Rafael’s magic was fast. Still, if it had been headed straight for Lee, she was confident that she could have dodged out of the way. But it wasn’t headed toward her, and with the fuzzy swirl of her newly formed Rank 4 Rune pounding in her head, Lee’s thoughts were a muddled mess.

There was only one thing that she still knew as a fact – and that was Moxie wouldn’t survive the powerful blood arrow screaming toward her. Lee’s skin prickled just from her proximity to it, and every single one of her senses screamed at her to turn tail and flee.

She could feel Azel pulling at her body, desperately yelling something in the back of her mind, but Lee barely even registered him. His words were a droning hum, drowned out by the immense rush of incomprehensible thought and hunger.

Out of the muddled mess, only a single thought managed to take form. And, amusingly enough, it was driven entirely by the sole emotion that Azel had been pushing her to embrace ever since they’d met.

She’s mine. Nobody can have her.

Lee blurred, slamming into Moxie and shoving her out of the way. She’d had plans to continue on, diving out of the way of the blood magic and letting it hurtle past both of them harmlessly, but she wasn’t that much faster than Rafael.

The bolt drove into Lee’s shoulder. She braced herself for a blast of pain or agony, but nothing happened. Instead, the magic vanished within her, disappearing as if it had never been there. Lee took several stumbling steps, catching herself as Moxie rolled across the ground before her, unable to stop herself while within Rafael’s domain.

“Game’s over,” Rafael said, letting his hands drop and bracing them against his knees with a pained laugh. “I win.”

Lee tilted her head to the side. She looked down at her body, then back up at Rafael. The relief in the Inquisitor’s eyes flickered, then faded as his eyes widened. “How are you still standing? I poured every ounce of power I have into that. You can’t–”

Heat blossomed in Lee’s chest. She doubled over as magic erupted from her body, roaring through the air in a current of crimson fire. The rest of Rafael’s sentence was lost to the crackling flame as Azel snapped into existence beside Lee, embers rising off his black suit.

“No,” Rafael breathed, taking a step back. His back hit the stone cliff, but his eyes never left Azel’s form. “Two demons. But how–”

Azel blurred. Fire streaked across the ground as he shot toward Rafael. Blood swirled up around the Inquisitor, starting to form into a shimmering barrier, but Azel crashed straight through it. His fist shattered Rafael’s magic and he grabbed the Inquisitor by the hair, lifting the man into the air.

A loud crack followed by a wet squelch ripped through the air. Rafael’s arm spun to the side, splattering to the ground behind Azel. The rosary slipped from useless fingers and slid across the grass beside it.

“Well done, Inquisitor,” Azel spat, hatred and fury bubbling from his words. “You found me.”

Rafael opened his lips to say something, but Azel denied him the opportunity. The demon’s hand slammed into the Inquisitors face with a loud crunch. Fire erupted around the two of them, swirling up into the air before abruptly snapping out of existence.

The Inquisitor’s body dropped to its knees, then pitched forward, a large hole running through his head. The body hit the ground with a wet squish and didn’t move again. Not even a Blood Rune could save someone when their entire brain had been pulverized.

Moxie scrambled to her feet, raising her hands defensively as Azel turned. His suit smoldered, the ends of his lapels starting to burn away. Lee squinted at him, the world fluctuating around her.

The Rank 4 Rune was still shifting her body. She couldn’t tell what was changing, but there was an undeniable sense of… loss. Something that had once been there was gone, and more was fading with every passing second.

Moxie was alive, though. The kids would be fine. The Inquisitor was dead. That was what she’d wanted. It had been the trade she made. It had been inevitable. There was no way for a demon to advance beyond embodying their emotion.

Lee’s face felt wet. She lifted a hand, wiping away a tear streaking down the side of her cheek. A frown crossed her lips as she stared at the water on her finger.

Why am I crying?

Azel stepped up to Lee, the ashes swirling off his body enveloping them like the setting night. Moxie yelled something, but Lee barely even noticed it. Moxie wasn’t the only thing she needed.

There was so much in the world. She’d never thought about it properly before – but the world was beautiful. The plants were lush. The sky was vibrant and blue, and everything between it called her name.

They were hers to take. They belonged to her. Everything belonged to her. All of it but Azel. He was a pillar of sickly fire, a power that was beyond her grasp. She couldn’t take his power – but that only made her want it more.

Lee’s tongue ran along her lips as her eyes darted around, trying to find a way she could rip the energy from the demon. There had to be a way to claim it. A way to –Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Azel’s hand moved before Lee could react. His fingers dug into her shoulders and the ashes pouring off his body grew thicker, plunging the two of them into a deep murky fog. Lee could only just barely still see Azel by the smoldering flame that curled off his body.

Before she could rip herself free from the other demon and try to drive a hand through his throat, a dull pang rang through her soul. Her Rank 4 Rune bucked, then shuddered. The power pouring out of it and into Lee’s body ground to a halt.

“Stupid, gullible girl,” Azel said, but it lacked the usual molten heat that his words carried. It sounded – off. Garbled, as if he were speaking through a layer of water. “You used my Demon Runes to form this, and you dare think about trying to use it against me? This is my Rune as much as it is yours.”

Lee’s mouth worked, but the enormous hunger that had brought her into its grasp seemed to have abated. Or, more accurately, it seemed to have been stolen. She could still feel it, burning at the corners of her mind and frothing at the mouth to be released, but Azel was holding it back.

At least for a few more seconds, Lee was herself once more.

“Is this it?” Lee asked, her voice wavering. “I don’t want to die.”

