Instead of rushing the demon, Orion waited, using his brain for once because Kaia kept shouting in his mind, and he couldn’t make out her words or intent, though he could see her blood slowing, her wrists seeming to fuse to the bone spears sticking out of them. This he noticed out of the corner of his eye, not wanting the demon to see.
“Why do you feel cheated?”
“Because I was promised a rather tasty soul, and she left when I wasn’t looking.” Pazuzu frowned at Kaia. “And this one isn’t—” He dodged the fist Orion shot at his face and smiled, his face looking almost canine for a moment, with a muzzle, large eyes, and even larger teeth, before he resumed his human form.
“Excellent. Well, then, vrykolakas, bring me your rage while I consume your female.”
Orion stopped, not sure why his kin wanted him to distract the demon when everything he did only gave Pazuzu more time toeat his fucking mate.“Take me instead.”
Pazuzu paused. “Really? Even if it means your end? Even if means endingthe world?” He smiled wide, showing sharp teeth. “Fascinating. Very well. Come here, boy.”
“Call me boy again and I’ll rip your dick off and feed it to you.”
“Now that’s a knee-slapper.” Pazuzu chuckled and literally slapped his knee. “Kneel.”
Orion hurried forward and knelt, anticipating the pain. But the agony was worse than anything he’d ever felt when the demon reached into his chest and put a fist around his heart.
And squeezed.
* * *
Kraft didn’t likewhat he was seeing. The sea witch had driven away in her car while Orion battled the demon on the roof. He had no idea what condition Kaia might be in, but he did know the jagged portal in the basement that kept growing could not be a good thing.
“This is what we need to stop from entering our world,” Varu growled. “It smells of death and rot.”
“And life too.” A voice deeper and louder than Kraft’s ears could comfortably hear made him cringe and shake his head to rid himself of the pain.
Next to him, Khent grimaced. “A god.”
“Yes, and soonyourgod, my children.” A massive serpentine tail came through the void, with jagged ridges, what looked like teeth, on one side of it. The thing couldn’t possibly fit inside the room, and then it didn’t have to, as the cavernous basement became a cavern in truth, several stories in height and deeper than Kraft could see, darkness eating at the endless distance beyond.
Scents and sounds grew muffled, only Khent and Varu any color in the monochrome of gray all around. Except for the demon who continued to move forward.
Another tail with teeth joined the other, acting as legs for the green-scaled and black-furred torso that arrived before the creature’s giant human arms, feathery wings, and head finally came through.
“So much to experience,” the creature said and shrunk, so that he was no longer fifty feet tall, but twenty feet, closer to its prey—vampires.
“Who are you?” Varu asked, their badass patriarch not taking one step back. No fear, no give, that was their master strigoi.
“I am Hanbi, your father, child. You are my eyes now, my teeth.” The jagged spikes between his snake legs chittered, and Kraft stared, mesmerized, at a predator who impressed the hell—no pun intended—out of him.
He shifted into his wolf and sniffed, then sneezed and shifted back. “Kumpel, you stink.”
Hanbi turned to look down at him, his face a stone mask of evil, dark smoke wafting from the sockets where his eyes should be. He had a man’s face with long hair made of black feathers and a mouth with rows upon rows of teeth.
He laughed, and the boom of eternal damnation sang from his throat. “So I do. So will you when we are one, little brother.” He paused, and Kraft swore Hanbi shimmered, transparent before becoming solid once more. “I hunger.”
He reached for Kraft but had to battle Khent’s attack with a white, shining sword.
It hit Hanbi, slicing his arm off, which vanished when it hit the ground. Hanbi didn’t bleed. His arm regrew, his hand now equipped with sharp talons, each with four digits, all ending in black nails a foot long.
“Keep him busy,” Varu said and vanished.
“Oh, nice.” Kraft snarled and avoided the giant serpent teeth trying to decapitate him as he ripped into Hanbi’s wing. He made contact and chewed through feathery skin that tasted like ass and melted like snow in his mouth. He spat out the offensive texture only to realize it had vanished as if it had never been. But while distracted by that weird taste, he let Hanbi smack him so far away he could no longer see Khent or the demon god and hit something hard and sharp that caused him to bleed.
“Shit.” He listened and heard Khent in the distance, so much gray all around him beginning to blend, no longer the pale outline of trees and villages, animals and people with no life left to give.
And then the real demons ventured forth, drawn to the bloode that poured from his shoulder and wouldn’t stop.
