“I’d do as the lady says, brother!” Kyle shouted back. “And maybe you’ll get your wish soon enough.”
Dekaias’s amused chuckle filled the air. “Spoken like a true son of Ra’al. Alas, it now falls to me to restore the balance of power, now, does it not, Serjana?”
“I will not ask again, Dekaias. Release the boy,” Sera gritted.
“That I cannot do until my father arrives,” the Demon Lord returned unperturbed. “It won’t be too long now.”
The other demons crowded even closer. Most of them had been beautiful at one time, but now stood with bare remnants of their perfect faces and pieces of their bodies dismembered or left rotting.
A creature with gossamer wings and black thorns sticking out of her head lurched toward Sera, and Kyle reacted automatically, swinging Mordas across the front of the demon.
It screeched horribly as ichor poured from its severed head as it collapsed. Ten others leapt forward to eat what was left, ripping its carcass to bloody shreds. Their mouths were ringed with blood and venom, and suddenly they were all rolling forward in a giant unstoppable wave toward them.
“Protect Sera no matter the cost!” Dev screamed, hacking at the approaching demons.
Kyle watched and then turned away as Sera flared into fiery response, the hellfyre surrounding her in a blaze as her weapons spun with immortal speed. She wasn’t Sera anymore; she was fury and flame embodied.
They cut through the first and second waves of demons easily. Mordas took its sacrifices hungrily and, strangely enough, with each kill Kyle felt himself growing stronger. The heat was a volcano within him now.
A boyish scream rose above the sounds of the battle. “He’s so sweet. I don’t know how much longer I can hold myself back,” Dekaias taunted. Sera’s face tightened and she turned toward the stone circle.
“Sera, no,” Dev cautioned. “He’s doing this on purpose. We need to stick together!”
But Sera seemed to have lost whatever hold she had on her sanity. Her hellfyre blazed brighter, expanding from her body in an incandescent circle, annihilating any demon it touched as she spun closer to the stones.
“Kyle. Don’t let her get near him. Something’s wrong. I can feel it,” Dev screamed as he sprinted toward Sera. Kyle dove at the same time, his body crashing into Sera’s.
The pain was unimaginable. He heard someone screaming as if from afar and realized that it was his own voice as her flames sliced into him, welts of charred skin bubbling up on his arms and back. He fell to the ground, his face frozen in a scream that wouldn’t end. It was his voice that made Sera stop at the very second Dev slammed into her from the other side, away from Kyle.
The flames engulfed them both.
“Sera! Listen to me,” Dev said, grasping her shoulders.
She wrenched away, staring past the stones in front of her where Nate lay just beyond her reach. “Try to stop me again, and I will hurt you, Dev,” she said. “I need to save Nate before—”
“Your weapons cannot hurt me, Serjana,” Dev said quietly. “Even in mortal form. You cannot hurt those you love.” Kyle heard the words and felt like she’d slashed him again, this time from the inside and right to his heart.
She’d been able to hurt him.
“Just let me go, Dev. I know what I’m doing,” Sera said.
“No, you don’t know anything, Sera. Don’t you get it yet? They want you in there. Those stones are guarded by ancient demon magic. That’s why Dekaias won’t come out here. It’s all a trap.”
“I’m Sita … Lakshmi—”
Dev’s thumb slid across her face, soothing her. “Yes, but you’re Serjana now. There are things they could have done that you can’t yet, just like there are things you can do that they never could. There’s too much at risk to let you go in there alone. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?” She nodded in silence. “We’ll get Nate another way.”
Just as he said the last words, the sound of soft sobbing reached them. “Sera, please help me,” Nate’s voice cried. “I’m … bleeding. You’re my sister. Don’t leave me. Please. You promised!”
And before Dev or Kyle stop her, Sera snaked out of Dev’s grasp toward the sound of her brother’s voice, sliding through one of the gaps in the stones, and disappeared.
“I’m sor—” Her words were cut off as the air shimmered around where she’d entered.
In the next second, everything around them vanished—the dead demons, the live demons, everything. Everything, that is, except for the two of them and the barren wasteland where they now sat.
