Page 44 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

" W ake up, please wake up." Riella's desperate call to me was the lifeline I needed to claw my way back to her.

The soulless sleep was not going to fucking have me today.

"No Zaki!" Riella cried out suddenly.

I pried my eyelids open, blinking hard at a fluffy black tailed ass of my cub's spirit guide. Shrieking at the imposing demon, it guarded us both from him, unafraid that the demon had just taken out a score of wraiths with one fiery blast only seconds prior.

The hilarity of my goddess damn situation wasn't lost on me as I forced myself to rise upon the trembling legs of my panther form.

"Faedere!" Riella gasped, throwing her arms around me.

I winced at the effort it took to keep my head up as she squeezed half my returning energy from my healing body. Watching us, the threatening demon frowned in confusion—his eyes darted between the three of us before resting on my daughter.

She trembled under his dark gaze and I narrowed my eyes on the bastard. No one made my daughter tremble in fear without paying for it.

Noticing my reaction, the demon cursed. "Lucifer's cock, look fae, I really don't want any more bullshit today."

"Riella, climb up and get ready to run," I snarled in her mind, keeping my gaze trained on the demon's rigid frame.

When my daughter shifted, he narrowed his black eyes but it was the slithering dark voice of the pookah that startled us both. "No one goes," it hissed.

Riella and I stiffened, staring idiotically at the spirit guide when it began to morph. Growing, it rose in height, changing into a black upright figure with long tapered fingers, piercing fangs, and the same beady eyes.

He looked like a cross between a human, demon, and fae and I didn't fucking like it one bit. No way was that thing hanging around my cub.

"Figures. Here comes more bullshit," the demon sighed, rubbing at his eyes and blinking at the pookah in front of us. “What the fuck is this thing?”

"She is mine, demon!" the pookah wailed, turning its piercing red eyes on him.

I growled, glancing worriedly down at my daughter, and scented her shocked wonder. She actually liked his claim on her, the excitement filtering on her beautiful scent. A scent that was manifesting with her powers. A cross between the salty ocean air and sunlit meadows.

Fucking goddess, I wish Remnant was here, I was not cut out for anything claiming my cub and letting them walk away from it alive. Perhaps, Ethereal would have offered to eat him for me. It certainly seemed like a better option than keeping it around.

But neither my beast nor my soulmate were here which meant I had to work extra hard not to snap his little bunny ears right off his head or in this case the tapered arms dragging on the forest floor.

The demon huffed in response and his sharp pointed tail started to twitch agitatedly, his eyes darting between all of us.

"I may have been the one sent to hunt you down but I am not here to hurt you.

I would have thought that to be obvious by now," his black eyes shifted onto me, "I’ll ask again.

What exactly is this grotesque thing? It reminds me of an imp. "

I chuffed in my beast form before shifting, pulling my daughter behind me, relieved to feel that my body had fully healed from the threatening soulless sleep.

The demon not at all surprised at my fae form, simply stared back.

"It is a pookah…my daughter's self appointed spirit guide. " I wrinkled my nose with disgust.

The pookah creature turned, his fangs bared, an endless void for a mouth. "Zaki."

Tilting my head, I narrowed my eyes at the bastard. "Apologies rodent." Looking up at the demon and shrugging, I added the obvious, "His name is Zaki."

The demon watched me carefully, lingering longer on my somewhat pink unicorn shirt before looking down towards Riella. "She is your daughter? That little thing that is wearing a crown of stars and a dragon's scale around her neck, she is yours, yes?"

Suspiciously, I snarled, "She is."

"What is her name?" he growled back.

Stepping out from behind my leg, my cub's chin tilted high, her swirling eyes glaring at the demon over Zaki's hunched fae-like form.

"My name is Riella and I demand you take us to my mother to free her before we answer any of your questions.

" On cue, the pookah shifted, appearing on her shoulder in his regular bunny form, glaring in the same manner.

The demon's black eyes widened at her bold declaration before shooting back towards me with a quirked brow.

