Wrath of Lions by David Dalglish, Robert J. Duperre Page B

lightning and swirls of shadow. He pictured the demon’s soul dangling by a slender thread, and he snipped at it, severing tiny strand after tiny strand. Darakken winced in pain, spitting out a mouthful of meat and gagging.
    “I submit, I submit!” it shrieked.
    The thing pitched forward, the body in the beast’s lap rolling away as it collapsed face-first into the mud. It lay still for a moment, its rippling, distended form falling still, and then its head lifted and a pained gasp left its lips. Velixar could see the beast’s eyes alight with panic, and they were no longer glowing. He stood over the thing-turned-man and laughed.
    “Clovis, you fool, get up.”
    He did so, awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable with his stuffed, swollen bulk. He looked down at himself, at the bulbous forearms and sagging breasts, at the penis that vanished beneath a rolling gut.Recognition slowly shone through in his stare, and Clovis Crestwell gazed on Velixar with fear and hate.
    “Look what you’ve done to me,” he choked out.
    “Whatever happened to you, you did it to yourself,” Velixar replied.
    “I’m a monster.”
    “You were
always
a monster, Clovis, only not a very good one. You are much more efficient now.”
    The naked monstrosity turned away from him.
    “Leave me alone, Jacob,” he said. “Go away. You don’t understand how horrible it is to exist like this.”
    Velixar lurched forward, grabbing Clovis by the shoulder. It sickened him to feel the clammy, sodden flesh beneath his fingers, and he had to restrain a wince.
    “You will
not
turn away from me, Crestwell.
I
am Highest;
I
am your master now. You will do as I say.”
    Clovis swiveled toward him. His form was already starting to lose its extra weight as Darakken’s essence swallowed the nutrients.
    “What would you have me do?”
    “I left you alive for a reason. I could have allowed the demon to devour your soul as it devours everything else, but I need you. You are what keeps the beast in line. And yet you shirked that duty by allowing it to slaughter this entire settlement.”
    “I had no choice. He is too strong!” Clovis pleaded.
    “And were the Quellan too strong as well?”
    Clovis tilted his head, confused.
    “Another example of your failure, you weak fool,” seethed Velixar.
    “But…but the Quellan elves are loyal to our cause. Dezerea is ours now that they’ve taken it! Just as you asked…just as the
Whisperer
asked…”
    “You were also told to protect the Meln family from harm. Yet the Lord of Stonewood and many of his underlings are dead, and his wife and younger daughter have fled and are in hiding.”
    “They acted on their own!” he shouted. “My son…my poor dead son…he told them the terms, and they ignored him!”
    Velixar shook his head as if disappointed with his answer. “The betrayal of the Quellan only goes to prove that you never had any
true
power.” He grinned and said, “Tell me, do you love your wife, Clovis?”
    The swollen man stared back dumbly, then nodded.
    “Would you like to see any harm come to her?”
    Clovis dropped to his knees and clawed at Velixar’s breeches. “No, Jacob, please no! Lanike is my creation and all that I have. Please don’t harm her!”
    He shoved the pleading half-man away. “I won’t lay a finger on her,” he said, disdain dripping from every word. “But
you
will. Should you not learn to keep this creature under control, should you allow him to disobey my decrees again, I shall cut the thread that connects you to your body. But I will not kill you. No, I will allow you to look through your own eyes as I set the demon on your wife, letting him use her in whatever way he pleases. What do you think will happen then, you miserable wretch? Will you enjoy watching Lanike flayed alive by your own hands, perhaps from the inside out?”
    Tears streamed down Clovis’s face. “I will try! I will do it! I will try! I will do it!” he shouted.
    Velixar turned his back on the