Each step was a labour. Each breath was agony. Memories and emotions crashed against the fragile walls of Cobalt's mind like an onslaught of tidal waves, each chipping away at his very mental stability. Lilith - normally so stalwart and resolute - could only gasp and gutter, unable to collect herself as her unrelenting panic pervaded the Incubus' mind.

The scene that he bore witness to... it clearly upset her. Seeing that Devil standing there, dripping in the blood of her fellow... Whomever this "Rho" was, Lilith was clearly close to him, and seeing him dead filled her with wrath, rancour and pure, unbridled anguish. When that hammer appeared in his hand, there was no doubt in his mind that all those many, many years ago, she wasted no time driving it clean through that murderer's skull. He could feel it.

Something about this house was otherworldly. Sinister. A sharp, acrid scent permeated the entire building, growing only stronger as the Incubus descended the staircase. He could barely breathe.

And yet, despite all his apprehension, Cobalt pushed on. The image of Elya's face was fixed in his mind, driving him forth. This was no longer about asking her why she brought him here. He already knew.

This was about answers. About what they both truly meant to one another, and how he somehow managed to forget it all.

"Kid... Let's just go. That Curse... it's..."

Cobalt shook his head.

"No. I have to..."

He reached the bottom of the stairs. The air was thick and difficult to breathe. Before him lay a door, and beyond it...

Her. He knew it.

"I understand that my memory is a wreck. I know that. But why would I forget something like that? It... It doesn't make sense," he murmured, pressing his hands against the door.

"Kid..."

"We... We were lovers, Lilith. Sweet hellfire, we... we went the full way."

"Can you even trust what you saw...?"

He swallowed hard.

"... you tell me," he breathed, thinking back to the sight of that murdered Devil.

Discomfort flashed through his mind.

"I need to apologise. For everything. It's the least I can do," Cobalt said, balling his hands into fists.

"I thought you wanted to push them away."

"I know what I said, but this-!"

He took a second to catch his breath.

"... this is different. Elya gave herself to me, only for me to turn my back. Disappear for years. Then turn her down when we finally reunited."

"And the Curse?"

His teeth gritted as she kept pressing that point.

"... Let's just go," Cobalt said, grabbing the door handle.

It turned with a rusty creak and opened with a shove. The stench grew worse as the cold, fetid basement was opened up to him. It may have once been an underground storage room, but those days were long gone. The shelves no longer contained boxes of keepsakes and spare parts, but rather piles of animal pelts, some still wet and dripping. The floor was a carpet of hair and fur, while the walls were covered in scratchy writing. His and Elya's names, carved into each individual stone.

At the other end of the room was a table; an altar, to be more precise. A single glass lantern sat upon it, illuminating a carving of two demonic figures standing side by side; a Fallen and an Incubus. The artist herself stood before it, finishing up the final touches with her dagger.

"Elya..." Cobalt breathed, standing weak-legged in the doorway.

She had made a dress for herself; a piecemeal gown formed from the stitched hides of a dozen slaughtered animals. Deer hides, rabbit pelts, wolf furs; each still slicked with dirt and blood. She slowly looked over her shoulder, revealing to Cobalt just how haggard the Fallen had become. In the months since her disappearance, she clearly had not been taking care of herself.

"You finally arrived, my love," Elya breathed, turning her dagger around in her hand.

Lifting the lantern, she took a step forward onto the carpet of animal hides. They squelched beneath her bare feet.

"Don't you like it? This wedding hall of ours?" she asked, peering around at her surroundings.

"Elya, I-!"

"I took the skins of those around us," the Fallen continued, running a hand along her dress, "to garb myself to your liking. Tell me, my love; am I prey worth hunting?"

Her eyes pierced through him. Cold, turbulent, and yet... deep within... something else. Something his mind refused to focus on.

"We have to get that dagger away from her!" Lilith urged, though he was barely listening to her.

Cocking her head, Elya's eyes widened.

"Hm... And still you listen to the shadow at your back. The one-eyed deceiver with the thousand secrets."

Taking a deep breath, the Fallen approached him, arms opened wide.

"Enough of her. Enough of everyone. Down here, in our woods, it is just you and I. A husband and his wife, to be bound at last."

She slipped Immoderata into her dress and gently cradled his cheek with her right hand, leaving a dirty streak on his face. Cobalt shivered at his touch, but did not shy away. Lilith tried to say something, but Elya merely shook her head and made a shushing noise, silencing the Devil's cries.

