The Price of Loyalty - Part One

Chapter 3

The Price of Loyalty - Part One

“I saw the state Valefar returned home in,” Diana Warfur seethed. “Battered, bruised, bleeding! Why didn’t you protect him?! Your sole purpose up on the Surface is to protect our Master!” Diana yelled, spit flecking at my face and for a split second I thought she was going to hit me again.

“I tried,” I rasped.

“Liar!”

“I’m not lying! Do you even know what happened on the Surface?” My building rage finally got the better of me and I shouted back at her. “Have you even spoken to Valefar, or are you just making up your own stories?! Sit down, Diana, and I’ll tell you exactly what happened to your precious Master.”

Diana stepped back. She still looked ready to rip me to shreds, but at least some part of her wanted to hear me out.

I decided to push my luck a little. “I want to tell Amber what happened as well,”

“I’m not waiting for you to gather an audience, Sera!” Diana’s hand launched towards me and she grabbed a fistful of my t-shirt. Her perfectly manicured talons nearly pierced the fabric as she dragged me closer. “What happened to Valefar?”

I grasped her wrist, just above her own infernal cuff. “I don’t want to repeat myself over and over. Get Amber. Please, Diana. Please, just for once, I want it to be like when we were kids.” Back when Diana could still laugh and find joy even in the bleakness of our lives in Hell. When she had hope that she’d find her mate and make something of her life. When she helped us as much as we helped her. Back when she was like a sister to me, like Amber.

My words struck a chord inside of her. I could feel my inner wolf stare down hers, urging Diana to remember the close bond we once shared. The bond we had before she had given up that vital lifeline of hope and let her heart shrivel away.

Before she had given herself over indefinitely to Valefar.

Diana pouted her painted lips and released me. I let go of her wrist in return. “Fine. I’ll get Amber and come to your room. You had better have a good explanation for how Valefar ended up like that.”

“I’ll tell you everything,” I promised.

~*~*~

A while later there was a knock at my door and I invited Amber and Diana inside. My room was nothing special, but there was a variety of pretty rocks and gemstones adorning my shelves. I'd collected them from the Surface, building an impressive collection over the years while working with the demon. They weren't typical ornaments, but Valefar never stopped me from picking them up, and I saw them as free souvenirs of the strange places our hellish job brought us to.

I sometimes wondered what Valefar had thought of me plucking pretty pebbles from the ground and showing them off to him. He never berated me for it, and it was those moments that made me think that Valefar wasn't a completely evil man. Unfortunately, that was the manipulation at play. Valefar had built and conditioned me to appreciate and cherish even the tiniest scraps of tolerance from him - to keep me loyal with minimal effort on his part.

Amber entered my room first, giving me a huge hug as soon as she saw the faint remnants of the silver blade on my neck. Diana hadn’t even noticed the mark earlier.

It had healed considerably thanks to one of the perks of the Celesta bloodline. At least, I assumed it was a perk. I appeared to recover from silver wounds faster than the other wolves and they attributed that fact to my Celesta-pack heritage. I went along with that explanation because it's not like I knew any better.

“Seraphine! Are you okay?” Amber asked as she held my face between her two large hands.

She had a bulkier build than me, with wide shoulders and hips. Her skin was darker and she had a mane of red hair which fell over her shoulders in tight curls. Her pale-jade eyes studied me, searching for any more damage.

I let myself smile; Amber usually had that effect on me. I leaned into her touch and closed my eyes. “I’m okay,”

Diana clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. “Are you done? I brought you Amber, so give me answers.”

Amber nodded her head. “Yes, tell us what happened,” Amber encouraged as she guided me to the edge of my bed.

The mattress sank with the weight of all three of us. Amber held my hand and gave my fingers a gentle squeeze. I filled my lungs with air and courage before I began to tell them what had happened earlier.

~*~*~

EARLIER THAT DAY

“It won’t take long,” Valefar said as he slipped his arms into a leather jacket. "It’ll be a standard meeting. I'll remind the human that his payment is due before the end of the month, and you growl at him menacingly.” Valefar pretended to be a wolf, clawing the air and snarling before he laughed and looked at me expectantly.

I gave him a polite giggle, but nothing he said or did amused me.

It had been some time since I overcame that strange sensation; the one on my birthday that called me to the Surface. I had learned to control the desire for my mysterious mate, but a part of me was still nervous about going up there. It would be the first time I had returned to the Surface since I had turned eighteen.

What if I stepped foot on the Earth’s crust and that overpowering ache for my mate returned? Amber insisted that it wouldn’t, but she also admitted that she had no real life experience of this sort of bond. There was no guarantee I would be fine and even Valefar seemed reluctant to take me on missions since then.

He had been taking Diana everywhere with him instead, but today he had lent her to another demonic Duke for an errand. Amber was available, as were numerous other Hellhounds, but Valefar usually proffered to have me by his side. He figured it was as good a day as any to test out whether I could go back to work on the Surface with him.

“If we have time afterward,” Valefar slid a hell-forged ring onto his right ring finger. “I might see if there are any other idiotic humans who want to sell me their souls for mortal riches or a two-inch bigger cock. Business has been a bit boring and slow recently,” With a sick grin, he pulled me against his scorching body and flicked his ringed hand, summoning a column of fire to swallow us up and spit us out onto the Surface.

The moment my combat boots touched the Surface, a beam of white light shot up into the inky night sky, straight from my chest. My heart throbbed and my vision blurred - I thought I was going to pass out, but Valefar steadied me. My soul had gone super nova and was reaching out to swim among the stars, as though it was its destiny to do so.

Valefar watched as the light shrunk into a tiny ball before exploding out into glittering rays of starlight. Finally, it faded away and the demon Duke turned his glare on me, violet eyes glowing as power pulsed through his veins.

“What the fuck did you just do?”