Page 6 of To Crave Truly

There was a knock at the door and Darius entered dragging a lump of rags and chains behind him.

“That will be all, Darius. Make sure we aren’t disturbed.”

The brute of a demon nodded and then left me looking at the pathetic state of my original demon. He was nothing more than skin and bones. His black hair was lanky and thick with grease, his fingernails long and grubby. I couldn’t even see all the swirls of the tattoos that covered most of his body because of all the dirt. I almost felt a scrap of pity for him, but I was too angry and still hurt by his betrayal. Perhaps if he helped me in finding Lori, I’d lessen his sentence.

“Hello Iver.”

Black soulless eyes met mine. “Lucifer.” His voice was raspy from being unused.

“I need your help.”

He laughed, the sound a wet croak. “And why the fuck would I help you after what you’ve done to me?”

I lowered the collar of my black shirt and showed him the soulbond mark. It was a thick black symbol, almost like a tattoo of two crescent moons facing each other, one slightly larger than its mirror image, connected with a line and surrounded by Enochian symbols. This mark of old magic, even older than mine, was a symbol of the bond Lori and I shared. We were joined heart and soul. If one of us died, so did the other. There had already been a couple of close calls but Lori had managed to persuade me to let Selene fix it.

“Mordecai took something of mine. I want her back.”

Iver grinned widely showcasing a mouth full of sharp teeth. “And what do I get in return?”

Demons. Always wanting to make a damn deal. But I couldn’t blame him. I was just the same.

“Iveri.”

His smile dropped and his face paled. “But she’s dead. Burnt away by your Hellfire.”

That was true. She’d instigated a rebellion against me with my other original creations and as punishment I’d killed her and sent the others to the Pit. However, Iveri had made a deal with Selene to save her soul. She would be able to cheat death by claiming bodies as her own. The last person she’d inhabited was Lori until Selene had decided to separate them. Now Iveri was wandering the earth as a lost soul made solid by Selene’s magic. I was still trying to figure out how to sort that disaster out. In order to save Iveri now, I’d need someone who could wield the scintillam vitae but there had only ever been one of those known in history and I didn’t think the Divine was going to help me.

“Not completely dead. I will admit, it is complicated, but I am willing to make a deal with you.”

Iver canted his head, his greasy locks tumbling to one side revealing more of his gaunt face. “I’m listening.”

“Help me rescue Lori and I will move heaven and earth to save Iveri.”

His gaze dropped to the floor, his mind whirring over my words. When I made a deal, it was binding until complete. I would have to uphold my end, even if it took me forever. The problem was, I didn’t know whether Iver’s feelings for Iveri still existed, or if they’d festered into something worse. And would those feelings be more powerful than his wish for vengeance upon me. I was taking a risk, but he was the best hope I had of getting someone close to Mordecai and Selene.

Iver grinned as he brought his gaze back to mine. I couldn’t quite decide if it was a grin of amusement or one of malice.

“I’ll take your deal, your Majesty,” he spat the words. “But I want to be clothed and fed before I go.”

“Fine,” I snapped, holding out my hand. I hadn’t expected anything less anyway. Mordecai wouldn’t want him to turn up looking like this. He was far too snobbish for that.

Iver captured my hand, and I felt the magic of the deal bind us.

Hopefully, I now had an inside man who would help me get closer to saving the love of my life.

Chapter Three

Lori

The sound of cheers and howls echoed all around. A sea of demons, vampires and all sorts of other creatures stood before me in a crowd screaming for their leader. Their King. Fucking Mordecai. After pulling myself together when Mordecai left, I did as I was told. I got dressed and then found myself escorted to this ginormous cavern. I was stood to the right of Mordecai and Selene was on his left. I got the impression we were deep in the bowels of some mountain. It was damp, which meant there was water nearby, and I could feel a soft breeze which stopped the air from being cloying. That meant we weren’t too far underground if I could feel fresh air. The cavern was huge though. The roof of it was so high above me I could barely see it in the shadows. Soft orbs of white light glittered above us, floating magically. It almost looked pretty. Except they were in the lair of a crazed vampire with an ego far too big too even fit in this giant space.

I tried to reach out to my magic again but there was nothing. It was like I knew it should be there but my mind couldn’t quite grasp it. Like how I imagine a phantom limb would feel. There but not. And my demon, not that I was still used to her being my demon, felt like she was in a coma. When Selene had ripped Iveri from me, the Sin Reaper was left behind because she needed something living to stay connected to. Iveri was dead, technically, so the Sin Reaper stayed with me and Iveri became the equivalent of a solid ghost. I hadn’t seen sight of her yet. Perhaps that meant she had stayed in Strigavallis with the Witch Queen instead. Hell had broken loose after Selene had fixed the soulbond. Jasper had interrupted and force fed me some blood which had brought on a manic change in me. I lost my mind. I’m still not certain exactly what happened, only that I called Mordecai to me, even after swearing I wouldn’t – further proof I was clearly crazy – and then Torsten had snapped my neck. Which wasn’t his fault. He was a Shadow Fiend and bound to servitude to a master for eternity. I’d ordered him to kill me to stop Mordecai from taking me. It was only after I’d issued the command that I’d learnt that would trigger my change into being a vampire. Fucking ironic. But once a command is issued to a Shadow Fiend it was unbreakable. Which was stupid, if you asked me.

“Friends, welcome.”

Mordecai’s voice boomed around the large space, distracting me from my inner pity party.

I turned to look at the guy and huffed. How could someone so attractive be such a dick. His good looks were really wasted on him.

---