Chapter Text
Freedom was so close Lucanis could taste it. After months of planning, Spite and he finally managed to kill their guards. Breaking into the room where his gear was kept resulted in a bloody trail of venatori and the guards of the prison on alert. Spite hid them from sight, the two of them hungry for revenge.
And then the smell hit them.
‘Chocolate! I smell chocolate!’ Spite said, his phantom form perched beside him and for the first time, sounding excited for something other than revenge and the idea of killing Zara. ‘Chocolate… and berries… and the Fade! Like a storm! It’s delicious.’
Lucanis smelled it, too, standing out among the foul stench of the Ossuary. Ever since he merged with Spite, all his senses heightened, and it wasn’t always convenient. There was no way to block out the screams from the other prisoners and the sadistic laughs from the guards. He had grown to hate the smell of jasmine and crystal grace, the expensive signature scent that wafted into the room whenever she walked to his cell.
‘Focus, Spite. We must wait for the right moment.’
They were hidden on top of a sculpture, right above the Lyrium crystal surrounded by the Ossuary guards. Lucanis had patiently waited for the perfect moment to strike, to kill them and destroy that crystal that boosted all their magic.
Whoever he smelled, it wasn’t Venatori. “We don’t have to fight. We’re just here for Lucanis Dellamorte.”
That voice wasn’t Venatori, either. It was sweet and, even when serious, had a daring tone. ‘More. I want to hear more. She’s come for us, we can hear more.’ Whoever the voice belonged to was here for him. Was this finally the rescue he had long given up hope for? Of course, it would happen the day he managed to break out on his own.
Spite hadn’t experienced the world outside of the Ossuary since he was unwillingly pulled from the Fade and forced to share his body. Anything new and unfamiliar excited him, but Lucanis needed him to focus.
The head Venatori guard, who liked to torment him by spilling Luncanis’s food tray all over the floor and watching him eat off the floor like an animal, had started chanting, making the crystal glow to power them up.
‘Get ready… we move in… NOW!’ Spite’s wings sprung from Lucanis’s back, and he jumped, breaking the Crystal and grabbing the shocked guard.
One year, one whole year of being kept locked up and in chains, and yet his body remembered every movement like a long practiced dance. His muscles remembered every step, every evading spin, and Spite practically cackled in glee at every venatori killed. It was like a cold drink of water on a hot humid summer day in Antiva when he heard the last gurgle of life leave their cursed bodies.
It was over too soon, as was the curse of the dance. Kills could be swift and painless, but the personal ones were always better to be drawn out. Alas, there was no time for it now.
He threw the body of the final guard on the ground, Spite’s wings spread wide around him.
“I’m guessing you’re the reason we’re here.” The sweet and daring voice came from behind.
‘I don’t want to kill the one who smells of Chocolate and Berries and Fade. We can kill the other, they only smell of parchment and incense. Not delicious.’
‘We’re not killing anyone yet.’
Spite’s wings slowly disappeared into his body as he turned around. “Who are you? Who sent you?”
His nostrils flared as the one that spoke’s addicting scent wafted around him. Looking at her was what he imagined it would be like to see the sun after a year in the dark. “My name’s Rook. Catarina sent me.”
Would his grandmother send someone other than a crow after him? If she would, he can see why she sent this woman; she carried power around her that was as potent as her scent. Pale hair, almost white, styled in classic milkmaid braids, with dark brows and her creamy skin covered in freckles all over her face and arms that weren’t covered in classic Tevinter leathers. An intrusive thought flitted through his head at the other parts of her body that were covered in freckles, earning a note of interest from Spite, but all thoughts stopped when he looked at her eyes.
Hazel eyes. The colors of the Antivan Sea blended with his favorite brand of coffee. He was so mesmerized that the only thing that came out was, “You’re… not a crow.”
‘I thought you had a silver tongue. Is this what you think a silver tongue is?’
‘I… shut up.’
“And you’re possessed by a demon.” Her plush lips were just slightly turned up, almost as if she was teasing him with a game of ‘and now I point out something obvious too.’
