Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Daemon
CALL THEM
“At this rate, we’ll get to the river after the Hunt is over…” my demon complained.
I was equally annoyed with the pace, but at least they were coming along.
“Stop whining. We’ll get there when we get there. I can’t do much about it.”
“You’re a demon. Knock out the slower one and throw Vhaena over your shoulder. It’s not that fucking hard to figure out,” he snapped.
“Why are you being so impatient?”
“Because this is our only chance to truly hunt, and you’re wasting time being an escort.”
“We hunted last night. Control your bloodlust,” I demanded.
“Give me blood, and I will! Killing by proxy isn’t the same.”
“You’re like a dog needing to be fed…” I grumbled.
“Better than an escort,” he mocked.
I restrained myself from engaging with him further.
Neither of us were happy with this situation, but I hadn’t figured out how to convince Vhaena to dump her friend.
I couldn’t kill her—I refused to. But what my demon had said wasn’t the worst idea.
Instead of knocking Inka unconscious, all I had to do was wait for her to fall asleep tonight and grab Vhaena, throw her over my shoulder, and leave her friend behind.
Inka wouldn’t be able to keep up, and by the time I got Vhaena to the west side of the island, we’d be too far for her to escape me.
I had a plan.
Was it the greatest plan? No. But it would work. Vhaena might hate me for it, but she didn’t know who I was, so it didn’t matter. She could hate the demon, and when this was all over, I’d figure out a way to make her stop hating Daemon.
She eyed me with scrutiny, and I could tell she was searching for any kind of recognition.
I had lowered my voice, masking the familiarity of it.
I thought I sounded more like my demon, and the ease with which it came to me was concerning.
The holes in my mask shadowed my eyes, so she couldn’t see the one quality that could give my identity away if she looked close enough.
I didn’t know if she would recognize me by my eyes alone, but if she knew them like I knew hers, it’d be a dead giveaway.
“This is a bad idea,” Inka whispered to Vhaena behind me, likely thinking I couldn’t hear.
The women kept a good distance away from me, staying a couple dozen feet behind as they followed with the raven flying overhead.
But at least they followed. Slowly. Every so often, I would stop and wait for them to catch up, glancing back as I did so.
And every time, Vhaena’s eyes glared daggers at me.
I felt her eyes on my back as we walked, keeping her eye on the enemy.
“We don’t have much choice,” Vhaena whispered back.
“What if we separate? Go in different directions. He can’t go after both of us…”
“Are you serious right now?” Vhaena whisper-scolded. “You think he wouldn’t go after you first?”
“I think his fixation is you, not me. He’s been staring at you the whole time.”
“Inka…”
“I’m sorry, I just don’t like this,” Inka said.
“Neither do I. Let’s just wait this out. We’ll find a way to escape together. We just have to be patient.”
Try as you like, Vhaena, but you won’t escape me.
After a couple more hours of walking, we approached a stream.
I hadn’t had any water since last night, and they had drunk all that was left in my canteen.
But it wasn’t water I thirsted for. Now that I’d tasted blood, it was all I could think about.
The idea of it used to make me sick to my stomach —how naive I was.
The forest thinned as the trees became more spaced apart, making it a more difficult area to hide within.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vhaena grab Inka’s arm and nod.
“Now,” she whispered, but not quietly enough for my ears.
In the next second, they both bolted in another direction.
I came to a stop as I closed my eyes and sighed. I didn’t even have to look to know which way they were going. With their panting breaths and stomping feet, they were probably heard by the entire island.
One deep breath, and I turned and ran toward them on the exhale.
It was almost laughable how little distance they crossed, and it felt like only a few long strides before I caught up to them. In just a few seconds, I had wrapped an arm around Vhaena’s waist, nearly knocking the breath from her as she came to an abrupt stop.
She let out a yelp as I lifted her, pulling her grip free from Inka. I had no interest in her friend. She could keep running for all I cared.
“No!” Vhaena screeched.
In one swift motion, I threw her over my shoulder. She immediately kicked and thrashed as I turned and began to walk away, and I felt Inka come up and pound on my back.
“What do you want with us?” Vhaena growled.
There’s that fire again.
But she still didn’t get it. I didn’t give a shit about her friend, and I opened my mouth to tell her just that, but I didn’t get the chance.
