He nodded. “There you are… yeah, that’s it. Don’t hold back. There will be no excuses when I kill you,” Adriel said, then he began to walk toward Katashniel, bold as hell, and as he did, he began to take his strongest demonic form. Two white horns appeared through his silver mane on the top of his head as his eyes glowed a bright purple. His skin didn’t change color, but it looked to harden as his muscles grew taut. The veins in his arms were more prominent and he looked like he’d gotten stronger during the transformation. His claws and teeth were also longer and the look in his eyes left no room for mercy.
Katashniel leaped over the bar and rushed toward Adriel and when the two collided, the force of their blow sent a shockwave through the room and all of our asses got sent airborne. I landed hard on the dining table, shattering it into many pieces. Andre landed in one of the chairs, breaking it. I looked around to see where Raphael was and I saw him rolling onto his hands and knees after landing on top of Vahiel. Vahiel, however, was holding his balls and groaning in agony.
“I’m sorry, my friend,” Raphael said, patting Vahiel’s shoulder.
“Go fuck yourself,” Vahiel growled as he rolled into a more protective fetal position.
Raphael only laughed as he rose to his feet. “It’ll pass,” he said, then turned to watch the fight that was still holding everyone’s attention.
Now that I knew my mates were okay, I climbed to my feet and turned just in time to see Adriel get slammed on the floor, the marble cracking under his weight and the impact. Katashniel picked him up again and slammed him hard back into the same spot, which broke even more, chips of marble flying in all directions. When he tried to do it again, Adriel wrapped his legs around Katashniel’s neck and shoulders and began to squeeze.
Katashniel growled in frustration as he struggled to get his arm free of Adriel’s grip. He lifted Adriel up and rammed him into the marble bar, breaking it into pieces. That seemed to do the trick as Adriel fell off him like a fat leech. Oh shit, that blow had taken a lot out of our king. He was bleeding from various wounds, and this didn’t look good. I could never see myself being loyal to Katashniel, did I have to be? Oh man, that was something I never even bothered to entertain. Like, when Adriel took over, how many demons didn’t want him to be king, but fell in line anyway?
Katashniel reached down to get Adriel again, but Adriel rolled out of the way, putting some distance between them. Katashniel laughed. “Not looking so arrogant now, are you… brother?” he boasted.
Adriel smiled. “Nonsense, this fight just got less boring.”
This time, Adriel charged forward, but instead of tackling him like Katashniel was prepping for, he slashed his face as he ran past him, then he shot bolts of lightning through Katashniel’s back. The demon arched as the lightning flowed into him and screamed in anguish until he fell to the ground. He rolled over and tossed what looked to be a ball of electric static at Adriel. Our king dodged it, but he lost his advantage over Katashniel by doing so. The ball of energy nearly hit Oria, but she simply stepped out of the way and it hit the window instead, shattering it.
Katashniel followed it up with another blast and another one until it finally hit Adriel in his chest, sending our king flying into the wall. The plaster splintered like a spider’s web and Adriel fell to one knee. Katashniel sent another blast, but Adriel countered it with his lightning that sent the static blast back at Katashniel. It hit him in the face and he slid across the floor into the rubble of the demolished marble bar. He groaned as his skin sizzled from the blow of his own energy ball.
Both demons were bleeding from multiple wounds and looked to be tired, but they weren’t giving up. Adriel was on him again, only this time, it was ugly tussling, claws, punches, and bites, just brutal shit. At one point, Adriel ripped Katashniel’s eye out and the demon screamed in pain. His hand went to cover his empty eye socket as blood gushed out between his fingers. It was at that point, Adriel saw his opening and took it. He jabbed his clawed hand straight through Katashniel’s chest. I could hear the bones splintering on impact. Katashniel roared, both hands going to Adriel’s wrist as he tried in vain to prevent the inevitable.
Adriel covered Katashniel’s face with his other hand and shot lightning directly into it, which burned off half of Katashniel’s face, exposing muscles and bone. The demon screamed as if he knew it was over.
“I’ll make sure Oria takes good care of you in hell, brother,” Adriel said, then yanked his hand back, pulling Katashniel’s heart free at the same time.