“You aren’t going to die,” Azel growled. “You are becoming greater. You have so much potential. With Vermil’s help, your Rune is flawless. A flawless Demon Rune, Lee. Do you understand what you represent? You can become the most powerful demon in history. Do you not realize what I’ve been doing for you? I have paved the path. I gave you the seeds and watered them until they sprouted. All you have to do is continue.”

“I don’t want to be the most powerful demon in history,” Lee said. “I just want to be Lee.”

Azel’s fingers dug deeper into Lee’s shoulders as his eyes bored into hers. The fire within his eyes flickered for a second and he doubled over, releasing one of her shoulders and coughing into his fist.

“You are an idiot,” Azel spat, wiping his mouth with the back of a hand. Lee’s stomach clenched as the hunger in her mind tried to push forward again, but Azel’s presence walled it off. He was suppressing the Rune. “I gave you everything, and you reject it?”

“Why don’t you just take it yourself?” Lee demanded. “Noah probably would have given you a flawless Rune if you’d just left us alone!”

“I was going to!” Azel roared, his eyes flaring with flame. He drew in a ragged breath, containing himself before speaking again. “I set everything up perfectly. You took my Runes like a trusting little fool, and I wormed my way farther and farther into your soul with every day. The moment you reached Rank 4, I should have had a Flawless Rank 4 Rune. All the potential that Noah had put into you would have been mine.”

“And?” Lee demanded. “Why don’t you do it, then?”

Azel let out a bark of laughter. “You can’t bait me into doing anything, Lee. I’m hundreds of years your superior in everything, and that includes manipulation. Do you really think that losing the Rank 4 Rune will let you have a chance of remaining as you are? You wouldn’t survive.”

“It’s a chance. You want the Rune. I want to stay the same. Take it!”

“No,” Azel said, grinding his teeth. “I will not.”

“Why not? I thought you wanted–”

“I did.” Azel cut Lee off with another bitter laugh. “Until you went and ruined everything.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Your gods damned delusions,” Azel spat. Another spasm racked his body and he coughed, but he ignored it and pressed on. “You are, without a doubt, the worst demon to have ever lived. You took everything that we should be and twisted it.”

“I think you got hit on the head. Just take my Rune–”

“What is Gluttony to you?” Azel shook Lee by the shoulders. “Tell me!”

“It’s protecting what I love!”

“Wrong!” Azel hissed. “It is loving the feeling of getting more. It is the endless hunger for more. That is what you should have – but your stupid delusions were so strong that you twisted the damn emotion into some perverse… human feeling. Something that we should not be corrupted by.”

“I don’t care about any of this,” Lee said. “The Rank 4 Rune was turning me into what you’re talking about. So, if you take it, you’ll have what you want.”

Azel’s snarl slipped away, turning into a defeated laugh. “I don’t want it anymore, Lee. Your delusion ruined more than just your potential. It ruined my own.”

He reached down to his burning suit, pulling it to the side. Thick lines of red wound through his body, pulsing with sickly energy. They wound around his chest and up toward his neck, turning the skin around them a dull grey.

“What is that?” Lee asked.

“You are such a little shit. It’s the bloodline curse that you jumped in front of. The one that would have killed you instantly if it had connected.”

Lee stared in shock. “You took the hit for me? Why?”

“I don’t know,” Azel said, looking down at the magic carving through his body one inch at a time. “I suppose I may not have been the demon I thought I was. My emotions are Lust and Hatred. I betrayed them. Perhaps this is an apt punishment.”

“I still don’t understand. What are you talking about?” Lee said, squinting at Azel.

“Why do you think I let you live when you followed me through the portal in the Scorched Acres?” Azel asked abruptly. “Did you really think you snuck through without my knowledge?”

“I thought you just didn’t care.”

“If only. No. I knew you were there, because I held the portal open for you,” Azel said. His face twisted in a grimace as the blood magic winding around him reached his neck and started to crawl toward his chin. “You were always a poor demon. I had hoped that entering the mortal plane would be the boost you needed.”

Lee stared at Azel in disbelief. “What?”

“When I realized just how worthless you were, I decided to harvest your energy once I escaped Noah’s body,” Azel continued with a wry smile. “At least, that’s what I told myself. That’s how I justified giving you my own Runes. It’s why I transferred myself into your soul, even though Noah could have been convinced to perfect my own Runes in exchange for leaving you alone. I suppose that excuse doesn’t work anymore, does it? I can’t take anything when I’m dead.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” Lee demanded.

“Does it matter?” Azel asked. He coughed, then ground his teeth. “Not anymore. You are not the demon I wanted you to be – and you never will be.”

Azel raised his hand, grabbing one of Lee’s horns. Then, with a sharp jerk, he snapped it. Lee let out a pained scream as agony raced through her body, but Azel held her in place with his other hand.

Molten lines of pain ripped through her body, winding through her head. They wrapped around the Rank 4 Rune in her soul, digging into it like jagged knives.

“There. That won’t last forever, Lee. Become more than just a mere demon,” Azel said, a smile flickering across his lips despite the pain in his features. “I want the legends of my daughter to travel so far that I still hear them. It’ll give me something to think about in that line of Noah’s.”

“Wait. You can’t just–”

“Odd,” Azel breathed. The blood magic wound up his cheeks and he tilted his head to the side, his eyes staring straight past Lee. “This isn’t an emotion I recognize. It feels… warm.”

Cracks raced through Azel’s face. His body collapsed, crumbling in on itself. The ash that had been swirling around them twisted into a pillar and dissipated with a gentle pop, leaving only Lee to greet the light as day returned.