He always loved women with a barbed tongue and wicked sense of humor, and of course it’s the worst possible time.
‘She knows of me! Knows of us! I want to talk to her!’
‘No! Not now. This isn’t the time.’
“It’s… complicated.” Lucanis finished lamely, ignoring Spite asking him if he had actually spoken to a human before.
Rook’s berry-colored lips quirked up, and she went right into her need for the Mage-Killer, immediately agreeing to help him destroy his vial of blood and fulfill his contract before they escaped for good.
“I’ll owe you,” he had told her, and the mischievous light in her enchanting eyes dimmed. He made a note that there was something about that phrase that bothered her.
“I’m sure we’ll owe each other before this is all over,” Rook said softly. “Let’s go.”
Her companion was none other than the famous Neve Gallus, the famed detective who was known even in Antiva. Fortunately, she was as competent in combat as her reputation suggested.
They fought their way through the Ossuary, and the thrill of the fight gave his weaker body strength. Lucanis knew he would have died if it had not been for Spite. The Venatori certainly tried their best to starve and beat him to death, none of them expecting him to bond with the demon they forced inside him. Spite was the only reason he was still alive, and Lucanis planned not to take it for granted. He would learn to live as he was now, even if it would be a cursed life, as long as he got his revenge.
With how Rook fought, he knew she would help him get that revenge. Most mages he had seen were dedicated to using their staff, but she wielded that orb and dagger with incredible skill. Sure, it wasn’t uniform or refined the way his dagger skills were, but there was a wild precision to it. Her trust in the blade and magic was a thing of beauty. Even Spite admired her skill, though that could very well be because Lucanis’s thoughts kept straying to her.
He told them a bit about his imprisonment, keeping it vague where he could. It wasn’t like they couldn’t read between the lines when they came across the torture chambers and the ‘failed’ experiments. He answered any questions she had honestly but with minimum details. Rook was clever, though, and he watched how her face tightened with anger as they got closer to his vial of blood. Her kills were a little more forceful and a little wilder.
When they found his vial of blood, held almost as if in a place of honor on an altar, along with Zara’s notes about what was done to him. Rook barely glanced at it, just shot fire at it with an exploding force, shattering the vial.
“There. That’s gone forever. Now what?”
It was like chains lifted from him; the tether that had been used to control him for so long was finally gone, and he felt lighter, and breathing became easier. He would never be a puppet for these Venatori monsters again.
“Now, we find Calivan.” Lucanis would finally complete the contract that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. His duty for never abandoning his contract would be complete.
Spite’s excitement was rising with the first part of their revenge so close. Killing Calivan had been something the two of them had planned for months. They had agreed that stabbing him in the throat while facing him would be best. They wanted to watch the life leave his eyes as he died, knowing the last thing he would see was the prisoner that he taunted for over a year was the reason for his demise.
Facing him was so cliche that even Spite rolled his eyes. The phantom of the demon inside him stood beside him, staring down at one of the mages that forced him out of the fade and turned him from a peaceful Spirit of Determination to his current namesake.
Between the three of them, well the four if you count Spite, they made easy work of the Venatori. Even when he changed into a demon form, it did nothing to deter them. Rook seemed to be taking as much joy in the kill as he did, and damn if that didn’t increase his already growing attraction to her.
Lucanis and Spite got their wish, though, dealing the killing blow to the weakened and battered mage and watching the life leave Calivan’s miserable eyes.
“The Crows send their regards,” Lucanis said just before his body slumped over, dead. He glanced over at Spite’s phantom form, an image of himself, as the two shared a smirk. One down, two to go: Zara and whoever betrayed him.
“So we got your target,” Rook said, coming over as she sheathed her dagger. Lucanis’s eyes briefly roved over the dark, form-fitting leathers that hugged her generous, toned curves. This close, he realized she was tall, just a slight bit taller than himself, but it couldn’t have been more than an inch. It took more willpower than he cared to admit to keep himself from studying her as he desired to memorize her curve of muscle and softness.
“Yes, the job’s done.”
Spite whirled around to face him, inhaling the air. ‘Smells like blood. Ashes. Not done. Not done yet.’