"Greet me, my love. As you ought to."

Gripping his face tight, she pulled him in. Unlike all the times before - the Fallen's countless other attempts to seduce, beguile or intimidate him - Cobalt relented completely. Elya pressed her lips to his, parted them with her tongue, and kissed him deeply. It was cold and overpowering, sapping him of the will to resist. She wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him steady as she greedily drank him in, taking her sweet time in exploring every crevice of his mouth.

She broke the kiss, causing Cobalt to cough and splutter as saliva sprayed down his front. With a cold smile, Elya gazed deep into his eyes.

"Have you made your decision yet?" she asked softly.

"Wh- What...?" he mumbled, barely able to string two thoughts together.

"Over whom triumphs?"

Hooking a finger through his nightshirt, she popped the buttons off one-by-one before gently tracing a finger around his chest.

"Your heart..."

She drew her finger back up before pressing it into his mouth in order to probe at his teeth. She tasted like old blood.

"... or your hunger?"

"Kid, don't listen to her!"

"Listen to me, my love. I am all you need now."

Gritting his teeth, Cobalt pushed back.

"I- I'd never hurt you, Elya," he stammered, quickly closing his shirt.

Slowly, a smile spread across her face. There was something distinctly sinister about it, but something in the back of his mind insisted that nothing was wrong.

"Of course. Then we may get the ceremony underway," Elya sighed, turning on her heel.

"Ceremony?" Cobalt asked, though he already knew what she was talking about.

Returning to the altar, Elya raised the lantern high, illuminating the images she carved into the stonework.

"A perfect union. A wedding like no other. Can you think of anything else so perfect, my love?"

"Elya, that's-"

"Mother and my father. They tried much the same. But their bond was flawed."

Cobalt's eyes widened. He had never heard about Elya's parents before, but from what he saw from that family photograph he found, their relationship looked strained.

"Mother was willful. She always knew best. But father lacked... understanding. He used to resist her often. Before she hobbled him," Elya continued, arranging a set of bowls on the altar.

"Hobbled...?"

"Two neat slices, two tendons severed. To ensure he couldn't run."

He made to step back, to get away, but something kept him where he was, frozen with dread.

"Elya, that's... that's horrible," Cobalt breathed, holding a hand to his mouth.

She cocked her head.

"Horrible? No. It was a stroke of genius. Mother kept him close when he couldn't move. He couldn't work either, but we didn't need the money. We had our family. We had each other."

Pulling an old, dusty book out from beneath the table, the Fallen opened it up and ran a finger along the passages within. A copy of the Book of Aneop, mildewed and moth-eaten from years in the damp.

"Do you remember the night of our promise, my love?" she asked, flipping through the pages.

He swallowed hard as his heart skipped a beat.

"I... I do now."

"Mm. The night I stole away from my home to be with you, to celebrate your eighteenth birthday. You and I snuck away to a cellar, and amidst the drunken stupour we found ourselves in, we-"

"E- Elya. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I forgot," Cobalt blurted, feeling a painful fluttering in his chest.

She stopped for a moment, completely frozen up.

"... It's of no consequence now. Everything is as it should be, my love."

Turning back around, the Fallen twisted the dial on the lantern, intensifying the light. Cobalt felt his skin crawl as the stench threatened to choke him.

"That night, I disobeyed Mother to be with you. And when I returned, I found her and my father, lying upon the attic floor."

Her smile widened, but her eyes... behind the mania, they looked almost pained.

"They had both made horribly selfish decisions. My father, with a rope. My mother, with a blade. And amidst the grief, I almost followed suit."

She produced Immoderata and neatly sliced into her hand, startling Cobalt. As blood began to seep from the wound into one of the bowls, the enticing smell tickled his nostrils, drawing him closer.

"But I found my strength. And I forged on."

Lifting the bowl, she approached Cobalt again and gestured for him to offer his hand. He did so despite Lilith's protests. He couldn't even make out her words anymore.

"That promise of ours... I hold it dear..."

"E- Elya...?" the Incubus winced as she drew blood from his hand.

His veins glimmered as he bled into the bowl, pooling their blood together.

"I asked you to be mine forever, in mind, soul and body. And you accepted wholeheartedly. With a kiss upon my forehead, a kiss upon my lips, and a kiss elsewhere besides."

Did he really do all those things...?

