18. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Felix

Shaking his head, Silas stops with a huff then turns a frown my way. “I told you, we don’t need that shit.”

“Ok,” I grunt as I let go of the severed leg I’ve been dragging behind me. “I was just trying to cover our asses.” Using the dismembered arm, I point the broken and claw-tipped fingers at him then tap it against the middle of my chest. “ Ours . Yours and mine. You know, since we’re foreigners in this land, enemies at that. Trespassers here in Hell.”

Silas rolls his eyes then glances briefly at Rae before he turns to resume walking over the desert-like terrain without a word.

Huh .

That’s the second or third time I’ve caught a weird exchange between them, and while I have my suspicions, I’m not about to bring them up. Especially since Silas’ first explanation of why I didn’t need to bring the demon thug’s corpse with us after we entered the portal essentially confirms part of them.

I fed from Zia.

I have enough of her blood in my system to neutralize my scent to any demons we come across, Rae said he can’t really smell anymore and what he picked up when we first met was more from the sex than anything else. Hence why he was so pissed.

Since that has seemingly worn off, I was concerned about Silas and I traipsing through Hell unprotected, and I remembered that years ago during the war, a lot of us masked our scents with demon blood.

I was informed that wasn’t necessary now, since I’d actually ingested some not that long ago, but when I asked about my oldest and dearest friend, I was met with a very odd expression on his face while Silas gave me some strange bullshit about secondhand scent masking .

Which is not a thing.

I didn’t question him, though, just tore apart the demon that’d been on the other side of the portal and brought pieces of him with us in case we needed it.

Azrael either decided that was a good time to form an alliance because my brute strength terrified him—ha!—or he had the actual feeling of secondhand embarrassment after Silas’ stupid excuse. Then he asked if I’ve ever dismembered someone with my bare hands before and when I explained it had been a longtime, he gave a real reason and said it was Azizia’s blood.

I quit listening after that because it made me think of what happened the last time I was in Hell, and all the things I did while I was here.

I knew Davina was doing something to the blood I was drinking.

She always made a show of bringing in the live donors, dressing them up, presenting them like some sort of gourmet dish, but the closer we got to war, the fancier things became. Before I knew it, every meal was a huge production, one I began looking forward to in a way that, looking back, could be comparable to a drug addict waiting for their next fix but I didn’t question it. I didn’t question her. I watched through a haze as the barely clothed, hardly coherent men and women were paraded in front of us, played various games with them until their blood was rushing so loudly in my ears I could practically feel their pulse, eventually drank my fill, and went on my merry way.

I knew something was different but I didn’t care enough to ask because I had no reason to, not when I trusted our Queen the way I did.

“You know, you don’t look like most of the vampires I’ve seen.”

Meeting Azrael’s eyes over his shoulder, I arch a brow. “Have you met a lot of us, or is this based on the stark contrast between Silas and me?”

“Killed a lot of you,” he grunts as he faces forward again. “None of them looked like you.”

He should have seen me back then. “Well, I am one of a kind.” I smirk as Silas snorts. We’re both very aware of our differences, and the long list of things that make me different from the others. I wonder what the demon would think of me at my full size with the extra features I end up with when I’m healthy. “Just ask your sister.”

Rae shakes his head. “I plan to. I don’t know what the fuck she sees in you, but that’s not what I mean.”

“I know.”

“So, why do you look like that?”

“Just blessed , I guess.” Which is the only explanation I plan on giving him at this point. The longer I’m down here, the more that’s going to change anyway, so getting into all of that right now is pointless. We can have a nice long chat about it if Azrael is around when my biggest secret comes out.

Despite the fact he’s Zia’s brother, and the weird way Silas seems to be at ease around him, I don’t trust Rae.

Not yet.

I can’t help it. My entire life in Purgatory was spent listening to how everyone from the other realms were terrible, how they were the enemy, and by the time I was old enough to form an opinion of my own, I was so securely under Davina’s thumb—and her skirt—I didn’t bother.

Putting all my confidence in a demon who, by all appearances, is more dangerous than I can probably comprehend and has lived similarly to the way Silas and I did once upon a time isn’t exactly something I’m comfortable with. My guard is up, I’m paying attention, and I’m following what little clues that psychotic little vixen unknowingly left me. But since this route through Hell isn’t one I’m familiar with, I don’t have much of a choice.

Plus, I want Zia back.

Badly.

Because I do trust her, kidnapping aside.

I think Azizia is the only other genuine being to ever enter my life, one who doesn’t give a shit about what I have to offer, what I can do for her, or anything else I’ve been used for in the past. She heard my voice and that was enough to decide I was worth something . That alone makes her mine, but you throw in the way Zia made me feel when we were together, and I need to get that unhinged female back worse than I need my next feeding.

It makes zero fucking sense, but I do, and every time I allow my mind to wander to what she could be going through right now, what she must be feeling… I just need to get her back.

My problems don’t matter, not really. Zia is my biggest concern.

We can deal with my trust issues, Stockholm syndrome, and odd appearance then.

Preferably after I’ve disemboweled her husband, left Hell, and we’ve had a happy little reunion that consists of Azizia bouncing on my cock while I vow to never let anything bad happen to her again.