16

Beelzebub

My head throbbed, jostling about as I swam deep in the depths of my mind, searching for all the essence I'd lost. The devil essence radiated brighter in this void of complete blackness, making it more tangible, almost alive with a will since I'd lost so much of my demon essence.

Where had it gone?

My eyes flitted, catching glimpses of a corridor and then a bright green light. I sank deeper into my mind, searching for the energy to wake up. I needed to wake up. Protect Wally.

"Shush," Wally said with heavy, exhausted breaths. "We have to be very quiet."

Weather whimpered, Sunny based on the joyful inflection soured by sadness. When had the dog shown up?

Wally's breathing didn't weigh on me, didn't register, but I could sense the pain in his winded breaths. Why couldn't I feel his pain? I ached all over yet couldn't form a fist to express my fury.

Eligos attacked me.

Then what?

It was darkness. Diabolic essence boomed, noisy, screaming, blood, but all too far away.

"Bez." Wally sobbed. "Bez, why aren't you waking up?"

I attempted to call out, but my throat… I floated in this darkness, unable to speak. Had I lost my voice? Was it some spell? Where had my essence gone?

The blackness of devilish essence whispered, calling me deeper into the nothingness of my mind, and Wally's voice became a hollow whisper. As I fell further away, pieces of my will drifted, remaining far from the infinite depths, and a power I never should've taken radiated.

Beelzebub's power. The true strength of a devil offering me the voice I needed. Strength. An escape from this nothingness. But with my demon essence waning, lacking, lost—would I be able to harness and control such power, or would it control me?

It seemed I'd be lost in darkness no matter what I chose.

Crimson splashed in the black sea surrounding me. Oil and blood raged and swam further.

"Why isn't this working?" Wally said, gritting his teeth.

I clamped my jaw in protest to the painful grind of his molars. I felt it. Felt him. Whatever he'd done was working. I swam through the sludge toward the trickling crimson blobs. Reaching out with a hand, I pressed clawed fingers and popped the bubble.

Wally shouted, and flashes of him appeared. With his teeth ground, stifling the urge to shout, black tendrils laced with my crimson aura whipped erratically. They smacked his face, slicing his cheek and cutting his arms, but he kept resisting their protests.

Holding the Demon's Demise with both hands, he cut into his tender stomach, swirling the tip of the blade and yanking out essence. My essence. Why was he carving out our bond?

I backed away from the crimson, unwilling to watch further. I'd failed him, and now he literally wanted to sever all ties between us.

"Wake the fuck up, Bez!" Wally shouted. "I need you. I need to know you're okay."

The crimson whirled around me, tearing apart the blackness and pushing the devil essence back into the subconscious where it belonged. Dormant and obedient to my will.

Wally… What are you doing?

I flexed my muscles, still incapable of talking to him but unable to ignore the pain he endured. What began as a searing burn against my phantom body became a slight discomfort. The more I felt my flesh return, the less I felt the connection to Wally, to the man I loved.

I ascended further, unveiling my wings to surge upward and be released from the prison of my sleeping mind.

"It isn't enough essence," Wally said through wispy breaths. "Must've wasted too much, or Bez really is… No. NO! Tony, hand me the grimoire. There's gotta be an incantation I can use. Something to help him heal his…his missing body."

Something slammed. The grimoire, perhaps.

"If I weren't so weak, I would've grabbed his body, reattached his head, but now all that essence is gone, and Bez is…"

That was what happened. That fucking prick Eligos decapitated me. Dammit.

I huffed, continuing my flight toward Wally's voice. His need to ramble guided me, and I loved him even more for being my chatty beacon of light. Although, he had a point. He'd lost my body, and it'd take forever to fully recover my lost essence now. I wasn't even sure where to draw on enough energy to restore it swiftly. One thing at a time.

I collided with a hard ceiling, blocking my escape from this infinite slumber. Not fucking happening. I slashed the barrier, one made of bone, easily defeating it with my claws. Ripping my way through, I lunged forward in a huge explosive rage.

Blood and bone and meat splattered this tiny dark storage room where Wally hid from Eligos. I panted, taking in his frazzled expression, the blood soaked into his shirt, the chunk of grey matter dangling in his blond curls.

"Where the hell are we?" I asked, approaching him to remove the bit of brain in his hair.

