“Sava.” Even as I growled the name, I called on the Light for protection.
“Hell. Jonas, now.”
I struggled to see but could only make out vague outlines and dark blurs. Two powerfully strong bodies shuffled me across the floor and through what looked like a doorway. Before I knew it, I found myself tied up and in a chair facing a large bed.
The hated feeling of bonds around my wrists stung, and I struggled against memories of helplessness as well as the Dark-hide rope that sucked at my energy. But what bothered me most of all, I’d again lost someone I trusted and cared for.
“I’m going to kill you for this.” Bitter anger rose, mingled rage that my friend had deceived me. Once again, I’d fallen for lies from someone I’d considered family.
“Do what you must.” Sava sighed. “If you two weren’t so stubborn, we wouldn’t have had to do this. Jonas, their clothes. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Jonas murmured something I couldn’t make out before he wrenched my clothes away with a spell. At least, I think it was Jonas. My sight no longer functioned, everything one large, black blur.
“Just so you know, the toxin I gave you won’t hurt you.” Sava. “Just confuses your mental patterns enough to be led rather easily. It deadens the senses. Your sight will revert by tomorrow, your hearing as well. And so you know, the room is sealed with both Shadow and demon magic, effectively shielding you from anyone and everyone while keeping your own magic inaccessible. So don’t try using it against your partner in here.”
Partner? Demon magic? Where the hell had Sava gotten a hold of that? And what did he have to gain from all of this? Had he made a deal with Sin Garu?
“Sorry. I’m sure you want to kick my ass.” More laughter, Jonas’s or Sava’s, I could no longer tell. Whoever spoke seemed to whisper as my hearing left me. “This is for your own good. You two have things to work out. I’ll be back to get you in a week, give or take a few days. I can never keep track of the time differences between planes. Everything you need is in this room. And I do mean everything.”
They faded from my senses as darkness overwhelmed me.
I stubbornly fought, but eventually my Light could no longer protect me against the invasion of numbness overtaking my reality.
My last thought was Sava’s mention of some unknown partner before I faded completely.
Chapter 8
Sin Garu
The Dark Lord
I faltered as I stared at my reflection in the looking glass taken from the woman lying dead on the stone floor beside me. I wiped a trickle of her blood from the corner of my mouth, annoyed my bloodlust continued to grow. Looking into the mirror, I considered my once-beautiful features and realized I now looked like the monster to which many had likened me.
My long, flaxen hair still flowed like silk around my face. But my eyes, which had once been a deep, inky blue, now flickered with red and green lights of demonic hunger that refused to fade. My pale skin was even whiter, any sense of Light a painful torture I could no longer bear. Jagged yellow nails encrusted with blood ended my thinner and longer fingers, which now resembled the talons of my Netharat wraiths.
I studied the changes overtaking my body. My limbs, like my fingers, had lengthened. While I missed my old body, perfect in both tone and form, the demonic forces within forced me to acknowledge the benefits in such a frame. Stronger, leaner, and more flexible, my body could contort to almost any shape, so long as I kept it fed and in the Dark.
The muscles in my legs suddenly tightened. I noted with amusement that the shaft hanging between my thighs tensed as well. A spike of torture I’d used without cease on the dead human beside me. The sight of her and the blood I’d just ingested stoked my hunger anew.
Sirral, I mentally yelled to my newest assistant, irritated that my trusted wraiths kept dying too quickly. I’d been forced to kill Mirego a year ago due to his subpar service. Then Caeth had fallen to a Storm Lord attack, another of Arim’s casualties. The fucking Guardian of Storm.
Snarling, I bellowed again, displeased my wraith still had not arrived in Orfel, my refuge in the Between. Orfel was one of the last Dark Lord retreats still unknown to the Light Bringers or my treasonous sister. I’d once considered sharing information of the location with her, a generous act I would have later regretted. That the bitch had instilled in me a measure of trust only proved, once more, how truly dangerous Lexa could be.
A small pop heralded Sirral’s entrance. The misshapen creature immediately prostrated itself, the scent of fear surrounding it overwhelming. “Yes, my lord?”
“I need more blood, Sirral. This one obviously expired.” I kicked at the limp body on the floor, watching my wraith hungrily lick its lips, the thin, forked tongue trembling as it sensed the female’s rotting flesh.
Nothing I touched lasted long anymore. Not since the demons had taken over my body.
I shrugged. No matter. They kept me alive and shared their considerable strength. If I had less control over myself than I once had, I considered the price worth it. My cock rose again, carnal hungers riding me hard. “Two more females, Sirral. Xiantopes. Ones with a bit of fight this time.”
Sirral vanished, returning moments later with two attractive humans. The women made up for their lack of magic with waves of fear and anger, striking out against Sirral as he dragged them forward.
I had to admit, the Earthen plane had rewards despite having very little magic. The taller of the two xiantopes had white-blond hair, and I felt a longing for Alandra Storm, the Aellein princess I’d once been close to taking. So close, the magic of her kind within my grasp, and then Aerolus, her arrogant Storm Lord protector, had arrived.
And with him, Arim. Always Arim.
I scowled, and the brunette being dragged by her hair broke into screams.
