There had to be magic involved, because as soon as Cass turned to the right and then he looked back, the crossroads were gone. Instead, all he saw was a continuation of the columns behind him. Any trace of Edgar was gone.
Cass shivered, not liking that in the slightest, but he was a strong mage. He could escape if he wanted. At least, he was pretty sure. Even in the den of the demons, he was sure he would be able to escape. Probably.
Cass pushed it to the back of his mind. While getting out of here was important, he had bigger things to do. Like confront some damn demons and get some answers. He didn’t know how the demon shrine worked, and he was thinking that was a pretty big flaw as he walked down the long columned space before him. What kind of demon would he be able to speak to? Who would he be speaking to?
Did he have to...give some blood or something to speak to someone? Did he have to ask for someone specifically? Was there a dance or ritual he was supposed to do? He’d fucked up by just coming with Edgar instead of doing some research before he came here, and he didn’t even ask Cassian when he’d had a chance to speak to him and he suggested this.
He actually couldn’t even feel Cassian inside of him right now. It was alarming to realise that as he continued walking for what felt like forever, but this wasn’t the first time he hadn’t been able to feel him due to something that the demons had done. He’d been alone the whole time he’d been in the dungeon, which was making him suspicious again that this place was a dungeon.
It was the only way these soaring ceilings could make sense, or this giant, liminal space.
Cass started to be able to see something in the distance, and whatever it was, was fucking huge. It loomed between the columns, casting shadows that only made Cass’ hair stand up on the back of his neck. As he got closer, he could make out more details as he got closer. It had to be a statue of some kind, and why it was so big was because...it had wings.
Giant, outstretched wings. They didn’t look like feathered angel wings, thank goodness, but they did look like the traditional wings one would see on a gargoyle or a demon from his world. More bat-like than anything else, with pointed tips at each end of the segment of the wing. The body was masculine in nature since Cass could catch a glimpse of the clothing style, or lack thereof and could tell it was a male.
The raging erection he thought he caught a glimpse of told him as much as well.
He couldn’t see the face of the statue though. That was something that no matter how close he got there always seemed to be a column in the way preventing him from seeing it. That had to be magically done since why the hell would he be able to tell that the statue had a hard on before he could see what the face looked like?
Eventually, Cass got to the point where he could turn to see the statute, the pathway he had been following indicating he could turn right. The gauzy barrier was also gone and Cass halted for a moment. He had a feeling that this statue was a mockery of what the gods made for their temples.
It made perfect sense. If Cass had a life-long enemy like the gods and demons did, he would do something petty like this. Make a statue, but twist it. Either make it horny, angry, or something else that would make the gods annoyed or even angry. Cass could get it, he just didn’t want to pray to the thing he was sure was waiting for him.
He hadn’t seen anyone, human or otherwise, while he had been walking. He could feel something watching him though. Cass might have been alone, but he was not alone . Cass sighed, clenching his hands before he turned and started down the pathway. This one was significantly shorter and trickled off since there were no columns, just the pathway and the gauzy curtains. They weren’t held up by anything. No rope, nothing, proving to Cass that the magic he was feeling was at work.
If he had been someone normal, this act of showing off how much magic they had could have been intimidating. Using this kind of magic for fucking curtains? That was a power play, but Cass had encountered gods as soon as he died. This was nothing.
The statue loomed ahead and the path turned to the left for the first time, but Cass could tell it was the end. He was going to come face to face with this thing. Cass braced himself, and he was right to do so.
Finally seeing the statue in all of its glory it looked...like an incubus. That’s what it was. It was a lust demon, a male one, with a face so damn pretty it was illegal. It had flowing hair, clothes draped over its skin, not hiding a damn inch of it and large wings bursting out of its back. No horns, but a slick, pointy tail stuck out from behind the statue as well. Cass would have liked to go around it to see what it looked like from behind, but he couldn’t do that since he had a feeling if he stepped off the pathway, things could go poorly for him.
His feeling that this was the shrine he was supposed to speak to only grew as he examined the statue more. He frowned deeply, unsure what to do and slowly he pulled back his hood with a sigh. Maybe he should be more reverent, but he hadn’t approached the gods with anything like that, so why would he do it with the demons?
"I’m here to talk." Cass said stiffly, sounding annoyed. "So, you can either show yourself and we can talk, or we can do this the hard way." Cass said to the air. His voice was clear and it felt like the area swallowed up the sound he spoke.
He waited, wondering if he had to bow like he did at the temple and close his eyes, but then again, that was the temple. He didn’t think that the demons would want to be an ounce similar to them. So, he stood. Waiting for a while before anything happened.
