We were born to blood magic. Created with the ability to use it sparingly so that we could combine our strengths. So that we could do the job.

But fate had played out in a very different way. Instead of Ruby bonding with us as familiars to protect her, she and the beast chose us as mates. In our place, she picked familiars from two of what should have been the weakest creatures that would ever walk into Hell. Fate threw us another wrench, in that where their bodies were not strong, their will was. The banshee and the raccoon had a fierceness about them that made them as suited for the job as me. They protected her and Ruby fed on that inner strength within them. It bolstered her where we could not and made her stronger than even us.

If my blood wasn’t pounding so hard with aggression and rage, I might have been impressed. Instead, it made me desperate.

I could admit it. So much so that I could make a bargain with Sin.

That I could owe her a favor and enter a blood oath just to get Ruby back.

She wanted a mate that would put her first. Someone that wouldn’t just protect, but would own her heart and soul. I would show her what kind of mate I could be.

What kind of mate I would be.

She provoked me again and again and again.

Now I was going to make sure she couldn’t run. Make sure that she was mine.

Even if I had to tie our very souls together to do it.

Sin cut into my skin again and used the blood to trace her markings. Even after so many years, I never understood the magic she used. How she was able to blend two impossible things. I suspected, much like the other Horsemen did. But we were smart enough to keep our mouths shut in our interactions with her.

“Think of her. Focus on her brand.”

She cut down my chest, splitting the bone in two. Most could not survive undergoing this kind of sacrifice. But blood magic had a balance. To receive, you must give a worthy offering.

I wished to own my little Morningstar. To remove her will. To enslave her body.

To do so, I had to give that and more.

Sin plunged her hand into my chest cavity and grasped my still beating heart. I did not allow my mental image to stray for even a second as she pulled it free from my chest.

A dark mass formed around the organ in her hand as the magic accepted its offering. It devoured my heart, attacking the flesh and blood with inky black tendrils. The magic consumed it whole and then shot downward, returning my heart and filling the void in my chest cavity as my skin closed itself back together. Sin’s magic was violent and turbulent as it swept through me, searching for the demon I wished to bond with. Searching for the brand.

I knew the moment it found it.

The moment the blood formed her brand on my chest.

Because in that same moment, I felt the beat of her heart as it pulled me toward her. The magic begged me to fulfill its purpose to the point of pain. The breath hissed between my teeth, but I accepted it. I accepted this pain, because the moment I touched her skin, she wouldn’t be free of me and the beast would no longer be in charge.

I was taking her through the transition whether she liked it or not, and there wasn’t a fucking thing that she could do about it.