Chapter Twenty

Behem hunched over, more focused on his expanding mass than the bleeding demon at his feet. Caim gasped like a fish out of water, and I felt the scream build in my throat before I even reached his side.

I skidded across the floor, sliding through Caim’s blood as I grabbed the iron pole in his neck, unsure whether to pull it out or leave it in. I let go as the metal seared my fingers. My hands were unusable, and my eyes swimming with tears.

The building began to shake as Behem rapidly expanded, rubble and concrete dust rained down, and I covered my head, folding over Caim’s body to protect him. He was fading. I could feel it, but I didn’t accept it.

The rebar keened overhead as the Behemoth grew too large for the building, breaking it around him as he continued to grow. Malphas dragged himself through the fog of concrete dust, coughing, wiping the thick paste from his face as he struggled to see. His face fell with his eyes laid on Caim.

Caim flashed one of his signature grins, but his pointed teeth were blood-coated.

“You’re a demon.” I snapped. “Take out the iron bar and heal yourself. You have magic! Use some of it, for fucks sake.”

Caim coughed, the sound wet and sloppy. Blood splattered over my face. “Gotta go, Banshee.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“Claiming.” He rasped, and it was evident that every word hurt him more than he was letting on. “Claim the city, and kick the Behemoth out .”

I thought back to what I had told Caim about the claiming, about how powerful Bean Sídhe’s could become gods of their own domain—could control the air around them—once they had claimed a home. But claiming was not for the fainthearted. To claim somewhere was to bind yourself to the land, to feed it with your magic, and to never be able to leave.

I didn’t want to bind the Red City. I didn’t want to be stuck behind the tall, warded walls with a bunch of horrible demons—demons that had no qualms about eating my kind.

Sídhe were territorial, and when I’d been a child, I’d come to terms with the fact I would never claim my own land. I didn’t even know how to. Not really.

Caim coughed again, but this time, his eyes began to cloud over. His red irises darted from side to side as if he could see something that wasn’t there. “ Pra’y avun’yar tana , Mara .” He moved his mouth, and though I recognized the words as demonic, I could barely hear them.

“What did he say?” I whispered, wiping a tear from my eye.

Caim’s eyes grew dull.

He stopped breathing.

His hand grew limp and fell to the ground.

“Take me home, goddess of death.” Malphas closed his eyes and sat back.

I felt it rising inside of me. The scream.

But it felt different.

“Damn you, Caim.” I snarled. “I don’t want to claim a fucking city .”

I didn’t even know if I could bring him back. It was possible if he belonged to me and the city belonged to me. But Caim was too damned optimistic about my abilities. Too damned optimistic about everything, really.

He didn’t deserve this.

My teeth unlocked, and I let out a scream, feeling the earth shake as death claimed the horned and red-eyed demon.