“What the hell?” Kyle gasped. “Where’d she go?”
“Exactly where I told her not to,” Dev said grimly. “She’s a lot more headstrong than I remember.”
“Headstrong puts it mildly,” Kyle muttered. “She jumps first and thinks later.” They shared a strange, if awkward moment, before Kyle fell back onto his elbows, breathing hard. “What do we do now?”
“Not entirely sure.” Dev stooped beside him and eyed the blackened scars along Kyle’s arms. They were healing, but slowly. Dev stared at him. “You know if you were mortal, you would have died, right? Just like if you were full demon, you probably would have died.”
“It burned like nothing I’ve ever felt.” Kyle refrained from voicing what had torn his heart into tiny unrecognizable pieces. She’d been able to hurt him even though she shouldn’t be able to hurt those she loved.
Dev stared at him again, his eyes like twin gold lasers. “You know why she was able to hurt you, right?” Kyle shook his head and stared at the rocky ground. Sera’s choice, even if she hadn’t known it, was clear.
“It’s the sword,” he said, indicating the black blade at Kyle’s side. “Every time you use that thing, every time it kills, it transfers that into you. You change a little more each time, and in the state that she was in, she couldn’t protect you. The hellfyre only understood the presence of the sword and its master.”
“Why are you telling me this, Dev? You could have let me believe that she didn’t love me. Things would have been much easier for you.”
Dev smiled. “Because it’s not the truth. And why would I hurt you when it’s clear that she does love you? What she feels for you doesn’t change what exists between me and Sera. That existed far before your time and will endure long after it. Even if she loves another, I bear that person no ill will because I love her. And love is infinite, is it not?”
“Now you definitely sound like one of the Trimurtas,” Kyle said wryly. “You’re probably the only person who’d allow someone you love to love someone else just for the sake of love.”
Dev shook his head, a sad look darkening his face. “I didn’t always. I punished her for a crime she never committed. And I lost her. It was a hard lesson, one that I do not wish to repeat.” He held an arm out. “Come on.” Dev pulled him to his feet.
“I have an idea,” Kyle said, weighing his thoughts. “Micah told me once about recreating portals. I did it once with a portal that was meant for me, and I know that this one isn’t really a portal but maybe because I’m Ra’al’s son, I could recreate where she went through.” He faltered. “I mean, I can at least try.”
“Are you sure? We have no idea what those demon wards will do to you. You’re still part Azura.”
“I’m sure.” Kyle glanced at Mordas’s hilt still resting in his left hand. “And I’m a lot more demon than I was when I first got here. At least my becoming more like them may be good for something, if only it means saving her. That’s an easy choice in any realm.”
Kyle ignored Dev’s look as he took one of the silver daggers and cut into his index finger, moving to the exact spot where Sera had disappeared. He held his hand up and felt the wards take hold of his demon blood offering. The portal reappeared, guiding his fingers until it was complete. The runes glowed like red embers suspended in midair.
Kyle stumbled backward, breathing hard from the effort. Everything inside of him felt hot and powerful
. His shoulder ached and he rubbed it without thinking. Black stars exploded in his vision and ribbons of pain snaked into his head, his heart, everywhere. He clutched his shoulder, feeling something evil invading his system like a poison. He thought about the maggots—it was poison. Ra’al’s poison.
“What’s wrong?” Dev asked.
“Ra’al’s spear, shoulder,” Kyle said. “Burns like the devil.” He didn’t mention the maggots. “I’ll be OK, give me a sec.” Kyle forced deep breaths into his lungs. He glanced at Dev and was shocked by the evil rage howling inside of him—Ra’al’s rage. Kyle knew he didn’t have much time. He could feel it infecting him, changing him, forcing him to bend to his legacy.
“Ready?” he growled to Dev.
“Yes.” The single word was spoken without hesitation as Dev held out his hand. Their eyes met, and Kyle felt a violent splitting feeling take hold of him once more—the visceral surge of his demon nature. He’d never wanted to kill someone more, to squash the very life out of him until he was nothing but dust. He dragged his eyes away.
