General Skog growled approvingly, and Hazug frowned at his priest's rolling eyes, hanging tongue, and soiled clothes. He sighed.
"You should've stayed out of it, Bjorg. Your daughter enjoys rough sex, and she will find nobody to do her rougher than my brothers. She got lucky, and you got a lesson. Never think of interfering with my plans, future Knaast Counselor."
General Orn stepped closer to Bjorg, scrutinizing the man's terrible state. He lifted his eyes from the priest, turning them to the serpent general.
"Tune it down, Ular. Otherwise, he will be useless to us."
Ular grinned. "I am sorry. I haven't interacted with humans for centuries."
Skog snorted. "You did it on purpose, to poke Hazug's treasure. It was funny."
Ular shrugged and chuckled as Orn smirked. Then the serpent talked to the shaking man huddled on the floor.
"Stand up, Bjorg Knaast. Your daughter might be the mother of the most powerful warlock ever to walk the Earth. You need to bring yourself together and be proud. Your niece, Ulli, went through the same process and she's fine."
"I never knew it," Bjorg responded, coming back to his normal self in a blink when Ular stopped his interference. "Forgive me."
'Of course not. I am not the forgiving kind. But you can live."
Hazug growled. "Go home, Bjorg. Your presence is unnecessary."
Bjorg stood, still disturbed but ready to obey.
Ular shook his head. "No. He will be right here and watch."
The Knaast priest swallowed hard, afraid of the meaning of that. And when he thought of cleaning himself, Ular froze him.
"No. Stay in your waste. It will remind you what a glorified animal you are. I sent a messenger to bring Sylvia to us. She didn't want to come of her free will."
Bjorg struggled to his feet, his head bowed at the neck, unwilling to see the horrifying eyes of the serpent.
Meanwhile, Skog approached Sylvia's husband. "I see you are not afraid of us."
Victor shook his head. His tanned skin was paler. "I am. I just pretend well."
Darah laughed. "I like the human."
"Thank you, General Darah," Victor said with a deep bow.
However, when the Brazilian lifted his head, he screamed at the sight in front of him. Bjorg wheeled on the balls of his feet. He choked with his saliva, and the generals laughed.
"You are hilarious this night, Ular," Skog growled with mirth, and the powerful general shrugged as an enormous snake slithered into the room with Sylvia Knaast involved in its glossy body
"I love my pets," Ular declared, and the demons exploded with raucous laughter.
The Knaast woman did not blink. Her long hair was dirty with dry leaves, pebbles, and unidentifiable things hardening some knots. Her eyes were wide on her mud-splattered face.
Watching the creature carry his daughter, Bjorg whispered bug-eyed, following the serpent's sinuous movements.
"Is that real?"
Ular approached the animal, running his index finger between the creature's eyes and smiling. "She is a real sucuri, a very dangerous Amazon snake. She has been my pet for overages. And she is very enjoyable too. We will have a lot of fun with Sylvia."
"Please don't do that, General Ular! That is my daughter," the Knaast Priest begged, shocked.
"Don't make me kill you," Hazug whispered in the man's ears. "I have grand plans for you."
Ular was running his fingers between the snake's eyes, watching Hazug interact with his priest. "Can't we have some fun without a pesky insignificant human interrupting?"
Hazug slapped Bjorg, throwing him to the floor again. "Be quiet."
Bjorg's soiled clothes were wet from his feces, urine, and vomit. He was not the handsome, powerful man, but a battered shadow of a man.
"Control him, Hazug. Or we will need another generation because I will enjoy killing your priest. Come, Victor," the serpent general added.
Bjorg watched as the man's green eyes got dull, and he walked on tentative steps to General Ular.
'What is going to happen," Bjorg asked.
"Angelo Aquila is my priest. He helped your niece Uli. Victor and Sylvia will be fine."
General Orn told Bjorg, as Victor reached the serpent general.
"Kneel, Victor Falcone," Ular said, smiling.
The man obeyed, and a bubble of water cocooned him.
"I am different from my brothers, Bjorg Knaast. My flames are,"—he stopped and grinned. "I'd say hotter. I need any vessel soaked with water or I will burn him to death."
Images of people burning in fire flooded the Knaast priest's mind, and he stepped back, attempting to stay as far as possible without leaving the room. The terror in his soul was crippling him. However, Hazug's whispering words made him grind his teeth and lock his shaking knees to watch what he knew would be horrible.
Victor's father-in-law followed as the Brazilian mogul fought to escape the drowning. The Brazilian tried to break the bubble with his fists, his mouth stretching in a horrendous mask of terror. But it only made him swallow more and more water. His disparaging movements caused the bubble to roll, toppling furniture, smashing potted plants, and turning the once lovely place into a war zone.
