Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Chapter 52

The night hurried by, Dulce spending it alone for the first time in several days. He picked up a book to pass the time and found that he could barely focus, his inn room felt strangely empty.

Sunrise soon came, the sun rising higher and higher in the sky. By late morning, he stepped out of his room to gather up the others. They needed to leave the inn then if they wanted to make it in time for their appointment.

He found Ruoxi in the hallway, the Incubus on his way to seek him out. "How did you sleep, Ruoxi?" He asked lightly, walking to Asael’s room.

Ruoxi watched the Vampire closely, his attitude this morning was airy, none of the despondency from the day before. "Terribly without you to watch over me..."

The door opened then, Asael’s dark expression appearing behind the door. Ruoxi looked him over with interest, putting the pieces together.

"You can sleep in my room tonig-" Dulce right away offered.

"He won’t," Asael cut him off, his mood sour.

"Don’t worry, you’re also invited," Ruoxi said with an eye smile.

Their conversation attracted Kath’tan to the door before Dulce could knock, the door slamming open with enough force to partly dislodge the door from its hinges, the badly shaken door closing lopsidedly.

The Fiend wore a terrifying expression, but there was notably no anger in his dim purple eyes.

Without further conversation, they all made their way to the carriage, which would drive them to the temple and back.

Kath’tan kept his distant gaze out the window as the carriage rumbled through the cobbled streets of Marlen, taking them away from the inn. He had never thought much about his death; it was useless to, death came swiftly for Fiends.

He had been resigned to death at the appearance of the Shadow Demon. It would have made little difference to him if he had died then, save for it being an unpleasant way to die. But now... the axe hovering over his neck was about to drop, and he was dissatisfied.

His dissatisfaction was born of the fact that if he were to die, Dulce would have to drink someone else’s blood, and the discordance of this thought only served to add to his dissatisfaction.

But he hadn’t thought of his father in days, and he had no other tether to living, no other tether but a strange, foolish Vampire who had saved him.

The ornate temple soon came into view, its white marble walls and pillars pristine. The carriage stopped in front of the temple, next to another similarly impressive carriage. It was close to midday, yet well-off citizens had already come to the temple to pray.

Dulce stepped out of the carriage with reservation, his head swivelling from side to side like he expected a unit of the Queen’s guards to accost him, although he was standing unprotected from the sun, absorbing the warmth into his pale skin.

"Do you think she will come?" He asked with worry. Undoing Kath’tan’s summons was an afterthought, the main reason he wanted to see the witch was to finally summon his hound.

Asael started up the stairs to the temple, other temple goers going in and out of the large, welcoming doors.

"There’s only one way to find out," Ruoxi said, also starting up the stairs. He looked around curiously, having never been in a human temple before.

It was well accommodating to Demons, he didn’t even have to watch his head while going through the open doors, rows and rows of benches neatly arranged invited worshippers to sit and pray.

Dulce turned to look at Kath’tan, who had a distant look in his eyes, torn between telling him what he had done and wary of how the Demon would react. Getting his neck wrung would be preferrable but he felt that the proud Demon wouldn’t be pleased to hear what he had to say.

So he started up the stairs, walking into the temple. Vampires generally avoided holy places, blessed items were often imbued with the energy of the sun, but even if Dulce was affected by sunlight, he had lived long enough for blessed items to have no effect on him.

The front pews were filled with lavishly dressed worshippers who were generous at the contribution bins. The figures lingering at the back of the temple were more odd, a veiled woman in the far corner, a hunched-over old man muttering words of penance over and over again, a sleeping child on one of the wooden benches.

He half expected the veiled woman to be the witch, and not at all for her to be boldly seated in one of the back seats, dressed in all black, her curly hair wild. She looked as suspicious as a witch could be, her head lowered.

Dulce walked up to her and sat next to her, the Demons settling on the bench behind them. "Miss Moira? Do you remember me?" He whispered quietly, leaning in close to speak to her.

Moira lifted her head, a spark in her green eyes. "Dulce! Come with me," She grabbed his wrist and led them away from the benches.

Dulce looked over his shoulder at the Demons who had followed along without any prompting, the witch leading them to a private side room, she seemed to be well acquainted with the temple.

Moira stared at the door with wide eyes when company followed them into the room, "You actually managed it!" She squealed with excitement, clinging to Dulce’s hand although she looked like she wanted nothing more than to climb up the Demons.

"I remember you!" She pointed at Asael, able to see the Demons with ease from her ability to wield magic.

"She’s more chatty than I envisioned," Ruoxi noted dryly, able to see how the two of them could get along.

"But I thought you simply wanted a Hellhound," She cupped a hand over her mouth to whisper, although she could be heard plainly by the rest of the room.

Dulce scratched his head, "I did, but I kept making mistakes," He admitted self-consciously.

"Mistakes?" Moira threw her arms wide to encompass the variety of Demons in the room. "You have achieved what even renowned witches and wizards couldn’t, and Vampires have less of an inclination to the arts."