Page 66 of Demonic Division

The thing in my chest is onfire,boiling my blood and searing through my veins. It builds and builds, erupting in a blinding explosion of light spreading from my pores and coating my outline in shimmering silver light. I throw my head back in a scream that threatens to shatter the sky as a scorching pain travels up my spine, settling in the spot between my shoulder blades and burrowing deep into my marrow. My skin shudders with the sensation of a million fire ants slicing into my flesh, a billion fireflies buzzing in my head.

I can’t think, can’t breathe, can’t move. But Iamacutely aware of two wings materializing in my periphery. Shimmering onyx feathers dance in the breeze, catching and reflecting the silver light like millions of dangling gemstones. I’m so shocked from the sight, the pain radiating throughout my body ceases for a moment.

But it’s only for a moment.

In the next, a powerful blast of magic tears across the land, carving a deep crater into the frozen ground that travels for miles and covers my body in angry flames. The force is too much for me to handle—too volatile—and I’m sent flying backward through the air, my wings dissipating once more into the void.

The back of my skull smacks against the ground as the last of my beautiful wings evaporate, and a horriblecrackbreaks the air as pain flares throughout my entire body. Warm liquid pools on the ground like a halo around my head, and though I try to reach up, my arm won’t move. So I lie there helplessly, focused on continuing to draw breath as more and more blood joins the puddle, seeping into furs around my neck and staining them crimson.

I turn my head slightly, blinking against the fog coating my vision, blurring the edges of the golden-eyed demonheaped in the middle of the battlefield.Kaebl.That thing in my chest rears up, releasing an animalistic wail that shakes my very bones.He can’t be gone. He can’t be.

Powerful red wings beat the air, sending a cloud of snow billowing as M lowers onto the ground. Elongated claws pierce the ice as he touches down, giving his thick, padded feet traction as he stalks toward Kaebl. The runes along his forearms glow molten, casting a warm red light onto M's face and chest.

He looks deadly. He looks beautiful.

Despite the atrocity I just witnessed, the thing beneath my skin still calls for M. It still wants him, needs him despite what he just did to Kaebl. I’ve never been so conflicted, so at war with parts of myself that are integral to my very being. Luckily, I don’t have to think about it for long.

All other thoughts are dashed as Kaebl’s eyes open, latching onto mine like they’re the only ones that exist out here. A small, rare smile tips his mouth, his eyes flashing blue for a split moment before settling back to their usual gold. My chest aches as he lifts a bloodied arm, his clawed fingertips reaching for me across the distance. His last thoughts are not on survival but on connecting with me one last time.

M turns his head, following the line of Kaebl’s arm, and his mouth presses into a thin line. His eye flaring, he brings his hand into the air, and I know when it comes down, the blow will end Kaebl. Before he makes impact, a ball of yellow light zooms through the air, knocking directly into M's arm and sending it off course. M's fist smashes into the ice just to the side of Kaebl’s skull, carving a deep crater and sending shards of ice shooting through the air.

He turns his head just in time to catch Cyprien’sfist, the force and surprise of the attack causing M to careen backward to the ground. He’s down for less than a moment before he’s at Cyprien’s throat, clawed hands wrapping around his throat and digging deep into his flesh.

“I’ve waited so long for this,” he whispers, his tone full of venom, brimming with a deep-seated rage. “Let’s see just how easy the bunny’s neck snaps, shall we?” His eye gleams with malice as his claws extend and rip downward, causing thick swaths of blue-black blood to stream down Cyprien’s neck, pooling on the ground around his feet.

A scream tears up my windpipe but won’t leave my body. It’s stuck somewhere in my chest, trying to squeeze past the fist wrapped around my throat, the icy fingers reaching to the pit of my stomach and choking me with dread.

“N-no… no-not…” Cyprien blubbers incoherently, his eyes glazing over as the blood continues to leave his body. His shoulders slump, and he falls forward onto M's shoulder, his lids drifting closed as the last of his life is drained from his veins.

I think it’s all over when a crackling roar fills the air. My gaze drifts to the sky, where a blue ball of fire hurtles toward the battling demons. Lir crashes into M, knocking his hands from Cyprien as they tumble to the side in a fight to the death. Teeth, claws, limbs, and blood blur together in a flurry of movement and violence, filling the air with unholy shrieks and snarls that send shivers down my spine.

Another roar pierces the air—this one much deeper than the others—and my attention shifts once more as a golden ball of light shoots to the upper atmosphere. My eyes widen in awe as Kaebl’s great wings spread to the side, pumping powerfully despite the blood and flesh dangling from the tattered appendages. His mouth opens in avicious bellow, one with enough force to shake the ground beneath me.

Light flares out from him in all directions, from every pore, inking the sky with vibrant hues of purple, green, blue, yellow, and red. They dance in the vast nothing, bleeding color into the surrounding air and clouds.

But even more astounding is the sight of the other demons.

Where their borders were once solid, each of the four demons are now flickering, fading in and out of focus like they’re nothing more than holograms. Lir and M cease their fighting at once, their attention diverted to their limbs slowly fading to translucent.

“What the fuck…?” Cyprien gazes down at his hands, turning them over in the light as they continue to fade. “What is…” His head snaps up to the sky, and a piercing howl echoes into the night. Lir, M, and Roark follow, seeming to be pulled by an invisible thread as their heads snap toward the sky—toward the glistening demon lord and the aura pulsing from his outline.

Slowly, Cyprien, Lir, M, and Roark begin to disappear, their bodies dissolving like grains of sand in the breeze. And all the while, the colors billowing in the sky grow brighter. I look from the ground to the sky, realization hitting me like a freight train. M isn’t the core.

Kaebl is. Kaebl is the main piece.

My eyes find M just before he vanishes, and I’m unsurprised to find his gaze already on me, an all-knowing smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. Always so cunning. Always hiding something.

His smirk widens, showcasing each one of his pointed teeth as he reaches up, pointing at the sky. I follow the lineof his hand just as it dissolves into thin air, leaving me with the sight of Kaebl gleaming in the night.

Or, I should say, whatused to beKaebl.

The demon hovering in the sky is as similar to Kaebl as a lion is to a snake. Thick, flowing hair cascades past his shoulders and over his back like a snowy white mane, ending in tips colored the same hue as Kaebl’s eyes.

Thisdemon’s eyes are pitch black—soulless dark orbs seeming to see nothing and everything all at once, and they immediately find mine across the distance before shifting to the vibrant bond markings pulsing beneath my skin to the frantic beat of my heart.

His eyes flicker with an indescribable emotion, his jaw setting and a massive, clawed fist clenching at his side. It looks like he plans to fly to me, but then, all at once, Abaddon rears his head back, bellowing an anguished scream to the clouds.

Something is wrong.

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