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“What do you mean? You knew...you knew me as a man?”
“We crossed paths a few times, yes. I do not expect you to remember, we did not get along too well. I was in my...darker days of magic at the time. I frightened most folks. You were never afraid of me. I think it was why I took a liking to you.”
“I had a betrothed?”
“Oh, yes. You were to be married before winter. It was the talk of the town. Mostly because she was having an affair with another in front of everyone, but you didn’t seem to notice until it was too late. You crossed lines, sure, but you were all alone, your bride was breaking your heart, and so...I think you were just driven to the edge. An edge we often straddle in life.”
Standing on the filthy soil of Hades, I almost collapse. It was wrong what I did. I had no right to hurt that man, to end his life, but at least it turns out I might not be the monster I once believed I was. I was alone for so long, and I was excited about getting married, starting a family, and having a wife.
Now I know I did not love that woman, because what I feel for Cari is wildly different. I do love her, down to whatever is left of my broken soul. I would kill twenty men for her. I would start a war for her. Coming for Azazel may do just that.
“Ah you have come home, pet,” Azazel’s voice rings out, echoing in the darkness.
“You know why I am here. I told you I would kill you if you touched her,” I whisper back, knowing he will hear me.
“Such a pretty little thing. But she does not like my games, handsome. She will not play with me,” he taunts, and I hear the pout in his voice. I almost laugh. Of course, she will not play his stupid games with him.
“Come up top and we will play some new games.”
“Do you think I am stupid!” his voice snarls right beside me and I feel his claws sink into my shoulder, piercing my flesh. “You cannot trick me, Mayhem.”
“His name is not Mayhem. His name is Marshall Hale. He should not have been sent to Hades, so you do not have power to keep him here. Once he left to find Cari, you realized he could come and go as he pleases, because he should not be here.”
Blinking in shock at Gareth, I hold my breath. Then, as if being hit by blow after blow, I see it all. Being on the farm, my mother and father there calling me Marshall. Us planning the wedding before I found out the truth about my betrothed. I gasp as the waves of memories hit me, filling me the sensation of being whole, of being a human again.
“Yet here he is. And here he will stay. I will give her back, but he must stay. I prefer my pets...playful,” Azazel snarks before he waves a hand, and there she is.
Growling as I see her lashed to a huge, gnarled, twisted tree, I run towards her. Her skin is marred by red marks from his whip—his favorite toy—but she stands defiant, staring him down without fear. That’s my girl, my sweet little flame.
“Oh, my love,” I gasp, ripping the limbs holding her captive apart. “I came for you. I will always come for you.”
“I know,” she whispers, smiling through tears. “I was waiting for you, Mayhem. My sweet Demon. I knew you would come, I was not worried. Can we go home now?”
“Yes, we can go home. I am taking you home and starting a life with you, just as I promised. I am Demon, but I will be a good husband and a good father someday. I will give you everything you could ever want. I love you. I love you.”
“Did you just propose?” she teases, winding her arms around me.
Laughing, I lift her close, turning to head towards the portal. Gareth watches Azazel closely, knowing we’re not just going to walk out of here. Surprising me, he moves in front of us as if to shield us from the Demon. Before I can blink the air shifts as Azazel moves to stop us.
“Come play with us up top,” Cari taunts him. Good, clever little Nymph. He will not be able to resist playing games. “Unless you doubt you can beat any of us.”
Before we get to the portal, he makes his move. With him at our backs, we do not need the portal to go up top. Swirling through darkness and fog, we land on warm dirt as we’re sent back to Moon Haven. Azazel is there, laughing down at us as he perches in a tree, eating an apple.
“Adam and Eve were idiots,” he chortles as he takes a big bite, spitting it out in a flurry of pieces.
Setting Cari on her feet, I take a moment to look over her body. Her skin is red from his whip, the blanket we were wrapped in when he took her tied around her in a tattered mess. Seeing the lashes on her skin enrages me.
“I will rip your flesh from your bones,” I roar as I face Azazel, tucking Cari behind me. “I told you not to touch her. Not to come back for me. I am not coming back to Hades. My place is here, with my mate.”
“Your place is on your knees, begging me not to ram my cock down your throat for fun. Not up here, not with her.”
“Holy shit he’s jealous,” Cari laughs at him and we all turn, stunned at her bravado. “Jealous that I am the one you’re giving your beautiful dick to now. That I am the one who gets to watch you come. I am the one who will give you babies and live with you until the end of time. You will not change that, Azazel. No man or monster can,” she roars the last words, rushing forward.
Before I can move, a hum begins, loud, roaring, as a bright, white light floods the clearing we’re stood in. I can hear Edon and Bessi’s howls from somewhere close. Gareth reaches out and I see Luci, doing a double take. She is a source of the humming. Cari is the source of the light. Bessi comes sailing into the clearing, bringing a whirl of wind.
“What is going on?” I wonder aloud even if all I want to do is rush to protect the woman I love.
“They were right all along. We might have some magic, friend, but those three together are the real magic. They do not need us,” Gareth says with a laugh as we stand watching them face down a Demon.
