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Chapter 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

Blood thundered in my ears, and the feeling of sweat slinked down my nape even though I wasn't in my body. Cracks spiderwebbed across my heart as rage pulsated from Fane, and the urge to rip me to pieces overwhelmed everything in him.

This couldn't be happening.

A slow smile twisted Venna's mouth. "This is marvelous, Kaspin. The spell won't break in her presence?"

"No, princess," Kaspin assured. "He's now loyal to you."

The door crashed open, and Wrath—back in his Demarcus glamour—marched into the room, his lips thinning at the scene. "What the hell is going on in my prison?"

Venna sauntered to a table, grabbing a bottle of wine. "Relax, Demarcus. I'm just taking what's owed me." She clearly didn't know who he really was.

Wrath moved too fast to track, snatched the bottle out of Venna's hand before she could open it, and threw it against the wall. Red wine exploded across the grimy stone. "You're done here. "

"That's fine." She shrugged, unaffected by his outburst. "Now that Tate is no longer here and I have Fane to lure her, I don't need to return."

The high demon's black gaze ran over Fane, his nostrils flaring. "What did you do to him?"

Mykel's laughter bounced around the torture room. "Just a little spell."

Wrath started for Fane, but Venna stepped in his path.

"Fane is my prisoner. Not yours. I brought him and Tate here, and I have the authority to take them when I want." Her brows dipped before smoothing out. "I wonder how they managed to escape in the first place."

The veins in Wrath's neck pulsed, and his skin paled as the demon rose toward the surface. "They're more resourceful than you thought."

Venna studied him for several long moments as tension thickened the air. "Your debt has been paid, Demarcus. Hopefully, we'll never need to see each other again."

"Don't return to my prison, Venna, or you'll be thrown in a cell. You and I are done." He marched out, slamming the door behind him, rattling the torture instruments on the walls.

The demon princess strolled to Fane who still kneeled on the ground, dazed. "You're going to do what you do best, Fane." She gripped his chin and forced him to look at her. "You're going to hunt Tatum Teague down."

Violet bolts streaked through his irises. "I'll find her. And she will suffer for killing Warin."

Icicles crystallized in my bloodstream, and the room spun. Venna had wiped out everything we'd gone through and reminded Fane of his revenge quest. He didn't remember his feelings for me or our bond .

Would he really kill me?

The dangerous, wild look in his eyes made the answer perfectly clear.

Fane Maverick would kill me. And he'd enjoy it…

My eyelids opened, and I was back in the cave in my body. I bolted into a sitting position, startling Ruin who stretched out near me.

"What's wrong?" The firelight cast shadows across his worried expression. "Was it a nightmare?"

The worst fucking nightmare imaginable. "Venna put a spell on Fane."

Logan slipped off the rock he was sitting on and kneeled in front of me. "What are you talking about?"

All the moisture vanished from my mouth as I attempted to speak through the lump growing in my throat. "He's going to kill me."

I walked under another low-lying tree branch while Ruin and Logan had to duck under. "Why can't we just find Fane and capture him? We can take him back to Savannah and break the spell."

Logan scoffed. "Oh we'll just capture Fane. Why didn't I think of that?" He smacked his forehead, sarcasm dripping from his words. "How hard could that be?"

"You're both high demons—one of you is a lord—and we have Nadia, a powerful witch. Nik is also a super strong, badass dux demon." I flicked my hand around the heavily forested woods where Nadia and Nik walked ahead. I was beginning to think they had something going on. They were always together. "We can grab one hybrid."

"You know exactly the kind of creature Fane is." Logan pulled a vine out of our way. "And under a spell, he's a wild card. We can't risk trying to detain him in that state. He could kill any one of us, including you."

"Our best course of action is to return to Savannah." Ruin pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned as I opened my mouth to protest. "From there, we can find a way to break the spell Kaspin cast on him."

