Sorry this chapter took a while. It's longer than my other chapters and I wasn't quite happy with it until today when I rewrote half of it.

Enjoy!

Jerome glowered at the man sitting in his father's throne. "Rufus, I presume?"

Rufus stood, but didn't reply.

"Why are you here?" Eddie demanded.

"I came here in search of something. I've yet to find it. I'm wondering if you know where it is."

Before the boys could ask what he was looking for, a guard entered the room with a crying girl in tow.

"Patricia!" Eddie rushed forward.

"One more step and she dies." Rufus warned, unsheathing his blade.

The door on the other side of the room swung open with another guard bringing in a second prisoner.

"Piper!" Patricia exclaimed.

"Patricia, what's going on?" Her twin sobbed.

"If you hurt her, you bastard—" Patricia shrieked, struggling in the hold of the guard that was keeping her restrained.

Eddie looked between the two of them in confusion.

"Give me what I want and I'll spare them. Take too long and I'll start killing people." Rufus lifted Patricia's chin with the tip of his sword. "Starting with the oldest twin."

"What is it you want?" Eddie growled.

"A necklace. A locket shaped like an eye."

Alfie and Jerome shared a confused glance.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Jerome spoke.

"Why would you think we have it?" Alfie asked.

Rufus scowled. "If you're going to lie—" He raised his sword, ready to strike Patricia down, but a voice rang out calmly,

"Wait."

Rufus stopped and turned to glare in the direction of the voice. "What?"

Azazel stepped into the room. "Allow me to get the information you seek."

Jerome stumbled back a step upon seeing Azazel again. He swallowed thickly. "How are you…?"

Azazel grinned. "Devilishly handsome? Undeniably clever? Utterly delectable?"

"Terribly insufferable," Eddie supplied under his breath.

"Alive," Jerome whispered. "I killed you."

"I know. I have to say I'm rather proud of you. I really did not think you had it in you."

"You killed my parents for Rufus. He's the one who hired you." Jerome realized.

For a split second, Jerome thought he saw relief in Azazel's eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came. Azazel returned his attention to Rufus. "Grant me the pleasure of interrogating Jerome."

"What makes you think you'll be more successful than I?"

"I have my methods."

Rufus sighed reluctantly and nodded once. "Take them all to the dungeon, but follow Azazel with the young king."

Jerome's sword was yanked from his hand and his arms were gripped firmly by two soldiers. They hauled him down a corridor and into one of the servants' bedrooms where Azazel flung a rope up into the rafters. He tied both ends around Jerome's wrists, above his head, and then instructed the soldiers to leave the room.

"How can you still be alive?" Jerome questioned.

"You did kill me," Azazel told him, pulling his black leather vest off his shoulders. "But I came back."

"That's impossible."

"Maybe for some, but for Azazel of Krodel? It's quite simple."

Jerome watched him carefully. "Well? Aren't you going to torture me?"

"Impatient, aren't we?" Azazel smirked. "We're getting to that, darling. I have you strung up and looking pretty for me. I want to take my time."

Jerome's hands twitched above his head when Azazel reached out to him and removed his cloak, tossing it to the side. He then unfastened the buttons on Jerome's tunic and pushed it open, his smirk morphing into a full grin when Jerome swallowed, focusing his eyes anywhere but Azazel. Azazel's hands slid onto Jerome's hips, causing the blond to jerk a little in surprise at the cold touch.

"Tell me, Prince—"

"I'm a king," Jerome corrected through gritted teeth.

Azazel chuckled, idly tracing a finger down Jerome's chest to the hem of his pants. "I prefer 'prince'. It makes you sound so innocent."

"I don't know anything about a necklace, Azazel."

"Saying that won't stop me, sweetheart." Azazel sang, splaying his hands on Jerome's torso. "Beautiful…"

"How did you come back?" Jerome asked, attempting to distract Azazel by talking about the man himself.