Katashniel’s body jerked, then twitched several times before falling completely limp. Adriel’s chest was heaving and he fell over, lying next to Katashniel’s corpse. I had never seen him look so beat up, but I was impressed as all hell. I wouldn’t want to get into a fight with him, not ever. The king didn’t play. He reverted back to his gorgeous human form, thank goodness.
Lord Rohan went to his side, kneeling. “My King, are you all right?”
Adriel was laying there, eyes closed, but he nodded. “I am.”
“It is over?” asked Dane Cassiel, the head of the Society. He was one of the first demons I’d ever met and an elemental demon, and if he was a part of this war party, he was no doubt a badass motherfucker.
“Not yet,” Oria said. “We still have this one.” She pointed to Mahmet, who was frozen in place thanks to the spell Vahiel had casted on him. He had to watch his champion die and that brought me great joy.
“Help me up,” Adriel said.
Rohan aided the king to his feet and he was already looking better. Most of his wounds had healed. He looked down at Katashniel’s corpse and there was no sorrow in those silver eyes of his. No remorse, only satisfaction. It was too bad that Katashniel was an asshole. I wondered what kind of relationship they could have had as brothers if he had been different.
Adriel lifted his hand that still held Katashniel’s heart and his gaze panned over to Mahmet. He walked over to the lord who’d betrayed him along with Xora. He reached down, taking Mahmet’s chin into his hand, and lifted his face to him. Slowly, he took a bite of Katashniel’s heart. Blood gushed from the organ, splattering his face and Mahmet’s. Adriel chewed the first piece almost methodically, then another and another. He made Mahmet watch him eat the entire thing, then he let his face go. He walked over to his chair, which had miraculously survived the battle when a lot of the other furnishings didn’t. It also made me wonder, just whose home was this?
Adriel took his seat, crossed one leg over the other, and was looking like a motherfucking boss in every sense of the word. “It is time, Oria. Have fun.”
Oria’s grin was wild with anticipation. “I will bring his fears forth. So, if your eyes are sensitive, you may leave now.”
“Well, I don’t have sensitive eyes, but I’m tired, hungry, and horny. I’m calling it a night,” Lord Silas said. “Vahiel, if you would please lower the ward so I may leave.”
I looked to see that Vahiel was standing, which meant his balls had long since stopped aching. He said an incantation and there was a snap in the room. That electrical charge I was so familiar with flowed through all of us, I was sure. All the demons who didn’t want to stay, teleported away, leaving Andre, Nasini, Rohan, Oria, Vahiel, me, and our king. I was surprised Raphael had left, but then again, he wasn’t as invested in all of this as much as I was. Watching demons get tortured really wasn’t his thing. Andre was just bloodthirsty and wanted to see the demon get what was coming to him. He was no stranger to witnessing criminals be put to death, so to him, I guessed this was the same thing. But probably more satisfying.
Isabella and Ade left, but Nasini was all in, like Rohan. Dakkar left, probably to go feed. He might have lost a lot of blood in the war. Everyone else, I figured, was just tired and wanted to get back to some kind of normal for them.
“Well, this is it,” Oria said, then she walked in front of Mahmet, taking his face into her tiny hands. “You disgraced your position as lord when you betrayed our king, Mahmet.
You should have known this day would come… did you not see it?” She giggled. “Oh, that’s right…” She turned to Vahiel. “Release your spell over him, but make sure he cannot teleport.”
“Of course,” Vahiel said, then gave another incantation and the muscles in Mahmet’s body visibly loosened and he fell to his hands and knees, but he was still looking at Oria as she held his head in her hands.
“My dear Mahmet, this is but a taste of what I will do to you in hell,” Oria said, then she released him and took several steps back. As she did, the room went black, which was creepy as all fuck. It was as if we were all standing in a void. All of a sudden, flames began to fill the area and it looked as if we were all standing inside of a volcano as lava was running down the rock walls. I could feel the heat, which was amazing, because as an Agoto, it shouldn’t have even affected me this much. I began to sweat from the intensity of the heat.
