9. “We are one.”

CHAPTER NINE

"WE ARE ONE."

"Her…true form?"

What does that even mean? Because from the looks of it, she's peeled off her skin and revealed that underneath is nothing but lava and muscle. Fire has become her new skin.

She's like an angel of the apocalypse. A nightmare come to life.

A nightmare that dives for me.

"Shit!" I flap my wings, taking to the skies before she can reach me, but she catches me by the tail and yanks me back.

Her touch burns. I yowl. She wraps her hand around my neck, and it's like I'm being branded.

How is this possible? How is she doing this? Fire is not supposed to affect me. Not since I bonded with the eldritch creature that gave me my wings and tail. Unless…

Unless she's really made of lava.

I'm screwed.

"You pathetic little boy. You think you can have him? You think you can steal my husband?" The voice that comes out is anything but human. It's more like a chorus of screams with the ability to scratch the back of your throat by merely hearing it.

"He…he is my husband…bitch." I struggle in her grasp.

Her strength and the pain she's inflicting are too much to bear.

"No! He'll never be yours. Never!"

It hurts. Everything hurts and burns in equal measure. I know she said she wouldn't kill me, but she's extreme. I don't know what she's capable of anymore.

I use my tail to slice her hand, but all it does is pinch her and burn me. However, it's enough that she releases me, and I take to the skies again. I fly as far and as fast as possible.

I need distance. I need time to think.

This isn't working. I can't touch her. How can I kill her if I can't touch her?

I take my ring off and look back. She's hot on my tail. If I don't do something now I'm toast. Literally.

I cut my other arm, wrist to elbow, and close my eyes.

"Please, eldritch. I need you. I need something strong to defeat her. I need…"

The creature enters me with a gut punch, and I growl as it stretches itself, wearing my body like a costume.

Don't worry, Master. I've got you , it tells me, and I let it take over me.

My skin turns soft and fuzzy, dark like the abyss, like every creature out of eldritch. My nails grow into claws on my hands and feet, resembling tiger or lion paws more than anything. My ears and head change shape and whiskers grow out of my nose.

I turn mid-flight just as Lilith collides with me and wrap my arms around her shoulders, claws digging into her body. She screams, and we dive, freefalling and fighting for control.

I tighten my hold on her. Her lava doesn't hurt so much anymore, but her punches to my chest as she struggles to get free do.

"You mutt, leave me alone. Let me go. You've ruined everything. You ruined everything." Her screams pierce my ears. It's deafening. It's excruciating. Horrible sounds coming from a horrible woman, but the only way I can stop this attack is to hug her. I glue her to me, and she bats her wings, taking us up again before we hit the ground.

"Let me go. Let me go. Go away. He's mine. He's mine, you stupid cunt. Let me go."

She bites my neck, but my skin is nearly impenetrable, so she only hurts herself. I don't know what's wrong with her. I don't know what brought her to this state, but it definitely wasn't me. Anyone who goes so berserk over their ex and their new partner had issues long before that.

"Why are you so obsessed with him? Why would you force a man who doesn't want you to be with you?" I don't even know what the point of talking to her is because she can't hear me. She's completely lost in her rage.

I'm almost sad for her. That a powerful, beautiful woman, a bad bitch like her, could unravel to madness for a man. I mean, I love Lucian more than anything in this world. I love him like the air I breathe and the beat of my own heart, but I would never turn into this if he left me. I was somebody before I met him. I would still be someone after him. If that were to happen. I know it won't, but still.

I don't know what happened to her in the past two hundred years, but it can't have been good. And try as she may to blame me for her problems, neither Lucian nor I are at fault here.

"Because he's mine. He's mine. He promised he'd be mine forever and ever. Not yours. Mine!"

"You promised him the same thing but betrayed that trust. You don't deserve him."

She cackles and screams, and it's like the sky is raining glass.

"And you think you do? You're nothing. Just a pathetic little witch with a pathetic mutt power. You're an abomination. You don't belong to him. You've no place beside him."

Admittedly, I had no idea why she continued to call me a mutt. Despite Lucian, I don't understand demons well enough to know whether it had to do with my race, my sexuality, or something else.

I guess now I have my answer.

She thinks my power is impure.

"Well, this abomination ruined your wedding, so I can't be that bad."

