Speak of the Devil

KEIRA

Death had a strange way of stalling.

It didn't roar in like thunder or whisper like a lullaby. It paused, as if the universe itself held its breath, waiting to see if I'd go quietly.

I didn't.

Something cold pressed against my palm. It dragged me back to consciousness in one brutal snap. No gentle awakening. No light at the end of the tunnel. Just pain, raw and jagged, clawing through my spine like it had been waiting for this very moment to strike.

My eyes flew open.

A room bathed in flickering candlelight, shadows dancing like ghosts on stone walls. Gold shimmered. Incense hung heavy in the air, too sweet, too thick. And towering above me...

A woman. Robed in gold, like she'd stitched her clothes from sunlight and delusion.

And in her hand—A knife.

Not steel. No, worse. Bone-white and gleaming like moonlit ivory, veined in silver that pulsed faintly like it had a heartbeat of its own. Runes curled around the hilt like serpents.

My body moved before my brain caught up.

"Back the hell off," I croaked, voice sandpaper-dry, limbs heavy as lead.

She didn't flinch.

Her hands lifted in slow surrender. The kind you offer wild beasts before they rip out your throat.

"You're safe. You were injured. I only need—"

"You come near me with that cursed scalpel again, and I swear on every dead god listening, I'll carve regret into your bones."

Something flickered in her eyes. Not fear. No, fear I could've respected.

Pity.

Worse. So much worse.

Her hand moved again—toward me, slow like I was some half-broken thing that wouldn't bite twice.

"Don't be afraid. It won't hurt more than a moment."

That, sweetheart, was your first mistake.

"Oh, then you clearly don't know how pathetically low my pain threshold is."

I snatched the blade from her grip before she could blink. Fire bit into my palm, searing through skin and nerve. I hissed, knees buckling, vision dimming at the edges, but I didn't let go. Pain was just another ghost trying to own me.

I buried my elbow into her ribs—Hard.

She flew back, breath sucked out of her in a sharp wheeze as she crashed into the altar behind her. Candles scattered, bones clattered. The bowl of ink-black liquid tipped, spilling a thick line of rot across the stones. The runes around us flickered, alive for a second, then dimmed.

I stood. Shaking. Breathing like I'd just outrun a monster. Maybe I had.

The slab I'd been lying on? Stone. Cold. Stained. Definitely used for things that didn't involve healing.

And me? Barefoot, blood-streaked, in a white tunic, armed with a demon dagger and way too conscious for whatever the hell this ritual was supposed to be.

"You jab one more freaky blade into me," I growled, turning my blade toward her where she writhed on the floor, "—and I swear, I'll finish whatever weird sacrifice you were halfway through, you candle-hoarding cultist."

And that's when the doors blew open. I didn't have to look. I felt him.

Hybrid and his sidekick. 

"Well," I rasped, blood sticky on my tongue, "if this was your idea of a welcome party..." My lips twisted into something that might've been a smile if you tilted your head and squinted. "Your decorator deserves to be stabbed."

The Beta was the first to move.

He shot across the chamber like fury in motion, skidding to his knees beside Glitter Mummy.

"You okay, Yelena?"

She waved him off, her fingers trembling despite her calm. "I'm fine. She just caught me off guard. I'll heal."

Of course, she would. Women like her didn't bleed like the rest of us. They stitched themselves together with stardust and fucking moonlight.

I stayed where I was. My chest heaved, knees threatening to fold. But I didn't show weakness. Not in front of them. 

The Beta turned toward me, and his eyes-oh, gods, his eyes-bled into molten gold.

"You filthy little omega," he hissed. One step forward, rage unraveling from him in thick waves. "Touch her again, and I'll rip that venomous tongue right out of your fucking mouth."

I grinned, teeth flashing. "Aww. Gold eyes. Adorable. Want me to scoop them out and make earrings to match your ego?"

He lunged.

My blade lifted instinctively, grip white-knuckled. I didn't blink.

But Yelena was faster.

"Isaac, no!" she snapped, catching his arm. "She's scared. She doesn't understand what's happening."

"Scared?" I barked a laugh, breathless. My fingers trembled, but I kept the knife up, aimed straight for them. "I'm not scared, you rhinestone witch!"

Their eyes widened. Good. Let them feel it-the sheer chaos humming under my skin.

"You try pinning me down again and I swear, I'll redecorate this temple of yours with your intestines and hang crystals from your spleen."

