Chapter Ten
Azazel exhaled a heavy sigh. It didn’t take a psychic to know Toni and the sexbot broke the Nexus Core.
The very air around his cage vibrated with a violent wave, its pressure heavy enough for him to feel, even where he was. Fortunately, it wasn’t hard enough to prevent him from breathing, thank the Goddess.
Then something popped into his head. Like a bubble bursting and clearing the air.
Azazel?
The mental clarity of his youngest brother’s voice in his head took him aback.
Arakiba?
How was brother speaking to him on their psychic path? What happened to the mechanical setup from his JR unit?
Woo-hoo! Yes, we can talk to each other again.
Azazel winced at Arakiba’s gleeful whoop.
I take it Elemi did what she had to and freed the Krystalii from Baelon’s psychic hold?
I think so. Azazel hated to admit he wasn’t sure. If that’s what happened, they should be back any minute now. Hopefully.
Great! Listen, Arakiba continued. The bros and the rest are all orbiting just out of reach of the Krystalii mother ship as we speak. We’ll be there in no time to get you and finish phase two. See ya!
Azazel stifled a groan. Again, his brother left without giving him a chance to ask what he meant. No use in trying to connect with him again. When Arakiba acted like that, he usually wouldn’t respond. Asshole.
And just what in the hell was phase two?
A movement outside the chamber caught his eye. There… what was it? He squinted. Yes, it was Toni. By the seven gates, what was she doing? Running through the door as if the wicked god of death, Uggae, was hard on her heels.
In desperation, he searched the doorway entrance, expecting to see one of the Elite guards rushing in to stop her. But no. The only thing following her was that shocking-pink android, Elemi.
“Hang on.” Toni rushed to the control panel beside the cage that held him. “We’ll get you out.”
Azazel startled when he heard her. Did that mean that part of his cage had changed with the Core out of commission?
“You’d better get him out now, darling girl.” Elemi glanced behind. “It would be bad form to stick around expecting an encore.”
A tremor ran through the crystalline cage just before a force shattered the chamber right behind the android. Exploding energy sent cracks racing up the wall as shards of blue, purple, and clear crystal, along with glass rained in a cascade of light and sound.
With a high squeal and her arms crossing in front of her face, Elemi was buried under a mountain of wreckage.
Azazel tensed, his pulse pounding as Lord Baelon emerged from the swirling debris, that massive frame radiating raw, untamed power. Helpless, he watched Toni as she tried to shield herself, ducking as she raised her hands in front of her clear helmet.
With a violent shake, the upheaval made her stumble and fall.
Frantic, Azazel struggled to free himself, but his efforts amounted to nothing. His body remained a prisoner, dangling, unable to move, much less escape.
His inner beast rolled within him, the menace growing stronger.
Baelon stalked into the room, his once-pristine clear blue form now murky with yawning fissures cracking along his body.
Tendrils of steel-blue light discharged from those fractures, like blood oozing down his form.
Every thunderous step he took unleashed crackling energy, hurling lightning bolts in all directions.
The monster had eyes only for Toni, their red glow blazing in her direction.
“You dare to presume you have bested me?” he roared with raised fists. His voice reverberated with a raw power that shook the chamber.
Mouth wide under her clear helmet, Toni scrambled backward on her hands and feet, the desperation etched on her face.
But she wasn’t fast enough. The crystal giant grabbed her.
She screamed and pounded her ineffectual fists against the beast’s glass-like fingers.
Toni.
Baelon shook her, then brought her close and exhaled a pulse of energy at her.
Her helmet disappeared, then she stiffened and went limp. Her flaccid body drooped in Baelon’s grasp, her dark hair falling in a tangled veil over her face, obscuring the bruises already forming along her pale skin.
The sight of her, unmoving, unprotected, made something deep inside Azazel coil tight.
A primal snarl clawed at the edges of his control.
He gulped, breathing so hard he became lightheaded.
His inner beast became more forceful, as if there was an actual body attached to that part of him, what he believed was his Id—the primitive part of who he was.
