ANGEL

The voices screamed inside her, shrill, deep, twisting, hoarse, rising and shattering like glass.

We don't want to die!

Feed us entrails!

Attack, fight, bite, eat, feed, tear, rip!

Pain. Pain. Pain! This must end. Stop! Mercy!

Angel sneered, smoke rising from between her teeth, and clutched her head. The voices would forever fill her, she knew. Even here. Even risen from the Abyss. Even upon the soil of Eteer, this kingdom aboveground, the cries echoed.

They hurt.

They hurt us!

Hate! Bite! Tear! Punish!

A thousand voices, all her own. A child in shadows. A child chained, whipped, broken, deformed. A creature risen to domination, to rule upon a land of darkness, to govern minions of flayed skin, of rotted flesh, creatures twisting and begging and laughing.

"I have suffered, King Raem," she said, staring at the mortal. "I have suffered like you cannot imagine. A thousand times I died and rose from death. A thousand hurts coil inside me. A thousand voices of my own scream inside my skull of stone." She unfurled her wings until they banged against the walls of his bedchamber. Her flaming hair crackled, and her saliva dripped from her maw to burn holes into the rug. "Let me grow. Let me become the queen I am destined to be."

Raem stood by the window, staring out upon the city. The towers, domes, and walls of Eteer spread below the azure sky. All over the city, the cackle of demons and screams of mortals rose in a song.

"I know what you would ask of me," the king said. "And I refuse."

Angel hissed, leaped toward him, and grabbed his shoulders. She spun him around until he faced her. She bared her fangs, blasting smoke against his face.

"Feed us." She tossed back her head and roared. She dug her claws into his shoulders, and his blood seeped. "Feed us the flesh of mortals. Not weredragons." She spat. "Weredragons taste like the piss of gods. We crave the sweeter meat." She licked her chops, already imagining it. "Feed us the pure mortals of your kingdom, the blessed forms of Taal, untainted with the reptile disease. The silver god of purity is vain. For ten thousand years, he laughed as I screamed in my prison. I would feast upon his sons and daughters."

Raem stared at her, and only the slightest sneer found his lips. "No. You will not feed upon my kingdom. You may eat weredragons, and you may eat the flesh of animals. But the people of Eteer are blessed with Taal's form. I will not allow a horde of diseased, impure creatures to consume my pure people."

Angel sneered, the hunger for human flesh twisting in her belly. She needed his blessing. She was still bound to him, still his prisoner, even here in the sunlight. Even here the ancient laws bound her.

"Feed us!" she screamed. She lashed her arm, knocked over a stone vase, and shattered it. Sparks flew from her flaming hair. "Feed us the flesh of Eteer. Feed us and we will grow. Your demons are still small, King of Mortals. We have shrunk in our prison. We have grown weak. Feed us pure man-flesh and we will become larger than dragons. How can we fight dragons unless we grow to their size?"

Raem snorted. "The weredragons cower. They hide in cellars and sewers. You are more than capable of flushing them out, even with your smaller forms. You will obey me, Angel. If I discover one drop of pure human blood consumed, I will hold you accountable."

Angel snickered. Fast as a striking asp, she thrust a claw, scratching Raem's cheek. Blood spilled. Angel brought the claw to her lips. She licked Raem's blood and a shiver ran through her. The cracks on her body of stone widened, spewing droplets of lava.

"You taste of reptile." She spat. "The weredragon disease flows in your blood. Did you think I could not smell it? I knew of your shame my first day here. You—"

He slammed his sword against her cheek.

Her stone face cracked, spilling smoke, and she laughed.

"You forget your boundaries," Raem said, glaring at her.

Lava dripped from her shattered cheek as Angel cackled. "You do not like me speaking of your secret, do you? Perhaps I will trumpet the news from the city walls. Perhaps all shall know that Raem, King of Eteer, is a filthy were—"

"By the light of Taal!" he shouted, interrupting her. "Angel, Queen of Demons, harken to me. As King of Eteer, I hereby banish you back to the Aby—"

She shrieked.

She lashed all four arms, cracking his armor, shattering the room around her. A clay urn shattered, spilling wine across the floor. She leaped, swiped her claws, and knocked down a limestone statue of an ancient, bearded king. Her arms spun, tearing down the room, digging ruts into the walls and floor. Clay tablets bearing cuneiform writings—epic tales of ancient heroes—fell off shelves, shattering into a heap of shards. Her flames blasted out, and tapestries burned.

Raem stood as she raged, calm, staring.

"Speak your treasonous words again," the king said, "and I will complete the banishment."

"Then send me hunting outside your borders." Angel panted, tongue lolling. "Send me to the deserts of Tiranor in the west. Send me to the barbarous lands north of the sea. Send me to the city-states in the south, your old enemies. I will find mortal flesh elsewhere."

Raem shook his head. "You are not to leave this city, Angel. The walls of Eteer are your boundaries. I have given you more freedom than you've known in ten thousand years, but you are still my slave. You will remain here until you've captured all the weredragons."

She howled. "Your weredragons do not satisfy the hunger in our bellies. Your flesh stinks of starlight."

"Once they are all dead, I will send you hunting beyond my borders. Not until then." Raem leaned down and lifted a small, obsidian statuette of a winged bull. He placed it back on a shelf. "More remain in this city. Still your demons unearth one every day. Your servitude will continue." He turned back toward the window. "I have errands in the north. I seek a particular weredragon across the sea—a weredragon that betrayed me, a weredragon I will hurt. A weredragon named Laira." He turned back toward Angel, and his fists clenched, and his eyes hardened. "While I am away, you are not to leave this city, nor are you to touch my people. My daughter Issari will sit upon the throne until I return. You are to obey her, even as the hunger eats through your belly."

You will break!

You are broken!

You will never rise!

Help, mercy, stop, take it back!

Yes, Angel hungered. Forever hunger lived inside her. Hunger for an end to those voices. Hunger for blood, for flesh, for power, for freedom. Hunger for a child.

She placed her hand against her belly, aching for spawn, for the rustle of unholy life within her. The ravenous lust blazed through her loins with dark fire.

She grabbed Raem's shoulders again.

"I hunger for you. Take me."

He grabbed onto her hard, stone body that leaked smoke and flame. She sneered, turned her back to him, and dropped to her hands and knees. She howled as he took her, head tossed back, her flames blasting out from her eyes, her claws digging into the floor.

The fire consumed her.

For a precious few moments, the voices fell silent.

For now her craving was sated, but as he took her, Angel swore: I will slay all his weredragons, and I will feast upon the flesh of his people, and when he has placed a child within my womb, I will feast upon Raem too.

She welcomed his seed into her, and she smiled.