Chapter 121: Contracted

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No amount of assurances would get us back into the inn without a conflict. Carrying an unconscious wrath demon was too much.

The Gelles Company, however, proved slightly more accommodating. They didn’t have any rooms in the small office officially, but an angry, tired greater wrath demon helped grease the axle, so to speak. We ended up in a room I had to guess was a part-time office and part-time place for higher ups who might be traveling through. There was a bed to lay Joisse on, a desk, and a variety of stacked furniture.

While we all waited anxiously for Joisse, I finally got a chance to sit down and the others got their chance to rake me over the coals as to why I saved the demon who’d been murdering people.

“And you could’ve been killed—actually killed,” Seyari concluded, her expression serious. The serious expression matched her confident new haircut well: she’d healed the burned patch and gotten my help to trim it into something at least semi-intentional: shaved close on one side, and long silver braids on the other. The style reminded me of Myrna a little.

I realized I was staring again and started to reply. “Didn’t you say you were—"

“Proud?” In a sense, yes. But I also could’ve lost you and I can’t accept that.”

I lowered my head.

“Not ta pile on ya or anythin’,” Taava added, “but Sey’s got a point.”

“It’s going to sound stupid, but I had this instinctual feeling I could help them with a contract. And before you call bullshit, I really do get those from whatever force made me the Sovereign of Wrath.” I awkwardly scratched at one of my horns, only to realize that one was still broken off.

Seyari sighed, while Taava huffed and rolled her eyes.

Nelys, breaking their long silence and having waited for me to finish, answered me. “A lot of people do bad things for good reasons. Or because someone hurt them,” they said softly. “Aretan told me that—and Officer—er, Guard Captain Lorton showed me.”

“Yeah but—”

Nelys shook their head slowly, curls only barely shifting. “I’m not done. Good reasons don’t excuse bad things. You need to really become a better person for that, and not everyone can do that like Seyari has. If your instincts are wrong sometime, then…” they trailed off, but looked up and stared at me, eyes wet.

I moved to hug them and they debated for a moment before leaning into it.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Then I said louder, to everyone, “But I think I made the right call here. I killed the traitor and saved someone who was lost.”

“You’d better be right!” Taava hissed. “Don’t try ta stop us if ya can’t help that demon.”

“She won’t, right?” Seyari smiled sadly at me.

I opened my mouth to answer when Joisse stirred on the bed. The greater wrath demon looked a mess. A person in their condition would make more sense being a corpse than alive, all torn up and battered. The bed was comically small under them; their legs hung down to the floor, digitigrade feet touching worn planks.

I broke off the hug with Nelys, and they retreated to the far corner of the room with Taava. Seyari positioned herself between Joisse and the pair, and I must say I didn’t mind the caution.

Meanwhile, I sat down on the edge of the bed. With how Joisse had behaved even during our fight, I felt the chances of them attacking right as they woke up were slim. Slim, but not none, and I kept myself tense.

For the past few hours, I’d let them have the larger share of my own mana, mostly because they looked like they needed it. Even still, they looked far more injured up close than I’d expected given what I’d put into them and what had disappeared under my aura sight. Their aura had changed—slightly. A little tinge of crimson worked its way through the brown, and the ring shape of it seemed fuller on the inside.

Joisse didn’t rouse immediately. Instead, they mumbled incoherently and writhed on the bed. I’d certainly had enough bad dreams as a demon to know that could very well be what was happening, but the power Joisse was drawing from me made me think otherwise. I tossed a querying look Seyari’s way and she returned it with a shake of her head. She didn’t know quite what was going on either.

Fearing the consequences, I didn’t cut off my flow of additional mana to them. Only when the draw slowed did they actually start to wake up. Their injuries were hardly healed, and I had to wonder what else our contract had been doing.

I didn’t make a mistake, did I?

