36. Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Six

Belial

Of all the demon lords I’d slain to rescue my human, Belphegor’s death would be the most satisfying. “Your head is going to make the perfect centerpiece for my little collection here.” I gestured to the oar clutched tightly in my grip.

The demon Lord of Gluttony slowly rose from the bed, grinning like a maniac with my stolen face.

“Can’t you wait for me to shift first?” Belphegor’s velvety drawl in my own cadence had me baring my teeth. “Then again, I’ve heard whispers about how twisted your appetites are. You hole up in that castle of yours, acting like you're better than us, but you’re just as sick and depraved. Maybe you want to cut off your own head and add it to the family there, since you’ve always belonged with us.”

He’d have to try harder than that if he wanted his taunts to have any effect on me. “I don’t care what shape you take. Once I get my hands around your throat, I’m tearing your head off. Keep my shape for all I fucking care. I’m still mounting it to my queen’s new throne once we get home.”

Knowing Rayven, she’d probably like having my head as the centerpiece of the throne I’d build her next to mine. Maybe after this was all over, I’d cut off my own too.

I deserved it after everything I’d done. I would never apologize for kidnapping her or tricking her into giving me her soul, but I’d spend the rest of eternity begging for her forgiveness for lying to her. On top of that, I’d allowed her to be dragged through the bowels of Hell.

Seeing her lying in Belphegor’s bed, absolute fear and disgust etching her features with the shapeshifter looming over her— in my likeness— had rage and guilt ripping through me in equal measures.

And Catherine. Oh, Gods. Catherine . Seeing her face again did nothing but stir up painful memories. There was a reason why I’d laid her body to rest in her family tomb, but I’d been a selfish bastard and held on to her soul. For what?

I could have made her a book in the Library of Souls with all her favorite memories…the ones without me in them. I could have put her soul to rest within the pages Cecil would carefully attend for the rest of eternity.

But no, I’d been too bitter to give her that.

Now, it appeared as though Belphegor had managed to extract her soul from the dagger and use her to torture Rayven.

“What have you done to them?”

I could barely keep my voice straight. Rage ate at me like a wildfire, consuming everything. Any detail of this fucked up scene I’d walked into was enough for me to tear down this entire realm with my bare claws. The bruises on Catherine’s body. The way Rayven was manacled to the bed, naked and shivering. The wet sheen covering Belphegor’s poorly crafted emulation of my cock.

He’d raped at least one of them.

I stormed further into the room, eyes frantically scanning Rayven’s body for any signs of abuse. Since her soul was in my possession, I could feel her pain, but maybe it was just emotional torment—Belphegor’s specialty—I felt bleeding through the bond.

My eyes frantically scanned Rayven’s body, looking for bruises. Handprints. The telltale sheen of cum. I lurched toward the bed, and Belphegor immediately scrambled back onto the mattress, crouching over Rayven.

Something primal and ancient clawed at me, and I roared at the other demon in warning. The shapeshifter only snickered as he gripped Catherine’s dagger and brought it to Rayven’s throat.

“One more step, and you get to see me slit her throat.” He pursed my scarred lips in mock contemplation. “Hmm. You know what? Now that you’re here, we can make this much more interesting.”

His form shifted, my familiar features melting away as he shifted and contorted into a larger shape. His shoulders broadened, two extra heads sprouting from them. A few seconds later, I was staring at Asmodeus’ likeness—at least, what he’d looked like before I charred him to a crisp.

“I can slit her throat and fuck the hole, maybe hear what pretty gurgling sounds she makes,” Asmodeus’ annoying ass voice teased.

I snarled at him, the flames in my eyes leaping high, and he laughed, donning a cocky smile I knew well. “No? Too kinky for you? Alright, Lord of Bones…”

Belphegor’s shape was changing again, taking on a new form. My faint pulse—the one I barely remembered I had—slammed against my sternum as I watched the Lord of Gluttony take on the perfect likeness of my human.

