The next morning, Dmitri rose late. Claudia was already up, immersed deep in her reading. Dmitri tore off a chunk of bread from a loaf they’d been provided and sat across from Claudia watching her while he ate. They sat in silence, interrupted every now and then by the sound of Claudia turning a page. Suddenly, Claudia made a frustrated noise and slammed her book shut; “I just don’t understand!” she stormed.

Dmitri looked at her questioningly.

“If Akahaziel made this disease, how come he can’t change it to make it last longer?” asked Claudia.

“I’d not thought of that,” said Dmitri and took another bite of his bread.

“The only thing I can think of is that he isn’t around. But then look at what happened to Wayte, so he has to be around,” she said.

“Maybe he was weakened by Uriel after he sent me here?” suggested Dmitri.

“No, I don’t think so. Physically yes, but a demon’s magic wouldn’t be weakened if the demon itself was injured. It’s an innate corruptive power,” explained Claudia.

“How do you know that?” asked Dmitri around his bread.

She held up the book she was reading, “Though I do find it odd that we have a book about demons in here. Why provide us with something that might contain the key to defeating him?” she mused.

“I’m just grateful that we have the knowledge available,” said Dmitri, “But I’ve only been trying to find a cure so far. I’ve barely inspected the corpse yet, good thing it is sealed in magic otherwise it would have begun to smell by now.”

“Wait,” said Claudia excited, her eyes shining, “say that again!”

“What? It’s not going to smell, we’ve got it sealed in magic.”

“No, before that, the cure,” she said.

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“All I said was I was trying to find one.” Said Dmitri confused.

“But don’t you see? To make the disease last longer, you have to partially cure it! And that is why Akahaziel can’t do it. He’s a demon; he can only perform corruptive magic!” Claudia finished with a flourish.

Dmitri’s eyes widened, “I’ve just thought of something even better!” he exclaimed.

Claudia raised her eyebrows, “Oh?”

“You say he can’t do any healing right?” confirmed Dmitri, and Claudia nodded. “What if he was hit with corruptive magic? He couldn’t heal himself could he? It would eat into him and damage him.”

Claudia broke into a massive grin, “I think you’ve got it! We know how to defeat him!” But then her smile dropped and she furrowed her eyebrows, thinking. “How do we hit him with corruptive magic? We can’t do that type.”

“Dammit!” said Dmitri, slamming his fist down on the table. “I don’t know. See if you can find a way to do that while I get some samples from the corpse so I can make the partial cure.”

“Didn’t you want to see what I was talking to Wayte about last night? The fire?” asked Claudia with a grin.

The conversation from the night before had completely left Dmitri’s mind in the events that had followed, but now they came rushing back. Including the memory of a promise to Wayte that they would link with him to keep him safe from being controlled.

“Have you linked with Wayte yet?” blurted Dmitri when he realised.

Claudia laughed, a bright cheerful laugh that belied their surroundings, “Did it slip your mind?” She asked with a cheeky grin.

Dmitri blushed at this, women weren’t meant to behave like this!

“Well I was distracted. You may remember, you were there after all. I do recall a few things that you said last night? Would you like me to repeat them?” asked Dmitri with a grin of his own.

It was Claudia’s turn to go red and she cleared her throat. “Yes, I have linked with Wayte this morning. It is a very unusual experience. I’ll let you determine that for yourself later though, I’ve only just released the link so we won’t need to do it for a while yet.”

“Good,” said Dmitri, “Now this fire thing. You said you could make a distraction more volatile then fire? How do you mean?”

“Well,” she replied, getting up and going over to her workbench, “the first thing I did this morning was begin preparations. Over here I have a sample.” She held up a small vial filled with an orange liquid. “When this liquid is heated, whether by fire or magic, the liquid itself will catch fire and if the container it is in is a tight fit, the liquid will expand at such a rate that it will explode.”

Dmitri raised his eyebrows, “Explode?”

“Yes, the more liquid and the more heat the bigger the explosion will be. So we’ll put it over here in the corner under this bucket,” said Claudia picking up a bucket. “You can channel heat into it if you can’t see it correct?”