I grinned lethally, crossing my arms in front of my chest, and jerked my head towards my fierce offspring. "What she said."

The demon inhaled sharply and then cursed.

His rigid frame melting into a pacing beast, muttering to himself about manipulating witches and cursed oaths.

His tail flicked fiercely back and forth, his wings opening and closing as he ran a hand over one of the curling horns surrounding his head.

Spinning back towards us his eyes glowed with fire.

Instinct had my claws unsheathing and I stepped alongside my daughter. Giving her the space to be brave but also the protection she needed.

The fire in his eyes died when he looked at her courageous stance again, and his voice was solemn when he spoke. "You remind me much of a little girl I once knew," he said wistfully, then shook his head, his wings snapping rigidly behind him. "I will help you free your mother."

My cub grinned and then blurred towards the demon, hugging his fierce leg before I could even react. "Thank you!" she breathed.

Fucking goddess, she was faster than me. "Riella!" I barked, lunging towards her with my heart seizing in my chest, terror I had never known before piercing through it.

Startled, the demon’s wings flung outward as he peered down at my cub, eyes wide with shock.

Growling, I slowly approached them, watching the pookah who still sat on my daughter’s shoulder, entirely calm throughout the whole situation. In fact the fucking thing was falling asleep.

The demon was cautious as he gently patted my daughters head, grunting. "Go back to your father, little fae."

Riella's swirling green and gold eyes turned back towards me seeing the anger and fear as I prowled closer. Then she raced back toward me, a blur of shadow before she clung to my leg. "I am sorry, faedere. I did something wrong, didn't I?"

Blowing out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding, I pulled her tightly to my side. "You are incredibly fast, my cub. Your shifter strengths are in full effect, I assume you do not smell a threat from the demon?"

She nodded, beaming up at me, happy that I understood she had at least given some thought towards her rash decision making. "Yes!"

I nodded and then bent low to her, nuzzling her nose with mine.

"You are smart and you are cunning, but you must exercise caution.

Just because you do not scent a threat does not mean it will never be there.

Powerful beings are very good at masking their emotions and needs.

I know you can sense the demon's power along with having seen it for yourself. "

Riella's eyes widened and she peered back at the demon, sniffing. "I can." Turning back to me with a crestfallen expression and slumping shoulders, she added, "I understand now, faedere."

I kissed her forehead softly. "I am proud of you," I whispered, watching her face beam and her shoulders pull back once more before rising and adjusting the pack over my shoulder. I narrowed my gaze on the demon. "What is the toll for helping us?"

He grinned at me, his white teeth flashing brightly against his red skin. "You don't believe I do this out of the goodness of my heart."

I snorted. "You are a demon, I am fae, neither of us assist strangers out of our own free will. So I ask again, what is your price?"

His tail whipped to the side and his grin vanished. "It is not you who owes me, but rather the opposite."

My mind raced, had I fucking made a deal with a demon in my past? "Explain yourself."

The demon grinned. "I made a deal with a fae witch many years ago, and in return for her help, there was a price.

An oath that bound me to assist a fae family once the time came—that family is you.

And—I am called Zazion, not demon." Waving his hand at me he added blandly, "It is how I know what you are but also who you are, it was foretold by one of your kind that you would come here.

You are Emon, king of the shifter fae, she is your daughter, heir to the Faerie throne, and your mate is Remnant, Goddess of the Well of Souls. "

The blood drained from my face and my fucking heart stopped again. "What?" I snarled, pulling Riella behind me.

"Faedere?" Riella's small voice quivered—she had heard it too.

Heir to the Faerie throne…

Heir to the Faerie throne…

Heir to the Faerie throne—

Ah fuck.

What was it that Deirdre had said when she possessed Jar?

What I want is what was stolen from me! What I want is what should have been mine! And I will take it back!”

The demon regarded us with confusion before he shrugged, starting to repeat himself. "I am called Zazion—"

"Shut the fuck up demon," I snapped. "Take me to my soulmate now!" I snarled.