When Kraft just looked at him, the kitten hissed and said,It will help Riley.
Kraft sighed and reached out a paw to the kitten, one with an open cut that refused to heal.
Paz bit his left paw to bleed, then joined it to Kraft and said some words.
Kraft jolted when he realized he was looking up at a very big world.
The sound of his snarling came not from his own lips, but from the demon now inhabiting his body and laughing as he fought. He ripped into the hell beast, which had gotten a second wind while they’d made the transition.
Conscious of what Paz had told him, he searched for Sebastian and found Riley sneaking up behind him in her human form. She looked horrible, and Kraft knew a foreign sense of fear, that his mate had gone beyond what healing might do for her.
Khent battled with a furious look on his face. “You will die and know nothing but agony, sorcerer, for your perversions upon this plane.”
“Fuck off, you old hack.”
Khent closed his mouth and concentrated, and the largest wave of black misery drifted from his pores, creeping across everything dead and reanimating with fury.
Alarmed, Kraft raced to Riley, only to see her flex her hand into sharp claws and stumble into Sebastian’s back.
No.He ran as fast as he little legs could take him, no wings to use, unfortunately. He arrived just as Riley shoved her claws into Sebastian’s neck.
“Die, scumbag.” She wavered behind him, her arm turning black from where Sebastian had gripped her hand at his neck.
Kraft rushed to stab the sorcerer in the leg with his hooked claws and bite him as hard as he could.
Sebastian flailed, and he kicked Kraft free, which hurt, damn it.
Seeing his mate still on her feet, though obviously gravely wounded, he left her to hurry back to his body, waiting for the fight to end so he could assume his vampire form and help her. And her cousin, wherever Max was.
I really am magnificent,he thought with humor, watching his giant wolf rage. Such power in strength, such beauty in anger. The beast finally fell, and then everything just... stopped.
The lycans battling Rolf, what few remained, left in a hurry. The dead not in Khent’s control dropped to the ground. The sorcerer let out his last breath and died.
The giant wolf staggered back and lay down. He closed his eyes and let out a breath.It’s finished.
Kraft clambered up his thick fur to sit on his back, sliding through the wolf’s bloode.I’m back. What did I miss?
His sight wavered, and everything went dark and cold. So very empty.
He had a glimpse he recognized, of a gray place dull, devoid of life. Like when he’d battled the demon king Hanby in another plane.Looks like Irkalla, Paz’s afterlife,he thought with horror.Oh fuck. Am I dead? Is this where vampires go to die?
No, you dumbass. This is my afterlife, not yours.
The voice faded, and Kraft blinked his eyes open, dizzy as he slowly shrank into his first form. A nachzehrer, bloodied but victorious.
“Oh shit.” Rolf hurried to his side but quickly looked over his head. “We have a problem.”
“R-Riley?” he called out, annoyed to feel weak.
“I don’t know about her, but Max isn’t breathing,” Rolf growled.
“Neither is Paz.” Khent knelt over the kitten, who lay unmoving. Unbreathing. His tiny body limp.
Gone.
“Fuck. He’s back in Irkalla,” Kraft said, feeling a grief he never would have expected for the demon. A glance around showed them covered in death, though the overlying rot that had previously blanketed the area had lifted.
He spotted the dead sorcerer lying on top of Riley and hobbled to her side, soon under his own steam again. He felt his strength return and shoved the sorcerer away to look over Riley, trying to find room amidst so many dead bodies.
