“What...is...this?” Jace couldn’t control the fear in his voice. His eyes desperately trying to escape the moving lights that called to him, begging him not to look away.
“Before the creation of men who gave birth to the fictional gods of written scripture, two beasts rose from the abyss; one of the sea, one of the earth,” The Red One’s voice was the low echo of a bottomless well. “They sucked life from the earth and shattered the sky with their Warsong. They reached up toward the Heavens, and the war began.”
“What war?” His voice seemed to tremble.
“The only war.” A simple answer with a complex weight and Jace looked up to his Red Master, eyes still wide and the tip of his tongue carrying unspoken questions.
“In your hands are remains of the first Armageddon; the Beast from the sea.” Hearing its name, the blade pulsed with an unseen tremor.
Glancing down, Jace saw an empty spot above the darkly gleaming blade, a place where an identical weapon might’ve slept. “And…the second blade?”
“Gone.”
There was silence, enough for Jace to take in the demon’s story: Armageddon, beasts, and ancient blades. Strange tales that added to the realization of existing demons and other worlds, so much to take in that his head was spinning.
The Red One broke the silence. “When you returned to Earth, you will use that blade to kill the one responsible for slaying my demons.”
Jace blinked, several times over trying to wrap his head around what the Red One was saying, remembering shards of their earlier conversation, and unable to catch the unsure laugh that escaped his lips. “What?”
The demon did not answer and his questions continued.
“You…want me to kill someone—something—that can kill demons?” It was difficult to keep his eyes from narrowing in suspicion or his voice from breaking the character of an obedient slave. He tried, “And how am I going to do that?” But failed.
“My, how quickly you’ve forgotten who you’re speaking to.” He feared the Red One wouldn’t tolerate his impertinence, but instead his master remained eerily—and uncharacteristically—calm.
Jace felt his face redden, but he didn’t let his attention waver.
“My demons who roam the Earth speak of an angel sneaking around the city and as of recently, the arrival of a Seraph who goes by the name of Uriel.” The Red One looked away, seeking out the flames of the hearth that crackled and guided him into deep thoughts.
“Angels?” A glimmer of hope. “There are angels too?”
He nodded.
“Uriel’s presence will eventually become troublesome,” The demon master said as he stroked his jawbone. “And whether he is the assailant or not does not concern me, it will be beneficial to kill him as well.”
Jace’s heart thundered so fast he felt it under his skin, uneasy feelings of fear and mistrust crawled through him, a parasite searching for a way out. In his hands, the blade pulsed within its box. It vibrated through his body and words came unbidden into his mind, gentle desires to be held and used.
“Won’t they know…? Can’t they sense danger or something?” Jace’s words all but trembled, fading the more he listened to the dark blade in his hands. “I mean, won’t…God, or some kind of God, know?”
The Red One laughed, a bellow from the pits of oblivion that bothered the flames of the hearth and disturbed the shadows in the room, the bones of his jawline lifting into a sharpened smile that truly looked like a demon of hell. “There is no God as you believe there to be, boy; no Heaven, no Hell, nothing but the realms of ancient warriors who have been at war since the dawn of time.”
The demon master shifted, the slightest tilt of bones and the red lights of his hollowed eyes flickered brighter in the amusement of Jace’s sudden fear for divine retribution. “The blade you hold carries the essence of a Beast feared by the Heavens and carries an eternal hunger for blood.” He said. “It will cut down any angel—any demon—without the promise remedial rejuvenation or reincarnation.”
Jace shivered at the sensation. The thought, the need, the hunger for that kind of power was a savory, strange taste on his lips.
And the Red One continued.
“Angels—including Seraphim—can not see nor detect it, and demons will not be able to take it from you, a punishment bestowed upon us for allowing both beasts to fall back into the abyss.”
Suddenly, Jace felt excited at the ideas the blade whispered to him, interested in thoughts of burying this obscurely beautiful point deep into the Red One’s chest, creating a rush that almost made him lick his lips in anticipation and arousal. His eyes tensed, darkening with a shade of bloodlust and betrayal, and it all focused on the demon before him.
