Chapter 25

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Eerie music drifted through the grand room in Venna's mansion while demons dressed in finery gathered below. Laughter circled the purple and silver decor, and the heavy drapes framing the arched windows pooled on the black marble floors, silver veins twinkling under the chandelier.

I tugged the top of the ebony satin dress higher, but it didn't do much to conceal the ridiculous amount of cleavage spilling out. The hem barely reached my mid-thigh, and my underwear would show if I bent over. The sheer black lace that started at the waist and flowed to my ankles didn't offer much coverage.

Venna's husky laughter rang out as she sipped wine a few feet away, lounging in a throne—a literal fucking throne—while demons hung on her every word. Rubies dripped like blood from the black, spiked tiara, and her red and black dress left little to the imagination, revealing her flawless porcelain skin.

My blood boiled as she ate up the attention. I'd hated her with a fiery passion before Kaspin enchanted Fane. Now my teeth ached to sink into her throat and tear through her flesh.

Were the others looking for me? I'd been gone for a few days now, and Fane was the only person who would have abducted me. Logan and Ruin had to be scouring Vlehull. At least I hoped.

I gripped the iron balcony, taking note of every exit. As if he sensed my intentions, Mykel moved in my periphery, his yellow stare searing holes into me. The son of a bitch hadn't taken his eyes off me since Venna led me into this soiree. He was my personal shadow to ensure I didn't escape.

Why the hell was I even at this stupid party?

Tingles crackled over my neck tattoo, and my hand lifted to it just as Fane climbed the winding staircase to the balcony. His gaze found me, burning with more than fury and hatred.

Lust.

I sensed it ricocheting through the bond. The spell ripped away his memories, but it couldn't erase our connection.

Whether he realized it or not, his phantom touch glided over my body, slipping between the gossamer lace and skimming up my leg. As my pulse spiked and my breathing became ragged, a flush blossomed in his cheeks.

Running on instinct, I stepped away from the balcony toward him, but a threatening snarl crossed his lips, stopping me in my tracks.

"One of these days, you won't be able to resist the pull toward me," I said into his mind.

He lifted a finger and dragged it across this throat as if slicing it open.

I flipped him off.

A cloud of perfume choked me as a menacing presence loomed at my back.

"I hope you don't have false hope that Ruin or Logan will rescue you." Venna gave an ominous smile. "They can search Vlehull all they want, but unlike Karn, my mansion is hidden with wards and can only be accessed by invite."

My heart sank, but I kept the disappointment out of my expression and lifted my chin. "I can save myself. I don't need anyone to rescue me, or did you forget I have a powerful amulet?" That was such bullshit. The Infernal Sol hovered in the wings, waiting for the chance to take control, and when it did, it might not return to the shadows so easily. I couldn't risk losing myself.

"Speaking of the Infernal Sol." The excitement in Venna's vibrant blue eyes had my blood icing over. "I hope you're up for this."

Frost crawled over my skin at her foreboding words. "Up for what?"

The royal demon moved to my side and leaned against the balcony, her long fingers motioning over the crowd. "I've invited my enemies and all those who oppose my rule on the guise of making amends." Her laugh grated on my ears. "They'll be in for a shock when I unleash my new pet on them."

My attention snapped to Fane who watched us with an unreadable look.

"Not him, sweetness." She ran a long nail down my arm. "You."

I jerked away from her touch. "I'm no one's fucking pet."

She scoffed. "I'm the only reason you're alive, Tatum. I'm the only thing standing between you and that oversized hybrid who wants nothing more than to tear you into tiny pieces."

"Then let him," I hissed. "When I die, so does the Infernal Sol. Bonus points."

Venna's head tilted to the side, the lights dancing on her sheet of platinum hair. "I just might. You're becoming tiresome, and I'm not sure the Infernal Sol is worth this much of a headache."

She was full of shit.

"Let's cut to the chase, Venna. Why am I here?"

The demon looked over the crowd again. "I want you to make them see their fears."

