Page 65 of Demonic Division

My palm wrapsaround the demon's throat, claws lengthening and ripping into his pale gray flesh. The creature screams, fangs lengthening to horrifying needlelike points and dripping with a pale purple fluid. Thick droplets fall onto my forearms, sizzling past the flesh and burrowing down to the bone. My own wail echoes in my mind, and I use the pain to fuel my rage, giving everything I have to ripping the head from this cursed creature.

With a bellowing roar, I separate the body from the head, showering the ground in disgusting dark purple sludge. I fling the remains to the ice below, my wings beating down in a powerful movement, the force enough to shoot me into the upper atmosphere. The air thins, and I spin in a slow circle, my eyes scouring the hazy clouds for threats.

When none appear, I turn my attention below. Cyprien and Lir are in a vicious struggle with four of Slaine’s forces, using every trick they have in their arsenal to fight the uneven battle. With a mighty roar, Cyprien barrels toward the demon on his right, tucking his wings in tight sohe shoots through the air like a missile. His attack lands, and he uses the demon's surprise to land a devastating blow to his head. The demon’s eyes roll back as Cyprien wraps his hands around his skull, curving his body inward and digging the claws of his feet into the soldier’s stomach. With a vicious roar, Cyprien kicks his feet downward, disemboweling the demon at the same time he tears the head from the shoulders.

The head follows the body to the ground, and Cyprien flies back up to aid Lir in his fight. The three remaining demons have surrounded him, their eyes narrowed in malice, smiles wide and taunting, believing they’ve found easy prey. Cyprien strikes from below, digging his claws into the demon's inner thigh and launching them both high into the upper atmosphere. The distraction allows Lir to circle the two remaining demons, out of reach.

While Cyprien deals with the one above, Lir sends out a blast of air, knocking his opponents off balance. They careen through the air, cartwheeling over each other in a mess of snarling teeth and limbs, giving Lir plenty of time to enact his final blow.

The runes on Lir’s forearms glow bright as he flies toward the two demons, his claws extending and mouth opening wide to reveal a terrifying set of pointed teeth. His jaws circle around one demon’s throat while his hands grab the others, ripping the throats from his victims in one swift movement. Eyes rolling back, the demons join their comrades on the ground, and Lir shoots upward to help Cyprien finish off the last soldier.

I’m about to fly down to join the fray when something off in the distance catches my eye. I turn my head, the thing in my chest pulling my gaze toward the single Welwig at the border of the castle grounds. I cannot see past the thickswatch of dripping leaves, but still, it draws me to it. Casts all other thoughts from my mind and fills me with a desire to investigate.

My heart cries out, pleading with me to go. Begging for a taste. A touch.

Dagny…my eyes widen as understanding flows through me.Dagny is down there…

I’m not surehowI know—only it’s true. And if Dagny is out here, that means she somehow got out of her cell. And if she got out ofhers,there’s a good chance someone else did, also.

I don’t have to wonder about it for long, though. As soon as a menacing voice breaks out behind me, I know my worst fears have come true.He escaped.

“Hello, Kaebl,” M says, his words punctuated by wings beating the air. “I bet you wish you treated me a little nicer, now, don’t you?”

I turn slowly, real fear clenching my heart.M, you don’t know what you’re doing?—

“That is not my fucking name!” he interrupts, his lips curling back in a snarl. “Iknowwhat I am—and I will not hide from it any longer. I will not let youeraseme.” His wings snap in the air as he rises up, claws extending and canines piercing his lower lip.

“You wanted to take everything from me?” His snarl turns to a mocking smirk, and he hovers midair, his muscles rippling beneath his flesh, pulsing with the new power thrumming in his veins. “Allow me to show you what itfeelslike.”

M erupts into a ball of shadows, slamming into my side with a power I’ve never known. A bolt of lightning strikes my heart, freezing my muscles and causing my wings to fail. My vision fractures as I fall from the sky,flipping head over feet as I careen toward the ground. The wind whips my skin, cutting to the bone. I close my eyes, relishing the descent like I have so many times before—anguishing the inevitable collision, too lost in the freedom of the moment to actually care.

And when my bones break against the ice, it’s the sweetest embrace I’ve known.

39

Dagny

Swirling beamsof light shine behind my closed lids, moving through the vast darkness of my mind—not unlike those lights above the Welwigs I saw when I first came to this strange place. I remember how they danced and pulsed above those frosted canopies, adding color to a world so devoid of it.

I struggle to crack my eyes open, a thick haze of sleep clinging to my lashes and holding my lids together. Eventually, I’m able to peek through thin slits, though the strangeness of my surroundings only adds to my confusion.

The thin branches of the Welwig droop toward the ground like the strands on the head of a mop, each one weighed down by thousands of translucent, icicle-shaped leaves. It offers a perfect cover from the elements but doesn’t allow me to see past the small circular clearing at the base of the trunk.

I blink against the haze, trying to recall memories of the past few hours. Waking up with Roark, Lir, and Cyprien. Kaebl showing up, covered in blood. Slaine’s forces attacking. Being locked down in the dungeons with M.

At the last thought, I shoot upright, my vision swimming as the blood rushes to my head.M. He knocked me out. He… why would he do that?

I shake my head, squeezing my eyes tight as a flood of emotions swarm my mind. Fear is at the forefront, but it’s overshadowed by something far more sinister.Desire.That thing in my chest is still aching for M—demanding I find him and strengthen our bond.

Weakly, I crawl out from under the protection of the Welwig. Cold air whips against my skin as I pass through the last of the branches, and I have to squint against the blinding silver light shining down from the sun.

Blinking rapidly, I try to focus on the tiny silhouettes lining the horizon. On closer inspection, one of them has the same outline as Kaebl. And the other…

My throat constricts as I catch sight of M, his lips pulled back in a horrific snarl as he launches through the air toward Kaebl. His body erupts into a ball of flaming shadows just before he makes impact, one with enough power to break the demon lord’s body and knock him from the very sky.

My vision flickers with shadows, then explodes in a kaleidoscope of colors, breaking apart like shards of glass and raining down to the frozen ground. And in the center of the shower is Kaebl. Broken and bloodied, he flips head over feet, his wings jutting out at odd angles as they fight to gain control of the spiral. And then, he just stops. Stops moving. Stops fighting.

He lets go, closes his eyes, and crashes. The ground beneath my palms shudders with the impact at the same time an anguished cry pierces the air. It takes me a moment to realize the cry is coming from my own lips, and even then, I’m powerless to stop it.

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