I stayed quiet and marched ahead, unable to continue the conversation without lashing out. Now that the dampening sigil had been removed, the Infernal Sol waited in the wings for an opportunity to come out and play.

When I woke up in the cave last night and explained everything, I'd expected Ruin and Logan to immediately take action. I thought they'd concoct a plan to head Fane off and capture him.

They were more concerned with getting back to Savannah. Technically, they wanted me back on Earth to hide me from Fane while they searched for a solution. They were worried he'd kill me, and once he did and the spell broke, he'd go on a rampage.

I stepped over a rock that turned out to be a small sub-demon that tried to bite my boot. With a snarl, I shoved it off our path and trudged forward. Ruin and Logan whispered behind me, probably wondering if I'd sneak off in the middle of the night to find Fane.

While traveling through the Underworld, they also questioned me about our bond. They were startled when I revealed that we could astral project to each other. Keeping that a secret now was kind of pointless. How else would I explain what I'd seen?

Prickles slinked over my nape, and I halted as eyes drilled into me. I turned back to Logan and Ruin. "Do either of you sense something?"

Ruin searched the area with a furrowed brow. "No. Do you, Logan?"

He shook his head. "Just a forest full of sub-demons and vicious little creatures that may or may not want to eat us."

I peered through the thick foliage. "Something is stalking us."

"Maybe your shifter senses are kicking in." Logan gave one of his sweet, golden retriever grins. "Fane always picked up on certain things before we did."

My shoulder muscles tightened. "I don't like this." I craned my neck back to explore the boughs above and attempted to connect with the shifter magic. After a few moments, my senses sharpened.

"Something's up there," I mumbled, grabbing the transformative hilt Logan had brought from his house.

Having heard me, Nik slowed and glanced into the trees. "I don't see anything yet, but we definitely aren't alone."

The wind blew Nadia's copper strands around her face as she searched for our stalker, a violet sheen eclipsing her irises. Branches creaked, and a few leaves tumbled down. Goose bumps erupted over me as a shriek whipped through the forest.

Ruin cursed. "Lugsin demons."

"What the hell are lugsin demons?" I asked just as a viscous liquid dripped less than an inch from my shoulder, hitting the ground, smoke spiraling.

Logan yanked me out of the way and jabbed his finger toward the branches. "Those are lugsin demons."

A giant, slimy slug-like creature plopped to the ground with a screech. My stomach heaved as the revolting blob crawled on his belly toward us without arms or legs, leaving behind a trail of yellowish-green snot.

"Their slime is toxic."

The lugsin opened his toothless mouth and shot a stream of goo at us, missing Logan and hitting the tree.

I rubbed my thumb over the rune on my hilt to bring out the sword. "I got him." The creature didn't look that smart, and he had no eyes. He shouldn't be that hard to kill. As I circled around, I snuck behind him and lopped his head off.

Too easy.

I shook the slime and black blood off my sword and then wiped it on the waxy leaves of a nearby bush.

Creaking echoed all around us, and a pit tore open in my gut as I slowly looked up. The branches writhed, and droplets of slime fell. As a stream hit me, my flesh burned like acid was poured on it.

"Tate, watch out!" Ruin dove forward and tackled me to the ground as another fat slug plummeted from the trees. Mucus spewed from the lugsin, barely touching me because of Ruin.

The demon lord wasn't so lucky. He hissed as the toxic goo sizzled and smoked on him. Logan dodged the lugsin's spit and pulled Ruin to his feet while I scrambled up and swung my sword at the sub-demon .

Just as my blade sliced into his gelatinous body to decapitate him, another stream of slime struck my chest.

Son of a bitch, that hurt.

A flash of purple zipped through the air as Nadia let loose a spell. "That should hold them for a few minutes," she said as her barrier solidified to separate us from the acid-spitting creatures. "They'll eventually break it."

Logan tugged us down the trail as more leaves cascaded from the trees. "There's an entire nest of them up there."

I slung the slime off my sword, sneering. "How did they get in the branches in the first place?"

