Pure Requiem - Aja James Page 0,66

sinks into his flesh.

Easily, he disarms me, trapping me, his nostrils flaring to take in my scent.

I know the exact moment that he sees through the disguise, his eyes going flat and murderous.

That’s when I play my last card, transforming into my Creature form.

“Stop,” I order in my sing-song, half-male-half-female voice.

Abruptly, he releases me. I can see his whole body quiver with the stress of his inner battles.

But it works. My painstaking torturous experiments on him worked!

Yes, I enjoyed making him suffer. I told you it’s a love-hate relationship between us. But I also tortured him to the edge of death repeatedly for a reason.

Medusa wanted to ensure his total allegiance by inserting a fragment of her poisonous soul into him like she did me. I managed to convince her that wasn’t the best option. She was already unraveling from all of the fragments of her soul that she’s relinquished over many millennia. More fractures could have irreversible consequences. She got that.

But I also needed to convince her that the Paladin is completely under her control through other means. So I amplified Wan’er’s experimental, chemical turning methods on Dalair. It was incredibly tricky to keep his ability to think while wiping his soul blank. And keep him alive throughout the laborious, agonizing process too.

Then I got the brilliant idea to insert a piece of my soul into him, just enough to keep his own soul on deep-freeze while preventing it from departing his body (and therefore leaving him dead and disintegrated). And because of this, I wondered…

Maybe I can command him just a little. He’s mine in a way, just as I am Medusa’s.

It worked!

I don’t want to push my luck, though, so I act quickly.

“Lie down on the ground and don’t move.”

Stiltedly, his movements jerky and awkward, he does as I instruct.

He’s fighting himself hard. I can see that his instincts and Medusa’s orders are warring with my commands. At any moment, he could snap out of it. I could lose my hold on him.

“This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me,” I tell him.

And then I pick up the discarded sword and dagger and stab him in the chest with one, between the ribs with the other.

His body jerks, and he bares his teeth in the only indication that he feels the pain, but he doesn’t make a sound.

Jackpot. I think I struck lung and liver. That should make the healing process slower. But just in case…

I pull the weapons from his flesh, making sure to twist the blades on the way out, making his wounds even more severe, then stab him again in vital organs.

“Aren’t you glad you have a brother like me?” I grunt with the effort of dealing him just shy of mortal wounds.

“Someone who cares enough to kill you almost dead in order to save you? Someone who made you strong enough to take these almost mortal blows without dying? Someone who gave you his own fucking wife. Don’t anyone ever accuse me of not sharing. A man doesn’t get more magnanimous than that.”

His body jerks and shudders with each stab. Dark, almost black blood leaks out of his mouth. All the while he stares unblinkingly up at me with those murderous black eyes, promising retribution, no doubt.

Yeah, get in line, amigo.

Finally, I heave off of him, out of breath. I throw the blood-drenched blades away, hearing them clatter and clang as they hit rock and ground.

“Now, you don’t have a choice but to stay down,” I tell him, emphasizing the last two words in one final order, though I don’t know if my will has any more effect on him.

It doesn’t matter. He’s incapable of getting up any time soon, his wounds too great. But the fact that he’s still in his corporal form shows that he won’t die from these wounds.

I know exactly how much he can take. After all, I pushed him to the edge of death countless times during the years we’ve had him in our “care.”

I turn to leave, hoping I’m not too late to watch the once-in-a-life-time showdown with Medusa. Now that her second-in-command is out of commission, she has to come out to defend herself.

But Dalair’s gritty voice stops me.

“Right…right side.”

“What?” I lean over him a little to hear better. Surely he’s not asking me to stab him again in the right side?

“Medusa…right side. Left…regenerates. Avoid…”

The import of his words finally dawns. I look down at him amazed.

Agony-filled silver eyes stare up