“What an attractive look,” The bones of his jaw lifted into the slightest grin. “What say we test out such a fine blade?”
The Red One opened a thin coat of black and gold, exposing his muscular torso for Jace to take in as a long sip of spiced wine, and the demon remained temperate on his old throne. “Go on, have your revenge.”
He trembled, not of fear or uncertainty, but a desirous hunger for that enticing revenge.
It can all end here. A prism of temptation flooded over him in an erotic shiver and Jace let it sink in. I could jab this blade through your fucking chest until you’re nothing but ashes and blood.
But he didn't, his body slowly loosened itself from the dreamy grip of foolish schemes that would, in the end, be useless. For now.
Another chuckle rumbled from the hollows of the Red One’s teeth and bones.
“As expected, you’re wiser than that, aren’t you?” The satisfaction he held in his hellish stare was sickening. “You’ll do well to obey your master or I will find another human for the hunt. And I know just the one, slut.”
Claws dragged against the old wood.
Jace felt his hands tighten around the box, working to control the rage threatening to rise and forcing it aside with every bit of willpower he conjured. “H-How…am I going to find them? Uriel and…the killer?”
“Lure them out with what you know best.” In a lewd—and tempting—gesture, the Red One grabbed his groin, rubbing it eagerly with a cruel snicker. One Jace ignored until the red demon's words kept on. “Rest assure, Uriel will come if you call him properly. Seraphim are nothing like the angels you read about and hope for when you reach Elysium. They are selfish, prideful creatures and just as skin-starved as any demon, seeking out mortals and one another for their own sinful lust and amusement. It is the only thing they love more than purging the world of demons who choose to enjoy the chaos humanity spreads amongst itself like a disease.”
Uriel. Jace thought. If I find him...would he be able to help end this?
As if reading his mind or looking too closely at the softening of his once-tense eyes, the Red One smiled more.
“I wouldn’t hold your breath for the salvation of wings, whore.” Jace couldn’t pinpoint the tone of his voice—irritated or amused. “Seraphim have no tolerance for mortals who sell their souls to demons, no matter how noble the intention, especially those who take pleasure in laying with those demons.”
Anger surged, rising with each word, a feeling that narrowed his eyes into the glare he’d held back for weeks—or however damn long he’d been trapped here. His fingertips dug into the box so tightly it created a painful throbbing. And he looked away, trying so hard to escape the painful truth of his words.
The demon laughed, entertained by his anger.
“Ah, there it is, that hidden fire,” With words balancing on that dark chuckle, his large build leaning forward in his seat, holding back the rest of that laughter behind fingers decorated with iron rings. “I knew you not to be the docile creature you sold yourself as, and I’ve known since the first night you dropped to your knees at my feet.”
In a small movement, the Red One waved him closer and the box closed on its own.
Jace apprehensively walked to the Red One and was yanked onto his lap.
Those strong arms wrapped him, bringing Jace close enough that he straddled his master's lap. “Many times, your body has betrayed you: the rise of your chest with every euphoric breath, the taste of your tears, the hunger lurking in those dark eyes when you devour my cock to the root. I know what you lust for, boy. And it’s too late for you.”
A moan escaped his lips, too quick for him to catch and swallow when the Red One began grinding their groins together into a tantalizing movement.
It’s…not true. It’s not true. Jace repeated, hoping to believe himself this time.
“Tell me,” Large and heavy hands eagerly explored a body he knew all too well, breaking off strands of gold and jewels that got in his way, tossing them onto the floor with soft clicks and glimmers of light. “Where were those angels—your God—the night my familiars took you from the street?” Jace’s eyes closed, his head leaning back in another gasp as wisps of hot breath and long licks traveled up his chest and over his neck. Those bladed fangs sliding over his skin in a gentle threat, the Red One’s cock already hard against his stomach, and a firm grip brought him even closer, pressing that thick erection into his chest. “Who answered your prayers and your cries for mercy when your friend was chosen to be the next victim?”
