Page 57 of Eclipse Born

Cade's fingers twitched, his breath shallow. His mouth opened, but no words came. For the first time since we'd entered this godforsaken town, I saw something flicker across his face. Confusion. Fear. Uncertainty.

“What did you do to him?” I snarled, moving to stand beside Cade. Close enough that our shoulders nearly touched. Close enough that he'd know I was still there, still with him, no matter what came next.

Asmodeus laughed again, the sound like broken glass against my eardrums. “Me? I didn't do anything.” His smile widened, revealing too-perfect teeth. “But I know who did. I know what was taken. What was... altered.” He took a step closer, and I could smell him now—expensive cologne barely masking the stench of sulfur and rot. “Hell always takes its due. Always.”

“Answer the question, you blue-eyed freak,” I spat. “Who did this to him?”

“Language,” Asmodeus chided, his smile never wavering. “And I think that's between Cade and his benefactor. After all, he's the one who made the deal.”

“I didn't make any deal,” Cade said, his voice flat. But there was a tremor beneath the words, a hint of uncertainty.

“Didn't you?” Asmodeus raised an eyebrow. “Maybe not consciously. But deals can be made in so many ways, Cade. A thought. A wish. A moment of weakness.” He spread his hands. “A desperate need to escape.”

Cade's face had gone pale, the blood draining from his features like water down a drain. I could practically see the gears turning in his head, searching for a memory that wasn't there. For a moment of weakness he couldn't recall.

“Guess you'll figure it out sooner or later,” Asmodeus said, straightening his already-perfect tie. “All deals come due eventually.”

Then, with a snap of his fingers, every demon on the battlefield vanished. Just... gone. The bodies they'd been inhabiting collapsed like marionettes with cut strings, some dead, some merely unconscious. The only evidence they'd been there at all was the lingering smell of sulfur and the eerie silence that followed.

Asmodeus remained, that infuriating smirk still plastered across his stolen face. “We'll chat again soon, Cade. You and I have so much to discuss.” He turned to go, then paused, glancing back at me over his shoulder. “Oh, and Sean? Do try to keep him from breaking entirely. He's so much more valuable intact.”

And then he was gone too, leaving nothing but questions hanging in the air between us.

The fight was over, but my hands still shook with adrenaline and rage as I paced the abandoned auto shop. We'd retreated to Hawk's base, carrying the wounded and leaving the dead. Those who could be saved were being treated in a makeshift infirmary. Those who couldn't... well, in our line of work, proper burials were a luxury few could afford.

The war roomwas silent except for the distant hum of a generator, the flickering light overhead making shadows dance across Cade's face. He sat on the edge of the table, head in his hands, jaw clenched tight enough that I could see the muscles jumping beneath his skin.

Hawk and his remaining men had given us space, sensing the conversation that needed to happen. Or maybe they were just tending to their wounded, their dead. Either way, it was just us now. Me and the shell of the man I'd crossed hell and high water to find.

“What the hell was that?” I snapped, unable to keep the anger from my voice any longer. “What did he mean, Cade? What deal?”

Cade didn't answer, didn't even look up. His knuckles were white where they gripped the edge of the table, blood—not his own—drying in the creases.

“And what the fuck was that out there?” I continued, voice rising despite my best efforts to keep it level. “You didn't even try to save them, Cade. We had the dagger! You—” I exhaled sharply, running a hand through my hair. “You weren't even hesitating.”

Cade finally looked up, his expression blank, eyes dull and distant. Like looking at a photograph of someone rather than the person themselves. “They were already dead.”

I stared at him, momentarily speechless. Those four words hung in the air between us, simple and terrible. “They were already dead.” Not “I thought they were dead” or “I couldn't save them.” But a statement. A fact. As if the people beneath the demons hadn't mattered at all.

That should've been an excuse. Should've been something Cade said because he was exhausted, because he wasn't thinking straight after the fight. But I saw it in his eyes. He meant it.

“Bullshit,” I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous growl. “Some of them, sure. But all of them? We've saved possessed people before, Cade. We've pulled demons out of hosts who walked away just fine. You know that.”

Cade's gaze never wavered, never heated with emotion or cooled with regret. Just... empty. “We're wasting time with exorcisms when we should be focusing on the seals. On Asmodeus. On what really matters.”

“Those people matter!” I slammed my fist against the table, sending a stack of papers cascading to the floor. “Every singleperson we can save matters, Cade. That's the whole damn point of what we do!”

“Is it?” His voice remained flat, emotionless. “Or is the point to stop the apocalypse? To prevent Hell from breaking loose on earth? Because if that's the case, we're not going to win this war by holding back. By trying to save everyone.”

I took a step back, the coldness in his voice more shocking than if he'd screamed at me. “This isn't you.”

“This is exactly me,” Cade replied, standing up straight. “This is me seeing clearly for the first time. Without distraction. Without weakness.”

“Without humanity,” I shot back. “Because that's what this is, Cade. Whatever happened to you in Hell... it took that away. And we need to get it back.”

A muscle in Cade's jaw twitched—the first real reaction I'd seen from him all night. “Nothing was taken that I didn't give willingly.”

I took another step back, searching his face for any sign of the man I knew. The man who had once sat with me after a particularly brutal hunt, talking through every choice we'd made, every life we might have saved if we'd just been a little faster, a little smarter, a little better.

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