The Scumbags Guide to Enslaving Demon's

The rescue convoy hit the first outrider before the demon knew the beacon had marked him.

Kaela stood in the bed of the reinforced delivery truck, stolen chain pole in each fist. The road south of Grand Meridian twisted around abandoned warehouses like a ribbon cut from blacktop. Silver light from Sarielle’ track lit slashed the clouds ahead of them, pointed directly at Malrec’ war camp.

Three outriders ran alongside the truck on horned lizards. They shouted orders and tried to turn the convoy around.

Kaela swung the chain pole.

It sliced through the nearest rider’s chest. Rin collided with the second as a red blur, knocking him from the saddle and dragging him under the truck’ armored roots. Elena leaned from the passenger window and put a rifle bullet through the third demon’s knee before he could light a signal flare.

"Keep moving," she shouted. "They know we’re coming anyway."

Seven drove in silence. His burned frame had been patched with black root plates. One eye slit pulsed brighter than the other. Behind them, freed prisoners rode in a second truck, waving scavenged chains, rifles, and whatever was left of their cages.

Kaela stared at the beacon. "Sarielle is alive."

"For now," Elena replied.

The road bent toward the war camp entrance gates.

Ahead, Malrec’ outer guard were already panicking. The beacon being visible from so far away had transformed every shadow into a threat. Lesser demons argued with their handlers. Some ran toward the cages. Some ran away from them. This place was designed for fear and secrecy. It had never been designed to withstand public scrutiny.

Rin landed on the hood bloodied on one cheek and victorious in her eyes.

"Eight more riders." Rin spat over one shoulder. "They’re trying to get ahead of us."

"We can catch them." Kaela shouted back.

Rin’s tails whipped out. "We do not have to."

Elena shot her friend a sideways glance.

Rin grinned at her friend back. "We just need them scared enough to open the wrong gate."

Inside the sealed challenge ground, Austin Veyron felt someone tug on the silver thread.

The sensation bloomed like sight without the details. Motion. Urgency. Kaela’ determination and refusal to give up. Rin’ cold predatory drive to protect them. Elena’ stubborn faith and support in the passenger seat. Seven’s heavy footsteps on the driver’s side. He could feel every fiber of their intent tugging at the Authority fragment lodged inside Austin Veyron’s mind.

Command them.

He didn’t.

Refusal hurt.

Malrec found him while his attention was fractured.

The lord’s remaining chains whipped through the black stone barricade in wide circles. Austin Veyron dodged the first pass, absorbed the second blow across his back, and caught the third chain leash just before it cinched around his throat. Territorial defiance. He growled the words before he activated the defense subroutine.

"You will not hurt them."

The chain chain slackened in Malrec’s grip.

Austin Veyron yanked Malrec forward and smacked his forehead against the demon lord’s cheekbone. Green blood sprayed from the snapped cartilage. Malrec retaliated with a knee to Austin Veyron’s ribs and a gauntleted hand that clawed through root armor across his back.

Neither demon took more than seconds to recover.

"You can feel them," Malrec spat between clenched teeth. "Command them to halt. Turn around. Survive."

"They’re not my puppets."

"You are harboring liabilities."

"They volunteered to fight."

Malrec’s pupils flared red. "Their choice will be what gets them killed."

The silver thread pulsed.

Austin Veyron saw the entrance gates at Malrec’ war camp.

Kaela had driven the truck straight for the beacon instead of flanking the camp perimeter. Rin had shot down every outrider who reached the gatehouse before they could sound the alarm. Elena manned the truck cab with rifles while Seven bulldozed through barricades made from chained wagon wheels and sharpened bone spikes.

The truck barrelled through the camp gates.

Demon cages flanked both sides of the central avenue. Adult prisoners screamed behind iron bars. Some cursed out their captors. Others simply stared blank-eyed ahead as if they had already given up hope of rescue.

Kaela leapt atop the truck bed and shouted until her voice cracked.

The lioness-eared heir called back from inside the largest silver cage near the command pavilion.

Kaela pointed directly at her sister. "HERE!"

The beacon blazed white-hot and the rescue convoy dove forward under new orders.

Kaela jumped from the truck. She rolled away from landing with chain pole at the ready and sprinted towards her sister cage.