Azazel chuckled; a dark and rumbling sound that seemed to reach his fingertips on Jerome's skin. "I'm an amazing multi-tasker, Jerome." He purred. He removed his hands from Jerome and used one to push some of his black bangs out of his eyes. "But I do love a good origin story."

Jerome refrained from sighing in relief when Azazel began to widen the distance between them.

"I was raised in the Ethwith Monastery in southern Krodel. Monks in Krodel practice magic, and I was their youngest apprentice. I learned simple things such as moving objects"—Jerome's belt buckle slipped open—"and making things disappear"—with a flick of his hand, Jerome's tunic was gone—"and a few other things that aren't going to aid me in this setting."

Jerome's jaw locked.

"I was a child," Azazel continued, "It was an accident. I wasn't ready to use my magic on my own, and I killed a farmer while trying to help him with pitchfork—but how is irrelevant. A normal child would run home, crying, and apologizing for being so stupid, or perhaps a normal child would have run away from home—I'm not sure, I was never a normal child—but I hid the body and went home, lying about where I had been. See, the adrenaline that had surged through my veins caught my attention and I wanted to feel it again. The monks kept a special book under lock and key called Len Enoum Mach—roughly translated as the Book of Blood, but the untranslated name is so much better. That book taught me everything I needed to know, and I slaughtered every monk in that monastery, just because I wanted to. I was only nine years old."

Jerome watched Azazel remove his necklace and wrap it around his hand.

"All I need is this necklace and to look at my victim." Azazel whispered, once again coming too close for comfort, and he gripped the back of Jerome's neck. "Just like what I did to your parents."

Jerome struggled in the ropes again, his body shaking with rage.

Azazel looped his necklace around Jerome's neck and carded a hand through Jerome's hair to push it away from his face. "I love it when you're angry. I can feel it in my bones. I especially love it when that anger is directed towards me."

"Go to hell, you sick bastard." Jerome spat.

"Looks like I'll be taking you with me." Azazel lifted the pendent off Jerome's bare chest so the young king could see the glowing red stone.

"What was the point of telling me your life story if you're going to kill me?"

"Oh, don't be silly, I'm not going to kill you. You're going to kill me."

Jerome's eyebrows furrowed and he looked at Azazel. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not doing that," Azazel replied, nodding toward the glowing gem, "You are."

"I can't do that," Jerome scoffed.

"I felt this energy in the clearing, in the pub, and now, I feel it vibrating through the room. You are very powerful, you just didn't know it. Now all you have to do is look at me and think about how you want to kill me right now, and if it works—"

"You'll win, and that's what you want." He cut him off. "So I won't kill you."

"But you want to. I want you to."

Jerome's head fell back in aggravation. "Why me? What did I do to deserve being interrogated by a homicidal masochist? I'm not even being interrogated!"

"That's because I know you don't know anything. I just want you to show me that you have the spine to take someone's life without lust for vengeance. Kill me, Prince."

"If I kill you, you'll come back, and you'll laugh and say you're proud of me. I don't want your approval, Azazel."

"You would avenge your parents' deaths. Again. I would be dead for five minutes—five hours if it's really messy. You might have time to escape."

"I'm not killing you again, Azazel."

Azazel smirked and then closed the distance between them again. "I believe you can withstand any kind of torture. But if you're unfaithful to your wife—that could break you."

"You seem to expect a lot from me." Jerome commented as calmly as he could.

"I can be persuasive." Azazel replied, slipping one long finger past the hem of Jerome's pants. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Jerome's collarbone. He extended his tongue and licked up to Jerome's ear as his hands gripped the blond's belt, pulling it from the loops of his pants. He nipped at Jerome's ear and Jerome instantly jerked away from him, momentarily forgetting that he was hanging by his hands by the rafters, his feet barely touching the ground. He swung back to Azazel and the older man wasted no time in continuing his exploration of Jerome's neck as he began tugging his pants down—Azazel's movements halted and he collapsed with a broken neck.

