Chapter Nineteen

“I heard your scream from the courtyard,” Stolas told me when the cell door clanged shut, and Behem slunk away from the dungeon.

I ignored him, rushing to Murmur’s unconscious body. I wasn’t sure if demons even had a pulse, but I still checked. Murmur’s eyelids fluttered, and sweat beaded on his brow.

I’d seen something like this in prison.

Withdrawal symptoms.

I brushed my shaking hands down the front of my shirt and stood up, giving Stolas my back.

I was so angry at him that every inch of my body vibrated with rage.

“Are you hurt?” Stolas whispered.

I gave him a look and raised an eyebrow. “ Fuck your concern .” I signed. “ You sold me out. To that slug !”

Stolas rocked back on his heels, pushing his hand through the hair over his ear. It stuck up as he tugged his fingers free. “What?” His brow furrowed. “I did no such thing, Madeleine Speck.”

I gave him a look.

“I didn’t .” He insisted, adjusting the lapels of his jacket. “Behem is behind the human trafficking in the Red City. Only, as you’re aware, he isn’t just trafficking humans but Sídhe as well, for that drug of his.”

“ That drug of his kills people .” I signed. “ Several women in my prison died from Sugar .”

“I can believe it.” Stolas nodded. “Sídhe magic is potent and doesn’t mix well with iron. An important ingredient in human blood, so I’m told.”

“ How did Behem know I was Sídhe ?” I wondered. “ Aside from the scream. ”

“Explain the scream.” Stolas met my eyes for the first time. He was trying very hard to stay calm.

I sighed and explained as best as I could. The same things I had told the others about the Bean Sídhe aka Banshees—and our patented death scream.

Stolas nodded in understanding.

“ It was disgusting. And I hate that I have to use that word. They were people, and Behem and his gluttons picked them apart like Christmas turkeys .” I closed my eyes and placed my hand over my mouth. My fingers shook.

“I knew about the blood. I didn’t know about that .” Stolas pressed his back to the wall of the cell and slid down until his butt hit the floor next to Murmur’s unconscious body.

“ What about the government? Whoever you’re working with ?” I pleaded. “ Can they come and get us? Can you send them a message? What about Asmodeus? ”

Stolas shook his head. “I might have... Embellished our importance to the case.”

My teeth gritted with anger. “ What ?”

“No one is coming.” He knitted his fingers together and looked at the ceiling. “We’re fucked.” Seeing straight-laced and buttoned-tight Stolas curse was jarring.

We were really trapped.

“ Will Murmur be okay ?” I’d been trying really hard not to look at him. He looked dead. I wished I could help, but I wasn’t a healer.

Stolas winced. “Murmur is injured. Your scream... He was already hurt from Behem’s ministrations before.” Stolas pushed his fingers through his hair again, glancing at Murmur’s still form. “Behem broke something. An arm, a leg, I don’t know. We don’t heal like we used to.”

I couldn’t heal people. It just wasn’t in my power. Not unless I claimed them.

“And the auction? Did you buy me as bait?” I pressed. “You knew I was Sídhe and planned to sell me out?”

Stolas gave me a dark, offended look but didn’t answer my question.

“You should sleep.” He told me. “I’ll keep watch.”

My teeth clattered together, pulling me from a dream into a harsh reality. The temperature had dropped enough to wake me. While I hadn’t given much thought to sleeping on the cold concrete, it seemed that Stolas had taken it upon himself to drape his body over mine like a demonic comforter.

Murmur had rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. His eyes were bleary as his chest rose and fell with short, sharp movements.

My breath fogged in front of my lips, and though the cell hadn’t been warm before, it hadn’t been outright freezing either.

“Behem turned off the heating,” Stolas said dryly, his breath tickling my ear. “I’m not sure who he’s trying to punish.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t comment because I didn’t know the answer either.

The dream still hoovered behind my eyelids, lingering on my mind and refusing to let go. It was the same dream as before. The memory of my mother and the sounds of her being eaten, only this time, I saw her body. Torn up and ravaged.

I’d never seen her body before; my mind clearly didn’t have the imagination to conjure up something that terrible—but now I knew what a half-eaten person looked like; I didn’t need to imagine. My brain supplied the image, only instead of the Sídhe’s pale blue eyes, it was my own green reflected back from my mother’s face. Her dark hair, like mine, was matted with blood, gummy, and stuck to the missing pieces of skin on her face.

“I hate this,” I whispered, my voice rough from disuse.

Stolas jolted, shaking his head to himself. “I knew you could speak, but I wasn’t ready for that .”

I’d forgotten he hadn’t heard my voice before.

“My voice is pretty normal.” I kept the volume just above a whisper.

“It’s rather husky .”

“You mean deep.” I lifted a brow though I knew Stolas couldn’t see. I shivered, unable to contain my reaction to the cold. Stolas shifted, moving more of his body over my exposed shoulder.

“Did Murmur tell you the story of the fall?” Stolas wondered.

“He said you knew Lucifer. Back in the day.” I remarked lightly. “He said you were caught up in the coup and kicked out of heaven.”

