Chapter Eight—curse
Daemon's POV
I shouldn't have told her that.
The word hung in my mind like a curse. Everything. She'd been everything, and I'd just handed her that truth like it meant nothing.
Stupid. Reckless.
I stalked through the corridors of Hell, my footsteps echoing off obsidian walls. Demons scattered at my approach, pressing themselves against the stone. Good. I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries.
The throne room doors burst open before I reached them, responding to my mood. Inside, I found exactly what I'd expected. More problems.
A demon knelt at the base of my throne. One of the scouts I'd sent to Earth to track the Veilstone signatures. His form flickered nervously, shadows peeling off him like smoke.
"My lord." He kept his eyes on the floor. "I bring news."
"It better be good news, Kael. I'm not in the mood for complications."
"The first location. We found it." He pulled out a small object wrapped in black cloth. "But there's a problem."
Of course there was.
I descended the steps and took the cloth from him, unwrapping it carefully. Inside was a shard of Veilstone no bigger than my thumb. It pulsed with a sickly gray light, and even through the cloth I could feel its power.
Raw. Chaotic. The essence of creation itself.
"This is barely a fragment," I said. "We need at least three full stones to even attempt the ritual."
"I know, my lord. But that's not the problem." Kael's voice dropped. "When we extracted it, Heaven's forces showed up. They're tracking the stones too."
I crushed the cloth in my fist. "How many?"
"A full battalion. Led by Michael himself."
Michael. Heaven's greatest warrior. The one who'd stood beside me during the war, who'd called me brother before he'd helped cast me down. The one who'd looked me in the eye and told me I was making a mistake.
"Did they see you?"
"No, my lord. We fled before they could engage. But they know someone else is searching. They'll be tracking every Veilstone signature now."
I turned the fragment over in my hand, watching the light pulse. If Heaven was actively hunting the stones, this just became infinitely more complicated. The plan had been to collect them quietly, to move before they realized what I was doing. But if Michael was involved, if he was leading the search personally, then someone up there knew exactly what the Veilstone could do.
Someone was afraid.
Good. Let them be afraid.
"The other locations?" I asked.
"We're still mapping them. But with Heaven's forces mobilized..." Kael hesitated. "It may be too dangerous to proceed."
"We proceed." I tucked the fragment into my pocket. "Double the scout teams. I want eyes on every potential site. And Kael?"
"Yes, my lord?"
"If you encounter Michael's forces again, don't engage. Don't let them see you. Don't even let them know we're interested." I met his eyes. "But if they happen to lead us to a larger stone while they're searching? Follow them."
A slow smile spread across Kael's face. "Clever, my lord."
"Dismissed."
He vanished in a swirl of shadows, leaving me alone in the throne room. I pulled the fragment out again, studying it in the dim light.
This little shard could tear a hole between realms. Could corrupt an angel just by proximity. Could reshape reality if you knew how to use it properly.
And I needed six more just like it.
The doors opened again. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees, and the shadows along the walls began to writhe.
"You're avoiding your new pet," Lilith said, her voice like poisoned honey.
I pocketed the fragment. "I have actual responsibilities, Lilith. Not all of us can spend our days scheming and plotting."
"Is that what you think I do?" She circled around to face me, her form shifting between human and something decidedly not. Red hair. Black eyes. A smile that promised violence. "I prefer to think of it as strategic planning."
"What do you want?"
"To understand." She gestured vaguely toward the upper levels of Hell, toward where Angelina was caged. "Why keep her alive? Why not just break her and be done with it?"
"Because breaking her too quickly would be boring."
"Boring." Lilith laughed. "You're many things, Daemon, but a liar isn't one of them. At least, not to yourself."
I turned to face her fully. "Careful. You're starting to sound like you're questioning my decisions."
"Not questioning. Observing." She moved closer, close enough that I could smell sulfur and something sweeter. "You're different around her. Distracted. Weak."
"Choose your next words very carefully."
