Daria waved it off. “No. I get it. Maybe it makes me cold to admit it, and I obviously don’t wish harm to come to anyone… but if he has a following willing to lay down their lives for chaos… who am I to argue? If it makes me a bad person to want to keep you guys safe at all costs, then I’ll just have to live with that.” Admitting it aloud sent a shard of guilt piercing through her, but it was unclear why she felt guilty. Did she feel guilt because she truly felt guilty, or because she didn’t feel guilty?
“I feel the same way,” Death murmured, gaze latched onto her.
She smiled softly, and knowing he shared her sentiment was comforting somehow.
“Good.”
“We can discuss it more in the morning though,” Death told her. “You should sleep.
“What about you?”
“No sleep for the dead,” he teased, and Daria rolled her eyes, silence settling between them.
A well of affection filled her chest, and her gaze trailed back to Death. She stood, and he turned in the chair as if in anticipation, and Daria wrapped her arms around him without a second thought. At first, he paused, as if surprised, but then he returned the embrace, and she was enveloped in the scent of midnight roses.
Burying her head in his neck, she drew in a deep breath, and in response, he teased the ends of her hair with his fingers. It was an embrace of comfort, nothing more, and nothing less, and in that moment, it was purely magical.
Daria wanted to say something, but no words seemed appropriate or enough to express her appreciation for such a simple yet powerful show of affection. It was what they both needed, and long moments passed before they finally separated.
“Don’t stay up too late,” she whispered, and he nodded, the knot between his brows finally relaxed.
“Go to sleep,” he insisted, and her lips curled in a small smile before she left the kitchen.
Returning to Hope’s bedroom, she wet a washcloth and stole a pair of scissors from the bathroom. There was no way she’d be able to get that shirt off him any other way, so she carefully cut it off one snip at a time. Then she cleaned the wound, and with more supplies, she bandaged it the best she could without lifting him.
He grunted in his sleep, and Daria finally left him alone. By the time she disposed of the scraps of his shirt and dumped the supplies haphazardly on the sink, she was dead on her feet. She collapsed in the bed beside Hope, and with him acting as a furnace, she was asleep in moments.
SOFIA
The metal doors scraped as they slid open, revealing a demon she wished dead more than anyone. Besides Pandora.
Crimson still stained the concrete from where they’d killed Wrath, just like her own anger and hatred stained her. She turned every ounce of that fury on the demon that entered, and if she had the power to kill with a single glance, he would certainly be dead.
But he strolled through the door, short sword flipping end over end as he waved it around like a fucking toy. The smile on his face made her want to slap it off.
“Did you take care of them?” Pandora asked through the tinny overhead speakers.
Sofia jerked her head up as hope swelled in her chest. Daria. She’d come with the others. They’d found her!
“Yeah. They didn’t put up much of a fight, not when I got one of ‘em good,” he drawled confidently, though blood stained his shirt and his skin beneath it in the tear of the fabric. So he’d been injured.
As if Pandora were as fed up with his attitude as much as Sofia was, she sighed over the speaker and mumbled something they couldn’t hear. “Good. Just keep an eye on the perimeter. They might be back.”
The speaker clicked noisily as she hung up before he could respond, and he waved a hand at the ceiling as if she could see him. For all they knew, maybe she could.
Doubt glanced over at her and smirked.
The chains shackled to her wrists at her sides clanked together as she fisted her hands, wishing more than anything she could punch that stupid look off his face.
“They won’t be back,” he stated darkly, and the tiny bit of hope that had bloomed in her chest wilted instantly.
“It’s kinda nice that our powers work on each other, the demons, that is,” he continued. He strayed closer, swaggering cockily across the room.
Sofia ground her teeth together and remained perfectly still. He wanted her to pull at her chains and try to attack him. Wanted to laugh in her face when she reached the chain’s length and was pulled back down to the floor.
Not that she’d tried or anything.
“Imagine my utter delight when I discovered Hope was one of the demons that didn’t get sucked in the first time. Because you know what Hope doesn’t mix well with?”
“You really love the sound of your own voice, don’t you?” she asked instead.
His expression shuttered into a mask of indifference as he pointed the short sword at her. One thing Doubt hated was being interrupted. “You’re lucky I’m not allowed to touch you. But what I was saying, is that Hope and doubt don’t mix well.”
Dread coiled in her stomach, and she glanced away, wishing he’d shut up.
Sofia had never felt more helpless in her life than when she’d watched that blade arc through the air, heard the sickening noise of it cutting through Wrath. The helplessness only remained, only intensified when she’d woken up chained to the wall and forced to listen to their goddamn plans as they worked out how to kill Daria and get rid of the other demons.
The spell had only partially worked the first time. It was activated at the same moment Wrath was… she couldn’t even think it. She’d passed out only a moment later, ending the ritual, and apparently not all of them had gotten sucked in during that time.
Good.
And with Wrath dead? They had no more leverage. They could do whatever the fuck they wanted to her, but she’d never consent to another ritual. And Pandora knew that, knew she’d ruined any chance of Sofia’s cooperation with her ruthlessness.
Might have had something to do with the way Sofia had leapt at her when she’d first awakened. Bruises were forming on her wrists where the chain had reached its limit only inches from Pandora, jerking her back and abrading her skin. Or maybe it had been the curses that’d spewed from her lips like poison, or the irrational screaming that’d had no purpose but as an outlet for her pain.
But that helpless feeling rose again as Doubt continued talking.
“All it takes is a tiny seed of doubt to completely crumble someone’s resolve. But you know, they say opposites attract, and so what would a seed of doubt do to something… or someone, like Hope?”
Sofia sat down, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes, ignoring him completely, even though with every word he spoke, he shattered her own hope even more.
“I’ve never done it to another demon before. Do you think it’ll act like a virus? Or do you think it’ll just drive him crazy? Man, what I would give to be a fly on the wall.”
“It’s getting a little annoying, is it not?” she inquired inside her head. “I’m only sorry you have to listen to his blabbering as well.”
The demons within her couldn’t respond. Not even Curious, whose voice she’d grown quite used to. Thanks to Pandora.
The fist of grief tightened around her heart, and she breathed in slowly, expanding her chest and wishing she could break the vise. It didn’t fade in the slightest as she released a breath.