"They can temporarily grow arms and legs." A shudder rippled through Logan. "It's the most disturbing thing I've ever seen."

My feet stuck in the ground as Ruin tried to pull me farther away from the lugsins. Leaving a fight wasn't in my nature, and the mix of demon and shifter magic, tainted by the Infernal Sol, wanted to unleash a fury on those creatures.

"Tate, we need to go." Ruin motioned to the goop on my arms and torso. "If we don't get this cleaned off soon, the poison will seep in, and our flesh will peel off."

Well, when you put it like that…

I reluctantly followed the four of them away from the lugsins trapped behind Nadia's magical shield, deciding to keep my skin intact.

"Over here!" Her voice sounded through the trees, and the forest opened to a small lake as we walked forward. "Leave your clothes on the shore. I'll clean them off with a spell."

Having remained clean from the slime attack, Nik stayed on the shore with Nadia, scanning the trees.

Logan shucked his shirt and boots. "I could use a swim. "

My lips pursed. "You didn't even get slimed."

He shrugged, not even bothering to hide his smile. "I can't resist stripping down." As his pants dropped, I tried to keep my attention from straying between his legs.

Too late.

Of course the high demon was hung.

As Ruin shed his clothes, heat blossomed in my cheeks. While I stayed at his house in Savannah, we probably would have slept together if Fane hadn't interrupted us. Something about swimming naked with him felt like a betrayal to the demon shifter.

"What are you waiting for?" Ruin asked, kicking off his boots. "You need to get that stuff off."

I hitched my thumb over my shoulder where a line of trees separated the lake and created a small lagoon. "I'll go over there."

"Don't tell me you're shy about getting naked." As he examined me, his smile faded. "We shouldn't separate. It's dangerous."

"I won't be far." I headed for the lagoon, ignoring the demon lord's bared form.

His grumble sounded in my ears, but he didn't stop me from slipping away to the small area surrounded by trees, shrubs, and vines. A small waterfall flowed into the lake, crashing over rocks and creating a soothing cadence.

I toed my boots off and tossed my shirt on the ground. Flares of pain stabbed me as I shed my tight jeans, sore from our escape out of Heldrok. A lump rose in my throat as I thought of Fane's expression when Mykel ripped him from my grasp and dragged him back across the bridge .

We'd been so close to getting away together, but that asshole dux demon ruined it.

Mykel would pay one day.

I shook the depressing thoughts off and eased into the lake, dressed in only my bra and underwear. The tepid water rushed over me when I slipped under the surface to wet my hair. As I came up, I dragged my hand down my face and blinked water from my lashes.

A number of creatures could be hiding in the murky depths, so I shouldn't have left my sword on the shore, but agony and heartache had me distracted. All I could think about was Fane.

Was he okay? Had Venna released him from Heldrok so he could hunt me? Was he already on my trail?

I chewed on my bottom lip as tears blurred my vision. The urge to see him coiled around my chest like invisible bands of steel, crushing my heart. Soon, they'd demolish the fragile organ, and I wouldn't be able to force my muscles to move forward.

Fane's blue and gold irises entered my mind, followed by that tousled midnight hair, tattooed and scarred body, pierced lip, and beautifully savage face. My lids drifted closed, pushing tears down my cheeks as I recalled the last hours we spent together in Heldrok.

He'd pulled me back from the brink of darkness and made it clear how much he cared about me, no matter that I tortured him for weeks. Fane didn't give a shit about that. He knew I did it to protect his family.

A lump clogged my throat, and more tears slid down my cheeks. But when I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the lake. I'd left my body and stood on the shore as a figure silently slinked into the water behind me.

Air caught in my throat as Fane approached, the hard edges of his face sharper than normal and those eyes burning like fires that wanted to demolish me. The chain of the bloodstone necklace hung beneath his black shirt.

He looked so much like he had that first night we met in the alley where he revealed who he was and what he wanted from me.

Revenge.

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