When they finally opened their red eyes and looked at me, their first words weren’t what I expected to hear. “I…” their voice was softer than the night before when they’d growled or screamed out every word. “That wasn’t a dream?”

My eyes went wide and I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t we—”

Joisse’s gaze met mine, and their pupils dilated suddenly. I felt a wave of raw fury crash through them so strong and sudden that it caught me off guard.

“What did you do to me?!” they roared, leaping up off the bed for my throat.

I barely caught them in time, taking a set of long claws through my abdomen for my trouble. As we grappled each other, crashing to the floor, I didn’t feel our contract straining—at least compared to what I felt when I strained or broke Seyari’s binding of me in Navanaea. Was I too vague with my wording of the contract in the heat of the moment? I didn’t want to trap them, but…

Behind me, I saw the edge of the bright glow of Seyari’s magic. She hadn’t fired yet, but I knew I only had moments to make a decision as Joisse and I continued to struggle.

I pulled on Joisse’s fury and it seemed eager to rush into me. The emotion was so intense, I had to suppress a roar of my own—one that would certainly have gotten the attention of everyone else in the building.

Joisse snarled and pressed down, but I was stronger. I pushed them up, held them with four arms, and slammed them back down onto the bed, thankful the frame was somehow sturdy enough not to break.

“I made a contract with you,” my voice snarled more than I would have liked.

Joisse’s eyes lit up—and they went wide as soon as they got a look at my aura. “You—but there’s isn’t a—”

“Sovereign of Wrath,” I finished. “There is and I’m it. Didn’t you tell me you just wanted to stop the killing?”

Joisse’s struggles ceased. Their anger unspooled, some taken by me, some of their own volition.

“I…” they answered, seemingly surprised. “The fury, it—I can feel it, but it’s not… not at the front.”

That got me to raise both eyebrows. What had my contract done?

“How do you feel?” I asked honestly, switching from shouting to a conversational tone. “Did you have a bad dream?”

“I’m not a child!” Joisse snapped, then answered anyway. “I, uh, I had a familiar nightmare. But this time, things were different. Clearer.”

I frowned. “Clearer in a good way?”

Joisse looked down and away. “I don’t know. Maybe? Just… clearer. Just that, I think. I remember things—or I remember not remembering things.”

“My contract may have done something then. How do you feel right now—in this room?”

Joisse, still pinned by me to the bed, craned their long, hunched neck to see around, recoiling at the sight of the glowing Seyari. “What is she doing here?” they hissed.

It didn’t take much to figure out they were talking about Seyari. “She’s my fiancée,” I said truthfully, earning a sudden gasp from Nelys and a hiss of indrawn breath from Taava.

“Your…”

“Fiancée. We’re getting married—no idea when though.” I took a chance and looked back and Taava and Nelys. “Sey and I wanted to tell you sooner, but—”

“Life got in the way,” Seyari finished. “Don’t let your guard down.” It was an empty threat. The smile on Seya’s face said enough.

I felt blood from the wound in my midsection dripping down my legs in the awkward silence that followed.

“I think I had…” Joisse trailed off. “What—are they all friends?”

I nodded. “Yep!”

“But you’re…”

“A demon?”

Joisse nodded.

“The Sovereign of Wrath. The big scary demon typically known for violence and destruction?”

Joisse nodded again.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Joisse,” Seyari interrupted, “How do you know about the sovereigns?”

Joisse’s face twisted, tusks moving out of alignment. “A bad place. A bad place I don’t really remember, but it felt like I was there for a long time.”

“How did you get here?” Nelys asked without a shred of fear in their voice.

“I… don’t know. I was wandering and then I recognized places. Things. Someone screamed and the rest…” They looked away quickly.

“Hey. Let’s talk about the contract,” I said, trying to change the subject. “Do you have any questions? Do you remember what it was?”

A pit was forming in my gut that they wouldn’t remember the contract.

To my relief, Joisse nodded. “I do. Really, really clearly. You… you didn’t kill me.”