"I love you. I love you so much. Ever since that night. You took my every first, my love; I had to have you. Don't you understand? You understand, don't you?" she asked, staring at him.

Cobalt couldn't answer. He didn't know what to say. Part of him wanted to refute her, but another part silenced those qualms, urging him to accept.

"Mother told me of her wedding with my father. An old rite. The blood of two, bound as one, imbibed together."

Elya held the bowl between them.

"Drink," she breathed, her voice a low, manic whisper, "Drink and be mine. Now and forever. In mind, soul and b-"

"ENOUGH!"

Lilith burst forth from Cobalt's body, one fist balled and ready to let fly. She punched clean through the bowl, shattering it into pieces and splattering blood everywhere. Her fist struck Elya square in the chest, winding the Fallen and knocking her back up against the altar. Immoderata slipped free and landed against the floor.

An instinctual part of Cobalt urged him to make a dive for the dagger, but Lilith slammed her foot down upon it.

"Don't touch it! Its already got its hooks into you!" the Devil cried, pointing a finger at him.

With an irate screech, Elya wiped the blood from her eyes and prepared to lunge, only for Lilith to produce an iron pistol from midair and point it at her.

"Lilith, what are you doing?!" Cobalt cried.

"Your reasoning's compromised, kid!" she snapped, baring her teeth.

"Cyclopean whore...!" the Fallen roared, her pupils like pinpricks.

"And that's enough out of you, Iota!"

As soon as she those words, Elya completely froze up. She stopped blinking. She didn't even draw breath. Carefully, ensuring that he didn't make any sudden moves, Cobalt took a step closer to the Devil.

"Lilith, what are you talking about? That's Elya-"

"No it isn't, you stupid moron! It never has been! That right there is a fucking Curse!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Of course you'd say that! Because it's fucking got you too, kid!"

A low giggle rattled from Elya's throat. She straightened up, her entire body juddering and shaking unnaturally to maintain a natural stance.

"Listen to my voice, my love. Who do you trust more? A Devil who would seek to mislead and exploit you? Or me, your beloved wife?" she asked sweetly, leaning back against the altar.

Cobalt looked from one to the other, completely paralysed by fear. He didn't know where it was coming from, only that his mind screamed for him to take Elya's side. But his rationality urged him to stick with Lilith. After all, why would she try to lead him astray now? But even so, Elya, she...

What the Hell was going on anymore?!

"I don't know how, I don't know when, but I can feel it. All the obvious red flags going over your head... that Curse had you before, and it got you again when you picked that dagger up. Please kid; don't let it gain complete control," Lilith pleaded, her grip on her weapon shaking.

"The Devil speaks lies and trickery, as Diate did, and all the others. Come, my love; don't be a fool. I love you, and I would do anything to keep you warm and safe with me," Elya pressed, her eyes glinting dangerously in the firelight.

"I'm warning you, Iota...!"

That name again. Hearing it sent a slight shock through Cobalt's brain. That bloodstained Devil in Lilith's memory...

Cobalt took a deep breath.

No, he couldn't fall to confused despair now, not when everyone was acting so irrational. He owed Elya so much, but he didn't owe her his hand in marriage, especially when she was clearly still suffering from her sickness. As for Lilith... she was likely hysterical from witnessing a traumatic moment from her past.

As ever, he had to be the voice of reason.

"Please, both of you; let's just calm down, alright?" he said, raising his hands.

"Are you seriously trying this shit now?! There is no calming down! Not when it comes to one of these!" Lilith cried, pointing down at the dagger beneath her boot.

Elya scoffed.

"A test of your loyalty, my love. Me, or the Devil? Best choose now," she stated, her voice darkening.

The Incubus swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat refused to shift.

"... This is all moving too fast, Elya. Let's just put a pin in this whole wedding thing, okay? You and I can return to Brimstone, we can get you some help, and then-"

"I see. Your choice is made," the Fallen interrupted, unwilling to hear him out.

Reaching behind her, she lifted up the lantern.

"If not a wedding hall... then a funeral pyre. I just wish you could understand how much this pains me, my love."

She tossed the lantern. Instinctively, Lilith dove in front of Cobalt in order to protect him, but as she dragged him to the floor, something clicked in Cobalt's brain.

The smell that had been plaguing him, miring his thoughts and dulling his senses. It was familiar. Far, too familiar. And though the memories wouldn't surface, he finally realised just what it was.

It was gasoline.