“He’s a prince.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. So?”
“He is the son of a king of the Underworld. That makes him something different than most demons. He’s just very arrogant and insufferable andprincelyabout everything. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“What kind of king of the Underworld?” I asked. “A demon king?”
“TheKing. The king who is currently theonlyKing of the Underworld, because he is more vicious and powerful than any other demon who has ever lived.”
“Why didn’t I know that?” I asked.
“I have not a single idea,” she said. “He speaks of himselfconstantly. Great Darkness this, Royal Darkness that. The All of the Null. So tiresome. I’d horn him in the brain if I thought that would shut him up for even three minutes.”
“So Bathin is the son of a very powerful demon,” I said.
Xtelle met my gaze in the rearview mirror. I’d only known this unicorn for a short time. Just over twenty-four hours. Most of that time she’d spent talking back and annoying the hell out of me. I’d seen outrage in her eyes, I’d seen curiosity, I’d seen scorn. But now, this moment, I saw a fatal sobriety.
“The most powerful demon who has ever existed. The King’s power has grown beyond the souls he has feasted upon. It has grown beyond the minds he has broken and drunk dry. All those in the Underworld fear him. Fear that he has become the one thing that will destroy all demonkind.”
“A tyrant?”
“Hunger that cannot be sated. Madness that obliterates all it touches. Teeth and claws and rage. A horror. The end of demonkind.”
Than was very quiet. I was trying to process what it meant for us here in Ordinary.
“Are you telling me I have to wait for the king to kill Bathin before I can get my sister’s soul back?”
“I am telling you that something has speared demonkind with a fear they have never known, a horror rising they have never imagined. They see their own end. Extinction.”
“What does that have to do with Bathin and my sister’s soul?”
Her big, watery eyes slipped to one side. She stared at Than, and I felt like I was missing out on a larger conversation going on between them.
I thought I saw Than nod just slightly.
“Think of it this way,” Xtelle said. “Once the great hunger of the King of Darkness runs out of demons to feast upon, where will he turn?”
I ran through the ancient lore of demonology. We had never had demons in Ordinary, and so our knowledge base showed real holes.
The next logical target after eating every demon within existence would be to find more demons. Or an alternate food source.
“He’ll consume other supernatural creatures?”
“Eventually, yes. But supernatural creatures have defenses against demons. Why fight for a meal when you can simply sit back and let the meal come to you?”
“Who’s going to go willingly to be eaten by a demon?” I asked but even as the words fell out of my mouth, I knew the answer. “Humans. He would lure them in with demon promises and then eat them.”
“He wouldn’t have to put in much effort,” she said. “For the right price, and usually a very low one, he will be able to recruit humans, cater to their weaknesses and needs, and then…well, then the humans will be the sowers of their own strife. And destruction. And when they are screaming, one foot in the grave, the other in despair, he will crack their spines and slurp down soul after soul after soul.”
A chill ran over my skin. Even though I wasn’t the Reed with disaster precognition, I knew she was telling the truth. “Then there would be no humans.”
“But there would still be Ordinary. Where the gods foolishly give up their powers to walk around like mortals.Mortals, Myra. Are you listening?”
I was more than listening, I was making huge intuitive leaps.
“Humans die, or are dying, eaten by demons, and the gods for some reason—maybe free will—don’t put a stop to it,” I said. “Then what? The king strolls into Ordinary and decides to eat up all the vacationing gods too?”
“No, that won’t happen for two reasons,” she said. “Tell me what would stop a demon from feasting on the souls of gods?”
