Chapter 44

ChapterForty-Four

Gluttony grinned with blood splattered teeth up at the young man who thought he could contain a demon. “You haven’t done much research, have you?”

The man before him was the same one who had been so outspoken in the crowd. The same man who very quickly ordered everyone to follow what he said to do, and corralled the entire crowd into creating a barrier that Gluttony could not punch through without more bloodshed. And then he’d placed iron shackles on Gluttony’s hands, which would have done nothing if not for the inscriptions on the inside.

They actually could contain a demon, shockingly, and that meant someone with magical abilities was helping them. Gluttony could still fight all of them with his hands behind his back, but he wanted to know more about this young man and where he had come from.

So he let them hit him. He let them punch and kick and do whatever it took for them to feel better. The purging of their emotions was swift, but he saw the regret on so many faces. He could see the horror on women’s faces as they backed away from what they had done. And what their men were doing.

Those were the people who did not escape his notice. The people who were willing to realize that they were in the wrong. They had stepped away from the dwindling crowd, returning to their homes and closing the doors tightly behind them.

That had angered the strangers. They stirred the fires of rage again, calling out to the villagers that there was something wrong with this demon before them. That after all he had done, surely they had to realize he was not like this for a good reason? Gluttony was barely even responding to their kicks. What kind of monster couldn’t even feel pain?

And that had been enough for many of his people, unfortunately. The next thing he knew, there were more punches raining down upon his head. But he healed quickly, and they realized it very fast. In just an hour, they had cut him in so many ways that he couldn’t count the amount of times he’d been sliced.

Still, this was fine. He deserved a little punishment for his neglect and he would not deny them that. If causing him pain made them feel better about their daughters and all the other things that had happened? Certainly, they could. He would not deny that it was a good option. After all, Gluttony had used pain many times in his life to solve his own issues.

But now it was just him and the stranger. Just this man who had dragged him into someone’s root cellar and left Gluttony alone to address the crowd. As though he was already their king.

The man dragged a stool in front of him and then dropped down onto it. Pulling a knife out of his back pocket, he started cleaning the drying blood out from underneath his nails. “I have done research, demon. So have the others. We know more about your kind than you would likely be comfortable with.”

“Rumors and legends,” Gluttony spat. “No one would tell you the truth, even if you tortured us.”

“We’re going to put that to the test, now aren’t we?” The man looked at the knife in the air, his threat a little too obvious. “Now, you will address me as Nikolai. I enjoy hearing a demon say my name when they’re in pain.”

“A demon?” Gluttony tilted his head to the side, eyeing this Nikolai through the red haze cast by his eyes. “You have met another of my kind? I find that hard to believe.”

“It is not so hard to believe. There are many of you, after all.”

“Fewer than you would think.” Although he had the sudden urge to reach out to Greed and make sure his two spirits taken flesh were well. Loyalty and Passion were more people than they were spirits at this point, but that didn’t mean this man hadn’t gotten to them.

“That’s part of the problem with you demons. You think you are completely untouchable when there are many ways for us to touch you.” Nikolai pointed at the shackles with his knife. “We know how to contain you. And we know how to knock you out with a gas that will make you pass out even if you’re on a horse.”

“Ah,” Gluttony breathed. “I had a feeling you were one and the same. So you have people in Greed’s kingdom as well. I did not expect the rebellion to have spread like poison so quickly. You are the messenger, I take it?”

Nikolai watched him with far too cunning eyes. This was a man who knew how to control a lot of people. And if Gluttony was right, he was the cause of a lot of trouble in many of the kingdoms.

But surely this was not the ringleader. No one running such a detailed, intricate coup would go to each kingdom on their own.

This was just one of many people who were likely sent out. Trusted individuals. So, Nikolai perhaps knew who the real person was that threatened Gluttony and his brothers.

Nikolai leaned forward and grinned, his teeth a little crooked. “There are more of us than ants in an ant hill. You can stomp us out and send all the poison you wish into our mix, but we will never disappear from your kingdoms, demon. We are the pest you cannot get rid of.”