“Yeah. Sovereign over Wrath. Not controlled by it.”

“But I was…”

“And I’m not. And you told me yourself you didn’t want the killings to continue.”

Joisse looked at the deep wound in my stomach, now slowly healing. “But I tried to kill you, just now.”

I nodded. “You thought I’d done something unspeakable to you. That’s a reason.”

“B-but if someone looks at me wrong or something that could be a reason!” Joisse stuttered. The expression, and their voice, didn’t fit their appearance, and I couldn’t have been the only one to notice the mismatch.

“That part’s up to you. Once you have a handle on your wrath, it’ll be fine.”

“Have a handle on it?! But just now you had to take it from me—”

“Part of it,” I cut in truthfully. “Only part of it. The rest went away on its own.”

“That was just because I was confused!”

“Would confusion have ended your fury before the contract?” I asked, trying to affect a tone as though I knew the answer. I didn’t—I had a guess but I wanted to know for sure. Joisse can find out later they’re my first contract.

After a moment of thought, they shook their head. “No.”

I smiled wide. Joisse shuddered at the sight of my teeth.

“Really?” I groaned. “Yours are even worse you know!”

Joisse balked, then their eyes lowered and their mouth twisted into an ugly frown. “I know how I look. How I look now’s always made me angry—even if I couldn’t figure out why.”

“Do you have any idea—”

“I know now,” they answered. “It’s obvious now. A lot of things are more obvious. Like my name. I remembered it vaguely, but now I know it clearly. There were others before. Still are, I guess, but they’re not really the same as then.”

I took a minute to parse what Joisse said.

Nelys took the initiative in the silence. “What would you feel would be right?”

I felt another rush of fury from Joisse. Again, I had to take part of the emotion, restraining them on the bed. Nelys leapt backward, but took a step back forward once Joisse had calmed. They were still far away from the bed.

“…Human again,” Joisse said eventually. “I don’t want to be like this. I don’t really remember before, but I know there was a before, and I remember pieces of it, some of the pieces maybe from other befores. A lot actually.” They frowned.

I debated giving them the answer according to Isidore, but I worried that would be too much, so instead I deflected. “It’s complicated. And different for most every demon.”

Joisse turned from Nelys, traced my arms pinning them, and met my gaze. “You too.”

I thought of the snippets of memory I still carried from my parents and from Abby’s nan. From Abby herself, I had nothing but feelings. A lot of feelings. My face must have betrayed my answer, because Joisse looked away.

“I’m sorry I asked,” they said.

I shook my head. “No—it’s fine. I’m much the same.”

“So there’s no hope then: I’m stuck like this… I’m a monster anyway, so what does it matter?”

“You’re only a monster if you choose to be,” Seyari said firmly, marching up to the edge of the bed, glowing faintly.

Joisse shifted away from the half-angel’s burning magic. “But I killed…”

“Who you were doesn’t define who you are. Own what you did, but try to be better going forward. Pay back all the hurt you caused in any way you can.” Seyari’s eyes grew wet despite the harsh tone of her voice. “I’ve killed a lot of innocent people in my past, too.”

I couldn’t help it, I reached out with my tail and pulled my fiancée close even as she startled.

Joisse mulled over the words and I glanced around the room. Both Nelys and Taava were staring at Seyari, the latter really, really looking like she wanted to say something. But she held her tongue for now.

I let Joisse go, and they looked up at me in surprise.

I crossed my arms and grinned down at them. “You won’t catch me off guard. If you get angry again, I’ll handle it.”

Joissed looked around at all the others and exhaled a rattling sigh. “What if this is just a good moment? What if I lose myself again?”

“I don’t think you will.”

Fury surged through Joisse. I tried to let them handle it, but I quickly realized I had to step in. This time, they didn’t make it off the bed before I restrained them.

“Like that,” they said glumly. “Anything sets me off.”

