Page 2 of Deranged Demons

“While normally I would sympathize, I think it’s safe to say they deserve it,”she replies, and I know she’s right. Because the clan should have known better thanto work with the witches. Even a demon as young as Trey.

The power inside the traitor’s horns makes my hands tingle, urging me to move, and I exit the cell, unable to shake the sense of foreboding working through me.This is much worse than I thought.

The royal palace is more of a giant fortress than a place of grandeur, with thick reinforced stone walls, six-inch steel doors that lock at the end of each corridor, hidden rooms that house extra food stores and supplies, and finely crafted weapons as the main form of decoration along the walls.

I’m told it wasn’t always like this. According to the scholars in the palace library, there was a time when everything was lavish and tasteful, the large building designed more with the idea of pleasure and seduction in mind. But that was before the war with the witches and the great battle, during which half of the palace was destroyed. When the structure was rebuilt, the king still had the battle at the forefront of his mind, and designs were made to ensure we’d be more prepared if it ever happened again.

Truthfully, I used to think the king had overdone it, especially because as far as we all knew, the witches had been wiped out completely. But now, with the multiple incidents in the city, and evidence that some of the witches still live, I’m starting to think Dad reallyis the smartest demon in Seral.Guess you have to be when you’re the ruler of this place.

At that thought, my brows lower. Thankfully, demons are immortal, so becoming queen isn’t something I have to worry about for the most part, but there are ways a demon can die, not to mention Dad might one day want to retire. I cringe as I push that thought to the back of my mind.

“So, are we going to talk about what just happened?”Shade asks as we round another corner. Thankfully, she doesn’t hear all my thoughts, but only what I send when I’m using my magic to converse with her.

“General Josek will extract information from the Fallon Blade demons,”I reply as I make my way past a row of axes that look large enough to sever a giant’s head. I turn down another corridor before stopping in front of a tall black statue of a gargoyle. Twisting my head from side-to-side, I make sure we’re not being watched, then I touch the left clawed pinkie toe of the monster. The statue is made from polished black marble, but at my touch, the stone warms beneath my fingertip and a secret door opens in the wall behind the sculpture. Shade and I slip into the dark tunnel, and the door closes behind us, sealing us in. Blinking, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness, the pitch black changing to a lighter shade of gray, and I begin making my way along the narrow tunnel and down a curving flight of stone steps.

“Until he returns, there’s not much we can do,”I say to Shade, continuing our conversation. I could, of course,meet the general at the Fallon Blade clan house, but I’m not in the mood to see him at work.

I make my way down the last steps, then move onto a landing. A thick steel door marked with silver whirls and patterns blocks our path ahead, and I stride over. When I’m directly in front of it, a small panel on the door opens and light streams out, scanning my retina. It’s technology a designer loyal to my father picked up in the human realm, and there’s the tell-tale tone identifying me as an approved individual before a click sounds. I whisper the words that only the king and I know, and the door shudders before sliding to the side, revealing the room beyond.

Lights flare to life like tiny suns dotting the ceiling high above, and invisible streams of power rush at me, reaching out through the open door. Sucking in a breath, I try to ignore the feeling as I walk forward, moving between the high walls packed with rows upon rows of glass cabinets, each housing a different set of demon horns. Shade makes a clicking sound as the door closes shut behind us, but I keep my attention on the path ahead. Power swirls in the air, trapped in the vault, and there’s a strange metallic taste on my tongue.

The glass cabinets keep most of the power encased, but remnants leak out, and with this many pairs of horns, that power builds. I’m surprised none of the servants or guards in the palace have felt it yet. Even if the vault is so far underground.

They’re not just horns,I remind myself.They’reevidence of lives lived. Of the demons who once walked the land of Seral.The vault is a tomb of sorts. Low and high born alike, the horns of the dead are all here.Even the horns of a traitor,I think as I flap my black feathery wings, lifting into the air until I find one of the empty cabinets on a higher shelf. Carefully, I deposit Trey’s horns and shut the small glass door, glad to have them out of my hands.

“You know, if the witches ever find this place and get their hands on all this power…”Shade begins, but I’m quick to stop her train of thought.

“They won’t,” I respond aloud, letting out a deep breath. Then I amend, “They can’t.” In the wrong hands, these horns, thispower,could be a weapon, and one that couldn’t be allowed to fall to the witches.

Back before the ordeal with the witches, a demon was buried, horns and all. A demon’s power remained in their horns, even after life, but we were unable to harness this power, so instead we buried the dead. The power would leak into the ground like tree roots, giving life to the land until that power naturally depleted. But then the witches figured out how to steal the power for themselves. They started robbing our graves and taking the horns of the recently deceased. By the time the king realized what was happening, nearly all of the grave sites had been defiled, and the witches were enjoying their new gifts.

Everything escalated until the witches started murdering demons to obtain more power. They were willing to destroy demonkind, and it was only becauseKing Dalton managed to convince the other five realms to ally and join the fight against the witches that the demons survived. I was born centuries after that, but I’ve heard all the harrowing tales.

Now when a demon dies, it’s law that their horns are to be delivered to the king. And with the horns in these sealed cabinets, the power never goes back into the earth. It never depletes.

I stare across the vault, at the varying shapes and colors of horns, a twinge of envy pinching in my gut. Reaching up, I brush my hand over my head and comb my fingers through my raven-colored hair. I wouldn’t have to worry about making an addition to this tomb. I was born without horns or a tail, and I don’t even know where my power comes from. It’s different for angels, the king has told me, and we both assume that when it comes to this, I’m a little more like my mother.

Shade pecks my neck lightly as I flap my wings, slowly dropping to the ground, and I scrunch my face at the ticklish sensation.

“Hey, cut it out,” I laugh.

“Not until you stop feeling sorry for yourself,”Shade replies, pecking me a few more times.“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about what that scum traitor said about you.”

“What? No,” I reply, but now that she’s mentioned it, I replay Trey’s words in my head. No one has had the guts to speak to me like that for a long time, and hearing it was a reminder that no matter what I do, I’ll never be enough for thedemons. No matter what I do, I’ll always be different,and in their eyes, that means I’m not fit to be a royal.

“Well, he’s not entirely wrong,” I say, feigning indifference. “Iama half-angel.” I sometimes wish that the king would have found a demon mate rather than my mother, but it’s not like we get to choose our fated mates. I just try to remind myself that Lady Fate must have her reasons for matching those two, even if I can’t see it yet.

Demons don’t believe in the gods and goddesses that are worshipped in some of the other realms, but many do believe in destiny and the idea that our fates are determined by an actual female entity we name ‘Lady Fate.’ I figure she must be real, because someone has to be responsible for the matchmaking mess that sometimes goes on.

“Hmm, yes he has a point, and sometimes you are a bit of a bitch,”Shade teases.

I’m about to swat her from my shoulder when a rush of power slides down my back, thick invisible fingers brushing along my skin and making me shiver. I spin, turning to the small black door situated at the other end of the vault. There’s another retina scanner, but this one would incinerate me if I moved within range. It’s the only place in the entire palace that only the king has access.

“What do you think is in there?”I say to Shade curiously. We’ve debated the question many times over the years.

“I’m still sticking with my answer. A sex room,”she answers bluntly.

I snort a laugh.“We both know the king isn’t shy about his many fetishes.”In fact, I wouldn’t mind if he did become a bit more secretive in that department. Demons as a general rule, are very open, but when it comes to family there are some things a daughter doesn’t need to see.

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