“Most certainly not, Maoa. You fought the good fight. You reclaimed your core. Allow me to send you back to your domain, safe, sound, and ready to fight again. You are going to continue the crusade, are you not?”
“I am,” she said. The smoke curling out of her nose died down to a low simmer. For a long moment, she went entirely silent. Barely moving at all.
While Prax mimicked her stillness, Juliana was forced to shift her weight side to side several times before anyone spoke.
“Your words are not without merit. Very well, make haste in your deed.”
Prax nodded, twisting Shalise’s face into a cruel grin that didn’t suit the kind-hearted girl in the slightest. “Of course.” He moved forwards, reaching an arm out just beneath her left breast.
The succubus gripped his hand a mere inch from her skin. “Tell me,” she said, jutting her chin out, “which of my loyal followers resides within that meat-sack? I wish to
“Even inside this pathetic mortal body, I’m hurt that you do not recognize me. After all…” Prax’s unrestrained arm shot out in the blink of an eye, burrowing wrist deep in her chest. “I am your son.”
Maoa’s eyes went wide, but the portal to the Void had already opened beneath her.
As she sank into the ground, Prax clasped his hands around her head and pulled. He introduced his knee to her forehead with a resounding crack. With a disgusting snort, he hocked back and spat, catching the succubus’ caved in face just before she disappeared into the portal.
“That,” Prax said, laughing, “will keep her down for a month or two.”
“You killed your own mother?” Juliana half-shrieked, eyes about as wide as Maoa’s were in her final moments.
“Bah,” Prax said, waving his arm at the spot the portal had occupied. “I would do it again and again and enjoy it every time. She’s half the reason I am here in the first place. ‘Families’ here in Hell have a far different meaning than what I understand mortals consider families. More of slaves than anything else.
“Come,” he said, “unless you wish to linger as food for the less savory of my kind.”
Prax did not look back at the stunned Juliana as he walked off.
Not wanting to be left behind, Juliana slapped her cheeks before running after him.
For what had to have been a half a day, they marched through the prison in utter silence. No one spoke save for Prax mumbling to himself under his breath every now and again.
They walked until they finally found a wall stretching high into the air. A flat wall with no cells set within. A barrier-covered door lay directly in front of them along with three dolls–at least, Juliana assumed they were dolls. They looked like the stereotypical iron maidens, though they moved and shifted like people.
Juliana opened her mouth to speak to Prax, but found her mouth and throat parched from the lack of use. She had to take a moment to lick her lips.
“So that’s it then, we’re out?”
Prax kept silent as he nodded his head. “We walk out into the waters beyond the dolls.” He looked back, behind Juliana. Shaking his head, he said, “I wish I could burn this place to the ground.” After a second shake of his head, he turned to Juliana. A genuine grin spread across his face.
“Well then mortal, shall we retire to my domain?”
Breaking and Entering
“This is it?”
Zoe nodded along with Devon’s words. She had to double-check the address to be certain, but this was the building.
There were certain places that certain people tended to gravitate towards. A doctor might be found in a hospital or a well-to-do home. Police stations generally housed officers. If she were looking for a grave robber, Zoe would start at a cemetery at night.
A brightly lit five-star hotel in the center of a moderately sized town was the last place she would have looked for a necromancer. In fact, the lair near Brakket had been a dank cave. That was a far more reasonable place for a necromancer. A crypt would have been better, but according to Devon, Sawyer had had one of those as well.
The lights blinked out; the entire hotel went dark from bottom to top. They stood for a moment and watched. None of the windows lit up by any flashlights or emergency lights.
“Well,” Devon said with a sigh, “that’s our cue. Might as well get to it, if they’re even in there.”
Arachne stepped up to his side, looking rather like she wanted to tear down the building with her bare hands.
Zoe steeled herself with a repetition of something that had become a sort of mantra.
“Ready.”
Arachne dashed forward, tearing the doors off their hinges in one swift move. She barely made it three steps into the lobby before an arrow chinked off her chitin.