This could be a real problem. But I know something’s changed.

“Keep working on it then. If I need to, I can stick around until we’ve ended this pseudo ‘war’ and you’re in full control.”

More fury. Another brief struggle.

“I don’t,” Joisse heaved, “want that. I just want to be done—to put the war behind me. I didn’t even want to fight—my hamlet was caught up in the fighting and I got dragged into it. Most of me, anyway.”

“We’re headin’ ta Linthel,” Taava said suddenly, as if her need to speak finally broke through. “I’m sure the boss won’t mind if ya come along.”

“I won’t mind,” I confirmed before there could be any grousing. “I didn’t make a contract with you just to leave you somewhere and hope for the best. If you want to move on and get your wrath under control, I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen.”

“Why? Why me?”

“Because you needed help, I was there, and I could.”

“But why me?”

I shrugged. “Right place and the right time. I can’t help everyone, I know that. But for whatever reason the gods decreed, I could—and can—help you.”

“Thanks.” They looked down at themselves and winced. “But how will we do it? How will we travel? People scream when they see me—and even if you look more human, you still look like a demon.”

I nodded, suddenly awkward. They want more than anything to be human. The truth is best here. “I have a human transformation.”

Their eyes went wide. “But wrath demons don’t—oh, sovereign.” They deflated, looking so downcast I wanted to hug them despite the spikes.

Screw it.

I hugged Joisse. They stiffened in my four-armed embrace.

“I can’t make any promises,” I said carefully, “but since you share my power and you’ve already started to gain some control over your fury, you might.”

“Don’t get my hopes up!” Joisse snapped. “I can’t… I won’t—it’ll make me angry.”

“It might. And then I’ll get you back under control.”

Joisse glared at me, and I had to leech their fury. None of what I was taking was healing me either, at least not much. Wrath from a wrath demon was cheap, I supposed.

“What about all the other times, all the other things that set me off?”

I adopted my best lecturing tone. “You can’t just go avoiding sources of anger. This isn’t going to happen in one evening, and you should know that, Joisse. You said you want me to help, and I agreed. This is about managing your fury, your wrath. Use it, but don’t lose yourself in it. You’d never succeed if you tried to avoid your fury—if you feared it.”

My last comment hit the nail on the head. This time, I was ready. It took everything my still-recovering magic had, but I kept Joisse’s anger from so much as surfacing.

They looked at me in shock and I smiled, wide and sharp. “Like that. Give it some time and you’ll be just like that.”

“How did you learn, Wrath?”

“Zarenna,” I introduced quickly. “Some people call me Renna. I should’ve introduced myself sooner. My half-angel fiancée is Seyari, Taava is the kazzel, and the human is Nelys.”

Nelys beamed at being introduced as “the human.” I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t know them so well.

Joisse glared at me.

Oh, right!

“Sorry.” I chuckled nervously. “I had help, too. In fact, without my friend who taught me, I don’t think I’d be here today. I don’t know if I’d have ever gotten myself under full control. Or become the Sovereign of Wrath, to be honest.”

Thanks, Abby—for everything.

“Are they…?” Joisse let the question hang.

I nodded. “Yeah. She’s gone.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” I said solemnly. “So, do you want to try to see if you can make a glamour, or even a transformation?”

Joisse nodded slowly. “How do I do that?”

“Think of yourself as a human. Try to remember any feelings, desires, or emotions that connect you to being human.”

Joisse looked at me askance. “That’s it? That’s vague.”

“It is, but I learned instinctually, so I’m afraid I don’t know more.”

The other wrath demon’s face fell. “What if I…”

“I know someone who can help if you’re struggling. If you can learn at all, she’ll be able to teach you. But I don’t know where she is right now, so we’ll have to try on our own, okay?”

“I’m not a child,” Joisse said with less venom than earlier. “I was sixteen when I died.”