"It's the truth." She didn't back down. Never had. That's what made Lilith dangerous. She didn't fear me the way the others did. "The court is talking. They see you spending hours in that chamber. They hear you speaking to her like she matters. And they're wondering if the great Daemon has finally found something he can't corrupt."
"Then the court is full of idiots."
"The court is full of demons who remember what happened last time you cared about an angel." Her smile sharpened. "They remember how that ended. How you fell. How you brought us all down with you."
The temperature in the room plummeted. Ice began to form on the walls.
"That was different."
"Was it?" Lilith tilted her head. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks remarkably similar. Powerful angel. Forbidden connection. You, making spectacularly bad decisions." She paused. "The only difference is that this time, you have her caged. But cages don't change what's inside them, Daemon. They just make the inevitable messier."
I was across the room before I'd consciously decided to move, my hand around her throat, lifting her off the ground. Her eyes widened, but she didn't struggle. Didn't fight back.
"You forget yourself," I said quietly. "I am not the angel I was. I am not weak. I am not conflicted. And I do not need advice from someone who spent the last millennium warming my bed out of ambition rather than desire."
"Then prove it." The words came out strangled but defiant. "Kill her. Or let her go. But stop this half-measure torture that's making you look pathetic."
I held her there for another moment, feeling her pulse flutter against my palm. Then I dropped her.
She landed in a crouch, rubbing her throat. "You didn't kill me."
"Because you're useful. Don't make me regret that assessment."
"Useful." She stood slowly. "Is that what you tell yourself about her too? That she's useful for your revenge? For your plans?" She moved toward the door. "I wonder what you'll tell yourself when you realize you're falling for her all over again."
"Get out."
She left, her laughter echoing through the halls long after she'd vanished.
I stood alone in the throne room, the Veilstone fragment heavy in my pocket, and tried not to think about how Lilith might be right.
The problem was Angelina. Not just having her here, but the way she looked at me. Like she could see past the monster to whatever I used to be. Like the cruelty was a mask I could take off if I wanted to.
She was wrong. The monster was all that was left.
I pulled out the fragment again, letting its light wash over my face. This was what mattered. The plan. The revenge. Bringing Heaven to its knees and remaking everything they'd built.
Angelina was just a tool. A means to an end. The fact that corrupting her felt like corrupting myself didn't matter. The fact that every black strand in her hair felt like a piece of my own soul dying didn't matter.
Nothing mattered except the plan.
I repeated it to myself like a mantra as I made my way back to the upper chambers. Back to where she waited, chained and angry and still so beautiful it hurt to look at her.
The door opened silently. She was sitting on the floor of the cage, her back against the bars, staring up at the souls floating above. She didn't turn when I entered.
"How many?" I asked.
"How many what?"
"Strands. How many more did you lose while I was gone?"
She was quiet for a moment. Then, "Three."
Fourteen total. At this rate, she'd be fully corrupted within a week.
I should have been pleased. Should have been satisfied that my plan was working so perfectly.
Instead, I felt something twist in my chest. Something that felt dangerously close to regret.
"Daemon?" Her voice was soft. Uncertain. She still didn't look at me. "What you said before. About me being everything. Did you mean it?"
I could lie. Should lie. Tell her it was just another manipulation, another way to break her down.
But I was tired. Tired of the games. Tired of pretending.
"Yes," I said. "I meant it."
She finally turned to face me. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying. "Then why are you doing this to me?"
"Because," I said, the truth bitter on my tongue, "loving you is what destroyed me the first time. And I refuse to make that mistake again."
The words hung between us like a blade.
She stood slowly, moving to the front of the cage. "So you're destroying me instead."
"Yes."
"That's not love."
"No," I agreed. "It's not. But it's all I have left to give."
I left before she could respond. Before I could see what my confession did to her. Before I could do something even more foolish than admitting the truth.
Behind me, I heard her whisper something. So quiet I almost missed it.
"It's not all you have left. You just don't remember how to give anything else."
I kept walking.