Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Daemon
THE SEARCH
From the moment I was permitted to join the Hunt, I searched for Vhaena—in two places at once.
The island was massive with a lush forest on one half and a mountain on the other, split by the Leuch River.
I stuck to the forested area, assuming she was smart enough to stay within the concealment of the trees.
I hoped.
I hadn’t run into any other demons, which was both relieving and concerning for separate reasons.
While I didn’t have any interest in the demons knowing I was present, knowing their whereabouts would have been beneficial; who they were, and who they had successfully hunted down.
Since I had been doing all that I could to avoid the Hunt, I hadn’t been paying attention to who was going before.
And the biggest concern was Asher…
Knowing he was here, paired with his distaste for Vhaena, was unsettling. I didn’t know what his issue was with her—outside of him just being a prick.
I trusted a human more than I had ever trusted my own blood, and now that person was gone…
Vosten would still be here if it weren’t for the demons who slew him in his parents’ home.
And those demons wouldn’t have been there in the first place if the town hadn’t voted his sister as Nillah’s sacrifice.
And she wouldn’t have been voted for it if it wasn’t for the rumors of her being a whore.
The rumors surrounding Vhaena had to be false.
Vosten didn’t know why those rumors started in the first place, or at least he had never told me if he did.
But I knew her, so I knew it wasn’t true.
And now I was in the one place I swore to myself I’d never go—because I made a vow.
She was the most important person in his life, so I was willing to take as many lives as it took to save hers.
But if she had just told her brother—anyone—the truth behind the rumors and who was responsible, we could have helped her before it came to this.
Vosten and I would have done anything to protect her.
The demon inside me stirred. “Damn them all.”
The barrier around my demon had grown weaker the moment I set foot here. He pressed against it, forming it around him like wet fabric clinging to skin, threatening to tear apart at any moment. Fighting against him was becoming more and more difficult—his emergence beginning to seem inevitable.
“We can protect her.”
It had only been a few hours. Daylight broke over the horizon, a harsh reminder that I had failed in finding Vhaena on the first night.
The swoosh of beating wings had my eyes glancing up to the sky just in time to see the raven flying overhead.
It had made its third circle around the forested area of the island in search of her.
A second blue slash had appeared on my mask at midnight, indicating the start of the second day and confirming I was at least a rank two.
As far as the circles of the hells I belonged to, I knew that I passed the first circle, Decay, and I was at least in the second circle, Frenzy.
Only time would tell which I truly belonged to.
Even in the darkness, I could see normally. Night vision and claws were aspects shared by all demons, regardless of their ranking. But the higher the circle they were in, the more physical capabilities they had.
The first three circles—Decay, Frenzy, and Pain—only obtained nightvision and claws.
The next three circles—Madness, Rage, and Dominion—also gained fangs and venom.
And the seventh and highest circle, Ruin, had all of the lower levels’ physical abilities but also had horns.
The horns were symbolic more than anything, doing little other than represent status.
But it was significant nonetheless. The more our demons were freed, the more we embodied our true selves, the more these physical representations emerged.
I was going as fast as I could to find Vhaena, but it wasn’t exactly easy. She could have been anywhere, and I was trying to be thorough in my search. She wasn’t fast—at least, not faster than me—but she did have a day’s head start.
After a few more hours of jogging through the trees, I heard a rustle up ahead. I hoped it was Vhaena. I had seen several other women, but not her; and each time it wasn’t, I grew more and more frustrated. I darted behind a tree trunk, flattening my back against it while I peered around.
A dejected sigh left my lips when I didn’t see a head of red hair.
It wasn’t Vhaena. It wasn’t a woman at all.
It was another demon—the first one I had run into since I joined the Hunt.
He was crouched on the ground bent over something.
I couldn’t see what it was, with his body blocking it from my view.
I stepped around the tree and approached him from behind as silently as I could.
Once I was standing directly behind him, completely undetected, I realized his face was buried in the torso of a female’s remains, drinking the cold blood of a deceased body.
He was quite literally consuming a rotting corpse.
The body was decaying rapidly at his fingertips—a Rot Keeper.
