Page 33 of Unholy Bond
They looked at each other with a flicker of animal calculation. The Void made the moment stretch, made me see the trajectory of every possible fight, the way the blood would arc, the way they’d scream if I put my knife to the base of their skull.
Instead, I tossed a pouch of gold onto the table. It hit with a clink and rolled out, coins bouncing across the cracked surface.
The demons looked at the gold, then at me, then at each other. The one with the scale stripe kept his focus on the knife, but the pulse jumped in his neck.
I kept circling the room, trailing my fingers over racks of clubs and barbed whips. “I represent someone who values loyalty,” I said. “Not the kind that gets you a medal, the kind that keeps you alive.”
Another movement of their eyes, another crack in the facade. The one at the crate turned, finally, and I saw he’d once been beautiful, before they’d stitched a demon’s mouth onto his face and tattooed his ears with a spiral that said “Property of the Prince.” His hands were still elegant. I imagined he could slit a throat with one and never spill a drop while playing a complicated piano piece with the other.
“Lucifer rewards the loyal,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced. He watched the coins with a longing that had nothing to do with pay.
“Lucifer eats the loyal,” I said, letting my smile show. “He shits them out and uses their bones to build new walls.”
That got a laugh from the table, not loud, but enough to break the tension. The one with the scarred arms leaned forward, eyes bright.
“You got more of that?” he asked, nudging the gold with a claw.
“Plenty,” I said. “But I’m not looking for beggars. I’m looking for soldiers. The kind that know when it’s time to change sides.”
He spat, a wad of black that sizzled on the floor. “We all know. Just not all of us are ready to die yet.”
I gave him a hard look, then focused on the biggest one. “You don’t look happy with your boss,” I said.
He glared, then set the knife down. His arms were crisscrossed with whip marks, some so fresh they still wept. “He’s a cunt,” he said, not even lowering his voice. “But he’s got the only key to the mess hall.”
More laughter, more tension leaking out.
“If someone offered you a way out?” I said, testing. “Someone stronger?”
Before he could answer, a sergeant crashed through the door. He was a wall of meat and anger, his badge pinned to his chest with a nail, and his tongue slithered in and out like a lizard’s. The other demons went silent, instantly.
He scanned the room, ignoring the gold. “What business do you have here?” he asked me.
I straightened, set the spear down, and faced him full on. “Recruiting,” I said, blunt. “For a better cause than this shithole.”
He stepped closer, putting himself between me and the others. “You think you can just come in here and—”
I nodded past him, at the black crack running up the wall where the Void had started to seep through. “Even Hell is rejecting him,” I said. “You smell it? The rot? He’s losing. We’re the replacement.”
He turned to look. For a moment, he was all calculation. Then he did something I didn’t expect.
He went down on one knee.
The others watched, unsure, but then the big one with the scale stripe followed. Then the scarred arms. Within thirty seconds, every demon in the room was kneeling, heads down, tails between legs. The Void purred, a hot pulse in my chest, and I realized I’d missed this. I’d missed the moment when I claimed a room for myself, missed the anticipation before the bloodletting began.
“Tell us what you need,” said the sergeant, his head bowed.
I walked to him, close enough to smell the fear, the sweat, the yearning for violence. I pressed a hand to his shoulder, just above the badge, and leaned in.
“Lilith needs soldiers who can follow orders,” I said. “She needs fighters who can hold a line, break a line, turn a line inside out. You know what comes next?”
He nodded, just once.
“Good,” I said. “You’ll be the first wave. Gather your loyalists, don’t tip your hand. When you get the signal, you go for the core. Take out the supervisors first. Cut off comms. Hit the main gate and hold it.”
He nodded again. I saw the plan forming behind his eyes, the way it always did with the best ones.
The others looked at me, wanting instruction. I gave it to them, methodical and cold.
