Chapter Seven

Malphas POV

Malphas, once second in command to the Devil himself, sat on his perch and cleaned his feathers with his beak as the others argued about Maddie—the human being that had fallen in their laps like a boon and a burden at once.

They’d spoken of it for months. Of finding a companion.

They couldn’t choose a demon. The Flock had little to no standing amongst the Pureblooded demons, not anymore. They had no court, no duties, and belonged to no circle.

Once part of the Ars Goetia, a caste of demons known for their grand wisdom—now without their immortality. Patiently waiting for their magic to die with them.

Malphas and the others were no strangers to human and female company. But humans typically wanted to become daemons, and that kind of magic was off the table.

It seemed Stolas had found a way to bring a female into their lives and ensure she wouldn’t leave them once she learned their secrets.

Though Malphas had been trapped in stone, as he stared at his three friends, his mind had been as active as ever. A torture the likes of which he would kill to avoid a second time.

When the stone around his body began to break down, and he was finally free, his wings burst free before he flew far and fast from the Devil’s icy palace in the First Circle. But no matter how far he traveled and how much he searched, he could not fill the gaping hole left inside of him by the loss of his connection to Hell.

He knew the others felt the same.

Without a connection to Hell, there would be no soul-bond or fated mate.

Malphas had once been a powerful ruler, able to twist an enemy army to turn on their commander simply by calling out a single word. He could compel a man to kill his wife and child or spell a paralyzed man to build him a house brick by brick.

But all of that was gone.

Malphas was not like Caim, Stolas, or even Murmur.

Caim and Stolas were intellectuals. They collected vast amounts of knowledge and were summed by humans desperate for wisdom and riches. Murmur knew the truth of all. He only had to hear a word to see a person. A blessing and a curse.

Malphas was summoned to lay waste to masses, but that had been rare. His demonic name had been a whispered secret amongst ancient rulers.

Stolas had proposed to join together and come to the Human Realities, where his lack of magic would not feel like a raw and throbbing wound.

So he had.

But it hadn’t been enough.

Then, they made the deal with Asmodeus.

When Malphas and the others had come to the Red City, it had been challenging to adjust to the lack of respect. Too much time had passed, encased in stone. The demons no longer feared him, and he didn’t have the power to set them to rights.

Malphas hated feeling weak, and he hated lacking purpose.

Asmodeus had given them a purpose. To find the missing humans. To find the source of the power imbalance on the West Coast.

The Red City, in the shadow of the Le-cheile forest, wasn’t home. Not really. They couldn’t even live in the demonic part of the city. No longer worthy of the title.

It had been five years, and they were no closer to their goal, but Stolas had surprised all of them by choosing her as a companion. A weak, mute, human,

Still, he couldn’t help but admit he liked her... Just a little bit.