“Run, run, run, little humans. Your time is almost up.” An eerie voice swept across the forest, coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
Darktongue—a demon with the ability to project his voice, his spoken words seeming to come from the air itself. While not very practical, it was meant to intimidate and disorient their prey, and it was usually effective.
And they were strong. Strong enough to have my adrenaline kick up and the hair on the back of my neck rise, waking my demon.
I set Vhaena down and scanned the area.
“What did you just say?” Vhaena asked breathlessly, terror laced in her voice.
“That wasn’t me,” I said quietly. “There’s another demon in the area. Likely hunting someone else.” My eyes studied the surrounding forest, looking for the source. “Just keep quiet, and do as I say. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to hide, you hide. Understood?”
Both of the women narrowed their eyes at me. They clearly didn’t like being told what to do.
“Stay close,” I added as I led the way.
“You think you can hide from me?”
Vhaena’s breath hitched, and the two stumbled, startled by the ghostly voice.
“Keep walking,” I urged them and increased the pace.
Vhaena grabbed Inka’s arm and helped her to walk faster. But it wasn’t fast enough.
I stopped in my tracks and pushed Vhaena behind me, Inka being pulled by her, trying my best to shield them with my body.
Like a nightmare dawning from the shadows, a demon stepped out from behind a tree.
Fuck. Eli Kachel.
Though he only had four white slashes on his mask, I knew he was a seven—belonging to the seventh circle of hell, Ruin—and had been immediately thrust up to the top of the Ministry after his first Hunt.
He was an arrogant bastard, just like the rest of his family.
They didn't see the circles as something sacred—they boasted about it, bragged even. With no other heirs to go on the Hunt, this was Eli’s ninth year.
Large and broad, he was strong and very powerful.
Not to mention, he was also smart and experienced.
“Such pretty little things…” His voice rang all around us without his mouth moving.
Damn it… There was no hiding the women from him now. He’d already seen them. Even from here I could see his lips dripping with drool.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“What do we have here?” His voice was just as creepy even when it wasn’t being projected. He approached slowly, craning his neck in an attempt to look around me. “Keeping women all to yourself? Didn’t your mother teach you to share?”
“No,” my voice boomed against the tension in the air. “And I have no intention of doing so now. Find your own.”
“Now why would someone who doesn’t want to share be keeping them alive at all?
They were following you. Your mother may not have taught you to share, but surely she taught you not to play with your food.
Unless…” He tilted his head, and I could hear the wickedness in his voice, “We have another Draven situation? And you know I can’t let that happen. I’m sure you understand.”
My brows furrowed in confusion because I had no idea what he was talking about.
Draven was Eli’s uncle. With no children of his own, Eli was the next in line to be invited to the Hunt.
I knew Draven. Not well, but well enough.
So whatever situation Eli was referring to was beyond me.
What was worse, he had just openly identified another demon in front of humans.
Which meant he had no intention of them living to tell…
Able to see past the darkness in his mask, I noticed Eli’s pupils widen as his claws emerged.
“Oh no,” my demon chuckled darkly, sounding far from upset, “we have to keep Vhaena safe. Guess we can’t let this one go, now can we?”
“He’s all yours.”
My demon surged forward, slipping beneath my skin like an all-consuming wildfire, drowning my bones in rage.
He molded around my mind, suffocating reason and devouring restraint.
Claws tore through the flesh at my fingertips.
Sound dulled, time fractured, and the world around me narrowed to a single point—the prey standing before me.
I turned, just for a moment, and met Vhaena’s widening eyes.
She trembled like cornered prey. I could smell the fear pouring off her, could taste the panic on her shallow, uneven breaths. The terror in her eyes struck like lightning, searing into my soul.
Whatever I had become, it wasn’t her brother’s best friend hiding behind a mask anymore. I was a hunter now, erupted from the depths of the hells.
My head tilted forward as I gave her a command she ought to obey if she knew what was good for her. “Run, little demon.”
The moment Vhaena turned and ran, dragging Inka behind her, I lunged for Eli.
My father may have trained me to hunt down humans, but this was what I had trained for.
He was fast—faster than I expected. He ducked beneath my swing, and my claws barely missed his throat. I slammed into him with the full weight of my body, throwing him off balance. But he recovered quickly and lunged at me.