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When they arrived, I filled them in on the situation and what I needed them to do. They had to make it look like he skipped town after they got rid of the body.
“I can’t leave,” Ares said in a gravely serious tone. His accent thickened, and his face was pinched with concern. “I don’t have a good feeling about leaving Diana alone with Mal. I’ve been keeping an ear on them to make sure she’s safe. I’d be in the room with her, but she’s hellbent on handling him alone.”
“I’m going down there right now. I thought you were going to stay with her, Ares? You can’t spoil and indulge her every whim!” Bash’s tone of voice sharpened. “Mal hasn’t been acting himself lately, and he’s going to take whatever is up his arse out on Diana.”
“I need you both to go handle it, because I’m very behind with invoice work Satan needs by the end of the week. I promise I’ll watch over her while you’re gone. You have nothing to worry about.” Eventually, the five of us would have a meeting and discuss whatever Mal and Diana’s issues were. We had to act like a unit if we wanted to be successful in this mission.
They both trusted me enough to leave, although neither of them looked happy about it. Mal knew how important it was to me that he taught her, and he never disappointed me. I didn’t feel the need to go down and sit in on their lesson, choosing instead to listen in between invoices. During a particularly error-riddled invoice for imported linens, I checked in briefly and heard gasping, then radio silence.Fuck, what’s happening, why don’t I hear her breathing?
I honed in on Mal and could smell his potent anger two floors up. I faded down to the first level of the basement, unlocking the ward and racing down the stairwell as fast as I could. Busting into the room, I found Mal choking Diana out against the wall. Her lips were blue, and I couldn’t hear her breathing. I rushed behind him, putting my hand on his shoulder and hitting him with a shock blast that forced him to let her go. She slid to the floor and inhaled a shaky, pained breath with a wheeze.
“You are BEYOND lucky! How is she still alive after what you did?” I screamed as I fisted Mal’s shirt and threw him against the wall.
“That’s a great question, sheshouldbe dead.” Mal’s stone cold reply made me sick.
I had never approached him in anger before, but something snapped inside me, driving me to protect Diana. How could he strangle her to death, knowing how important she was to our plan? How monumentally screwed we were if she died! He was a coward for using that much force against someone who couldn’t defend themselves. That spoiled, hateful brat could have ruined us if she died.
If you touch her again, I’ll make sure it’s the last time you touch anything. I’ll end you and make you wish becoming a hellbound was the worst thing that ever happened to you. You’re a jealous coward, and I’m not surprised Bash and Ares want nothing to do with you,I linked him.
Malcolm headbutted me in the jaw, slipping free like a fucking snake. He swiped his hair from his face and gave me a peculiar look. His teeth were bared and his eyes seemed hollow. He carried himself differently, acting like a different man.Mal would never fight me.
He levitated me in the air, and I felt my body propel back toward the wall where he displayed his antique, medieval weapons. Mal would never risk hurting hisbeloved babies.He loved those rusted scrap heaps almost as much as his crew. Something about him was off.
Right before I collided with his collection, I froze myself in mid air. I willed a full shift, landing hooves first on the concrete floor. I suspected that Mal was possessed. I needed to use enough magic to subdue him, hopefully without hurting him. Reaching deep inside me, I thought of the angriest moment of my life, the day my stepfather threw me out of the house, onto the street with nothing but the clothes on my back. My mother stood there and didnothing. She turned her back on her son, leaving me behind. I used the chaos inside me as fuel to conjure an expulsion spell. Whatever malevolent force infiltrated Mal’s mind needed to leave,now, before it caused serious damage.
I locked eyes with Mal, and willed whatever force was inside him to vacate his subconscious.
You are not welcome here. Leave my friend. Set him free.I chanted to Mal through the mindlink.
He sank to his knees, curling in on himself and screaming in agony. I weaved magical binding chains around his wrists as he convulsed. His skin paled as he fought the trap I snared him in.
“Who are you?” I demanded. Mal writhed against his bindings, trying his hardest to escape. “WHO ARE YOU?” I shouted at him. I didn’t miss the way my shifted voice made Diana flinch.
I hit him with more chaos magic. Thisthinginside him was going to answer me.
Mal stopped moving, slowly turning his head toward Diana before passing out on the floor. He breathed shallowly, which told me he was still alive. I magicked a tether to his ankle. It would keep him from leaving the grounds, effectively imprisoning him here until I could deal with him. I walked over and knelt next to him, grabbing his hair and yanking his head off the concrete.
“Malcolm?” I asked.Mal, are you okay?
Yes, he linked back. He was panting for breath as his body shook. Being under malevolent possession could have killed him.
“Do not try to leave the house. We’re going to get this sorted soon.”
I carefully picked Diana up, cradling her against me so she wouldn’t jostle around too much while we faded to my bedroom. After taking her shoes off and tucking her in, I exhaled a breath I wasn’t aware I’d held in. Despite the red hand marks around her neck, she looked like a fallen angel with her dark hair fanned across my pillow. She fought to stay awake, her eyes darting around the room. When she met my gaze, she smiled weakly. She saw a red, horned monster and instead of being scared, she was relieved. Despite promising myself not to use my powers on her again, I took her hand and pushed some calm through her, so she could relax and fall asleep. Willing myself to shift into my human form, I put some pajama pants on and cautiously got into bed next to her.
I held her close as I thought of everything that could have gone wrong. What if I showed up a minute later? What if she had died, and I couldn’t bring her back? Necromancy wasn’t the most reliable type of magic.
I had almost lost her today because I was too bullheaded to act on my feelings. She snuggled against me, her head resting in the crook of my neck. I thanked the stars that none of those what-ifs came to pass. She was safe, in bed with me.
* * *
“Desmond? Where are we?” I heard Diana’s scratchy voice and opened my eyes. She was still curled into my chest, with her head just below my pecs.
“My bedroom, in my suite. It’s the safest place in the house.” I sat up against the headboard, bringing her with me so her back was supported by my arm. “Are you up to telling me what happened?”
She scanned the room, her eyes roaming over the walls and surfaces. My room was decorated very differently than Bash’s or Ares’ rooms. My bed frame was wrought iron with blood red and cream linens. My mirror and fixtures matched. I had a dark wooden dresser and bedside tables, but that was it. I barely spent any time here, so I didn’t invest as much in this room as I did the rest of the suite.
“I called him out for acting like a prick, and we got into an argument. He told me I was a talentless whore his friends would eventually get bored with. He was such a condescending asshole about how I couldn’t levitate the knife back to its spot on the wall. He brought up my family, and I got so mad at what he said that I lost control. I levitated the knife right into his back. Then he cornered me against the wall to scare me.” A tear fell from her eye. I knew she missed her family and not seeing them broke her heart. “Then I brought up something about how he became a hellbound, and that’s when he changed. He didn’t seem like himself. He tried to kill me.”