Cass at first thought he was losing his damn mind as he swore he could see a small, swirling spot of purple in front of the statue. He blinked a few times, thinking he’d lost his damn mind before slowly, it grew and grew until it was the size of a fairly decent oval. It looked about the size of the mirror he had in the bathroom. Big enough that he could have seen most of his body if it had been an actual mirror, but it was what he could see on the other side that made Cass’ heart freeze.
On the other side of the purple edged oval was an image being projected. An image that showed a rocky, red landscape in the background that stretched on for eons. Interrupting that view was a giant, polished throne. Made from the same stone but carved, polished and looked...well, demonic. Draped over the chair was the same man who the statue was made of, only in colour.
His hair was a deep black shade, his wings a fleshy black tone as well. His skin was pale, porcelain-like, his clothes a rich red tone that barely covered him. He was barefoot, and thankfully, not hard like the statue. His tail swished in the air and Cass watched as he smirked at Cass.
It was the bright, red eyes that stared back at him that had Cass swallowing thickly.
"Well well well. It took you long enough to come looking. I thought you would have been curious long before this, Cassy." It was a punch to the gut, hearing his words. Cass’ head began to hurt and he reached up. It was instinctual as he felt his face twist. He’d felt this pain when he’d first gotten his memories but this didn’t last as long. After all, it wasn’t a lot of memories that were flooding back, but enough of them.
Cass had had dreams of this man. That voice told him as much. Cass nearly fell to his knees, gasping for air as the realisation washed over him. This fucker had known who Cass was the whole time, who Cassian was this whole time and he had been checking up on him after every damn heat to see how he was doing.
Cassian hadn’t known because he’d been able to erase his memories. He’d erased them from Cass too. Horror sat deep in his chest, his pulse thudding under his skin and a layer of sweat on his body.
Holy shit. Holy shit. This had to be something Cassian had learned when he’d gone to the demonic shrine the first time. Something that could have broken someone like Cassian. He had been struggling for so long with the rumours and his identity, if he had learned this after fighting for so long?
Yeah, he could see that breaking him.
An overwhelming amount of sympathy and anger filled him, seeming to dull the pain and eventually, Cass was able to straighten out, his breathing becoming less laboured.
The demon in the chair smirked, smiling at Cass. His tail still swished lazily back and forth, like his struggle was amusing. Cass had a suspicious feeling he wasn’t going to like him very much. Especially given how he had interacted with Cass the last few times.
Cass raised his hand and gave the man a middle finger.
He threw his head back and laughed.
"Oh, how sweet. I do appreciate the sentiment, but I’m afraid even I am not so depraved." The man said, chuckling as if he found Cass’ finger coming up amusing. He didn’t like how he knew what it meant, nor did he know how he knew what it meant. Cass could only hypothesize that because the gods could see other worlds, this fucker could do the same.
"Who are you?" Cass asked, a sickening feeling in his gut already knowing the answer. The book had said as much, and there were no other statues around. The man’s smile curled bigger, brighter, and it made Cass’ body shiver. A human couldn’t smile that wide.
"You know who I am." He said and Cass swallowed.
"I want you to say it. None of this beating around the bush bullshit." Cass’ voice quivered slightly, but he couldn’t help it. This was very important to him. This was a big moment. He needed to know the truth. The demon stared at Cass for a long, silent moment before he answered.
"Cassy, I’m the Demon King, but you already knew that." He said and Cass felt his mouth firm into a thin line. Of course. Of fucking course Cassian had been visited by the demon king every month for who knows how long? As long as he’d had his heats? Longer? That would have shattered Cassian to find out.
"Can you only watch me after my...heats?" Cass asked and the man’s smile grew even wider. It was disturbing to look at. He laughed quietly, his red eyes sparkling and Cass hated it. It was eerie.
"Well, I have to keep an eye on our youngest, don’t I? It would be poor etiquette if I didn’t." Youngest? What the fuck did that mean? He smirked. "You’re very important to me, Cassy. I would hate for something to happen to you." Cass felt a shiver run down his spine.
He hated the fact that he was important to the gods. He hated even more that he was also important to the demons. Was it him? Or was it the body he occupied? Cass didn’t know, but he always wasn’t willing to offer up that information to this freak. This demon.
Cass, instead of panicking, narrowed his gaze, crossed his arms and popped his hips. He glared at the man, not backing down even as his pulse was going so fast he was worried he was going to pass out.
"You have a lot of questions you need to answer." Cass told him sternly and the demon’s eyes glittered.
"Oh? Do I? Then ask away, Cassy." He hated that the fucker was calling him that. It had to be a mockery of what Lucian called him. Gross asshole. Only Lucian could call him that.