By My Side - Sam/Aomaris Fanfiction

56) A Plan

I went silent. James looked resentful and resigned but he nodded to reaffirm his words.
"I could die..." I repeated quietly.
"This is why I asked if Sam would be home. I'm not sure he'd want to hear that."
"No shit. I don't wanna hear that." I muttered. "How do you know?" James pushed a book on the table towards me, its worn leather cover blending so well with the wooden surface that I didn't notice it when I came in. He opened it and directed me to a page covered in minuscule messy handwriting. I recognised it as my Grandfather's and squinted at the page, adjusting my glasses in the hopes I'd be able to read more clearly.

"The cuff on your wrist is supposedly part of some very old and very dangerous magic. Without getting too technical, the magic has essentially placed a curse on your energy. If Sam - or anyone, for that matter - tries to take your sexual energy, it will cause you significant pain, yes, but worse than that is that your energy won't go to the person enthralling you. It will go to the person who put that cuff on your wrist." I looked up, wearing much the same expression as I had when I found out I'd been cursed in the demon world.
"But Malix is dead. There's no way he could've survived what Sam did to him during the war." James didn't say anything, but simply turned a page in the book and pointed at the bottom of one of the paragraphs. I bent forwards and muttered the passage to myself.
"In the event that the Infernal should die, the Cuff of Perdition placed upon the wrist of a mortal soul can bring the Infernal back from the Abyss. The Cuff can only be removed when the Infernal has regained all of its strength." I stared at the passage with a slightly open mouth, then stared at James again. "I... Cannot even begin to tell you how lost I am." James nodded, as if he was expecting me to say that.

"According to the rest of the writings in this journal, Malix isn't just a devil. He's something called 'The Infernal', which is why he was able to place that cuff on you."
"And what exactly is 'The Infernal'?" I asked. James continued, looking very unimpressed.
"It's all part of a ridiculous prophecy that's been circling in Hell for God knows how long. Here." He flipped to the very start of the book and directed me to the inscription that was scrawled on the inside of the front cover.

When the iceborne demon curses the Land of Sin, the gates will shatter and Hellfire will reign over the Earth. No world will be free and no mortal will be spared once frost has covered the plane of evil's birth.

A chill ran down my spine as I heard James scoff with derision.
"Don't give it any thought, Mx. It's... Well, quite frankly, it's complete and utter bullshit. Devils have been spouting this nonsense since Hell was created, and they used it a lot to pretend they were all high and mighty, as if they were better than every other race to walk the Earth." James shut the book in front of me and my gaze shifted to my hand instead, where I conjured a couple of snowflakes thoughtfully.
"I do have ice magic..." I said.
"It's pure coincidence, Mx. I promise. My guess is that the devils in Hell tried to create the cuff from the prophecy in the hopes it would give Malix the advantage over Sam."
"So... According to this journal, the cuff that Malix put on me is giving him the energy to come back to life and quite literally climb out of the pits of Hell?"
"Technically, Malix would only come back to life once the cuff is broken, but that's not the point. This is all nonsense. Devils have been around since the beginning of time, and demons for almost as long. If this prophecy were actually true, everything would have transpired hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. However, I wouldn't brush off the seriousness of the cuff that's on your wrist."
"So... What the hell do I do?"

"The question, Mx, is whether you will tell Sam the risks of removing the cuff or not," James said. "If you tell him and the solution causes your death, he will surely blame himself for going through with it. If you don't, he will likely blame me for not informing either of you of the risk. I think the latter option is more desirable."
"Why?" I asked quickly.
"Because there's a chance that Sam will eventually forgive me. Should Sam blame himself for your death, we both know he will never forgive himself."
I sighed. I knew James was right. But it would be wrong to not tell Sam. I looked up at James.
"How likely is it that I'll die?" I asked quietly. James frowned in thought.
"That depends on your pain tolerance." He answered simply.
"It's not terrible..." I said. James watched me as I sighed and buried my face in my palms.
"I can't tell him... can I? Not only would he refuse to do it, he'd hate himself if he gave in and something happened to me." James didn't respond and I sighed again. "How soon can we do this?" I asked. James shrugged.
"Whenever the two of you decide, Mx. It's not like a spell, there are no requirements other than it will take approximately 3-5 minutes to break the enthrallment, based on what I know about your willpower and determination." I nodded to myself.