A blur.

A flash of black and silver.

I barely saw him move. One second, I was standing; the next, Nikolai's hand clamped around my wrist, and the blade was yanked from me. Pain tore through my arm as he twisted, and then—CRACK.

My back slammed against cold granite. A scream choked in my throat, wind knocked from my lungs. My shoulder lit up with pain sharp enough to blur my vision.

I might've cursed him if I could breathe.

"Hold her," Nikolai ordered.

Rough hands gripped me. One pair on my legs—Isaac's, like iron bands. Another digging into my shoulder. My vision swam, heart ramming against my ribs.

I thrashed, kicked, spat.

"You touch me again, I'll make sure you never fucking touch anything ever again!"

"Swear later," Nikolai growled. "Yelena. Take her blood."

"You even nick me with that glorified dagger and I'll-"

"Do nothing." His eyes cut into me like ice. "You're not in charge here, omega."

And gods help me, that word-omega-it tasted like ash on my tongue.

Yelena stepped forward, blade in hand, her movements slow, careful. Like she thought I'd lunge again. She wasn't wrong.

She murmured something, maybe a prayer, maybe a curse, and dragged the blade across my palm.

The sting wasn't sharp.

It burned.

Like molten fire etched into my bones, ripping through every nerve.

I didn't scream. Wouldn't. Couldn't.

But the pain... it drank me. For a second, it felt like my body folded in on itself.

They released me.

I stumbled off the slab, gripping the wall like it owed me an explanation.

"What the fuck did you do to me?" I snarled, cradling my palm, blood dripping like lava.

"She's doing the test," Isaac said quietly, like that explained anything.

She took the vial of blood, stepped to a wide dish in the corner, and began her weird incantation shit. I watched, jaw tight, heart beating out an anthem of run.

She poured my blood into a steaming violet liquid, and when the two met, it sparked.

Real sparks.

Like lightning on water.

"She's checking for ether traces," Nikolai said, watching me too closely. "Lunar or Sanguine."

My stomach dropped. "Sanguine? You're testing me for fangs now?"

No answer. Just silence and tension so thick it strangled.

She whispered something under her breath, then dropped the mixture onto a black stone carved with runes.

It shimmered.

The runes lit up.

White. Then silver. Then-

Blue.

A pulse ripped through the chamber.

My bones rang.

My knees buckled, but I stood my ground. Just barely.

Yelena took a step back, eyes wide. Her lips parted. "She's the one," she whispered.

Nikolai exhaled like a man breathing for the first time in years.

And I? I felt like the ground had dropped out from beneath me.

"The one what? What the hell does that mean?"

No one answered.

My skin prickled. My blood roared. My entire body felt wrong, like something had crawled under my skin and was chewing its way out.

"You're burning up," Nikolai's eyes snapped to mine.

"How the fuck do you know—" I bit my tongue, literally. The tremors in my limbs weren't subtle anymore.

Not again.

That thing in me... the thing that burned... it was waking up.

It always did, when men tried to cage me. When pain tasted too much like memory. When I was one second from breaking—It rose.

Slow. Relentless. Familiar.

"Stay back," I warned, voice shaking as bad as my hands.

But Nikolai stepped forward.

Wrong move.

My legs gave out.

I crashed to the floor, fingers clawing the ground. Everything spun.

"Yelena. What's happening to her?!"

"I-" Yelena stammered. "I don't know."

My throat clenched around a scream I couldn't release. Heat surged, clawing up my spine. My body was boiling from the inside out. I tasted blood from biting down too hard. I tried to hold it in.

I really did.

But it was too late.

"Keira! Listen to me! KEIRA. RELAX!"

My body obeyed

And then—Boom.

Light exploded out of me. Not white. Not golden.

Electric blue. Raw. Furious.

It cracked from my skin like lightning, shattering the shrine around me.

Candles went out.

Objects flew.

Runes exploded into light.

Isaac hit the wall with a curse. Yelena dropped to her knees. Nikolai staggered, his boots dragging through dust, one hand lifting to shield his face, mouth parted.

And I collapsed, the cold marble kissing my cheek.

Just before the dark swallowed me whole, I heard her voice.

"...Unbelievable."

Nikolai rasped, "What?"

"You've got yourself..." Her breath hitched. "...a Platina."

I didn't know what that meant. But by the look in their eyes... I wasn't supposed to survive it.