I’m there, trying to figure out what’s going on in there.” He points at my head. “Trying to get that pesky wall down, and not only do you block me out, but you go rummaging inside big guy’s head instead of mine?” His eyes are twinkling, his markings pulsating. At least someone seems to be enjoying themselves. “Don’t worry Red, I’ll think of a way you can make it up to me.”

I continue staring up at him in complete, incredulous shock. I’d been told many things about enforcers by my family, yet, I was not—possibly never could be—prepared for these enforcers.

“Because it’s really not looking good for you, Red.” Sai finishes with a casual shrug, but the ‘d’ at the end of my new, irritating nickname is pronounced so prominently it seems to slice into the air.

My heartbeat returns to a quick, painful thud as I gaze up at both men and ultimately, my downfall. What will they do to me now? How will I get out of this unscathed? My family… I have to protect them. I will protect them. But if I’m going to hell, if this is the end, I refuse to spend my final moments being towered over.

I cautiously slide myself up the glass and note the change in stance of both Sai and Julien as they step away, seemingly to give me some space. Huh.

They don’t feel threatened by my power, no, not at all. If anything, they seem emboldened. The vampire seems ready to rip out my throat, bathe in my blood, whilst the fae is eager to break down my shaking barrier and delve into my head. Both of those thoughts terrify me more than death.

So I seek out the demon, the only one who doesn’t seem like he wants to devour me in some way. His empty eyes are unwavering at they watch me.

“I suggest we start this conversation again.” Although his gaze is only focused on me, Sai and Julien step aside in synchrony. The demon remains seated, he hasn’t moved or physically reacted to anything, which makes him even more terrifying.

His open palm indicates to the empty seat before him, the one right at the back of the private room, in the narrow corner submerged by darkness, and it feels like a death sentence. I swallow, the demon watches me, casting another glance to the chair then back to me as though he can’t understand what I’m seeing.

“If we wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” His tilts his head towards the chair, the tiny action casting his face in more shadows. “Sit. I won’t ask again.”

If we wanted you dead, you’d be dead. Was that meant to be reassuring?

I’m pretty sure the two men behind me want me more than dead. My neck feels raw at the thought, as though Julien's hand is still wrapped around my throat, burning my skin. My coils snake tightly around me in comfort, reminding me it’s still here, it’s always there, but the tone of the demon’s voice is something I cannot ignore. I need to play it safe. I need to survive this and get back to my family. Somehow.

I take steady, measured steps into the dark corner, into the shadows, keeping my eyes upon the demon as I carefully take the seat.

Julien and Sai finally return to their previous positions, meaning they reside by each side of me and the demon is in front. I’m completely blocked in, I’m in a worse position than I was against the glass wall, no exit, and I run my tongue along the insides of my teeth in utter frustration.

“You’re concealing your power, why?” the demon asks, his dark eyes intent on mine.

The secret is out.

My heart thuds as I cross my legs and clasp my hands just above the knee, trying to cover the gap of bare skin between my tight dress and thigh high boots, feeling utterly vulnerable under his heavy gaze. He follows my movement, his gaze catching my hands, before flicking his sight back to mine. The only indication that he’s done waiting for an answer. I square my shoulders.

“Higher level patrons come here to enjoy themselves, not to feel threatened. It is for their benefit,” I repeat my carefully rehearsed answer.

We, my family and I, always knew this day could come, someone discovering me or reporting me to the Council. Especially after I stabbed—I cut that thought dead.

Inhale. Exhale. Keep my gaze steady. My posture strong but relaxed. I was ready for this type of question. I’d answered it perfectly .

The demon’s eyes flicker to the vampire. I wait with bated breath. “It isn’t a lie,” his confirmation makes it easier for me to breathe, but I can tell the demon isn’t pleased. His dark eyes seem to darken into an obsidian glower.

“Have you ever lost control?”

I stop breathing. During my years of practice, we hadn’t ever considered there could be an ancient vampire in the room monitoring my pulse for any flicker of trepidation. Unwarranted memories push into my brain, blood, a broken bottle… Unfortunately, my lack of response was all he needed.

I see it in his unwavering expression. I feel dizzy. Sick. Filled with a desperation to fix my mistake.

“I’ve never hurt anyone witho—”

“Just blown a guy’s hand to smithereens?” I don’t even hide my expression as I sneer at the fae whose dimples are on full display. “But he deserved it, right?”

I frown, is he sticking up for me or is he trying to set me up? He cants his head and raises his dark brows, seeming to encourage me to respond.

“Right?” I repeat, slowly. Casting a quick glance to the demon who definitely isn’t pleased by Sai’s intervention. “I’ve never hurt anyone without reason.”

“Like me, Little Empath.” My head whips to the vampire, my scowl unable to stay hidden. “I still believe a punishment is in order for that.” His small smile doesn’t help quell the fear those words create but now, no longer in a grip of terror, an accent I thought I’d imagined tinges his words.

I ignore him, his stupid accent, and turn back to the demon, solidifying my posture. “I’ve never hurt anyone unless it was self-defence and/or they deserved it.”

Sai’s trickle of laughter is accompanied by Julien's attempt at a muted scoff. But the demon doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t move an inch. His eyes remain drilling into me but I refuse to squirm. Even though I can’t figure out exactly who or what is angering him, I know I’m running out of chances to escape this conversation.

So I take a deep breath, ignore the two irritating creatures beside me, and level my gaze with him. Focus only on him .

“Could I possibly ask a question, sir?” I ask in the politest voice I can muster.

Sai can’t contain himself, a chuckle rupturing from him at my term of respect. I think I catch the vampire smirking too, but I refuse to look away from the demon’s penetrating stare. He’s not at all impressed by my tone or request. I think I see his jaw muscle tick beneath his caramel skin.

I’m about to splutter some type of apology when he provides a terse nod in my direction and I don’t waste any more time. “I thought I was being questioned about the fake enforcers, what does this have to do with—”

Sai and Julien are beside the demon, instantly. I never felt them move.

I stay completely still, wringing my hands tightly, but casting my eyes around the room like I’d missed something. When I’m certain nothing has changed, it’s still just the four of us, I glance back at them. From their flickering expressions and eye contact, it’s clear they are communicating silently.

Sai groans, I watch as he removes a device from his pocket and Julien casts a bored glance at it over the fae’s shoulder. When the demon begins to stand, I stop breathing. I’m terrified that I’ve messed up, that I’m about to be dragged to the Council District.

I’ll never see my family again, I’ll never get to say goodbye… my eyes begin to water at the thought. But before I can plead my case, Dark Eyes takes two steps towards me, places both hands on the arms of my chair, effectively caging me in.

I push back into the chair and stare up in horror. His gaze never wavers as he delivers his decree. “We will continue this conversation tomorrow. Be here, do not make us wait.”

Gone. He simply disappears.

My eyes race to the other men but they’re gone too.

My body shudders with relief as I sink into the chair. We did it. I was still here. But for how long?