“No pest is impossible to get rid of,” Gluttony muttered. “Soon, we will find out where you came from and who your leader is. And we will extinguish them with flames unlike anything you have ever seen before.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.” Gluttony leaned forward, too close for Nikolai’s comfort because the man backed away from him, nearly falling off his stool. “Let me tell you something to bring back to your leaders, something that no one else has told you. We are not just demons. We are gods with powers that are so far beyond your understanding. I am the weakest of us, little man. But all I need is a single drop of your blood and I will turn into a monster from your nightmares.”

Nikolai laughed, but the sound was at least a little nervous. “I am not afraid of you. Nor am I afraid of death. My purpose is to spread the news that you can be beaten. Your own kingdom will do the rest for me.”

“Will they?” Gluttony nodded at the door behind him, the one at the top of the stairs that led up to the crowd, who were already heading back to their homes. “It appears you are in here alone, stranger. And no one will hear you scream when I am done with you.”

“You will never find our leader,” Nikolai said, still stroking that knife like it gave him any protection at all. “Because you will be long gone before you piece together who it could be. You see, I’m going to cut you up into little pieces. One by one. Your fingers, your toes, and I’m going to keep them with me. Spread them out around all the seven kingdoms. And if that doesn’t work to contain you, then I will bury you under the ground so deep that no one will hear you scream. And all those incantations that are pressed into your iron shackles will surround the coffin I put you in.”

“What a relaxing reprieve from stressful duties,” Gluttony bit through his teeth. “But you know that the moment I get out—and I will—I will track you to the very ends of this earth and return all your favors in kind.”

“I don’t think you’ll be able to do that in my lifetime.”

“Then I will find your children. Your brother’s children. Whoever shares your blood will fill a tub for me and my bride to bathe in.” Gluttony’s eyes burned red, and he knew the entire room must be awash in it. A pain spiked through his forehead as his horns grew and a tail burst out behind him. His claws, though hidden, were already long. “I will gift your life and all the lives of those who come after you to the one woman who matters. She will have a say in whether or not I bless your lineage with life or death. And trust me when I say this, if you keep her from me, then she will only choose death.”

“Your bloodthirsty bride will be dead long before that happens,” he hissed. “I will watch her eyes bulge in fear and then I will drag her through the streets until her blood coats the boardwalk. She will know why it was a foolish decision to love a demon.”

And though he had always been able to remain calm and collected, something in Gluttony snapped. He refused to listen to anyone speak ill of his woman, let alone this sniveling child who thought he could threaten a queen.

Baring his fangs, Gluttony managed to form the words to say, “I’m going to kill you now. Painfully. Slowly.”

“I’d like to see you try, demon.”

He lunged forward with a single-minded attempt at murder. Nikolai knew what he was doing, however, and that made sense, of course. The man stuck his knife in between Gluttony’s teeth, the sharp edges cutting through his cheek like he was a dog gnawing on a stick. If it took his jaws powering through metal to kill this man, then that was exactly what he would do. The mortal thought he had caught easy prey.

Gluttony was the predator here, and it was time for the humans to remember that.

Blood poured over his tongue and pooled down his throat. It coiled in rivers down his neck and still he did not stop. He chewed, and bit, and gnashed, and soon the human before him looked a little pale.

Nikolai’s biceps bulged, the muscles in his neck straining as he tried to hold the rabid creature at bay. Once he pulled the knife back, only to saw at the other side of Gluttony’s face. But the demon would not be stopped. No one would prevent him from biting into the flesh of this man. Eventually, Nikolai would break. Eventually, he would become distracted or weakened and Gluttony would rip his lower jaw off before he stopped.

A shriek echoed from outside, and the piercing cry of a falcon. No natural creature made that noise and he was quite certain he also heard an echoing call for people to run. On the tail end of the word, a scream.

Nikolai flinched, and that was all Gluttony needed. Wrenching the blade out of the other man’s hands with his teeth, Gluttony spat it onto the floor and grinned at him. He knew the expression was likely elongated by the sliced cheeks that made his smile even wider. “Come on, stranger. It’s time for me to feed.”

