Page 62 of Burn for the Devil
Ammar fought my magic like a beast, his hair loosening from the tie that had held it back as he swung his arms, trying to direct his magic specifically toward my hold. He remembered his handgun the very second I spotted it, and I flicked my hand, sending it skittering into the fireplace where it hit the wall with a metallic echo.
Tilting the bottle to my lips again, I consumed the remaining fluid while I stared at him, noting with amusement the sweat beading his forehead. Who did he think he was to follow me here—or to show up in this realm to begin with?
It’d been a while since I’d enjoyed this particular beverage, or the mild high the concoction provided. Licking my lips, I stepped closer to Ammar. The elixir soared through my bloodstream, every cell of my body tingling with the rush.
“You’re going to regret this,” Ammar ground out in warning.
I chuckled. “Not likely. I’d like to remind you that you told me you’d stay away from Samantha.” I removed my silver talons from my pocket and slipped them over my fingertips.
“I said I didn’t want her, not that I’d stay away.”
Red filled my vision with his inflammatory words. He should be worshipping her. “I'd say you will be bowing before her... but I'm afraid you'll be missing."
Dragging a fingertip down the front of his chest, my claw split his shirt open. Ammar’s muscles tightened and twitched while he struggled under the unnatural hold plastering him to the wall.
“I’m not the enemy, idiot.”
Ammar hissed in pain as I slowly dragged a finger up his torso, tearing his flesh. “Who sent you here?” He grunted, gnashing his teeth together and I repeated my question.
“No one.” Rivulets of blood coursed down his abdomen. Ammar was attempting to center himself so he could escape my grasp, I could feel him gathering his energy. Pressing my shoulder into him, I went for his neck, intent on draining what I could before he could escape.
But I forgot an important detail, I’d opened myself up to be drained as well by unbarring that channel.
“Idiot prince,” Ammar growled, shoving me away. I held onto him when we rolled across the floor and I pulled at him, pinning him to the floor. The table jarred, sliding several inches as the legs scraped the wooden boards beneath us.
When I finally straddled him, I held my dagger at his neck while his own was at mine. We were at an impasse, and I had to admit to myself I was very nearly matched by this trespasser, in terms of strength, skill, and magic. The opportunity for this to end unfavorably included odds I strongly disapproved of.
“Whosent you?” The urge to shove my blade through his neck was tempting.
His knife clattered to the floor, and he fisted my shirt, his other hand swatting my blade away. I kept it in my grip, but relented, confident my claws would prevent him from inflicting much damage. “I answered your question. You know as well as I no one did.”
He wasn’t lying, he was here of his own accord. I could see the truth in his eyes. “Very well. Why are you here?” Slowly I stood up, dragging myself upright.
“There’s nowhere left to go that I care for, everyone’s coming here.”
“You have your own world.”
“Yes, but yours is much more interesting right now.” Ammar laughed to himself. “You’ve created quite a stir, letting a source of magic go.”
He must’ve been referring to the influx of those we had in the warehouse. I’d instructed Alexander to let them go as we were now headquartered here.
“I do what I can,” I remarked, watching him carefully. It was a challenge to discern how much Ammar knew, and I didn’t trust him. His comment about my successor grated at me, I could only guess he devised a plan to uproot me and my men.
Ammar’s gaze drifted to the now discarded wine bottle, his brows furrowing. “You need to leave,” I ordered.
“Oh, I plan on it.” He smirked. “I’m merely curious as to what level of disaster you’ve conjured.”
Frustratingly, I couldn’t get a solid enough read on him, nor could I see his aura. He was a demon god like me, only from a different realm. The interactions I’d had with him in the past were few and fleeting but with his kind, their auras couldn’t be read by anyone but their own.
“It's all under control,” I replied. Or it would be, soon. My phone rang, interrupting the tension. I stepped away from Ammar when I saw Ilya’s name flashing across the screen. If he was calling me, it might be important.
Ilya relayed what he’d accomplished in my absence. He retrieved the bottle of blood wine we kept at the casino. Julian had been there but hadn’t noticed Ilya’s presence. If he did, he’d been ignorant of our actions. As I would have expected, Ilyaconsumed the contents of the bottle the moment he’d gotten his hands on it, same as I did.
That left a portion at my estate in the Fourth Realm, and the one in my office. There had been one in the Second Realm, at my club, but it was destroyed after Ilya had used it to poison me during his pursuit of Kiara.
If there were other bottles, we’d deal with them as we came across them. The important thing was to take possession of the ones we could, as soon as we could. If we wanted to remain in power, that’s what we had to do.
Devane and Alastair had discovered the true original document, describing the wine’s curse. The paper it was written on had been tested and determined authentic. Not only did my illegitimate pursuit of a magic source damn the realms, but the combination of my failure to drain her and my denying her of Ilya had as well. According to what they’d found, the only solution was to consume all of the curse, or we’d lose our divinity. Karma in action, set in motion by whatever perverse deity ran this universe.