Page 56 of Hidden Sacrifice
As if I could summon him, he appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath as if he had recently gone running.
“Right here, Princess,” he said breathlessly. “I was working on the messed-up reports with Ryan’s pack. We may have tracked the reporting demon down. Fachnan.” He approached the bed with a broad smile as his tail swished back and forth lazily. It was good to see him so happy.
“Wait. How long have I been out? Or did you just dip out the moment I went under?”
Jasper’s eyes widened slightly. “You’ve been out for three days, Princess. Justice told us the texts claimed it could take anywhere from an hour to five days before you awoke.”
“I’m not mad. It just felt like I was gone for minutes, not days. I’m just getting my bearings.”
“What was it like, Fox?” Justice put his head on my shoulder.
“I met a god,” I started before recalling everything with as much detail as I could remember. They all sat silently, never daring to interrupt or even ask questions. “Then I woke up,” I finished. Eager to hear their thoughts on what happened.
“Wow,” Aggie said first before the others released loud sighs.
“I told you, you would meet a god someday, Fox,” Justice said, lifting his head to grin at me.
“There’s a lot of information there; even I haven’t read about before. Demonlings are rare, but they have happened before. I don’t understand why this wasn’t recorded.” Aggie complained as she pulled out blank paper and started scribbling notes.
“Why don’t we ask some mated demons and figure out what the demonlings know. You all live crazy long lives; there must be some around,” I suggested. Maybe I could see if their experience was like mine.
“You are the only demonling alive,” Jax said, causing silence to fill the room. “Mated demons live much shorter lives than non-mated demons. When one member of the pack dies, the other members go insane. If the demonling dies first, the entire pack goes crazy. If a demon dies first, the demonling will go insane and eventually die. Once the demonling is dead, the rest of the pack follows quickly.”
“But aren’t you all-powerful? And now I have all the powers, making me super ultra-powerful. We shouldn’t have any problem staying alive.” From what I gathered, we were somewhat invincible.
“Jace is the weakest since he is a vampire. He can be killed with a direct hit through the heart, decapitation, and complete blood loss.” Justice reported while his hand rubbed up and down my arm soothingly. I could feel him using his power on me to keep me calm, in addition to the mental calm room I was already shielding with.
“Which is another reason he needs to become part of the pack sooner than later.” Jax stood; like a giant block of ice slowly melting with waves of frigidity wafting out.
“I thought things were better between the two of you before I left,” I whined. It may not have been dignified, but we had made some progress, and I hoped we hadn’t lost it so quickly.
“We’ve been fine. He’s just worried,” Jace said, sounding entirely like himself again.
“Of course, I’m worried. If something happens to you, she dies. I would worry about that every day if I were you,” Jax snipped.
“Trust me; I would like this pack thing to get done sooner rather than later. You were the one holding us all back with your stupid leash. All you wanted to do was make sure I couldn’t fuck her since you can’t do it yet either.” Jace had gotten to stand in the middle of his speech, his tone gradually increasing as he approached Jax.
“Because you needed to pay for what you did to her,” Jax snapped back.
Aggie looked like she needed an extra-large bowl of popcorn.
“That was for me and her to work out,” Jace said through gritted teeth.
“It would have taken her a few days to forget and forgive everything completely. I know because I know her. I’ve seen her forgive me after the way I treated her, and I knew she would do the same for you.”
“Jax,” I said cautiously before Jace could come back with anything else. “I don’t want any of you interfering in the individual relationships with each other. We are all aware of that now and should continue moving forward. Not back. So, Aggie, if you would please start the rune process.”
Aggie turned to me, grabbing the damn bone needle with a wide grin. Well fuck it, I could heal.
“First, let’s unlock your full demon. Then you can change your form.” Aggie opened one of the vials and then dipped the tip of the needle into the churning black ink. A thick glob hung writhing from the end when she pulled the hand free, trying to pull free from the bone. “What design and where do you want it?”
“Umm,” I said, my mind completely blank. I looked over to Justice quickly. “A crow,” I said, pointing to my shoulder. “You can do all of them today as crows all over this part of my arm,” I gestured up and down the spots where Justice had rubbed. Next time I will have the runes better planned. For today, it was efficient and straightforward.
“You got it,” Aggie said excitedly as she touched the angry ink blob to my shoulder.
I watched with fascination as the ink crawled onto my skin; it seemed agitated. Aggie started to mutter words under her breath too fast for me to understand. The ink tickled as it moved across my skin, forming the perfect lines of a small crow. Once the design was in place, Aggie stopped chanting.
“That was-,” I started before Aggie stabbed the needle into my arm, pinning the tattoo to my skin.