Nikolai tried to run, but he didn’t get very far. Gluttony lunged forward, snapping the chains that connected him to the wall. Though the manacles held strong, the chains had not been enchanted.

He grabbed onto the other man by the base of his neck, where his throat and shoulder met. Gripping it with all the strength in his jaw, he sawed back and forth until a thick chunk of meat tore off.

He met Nikolai’s horrified gaze as he chewed, and then swallowed.

“You... You...” The gurgled mess of the man’s voice was nothing like it had been before. Nikolai pressed his hand to his throat, trying to contain the gushing blood that billowed more and more out of it. “You can’t...”

“You can enchant the shackles, but not the chains,” he snarled. Gluttony hardly recognized his own voice. The battle form had overtaken him. “Now run, stranger. I wish to hunt.”

Nikolai turned toward the stairs, only to have the door at the top open. And there, standing in the light that spread in rays around her as though it wouldn’t dare mar her lovely skin, stood Katherine.

His Katherine. The one who shouldn’t be here, but who he was no more surprised to see than he would have been surprised to see the moon rise on the horizon.

Nikolai staggered toward her, only freezing when she stepped deliberately into his way.

Her gaze hardened, and she looked the stranger up and down. “You’re covered in blood.”

He nodded.

“Strangers have no place meddling in the minds of the innocent.” She shifted to the side. “Go. But don’t think this is a mercy. I’m not sure you’ll make it out of this kingdom alive without a kelpie chewing on your flesh.”

Nikolai jerked past her, not even noticing that Katherine grabbed the keys from the back of his pocket. He was a dead man walking, and even that poor soul knew it.

And oh, Gluttony had never loved this woman more. He’d never wanted to kiss her more, but the moment Nikolai left the cellar, he could feel all the pain that sizzled through every inch of his body.

Apparently, there was a limit to how much his spirit was willing to heal.

One step to the side, and he was suddenly down on his knees. Staring up at her like the goddess she was. Like the gift she had become.

“Katherine,” he said quietly, and his voice was different. Changed from what it had been before.

Right, his mouth. The cut open lips and ghastly smile he was probably subjecting her to. Not to mention the amount of blood that coated him from head to toe and the bright red marks that would eventually become bruises.

But his beautiful, compassionate bride didn’t care about that at all. She walked down the steps quietly, and a falcon landed in front of the door. Guarding them. He recognized Envy’s magic and, for once, wanted to thank his brother for at least having the thought to do that. Katherine had not returned on her own.

“What did that monster do to you?” she whispered, stopping in front of him. She cupped his cheek gently, and he could see the smudge of blood on her palm as she wiped at the liquid on his cheeks. “My love. You didn’t deserve this.”

As he stared up at her, he wondered what she saw in him that no one else did. Did she see a brave man? A king who wished he was better than he actually was? He hoped that was what she saw. He wanted her to see that.

Carefully, he leaned forward and pressed his cheek to her stomach. He would have lifted his tired arms and wrapped her in them, but he was still tied up. So he knelt at her feet with his hands behind him.

“Just a moment,” he whispered against her soft flesh. “Just a few moments, and then I will face them.”

“You have no one to face,” she said. “They are the ones who must face you. But my love, you cannot see them like this. You cannot let them think they have defeated you.”

He should heal. She was right. They would only think him weak, and right now, he had to be strong. Strong enough to prove that he was worthy of being their king.

But he was so tired. He just wanted to rest for a few moments and then maybe he could convince his powers to heal him one last time.

“A few moments,” he whispered against her belly. “Just let me rest.”

“We need to get you free.” Katherine drew away from him, and he felt like he’d lost something. Some marvelous creature who had always been the only thing that mattered.

And without her, he felt... empty.

His arms fell forward, and the metal clanked onto the ground with a rough thud. And then she was there again. Kneeling in front of him, her arms coming around him first, then encouraging his own arms to wrap around her.

“Come here,” she whispered, turning her head to the side and baring that swan-like neck for him. “Feed, my love. And then we will remind them that you are their king for a reason.”

Perhaps he was still a bit of a monster, because he scraped his fangs against her neck and then sank them in deep.