Stolas winced. “Murmur always tells the truth, but it doesn’t mean he’s always right.”

“So that whole story about being thrones, and getting caught up in Lucifer’s betrayal, was bullshit?”

Stolas hissed a laugh through his teeth. “You’ve got a mouth on you.”

“I don’t often use it,” I admitted.

Stolas nodded his agreement. “In Heaven, the Summerland, there are many hierarchies. The Seraphim are the top dogs. They interact with Nova directly. They are her chosen favorites. I’m not sure how many there are now, but there were about twelve when we were there.”

I remained silent, waiting for him to continue. It was hard not to fall asleep with his warm body pressed against mine. Though Stolas was slim, he was tall and curved into a cocoon around me.

“Thrones assist the Seraphim.” He continued. “It was why my gifts, and those of Malphas, Caim, and the others, are more academic in nature. We weren’t a destructive force like the Seraphim. We were advisors, planners, teachers. The Seraphim are full of magic, but they are volatile. Nova loved them for their faults, but they had too much of her power inside of them. I worked with Lucifer, not that he listened much to me. More often than not, I was an owl sent to do his bidding. To spy on the other seraphim.”

“An owl?” I quipped. “So, Malphas is the raven. Murmur is the vulture. And Caim is the thrush?”

“The Flock.” Stolas agreed.

“The Flock.” I echoed his words, understanding dawning on me. Christ , I was slow sometimes.

Somehow, the temperature seemed to be dropping by the moment. Stolas’s arms tightened around me, but I began to shake. So... Cold ...

Murmur lay in front of me, with Stolas behind.

I didn’t know how I knew, but I felt him slipping away with each breath. If we didn’t get out soon, Murmur was going to die.

“Maddie?” Caim’s weak voice echoed through the silence. “Stolas? Are you there?”

I woke with a jolt. “Was that—?”

“I heard them, too.” Stolas interrupted, unpeeling himself from my side. He approached the wall, placing a hand on the concrete. “We’re here.” He lifted his voice. “Are you okay?”

“The food is shit.” Malphas joked.

“They didn’t feed us.” Caim pointed out.

“Exactly!” Malphas growled.

I rolled my eyes but had to admit that I was so hungry. It was hard to take my mind off the sensation when my stomach threatened to eat itself.

Stolas shook his head, drawing attention to the feathery tufts of the dark hair sticking out in all directions. He caught my gaze and brushed his fingers against the lapel of his jacket.

He pulled off the jacket and held it out to me. I snatched it, wrapping myself tightly, as I breathed in the warm scent of jasmine.

“Couldn’t you fly out of here?” I suggested. “Your bird forms aren’t as big as Murmur’s, are they?”

Stolas’s cheek twitched. “I’m not leaving you here.”

“Is that Maddie?” Malphas called out.

“Can Caim and Malphas get through the bars in bird form?” I suggested. “There are no windows to the outside, but they could move to our cell.”

Stolas’s lip pinched, and he laughed humorlessly. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Stolas relayed the suggestion to the other demons, and though it was met with silence, a minute passed before two small black birds hopped in front of the bars. One with a large beak and the other with a spotted chest. A raven and a thrush.

I stepped back from the bars as Caim and Malphas came to our cell, hoping through the gap with ease.

I couldn’t stomach the sight of two small birds expanding into the full-sized Caim and Malphas. Their bones twisted, and their flesh stretched and expanded from their dark feathers.

When Malphas stood on two legs, he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around me. He lifted me off my feet and swung me from side to side. I let out a small involuntary squeak.

I patted his back.

“Warm welcome aside,” Caim rocked on his heels. “We really need to get out of here. I heard all that shit Behem was spilling about eating the Sídhe.” His jaw hardened, and he glanced down at Murmur. “Withdrawal symptoms?” He guessed.

“He’s not going to last long.” I felt Murmur’s life force like a loose water hose, thrashing about as it leaked his vitality into the air. “We need to get out of here.”

Malphas pulled back an inch, pressing his hands to my cheeks as he held my eyes. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

“He didn’t hurt you?”

I shook my head.

Malphas breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now would be the perfect time for all of you to pull some forgotten skill or spell out of your sleeves.” I joked. “Because Behem doesn’t seem like the type to stop eating people with just a few stern words.”

“You’ve got that right,” Stolas murmured.

“We could use our magic?” Malphas suggested, stepping back. “What’s left of it, anyway.”

“We’ll die.” Caim protested. “Without our connection to Hell, we won’t heal. Whatever reserves we have left, which isn’t much. We can’t match Behem. I mean... He’s the Behemoth.”

“The Behemoth ?” I echoed in disbelief. “From the bible?”

“The very same.” Stolas nodded. “The land beast of insatiable hunger.”

“If he’s that powerful, shouldn’t he be in Hell?” I spluttered. “As a King or something?”

“Beelzebub has kept a tight rein on Behem until now.” Stolas pointed out. “Asmodeus believes that Beezlebub is making a move on the West Coast. Perhaps he is distracted?”

