“Drawn how slowly?”
“The process should take approximately three to four hours to complete,” Vinea said, his matter-of-fact tone somehow far more chilling than any demonic hiss.“And don’t worry — we’ll make sure you remain conscious throughout the procedure.Your willing participation is essential for the stability of the network.”
Of course it was.So…three to four hours of having his blood slowly drained while remaining awake and aware the entire time, feeling himself getting weaker and weaker.Even a part demon could withstand a lot more physical abuse than a regular human, but Caleb still didn’t want to think too hard about how that would feel.
No, better to focus on the tactical possibilities the setup might allow.If the ritual ended up taking that long, all those hours would provide his team with multiple opportunities to intervene and get him out of there.
Assuming, of course, that they could actually infiltrate the building and at the same time come up with a way to disrupt a citywide supernatural working that was being overseen by an earl of Hell.
No pressure at all.
“I understand,” he said aloud, hoping he hadn’t paused long enough to rouse the demon lord’s suspicions.“Anything else I need to know?”
“Just one.”Vinea moved closer, close enough that Caleb could see his own reflection in the creature’s black eyes.His tone turned silky as he went on, “I hope you understand that any attempt to sabotage this operation will result in the immediate and extremely painful deaths of everyone you care about.Ms.Dunne, in particular, would suffer exquisitely for your betrayal.”
The not-so-casual threat sent a flare of rage through Caleb, and his demon blood roared, wanting to strike out.For just a moment, the air around him shimmered with heat, and small flames licked up and down his arms before they disappeared again.
Impossible for Vinea not to notice, of course.His smile widened, revealing those too-sharp teeth.
“Excellent,” the demon lord said, sounding amused.“I was beginning to wonder if you’d lost your edge during your time playing house with the mortals.But I can see the fire is still there.”
Caleb forced himself to take a deep breath, wrestling his demon blood into some semblance of control.Getting angry wouldn’t help anyone, least of all Delia.
He needed to be smart about this.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, his voice steady despite the fury that still coursed through his veins.“I’ll do what you need me to do.”
“I’m sure you will,” Vinea replied.“After all, you wouldn’t want anything unfortunate to happen to your precious mortal while you’re helping to usher in a new age for our kind.”The demon lord turned away then, the very movement utterly dismissive.“Take him back to the holding room,” he told the guards.“Make sure he gets some rest.Tomorrow will be a long day.”
No point in resisting as the demons escorted him back down the corridor.Instead, Caleb tried to work through his options, which he had to admit weren’t as numerous as he would have liked.He had maybe eighteen hours before the ritual began — eighteen hours to figure out how to sabotage a citywide supernatural rite without getting himself or his team killed in the process.
The psychic bond he shared with Delia was still there, the delicate thread of connection that let him know she was alive and relatively safe.But he could also sense the supernatural static building across the city, the ley line energy that was making it harder and harder to maintain clear contact.
Soon, he might be completely cut off from any outside help.
Which meant he needed to start preparing for the possibility that he’d have to handle this on his own.
Back in the holding room with the two demons once again taking up guard stances on either side of the door, Caleb settled into the uncomfortable chair and closed his eyes, reaching out with his enhanced senses to map the supernatural energy flows around him.The chapel sat at the center of a massive web of power, ley lines converging from across the valley to focus their combined energy on this single point.
But every web had its weaknesses.He just had to find them.
The guards’ red eyes were fixed on him, unblinking.They probably expected him to sleep, or at least rest quietly until it was time for the ritual.
Instead, Caleb began to explore the limits of his captivity.
The mystical bonds that held his powers in check were sophisticated, but they weren’t perfect.He could feel them responding to his demon blood, siphoning away energy whenever he tried to access his abilities directly.But they seemed to be designed to counter brute-force applications of power, not subtle manipulations.
Maybe there was a way to work around them.
Carefully, slowly, Caleb began to test the boundaries of what the wards would allow him to do.Not break free or teleport away — anything that obvious would definitely be noticed — but simply feeling around the edges of his supernatural prison.
After what felt like hours of patient exploration but might have been only minutes, he found it.A tiny flaw in the binding, a place where the mystical cables didn’t quite mesh perfectly with his particular energy.It wasn’t much — barely enough to let him access a fraction of his normal abilities — but it might be enough.
Enough to send a message…enough to plant a few surprises for Vinea’s ritual.
And, with any luck, enough to give his team the information they’d need to mount a rescue.
As the hours ticked by and the supernatural energy around the chapel continued to build, Caleb began to lay the groundwork for his rebellion.Small things, subtle manipulations that would hopefully go unnoticed until it was too late for Vinea to stop them.
