Page 183 of Degradation

“But they got to Ines…” My voice trails off.

He cups my face. “Have I ever let you down? Ever not kept my promises?” He asks.

No, no he hasn’t. If there’s one thing I can say about my husband, it’s he’s true to his word, no matter how fucked up it is.

I plant a soft kiss on his lips. “If you’re leaving soon, then we’d better get back to the house.”

He nods, scooping me up while I lean into his chest, lean into his body and breathe in his delicious, dangerous smell. Only, there’s something else there, lingering – blood. He’s got blood on him.

Did he come straight from a fight? Did he race all the way here to find me?

“Don’t worry, malkta,” He says as we make our way back up. “Nothing is going to happen to you. No one is going to hurt you.”

“And what about you?” I ask. I might be as safe as houses here, but what about him? What do I do if he gets injured, or worse, if he gets killed?

I hear his devilish chuckle. “Nothing’s happening to me either.” He replies. “I’m the devil, remember. And the devil can’t be killed.”

He is the devil. He is a monster. But he’s my monster.Mine.

I grab his shirt collar, pulling him in for a kiss him as desperately as I can. If he has to leave soon then I want every second of him I can get. I want every piece of his body, every delicious moment of his pain too.

Behind us I can hear Calix walking, and I can’t help but laugh at what a sight we must be. Me and my devil. And our hell-hound just behind. We’re the perfect family now. And perhaps soon, if we’re lucky, God will grant us with our own baby, a little demon we can raise that is both Heseltine and Blake.

The End

Devin

Five Months Later

Her wails ring out against the cold stone wall.

I’m stood beside my brother, Magnus, watching as this scene plays out. Every seat in the Cathedral is filled. All those masked faces stare down at where the woman is splayed out, half dangling off the altar.

I can see my wife, on her knees, holding her hand, trying to soothe her. I can see Liliana on the other side too, wipingher brow, murmuring something into her ear that I’m sure is comforting.

Priests keep circling them, circling the altar that has been brought right into the middle of the giganteum space. They’re waving their little incense burners, filling the air with a sickly-sweet smell that is almost suffocating.

It’s a bold move of Magnus to have orchestrated all of this. Especially when everything still feels so uncertain after the cull. When the Brethren are still on edge from Ines’s murder.

Brynn’s mangled cry pierces the air, and the white silk beneath her has already begun to show stains of blood and sweat and God only knows what other bodily fluids.

Conrad steps forward, his hands steady despite what must be tremendous emotion coursing through him.

“Push,” Liliana whispers, her voice carrying in the cathedral’s acoustics. “You have to push now.”

I watch as Brynn’s body convulses with effort, her back arching against the silk-covered stone. I can’t help but wonder if she’s capable of it. Does she have the ability to physically give birth after what my brother did to her spine? I guess she must, or we wouldn’t all be here. Magnus would certainly have checked that little detail out, he wouldn’t have wanted to create such a gathering only to then present a disaster. No, he’s too good at this already, too good at control.

My eyes travel back to my wife. Witnessing this scene here solidifies what I’d already been contemplating. That she will not give birth like this. She will never be reduced to a vessel for public ceremony, never have her most vulnerable moments transformed into theatre for the Brethren’s entertainment again.

Conrad moves between his wife’s splayed legs, kneeling down at the altar she’s laid out on to receive what will be his legacy. And it feels like the moment stretches, like it’s suspended in time, while Brynn’s screams become more ragged.

Suddenly there is a rush of fluid and flesh, and Conrad’s hands move quickly to catch the baby before it slams onto the stone floor.

The baby lays slick and red and utterly silent for a heartbeat that seems to last an eternity, before finally a cry comes out so shrill it makes me wince.

I see Conrad’s shoulders relax with relief. “A daughter,” He announces, his voice wavering with an emotion I’d never of thought he was ever capable of.

I narrow my eyes, surreptitiously glancing from one brother to the other. Magnus keeps his face impassive, but I don’t miss the micro expression of disappointment.