Jerome gasped for breath, staring at Azazel's lifeless body before he started struggling with the rope that bound his hands above his head. He twisted his right hand, trying to slip it out, bloodying his wrists in the process, and just as he felt it start to come free, a hand clasped over his wrist, and he looked up into Azazel's red eyes.

Azazel laughed and removed his necklace from Jerome's neck. "I'm proud of you, Prince."

"That was less than five minutes."

"A broken neck doesn't take as long to heal as say, a sword through the heart."

"Get on with this interrogation. I did what you wanted. Now, take me back to my wife, and let me and my friends find a way to defeat you and Rufus."

Azazel took a step back. "I was just trying to have some fun."

Jerome rolled his eyes.

"Listen, I'm not a part of this…whatever this is. Rufus is planning something, but I don't know what it is. He's just having me kill people he doesn't want in his way, like your parents and Victor."

"You killed Victor?" Jerome swallowed.

"And his bloody bird." Azazel added and then he chuckled. "Don't feel guilty. We had a history, and I've been looking for him for many years. He had it coming to him."

Jerome sighed heavily.

"Jerome, I'm willing to make a deal with you."

"After what you told me about your blood oaths, you think I'd be stupid enough to make a deal with you?"

"I'll tell you all I know about this, if you swear that you'll never track me down to kill me."

"Specific. You think I'd look for you for any other reason?" Jerome arched an eyebrow.

"I know you will," Azazel smirked, unsheathing a knife from his belt and cutting at the rope that held Jerome's hands. "Swear it."

"How do I know you haven't told me all you know already?"

"You don't."

Jerome grit his teeth. "I swear that I'll never track you down to kill you if you tell me all you know about Rufus' plans."

Azazel grasped Jerome's hand and sliced the blade of his dagger across his palm. Jerome grunted in pain. Azazel cut his own palm, not evening batting an eyelash at the pain.

"If I do not tell you everything I know, you have the ability to kill me, for good this time." Azazel said, clasping their palms together, their blood mixing in between their skin. "And if you break your oath, your sister will die a slow, painful death."

Jerome's heart picked up its pace.

"The deal has been struck."

Jerome shakily pulled his hand away, feeling light-headed. "Now, tell me everything."

"Well?" Rufus demanded as soon as Azazel entered the throne room while Jerome was hauled to the dungeon.

Azazel ignored Rufus and faced a maid that was shakily going about her duties. "Your king has offered me a glass of his finest wine. I'd like to have it now."

The young girl gulped and nodded, scurrying out of the room.

"Azazel," Rufus growled.

Azazel rolled his red eyes and clasped his hands behind his back. "He doesn't know where the necklace is, but he does know what it is. He said that it was auctioned off at the family's yearly charity ball."

"Does he know who bought it?"

"No, but he said his father kept a log of the auctions in his study. It's a thin red book."

"It took you over an hour to get that much information out of him?"

Azazel grinned wolfishly. "I got distracted."

Rufus rolled his eyes in disgust and brushed past him, ordering several soldiers to follow him.

Azazel watched him go and squeezed his right hand into a fist, taking pleasure in the pain that shot up his arm. The maid that he had sent out to get him a glass of wine came back, head hung to avoid his eyes. Azazel took it without a word of thanks and sprawled out across the king's throne with a smirk as he sipped his red wine.

"We thought they might have killed you," Alfie exclaimed when Jerome was shoved into the cell across from the girls.

"At one point I wish he would have." Jerome grumbled, looking through the bars and seeing Mara and Poppy. "Are you two okay?"

"We're fine…. What happened to your hand?" Poppy asked.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. We're going to get out of here."

"It doesn't look like you were tortured," Eddie observed. "What'd that guy do?"

Jerome shook his head. "I bought us some time. He was willing to betray Rufus and told me everything he knows."

"You believed him?" Mara questioned.

Jerome shrugged. "He was telling the truth. I could tell."

Mara and Eddie shared a wary look across the hallway.

