As you keep mentioning, I am a mortal. We don’t heal fast.
“You did earlier, if you recall the incubus clawing out your arms. My presence alone should be healing this pathetic excuse for an injury.”
Well, there’s another thing you’ve screwed up, Shalise huffed.
“Worthless squishy mortal meat sack,” he muttered as he glanced down to a wide-eyed Juliana. “Get to your feet.”
“You saved me,” Juliana said with a slowly growing smile. “You pushed me out of the way to save me. I knew you had a soft spot for me.”
“I said as much earlier. Why would I discard tools before their value has expired?” Before Juliana or Shalise could say anything, Prax turned and started walking. “Remain where you are or follow, I care little.”
“You just said that I have value to you,” Juliana called from behind. With a few quick footsteps, she was right alongside Prax. “Clearly you care a little.”
Prax snorted without even a glance in Juliana’s direction. From the corner of her eye, Shalise noted that Juliana was smiling.
Shalise, however, frowned. There had been concern there for a moment. But she didn’t get the feeling that Prax was lying. He truly felt no different about Juliana than Shalise might about a good pen. It was nice to keep around, but it wasn’t a big deal if it got lost. There would always be plenty more pens.
Prax, Shalise said in as neutral a tone as she could get while being nothing more than a mental voice that apparently could be mind read at least a little. Why did Juliana relax when she found out you were the one possessing me?
His answer consisted of a deafening silence and the curling of her own lips.
Shalise’s metaphysical stomach twisted into a knot.
“We have an arduous task ahead of us. If previous patterns hold true, demons will be coming towards us. Many may pass us by, many may not. Be prepared.”
Chapter 010
“Stop,” ‘Shalise’ said. She dug a hand into Juliana’s shoulder and pressed her up against the wall.
Six demons of varying size and shape ran past without a second glance in their direction. All hurried on down the corridor towards the crystal room. Just like the last three groups had.
Prax held her for another few seconds, completely ignoring the metal flowing around his fingers.
Juliana couldn’t be entirely certain when that had happened. She only noticed that she had activated her ferrokinesis after Prax had started moving again. Presumably, something happened while she was unconscious. Some large magic suppressing device took damage from one of the earthquakes or something similar.
She wasn’t about to question her good fortune.
Instead, Juliana had set it to good use. The metal whirred and scrubbed away at her body. It wasn’t as good as a bath given that she still carried all the armor on her, but it was as close as she would be getting for the foreseeable future.
It was better than poor Shalise had, though Prax didn’t seem to care one bit. He strutted her body around without a care in the world.
Since he tore off the shirt, Juliana had found her eyes wandering on occasion. Whatever else happened, Shalise got some well sculpted abs out of the deal. Zagan’s were nicer, and Prax’s original body was bulked out almost to the point of absurdity. But if Shalise got to keep them after Prax got out of her body…
Well, envy should be the least of her worries at the moment.
Prax removed his hand from Juliana’s shoulder. Without a word, he started walking.
Juliana stood, watching her friend’s body move on. It was such a drastic change from her usual demeanor, it was hard to even recognize her. When they first got to the prison, she had been hunched over and scared of her own shadow.
The thing walking off now had confidence and precision in each step. Prax had become uncannily well versed in moving around in Shalise’s body. The muscles helped divorce the two in Juliana’s mind, but she was close enough to be disturbing.
Shaking her head, Juliana jogged forward to catch up. She stayed just a step behind and a step away from Prax. While it didn’t seem like he was about to attack, it never hurt to be careful.
Walking in silence was, unfortunately, awkward. Even more awkward than trying and failing to ignore him in his cell.
“So,” Juliana started, fishing for something to talk about.
Prax glanced over his shoulder. He turned back forward while rolling his eyes. “Must we engage in the inane mortal pastime of idle prattle?”
“You were awfully interested in talking all night in your cell. In fact, I was trying to ignore you. You wouldn’t shut up unless I was responding.”
“Ah, but I was attempting to get myself bound to you or my newest servant. Turns out that was a waste of time, was it not?” He threw a raised eyebrow over his shoulder. “All I needed to do was wait for dear little Shalise to wake.”
“And then you started calling her your servant,” Juliana said with ice in her tone.
It should have been her. She shouldn’t have let Shalise go through with what she was going through. Being trapped in her own body? Juliana shuddered at the thought.
“She has served me well so far, even if things turned out rather, ahh, unexpectedly. I see no reason to end our relationship.”
“What’s up with that, anyway?”
He turned over his shoulder with a look of puzzlement. “Try to be more specific with your queries. I humor you with our dialog, but we will be walking in silence if you continue to be incomprehensible.”
“The whole servant thing,” Juliana said with a sigh. “Ylva seemed very excited to get Nel as her servant, according to Nel herself. Then she gave me and another person these rings. I think she might have used the word ‘subjects’ once or twice when referring to us. And then there’s Arachne and her coddling of Eva, though I’m not sure that’s the same. You’ve–”
Prax stopped and asked, “ring?”
Juliana held up her finger. Just the one finger.
He gave no indication of caring in the slightest. “Interesting. I thought I felt something from you, but convinced myself I was hallucinating. It promises Death–with a capital ‘d’–to any demons who would dare attack you–”
“It didn’t stop the imps.”
“Ah, but the poor unfortunate captives here may be desperate enough to ignore such things. We are in one of the worst corners of Hell. And yes, that ring marks you as someone’s property.”
Prax glanced down at Shalise’s fingers, turning his hands over. With a shrug, he turned and started walking.
Juliana stood frozen as the cogs ticked on inside her head. She had to take a few quick steps to fall in line again. “Wait. Property?”
“You did not know?”
“She said it was a gift. A reward for a task.”
“Something so simple a child,” he glanced over his shoulder and gave a small snort, “would have no trouble completing?”
Juliana cracked her neck to one side. “Maybe.”
“Nothing to worry about. If she tricked you into being claimed and did not tell you after the fact, leaving you to your own devices, she probably just likes you.”
She mulled that over for a moment before nodding. “Which brings me back to my original question. Why all the servant stuff?”
“How much do you know about a demon’s domain?”
When Juliana did not respond, Prax continued.
“They cater to our desires, both conscious and subconscious. Anything we want just happens.”
“Sounds nice.”
He turned and sneered–a rather ugly expression on Shalise’s face. “For a time, perhaps. Imagine getting everything you ever wanted. For eternity. Any effort you put in, instantly invalidated. Constructing something specifically to be a challenge still feels fake. Designing a scenario where you purposely lose isn’t even a real loss. It feels fake and every demon knows it.