The Inferno

Chapter 6 #2

The demon provides one more infuriating glance my way, before moving away and back to the window, his phone now in hand and a tinny voice emitting from it which begins to fill the tense silence.

“What,” his dark voice answers.

The demon casts another wary glance my way, barely acknowledging my presence, seeking out Sai, before turning away and continuing his conversation.

All his answers are monosyllabic and terse. ‘Bad mood’ doesn’t quite cut it.

With the demon's back towards us, I quickly turn to Sai. Before I can even open my mouth, Sai places a finger upon his smirking lips.

I nod subtly in understanding; it isn’t safe to talk. I watch Sai’s finger create a small circle in the air which causes his power to turn me back around.

Now, I’m facing the demon’s back again as he answers ‘no’ for a third time.

“Forewarning, this won’t feel like it did the last time I had my hands on you,” Sai murmurs, his hand already at the seam of my dress, ready to begin the removal of an ‘immoveable’ ancient rune which could end in my death.

I swallow and readjust myself on the small stool. This is what I want, this mark to be removed, to remove the only thing keeping me connected to that past life. Right?

I feel my power clench at his movement, uncertain now, not about the pain, but the outcome.

If I asked the enforcers to stop, they wouldn’t. It’s clear they have an agenda, their own secret little experiment. My mark, and its enigma, is possibly the only thing keeping me alive. Sai said as much with his vote.

My life is nothing to them and soon, without this mark, I’ll be nothing to them.

Sai’s power has stopped hovering and is now layered directly over my own. Another layer of protection, possibly a barrier to stop what’s to come.

I feel the zip of my dress moving down. I tense. My fingers tighten around the edge of the seat with each slow downwards pull… then I hear a strange sound. A sound which makes my power buzz and swirl.

A sharp inhale of breath, Sai’s breath.

He stops pulling. I feel his knuckles barely resting over the middle of my spine. He doesn’t move and my power begins to stir with panic .

Finally, he begins to move again but only to lean forward as his lips hover beside my ear.

“Is this my surprise?” he gently murmurs, the sound so dark and intoxicating my coils decide to skim along his. I grip the seat even harder.

My confusion at his words quickly turns into shock, which becomes a horrific realisation. My entire body freezes and I stop breathing because I realise exactly what he’s referring to, I vividly see the reflection of myself, I remember what I’m wearing beneath this dress. What he’s just seen. What he’s about to see more of.

A part of me wants to will my power to head straight into the demon’s head, an action that would surely result in an instant death, because right now, I’d rather die, be burned alive, drowned, than respond to Sai.

My power on the other hand, is delighted, purely ecstatic by the tone of Sai’s voice, by the feel of his warmth near my skin, his power flaring around us with excitement.

“I didn’t wear it for you,” I whisper back, trying and failing to make the words sound vicious. Instead, they sound too soft.

Completely unperturbed by my admission, he quietly laughs. “Even if that’s true, you knew this would be happening,” he murmurs softly. Tediously, painfully, he begins to pull on the zip again. “So Red, how far should I go?”

How did I go from being absolutely filled with terror to violently blushing?

The worst thing is, I could speak, I could tell him to stop when he continues to unzip my dress further than is needed. But I don’t. Because there’s a part of me that is revelling in this, in the way I’m somehow controlling this terrifyingly powerful creature without even using my power.

Even when he reaches the suspender belt, resting just above my hips, I don’t tell him to stop, I don’t even move.

“This is my favourite part,” he purrs, his mouth so close to my ear. I bite my lip to stop any noise escaping.

In one sharp tug, the stool moves backwards and into him. My back is now fully against his chest and it’s on fire. I attempt to edge forward again but his power latches onto me, holding me in place .

“You’re playing a very dangerous game, Red.” This time, his lips skim the shell of my ear just as his finger runs over the belt and down my bare spine. “One I’m more than willing to play.”

I stare ahead, terrified Dark Eyes will turn around at any moment, but exhilarated at the thought he might. I can feel Sai’s own excitement, this is what he likes, the chase, the danger.

