Page 65 of Deal with the Devil

“Declan, being the old mob boss whom…as far as I was told and the rumors say, you killed?” Aravis eyed Knox.

“Funny thing that, as I was sure Declan was dead too. But yes, one and the same. You see, Declan stole a very important book from the Library of Madness in the Nightmare Realm. It has infected him, given him a false immortality as a vampire. He’s cursed and he’s infecting others as he goes. I suspect Rick is one of his infected spawn, much like a sweet but strong teenage girl named Gael Rennly is…a girl who was in my care after I found her in one of Rick’s Friend’s basements. She is no longer in my care after my business was attacked.”

Aravis let out a slow, aggravated breath. “And where is the missing teen now?”

“Probably with her vampire sire, helping him unwillingly in his plot to destroy me. Declan isn’t after money, he’s after me. He’s coming for me.” Knox leaned over his lap and locked eyes with Aravis. “And if you’re wise you’ll help me find and kill him first.”

“Why would I ever help you? You’re a career criminal.” Aravis’s words were soft, impassive, barely a hint of tone. He was hiding something. Which meant Aravis was looking for a specific answer.

Knox wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he gave what Aravis needed. “You’re a fool if you think you can clean this city of all crime. Laws are just rules set by the elite to keep the status quo and punish those not powerful, rich, or beautiful enough to change it. So don’t you dare look me in the eye like you’re better than me, Aravis Blightwood. Not when this city did nothing to help me or save me. Itowes me.”

Aravis sat in cold, emotionless silence, staring directly at Knox. A twinge of expectation filled Aravis’ eyes. Knox was all too happy to comply. “Declan will ravage this city. He will eat and kill and drink it dry until there is nothing left. The infection has turned him into a monster of unimaginable power and hunger. And that’s just icing on the cake, because Declan before the infection was no walk in the park either. Your father must have told you the stories. Everyone knew and yetno one did a thing about it.”

“He told me of Declan’s territorial tendencies, yes—”

Knox barked out a laugh, “Territorial? Declan was a soulless, merciless, blood thirsty beast even before he got the fangs. I was eight when a man in a suit paid me a handful of silver to deliver a box. That’s all. I wasn’t allowed to know what was in the box. It was an ear. One of Declan’s toys that he didn’t truly care for, butit was all it took for him to hang me by my toes in his dungeon. He cut me from pelvis to throat, over and over, bleeding me till I was a husk then using his twisted clerics to bring me back. He killed me, a child with no money or idea what I did to deserve it, over and over and over again until it pleased him to put me to work. He’d make me run packages and then when I wasn’t back in time, which I never could be, he’d hang me from the ceiling and gut me again. Play in my insides and stuff me back together again… Just a street kid, a sewer rat, and he did that over an ear, Blightwood. Imagine how he feels after I ripped him apart and set fire to his empire. I built my whole life, my whole career, over the ashes of his, Blightwood.”

Aravis softened, his face full of empathy as he studied Knox’s feral, wide eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh please,” Knox rolled his eyes, tossing himself back against the arm of the couch. “You think I was his only victim? That I was the only child he murdered for fun? I saw him butcher an entire family for cutting off his limo in traffic. Declan was a cruel, unfeeling, monster. I may be many things, Aravis, but I’m not him. My employees you threatened to arrest? Most of them were victims of Declan. I offered them a chance to live a life, to get back even an ounce of revenge on the man who ruined them. And for the most part they’re loyal, though, it seemed there were a few rats in the nest. I’ve cleaned house…but that won’t stop Declan. He is out for more than blood and he’s clearly not going to stop. So, what are you going to do about it?”

Aravis stared at Knox for a long while, the crackling of wood the only sound in the room. Knox could hear the creaking of floorboards above his head, the movement of feet around the house, the way it breathed. Aravis finally broke the silence with a sigh, “Unfortunately, I think I’m about to offer my aid.”

“Unfortunately,” Knox teased, “you wound me.”

“I want it clear I am doing this for the good of King’s Fall and not because I like you or want to encourage more of your business, Mr. Zrazduel.” Aravis climbed to his feet, straightening his coat. “We will speak more later. But as long as you keep honest with me, as you have, I will do everything in my power to keep you, yours, and the city safe.”

Aravis left the room, feathers ruffled but nonetheless on board. Now if only Knox could get to Declan first. Despite Aravis’ ambitions to help, Knox was 100% sure the Fowlst would merely arrest Declan. There was no reality where this ended well for either Knox or Aravis if Declan was suffered to live. No, he’d earned a final death…and this time, Knox knew exactly what to do to ensure he croaked.

“Sir?” Denver poked his head into the office.

“Have Ms. Armstrong dressed and fed, please. I have a little bit of business to conduct before we leave for the casino.” Knox glanced over his shoulder to his butler. The centaur bowed deeply, slipping the door shut behind him. The resounding click filled the office with dread. All the lights within the room hissed as they were snuffed out. From his desk, the book he’d last touched flipped through pages as if in front of a moving fan. The stifling heat of a cauldron made his skin moist with sweat.

Knox turned around to face his fireplace to find that it was replaced. Instead of his couch, he was sat on a massive cushion before a bubbling cauldron. Fire of all colors licked up the side of the iron. A face, twisted and pained, was embellished on the side as if their face was burned into the metal before it set in place. Knox’s gaze trailed up the side of the cauldron belly. His crone leaned over the concoction, stirring it steadily with a heavy wooden spoon.

“Little fear-eater, whatever are you going to do?” she teased with a crackling voice, her throat bobbing with every taunting syllable.

“I’m going to eat him, just like I should have done the first time.” Knox climbed to his feet.

She didn’t answer at first, stirring constantly. Her eyes bore through the goop in her cauldron, as if searching it for answers. Knox followed her gaze, seeing the film of the potion slip away…leaving a small window. An image of him, glowing with gold veins, eyes black, horns curled and on fire. He was wrenched backward uncomfortably, fangs bared up to the sky, his tails lashing out with heavy barbs. As she stirred around the edge, the vision began to change…the Knox in the cauldron was replaced by the same face he saw in the mirror. His mirror image turned away from him and smiled down at Amelia. She tugged on him, covered in a pink mist that he inhaled.Feeding off her happiness.Knox watched his mirror self-feeding off her joy that she gave freely, twirling in his arms on the ballroom floor of his home. His heart lurched.

The brew darkened, thickening up into a heavy, viscous goop.

“’Tis a shame, isn’t it?” Persephone smirked to herself as she raised her gaze from the green ooze frothing up in her cauldron.

“A shame?” Knox huffed.

“You’d just started to become a devourer, and you’d chomp him right up to what? Absorb his power? His madness? The man’s infected, biting into him would only infect you?” She peaked up with a mischievous evil glint in her eye.

“What?” Knox exhaled heavily. “Wait, so that…that first version of me—”

“Is what happens if you feed from him,” Persephone whisked the spoon from the cauldron and dunked it into a massive bucket full of water. It hissed and sizzled, leaving a burning pine scent in the air.

“And the second one?” Knox blurted out, desperate to know the truth. “I fed on her desire before, it was…it was better thanthe fear. It tasted sweeter. Are you saying I can feed on other things? Other emotions?”

“A fear-eater is only the beginning to becoming the Nightmare Devourer, my sweet boy.” Persephone reached over the cauldron and booping his nose. “But if you ruin that nice diet you’re on, you’ll lose her and yourself. Sure, you’ll have unimaginable power but there is always a cost, Knox.”

“Then how do I destroy him? How do I make sure he stays dead?” Knox slammed his palms down onto the lip of the cauldron, ignoring the searing pain on his palms.

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