"You're…you're…you're…" Wally bit his lip.

"Yes, yes, I'm alive, and I'm infuriated. I'm going to slaughter that f—"

"You're tiny!"

"Excuse me?"

Wally pointed at me.

"I'm what?" I scrunched my face and turned to find the disassembled remains of my former host body. Well, the part of the body my essence instinctively coiled within after some asshole chopped off my head.

My head. The crater of where I'd erupted lay in pieces after I broke free of a host and reformed my essence into a fully-fleshed demon body. Bone and blood were splattered at my feet. My busted jaw looked rather large. An oozing, bulged eye hung from the socket and stared at me with a glossy stillness, reflecting my image in the iris no longer possessing my crimson touch.

I looked more or less true to form with all four curled horns atop my head, three tails lively as ever, and claws sharper than any blade. My gray skin looked a little flushed, but I was soaked in blood and covered in meaty chunks after escaping a fatality.

Wait. Wait.

"Wait a second."

"I didn't say anything," Walter rudely interrupted my train of thought.

I furrowed my brow, closely inspecting my proportions in comparison to the head I'd broken out of. The busted eye was almost at my height level. The eye, hanging from a head lying on the floor, was almost as big as me. "Goddamn motherfucking piece of bullshit biscuit twat licking cock guzzling cuck."

I bit back a roar and turned to look up at Wally. I had to look up to him because with all the essence circulating inside me, there was only enough to fully form me in my natural demon body as a pint-sized version.

"That was unnecessarily vulgar."

"You're unnecessary." I pointed an accusatory clawed finger at him, then huffed, pouting, but releasing my misguided rage because I needed to conserve it, cultivate it, and send it all back at Eligos a hundred-fold. I took a calming breath, brushed my sticky, ratty hair back, and flew up so I met Wally at proper eye level, which meant having him stare up at me.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"With my host body in shambles, I had to take on my true form."

"But you're so small."

"Yes, well, it's not like I'm rolling in essence right now." I ground my teeth, glaring at Wally and resting my gaze on his bleeding stomach. Shallow slices that he made to hack out the essence I'd given him, injuries he inflicted while knowing full well that without my essence, it'd take him much longer to heal. My expression softened. "Thank you. If you hadn't provided me with essence, it might've taken me several days, possibly weeks, for me to fully self-actualize and awaken."

"It was all I could think to do." Wally's shoulders shook as he cried, tears smearing his bloody face. Such a beautiful face should only be covered in the blood of foes, never his own. "I'm so sorry. I froze. I froze, and Kell and Mora… They were…they were…killed."

I amplified my senses, attempting to analyze the various layers throughout the villa, but in my weakened state, it was difficult to make out the subtle distinctions. It was hauntingly silent. However Eligos moved about this place, he knew not to leave a trace of his presence. One thing I did detect was a shroud of essence newly weaved throughout the labyrinth below. Its stink wafting a foul odor of agony.

Mora. What had Eligos done to her? Wally suspected death. Given her struggle to cloak her scent, he might not have been far off, but she dwelled out there somewhere.

"She's fine," I said dismissively to Wally's anguish because I couldn't allow sadness to overcome me. Mora never died. She'd never die. She was the one constant I had in this long eternity. And I hated it. Hated her and her annoying mischief. I ground my teeth. She'd live to kill another day, I believed… I knew it.

"I saw her impaled."

"You also saw me decapitated, and I'm right as rain." More like rain droplets, not the tsunami of strength I usually represented.

"Kell was burned alive," Walter blurted, clutching his shaky thighs. "If she dies, then Mora, no matter how powerful Diabolics are… She'll die."

"Whatever, Kell's fine. Mora's essence is still floundering about." Because she tried to lay claim to my villa. Mine and Walter's. I'd remember that and deal with it after I dealt with Eligos. "Basically, if Mora's alive, Kell's alive. Unless, of course, Mora severed their link to save herself, but considering she finally found someone who can tolerate her obnoxious behavior past the one-year marker, I doubt that."

"Bez." Wally crawled toward me, picturesque on his knees and covered in blood while looking up at me, which was unfortunate since we didn't have time for such fun things. "Kell was set on fire. Actual fire. I mean, Weather ate some of the flames, but there was so much fire. Charred skin. The smell was awful, and she screamed so loud."