I’m dizzy, his emotions simply sinking into me and amplifying my own, my power is blooming, spreading, threading around me. The room has become unbearably hot and I try not to lean into him but I need something to keep me grounded.

His fingers continue to trace a delicate line further along my spine, lower down than they needed to go, reaching the top of my underwear.

“All this, for one little barrier?” Sai whispers, his lips now trailing my jaw in the slightest touch.

His fingers skim my ribs, they tease the skin just below my bra and I gasp. The demon turns, I flinch, but Sai continues his dangerous touches, hidden beneath my dress, sliding his hands along my stomach.

Dark Eyes assesses me for a moment, somehow seeing nothing amiss, and turns again.

“Sai, you need to stop,” I breathe. My voice is barely audible but when I say his name, I feel a part of his constraint fracture.

“It’s too late, Red.”

My skin is burning but my power instantly stops swirling, seemingly taking note of what is happening now, noting the intense burn moving over my skin and sweeping over my mark. My power hovers as though awaiting what will happen next. Sensing it.

Piercing, scalding hot pain shoots along my spine. My nerves feel alight, raw, like white hot needles are piercing my skin. A loud gasp escapes, tears swell in my eyes but my power remains subdued at the source of the pain. My mark.

“It won’t last much longer,” he whispers beside me, continuing his seductive tone, the touch of his fingers now nettles as they continue their vicious descent. “Fight through it, Red. Fight for me.”

I scream, the guttural sound coming from somewhere deep within as I keel over in absolute agony.

Sai’s hands slip around my waist as I nearly fall off the stool and I feel the demon moving towards us but I can’t see, my eyes are blurred with tears, the burning now pulverising my insides, turning and burning, scalding and scraping at every bit of soft tissue it passes until it’s clawing up my throat and I release another deafening scream.

My scream shakes the room, cupboard doors slam open and pottery shatters around us. My power latches onto the sound, magnifying its impact, causing the windows to fracture and the fire to reignite in a white blaze, reaching the ceiling in a sudden crescendo.

Until…

Everything becomes still.

Silence.

“Sai.”

A deep sound simmers around us, a sound of release, and when I straighten up, I not only see the demon but I feel an immediate, otherworldly, irrevocable change.

“Sai,” he repeats, impatient as he stares over my head to the fae whose hands are still tightly gripping me. “Is it done?”

“Partially.” Sai’s voice is a delicious rasp, one laced with... need , and when I feel his power wrap around me, pulling me further into him, mine hums and I lean into his touch with an audible sigh.

“Sai, you need to leave.”

My eyes flare at the demon’s request, but when his gaze locks with mine my entire body tenses. His own eyes change to reflect mine, completely consumed by the dark, silently compelling me to stand down.

“No,” the Dark One orders. I tilt my head in confusion but realise his demand is aimed at the man whose power is now tightening around me. “Sai, I will make you leave if I must.”

“Mate, don’t threaten me,” Sai replies, his raspy yet predatory tone setting my raw skin alight. He gently pulls me from the stool, coaxing me to stand before him, allowing him more access to my skin which I greedily allow.

“Your mind is unclear, I can hear it,” the Dark One states, cautiously stepping towards us. “Let the empath go.”

At his words, Sai’s power forms into a physical shape, dark blue mist wrapping around my waist and along the length of my arms, pulling me back with each step he takes away. Although enjoying Sai’s touch, I don’t enjoy feeling controlled or constrained against my will .

“Speak to him.” This time, the Dark One’s words are directed at me. His soulless eyes bore into mine in an intimidating action, implying the many awful things he’ll do to me if I don’t listen. “Tell him to go.”

“I’m not leaving her.” Sai’s bounds become tighter, uncomfortably so, and my power begins to bristle, warning him to release me but he doesn’t listen.

I peer up at him and the déjà vu brings clarity to my own foggy brain, being in the same position with Julien, seeing Julien's eyes consumed with black as they stared down at me— just like Sai’s are now. No longer the piercing blue which could cut through the shadows.

“Sai, please let me go and leave,” I say, my voice soft but the demand clear.

He frowns, his eyebrows pulling together as he attempts to digest the words. But his power loosens, remaining in place but no longer constraining, and his eyes return to their bright blue in a sudden flicker.