"How long do you think it would take Rufus and half a dozen soldiers to tear my father's study apart?" Jerome asked.

Eddie scratched behind his ear thoughtfully. "Not enough time for us to get out of here, but the gate is probably guarded by Rufus' men anyway, so it really wouldn't matter if we did manage to get that far."

Sighing heavily, Jerome leant back against the bars.

"So you bought us time, huh?" Patricia taunted from the other cell. "Just a few extra minutes until the inevitable: we're going to die."

"Do you have any bright ideas?" Jerome snapped.

"Don't start arguing," Mara cut in quickly before Patricia could retort. "The last thing we need is to turn on each other. We'll figure this out."

"We're locked in your dungeon, here," Patricia scoffed, "And the only people that could have helped us stupidly ran in halfcocked and got themselves thrown in the same dungeon. Please tell me how we're all going to get out of this without any complications."

"I could have let him kill you and your sister, you know."

Eddie stared at Jerome in shock. "You wouldn't have let that happen."

"To protect Mara and Poppy? Yes, I would have."

"He would've killed them too!"

"I'll do whatever I have to, to protect my family."

Eddie locked his jaw. "So I'm not your family?"

Jerome chose not to reply, immediately regretting everything he said in the last few minutes, and dragging his fingers through his hair as he paced to the other side of the cell, wishing he was alone so he could clear his head. "I…I'm sorry, Eddie." He whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. When Eddie didn't say anything, he turned.

"You're acting strange, Jerome." Poppy said quietly.

Jerome shook his head, pressing the heels of his hands against his closed eyes. "I'm just tired and I…I don't know how we're going to get out of this either. Dad would know what to do."

The sound of footsteps in the tunnel made everyone look up as a guard unlocked the door and told Jerome that Rufus wanted to see him again. Jerome let the man bind his wrists and lead him to the throne room once again where he instantly felt the weight of Rufus' hatred as the man glared at him.

"Where is the book?"

"I told Azazel where it is." Jerome said.

"I couldn't find a red log book in your father's study."

"I don't know where he kept it. My father had a lot of secrets. I didn't know him as well as I thought I did."

"Bring me the queen." Rufus ordered one of his followers gruffly.

"Leave her alone," Jerome ground out. His eyes flitted to Azazel. "So you stop him from killing Patricia but not my wife?"

"First of all, I didn't stop him from killing anyone, I just had an opportunity to play with you and I took it, and it just happened to at the exact moment that maid's life was threatened. Second of all, I don't like her."

Before Jerome could say another word, the doors behind him flew open.

Dante gripped the bars of the cell door, his eyebrows drawing together as he stared down the hallway of the dungeon.

"What's going on?" Amber wondered as the pounding of boots against stone got closer to the cells.

The men and women huddled around the metal bars, waiting for whatever was coming down the tunnel. Suddenly several of Rufus' men rushed through, looking over their shoulders as if they were being chased.

Dante stretched his arm out of the bars, catching the cell guard around the neck, and clutching him tightly against the door until the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head and slumped in Dante's grasp. The young king let the guard fall to the floor after he swiped the keys from his belt and unlocked their door and then the other.

"Come on, we need to find Jerome," Mara said hurriedly, leading the way to the first staircase that led up to the palace.

What they found when they entered the throne room wasn't what they were expecting. Some of Rufus' men seemed to be in a panic, fleeing from soldiers that were wearing blue cloaks with golden trimming as they challenged them. The throne room was a bloody battlefield, bodies of both sides dotting the once sparkling marble floor.

Mara spotted Jerome on the other side of the room, with a sword in hand.

Eddie took a sword from a fallen soldier and gripped Mara's arm. "Jerome's fine. We need to get you out of here though, okay?"

Mara swallowed and shook her head, shaking Eddie's hand from her arm and started making her way across the room, stopping only to take a sword for herself.

"Mara!" Poppy called. "What's she doing?" She saw Jerome for the first time and sighed in relief, squeezing Eddie's arm. "Come on."