“Focus on that,” Seyari interjected. “What you were like. What it would be like to be the human you once were—”

“Or should have been!” I interjected quickly.

Seyari blushed faintly. “Or that.”

Joisse’s mouth twisted in concentration. “My name was—is Joisse. I’m sixteen, and I’d just confessed to the guy I had a crush on. He said he wasn’t interested—especially because I’d asked a girl the year before and he wasn’t into girls who liked other girls. I didn’t understand why because it wasn’t like that made me like him any less…” Joisse’s words faded into mumbling.

I watched their—no her—form carefully. I should have been watching my magic instead, as a big spike in usage caught me off guard. I let Joisse have it—more than the wrath demon needed.

Nelys gasped, and I realized I had my eyes closed. When I opened them and looked down, there was a girl who looked to be in her mid-to-late teens laying on the bed. She had dark brown hair that was a mixture of Edathan and Ordian in color, skin with a solid tan from working in a field, unusual red eyes, and a wiry build that couldn’t have come up past my chest. She was also stark naked and Seyari was rushing to cover her with what was left of the sheet she’d been laying on.

“Is she alright?” Nelys asked.

“I—I think so,” Joisse started, and then startled at her own voice. “I’m—I’m like I remembered.” She pinched her arm. “It feels so real… but it’s not, right?” She looked up at me, worry and hope both warring in her eyes. Human eyes, except their color.

I shook my head. “It’s close, but you’re right—although I’d say that’s a proper transformation and no mere glamour.”

Joisse’s lower lip trembled, and she pulled the sheet up tighter around her. I felt her anger come, but it also went—a much smaller pulse.

The transformed wrath demon seemed to notice as well. “Was—was that me?”

I nodded. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Didn’t do what?” Taava asked. “Anger stuff?”

I nodded. “Anger stuff. Anyone want to go get Joisse some clothes?” I can stay here with her and fill her in on what I can of demons and transformations and the giant mess we’re all in.”

“Giant mess?” Joisse asked.

“Giant mess,” Seyari confirmed, following Taava to the door. “I’m going with Taava so Joisse doesn’t look like the circus is in town because of someone’s terrible sense of style.” She glanced at the demon. “Feminine clothes?”

Joisse nodded. “Yeah. Uh, a dress would be nice—if that’s not too much. I always wanted a nice dress.”

“I’ll getcha one better” Taava said, pulling the door open. “And my style’s just too advanced for ya, Sey!”

“We can’t promise much without fitting,” Seyari corrected, ignoring the kazzel’s teasing. “But I’ll see what I can find for used garments.”

Joisse nodded and Seyari left with Taava, closing the door behind her.

“Can I stay here?” Nelys asked.

“Of course!” I answered.

“Great!” Nelys beamed. “Because I think we should play cards!”

“Cards?” Joisse asked, confused.

“Yeah cards! Renna gets real mad when she loses, which is most of the time.”

Hey!

Nelys continued, whispering at Joisse conspiratorially, “Even if she’s good at hiding it. You can tell because her tail twitches, or she’ll scratch her right horn. She sometimes does the horn thing when she’s thinking or confused though.”

I decided to lean into it. “Betrayal!” I said jauntily. “Not two minutes into making a new friend and one of my very best friends is already betraying my darkest secrets!”

Joisse laughed. Hesitant at first, her giggles turned into something bigger. I couldn’t help but join in, my deeper chuckles matching Nelys’s high-pitched laughter.

I helped get Joisse into a too-big shirt and a pair of Seyari’s trousers tied with rope, while Nelys dealt out a hand. For how awful it started, today was shaping up to be a fine day after all.

Even as dawn had come through the windows on a sleepless night and a meeting with the guard captain loomed. Even as we needed more answers and were headed quickly into what might be both an Inquisition conspiracy and a burgeoning demonic war. Even with a wedding to plan and a long-lost younger sister to meet (and coddle) in my hopefully-near future, this morning was a bright spot.