“Fuck,” he says, glancing between me and the Dark One. Sai doesn’t move, his hands are still comfortably resting upon my waist, but I feel his emotions and know he’s no longer in his previous state. “So, that’s how Julien felt, huh?”

He laughs and continues to laugh even when the demon stares at him with that terrifying gaze. The laughter only dies out as they slip into a brief silent conversation.

When Sai’s fingers begin to pull away from my skin, my power flares out in protest, reaching for him. No sooner than it flared, it halts, the realisation that there is nothing blocking it, his barrier is no longer in place, stuns us both.

We pause, my power and I, and Sai saunters around to face us.

I frown, trying to understand why his power is not retaliating as mine almost dove into him, why mine is simply, carelessly, forming its own barrier where Sai’s previously laid.

Until my darkened gaze sees the renewed tendrils hovering around us, see the dark intertwined with a subtle tinge of blue. My eyes widen and my mouth becomes dry at the realisation of what he has done.

What we’ve done.

“I told you it was too late,” Sai smirks, his piercing gaze once again slicing through mine and any doubt. It’s an evil, devious, sinful expression which both terrifies and infuriates my very being. “You let me in, Red. ”

Our powers crackle at the revelation, sending flickers out into the air as they twist and bite into one another.

I feel him in my chest; in my lungs; in every breath. His power and, most profoundly, his emotions. Like an electrical current which has hardwired my nerves, the intense sensation thrums through me and it makes me feel...makes me feel...

Livid.

He senses it, feels it, sees it as my gaze lowers and narrows. My fingers tense into fists as I prepare my muddied coils for my onslaught.

“Fuck that feels so good,” Sai suddenly groans, then laughs. The sound is one of disbelief as he shakes his head, a soft curl falls into his eyes.

He glances at the demon again and I’m thankful because the sound of his groan seemed to harden the tightening in my chest.

I watch as Sai holds his hands up in a placating manner. “Alright, I get it. I’m going mate.”

Sai’s sight flickers to mine. He doesn’t say another word, he doesn’t need to, because when our eyes meet the true intensity of his power rushes through me and almost brings me to my knees.

He winks and his smirk is the last thing I see. Wisps of smoke now lingering in his place.

My power viciously lashes out at it, pulverising the air he once stood in moments ago, furious that we’d let this happen, that his power was now somehow connected to ours.

But he is still here.

My tendrils coil back around me as I slowly turn, catching the demon's gaze and keeping it as I face him. My power pulses, feeling more alive, bigger, than it’s ever been. It flows around me in large, invisible waves, brushing the silk of my dress whilst casting off flares in warning.

His black eyes continue to watch me. “Come here,” he commands.

I still. My power falters, uncertain. I take a step back.

“You let the others touch you freely, yet you won’t come near me?” He frowns, eyes narrowing at the space I’ve attempted to create.

“Their touch won’t kill me.” Our gazes clash again, dark upon dark, as he steps forward and replaces the small distance I had made.

“I won’t harm you,” he states, and his voice sounds almost genuine, “now, come to me. I will not ask again. ”

My power bleeds out into the air around us, expanding with hesitation as I consider his words. Demons don’t lie, they have no need to. Especially one with this amount of strength.

My power’s subtle hum, its low vibration along my skin, gives me the confidence to move. I feel the cool air caressing my bare back as I do and our sight remains locked until I’m standing just before him.

When he raises his hand, fingers clad with silver rings, my power instantly returns from the air and into me, tightening around my skin in thick lines of metallic black. Although my eyes widen slightly in terror, I force myself to stay still.

When his hand touches my cheek, my power shakes and flickers as my entire body crumbles. He easily catches me, quickly stepping forward and placing me back onto the stool, one hand against my naked back, the other under my chin as he tilts my face up and towards him.

My eyes are wide open as I stare into his.

“There you are,” he murmurs.

For the very first time since we’d met, his expression seems to soften. The permanent, deep line between his brows smooths, his dark eyes reveal a tinge of grey, his tight jaw relaxes and I feel absolutely… nothing.

Nothingness.