“Perhaps.” Malphas’s lip curled. “That shit shouldn’t be our problem.”

“So we can’t blast him with your demonic magic.” I sighed.

Malphas gave me a look.

I didn’t like it. “What?”

Malphas shook his head but didn’t answer my question.

Caim stepped forward. “What Malphas is too much of a pussy to suggest is that you use your magic, Banshee.”

“Very funny.” I pulled the jacket tighter around my shoulders. “I can only scream if someone dies.”

“Not that.” Caim waved a hand dismissively. “The claiming.”

Dread filled me.

The door outside the cell opened with a clang.

Behem was back.

There was a strange kind of mindset that I’d inherited from prison that I hadn’t even realized had sunk into my skin and laid eggs.

When I heard the familiar jangle of keys, I tucked my chin against my chest and squared my shoulders as if waiting for inspection.

The cell door slid open, revealing a demon I almost didn’t recognize.

Behem.

I hated that my immediate reaction to a jailor was subservience. Keeping your head down in prison usually meant an easy life, and my body had reacted unknowingly to ten years of habit.

My stomach curdled when Behem grinned, pleased at my display. He was watching me so intently that he didn’t notice the other inhabitants of my cell straight away.

If Behem was bothered by Caim and Malphas’s presence, he didn’t show it.

The spindly demon, walking like a human spider, was the Behemoth . Even I, with my limited biblical education, knew about the Behemoth. He was up there with the Leviathan in terms of monsters.

And he wanted to eat me.

“Does anyone want to tell me why Beezlebub and Asmodeus are on my ass about a bunch of missing nobodies?” Behem snarled.

If he came at me, I would scratch his eyes out. I was going to fight.

The moment my inner voice verbalized the thought, Behem stalked closer, but before I could move—Caim leaped on the demon's back, wrapping his arms and legs around the Gluttony demon like a monkey.

“Run!” He called out, cackling as he clung to the demon. Behem swung his body around, backing into the concrete wall to try and crush Caim.

Murmur was tossed to the side like a ragdoll. Stolas rushed Behem, but he knocked him back like a bad smell.

I didn’t need to be told twice. It was every man for himself, and Caim had less chance of being dinner.

The iron bars turned my stomach, making every inch of my skin burn as I passed through them. I glanced over my shoulder, expecting to find Malphas and Stolas on my heels, but I was alone.

Each of them formed a wall between Behem and my retreating form. There was no magic, just pure force.

Murmur was too far away. I couldn’t drag him. I felt my magic reaching out like a golden thread, sliding off his body, unable to gain purchase.

Behem swung a long skeletal arm, knocking Malphas clean off his feet. Caim punched Behem in the side of the head.

It was painful. Bloody.

Malphas tried to get up, but his arms failed him.

Stolas rushed Behem, but the demon reared back, kicking Stolas right through the bars. The iron bars broke free from the concrete, obscuring the world in a cloud of dust.

I raced to the door at the end of the corridor; it was iron, just like the bars. My hand burned when I touched it. The handle didn’t move. I grabbed my t-shirt and wrapped my blistered palm, tugging the door. Locked.

The other cells were empty.

There was no scream inside of me. No death, despite Behem’s blows.

I couldn’t summon a spark of magic. I couldn’t fight back.

Behem crawled through the gap in the broken bars, his body growing by the minute, filling out like the thick trunk of a walking cedar tree. His body grew rounder, the skin taut with muscle. He was monstrous. His eyes were wild. Drool fell from his mouth as if he couldn’t control himself. Feverish and hungry.

I didn’t know how to kill a demon. It wasn’t something that had ever come up in my education before.

Caim clung to his back through sheer willpower, his legs hanging like a broken doll as Behem crawled closer to me—part demon, part spider, part rampaging animal.

I tried to scream, pouring all the frustration and fear into a single sound, but all that came out was raw and jagged. Not magical.

“I hope you choke on me, you pig!” I shouted, cradling my blistered hands. Anger wasn’t the key to finding the untapped well inside of me. I was inert. The only time I ever felt my magic was in the presence of death.

I met Caim’s red-eyed gaze over Behem’s head. “Pass me an iron bar!” He called out. Behem shook like a wet dog trying to loosen him.

I didn’t care that it would hurt. My hands were blistered and weeping already. Stolas lay on his side, unconscious. Malphas, too, on the other side of the cell. Murmur was buried under a pile of rubble.

I looked down at my feet. One of the iron bars, the concrete remnants of the cell still attached to the end. Holding back a yelp of pain, I grabbed it and threw it towards Behem and Caim. My aim was shit; it hit the gluttony demon in the thigh as he continued to grow in size. His body took up most of the corridor, his head growing larger still. Caim finally let go of the demon's neck, unable to wrap his arms around Behem’s throat as it grew in size. He dropped to the floor, rolling with a flourish. I pressed my bloody hands to my stomach, my back pressed against the vault door.

Behem took a thundering step towards me.

Caim grabbed the iron bar.

Yes . I pumped my fist.

Caim raised the iron bar and thrust the broken edge through his own throat.