Monster Beyond | 𝓳𝓳𝓴

Three

I trailed behind Jungkook and Salazar as we made our way toward the front gates of the palace. Nerves caught in my throat, but I did my best to swallow them down. With Jungkook, I was safe. But my mind whirred.

Flashes of the chaos from Cassius's manor warred with that feeling of safety now that I was with Jungkook in Kithonia. Cassius's community had been chaos. Chaos I'd caused, and the demon hunters with whom Leif had sided had only added to the bedlam by attacking at the same time. There'd been so many dead. So much blood. And then fire.

Endless fire.

Here, in Kithonia, silence surrounded us so strongly, I wondered briefly—every now and again—if maybe this wasn't Kithonia, but some afterlife instead. But Jungkook was here, and every part of his conversation with Salazar had snapped me back to reality.

But the reality was a recently abandoned palace in Kithonia, now home to a resistance against Jungkook's brother, and me, a lone human in a world of demons. There'd been a time, brief as it had been, when I'd feared what Jungkook was and what I'd tied myself to. The hours had been fleeting, as I'd figured an entity who'd saved and made a deal with me wouldn't want me dead. But that uncertainly had kept me up at night.

That same uncertainty settled within me now as I followed Jungkook and Salazar. The few palace staff that were here continued to openly stare as we passed, their curiosities open for me to read.

I focused on Jungkook and the way his hands felt on mine. His real hands, physically here and not just some shadow he could manifest. I wanted to pull them around me, to get as close to Jungkook as I could, and stay by his side forever.

Instead, these fleeting moments were cut short as we arrived at the palace entrance and emerged out into the courtyard. The front gates, elaborate arches with metalwork leaves and vines up the entire structure, sat a couple hundred yards away with more shadow demons clamouring to get through. Jungkook's people. And still the sight caused me pause even as him and Salazar approached them.

My mind swam, a memory rising to the surface in this moment as I found myself surrounded by dozens of shadow demons. I remembered the way Lazarus's tone had barely held fear whenever he'd spoke of demons. How my first captor and deliverer of so much trauma had been so desperate for weapons against those demons that he'd risked some of his slaves to forge night steel—the only known material, according to Lazarus, that could damage those demons.

And now here I was, amongst them with a portal to Earth still potentially out there somewhere. The very same present Lazarus had once feared. He'd been right about exactly one thing: Astrid was making power moves, and invading Earth might just be one of them.

"Silence!" Salazar called as he and Jungkook approached their people. "Open the gates. Allow them to pass to safety."

The guards on watchtowers to each side of the gates nodded and began opening them. The demons poured in as soon as they could, only stopping themselves short, questioning looks on their faces as they came face to face with Jungkook. The first to make eye contact with him balked and backpedalled, bumping into others.

"It's the King!" one of the demons shouted, which set off a chorus of echoes. Some sounded scared, many sounded angry.

I swallowed hard again, taking a step back involuntarily. Jungkook had said he hadn't always been well-liked.

"And he has returned to Kithonia to end the Thief King's rule!" Salazar shouted over the brewing chaos.

Jungkook exchanged a quick look with him, an unheard conversation passing quickly between them. Salazar nodded.