My mind has never felt so empty; so calm; at peace. My eyes involuntarily close, sinking into the feeling of nothingness and his soothing touch. My power hums with utter content, slowly sliding in their lax coils around me.

“I thought you were going to kill me,” I whisper, my voice sounds far away. Eyes still closed; my entire weight being held by his hands.

“I know, I can feel your fear.”

My eyes shoot open, his gaze is already boring into me, waiting for me to speak. “How can you ‘feel’ it?”

“You’re an empath. I’m a demon,” he responds, as though he’s explaining a simple maths equation to a child. When my brows pull together, he sighs and continues, “as a demon, I lack a soul and therefore—”

“You don’t have emotions?”

“No.” His dark eyes flash in warning at my interruption, I pull my lips together. “I feel less than others, whereas you feel— ”

“Everything,” I interrupt, again. I note the tightening of his jaw and drop my gaze apologetically.

“What do you feel now?” His gentle tone is intoxicating and coaxes me to look at him, his intense gaze carefully surveying every action.

“Nothing,” I practically sigh, relishing the moment of tranquillity, feeling weightless, nothing.

“And your power?”

I search for the word, but it’s hard to think. I feel my power’s comforting warmth as it nourishes my skin, sinking into the aching muscles from previous tensions, pushing out the toxins, finding and amplifying no emotions because there isn’t any.

Content. That’s the word.

But I’m not willing to give him that. “Controlled.”

Discreetly, I assess his reaction. Searching for any flicker of expression to indicate his thoughts because I can’t assess his feelings. Nothing. No longer engraved with a permanent aura of irritation and still revealing absolutely nothing.

“Good.”

“Are you going to kill me?” I can’t believe how calm I sound, discussing my life which is literally in the palm of this demon’s hand.

“Not at the moment,” he replies casually, hands still firmly against my skin.

“Why?” The question falls from my lips, the blurry cloud of tranquillity making it hard to think of consequences or keep my mouth shut.

“We took a vote,” he states, but it isn’t enough for me, or my power it seems as black tendrils begin a slow descent from me, along my arms and towards his hand.

“Sai said you voted to kill me.” My voice is soft as I feel the tendril continue to crawl up my chest and along my throat.

“Sai talks too much,” he mutters.

Although I can’t feel his emotions, at that moment I hear one in his response, the thick annoyance hanging from his words reminds me of my tone towards Javier at times.

Before I can stop myself, I laugh, and the quiet, muffled sound causes the terrifying demon to flinch. It’s a distraction my power takes, using it to leap onto the hand holding my chin .

Cold seeps into my body, spreads through the veins of my power and sinks into my bones. I shiver as his dark eyes glance at the inky tendrils curving around his fingers before they land back on me.

“No,” he reprimands gently, lowering his severe gaze until our eyes are level.

My power immediately responds, slithering back from his skin and into me which causes the sudden cold to dissipate.

“Did you— did you just control my power?” I ask, half dazed, half filled with dread.

I begin to lean back, fighting against the calm his touch originally brought, eager to escape this dark creature before I fall into another trap. But he doesn’t allow it, he moves forward and uses the hand on my back to keep me still. My bare back. The dress left carelessly open and forgotten the moment Sai left. My mark burns beneath his fingers.

“I control the dark,” he simply states, as though I should understand exactly what that means. His bottomless gaze seems to lighten as he notes my confusion. “I forget, you’ve only experienced five years in this world, you are na?ve to it all.”

I don’t appreciate being called ‘na?ve’, especially twice in one night, but I’m enjoying the lack of irritation in his voice and the way his gaze has softened. Then I remember what he is.

“I’m not na?ve to the genocide of my kind.” His eyes return to their cold abyss as I continue, “The creatures who hunted, captured and killed my race to the brink of extinction.”

“Then you’ll also know Enforcers were created as a final defence in the Dark War,” he retorts, his gaze challenging my every word. “Without Enforcers, of all species, you may not exist.”

I try to shake my head, a difficult action when his hand is still holding my chin.

“Who is feeding you this misinformation?” His tone hardens and sight flares, an intense wave of metallic grey reflects in his irises for a moment then settles. “This so called ‘family’ of yours?”