Yet it was useless. The malleable crystal-clean bubble was unbreakable.
The man's movements got sluggish until, after some more agonizing moments, they stopped. The supernatural water cage burst and left Sylvia's husband on the granite floor, looking dead.
Bjorg's back hit the closest wall as General Ular human form trembled and blurred. Some thick white mist spread around, blanketing the floor, and swirling into prism sparkles until it condensed to create the gigantic snake with wings.
"Oh, my God," Bjorg murmured, and Ular turned to him, his forked tongue licking the air.
"I like when you humans mean it," he hissed, joking, and turned his attention back to Sylvia's husband. The Renegade's flames swallowed Victor as the creature's wings hugged him.
The possession started.
Victor's mouth opened wide; it stretched more and more, and Bjorg heard the sickening snap of the jaw when it unhinged. After that, any resemblance to a human face disappeared. The man looked inside out as the serpent's glittering black scales became a wilder rainbow. Loud, crunching noises bounced off the walls as Ular's body morphed into a smaller version of himself to slither into Victor's gaping maw. Bjorg saw the snake swallow the man's heart in a single bite and the priest could not control his gagging reflex. He retched his last meal of champagne and caviar on his handmade Italian loafers.
Not even Hazug's feasts were as gruesome as watching the Renegade leader take possession of a human body.
General Ular blurred again as he joined with the drowned man, disappearing inside Victor's unhinged mouth. With a bone-shattering snap, it closed.
However, to Bjorg's horror, it was not over yet.
Flames higher than a depiction of inferno licked the room, scorching everything. The wood beams cracked and the entire house roared under the fire; tiles exploded, glasses melted, everything became embers.
Protected in Hazug's flames, Bjorg panted, running the back of his hand on his mouth to clear the remnants of his vomit. Then he heard the farmhands' screams. Ular's fire was so hot it turned things into ashes within seconds, so the painful screams took little to end. Everything became so silent that an insect crawling would be heard if all life around the property wasn't carbonized.
The smell of burned flesh reached the priest's nostrils, and he blinked his whole body rocking.
Ular had finished the process and his presence in the Brazilian was invisible.
Victor dry heaved for a while then he stood up, surrounded by the mist. Ular inhaled and spoke through the man's lips.
"Burning living people is not my favorite form of sacrifice, but I accept them. Sylvia will need Knaast slaves for herself and our heir."
Bjorg agreed. "I will see to it, general Ular."
"Good. I hadn't possessed a regular human body since the Spanish invaded America. This man won't stand me long. He is not one of our priests. I will need to do it fast and hard. I envy you, Skog."
The jaguar general chuckled. "Yes, Sylvia is intelligent. She provided me with the best fun in centuries. A Knaast is different. Even their flesh tastes better. I can give you that, Hazug; your plan works well."
Inside Victor's body, Ular walked to the black snake that kept Sylvia restrained. He petted the creature. "Let's have fun, you and I."
Watching the nightmarish things the serpent did to her, Bjorg was happy Sylvia was catatonic.
The Knaast woman's suffering lasted ten hours. Bjorg retched a few times until his stomach linen was raw. However, he could do nothing but watch.
The Knaast's general looked at Bjorg and smirked.
"Did you become emotional, Knaast Priest?"
Bjorg felt salty liquid touch his lips and lifted his hand to wipe off the tears. They ran down his face and the Norwegian wouldn't have realized it if the Renegade hadn't mocked him.
It was on a Brazilian farm Bjorg learned what it meant to be a Knaast. He realized that every diamond, every gold poppy came to their coffers at an outrageous price. Remembering Ella's memoir, he admitted she had been a demon inside a human soul. Only that could explain her love for Hazug and his crazy passion for her.
Although cold inside and out, the priest remained impassive and bowed to the five generals before they disappeared.
The acrid smell of burned flesh seemed to permeate his flesh. He snapped his fingers, cleaning himself after the frightful long night. He stood alone under the early morning sun glazing in Brazil's sky.
Faithful to his words, Ular had healed Sylvia, body, and mind during the process, so the catatonic state broke. His daughter's petrified, pained face and her screams would stay in his eyes and ears forever.
"She will forget everything, Knaast priest. You must not tell her what happened. I don't like you. Watch your step," the serpent general advised before he left.
Bjorg would not have the blessing of oblivion. He became a different man after the hateful events instead.
What the serpent performed brought him the understanding that Hazug was not like the others. He was brief in his dealings with humans, like a little boy playing in the kindergarten. Grab a toy, play for some minutes, break it perhaps, and move on.
