Chapter 38
Nomin
Istared at her unconscious form on the floor, half sprawled over an injured demon as if to protect him from the world. Her breathing was uneven, her blood pumping weakly in her veins.
My eyes stopped on the deep bite mark on her shoulder. The skin shredded, the blood unable to stop flowing.
The damn Dragon venom sizzled on her skin.
Why is she here? Didn’t I warn her angel to keep her away from this damn place for this exact threat that awaited her?
I kneeled to her side, avoiding stepping on either of them in the cramped space and placed my hand over her wound, closing my eyes. The bastard must have injected all of his current venom supply in her system, not wanting to waste the opportunity.
Using my powers, I pulled at the infected blood.
At the venom that still hadn’t spread, making it pour out of her like a tap was open.
She was going to lose a lot of blood when I’d be done, and there was no way I could remove it all.
If she had lost consciousness, some of it had already spread too widely.
But I could give her more time.
I removed my hand after the venom stopped coming out with her blood and caught the small dagger I kept at my waist. My blood seeped from the deep slice I made on my forearm and I brought it to her lips.
She frowned, moaning in pain in her sleep.
“Shh,” I whispered. “It’ll be okay. You’ll have more time.” I couldn’t help myself from caressing her hair with my other hand. So different from that first time I crossed her path…“Drink up, pretty bird.”
After enough of my blood had entered her system, I pulled my arm back and looked at her friend. He would wake up soon, but his brain was still bleeding heavily. He needed to sleep longer.
I placed my hand on his forehead and focused on the hemorrhage, giving it the boost it needed to resorb quicker and making sure he’d stay asleep for a little while longer.
“What—who are…”
My little bird’s eyes fluttered open and my heart sank in my chest, memories flooding back like a hurricane.
“Who are you?” the pretty bird said weakly, hand going for a makeshift weapon lying next to her. “I—I don’t have anything, I…”
“It’s alright,” I reassured, crouching next to her.
Her blood felt foreign and familiar at the same time. She was one of them. A Phoenix. But at the same time, she wasn’t. Was she some sort of unnatural halfbreed, like the child I was tasked to protect? She was a demon, but she smelled…new.
I cupped her face, moving it to search for injuries. Why was she barely alive? She had to—
A violent surge of lust overtook me and I stumbled back, ripping my hand away like it’d been burned. My cock twitched in my trousers and my fists landed on the wet soil behind me to prevent my ass from crashing on the ground.
“Succubus,” I breathed out.
So they were real. I’ve heard the shadows talk about her. The first of Hell’s last experiments.
Not a little bird anymore…
My heart missed a few beats as she opened weak eyes and looked at me again, confusion etching her face.
“Yours,” the shadows whispered all around me. “Soulless mate.”
My mate. And not any mate. One without a soul.
What an awful timing…
I couldn’t handle or protect a mate now…But if I didn’t do anything, she’d die. Could a Succubus die? She didn’t look like she was going to survive the night…
I leaned over her and slid my hand behind her head, bringing her face toward mine.
Her lips were soft and responsive despite her condition. She moved, reaching for me like I did before my emotion went out of control. And slowly, her face went from ghostly pale to pink-ish, her eyes from dull and empty to bright and almost shining.
The shadows had told me the truth; Succubus were syphons, just like the Vampires that had appeared shortly after. Both in their own way, needed the energy of others to sustain themselves. And with a simple kiss, I had given her more time.
More time to survive, hopefully long enough for me to find her again, at a time that would allow us a chance.
I pulled back and enveloped her in shadows, protecting her from the outside world while she slept.
We’ll meet again, my little bird.
I stood up, watching her breathing even out.
“Go, my little bird. Set us all free.”
Lola
My eyes opened with a gasp, my knees buckling under my weight and I caught myself on a wall before falling to the ground.
That wasn’t the place I remembered hiding Marcus and I in…How did I get here? Where the Hell was Marcus? I looked around and winced at the pain in my shoulder. My hand reached for it; right. The fucking asshole bit me. That explained why I felt like my legs were going to give out at any moment…
I leaned on the heavy armored door in front of me and waited for the dizziness to pass. Fuck, I’m going to die, aren’t I?
“Go, my little bird. Set us all free…” a strange, deep raspy voice whispered in my mind.
I would have laughed if I wasn’t in so much pain. Were voices in my head a sign that death was at my doorstep? Because it sucked. At least that voice sounded good…Like a caress or a warm breeze over my skin.
With a last, stuttering breath, I focused on the door I was leaning on. I had to move forward. I had to find Arc, to get answers about everything that was happening. The mind controlled demon guards, the prisoners at the brink of insanity, Amyntas in a fucking cage…Nothing made sense.
I pushed at the door but it didn’t budge. For fuck’s sakes. I groaned, throwing my whole weight and meager force against it, holding back a frustrated scream when it opened only slightly.
“Come on, just a little more,” I grunted to myself. My arms shook from the strain, dots of sweat beading my forehead. “Come on, come on, come on—”
I poured all my remaining strength to widen the opening and slid—or more like fell—through it, landing on my hands and knees, panting.
There was no time to catch my breath. My head lifted and eyes roamed the room carefully, searching for any sign of danger.
Arc wouldn’t attack me…Would he?
But the thought quickly left my brain as I took in the state of destruction the whole space was in.
The tiled floor, cracked and covered in broken furniture and blood.
The dirty concrete walls, splattered with more red and black, filled with holes that looked like someone had punched through it in multiple places.
The large cage at the back of the room.
And a battered Arc locked inside it.
My heart stopped as I limped as quickly as I could toward him, falling to my knees next to the locked door with a pained whimper.
“Arc?” I tried, my throat barely able to produce a sound with all the emotion clogging it. “Arc, wake up—”
His hands were cuffed with large metal pieces attached to a heavy looking chain that was tied above his head, forcing his arms up. His wrists looked burnt and bloody, his shirtless chest covered in cuts and bruises.
“Arc, please—” I grabbed at the bar and hissed in pain when my skin blistered and started sizzling. “Fuck!”
What the Hell was happening?
Arc lifted his head and pained to open his eyes.
“Lola—” I fought myself not to hold on to the bars again. I wanted to get in. To hold him and help him out. To apologize for thinking, even for a few minutes, that he was somehow responsible for all this. He coughed, bronze blood sputtering from his mouth. “Lo-Lola…”
I strained my ears, trying to understand the mumbled, frantic words coming out of his mouth next. Focused so much that I didn’t hear the door opening and closing behind me.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”