I try to pull away again, but he forces me still and somehow pushes the effect of his touch further causing the foggy bliss of nothing to return.

“Do you not find it suspicious that they found you?” he begins, his tone dark yet soft and gaze boring into mine. “You were left outside the Council District, right outside the barrier and not a single guard, not a single member of the barrier defence team was notified of your presence. Yet this vagabond group miraculously stumbled upon you. They informed no one, not a single soul of your presence. They didn’t take you to be medically assessed, they didn’t seek out any legal entity who could help seek out your history or real family. They didn’t report you to the Council. They had no care for who you once where or what you may have left behind and you don’t, for one moment, consider that at all worrisome?”

It's the longest he has ever spoken to me and the eloquence of his speech has me completely transfixed. I find it hard to pick out the questions I’m supposed to be answering because I’m still digesting the words whilst floating in comforting nothingness.

“I can’t concentrate,” I mumble, my body feels heavy and warm. “Too many words.”

He produces some type of irritated sound, almost like a tut which makes me want to laugh again but my eyes begin to close, the calmness of his touch bringing a new wave of weariness I’m desperate to sink into.

“When your mind is clearer, you’ll see the reality of your situation,” he states whilst adjusting the hold he has on me, somehow bringing me up to his chest without me even realising, one arm now under my legs and supporting me completely.

I guiltily sink into him, content again. I sigh. Pure bliss to feel nothing after always feeling too much of everything. His words still linger in my head but I can’t quite piece the magnitude of them together. Not yet.

“You’ll need to rest again,” he murmurs, whilst moving with me in his arms.

“Hmm,” is my eloquent response, gripping his dark shirt with my hand to remain attached when I’m placed onto something soft. I slip down onto it, my grip on his shirt ensuring he has to keep one hand on my back still.

“You need to listen to me now,” he commands softly and my power bursts at the order. My eyes remain closed, body too drained to continue, but I’m able to give a subtle nod. “Do not tell them your mark has been partially removed, do you understand?”

Another slight nod of my head indicating I’m listening. Do not tell them, check .

“If you do, I will kill them all.”

My eyes shoot open, I note the walls and his position kneeling before me. I’m on my bed, he’s in my bedroom, my entire body tenses as I attempt to sit up.

“No,” he orders. Instantly, my power surrounds me, smoothers me and forces me to remain led down on my side as my narrowed gaze scowls at him.

He leans closer, I try to shuffle back but to no avail. His dark gaze flickers over my features as I continue to stare.

“I can feel your anger,” he says, sounding almost intrigued. We watch one another as my gaze slowly returns to normal at his sudden revelation and tone.

A vibrant light and loud vibration emits from the corner of my room, my eyes shut and I bite my lip, willing it to stop. It doesn’t. The loud noise continues and suddenly my phone is before me, in the demon’s hand, as he peers down at the screen.

A piece of fear bites into my skin but it’s quickly smothered out when his gaze returns to me.

“August has declined your invitation,” he says, flicking his eyes to the screen once more before tossing the phone onto the bed next to me. “Is that the wolf?”

Even in my dizzying haze, I desperately avoid his question, willing my power to listen to me and not this man before us.

The hand on my back slowly moves, our eyes remain locked as I avoid his question, but the trail of his fingers creates a pleasant numbness which encourages sleep again.

Fading in and out, black eyes to nothingness and back again, as his touch finally ends in a gentle caress upon my face.

“I don’t make idle threats. If you tell them anything about tonight, if they find out about your mark, they will die.” I can hardly breathe. I feel him move closer, his voice barely a whisper now as he continues his deadly touches. “And I’ll leave the wolf till last, it’ll be slow and I’ll make you watch every second of it.”

A tear falls, I feel its warmth roll down my cheek and meet his fingers. I can’t feel any emotions, nothing, but the tears continue. Even if I could, I wouldn’t open my eyes again, unwilling to meet the face of this demon threatening everything I’ve ever loved .

I feel his fingers as they brush away the tear, leaving a tingling sensation in their wake.

“Now, sleep.”