In a large empty warehouse, a young Asian woman was shackled to a chair with heavy black chains. Finally, the woman’s eyes fluttered open and when she recognized the man standing before her, she glared at him.
“Hellstorm,” she hissed.
“Welcome back, Reyjacc,” said Hellstorm. “I was wondering when you’ll wake from your beauty sleep.”
Reyjacc tried to wiggle herself out of the chains but they only tightened around her. Hellstorm chuckled. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Holy chains. It will only be tighter and more painful if you resist.”
“You fucking asshole,” Reyjacc yelled. Her eyes turned a light shade of purple. “I should have known it was you. Rumors say you’re back from the dead — only someone as crazy as you would dare kidnap a royal demon.”
Hellstorm grinned. “I’m flattered.”
“So,” Reyjacc said, composing herself, “how was hell? Last time I heard, you were in Bezvar being my father’s bitch.” She laughed heartily. “Hellstorm? Bitch, please. More like Hellsbitch. Do you have any idea what my father will do to you once he finds out what you’ve done to me?”
This time Hellstorm laughed so hard that his insides ached. This was indeed the best joke he had heard in a long time. Even after calming down, he broke down into hysterical laughter again. “It’s cute that you think Bezvaros gives a shit about you, or any of you fucking lowbloods.” He burst into laughter again. “I’m sorry this is just too funny.”
“What the hell do you want?” Reyjacc asked. “Are you here to kill me? I didn’t do shit.”
“I’m only here for one thing, and as long as you give it to me, I’ll spare your life.”
“What if I don’t have what you’re here for? It doesn’t sound fair that you’ll kill me for that.”
“You kill people for far less.” The audacity of this one. He had already hunted down five lowbloods, and they were all involved in something shady. The last one was trafficking children for food. Vanquishers must have been hunting that particular demon down because Hellstorm had run into a few senior vanquishers when he went after that child-eating demon. He was sure he would find something terrible Reyjacc was doing if he looked deeper. But that wasn’t why he was here. “I’m not here for the Order,” said Hellstorm.
Reyjacc narrowed her eyes. “You haven’t gone back to them, have you?” A cunning smile widened on her face. “I sense demon energy around you. I wonder what the Order will do when they find out their favorite son is tainted.”
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“Keep wasting my time and soon you won’t be able to wonder about anything.”
“Fine.” She clenched her jaws. “What do you want?”
“Izenros. Where is he?”
The smugness on Reyjacc’s face evaporated and her purple eyes darkened. “Why are you looking for Prince Izenros?”
Hellstorm shrugged. “Personal reasons. None of your business.”
Reyjacc glared at him. “If you think for a second that I will betray the last prince of the Septos, then you must be out of your fucking mind.”
“Betray?” Hellstorm scoffed. “What is it with you demons? How are you betraying him if you tell me where he is?” He shook his head. “Do you even know why I’m looking for him?”
“I don’t care why,” Reyjacc snapped. “You think ratting out the location of Prince Izenros to a fucking vanquisher is not betrayal? What the hell did they do to you in Bezvar? It’s like you’ve grown stupid or something.”
“So it’s true then,” Hellstorm said. “Izenros is here on earth.”
“I never said that,” Reyjacc said quickly. “Look I’m not telling you anything.”
“Hmm.” Hellstorm sighed. It was the same story all over again. He knew Reyjacc had made up her mind and there was nothing Hellstorm could do about it. None of the other royal demons he had captured and tortured had given him anything either. Every single one of them was dead now. “I guess this is goodbye then,” he said as he released his lightning elema.
He gathered his elema in his hand, transforming it into a long golden whip. He cracked the whip on the ground tearing a long narrow rift in its wake. Reyjacc’s lips quivered as she stared at the golden lightning whip. As Hellstorm was ready to slash the demon into nonexistence, she shouted, “Wait, wait, wait.”
Hellstorm tilted his head. “Did I jog your memory?”
“You don’t have to kill me.”
“That’s your argument?”
“No, I’m serious,” said Reyjacc. “I heard about the others you captured and killed. We’ve been on high alert these days because of that. I’m guessing, you asked all of them about Prince Izenros and none of them said anything. If you kill me, I know you’ll capture even more lowbloods. But trust me, they won’t tell you anything.”
“If you have a point, Reyjacc, make it now. I’m losing my patience.”
“Okay, okay,” she said. “I’m just saying that you’re wasting your time. It’s not that I don’t want to tell you where Izenros is. I just can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?”
“We can’t be disloyal to the royals,” she said. “It’s innately impossible.”
“I know demons can’t be disloyal to the royals. Why the hell do you think I’m targeting royals instead?”
“I’m just a lowblood, Hellstorm. It’s against my nature to incur the wrath of a pureblood. Izenros is a fucking prince of the Septos for fuck’s sake.”
“So?”
“So?” Reyjacc looked as if she could not believe she was talking to a bloody idiot. “If you want answers you’ll have to get it another way. No lowblood or highblood royal will help you. Not ever. You could kill all of us and still not get answers. Why waste your time like that?”
Hellstorm paused thoughtfully. Reyjacc might be on to something. Still… “That doesn’t solve my problem, Reyjacc.”
“There’s another way I can help you without betraying Izenros.”
“I’m listening.”
“You could get help from your old friend. Ludwig Ziegler.”
Hellstorm balled his fist at the sound of that name. Fucking Ziegler. If he knew where Ziegler was, the motherfucker would have already been dead. “Where is he?”
“Why don’t you release me and I’ll tell you.” The lightning around Hellstorm’s body crackled fervently. “On second thought, I don’t mind talking in these chains,” she said with a wide smile.