"Oh shut up." Stryker used his powers to muzzle him.
At least as much as he could. The demon still grunted and growled like a caged animal.
Stryker let out a frustrated breath as he lowered the demon to the floor. "I sent you to Gautier because I knew he'd be easy to manipulate right now. His powers are growing, but still nothing compared to ours. If you weren't such an idiot, you'd have been able to possess him like I wanted and turn the others against him."
He needed Nick on the run.
But that was the backup plan in case his primary one failed. Which it better not do.
And right now, he wanted Samia.
He glared at Lazaros. "If I release you, can you be an adult demon for five seconds?"
Lazaros returned the glare with an angry scowl.
"Didn't think so, but I'm going to remove your gag anyway, 'cause that's just the kind of guy I am. Don't make me regret it. If you do, I won't gag you next time. I'll decapitate you."
Lazaros took a step forward, then wisely checked his stupidity. "You're such an asshole!"
"Goes with the whole King of the Badasses. Kind of hard to lead an army of the damned if I'm the King of Nice."
Lazaros glowered at him.
"Oh, stop wasting my time with those pathetic looks. And speaking of, what cheesy excuse do I get for why Samia isn't with you this time?"
"I was attacked on the street by something I've never seen before."
Stryker scoffed. "They're called mosquitoes. I know they're rather large in New Orleans but--"
"Stop with the sarcasm. It was a demon mixed with the powers of a Dark-Hunter and a Daimon. What kind of Frankenmonster have you created?"
Stryker froze as that rang a very unfond bell. A bell that had managed to fall off the grid for quite a few years. Nice to know it'd finally resurfaced. "Cael?"
"Yeah. That's what the other woman called him."
"Sonofa..." Stryker paced his office as his mind whirled with the new information. Cael's wife, Amaranda, had been an Apollite in Seattle. He still wasn't sure how a clan of Apollites had come to not only house, but protect a Dark-Hunter, yet they had. A few years ago an attack on them had left Cael and his bride being converted to Daimons.
No one had heard anything from them since.
Why were they here? Why now? Had they discovered his trick with the demon blood? Or was something else keeping them alive? He couldn't imagine a Dark-Hunter taking a human life even for pure survival reasons....
Perhaps the demon essence Lazaros had sensed inside them was the same trick he and his army were now using to empower their Daimon existence. What would that blood do to a Dark-Hunter?
It was a most intriguing possibility.
"Did he say anything to you?" Stryker asked him.
"Basically he told me to die quietly. Kind of like you."
Stryker grimaced at the fear he heard in Lazaros's tone. This couldn't be good. Not for them. He refused to believe it was a coincidence. He didn't believe in those.
Everything happened for a reason. Everything. Which made him wonder if Cael had known Stryker would send Lazaros for Samia. Or was Cael one of her protectors too?
He narrowed his speculative gaze on the demon. "Did you tell them anything?"
By the look on Lazaros's face it was obvious the demon wanted to leave his guts on the floor. Too bad he lacked the skills or the courage to try. Stryker was always up for a good fight. "Of course not."
"Good." He didn't have to kill the bastard after all. "Now be an obedient little demon. Go away and let me think."
Lazaros stepped toward the door, then stopped. "I'm not done with her, Stryker. She killed my family and now that you've freed me, I won't rest until I hold her heart in my fist."
That was why Stryker had descended into his granduncle Hades's domain. Once he'd investigated Samia's past, he'd uncovered the origins of her sister's pact and the demon she'd made it with. Stupid Samia had assumed it was Daimons who'd killed her husband and child.
It wasn't.
Daimons couldn't make deals of that nature. Only the gods and demigods could, and Samia was lucky Artemis had covered for her after Sam had slaughtered Lazaros's brother. But for that one rare act of altruism on Artemis's part, Samia would have been killed immediately. Instead, Artemis had locked Lazaros in Tartarus to keep him away from her pet Amazon warrior.
Now Stryker held the key to the demon demigod's existence.
"Fine. Just make sure you pull her to me before you kill her. My needs take precedence over yours and if you fail me in this, I swear what I do to you will make Prometheus's punishment look like a joyride at the beach."
Samia was his key to killing his father and owning the world. Nothing was going to stop him this time.
Fang flashed them into a wickedly dark corridor. But for Dev's honed vision, he'd be blind. He put his hand on Dev's shoulder to keep him from walking on. "Remember, Bear, let me do the talking. You don't speak unless Thorn asks you something."
Dev shrugged his touch away. He didn't know who Thorn was--Fang had refused to elaborate. Honestly, he didn't care. All that mattered was the fact that this...person had pulled Sam into custody and that alone warranted his death. "I don't play this cryptic shit, Wolf."
"And I don't want to clean up your entrails. Nor do I want to tell Aimee her beloved older brother was splintered on the floor. Comprende?"
"Got it."
"I don't think you do. Thorn is evil incarnate. Think Savitar on steroids."
That managed to give Dev pause. Savitar oversaw the Omegrion council that all Were-Hunters answered to. No one knew who or what he was. Only that he was about as close to omnipotent as a being could get and anyone who crossed him didn't live long enough to regret it.
In fact, Savitar had extinguished one entire Were-Hunter species when they'd dabbled in something that irritated him. Since then, everyone tried to give him a wide berth.
"Got it. Thorn rules here. Keep my mouth shut."
Inclining his head to him, Fang stepped away to lead him down that dark, eerie hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. There was no light at all. Yet Fang navigated the hall like a pro. It wasn't until they approached a door that Dev could see the firelight dancing through the crack at the bottom.
Dev still wasn't sure where here was. One minute they'd been in the freezer while Fang "talked" to his people, and the next Fang had teleported him into some lightless void that reminded him of the Nether Realm.
Or a bad Night Gallery episode.
Yet it wasn't that either. This was almost like a vacuum...like space without stars.
Pulling him to a stop, Fang knocked on the door. The sound echoed around them. A heartbeat later, a light came out of the ceiling to illuminate the door so that Dev could see the medieval construction that even had rivets around the outer side of the door. The steel at eye level swirled and formed the face of a demon woman complete with fangs and blazing red eyes.
She scanned them before she spoke. "The master is busy."
Fang didn't hesitate. "I need to see him."
She hissed, baring her fangs.
"Let me pass, Shara. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."
She tsked at him. "You're brave, Wolf. Very brave. Or perhaps stupid is a better term. Of all beings who serve here, you should know better." She melted back into the door.
"Who is she?" Dev asked Fang.
Before he could answer, the door opened slowly on a well-oiled hinge that made not even a whisper of a sound.
Light spilled into the hall, hurting his eyes until they adjusted.
The demon was now a beautiful, slender woman around the age of twenty-two. With pointed ears and short black hair, she was dressed in a sheer red sheath that left every part of her body exposed to them.
Licking her lips, she gave Dev a hot once-over that left him strangely cold. He wasn't interested in any woman right now, except a certain Amazon.
She closed the door and led them from the small spartan antechamber into a dark room where ancient weapons hung as decoration on the walls. Swords, axes, spears...Some others that Dev couldn't identify. There was a huge, ornately carved desk in one corner with an overstuffed chair. The carvings were so intricate that it looked like the gargoyles on it would come to life any second and attack.