I was starting to regret the times I had wondered what she was making people see, because this shit was a little more interactive than what I was expecting. We were all stuck here for now until Vahiel lowered the wards again, so I buckled in. I’d had my chance to leave, but I’d wanted to watch him suffer. I just hoped we didn’t have to suffer with him. I looked at the king, Nasini, and Rohan. The three looked to be calm, as if the surroundings didn’t faze them at all.
A piercing scream returned my attention back to Mahmet and I saw why. I backed up, all the way back until I hit a wall. Andre joined me. The demon that stood before Mahmet was hideous. A face full of teeth, no eyes, nose, or other features, just a mouth. He leaned over Mahmet as he screamed in terror and struggled to get away, but no matter how much he scrambled, he didn’t move an inch. The demon began to spew a liquid over Mahmet and it was like acid, melting the flesh from his body in chunks that slid off the bone like pieces of slime. Still, Mahmet was alive and screaming in pure agony. More acid was spewed and it was gross as fuck.
Okay, now I was regretting not leaving with Raphael. Even Andre turned away and I was glad that I wasn’t the only one having a hard time stomaching this. Which was surprising, because since becoming a demon, I’d seen all kinds of gross shit, but this was pretty hard to watch. Mahmet melted into bones, but he was still screaming. And the demon monster puked on the bones and I could see flesh forming on the bones, bubbling and sizzling as it fused back onto the skeleton. It puked a few more times and Mahmet had been returned, but he was still in pain. More acid was puked onto him and his flesh began to melt away all over again. This was a cycle and it was horrible seeing his eyeball turn to liquid in their sockets, then run down the side on his face as the rest of him poured off him along with the acid vomit and blood.
That was it, I’d had enough. I turned away completely and just had to listen to Mahmet’s screams of unbridled anguish. This was a fate worse than death, and I could see why he was afraid. Should have never betrayed our king. It went on for an hour before Adriel put a stop to it. When the screams died down, I turned around. Mahmet was curled into a fetal position and trembling in a puddle of his own body soup.
“Vahiel, send Lords Oria and Mahmet back to Eighth Hell,” Adriel ordered.
“Thank you, my King,” Lord Oria said with a bow.
Oh wow, she wanted to go back to hell? Lord Oria was no joke, that was for sure. I wondered if the demons down there had been taking it easy since she’d been gone. One thing did confuse me, though. “My King, if I may speak?”
Adriel’s silver eyes turn to me and it made me kind of nervous. I swallowed hard and hoped that no one else heard my Adam’s apple bob. “Calm yourself, young demon. You have honored me and have nothing to fear. Speak.”
“Thank you, my King,” I said. I exhaled, then went on. “If the gate to hell is closed, how will they return?”
“Where do you think all of the demons we’ve killed have gone?” he asked me.
“To hell?” I said, and even saying the words, I felt dumb for asking the question. Maybe the question I asked wasn’t really the one I wanted to ask in the first place.
“You want to know if she will be a Lord Regent once she returns?” Adriel asked.
“Yes, I think that’s it, my King. Won’t she just be a spirit down there?” I asked.
“She would be if she died like a normal demon. She will be sent back in ceremony. The Gates are to keep demons inside hell, Brian. A demon can always go to hell or return when they die. However, the manner of how they return depends on how they die on this plane,” Adriel clarified.
I nodded. “Thank you for explaining it to me, my King.”
“Watch and learn,” he said, then gestured for Vahiel to work his magic.
“May I dispatch Mahmet, my King?” Lord Oria asked.
“Oh yes, he doesn’t deserve to return with his Lordship,” Adriel said, then sighed. “Now, I will need to find another lord to replace him. With the Gate closed, it limits me to any lieutenants I have in this world.”
“You made a great choice in Nakai, my Liege. I’m sure your next Lord will be well selected,” Vahiel said. He began to draw a sigil on the floor in what looked to be blood.
Lord Oria made quick work on Mahmet by literally ripping his head from his body with her bare hands. Blood gushed all over the place as she laughed. I shivered in disgust as I looked at the demon with the face of the cutest, little innocent child you could imagine. She looked anything but holding a severed head in his hands like it was a baby doll. I was really seeing why Raphael wanted no part of her, even if he was grateful for her telling him the truth about his son.
