Page 73 of Wrath's Call

He didn’t bother replying, he just looked back at himself.

“Do you see the silver in the blood?” he asked, his tone near robotic.

“Yes, what does that mean?”

“It’s an archdemon’s life force. If an archdemon comes to close to death it will become evident.” He replied, his explanation full of reminiscence.

“You stopped healing,”

“There was no more wrath to heal with. I couldn’t even get any of the other sins off the remaining casters.”

It clicked then why the casters were being removed. “He killed anyone who felt anything but humility.”

“Yes.” Marik replied.

The minutes stretched before us, but finally the cuts on his forehead and back healed. The boy’s face pinched up in pain. Beside me Marik began to rub his forearm. And out of the corner of my eye I saw Vitus smile.

Before I could say anything else the world around us faded, and we returned into my own memory. But while I still watched it run before me, I was able to remain detached, my mind reeling from what I had just seen. When it was over, rather than focusing on the hole in my chest, I looked at Marik, who lounged in the grass around us again.

“How did you heal yourself?”

“I absorbed humility,” He replied, sitting up. He rolled up his suit jacket, and beneath it, a single black tally mark was there, “Demons can absorb the virtues in dire situations to power their abilities. The same can be said for angels. It's a natural defense of sorts and refers to the ancient myths that we were once the same race of being.” Marik traced his thumb along the tally mark before continuing. “But we can only do it five times in our lifetimes, and each time we gain a small mark on our forearms.”

“What happens after five?”

“We rise,” he replied. “We, by all intents and purposes, become angels. And vice versa.”

I sat stunned for a minute, processing all he had told me.

“Once a demon taps into a virtue, they can control it to some extent in the future. I am now always able to draw a little bit of humility. As long as I don’t use it to power my primary gifts, I don’t pick up another tally mark.”

“But if you ever used it again to… let’s say heal yourself?” I questioned; my voice tinged with uncertainty.

“I’d pick up another tally mark,” Marik replied matter-of-factly, his words carrying a weight of experience.

“Do you think that’s maybe why I’m able to control sins and virtues?” I pondered aloud, a sense of realization dawning as I connected the dots.

Marik shook his head. “You have no evidence anywhere of anything like what I went through. And with how often you use the virtues to heal, I’d say you would be ascended a long time ago.”

“So, I’m still a freak.”

“Being a freak can be fun. I’m the only archdemon on Earth. Some would say that labels me as a freak.”

“A stupid powerful freak.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say anything about my power is stupid, Little Thief,” he smirked at me, the seriousness of his earlier tone lost to the moment's elation.

I reached out to shove him, but he beat me to it, grabbing my hand and roughly pulling me down on top of him. He wrapped his powerful legs around mine, pinning me on top of him as he grinned wolfishly up at me. The scar next to his lip pulled up as he grinned, and I had a new appreciation for it. Or I would have had he not wrapped his arms around me so tightly mine became pinned.

“Now this is a better position for a conversation,” he said, as I struggled.

“Says you,” I replied childishly.

“Well yes, I did say that.”

I rolled my eyes, and he grinned even wider, both dimples appearing on his all-too-ruggedly handsome face.

“So where do we go from here?” I asked as he loosened his grip on my back so I could push my chest up off him.

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