Chapter Twenty-Five
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Yuri had never given much thought to how demons lived. He’d seen their encampments before, but only ever in flames and chaos, his work done and his hands wiped clean by the end of the day. He’d never imagined it as a home, or that he would play the role of a visitor.
If the commander saw him now … If he realized where Yuri was …
His orders would be simple: Burn it all.
Wiping out a horde this large would be a sacrifice the commander would make even if it cost Yuri his life.
A tempting thought, perhaps, for the war effort.
But Yuri had no interest in death. Which was how he found himself swathed in shadows as he discreetly followed Severin into his study.
That other demon must have been close.
Severin moved through the room’s clutter with a feline grace, while Yuri took great care stepping around scattered books and open manuscripts strewn haphazardly across the floor.
“Have a seat,” Severin offered, motioning to a dark chaise where Aurelie sat looking a nervous wreck. The Luminel remained contentedly perched atop her shoulder, patting at Aurelie’s arm reassuringly.
“You really ought to clean up in here,” Aurelie murmured eventually, pushing aside a stack of empty glasses, their bottoms stained red. “I can barely see the floor.”
Severin propped himself onto his desk, peering around as if she’d just suggested something entirely novel. “Why would I do that when everything is exactly where I intend for it to be?”
Yuri ignored their banter, taking stock of three things: Aurelie’s position, the nearest exit, and the fact that the desk could serve as a makeshift shield if this all went up in smoke.
“I was beginning to think you might never show up,” Severin told Yuri. “But now that you’re here, we can finally begin.”
Yuri didn’t much care for the way the demon looked at him like something he wished to peel apart and burn from the inside out.
“As our dear bonded told you already, I’m working on a cure.”
“Sure you are,” Yuri hummed. “I can’t wait to hear all about it.”
The demon’s smile was razor thin. “I wouldn’t believe me, either. Fortunately, I’ve prepared a demonstration. Lute, your assistance?”
Yuri tensed when an envyborn emerged from the shadows, scowling as she snatched a small vial from Severin’s hand. He couldn’t help but notice that she was missing part of her tail. “This is the last time I’m doing this.” She tipped it back, swallowing its contents in one go.
Seconds later, her body shifted. The blue of her skin faded, the points of her ears softening as her red eyes dulled. Then, just as quickly, it was gone, leaving her returned to her demonic self.
Yuri’s chair scraped violently against the floor as he lurched upright. “What foul trickery is at play, demon?”
“There’s no trickery.” Aurelie rose to stand beside him, her touch soft on his arm. “The cure is unfinished, but it’s real.”
It couldn’t be. If a cure were possible, surely the angels would have known about it. Surely it wouldn’t be a demon bringing this to them.
But then again, it wasn’t as though any angels were working on a cure. Once, long ago, Yuri might have believed it could be possible. But that hope had long been beaten out of him, and in the face of it once more, he had no idea what to think.
“This is hopeful at best,” Yuri said, watching Lute rub her skin, blue once more. “The transformation didn’t last more than a minute.”
“That, my dear ugly angel, is where you come in,” Severin offered. “Tell me, what’s the exact opposite of a demon?”
“An angel?” he answered dryly, frowning as Severin pushed from the desk and slipped closer.
“Precisely. And now that you’re here, there’s something I’d like to try. Assuming, of course, that you want to end this war?”
Yuri folded his arms. “And what is that?”
“Angel blood.” Severin’s clawed finger traced the tender skin of Yuri’s inner arm, eyes glinting with hunger. “Just a drop or two.”
Yuri shoved him back. “Angels do not bleed, least of all for demons.”
“Then what about for all of us?” Aurelie demanded, her desperation pressing upon him.
“Did you know about this?” He whirled to face her.
“I had no idea that he’d want your blood! But what harm is there in trying?”
“Yes, what harm is there, Yuri?” Severin drawled, stretching his name like a song. “Angels most certainly can bleed. I’ve seen it myself.”
His anger flared. “Say that again and I’ll slit your throat.”
“So sensitive. It’s not as if your blood is that special. I’ve drawn it plenty of ti—”
Yuri’s fist connected with the demon’s face. Severin reeled back, clutching his nose—but so did Aurelie.
“By the devil’s rotting cock!” she snarled, and both men were so caught off guard that it took a moment for Yuri to gasp, recognizing the pain in his own nose.
Blasted bond.