“I’m going to have so much more fun playing with you in hell. Oh! I can’t wait! All of my pretty demons need my attention,” Lord Oria said, then she finally released the head and walked over to the sigil Vahiel was completing.
“Soon, Oria,” Vahiel said. Once he was finished, he gestured for her to stand in the middle and she did. Her pretty little dress was covered in enough gore to make Quentin Tarantino have an orgasm. “I’ll miss you.”
She looked up at Vahiel and grinned. “And I will miss you, my dear Vahiel. Do me a favor.”
“What?” Vahiel asked.
“Procreate. Our King needs more than just one Sadake.”
Vahiel groaned.
“I mean it. If you want to make sure he stays protected, do so. Our King may not have demanded it, but as your Regent, I must,” Oria commanded.
Vahiel literally gagged, then swallowed hard. “I take it back, I won’t miss you.”
Oria laughed. “You have my command and it can only be overridden by our king.”
Vahiel looked past her to Adriel. “My Liege, do you agree?”
Adriel laughed and nodded. “Just once, Vahiel, and I will reward you for your trouble.”
The look on Vahiel’s face made me laugh, because I swore he looked like he wanted to cry. “Yes, my Liege.” He looked at Oria. “Let’s get you back to hell, shall we?”
I did laugh at that, because he said it as if he wished he’d sent her back before she could have made the command.
“Yes, indeed,” Oria said, then she laid down on her back inside the sigil.
Vahiel began the ritual, chanting in the demonic ancient language and when he pulled out a nasty looking dagger with a jagged blade, I actually felt sorry for Oria, because it was about to be a painful death. Oria only smiled, she didn’t care. I supposed she wanted to return to hell more than anything. Vahiel ended his chant, then brought the blade down on Oria, piercing her chest. She gasped, her pretty blue eyes wide from the impact. Her tiny back was arched until she died, then her body fell limp. Vahiel removed the blade and said another chant before the sigil surrounding her lit up bright yellow before fading away.
“It is done,” Vahiel said, then he lowered the wards. “You’re all free to leave.”
“Tomorrow, are we still doing damage control, my King?” Andre asked.
Adriel nodded. “There may still be some demons who were loyal to Katashniel out there. I want th
em eliminated. And until order has been restored, we will continue to aid the humans. I have Katashniel’s body as proof that he is dead. We can and will make this work. For now, go rest. You have all honored me and fought well.”
We all thanked Adriel in our own way and I didn’t waste any more time teleporting the hell out of there. Andre was right behind me. “That was some nasty, sick shit,” I said.
He nodded. “I almost vomited watching it. I just want to take a shower.”
“Me too.”
It was the first time we took a shower together and neither one of us wanted to fuck. I was talking limp dick the whole time for us both. I was dead on my feet, like everything had finally come crashing down on me. I hit the bed hard, still wet from the shower, like a ton of bricks. Raphael was already fast asleep and I felt complete when Andre climbed in beside me. Finally, I had both of my mates at my side once more. Katashniel was dead and his army was pretty much decimated. It was a good day.
CHAPTER SIX
Raphael
Six months had passed since our king defeated his brother. It had been a rough road, but we were making headway with the humans toward living together. King Adriel was able to prove Katashniel had been killed and had gone on a tour if you will, to meet other world leaders. Some who were demons themselves. Helping to save humanity had gone a long way. That, and the fact that humans had no idea how to kill all of us made it easier for us to enter negotiations. One thing Katashniel’s attack had proven was how easy it was for demons to destroy humans. So, working toward an end where we could all share this world together was just self-survival on their part.
Adriel had appointed Dane Cassiel as his ambassador, which was smart. Dane knew how to talk to humans, how to put them at ease, and he was very much a part of their world. New laws were being put into place that governed demons and were to be upheld by the Society. As for the Society, it was bigger than it had ever been before. No longer a shadowy organization, it was getting funding from all the governments and had offices located all over the world with each branch having its own Headmaster.
Fate: Limited Released Until April 30, 2020: Episode Three of Season Two Finale (Demon Gate Series Book 12) Page 8