He had the same long, black hair, the same doe eyes. He even had the same plush, fuckable lips. The same piercings decorated her body—a loop through her septum and the little bars of metal adorning her nipples, only in place of the silver barbells, they were bronze—Belphegor’s metal.

“What about this?” He stretched over Rayven with feline finesse, a dastardly smile bowing those lips that had haunted every part of my mind for the last week. “Does this make your dick hard, brother?”

He arched his spine, his tits pressing against Rayven’s while he stooped to kiss her lips.

She bit his lower lip, drawing blood. It dripped down his chin—her chin—and peppered her sneering face. “Fuck you.”

“That’s exactly what we were going to do before we were interrupted, little rat. But maybe your Lord would like to join in.”

He turned his body, exposing his version of Rayven’s pussy to me. I didn’t like how similar they were. That meant he’d gotten close enough to get the details down.

The disturbed ways I imagined killing him would make a medieval torture master blush.

My mind spun as I ran through all the ways I could kill him, but each one of them risked him slitting her throat. I could bring her back to life, but the magic was tricky and painful.

I didn’t want her to hurt more than she already had. Not like this.

“What do you want from me, Belphegor?”

The demon’s eyes lit up. Thinking he’d already won, he sat up on Rayven’s tummy, thighs clamped around her waist, and gave an excited little wiggle. Seeing the body I craved straddling the woman I loved was doing strange things to me.

That was exactly what the bastard intended, though, so I kept my attention focused on Rayven’s real face. She was looking at me, tears filling her angry glare. “Don’t give him shit, Belial. He’s just going to trick you.”

“It’s all right, grave treasure. Everything is going to be all right.” My attention dropped to Catherine’s body on the ground. She’d gone completely still, undoubtedly unconscious, but I added on a “both of you” just in case she could hear me.

“Grave treasure?” Belphegor sneered at the nickname for my human. “More like tomb rat. But I suppose I can see your obsession with her. Her screams are delicious.”

“Tell me what the fuck you want,” I repeated on a growl, even though I already knew the answer. If I kept him talking, I bought time until I could get him away from Rayven and kill him.

“I want you to give me the other hells.” His attention went straight to my oar. “Now that they’re without rulership.”

He licked his grinning lips, and his tongue snaked out to fiddle with the ring looped through his nose. “And we’ll seal the deal with a fuck. Then, you can take her and your old pet back to Limbo. I’ll even stay like this if it pleases you, Lord.”

If it pleases me. “The only thing that would please me is seeing your head on my fucking oar, Belphegor.”

He flashed me a smile that was all teeth. “Kinky.”

“Fine. Whatever you want,” I gnashed out through gritted teeth, not meaning a damn word of it. “But you’ll need to unchain her.”

Rayven’s eyes shot wide, and she opened her mouth to protest, but Belphegor’s hand slapped over her lips, muffling her protests. “I’m not going to unchain your slut until we’re done.”

I growled again in disapproval. The sound affected both versions of Rayven, goosebumps covering both sets of their breasts. “Then we don’t have a deal.”

My hand dropped to grip the semi-hard mass between my legs. I wasn’t proud that I was getting hard, seeing as I got no pleasure seeing Catherine and Rayven in pain like this. But if Belphegor excelled at anything, it was the art of the mindfuck. Even though I knew it was him, he still had the appearance of my naked pet.

“If I’m going to fuck you, it’s not going to be on top of her,” I pressed. “Get her out of the goddamn bed, or you can kiss control of the other realms goodbye. Imagine what everyone will say when they find out you gave up the other circles because you couldn’t give up control over one tiny fucking thing.”

“Fine. Put that one over there.” He gestured to Catherine with a nod and pointed to a sofa piled high in lavish pillows.

“But this one—” He patted Rayven’s cheek, hard enough to make me bristle. “This one goes back on the cross. You can untie her when we’re done, but she’s going to watch us in the meantime.”