With Dev out of the picture, everything would be so easy. His father’s plan was faultless. He saw that now.
Take your place, Ra’al’s poison hissed in his head. He is mortal. Weak. Don’t be foolish, boy. Everything you want is in your grasp. Take it. Assume your crown.
Kyle grabbed hold of Dev’s arm, his eyes rolling back in his head. His fingers were not gentle, instead digging into Dev’s mortal flesh like putty. Savage hunger spiraled inside him like a tornado, eclipsing the boy he’d been. His eyes burned red, the monster writhing, celebrating his awakening.
The birth of a king.
He stepped forward and plunged through the portal.
THE PRIZE
The smell of decay was pungent and burned through Sera’s senses like wildfire. Her eyes smarted, and she retched. She couldn’t see a thing and called the hellfyre to her fingertips. Its glow was muted—red flame in a red room. There was a spear of light toward the far end of the room, and she walked toward it. The surface beneath her feet felt wet and spongy. Something sharp slid against her ankle, and snatches of a dream she once had filled her mind.
No, she told herself. Don’t look down.
Something licked the base of her calf and her eyes automatically looked at her leg. She saw that she was walking on what looked like people’s faces. She could see mutilated eyeballs glaring at her and tongues snaking out to lick her ankles. Sera shut her eyes tight, the fear suffocating.
It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real.
This was Xibalba. It would take everything she was afraid of and turn it against her. She thought about Nate laying in the arms of that lecherous monster and steeled herself. Sera strode on, ignoring the bites and wet caresses against her skin. She didn’t want to think that her mother had been right all along—that what she’d dreamed were actually premonitions.
Sudden movement stole her attention, and she squinted into the red haze. She knew it was Dekaias even before he spoke, his boy-like figure shrouded in darkness.
“Welcome, Serjana,” he said throatily. “I have been waiting for you.”
Sera’s breath escaped her as he moved into the light. The mask he’d worn earlier was now gone. His features came into focus, and Sera felt her bottom jaw fall.
He was the spitting image of Kyle.
Dekaias gave her a satisfied smirk. “I see you didn’t know there was a family resemblance.”
“You’re twins?” Sera said dumbly.
“Separated at birth, as the mortals say, only just not as neatly. It was quite a bit more … bloody.” He grinned again. “You think Kalias knows?” he asked gleefully, clapping his hands. “I cannot wait to see his face. You should have seen yours! Priceless.” He waved his hand indicating the room in which they stood. “Do you like my welcoming room? I built it in your honor.” The floor undulated with a collective sigh, and his smiled widened. “They like you. They say you taste like spun sugar.”
“Everything about you disgusts me,” Sera snapped as several tongues snaked along her feet. She fought the urge to vomit. “Where’s my brother?”
Dekaias shook his finger, stepping close enough that she could see the green writhing snakes on his head—like Medusa’s—exactly as she’d read from Nate’s research. “Now, now. Let’s not forget our manners. You know the rules here. After all, you made sure that we were in place to keep them enforced.” He laughed. “Of course, I mean your old self, not you, darling Serjana. A trifling thing, really.” He turned. “Come along. Father is waiting.”
Sera felt her arms clench at her side. She wouldn’t do anything to endanger Nate, and Dekaias knew it. She followed him, grinding her heel into every sickening face she could. They entered another room, this one plain but for a gigantic oval mirror with an ornate frame at one end. A single person occupied the table near the mirror.
“You know Lord Azrath, of course,” Dekaias said with a sly smile.
Sera stared at her uncle, her distaste visible. His face was so like her father’s that she hesitated momentarily until she realized that, like Ra’al, he could shift forms. He held a goblet in one pale white hand. “You look beautiful, Sera. That was quite a secret your mother and father managed to keep from me, but no matter. Everything is in place now. Still, I admit it would have been far easier—and far less painful—with you in the mix earlier.”
“I never would have helped you,” she spat.
“You mean just as you won’t now?” he said smoothly. “Not even to save your dear brother.”