With half-lidded eyes, Jace saw the shadows dancing around the red light flickering in the Red One’s stare, formless figures that spun on the edges of the abyss, tempting him far more than dark steel hiding in that old box.
“It was I.” And when he spoke, Jace leaned in and ran his tongue over smooth bone until it became victim to the Red One’s own, a strong grip finding the swell of his ass. “And nothing—no angel, no hope—will change that.”
Hopelessly, he sank into the demon’s cruel embrace and lost himself to the temptation and the sin, to the filth and fetishes of this dark world ruled by darker masters. Jace balanced on a scale of his own, choosing between what his body wanted and everything his soul feared.
And he knew the Red One was right.
Carefully, Jace walked the labyrinthine hallways without so much as a shift of obscurity, which didn’t feel right.
The echo of his footsteps and occasional droplets of moisture replaced the unsettling noises that rose from possessed shadows, and he used the walls to help support weak legs dripping with cum. The box tucked close to his chest and thoughts he couldn't focus on ran wild: angels, demons, and otherworldly tasks.
He didn’t get far before hearing the chattering growls and deep snarls as the tunnel became shadow-heavy, consuming the walls and floor outside of torch-light. And hundreds of jasper eyes igniting with hungry flames in the void and wielding fangs dripping with tar-like saliva.
In a brief tense, Jace made a low noise and pressed close to the stone inside his barrier of light, watching monsters stretch from the darkness in all forms; from small imps to giant beasts that could hardly fit in the tunnel.
Then, the violent ululation of a hidden threat called from separate darkness, and those monsters retreated.
Silence fell, nothing but the tempo of his own heartbeat, but with every beat, he heard a deep breath that traced his own.
And he was grabbed.
Jace gasped, stiffening in the Dark One’s grip as that deformed beast held him, leaning over and allowing saliva to drip onto his neck and shoulders. “There you are, little pet, I have been waiting for you.”
With no mouth movement, that abyssal voice came from the depths of his throat, as clear as if there were some unfortunate prisoner living in his stomach, swallowed whole and unable to climb out.
An exhausted sigh escaped him and Jace feared the Dark One wouldn’t be too forgiving after what the Red One had done earlier.
Yet, surprisingly, the darkness-consumed demon crawled from behind him with the nimbleness of something much smaller, moving in and out of shadows that made the torch-light flicker uneasily.
“I have a gift for you.” He spoke in circles.
“Gift…?” Jace fought his nerves, closing arms around the box.
Now, the Dark One stood on beast-feet, towering over him like Death himself. And with that long smile of sharp teeth, he stabbed two aye-aye-like fingers into his right eye.
Jace jumped, swallowing his scream and watching the Dark One tear out that unfortunate organ in a gush of blood and ripping veins. Mortified, he stared widely as it was presented to him between long fingers in a trickle of black.
“W-What…are you…!”
Before Jace could react, the Dark One pulled him forward and shoved that eye into his mouth, forcing it down his throat and pulling out just before a hand clamped over his face, keeping him from resisting the vile meal.
The box dropped onto the ground and his hands tore at the Dark One’s arms, violently trying to get away from the horrible tastes sliding down into his stomach: the taste of decayed flesh of long-dead bodies. Tears blurred his vision and acid promised to come up, and when the Dark One was convinced the eye was already digesting—and with Jace on the verge of passing out—the demon released him.
Falling to his knees in a series of gags, Jace nearly vomited and he leered up at the Dark One, his eyes shadowed with sickness in a wordless plea for an answer.
Carrying a smile akin to a beast baring its teeth, the demon master watched him with remaining eye reflecting the torch-light. “Stay away from unknown demons, little pet, watch carefully and return home soon."
He turned and melted into the shadows, disappearing without another word.
After his departure, those shadows faded and once again revealed the dark corridor; not demon-dark, no eyes or claws or tar-dripping teeth, just the dark.
When he was certain the Dark One left, and he could make it to his room unaccompanied, Jace stood with the box in his hands and felt a cold shudder slither up his spine when he realized the Dark One sounded concerned.
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