Page 110 of Spit

Arlo should have noticed when he saw Xylazine and silver nitrate in Legion’s blood.

As Arlo untangled the makeup of the drug that had felled Legion, he realized that several of his suggestions had been implemented in the sedative. Magic woven with biology and held together with silver nitrate extracted from Devil’s silver.

No one used Devil’whichs silver anymore. It was increasingly hard to find after the Devil disappeared from the known realities.

Arlo took Camio’s betrayal as hard, if not harder than Legion had done. The pride demon had not stopped pacing, his hair sticking out in all directions as he tugged it at the roots. Sev sat solemnly with his head in his hands.

For the first time since he had known the male, Trey was sharpening a knife, preparing to go into battle.

“Katalina.” Legion spat after the silence became too much.

“Shall I save her for you?” Trey said, his eyes fixed on the blade as he ran the sharp edge against a whetstone.

“She is mine to punish.” Legion’s jaw was tight, and his fists clenched.

“Alexis Boudaire ismy mate.” Trey’s gaze finally met Legion’s, hard enough to punch a hole through his middle. “I made my intentions clear. I don’t care what you feel for her. What conflict you invented to distance yourself. I will have her. We have soulbonded as mates do. She carries my affection, and I carry hers.”

“Does she know you’ve soulbonded?” Arlo raised his hand, feeling like a child in a classroom.

Trey scoffed and turned back to his knife. “What of you?” Sloth asked, directing the question to Arlo. “She saw your true form. It rose up to protect her.”

“That doesn’t mean—” Legion argued.

Arlo cleared his throat, interrupting. “I, too, have bonded with Alexis Boudaire. If she would have me.”

Legion’s hands flailed helplessly at his side as he turned to Sev. Sev met his gaze; everything was written plainly on his face.

“Not you too.” Legion groaned.

Sev looked like a man that had returned home from war. “You fight against the tide. Alexis Boudaire belongs to us. She is ours. All of ours.”

Legion sank down in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. His legs spread, and his emotions were plain on his face.

“Camio is alive.” Legion was stricken. “Why does he desire more freedom than he has? I bartered with the Balance, the god of all and everything. I begged and pleaded so that you all could walk free in exchange for a hundred years of service. So you all were no longer trapped in my body. She could have very well decided to kill us instead, but she felt generous. Why does Camio wantmore?”

Arlo had a sour feeling. The kind he got when he felt like he was missing something. “What would happen if Camio killed you?” Arlo’s brow creased in thought. Already a million miles away.

Legion’s smile was bitter. “Nothing good.”

Trey snorted, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned on the wall. “If Legion falls, we all do,” Trey explained. “Legion is our anchor. When we fell, you know how injured we were. God didn’t just rip into our bodies; she ripped our very beings apart. If we had souls, they would have been in tatters. The only reason we walk free at this moment is because of the runes carved into the walls. If we left the city, we’d be sucked right back into Legion’s body.”

“What does Camio think is going to happen?” Sev’s haunted eyes flicked to Arlos. “You knew him best. Please. Arlo. What is he thinking?”

Arlo shifted from one foot to the other. “I don’t think Camioisthinking. Unless he plans to kill himself and take everyone down with him.”

Trey rolled his eyes. “Camio was always the dramatic one.”

“And here I thought that was you.” Sev gave him a long look.

Trey grinned unapologetically, taking a bow.

“They’re still in the city.” Arlo turned to Legion. “All three of the facets haven’t gone past the city limits. We can find them. We know the right direction now.”

“Yes.” Legion’s gaze grew dark. “We do.”

Legion and Arlo walked down into the depths of Hemlock House. The house stood raised from the ground on concrete foundations, part of why the steps leading into the entrance hall were so steep. The mansion's basement tended to flood in the fall, freezing over in the winter. Though its place in reality sat tenuously between the human realities and purgatory, the conditions sometimes changed daily.

Arlo thought of the basement as the dungeons, but Legion would never be so uncouth as to name it that. Legion called it his rec room—it just so happened that said rec room had a set of chains connected to the wall and cyclian runes carved into the floor. The markings protected the whole property and secured any prisoners in the basement. Even if they had the magic to escape the chains.

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