Page 27 of The Misfit Mage and His Darling Demon

He regathered his form, wheezing and backing away. Bloody and broken, with the rot on his face sinking even deeper.

“Wait, don’t.” Novus crawled on his belly like the insignificant worm he was. “You need me. Especially in this place. If you—”

SPLAT.

I smashed my heel through the back of his head. It caved in, splattering blood, chunks of bone, and gooey grey matter onto the floor.

“You talk too much,” I said, grinding my foot into the marble flooring.

The squish beneath my shoe was divine, coupled with the fading melodies of the Fae’s magics. It seemed this entire villa ran on horrid, pitchy tunes humming along like a locomotive, but now it all stilled, replaced by the spasming of a corpse and splash of pumping blood gushing from a formerly intact head.

“Gods.” Wally cupped a hand over his mouth, his face sweaty and green. “Did you have to crush his head like that?”

I shook off the queasiness he sought to share with me, having nothing but joy in the messy muck at my feet.

“You practically begged me.”

“Only because you were going to let him murder me to make a point.”

“Nonsense.” I scoffed. “I’d have drawn the line at light torture.”

“Asshole. I can’t believe you—”

“Saved your life? I know. I’m as shocked as you.” I spun around, hand on my forehead to convey phony exhaustion, which Wally didn’t buy. “Thankfully, I was able to decrypt the complex secrets hidden within that card and teleport to you.”

Wally’s anger faded, replaced by curiosity because of all his emotions, Wally’s curious nature for answers about everything remained intact. “How’d you manage that?”

“I listen when you talk, obviously.”

Antoninus skittered behind Wally, the scorpion quickly approaching with each step of his tiny, pointed feet. I used a tail to subtly chuck the scorpion across the library again. He’d simply take all the credit, insisting he’d been the reason for Wally’s rescue when it was clearly my essence which activated the sigils, and I safely flew us through the dimensional barriers warded throughout this villa.

“What’d you learn during your visit?”

“Visit?” Wally twisted his lips, a musing gesture when searching for a way to express something. “That Baron Novus has a lot of illegal relics, access to lots of magics, and was planning on creating his own dimensional traveling port. Or I suppose he has but wanted your essence to add to it. Not sure why. Other than a devil’s essence would be a thousand-fold stronger and fast track his agenda.”

“So, nothing we didn’t already know?”

“Next time I’m held against my will in a separate dimension by someone who wants to bleed me of essence and control my boyfriend, I’ll be sure to direct the conversation to more revealing secrets.”

“That’d be considerate, all I’m saying.” I batted my lashes, watching Wally’s face turn red from flustered aggravation. “Let us search this place.”

“You know, I suspected he wanted to control you, but he didn’t. Whatever he’s doing with Diabolics doesn’t involve a bond.”

The foul stench of demon essence seeped into every wall of this villa expressed that much.

“There’s more than bonds,” I said. “Hell realms themselves use Diabolic essence from feeble demons to strengthen borders, enhance defenses, and make life generally more streamlined for everyone else living there. It’s similar to the mortal working class, only devils shred demons and pour their discombobulated essence into the fabric of Hell.”

“That’s awful.”

“Yes, terrible. Truly,” I said. “I’m more curious about how the Fae managed to pull off something like this.”

“A Fae,” Wally said. “From what I gathered, in my completely unhelpful detainment, is that Novus didn’t trust a lot of other Fae knowing his plans. Chances are this was a solo act.”

“Perhaps.” I sniffed the air. Mythic residue permeated the air almost hand and hand with the Diabolic essence coated throughout, but I couldn’t discern if the magical residue came from visitors, captives, or his collection of trinkets. “Keep careful attention all the same. I don’t desire being caught off guard by any Fae loyalists.”

“We could start our search here.” Wally rushed off, immediately heading to a podium where he’d clearly guessed correctly on a directory for this vast book room. “There could be useful information about how this villa works, how he’s using Diabolics, a map to the place maybe. Seems huge from what I’ve seen so far.”

“Please. I tore my way through the bulk of the villa. Simply a manor, smaller than the one you worked at when a part of the Collective.” I conjured black flames between closely pressed palms. “I say we save ourselves the hassle and burn this entire place to the ground. No secrets to uncover or potential partners to exploit in a heap of ash and rubble floating between worlds.”

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