But this was different. More alive than just a twisted, darker part of his character.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Baelon tossed Toni to the floor like discarded trash.
She landed hard, the sickening thud of impact ignited a violent shudder through Azazel. His fingers curled into fists, his nails digging into his palms as an ancient fury roared to life inside him.
Baelon chuckled, a low, resonant sound that scraped against Azazel’s nerves like a dull blade.
“Look at you, Adamou,” he mocked, the labradorite colors that made up his face twisted into cruel amusement.
“Caged. Helpless.” He leaned closer with a sneer.
“And your precious human is not the only one at my mercy.”
A searing, unnatural force wrenched at the psychic tether Azazel had shared with his brothers since birth—Arakiba, Asmodel, and Abalim—forcing those psychic threads to open.
Azazel recoiled, agony lancing through his skull as Baelon gripped the invisible thread and twisted it with his iron will.
The chamber blurred, reality itself bending in the Krystalii’s grasp.
Azazel strained against his crystalline prison, his breathing ragged.
With a sickening lurch, the space outside his cage folded.
When it unfurled, they were no longer alone.
Ripped from wherever they’d been, Arakiba, Asmodel, and Abalim stood in the Krystalii chamber, their forms flickering in disorientation. When they solidified, shock registered in their eyes as they stared at him, frozen into place like living statues.
Baelon spread his jagged arms in mock magnanimity.
“Isn’t this better? It wouldn’t be sporting if we let you meet your destiny alone, now would it?
” His grin sharpened. “Aren’t you thrilled that I brought your pitiful family here so you can witness how easily I tear them apart before I do the same to you? ”
Azazel’s control frayed, and his vision tunneled. The only thing he focused on was his enemy. Every muscle locked as he strained against the walls of his cage.
The crystal hummed with the power that contained him.
His breath turned into heaving, animalistic bursts, his heartbeat a war drum that pounded heavily against his ribs.
He focused on Toni’s still form, lying motionless.
Tearing his gaze away, he concentrated on his brothers—his loyal and unwavering clan—as they stood unmoving before the monster, a threat greater than any they had ever faced.
Baelon loomed over all of them. A sneering, gleeful smile exposed his sharp teeth and his jagged features crackled with power.
The unbearable, hopeless sight caused something inside Azazel to snap.
It was the primal force, long buried, long restrained, that answered.
Pain lanced through his bones, searing, stretching, reshaping. Torturous breath tore from Azazel’s lungs in a ragged snarl. His flesh twisted, his very essence unraveled into something foreign… primeval and furious.
The crystal cage trembled under the pressure of his shifting form.
Cracks splintered outward, webbing across its surface like lightning streaking through a storm-darkened sky.
Baelon’s head whipped in his direction. His smirk faltered.
Azazel’s mouth twisted into something that no longer belonged to a man.
His monstrous inner beast awoke.
With a final, earsplitting crack, the crystalline prison exploded outward. Shards sprayed in every direction, and from the wreckage, something massive and inhuman emerged.
Azazel’s inner beast was no longer bound.
He was free.
Azazel desperately tried to cling to the last thread of sanity as the beast within him tore free.
But any control he had ended in a violent rupture—sinew snapping, bones warping, as his mind split in two.
His half, that of the man, was shoved into the back seat, reduced to a passenger inside his own skin.
The new reality rattled him deeper than any danger he’d ever faced before.
The other? A hulking predator, drunk with rage and instinct.
His entire being was bombarded with feral, raw fury—along with the sickening euphoria of anticipating the upcoming battle.
His creature turned to the haunting sight of Toni lying motionless on the cracked crystal floor.
The sight of her still, unmoving figure caused his monster to roar so loud, it ripped through the chamber and caused the walls and floor to crack and splinter.
The Beast drew himself up, his gigantic form that towering over Baelon. A flash of movement caught his eye.
He turned—then froze. The mirrored wall reflected a monster forged of muscle and shadow, a creature carved from a nightmare of rage and ancient instinct. Gone were his human features, replaced by something so untamed and primal—a terrifying transformation of ultimate power that radiated from him.