Cursed strings, red and pulsing like veins, snapped out and bound Anna's wrists and ankles. They coiled tight, glowing faintly with the sigils of Rose's curse arts. Another strand slithered around Anna's throat, squeezing, not enough to kill, but enough to make her breaths shallow and desperate.

"Rose…" Asher's voice carried a low, warning growl.

"You promised you'd tear Draegonoth out of this mortal shell," Rose snapped, her crimson eyes flashing like coals. "How long have you stalled, hubby? How long?"

"Put Anna down. Now." Asher's tone rasped like steel dragged across stone.

The others stared in confusion, unable to follow the clash between them.

"No." Rose's lips curved into a defiant smile. "Not this time, hubby. I'm done letting this slip by."

Asher's brow tightened, anger surging hot beneath his skin. He had tamed her, but Rose was still a demon lord, and taming was never the same as command. She was bound to him by obsession, not obedience.

"One last chance, Rose," he said, voice darkening. "Release her."

"Or what? You'll fight me?" Her chuckle slithered through the place like smoke as she shook her head. "Don't forget who you are, human. I'm your mentor. Every strike, every scalpel, every kill—learned from me. I know you inside and out."

"You don't know a damned thing about me!" Asher's roar cracked through the silence as he stepped forward.

The demon lord was ready. She loved this mortal too much not to anticipate him. Crimson vines writhed to life, one hoisting Anna higher while a second sharpened into a spear and hovered at her throat.

Asher halted mid-stride.

"Another step," Rose hissed, "and her neck will open like ripe fruit. What do you call them. Oh....mangoes."

His fists trembled, veins bulging, his rage caged inside gritted teeth.

Rose laughed. That same cruel, musical laugh she'd given the first time they met, when she planned to throw him to be lunch for her demon hounds.

"Humans…" she purred. "No matter how strong you think you are, there's always one flaw: hesitation. That's your curse." She licked her lips slowly. "I do love you, husband. Love you hard. But my love is matched only by the hatred I hold for Draegonoth."

Asher scowled. "What are you babbling about, Rose?"

"Yeah, seriously—what's going on?" Derrick demanded, voice cracking with unease.

"None of your business," Brian snapped at Derrick. "If you've got time to whine, help Aria and others move the unconscious who'd been zombies to safety. Asher doesn't need your help."

Still, unease gnawed at Derrick's gut. The zombie infection was gone, but the air felt heavier, darker, like the silence before a storm. And that grin on Rose's face… it chilled him.

"Hubby," Rose cooed, stepping closer, deliberate and slow. "If I must choose between love and vengeance—I'll choose vengeance. Killing Draegonoth outweighs every tender word we've shared."

She placed a hand on Asher's chest, leaning close to whisper at his ear.

"It's simply… logical."

Asher shoved her back. "I promised I'd find another way. This madness ends now, Rose!"

Her lips twisted into a snarl. She spat on the ground, and the vine pressed closer against Anna's throat, piercing her skin, drawing blood. Anna squirmed weakly, a whimper escaping her lips.

"You selfish bastard!" Rose snapped. "Humans are selfish, but you're worse! We came for the butcher who slaughtered demons in my realm; who killed Tanya, the woman who raised me. And what did you do? You dragged me into shielding your loved ones! Now I demand just one sacrifice for my own justice and you deny me?"

Her words cut, and guilt flared in Asher's chest. But he would never—never—sacrifice Anna.

A pained cry tore the air. Anna's eyes fluttered open, bloodshot, wet with tears. Confusion, pain, and terror swam across her face and Rose savored it, her heart thrumming with delight.

"Goodbye, huma—"

The ground erupted with jagged spears of ice, skewering upward into Rose's side. Asher blurred forward along a frozen trail of ice in his boots, reaching for Anna, but before he did, the vine struck deeper.

Schkkk—

Blood ran down Anna's throat.

"No! ANNA!!!" Asher's voice split the night.

Rose wrenched herself free of the jagged ice, tearing loose with a wet crack. Dark blood steamed against the cold spears, but the wounds closed almost as quickly as they opened. A black aura radiated across her skin, knitting flesh and sealing punctures as if the ice had never touched her.

She was done playing around now. She dropped the spell she had casted upon herself to look human. Two black horns pushed through her scalp, curved and slick as obsidian. A barbed tail uncoiled behind her, lashing the air with a predator's impatience.

Derrick's legs buckled. "I… knew it," he rasped, terror sharpening his voice. "Finally showing your true col—"

The words died with him.

Rose's tail struck from behind her in a flash. Derrick's head tumbled free, slit by the sharp tail, eyes still wide, a ragged collar of red where his neck had been.

Blood erupted in a sudden, pulsing spray, pattering across the floor like a crimson rain. Hot droplets streaked Natalie's face and hair; she froze, trembling, her breath caught in a silent scream watching her boyfriend's head roll over the ground.

Asher froze, horror rooting him, his mind torn between the bleeding Anna and Rose who had just butchered his friend.

The vine at Anna's throat still pulsed. It had pierced her skin, but not yet the artery.

His system flared crimson before his eyes:

[Warning: Control slipping. Tamed individual Rose nearing full autonomy.]

[Immediate action required!]

Another alert pulsed:

[Warning! Two malevolent entities detected.]

[Power levels rising rapidly.]

Asher looked up. Anna's eyes had changed into something ancient with a predatory gleam beneath the pain.

Rose's lips curved into a knowing smirk. "I knew you wouldn't let me kill your vessel so easily. Draegonoth."

Finally, now that she had taken her true demon form, Rose could draw on the negative emotions thickening the air to swell her power. The fear, the heavy despair hanging in the atmosphere became her fuel. And the same could be said for Draegonoth.

Rose spread her arms. "Let the fight to the death begin. Ex-husband."

TBC

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