Page 63 of Cursed Heirs

“It’s not weakness,” X said. “What you took from me… most wouldn’t have survived it.”

“But I did, and everything is fine,” Ore assured him, patting his thigh.

X followed the sight of his hand on him and he actually blushed. “About what else happened aside from the biting and torture… I mean… it was—”

“It was a product of the intensity of the moment, yes. I’m well aware.”

A strained and awkward silence fell between them.

I cut through it, saying, “The demon wanted his cock really fucking bad, huh?”

It worked, the two of them busting out laughing.

“What would we do without you, firebird?” X said, laying his hand on my shoulder.

“Especially in dire times,” Ore added.

“Like losing Alena,” I murmured, the mention of bad times bringing it to the forefront for me.

The atmosphere shifted as my words rolled over us.

“She’s not lost,” Ore said. “She was taken by that madman.”

“She went with him,” I pointed out. “She made the choice to leave us for him.”

“Her choices are being compromised by him. When we walked into her chambers, Elliot and I felt intense black magic all over. That’s how much he’s dosing her with.”

“And the final push he used wasme,”X said, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Hell.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ore told him. “What I said earlier was just to get a rise out of you, to make you snap and come at me so you could lose control. If it hadn’t been you, Constantine would have found something else to influence her.”

“For what purpose? Why is he doing this?”

“He wants angel magic to wield,” Ore stated.

“The question is for what,” X spoke.

Ore nodded. “The very worrying question. We need to get her out of there.”

“How?” X asked. “Exemplarcan’t even get a lock on him. He’s cloaked.”

“Through my father.”

“You think you can establish a blood link to him and cut through the heavy cloaking? How?”

“Before we left Alena’s chambers, I secretly bottled some of Constantine’s black magic remnants. Once I’m back to full strength, I can combine that with the blood link and hopefully use it to cut a path through.”

“Shit, no!” I cried, vehemently.

“To do that, you’ll have to take the black magic into you,” Xavier warned him, his expansive knowledge similar to Ore’s coming into play.

“Briefly.”

“You promised me you wouldn’t go dark,” I reminded him. “Did you just tell me what I wanted to hear?”

“The promise was that I wouldn’t leave you, wouldn’t succumb to it. I’m a dark being, I wield darkness all the time, I can control it. With my father incapacitated and out of reach currently, I’m the only one who can. The other players involved are all Light beings. Just touching black magic risks instant corruption because they’re not familiar with anything like it.”

“Just like what’s happening to Alena right now,” I uttered, hating the reality of the words as they left me.

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