Lucanis glared at him. ‘My contract is done. Our job has only started. Zara is not here, and we need to learn who betrayed me and is responsible for me being here to begin with.’
“Lucanis?” Rook asked, eyes trained on him, and she ignored Spite. “Are you alright?”
He kept his eyes on the demon, just daring him to try something when he watched its smirk deepen.
“Lucanis?” Rook stepped closer, and her scent hit the two of them immediately, intensified by the sweat from the fight. Spite’s shoulders relaxed their tense posture, and Lucanis found his own doing the same. He wanted to bottle her scent up and cover himself in it. He would bury his face in his own skin just to mimic the effect it had on him.
With her eyes still trained on him and her head titled adorably, she asked, “What are you looking at?”
Hm. She couldn’t see him, could she? Well, that explains why she was so calm around him, though not how she knew he was an abomination. However, with her being a mage, she would be familiar enough with demons to tell without seeing Spite the way he could.
“Careful,” Spite growled out. “They know. They know we’re not right,” he said, looking at Rook almost menacingly, making Lucanis tense until he saw Spite take another deep inhale of her scent.
“You cannot see him,” Lucanis stated in surprise. “I wondered…” He looked between Spite and Rook thoughtfully. Some of the Venatori were able to see Spite. Zara saw him when he was in the Phantom form and not hiding inside of Lucanis. Perhaps it was a result of all the blood magic that allowed Zara and a few others to see Spite. That would make the most sense.
A deep sense of relief settled in him that Rook was probably not a practitioner of that vile form of magic.
Rook looked at him with concern, though her plush lips were turned up into a smirk. “Okay… I think you desperately need some fresh air. On the way to Trevisio, we should probably talk.”
Lucanis lips formed into a small smile. “Agreed.”
With all the guards dead, it was easy enough to make it out of the prison and onto the boat one of the crows left for them. In that time, Rook and Neve filled him in on everything going on in the world, about the Elven gods determined to control the world with the blight and their need to put them down. He listened intently, occasionally asking a question for clarification.
“So, you live in the Fade? How…?” He felt Spite’s excitement spike. He knew the demon longed for the Fade, having never wanted to leave it in the first place.
Rook waved him off. “It is and it isn’t. The Lighthouse is Solas’s refugee, one he created that kept the Evanuris from ever finding him, and it’s kind of like the Fade but not the Fade, you’ll see. It’s probably the safest place in the world right now, which is a good thing since both those asshole are hunting us. Cause of the dagger and all.”
She reached into a bag on her belt and pulled out a glowing dagger so heavy with magic that he felt hesitant even to touch it. He picked it up and was pleasantly surprised. It was lightweight and easy to maneuver. “So this is the weapon that will kill a god.” He said in wonder.
“Yup. And who better to wield it than ‘The Mage Killer,’” Rook said, her eyes lit up in mischief and her smirk teasing him. This close to her on the boat, it was all the willpower he had to not lean into her neck and take lungfuls of breath.
Spite didn’t have the same willpower or limitations that Lucanis had, and he watched with growing jealousy and fury as the Phantom leaned in and traced their nose against her neck, taking a deep breath.
‘Delicious!’ Spite purred, doing precisely what Lucanis wanted to do and burying their face in her neck.
‘Stop it! You cannot do things like that without consent. We didn’t care for it when it was done to us!’
‘She smells of the Fade! Of home! And chocolate.’ Spite was so lost in the bliss of her scent that he wasn’t even pretending to listen to him.
But then an interesting thing happened: Rook shivered . She shivered and reached up to touch her neck, right where Spite’s face was buried.
Lucanis paused and watched as she looked around, clearly trying to find what could cause the shiver in the warm Antivan air.
‘Interesting.’
Rook turned back to him with a grin when the docks appeared, and Neve leaned over to secure the boat. “Welcome home, Lucanis.”
Lucanis smiled for the first time since they left the prison and stood up, feeling Spite disappear into him, all settled for once.
“Come.” Ever the gentleman, he held a hand out to Rook and then Neve to help them out of the boat. “Let us go and see my family, hm?”