"Poppy," Eddie groaned. "No one's listening to me! Dante, make sure Poppy's okay. Alfie, get Patricia, Piper, and Amber to the kitchen."

"Cockroach," Patricia began warningly.

"Patricia, I don't want to argue about this." Eddie said, his tone expressing his stress, and telling Patricia that was the end of the conversation.

But as Eddie joined the fight, helping one of the soldiers in blue cloaks, Patricia scoffed and rolled her eyes, finding a sword for herself as well. "Alfie, let's find Rufus."

Alfie's eyes flitted to Eddie for a second before he shook his head and hurried Amber and Piper out of the room.

Poppy crept out from behind the thrones, eyes locked on Jerome, only yards from her, when someone walked in front of her. She looked up at Azazel as he observed the fight calmly and started walking toward the door. She stumbled backward, back thumping into the wall behind her as she realized that she recognized his face. "Azazel of Krodel," she whispered her father's words. She felt like her breath had been sucked out of her lungs and her eyes welled up with tears, all at once remembering her parents' murders.

A clash of swords right before her jerked her out of her memories and she saw Dante fighting an enemy soldier that had gotten too close to her. Poppy's hands shook at her sides and she was unable to move from the wall. She couldn't even cry out in warning when another soldier came up behind Dante as he killed the first one. He whipped around quickly, lifted his sword, but the soldier's blade came down first, and Dante's sword fell to the marble floor. He screamed in agony, sprawled on the floor, staring at his wrist in terror where his right hand at been moments ago. Poppy's eyes went wide, and she finally pushed off the wall and picked up a helmet, knocking it into the soldier's head.

Poppy rushed to Dante's side, swallowing the bile that rose up her throat, and helped him stand. "We have to get you help before you bleed out."

Dante nodded, tears pouring down his cheeks as he clutched his arm to his chest, and let her lead him to the nearest exit.

Patricia kept her eyes trained on Rufus as he fought his way to an exit, and when she was several strides from him, a sword swung up in front of her and sliced through the throat of an enemy.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Eddie demanded.

"Get out of my way, Eddie." Patricia snapped.

"I told Alfie to get you all out of here."

"You can't order someone to have me removed from the room."

"Actually, I can."

"I had a chance to kill him, Eddie."

"I don't care."

"Jerome!"

Patricia and Eddie's heads whipped around toward the sound of Mara's shriek, just in time to see a soldier wrap his arm around Jerome's neck and push his sword into his back, penetrating Jerome's abdomen, and letting Jerome fall to the floor.

Mara hurried to her husband, falling to her knees and pulling his head into her lap as Eddie tried to stop the bleeding with his cloak, but Jerome had breathed his last before he had hit the floor.

Mara sobbed. "Jerome?" She whispered, stroking his cheek, unable to look away from his blue eyes.

I don't think I've ever killed Jerome in any of my stories. Oh well.

A few things:

First, I'm going to attempt to write my 12 Days of Christmas thing. Um, but I won't be doing any parodies this year, probably just random oneshots. So if you have a prompt for me, I need them. I would be writing for Jara, Peddie, Mina, Amfie and Jabian as always, and I might post some Christmas-y Jalex chapters on I Swear on My Life. :)

PM me, review here, or review on one of my 12DoC stories. :D

Second: I was recently informed of a fanfiction writing contest at (slash) fandom2

I'm thinking of entering (though I probably won't win cause the HOA fandom is practically nonexistent now) so which story of mine do y'all think I should enter? Read the contest description and let me know! :)

Third, I'm considering writing a spin-off of this trilogy about Azazel, what do y'all think?

"Pull me closer to you. I can't escape this emptiness I fell into. Caught in a shadow I can't see through. I'm nothing without you. What have I become? Can't face the morning sun. Just save me. You're the only one who can pull me out, save me from myself. Just save me, just save me." -Just Save Me, Like A Storm

-Rachel