He’d always been so careful about reining in his emotions. Was his lashing out a side effect of Aurelie’s bond with the demon, or was there something about Severin that grated at him? Light, he wanted to skin this demon alive.
“So long as I remain in the middle, I would prefer that neither of you lay hands on each other again,” Aurelie spat, her eyes watering from the force of the blow.
Yuri winced, guilt sinking his gut. “My apologies. It won’t happen a—” His words cut off when, this time Aurelie punched him square in the nose.
He recoiled, cursing, but before he could react, she hissed in pain and grabbed an empty vial from the desk.
Quick as a thief, she caught several drops of the gilded blood that spilled between his fingertips and sealed the bottle.
Then, with a sharp shove, she slammed it into Severin’s chest.
“There. Angel blood. Now, if either of you touches the other again, I will cut off something only the two of you will be able to feel. Do you understand me?”
“I’m beginning to rather like you,” Severin said as he rolled the vial between his fingers. Then, to Yuri, “But I should have mentioned that I’ve tried angel blood before. What I seek is blood freely given.”
He produced a fresh vial, holding it out expectantly. Yuri clenched his jaw, looking between it and Aurelie. There were tears streaming down her face from the force of the blow, and a muscle in his jaw ticked. Wordlessly, he ripped the vial from Severin’s hand and let a single drop fall inside.
“Wonderful!” The demon beamed. “Was that really so hard?” He moved swiftly, gathering another vial similar to the one he’d given Lute. This time, he carefully let Yuri’s blood spill into it before capping and mixing the container.
To his surprise, the liquid inside turned fully gold.
“Try it,” Aurelie urged, holding her breath. She was a mess of emotions. Restlessness, fear … There was so much roiling within her that he felt sick. Though perhaps his aching nose had something to do with that.
“I prefer not to experiment on myself,” Severin said, his dark eyes sliding toward Lute. “Shall we bring him in?”
The shadows around Lute loomed large and eager, sweeping ahead of her as she moved to the door. It wasn’t a minute later that they returned, curled around a thrashing demon with black, prideborn markings along his skin.
“This,” Severin announced as he prowled toward the captured demon, “is our dear friend from a neighboring encampment. He’s one of the demons responsible for the recent attack on Rhovar.”
Aurelie’s face went ashen. Yuri felt her fury, the sensation making him ill.
“What are you planning to do with him?” she demanded.
Severin tilted the demon’s face up with a single finger, studying it as one might a particularly interesting insect. “Isn’t it obvious? He’ll be our new test subject.”
The prideborn seethed, his bloodshot eyes rimmed with a burning red. He was thin, his wings as frail and useless as parchment, unable to hold him aloft.
Yuri’s nerves curdled like soured milk. He may have spent his life killing demons, but he’d never tortured them.
“We can find another way,” he said. “Your father’s situation is not an excuse to act like them, Aurelie.”
“Why not?” Her voice was steady, but the emotion beneath it rippled through their bond. “This demon attacked my home. If he managed to escape, then we should be glad to have the opportunity to deal with him.”
Despite her outward confidence, Yuri felt the true hesitation beneath it. If it had been anyone else, she might have stopped to think. But Yuri was beginning to understand that for Azriel and her father, this girl would truly do anything.
Such a trait was enviable.
Yuri wondered what it was like to have someone you were willing to go to the ends of the world for. To abandon all that you were and become something wholly new.
It was likely he’d never know.
He opened his mouth to speak, only to see that Severin had the vial to the prideborn’s lips, and that its contents were empty.
“What?” Severin blinked up at the angel, unconcerned. “Someone had to make an executive decision.”
The prideborn doubled over with a choked gasp. His claws tore at the ground, nails splitting the floorboards.
Severin frowned. “This wood is hard to replace. If you don’t mind—”
The demon was beyond listening. He was on all fours, spine curved into a desperate arch and face pressed to the floor as though he could root himself there and escape whatever was taking hold inside him.
Lute’s shadows stretched protectively around herself. Yuri, too, stepped in front of Aurelie just in case.
Screams tore through the room, the sound like a soul being peeled from flesh. They struck the air with such force that Yuri felt them vibrate through his ribs.
The demon writhed, belly to the floor, all color leaching from his skin. Inch by inch, his wings began to disintegrate, curling at the edges like parchment catching flame.
“What’s happening to him?” Aurelie demanded, looking sick.
“He’s burning alive from the inside out.” Severin crouched before the prideborn far too casually. “I suspected this might happen.”