"Who? Show me." I flicked my hand out.

"All of them."

I couldn't have heard her correctly. "All of them? As in…?"

"Everyone."

"W-what," I sputtered. "I can't do that many at one time." In the pit at Heldrok, I'd screwed with plenty of guards, but that was nothing compared to this amount of demons. I wasn't even sure it was possible.

If it was, the Infernal Sol would need to take control, and the other me would rise again.

I'd love to come out and play.

As her voice glided through my mind, I shuddered at the craving for fear and chaos coiling through my bloodstream.

"I have faith in you, Tatum." Venna took a glass of wine from the silver tray a demon carried. "You can do it."

My blood boiled as I turned to her. "Maybe I'll just bring out your fear and make a run for it. You can't stop me if you're imagining your worst nightmares."

"I have no fears." She licked the wine from her lips. "And if you so much as direct that menacing look toward me, I'll dose you with Malefic ash so fast you'll hit the floor before you can take another breath."

I ground my teeth and returned to the crowd below, my fingers curling around the cold banister. There were too many demons. "I can't do it on this massive scale."

"You better figure it out." Her mouth moved to my ear. "If you don't, I'll kill Fane."

My heart dropped to the bottom of my feet as her words slithered into my eardrums like poisonous snakes. She would do it. She didn't need Fane. She only kept him around to torment me.

Fuck.

I peeked at him, still posted against the wall like a sentry, a tiny line forming between his brows as he scrutinized me. Hell, he might even feel the sudden anxiety coursing through my veins. Even though the demon shifter wanted to slaughter me, I wouldn't let Venna harm him. I'd die to protect him.

But what I had to do might be worse than death. I had to open myself up to the ominous power again. And in doing something this big, I wasn't sure I could find my way back.

I took a deep breath and stroked the demon amulet buried inside. It answered immediately, stretching and yawning like a beast coaxed from a long slumber.

Time to bring out some fears.

Excitement and anticipation twisted through my bloodstream, and those emotions didn't only belong to the amulet. They were mine too. I wanted to find their fears and make them scream.

My lids lowered as I gathered the darkness rising like plumes of toxic smoke. Goose bumps puckered my flesh, and my head rolled back as the Infernal Sol lifted to the surface. The swirling tattoo below my ribs hummed to life.

I opened my eyes and zeroed in on a male dux demon below in a black suit. Beyond his glamour, tiny horns protruded from his forehead and down his arms. His black hair turned rust orange, and his complexion became a muted peach color.

He winced as I glided into his mind, locking in on a fear. A witch had captured him once and cut off his horns for potions. She'd kept him prisoner, waiting for them to grow back, only to chop them off again.

The demon had spent years in her captivity in Illyria. He finally escaped while she was gone on a trip to Earth, but he still feared her and his tiny cell in her house. As I made her visage appear in the crowd, he staggered back and screamed, bumping into several other demons.

"No! You can't be here." He gripped his friend's arm. "She found me!"

The female demon he clutched frowned. "Who?"

"Don't let her take me." He fell and scrambled away on his hands and knees as the witch with emerald curls and alabaster skin slinked after him.

"You can't outrun me, Devon." Her laughter chilled my bones. "I will lock you up and harvest your horns forever."

His shriek was music to my ears, and my head rolled back as the energy of his fear seeped into my pores, feeding the Infernal Sol .

Yes. More. So much more to come.

It didn't take long for screams and chaos to fill Venna's grand room. Demons crawled on the ground while others held their hands over their ears or eyes, attempting to block the hallucinations.

I laughed and reveled in their torment. The demon amulet didn't have full control, but it was enough to taint me into something unrecognizable.

"This is fantastic." Venna downed another glass of red wine as she leaned next to me at the balcony like these were front-row seats to a show. "I wish I could see what had them so frightened."