A double-edged demon ability, being a Rot Keeper meant that anything the demon touched deteriorated almost instantly; even his own prey, if he couldn’t control himself.
Thank the hells I had on a mask, because I couldn’t contain the repulsed look on my face if I tried. And thank god, it wasn’t Vhaena’s body. The woman on the ground was darker in complexion and thicker than Vhaena’s thin figure.
“Are you so desperate for blood that you would take it from a tainted carcass? Or are you just so weak a demon that you can’t control your own ability?” I asked in a low voice.
He jumped when I spoke, then covered the body like a savage animal guarding its prey.
With his mask pushed down and hanging around his neck, he curled his lips in a crude snarl, his eyes were wild with primal instinct.
Our inner demons demanded blood, as if it were their life force.
It didn’t do anything for us physically, but even just tasting a drop—especially from a human—satisfied us in an unexplainable way.
This was Hasso, a demon from the western region of Erdenvale with a single violet slash on his mask; it indicated he was of the Fara family.
I didn’t know much about him, but I had seen him before at the Umbra Ministry.
This was his third year attending the Hunt, so his behavior—his desperation—was unexpected.
“Back off, Daemon,” he snarled, revealing the fangs that had emerged. “She’s mine.”
“She’s dead.” It was bad enough she was slaughtered, but to have her body defiled after death was despicable.
“The blood on our tongue will be warm.” My demon rose, excited by the copper scent.
“We’re not killing any women,” I ordered.
“I never said we were. But there’s still a beating heart right in front of us.” I could feel his teeth sinking into me, pouring the venom of his bloodlust into my veins.
I wasn’t giving in.
“Not yet, but you will…” The voice trailed off as he retreated.
“How many have been killed so far?” I asked Hasso.
“Fuck you. Why should I tell you anything? You’re not even supposed to be here.”
In the next blink, I had him on his back with my claws digging into the center of his chest.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll give my demon the still-warm heart he desires while I pick my teeth with your bones.”
When he held up his hands in surrender, I pulled my claws from his flesh and pushed off him.
“We were so close…” my demon whined.
“Fine…” Hasso got to his feet, taking a step away from me.
“I only know of twelve women successfully caught and killed.” He wiped the blood from his chin with his sleeve before pulling his mask back over his face.
“Could be more.” He shrugged. “I know Baen likes to chase, so he’ll terrorize them until they can’t run anymore. ”
Twelve. That was nearly a quarter of them, which meant there was about a twenty-five percent chance Vhaena was already dead.
Shit.
“Why?”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know, he gets off on that shit.
It’s not all just about killing, you know.
The first night is always a frenzy; demons unleashing for the first time, or at least for the first time in a year.
Plus, the women haven’t had time to properly hide or learn the land.
There are a lot more fresh, overly eager demons this year—including yourself—so I expect the women will go quickly.
All of you first-time hunters never savor the thrill of the chase. ”
I understood the primal intrigue, but I held it back.
“Did you catch this one yourself, or did you take someone else’s kill?”
“Several of us caught one, raped her, then ripped her apart. But they drained her too fast for my liking. I like to take my time.” He said it as if it was something to be proud of.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know. I left after I got a taste. She didn’t put up a fight which was a real shame because—”
“What did she look like?” I cut him off, my voice rising.
“I barely saw her face.”
“Was her hair red?” I gritted, my fists clenched.
“No, it was gray. She was older. Relax, I’m sure there’s still plenty alive for you to kill, but this is mine.” He cradled the dead body slightly, like he owned it—like her corpse was his hells-given right.
“Where are they?”
“Here, on the east side of the river. Makes it easier. They’re not so spread out when they’re only occupying half the island,” he said. “Besides, most of them get too scared to openly cross the Leuch without the protection of the trees or rocks.”
That meant all the demons would remain on this side, too.
“Who else has been killed?”
Hasso didn’t know of all of them, but he knew over half, and with each description—none matching Vhaena—I breathed a little easier. The moment he was done talking, he returned to his corpse, and I continued my search for my best friend’s sister.
And thankfully, it didn’t take long.