Present day…
He drewthe scent of blood and refuse deep into his lungs, reveling in it, a shudder dancing its way up his spine. He lived for moments like this, when agony was a welcome cloud around him and answers were waiting right on his knife’s edge.
He was close. So, so close.
His veins buzzed, the pleasant hum of certainty encasing his body.
“Such beautiful skin,” he crooned, dragging his blade down a magnificently chiseled chest. “I wonder how much I can peel away before you tell me what I wish to know.”
The Demon laid out on the rocky slab before him whimpered—a keening sound that brought him equal parts joy and disgust. It echoed between the festering cavern walls, a perfect accompaniment to the chorus of groans beneath it.
He glanced behind, as if he could follow the sound with his eyes, and surveyed his work. A swell of pride filled him, delighted with the whimsical play of torchlight over wasted bodies. Chained to the walls, nailed to boulders, hung from the jagged ceiling—every realm of Bordoroth was now represented in the creatures he’d collected.
Through the Sight, he’d once glimpsed a wonderfully savage people who displayed the corpses of insects and small animals, their legs and wings and tails pinned to padded boards like tiny trophies, hung on their walls for others to see.
Shortly after his arrival in this world, he’d caught a pixie telling bedtime stories to her young. History, really. Far closer to the truth than she ever knew. The image of those people and their curated beasties had flashed in his mind as he’d held her squirming body in his fist, and it had become his inspiration.
After all, what were Bordorothians if not vermin beneath his booted heel?
“Please,” the Demon whispered, interrupting his thoughts. “Why are you… doing this?”
His lip curled back, a disappointed tsk escaping. Pleading from a Straelani Demon? They were supposed to be the fiercest of warriors, their berserker rages and finesse in battle legendary even in worlds beyond this one. They didn’t know that, ignorant as they were, but still. He’d expected more.
His Gilly never would have begged.
Strangely, her absence still stung here and there. It had been pure chance that all of his stilted, grainy visions had pushed him towards other realms, but he could admit to himself that he’d felt a private relief in avoiding her brethren.
Until now.
Tonight, a Demon from the Montrealm had finally joined the growling Wolflords and stoic Riders, thrashing Sorcerit andhissing Fae, each and every one bringing him a little closer to his endgame.
He’d have to ponder later why the Sight had not shown him the Demon’s presence this evening, or warned him to be ready. It was pure chance that he’d been nearby, listening as always. Fate, perhaps.
Fickle, cursed thing.
“I’m doing this because I was fortunate enough to hear you running your mouth,” he said. “I have questions, and I believe you have the answers. Speaking of which?—”
Without warning, he drove his blade into one of the Demon’s horns. A twist of his wrist detached the hideous appendage, the mahogany spiral clattering to the stone as blood sprayed.
Ah, yes. There were the screams he’d been looking for.
All too soon, the noise irked him.
He tossed his dagger aside, shoved the Demon’s jaw shut, and clapped a palm over his lips. “Shh, that’s not getting us anywhere,” he chided, bending to retrieve the severed prize while still keeping his subject silent.
His other hand settled over raised ridges, the flesh of his fingers sinking into the deep grooves between. The rings they formed shrank as they traveled the length of the horn, getting smaller and smaller until they disappeared entirely, the wicked, tapered end polished to a high shine by use and age.
“Tell me…” he said, turning it this way and that before pressing it to the Demon’s sternum. “What are the Montrealm’s secrets worth to you?”
Blood welled beneath the razor point of the horn, even as fierce determination painted itself across the Demon’s face, his brow pinching and jaw ticking.
What fun.
“Here’s whats going to happen,” he said. “You’re going to tell me everything I need to know, and then you’re going to delivera message for me. If you don’t, I will find every person you care about and ruin them in ways you can’t even imagine.”
Shadows leapt from the ground and clamped over the Demon’s arms and legs, defiance quick to replace his shock. He tore his head away and thrashed, gnashing his fangs and roaring to the cavern ceiling when he met nothing but air.
This was going to be even more enjoyable than he’d first anticipated.