He was not as dedicated to cause harm because it was not his goal. It seemed a to-do list. It did not bring the general so much pleasure, neither he gave it a lot of thought. Differently from what Bjorg believed before, Hazug did not care for the cult. It was the means to an end. But what was the end goal?
Bjorg realized Ella had been the general's teacher in his effective actions toward humankind. They were enough to terrify and bring fear to get some gain. Hazug despised the humans too much to even care about hurting them. He was a voracious man-eater, and that was the worst Bjorg could say about him.
"I handle the cattle to his slaughterhouse," he murmured to the sun.
Now, General Ular was another matter. His politeness made everything worse. It was a cloak of mischief and mockery.
Another realization came to the Knaast priest during the festival of horrors.
Victor was tough and had a block of ice instead of a heart.
Sylvia meant nothing to the Brazilian mogul. Bjorg pursed his lips, knowing Victor would use and destroy her if he needed it to achieve his dream. He seemed excited to serve the demons. Not even the horrible things Victor Falcone watched the demons do when he was possessed broke his resolve. He was frightened, but after every general promised to make him Brazil's President, he looked gleeful.
However, as he walked towards his father-in-law from the ruins of the house, his eyes were cold and determined.
"Enjoying sun after darkness," he questioned with a smirk.
"How's Sylvia?"
"Sleeping like a baby. That serpent General is amazing. He made her believe everything was pleasurable. I couldn't trust my ears when she thanked every one of them with a very sensual kiss. She is back to her normal slutty self."
"You looked at home with her torture, offering refreshments to the Generals."
The man snapped. "Cut me some slack, Bjorg. I am new to this thing of demons and possession. I was afraid. I wanted them the happiest possible."
Bjorg crossed his arms over his chest.
"Why did you agree with that?"
"Huh?"
Bjorg gazed into the man's green orbs. He raked his son-in-law with despondent eyes. Victor did not know his responsibility in the situation or he was the best actor ever.
The priest growled. "You are her husband. She is under your authority. You had to agree. That's the spiritual law. You two are one now."
Victor lifted both hands. "Hey, it sounds medieval to my ears. Sylvia is her own woman. I might enable her crazy, but she decides what she wants."
"Medieval," Bjorg roared. "Those creatures exist since before the world appeared. They laugh at modernity; humans' opinions mean nothing to them, so changeable our customs are. Human society differs all over the world throughout the times and they go along with them. These demons hold our traditions as ridiculous. The Father of All Lights determined it is not good the humans live alone. He created the bonds between people and you are responsible for Sylvia."
"Responsible for her? Do you mean if she does something stupid I will pay too?"
"Yes. Didn't you feel it? We are less than animals for them. Ular petted that hideous snake as you were drowning."
Victor cringed. "I remember."
"Good. It will make you careful. Now you pay attention. The law binding them is from the Father of Lights Himself. General Ular made sure you said all the right words. He needed your permission because breaking the Free-will law has dire consequences for them. The generals offered you Brazil's presidency for my daughter's torture. And you had agreed to what happened to her. Don't you dare deny it."
Victor roared to the skies, his fists clenched, his tanned face flushed red and spit was flying when he yelled.
"That's peachy! They possessed me without a crash course! It hurt! I went to hell and back six times and I will remember everything. I am the victim of you Knaasts. General Hazug ensnared me to want your whore daughter. And when he appeared here, Sylvia begged me to accept the deal and said Hazug made your family what you are. She was all excited to sleep with him. She. Wanted. That." He spelled.
"She wanted sex with general Hazug," Bjorg repeated, surprised.
"Yes. She told him she dreamed of having him in her bed. How could I know she was that stupid?"
Bjorg stepped back, deflated.
"It's not stupidity. Sylvia never trained to be the priestess. She knows the basics, a few protection hexes, but she doesn't understand what the cult means. General Hazug told me not to groom her or Unni to be a witch. "
"I guess you see his reasons now."
Bjorg scowled. "Even if she was a real Knaast witch, she had no way to know. My point is, to this situation, I am new too."
"Have you got an idea of how it sounds to me? I went to you for help and I know more than you do."
Bjorg ignored his son-in-law's outburst, adding. "General Hazug left a warning. No drugs from now on."
"Sylvia will get mad."
"Let her," the Knaast priest snapped. "She carries a joint initiative of five demon generals in her womb. Lucifer himself went to so much trouble for something big. We must be very careful. I don't know how they react and I have no idea how to appease them if any of you do something stupid. "
Victor paled. "You must be kidding me. You are their priest."
"No, I am not. I am general Hazug's priest. I had never met the others."
"But you can come from Europe in a tornado of fire. It means power."
"Yes, it does, but my powers mean nothing in this situation. We are on a minefield without the charts. I don't know what to do."