I snatched the wine glass a demon brought to her. "One by one, the ghosts of nightmares haunt. They can't escape the phantoms locked in their mind. No depth is too far for me to reach." My fingers wiggled in front of her face. "Like worms plucked from the ground by a crow, I gobble them up. They taste like candy."

What the ever-loving hell? I was talking nonsense again.

The royal demon took her glass from me. "I have no idea what you're saying, but I don't care as long as you keep this going."

I swayed to the eerie music, mixed with shrieks and cries. "Down there would be even better. Closer to my prey. The better to hunt them."

She motioned her hand toward the stairs. "By all means, Tatum. Go find more fears while you mingle with the masses."

I skipped to the stairs, catching the attention of my beast leaning against the wall. Anger washed over his features and turned him deadly. He wouldn't play with me.

He couldn't resist me forever, though .

I floated down the stairs, melding into the writhing crowd. I swayed and spun in circles, dancing between the tormented partygoers. Dux and high demons cried out for mercy, making me giggle.

"Mercy is not a thing I know." I tapped a female on the cheek and changed her fear hallucination from getting dissected by human scientists to wasting away on Earth because ravens prevented her from consuming souls.

Oh, what a fabulous idea!

I grabbed the jaws of a male and dragged his mouth toward mine. The life within demons wasn't like the souls of other creatures, but the amulet didn't discriminate. My body throbbed as I forced a cloud of roiling darkness out of his mouth and into mine.

Bittersweet flavor coated my tongue and sank inside. So much wickedness filled me.

So delicious.

I released him and danced through the chaos, my arms waving over my head while I carefully maneuvered around bodies. More demons unknowingly opened their life up to me, and I drank them in while feasting on their fears.

The room spun in bright colors, and I swayed to the music. I felt weightless and untethered. Free and unburdened by nasty guilt that usually weighed me down. Jayla, my friends, and even that newest one, Maddie, drifted away. The blood staining my hands from those humans Karn made me kill vanished, and the memories of beating Griffin to death when I was sixteen evaporated into dust.

The guilt didn't matter when the Infernal Sol brought out the other me. This was the better me. She wasn't a sad, heartbroken sap who blamed herself for everything wrong in the world.

Strong, calloused fingers gripped my arm and yanked me into a shady corner beneath the balcony. His eyes burned into me, pupils in diamond slits like mine.

"My beautiful beast." I licked my lips, thinking of tasting his. "Come to play?"

His brows slammed down. "Snap out of this."

My hands skimmed over his torso. "There is nothing to snap out of. I'm having fun. You should try it."

"You're different." He pressed his palm against the sun tattoo on my sternum. "What is this thing doing?"

"It's dinner and a show." My laugh tumbled out low and manic. "Have a seat and eat a meal. Their fears are so tasty."

Fane grabbed my shoulders, spun us, and slammed me against the wall. "You're feeding on their fears?" As he studied me, something flickered in his gaze—maybe a memory—but the recognition quickly faded, and disgust replaced it. "I knew that amulet made you dangerous. You've been screwing with my emotions, haven't you? You've been making me feel things."

"You feel what you feel, beast." My hands planted on his chest, his body heat burning my palms. "I can't make emotions."

The power throbbing from him lifted the hairs on my arms and made my legs tremble. His stare held mine like a talisman trying to enchant me. An invisible force wrapped around me, poking and prodding my defenses.

"Admit that you're in my mind, toying with it," the beast commanded, his words backed by the same energy rushing over me .

Alpha power.

It urged me to submit to him. My knees wanted to buckle. I longed to give him anything he wanted.

I peered up at him, basking in the power and pain it caused not to break. "I don't submit to anyone, but you're making it very difficult." My nails slipped under his shirt. "Maybe you can convince me another way."

He snatched my wrists and held them between us. "You submitted to Venna. She's the reason you're causing this chaos."

The beast had no idea I did it to protect him.

"She can't get that amulet out, so she intends to use you and never grant me my revenge." He pulled me through a door into a narrow hallway. "I won't let her use you. I'll simply kill you now and be done with all of this."