Chapter Thirty #2
I walked closer to the wall, examining the bodies and tuning him out.
His irritating fucking voice. Floating upward, I expanded my search.
He didn’t stop my investigation. In fact, a bit of delight blossomed along the surface of his thoughts, and he continued talking despite my lack of interest in any of his words.
“So, what do I do? Limit my vast collection of magics to keep them safe in rotting mortal bodies, leaving myself vulnerable again and again each time I search for a new inadequate host? Or do I walk this world in my own skin, drawing the ire of enchanters who hunt me and risking my valuable, unique magics being lost to the ether? Neither seems like an appealing option. ”
There.
In the center of bound bodies lay a set of hazel eyes representing where the branch stemmed, while the rest of the person remained dormant in the darkness.
Person. My body trembled. More than that.
Consciousness. Magical essence. Soul. Soulmate.
So many words I tried to sort as a terrible realization gripped hold.
It took everything in me not to collapse, to scream, to flee from this devil’s mind.
The tar silhouette squirmed. The exposed hazel eyes were locked with mine, their stare vacant, lost, and trapped.
“Finn.” I ripped at the tar, tearing chunks that bound him to this wall, but new tar replaced it immediately. “Let him go!”
I flailed and fought, yet nothing freed Finn. The shadows faded. Thoughts from each of the whispering witches silenced one by one, and I grabbed Finn’s head. My fingers dug into the slimy tar, struggling to reach him, desperate to hear his thoughts, to save him, to do anything but fail again.
I fell forward onto my knees, dropped from the devil’s mind and back into the physical world. Digging my nails into the gravel, I channeled telepathy so I could pry my way back into his hellish core.
“I can’t release Finn. His retrocognition is pivotal to resurrection.” The devil’s eyes glowed in the same way Finn’s often had when relishing the history tucked within the world. Such a beautiful sight this monster had ruined.
I’d studied hundreds of branches, thousands really, for the students I’d taught throughout the years, the teachers I worked alongside, and the enchanters I observed for industry purposes. Each branch this devil harnessed revealed itself with ease.
The first being Finn’s retrocognition. My stomach twisted at the familiar glow in Jamie’s eyes. Neither Finn nor Jamie held joy in their hearts, not with this devil dictating their every action .
Colors swirled, casting an alluring aura, something from the cosmic branch meant to temper, control, or recreate emotional wavelengths.
The vibrance varied, yet that might’ve had more to do with the other branches interacting than this being something I’d never seen.
Primal earth glommed at the ground, reshaping it around wisps.
Wisps that were lured in by two distinct magics. Another cosmic branch which pierced the veil between planes and a branch from the bestial which reverberated into a howl the devil made.
Command. A simple bestial ability that varied on practice, yet he’d merged it to compel wisps. Making them obedient with a simple act that likely involved something from the psychic branch. Thrall, perhaps. Each of these branch magics worked so succinctly together.
A heart thumped, wrapped within earth and sparks of electricity, cast by a pulse of rejuvenation breathing life into the fallen.
Painful whispers cried out. I covered my ears, yet it did nothing to drown out the sonic vibrations from the alteration branch mixed with the horrific wails of necromancy from the hex branch.
Somehow, merging each of these branches together, through sheer intricacy, this devil had created a way to truly defy death. Defy it for demons. Defy it for anyone if he so desired.
Wisps clustered together, forming a fiend. Its body swelled then deflated as sapphire scales coated the tarry flesh, reviving the gorgon this devil had previously slaughtered.
“When a demon dies, we have no place to carry our consciousness. The energy tethered to our essence is stripped and banished back to our realm. So depleted, exhausted, vulnerable—we fade into nothingness. No peace. No eternity. Just bleak endless nothing. Finn’s retrocognition can see all the fingerprints our consciousness touched, gather the memories, and with the help of a dozen other branches working in tandem, I can recreate them.
Breathe life into the void of existence. It’s beautiful, truly. ”
The gorgon panted. “Thank you, L—”
The devil squeezed his palm closed. Air echoed, and the gorgon exploded into wisps once again, crumpling to the nothingness this devil despised.
“I did say his behavior was not to my liking.” The devil wiped black tears running down his cheeks.
Not his cheeks—Jamie’s, the fifteen-year-old kid he’d possessed—and burned through quicker with each cast of magic.
“For you, Dorian, I will ensure he stays gone and forgotten. I will give you anything you require for happiness.”
“Why?” I asked, perplexed what this devil’s intentions were or why a chimera cared a fuck how I felt about him.
“I’m here for you, Dorian.”
“Why? You have my branch. And I’m not arcane, so I’m not a suitable host. Trust me, the way I smoke, the added tar from you…you’ll burn through me in days.”
