He snarls again, hands flailing to reach for his back. Avyanna stomps down on one of his arms, and I follow her lead, doing the same with the other. His claws catch my attention, so I stare at them for a moment.
“Thank you,” she says to me. Then, she puts more pressure on his arm and leans forward. “You killed those women in the courtyards over the last few days, didn’t you?”
My brows furrow, still staring at his claws. From what I can tell, they’re at least of a similar distance to the ones on the women. Could this really be our unsub?
With a menacing laugh, he confirms her suspicions. “What can I say? He needed to feed me to keep me at bay. Then, whenhe gave me a taste of her, she became the one I wanted. But you took her from me that night and then again when my men brought her back to me.”
I step down harder on his arm, and he screams. A bone cracks, causing his hand to fall limp. “You’re disgusting, and you deserve to die.”
“He couldn’t handle it anymore. She was just too good to pass up. Once we tasted her pussy, it was all over, and I had to have her. Fuck, that one taste was delectable, though. I’m sure her flesh would’ve been far better,” he says, sealing his fate because if Avyanna doesn’t kill him soon, I will.
As if she can read my mind, she says, “Not yet, Addie. He deserves to be tortured for what he’s done.”
A growl rumbles in my chest. “He does, but we need to check on Roxi, too.”
“She’s safe with Vaelyn,” Avyanna assures me.
“Fine,” I huff. “Where are we taking him?”
“Back to where this all started,” she says, a Cheshire grin spreading across her face.
Once we finally have the Wendigo back at the mansion, we drag him down to the basement and string him up from the ceiling. The knife is still in his spinal cord, so he hasn’t been able to fight, but trust me when I say that I’ve been worried about it falling out since we started back because it’s been sizzling like his eye socket had.
We’re finishing up the last knots on his ankles when metal clanks against the cement. The knife finally fell out. I’m barely able to step back before he’s thrashing in his restraints. Avyanna rolls her eyes and steps forward, pressing a finger to each restraint with a few mumbled words. As her hands leave each one, they start to glow.
She’s blessing them.
When she finishes with the last one, she comes to stand beside me and crosses her arms. “Every basic demon has the possibility of becoming a Wendigo when it consumes flesh. It’s not something they need to survive—it’s a luxury. The more they lean into that craving, the harder it gets to resist. Once it starts, there’s no stopping it, though. When they get this far, they tend to latch onto specific targets and will do everything in their power to have them.”
My lip curls as I stare at the Wendigo. He stops thrashing and flashes me an unsettling grin. I shake my head. “You realize this is the end for you, right?”
He snarls and snaps at me, showing off his jagged teeth. “It’s not over until it’s over.”
Avyanna snaps her fingers at him. “Over here, Merric. You will die by my hand today, but I have questions first.”
“I’m not answering shit,” he hisses.
A smile crests Avyanna’s lips as her hand rounds her back. In the blink of an eye, she’s retrieved a knife and flings it at the Wendigo. It lands in the meatiest part of his shoulder, which has him howling in pain. The sizzling starts shortly after. Whatever metal the knife is made from is literally dissolving his skin and everything underneath it. Bile rises in my throat, but I take a deep breath to settle myself.
“You’d better get used to this blessed iron then,” Avyanna says, her face devoid of emotion.
“Fucking bitch. That fucking hurts,” the Wendigo hisses.
Avyanna laughs. “That’s the fucking point.”
“Fine. What do you want to know?” he asks.
“Where are your men?” Avyanna asks.
The Wendigo’s eyes glint as he stares her down. “Not here, clearly.”
Another knife whizzes from Avyanna’s hand into the Wendigo’s other shoulder. “No shit, Sherlock.”
The Wendigo hisses in pain, his flesh beginning to dissolve from the new knife. “They’re on another assignment.”
“See,” Avyanna coos, “that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“Fuck you,” he hisses.
