Page 98 of Demons In My Head: Exposing the Exiled
Rhodes snarled from his perch across from me, the sound echoing off the walls. I could feel his pain. We all could. Because that's what Asrael did. He found broken things, convinced them he could fix them, then twisted them into weapons.
Just like he'd done to Jasper.
The thought hit me like a punch to the gut. How many others had he corrupted? How many had he destroyed while claiming to save them?
Palmer's next attack cracked the floor beneath Scorpio's feet, sending chunks of concrete floating upward. "The only thing you taught me was that monsters wear pretty masks and speak sweet lies."
"And yet here you are, surrounded by demons." Asrael laughed, the sound all wrong coming from Scorpio's throat. "My beautiful, deadly creation, finally embracing what you were meant to be."
I watched Palmer's shoulders tense and saw the slight hesitation in her stance. That manipulative fuck was trying to get in her head, make her doubt herself. Make her doubt us.
"She's not your anything," I growled, not caring if he could hear me. "She's ours."
As if she'd heard me, Palmer's power surged. Purple lightning arced between the floating pieces of debris, connecting them like a web of raw energy. Felix's artwork rippled and merged, forming new creatures that shouldn't exist outside of nightmares.
"You're right about one thing," Palmer said, her voice steady and cold as winter steel. "I am embracing what I'm meant to be. But I didn't need you for that. I just needed to find my real family."
Pride bloomed in my chest, fierce and bright as dragonfire. That's our girl. Our little witch who'd fought her way through hell and chosen us—chosen The Exiled—as her home.
Now if I could just break this fucking binding spell, I'd show Asrael exactly what happened to anyone who tried to take our family away from us.
Fuck, she'd raced right into a dead end and Asrael laughed mockingly when he realized he had her cornered. "Listen, Palmer, I just want to talk," he said, smooth as silk.
"I don't want to hear a word from your mouth, they're nothing but poison!" She tapped her fingers together, creating little zaps of purple power.
"She's… mine…" Scorpio's voice broke through, sending tremors through their shared body and pissing off Asrael.
"Shut up, you weak, pathetic boy!" he roared so loud that it hurt my ears.
The maze's shadows writhed as Palmer backed away from Scorpio's convulsing form. My heart slammed against my ribs, every instinct screaming to protect her. To shield her from the grotesque scene unfolding before us.
"Get... out..." Scorpio's voice gurgled, his body jerking like a puppet with tangled strings. The sound of bones cracking filled the air as his spine arched at an impossible angle.
"You insignificant waste of flesh," Asrael's voice overlapped Scorpio's, creating a hellish chorus that made even my demon recoil. "I should have destroyed you the moment you outlived your usefulness."
Dark liquid—too thick to be blood—poured from Scorpio's mouth and nose. His skin rippled like there were things crawling beneath it, fighting to break free. I'd seen some fucked up shit in my centuries of existence, but watching two spirits war for control of one body? That was a new level of nightmare fuel.
Our little witch's eyes were wide, her chest heaving as she struggled to process what she was witnessing. The living artwork around her responded to her distress, writhing and screaming in silent agony.
"Baby, open the veil!" I shouted in my head, praying she could somehow, someway, hear me. "You can do this!"
Scorpio's body bent backward, his spine a perfect arch as more of that black liquid sprayed from his mouth. A sound like tearing flesh filled the air, and I watched in revulsion as something started to emerge from his chest—a ghostly form trying to claw its way free.
"I won't... let you..." Scorpio's voice was barely human anymore.
Palmer's power crackled through the air, making my skin buzz like I'd been struck by lightning. The veil between worlds shimmered into existence behind Scorpio's thrashing form—a curtain of shadows and starlight that shouldn't exist in our reality.
"That's it, sweetheart," I thought, even as my demon raged against our invisible bonds. "Send that fucker straight to hell where he belongs."
The ghostly form ripped free of Scorpio's body with a sound like a thousand souls screaming. Scorpio's spirit—or what wasleft of it—hung in the air for a heartbeat, mangled and twisted almost beyond recognition.
Palmer's hands shot forward, purple lightning arcing between her fingers. The veil rippled like water disturbed by a stone, reaching out with tendrils of darkness to wrap around Scorpio's spirit.
"No!" Asrael roared, trying to maintain his grip on Scorpio's physical form even as the other spirit was torn away. "You dare—"
But Palmer wasn't listening anymore. Her face was set in lines of determination I recognized—the same look she got right before doing something incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. Usually both.
The veil surged forward, swallowing Scorpio's spirit in one violent motion. His final scream echoed through the maze, making Felix's artwork shudder and retreat back to their two-dimensional prisons.