“You’re wrong. It’s not about your branch; it’s about your frequency.
We possess the same ebb and flow, peaks and valleys.
Every demon has a perfect glove for their hand, and as it happens, you’re mine.
Self-loathing and all, you’re my perfection.
I seek to make you my next host, my final host. Our frequencies sync so precisely, our magics will meld. I will know peace; you will have rest.”
“Rest?” I scoffed, absorbing the lies. The truths. The unknowns. Everything was too much to fathom. “Suffering in that hellish pit of yours?”
“I can make it what I wish. Give you back Finn. The piece of him attached to the branch I acquired.”
“You mean stole.” I ground my teeth, seething and channeling my banishment root.
“It takes more than skilled banishment to push a devil out of his host.” He laughed, amused at my challenge, and hiding the fear he had when Caleb cast a perfect banishment during the Spring Showcase.
If Caleb had aimed it directly at Jamie then, instead of releasing it onto the whirlpool portals, it might’ve been strong enough to knock him from his host body, even if it’d have killed Jamie in the process.
I shook away the thought, quelling my magic. It wouldn’t help here and now. I was far from casting perfected root magics. Caleb had performed only on instinct, and despite how foul this monster was, I wouldn’t pit any student against him.
“Twelve years ago, I came to this horrible city in search of a powerful witch possessing a branch I desperately needed.”
“Finn’s branch.” I bit the inside of my mouth, fighting back flashes of the night the gorgon grabbed Finn, vanishing through a black portal.
“Precisely.” The devil grinned. “Yet, when I sent for his retrieval, one enchanter chased him through the broken streets, his telepathy syncing so close to my quarry, I felt the frequency. I knew then you would be the perfect vessel. Some demons go lifetimes without feeling that magical chemistry. I’d gone through several lifetimes, in fact. ”
“Then why leave? Why wait twelve years?” Had he been patiently observing me this entire time? Was I so oblivious I’d missed countless possessed victims, feeding me false surface thoughts for some devil’s games?
“Because of Finn. He removed my memories involving you and any desire I had to linger in this city. Perhaps the last twist of the knife before I took his branch for myself.”
“That’s just like him.” My throat was scratchy. I pushed off the ground and backstepped. It took everything not to breakdown. Finn fought until the very end. Past his end. As always, he impressed me, refusing to fail even if victory seemed impossible .
“Then, his magic sparked in the distance,” the chimera said, stealing this moment I spent treasuring the beauty of Finn. “I was halfway across the world, and I felt his branch— my branch —tugging on me.”
“What?”
“He’d left a piece of his magic tucked within your mind, a fragment from the whole.”
My dreams of Finn last semester when he helped me sort through the void vision, my regret of his death, and my feelings for Milo.
He’d helped me grow and move forward with my life.
I let him go then, let him find peace. And now?
Now it turned out that part of him remained locked inside the demon that killed him, removed his eyes, and stole his branch.
“I thought so little of it, but then his presence faded, the last of his free magic spent, and I regained those lost memories he forcefully buried despite my protests.”
“And you decided to return to Chicago.” The words spilled off my tongue, empty. I grew numb at the realization of everything happening now, everything happening then, came back to me. I always failed. And that failure always cost everyone around me their happiness.
“That I did. I quickly learned Enchanter Evergreen had grown in notoriety, and despite my abilities, I didn’t want to risk his clairvoyance catching wind of my intent or standing in the way when we finally properly met. I wanted our meeting to be gentle and kind, something you deserve, Dorian.”
“So, you planned for hundreds of demons to kill everyone in the city, keeping Milo busy.” My knees quaked, locked, unable to move, ready to buckle and die.
There was nothing I could do to prevent this.
Nothing I could do to undo the damage already caused.
This devil would steal my body and raze Chicago .
“Offer yourself to me willingly, Dorian.” The devil crept close. “Do so, and this mortal child will live. My hold is lethal but hasn’t reached a necrotic state. You can save him. You can save everyone in this city. I promise you, for your happiness, I will sate my own desires.”
“You don’t need permission to possess.” Why would he care?
“No, but I’d like us to be friends.” Jamie’s haunting smirk reminded me he was simply a pawn in a cruel game. “Let us make the happiest resolution to the most unfortunate of circumstances.”
“You’ll let everyone in the city live. Even…” My voice trembled. My throat was dry, tight, and each breath became more suffocating.
“Even Enchanter Evergreen.” The devil extended a hand; the cuticles of Jamie’s nails were black with toxic death. “He will mourn you, but his city will remain intact.”
“Bold of you to assume you have what it takes to kill me, you damn chimera.” Milo swooped past me, punching the air with telekinesis and throwing the devil back.