"Wally, she's a witch." I grinned. "She's used to being set on fire. It's how witches witch it up."

"How can you make jokes?"

"Would you rather I sat here and cried all day? No. I need to be productive. I need to find a way to amplify the recovery of my essence, restore some of my power, then locate Eligos, murder him—after I torture him—"

"You're six fucking inches tall," Wally shouted before covering his mouth to silence an outburst that'd already escaped. Thankfully, Eligos wasn't lingering nearby. "How are you going to stop him?"

"First of all, I'm seven inches and three-quarters. Let's just put that on the record."

Wally laughed, an outlandish, unhinged laughter where he clutched his injured stomach, cradling his ribs as he toppled over, unable to contain himself.

"Is something funny, Walter?"

"No, not at all." He wheezed, then snapped his fingers, calling the three-headed hound over. While he petted Sunny's head, Wally buried his face into Weather's stomach, cackling. Stormy nipped his ankle, forcing Wally to stop with the nonsensical over-affection. Sunny and Cloudy were displeased but hid it when Stormy snapped his powerful jaws at them. Good for Stormy. Fuck all this holly jolly garbage of joy. "It's just, um, haaa! I've never seen you so desperate for precise measurements."

"Wow." I landed on the ground, brushing away curdling blood off my chest. "You think now is the best time to joke about my size?"

"No." His lips tightened as he fought back laughter and forced himself not to smile. "We're all going to die, and all I can do is make dick jokes?"

His eyes welled up, his smile grew again, then instantly fell into a frown, lips trembling. This was too much for Wally. His chest swelled and deflated, taking rapid, wispy breaths. I'd failed him, dragged him into this situation, left him to fend for his life—our lives, and now I needed to remind him that the devil Beelzebub was a terrifying force no foe could defeat.

I hated seeing him so lost in his frantic mind. I grabbed his clammy, shaky hand, lightly caressing it, which didn't soothe him. Well, there was only one solution to snap him back to the reality of the situation and think more rationally. I squeezed his palm, spun around, and threw him over my shoulder.

"Gods." He gasped. The sudden shock of being slammed onto his back reeled some sense into his glossy hazel eyes.

Antoninus clacked his slightly more formidable claws now that I'd lost a bit of my stature, but I snarled to remind the familiar I would crack open that shell and wear it to battle. A battle I needed to contend with soon, given Eligos had the edge after he got the drop on Mora and myself. Mostly Mora. She should've predicted this nonsense.

"How'd you do that?" Wally asked, somewhat composed at this point. "I must be a hundred times your weight."

"Please. You'll always be a feather in my delicate grip."

"But you're six…you're so small."

"Walter, I know this is hard to hear, especially coming from someone such as myself, a true stallion below the belt, but it's never the size that matters. It's how you use what you got."

He half-smiled, the kind that showed he was too flustered or annoyed to give me the satisfaction of a fully happy expression, but one lost in my words, allowing the rest of the world to fall away. I yanked his curls and pushed him until he sat upright. All the panic had passed. Good.

"There will be plenty of time for more jokes, Wally," I said. "First things first, I'm going to need you to enchant me something to wear. I must face my enemies with the dignity of a fine suit, and unfortunately, I've lost the remaining Mythic residue I had stored up, so I can't enchant a proper ensemble."

"Of course." Wally weaved together glittering enchantments. "What are you planning?"

"Kill a demon, save my villa, and take my boyfriend on a lovely date to forget his recent woes." I smirked, reminding Wally that no matter what, I remained confident, even if it wasn't true.

I'd allowed myself to be caught off guard, let my memories of Eligos hinder my reaction, and now I'd lost almost all my strength. He was one of the strongest demons in Hell, one even Beelzebub tolerated due to his power, and now I had to face him, kill him, all while wishing to ask if he remembered me.

If he knew I wasn't Beelzebub, not truly, would this situation play out differently? I didn't think so. Eligos was a Diabolic of honor. If he knew the pathetic know-nothing demon he'd championed, rooted for, and offered advice had guised himself as a devil to intimidate enemies and slaughtered thousands over the centuries, his principles would resign death for my actions.

That was fine. I could exploit his rigid beliefs and kill him first. He wouldn't be the first demon I'd ended—certainly wouldn't be the last.