“If you’ve hurt Nate—”
“Now, now. You know what they say about anger, don’t you? It’s the path to the Dark Realms.” He shrugged an elegant shoulder. “No matter, everything is prepared. We just need to make sure that one little detail is taken care of, the tiny matter of the Trimurtas Lord you stole from me.” Azrath’s eyes glittered. “Let’s make a trade, shall we? My young nephew for Lord Devendra? What do you say?”
“I don’t know where he is,” she said. Dekaias moved from behind her to sit indolently at the table. His face, so much like Kyle’s, was also ugly with spite. A sour smell followed in his wake, but Sera ignored him, keeping her eyes focused on Azrath.
“Of course you don’t.” Azrath laughed. He drained the contents of his glass and stared thoughtfully for a second at the empty vessel. “Your mother really had me fooled thinking you were mortal.” He advanced toward her. “Dev’s with your other little friend, I bet. You probably were very surprised to learn about that one, weren’t you? The son of Ra’al? A prince of Xibalba.”
“Where’s my brother?” Sera repeated.
“How does it feel to love the son of the worst Demon Lord in Xibalba? Maybe a little root of fear or of doubt has taken seed and you’re not quite sure you can trust him with your or your brother’s life.” He stared at her slyly. “And then, of course, there’s the matter of your other paramour. How do you think the son of Ra’al will handle that one now that you’re out of the picture?”
Sera’s lips pursed in a thin white line as Dekaias chimed in loudly from where he was sitting. “Maybe a sudden kick near a bottomless crevice? Or how about that sword of his? A mortal body wouldn’t stand a chance against Mordas. I put my money on Kalias. It’s what I’d do.”
“Kyle would never do anything to hurt anyone. He’s nothing like you,” Sera hissed, but she wasn’t so sure. She trusted the Kyle she once knew, but she didn’t trust what this place seemed to do to him.
Dekaias sauntered toward them. Sera had to blink as Kyle’s face swam in her vision. She knew that Kyle was nothing like his father, or his brother, but it still rattled her. “What about the Yoddha? Did he tell you about her?” Dekaias taunted. Sera felt her heart drop to her toes at his saccharine words. She took a step back. “Did he tell you about holding her down while they razed her deifyre from her body? With that same sword he now carries?” Sera took another step back. Dekaias’s words were like bull
ets tearing into her already fragile trust. “Did you know that he enjoyed the sounds of her screaming as her deifyre died? Or that when he slid Mordas home between her ribs, he relished how it felt to kill her?”
“No, you’re lying,” she whispered. “You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” His face was convincing, but Sera believed it had to be a ruse. It had to be.
Images of Kyle wielding the black sword as if it was a second arm flashed through her head: Kyle wrenching her arm up behind her back; Kyle’s voice saying that he’d killed …
The recollection struck Sera with the force of a crashing blow. He’d been about to say Daeva when he said people instead. Sera felt herself crumble inside. How could she have been so blind? So trusting.
“You see?” Dekaias whispered gently.
“I’ll kill you!” Sera screamed, her fingers reaching toward him. Dekaias’s face had suddenly become too much to bear. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to kill Kyle or Dekaias at that moment. Flames engulfed her as the hellfyre came in a hot rush, beating around her with furious power. Her twin swords sprung from her fingertips. She’d never felt such all-consuming hate in her entire life.
A look of alarm crossed Dekaias’s face before Azrath stepped between them. She turned scorching eyes at him. He wagged his index finger.
“Remember your brother, Sera. Let’s not act hastily. Remember, Nate, your brother,” he said more forcefully. “Dekaias is not to blame for Kalias’s deceit. Don’t forget, my dear child, that it is in a demon’s nature to lie.”
“I’m not your dear anything, Azrath,” Sera snapped. “You are nothing to me. I tire of this game. Where is my brother? Tell me, or all of you be damned.”
“We already are, Sera,” Azrath said quietly, almost sadly. Sera was momentarily stunned at this glimmer of true emotion she’d seen from her uncle. He moved forward, close enough to run a hand against the outer strands of hair that had escaped her braid. “Don’t you see what this is about, my darling?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Damned,” he continued. “Do you have any idea what that is like? To live in exile? To deal with demons, lower than filth? To never see the Light Realms … Illysia?”
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