She doesn't like that. She doesn't like that at all. Her brow arches, a tangle of nerves, muscle, and lava furrows, and she opens her mouth. The heat of her body rises, and the smoke she emits makes everything around her shimmer.

She's getting hotter. Hotter than even my monster can handle. I need to stop her before it's too late. I need to put an end to this.

I try stabbing her with the pointy end of my tail, but it stings before it even touches her. My tail isn't made of the same stuff as this ursine eldritch who's possessed me.

Shit.

What now?

Master, allow me to bond with you. If we bond, we'll become one, and you'll be able to use your tail as if it were mine, as if it were made of the same stuff.

I shake my head.

" I can't let you do that. I can't ask that of you ."

But, Master, it will be the greatest honor for me to bond with you. That's all we eldritch want in life. To bond with a Master. To lend ourselves to their aid. To be of service.

Crap.

This again. Mom had no problem bonding with them, but it doesn't sit well with me. Not anymore. Not after everything I've been through.

" If I let you bond with me, you will become me. You'll lose your independence ."

Just like it happened with my other bonded creature.

No, Master. We will become one. My thoughts will be yours and vice versa. Please, allow me the honor. But be quick. We don't have much time before she becomes too hot even for me.

I close my eyes in the storm of her screams and take a deep breath.

" Okay . Do it. Bond with me ."

A wave ripples through me, like new life breathing into me and filling my lungs with more air, my muscles with more strength, my body with more heat.

" We are one. " I swing my tail back in front of me.

I don't have time to test the theory. I just stab Lilith in the heart and watch as my sharp tail goes right through her.

Her screams come to a sharp stop. Her limbs relax around me and her wings stop beating. I put my hand on the small of her back and hold her before she falls.

I fly us down to Lucian, who collapses to his knees when I lay her down between us.

Of all the people who've stood between us, for some reason, this one hurts the most. She may be unhinged, delusional, but…she did it all for love.

"I'm sorry," I say. I'm not sure to whom. Lucian or Lilith.

Lucian cups my cheek and swallows.

"My love," he says. "She wouldn't have stopped. Once we shed our disguise, once we reveal our true form, all reason abandons us."

I blink.

"You…you mean this is not your true form?"

Lucian shakes his head.

Wow. Just when I think I know everything about him, I discover something new.

He drops his hand to his ex-wife, to that bare flesh and the lava that has turned to ash and stone.

"Oh, Lilith, you stupid woman."

He looks at her with a hardened expression, the only sign of grief hiding in his dark eyes.

I know he said he hasn't loved her for centuries, but it can't be easy seeing someone you used to love perish in madness.

"I wish…I wish there was something we could do. Like, give her another chance."

Lucian looks up at me and purses his lips.

"There isn't, darling boy. Lilith chose this. She let this happen to her. There are no second chances for demons."

I nod, but I'm still sad. Of all the lives I've taken, this is the only one I regret.

"Come on, Yu-jin. Let's go home." He lets go of Lilith and lifts his hands.

I crush the chains in my hands in my big hands, and when he's free, he grabs my face.

"You're so…big," he says, having to move his entire head to look at all of my face.

"Oh. Sorry." I exhale and draw back both monsters, revealing my own true form once again.

"Don't apologize, my darling boy. You're beautiful in any way, shape, or form." He caresses my cheek, and this time, it hurts. "Those hell-vespers did a number on you, didn't they?"

I nod even though I have no idea what hell-vespers are. I don't care. I don't care about anything anymore. All I care about is him. All I care about is that I'm back with him and we've defeated yet another nightmare.

Lucian brushes his fingers over my bare skin, over every bump, scratch, and gushing wound, and I hold back my hisses because it's him. He's touching me. He's holding me.

"You were stunning, my boy. I've never been prouder and more in love with you," he says and pins me to his body, claiming my lips.

Dear Goddess, I almost forgot what he tasted like. I almost forgot this sweet smokiness that can soothe everything inside and out.

I melt into his arms. The more he kisses me, the weaker I get. The adrenaline rushes out of me until I'm left numb and naked in his embrace.

"Let's get you home, my Yu-jin." He soars up to the sky that has turned blood red, three moons spreading their sanguine light over the sand dunes of hell.

I wrap my hand around his neck, nuzzle his soft and warm suit jacket that smells as wonderful as he tastes, and close my eyes.

"I already am home, my soulmate."