Four handlers advanced on them from separate angles. Rin took down two. Free prisoners incapacitated another. Kaela stabbed the chain pole through the fourth demons jaw, then dove for Sarries bars.

Sarielle’ hands were white from gripping the cage so tightly. Silver fire webbed beneath skin over her sternum.

"We have to break you out." Kaela reminded herself before swinging down on the pole.

Don’t break me out, Sarielle’s mind supplied.

"The tracker is bonded to you."

Kaela paused mid-stride. "Austin grabbed the beacon transmitter. We can disarm it."

"No." Sarielle shook her head despite the chains binding her wrist to her ankle. "It’s linked to my bloodstream now. Cutting it loose would rip my heart from my chest."

Elena burst around the back of the rescue truck medical kit slung over one shoulder and pistol aimed at loose demons with the other. She surveyed the silver runes tracing patterns beneath Sarielle’ skin, then looked up at the camp ceiling.

"This will need a counter-command," Elena yelled over the chaos. "Someone with more standing than Malrec’ collar has."

Sarielle snorted. "Then you’ll need the man presently engaged with him."

Austin Veyron felt every syllable through bone.

Malrec heard her as well.

His master smirked through blood and sweat dripping into his eyes. "Perfect. You see now? There’s your proof. The only way to ensure her safety is by accepting what I give."

Austin Veyron’s hands shook.

His edge screamed hungrier.

Demanded satisfaction clawing free the moment his eyes landed on what protected Sarielle in the core. Devour Malrec. Claim the Chain Registry for himself. Save his sister. Become the next demon lord.

He would do these things.

Another thought severed the momentary connection.

Kaela kneeling beside Sarielle’ cage. Face stained from crying, but strong. Not defeated. Not sitting helplessly in a cell until someone came to own her. Pulling her sister close despite the chain-blocking them apart.

"We find another way."

His sister always found another way.

"I don’t need easy answers," Sarielle said through clenched teeth.

Austin took a deep breath.

Malrec seized upon the hesitation.

Attacked through the mental link first.

Got there first.

Allowed Malrec’s chained spear leash to drag across his palm instead. Pain radiated through Austin Veyron’s shoulder, but the sudden contact gave his mind clear channel to the damaged chain-voice. He snagged Malrec’s wrist and hauled the larger body behind cover of the truck.

"You’re wrong." He kept his voice low, quiet enough that Sarielle couldn’t hear him.

Malrec’s eyes squeezed shut. "About what?"

"There is no ’about what.’ You’re wrong about who gets to choose if there is only one correct answer."

Austin reached for devour-

DEVOURED clawed free of his mind’s vocal cords instead. It happened in an instant. No prolonged fight. The system complied before his fingertips had time to complete the formal request.

Link Authority Recognized.

Instead of overwriting Malrec’s senses, Austin tethered himself to the front of his mind. One that allowed him to see Malrec’s reactions in real time.

The beast hovering above the camp fractured in two.

One half remained pinned over Sarielle. The second line of light snapped backwards through the challenge ground and lashed across Malrec’s wounded torso.

The System flashed a notification.

[Remote trigger successfully duplicated.]

[Counterparty vulnerability confirmed.]

[Linked Condition: harm to Sarielle will reflect back on originator.]

Kaela dropped to her knees in front of the transport cage and cried.

Malrec became statuesque.

The silver burns under Sarielle’ chest faded across the camp.

"I put Malrec on the same link as Sarielle." Elena observed, eyes glued to the beacon shard between them.

Kaela wiped her tears and smiled. "Then we keep him alive long enough for Austin Veyron to figure out whatever he’s trying to do."

Handlers screamed at prisoners. Prisoners screamed curses back at handlers.

The entire camp erupted into bedlam.

Handlers screamed at each other. Some reached for weapons trained on Sarielle’ cage, then lowered them when they felt Malrec’s collar echo across their chests. Others sprinted for cover behind the camp’s canvas tents, now terrified of being caught questioning their lord’s judgment outside of earshot. For the first time since theirBinding, Malrec could no longer kill every moment his followers wavered.

Except Malrec could hurt his hostage now.

Every order he gave would echo back up his leash through that frightened body until he learned what it meant to consider someone other than himself.

For anyone but himself.

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