“And of course, the shadow demons, since they love the negativity.” She chuckled in response to Damien’s attitude.
I couldn’t figure out what kind of demon she was, but the way her smile widened as I stared at her, it didn’t seem like her classification was malicious.
“My name is Gloria, and I’m a dream demon. I feed off dreams, both good and bad. Now, let’s get to work, shall we? We have spoken about this at length, but yesterday, we had a group of humans infiltrate the Demon Capital. They murdered three families. Two children and one infant were killed.” Her mouth set in a hard line as her eyes grew cold.
My chest ached. I couldn’t imagine the loss that the capital was facing, especially if they knew them. It reminded me of how humans took my family away. Humans didn’t care about innocent lives. They didn’t care about the children or babies. My eyes stung with heat, and I swallowed hard.
Rhett’s father kept impassive eyes on his son, but I could tell he and the rest of the demons on the council were listening intently. Neither of my mate’s hands left mine as Rhett started to speak, and that made my chest swell with comfort and protection.
“More human experiments have been running rampant within all of the territories,” Rhett said.
Gloria nodded. “That’s true, but you misunderstand my reason for sharing. This was an actual group of humans. Not the specimens, as they call themselves. This was a group of five humans who just came and killed because they wanted to rid the world of demons,specifically demons.” Her voice cracked.
“We have mostly been dealing with specimens at the academy, but I think that’s because the humans have more difficulty breaking the wards. I hate to hear that humans came and killed families. I do hope that they were taken care of.” Rhett frowned.
“We killed four of them and left one. Bring him out.” Alfred’s voice echoed around us, bouncing off of the sedimentary rock walls.
A man was dragged down the same hall we came from, and the amount of hostility that rose in the room was warranted but scary. Powers exploded left and right, and the human man struggled against the guards, screaming obscenities and slurs at all the demons that he could see.
He was brought down to his knees in front of us, and Damien and Rhett pulled me back until I stood between them and the council, protecting me from the human.
A jolt of shock ricocheted down my bones. The human had dirty blond hair and blue eyes that reminded me so much of just a regular supernatural. Sure, humans didn’t have any powers, but that was the only difference between them and us. I didn’t understand the lack of humanity in their souls. Humans were literally named humans, yet they lacked humanity. The majority of supernaturals I’d met had humanity, but I had yet to find one human that was kind. My hope of crossing one was slim to none.
“Where are they?” Spittle flew out of the human’s mouth as veins popped out on his head.
“Dead,” Gloria answered without missing a beat. “Just like the families you massacred.”
A dry chuckle left his lips. “Demons don’t have families. Demons are evil. Demons are disgusting. Demons are creatures that need to be put down!” he shouted.
My heart splintered with fear, and Damien’s shadows slipped over my skin with the icy temperature. I drew in a shallow breath as I kept my calm. Pheromones trickled up my arm from Rhett, and my muscles relaxed slightly.
“How many of you are there?” Alfred asked.
“There are more groups dispatched all over the supernatural territories. We will take you down. We will rid the world of your kind!” His crazed eyes jerked back and forth as he struggled to get up from the guards holding him down on his knees.
“Who sent you?”
“The human government. Who else?”
“So you’re soldiers?”
“Precisely,” the human snarled. “Our orders were to eradicate as many demons as we could. The other teams have the same order for different supernaturals. We are dying for a greater cause! There is no way you can win this war. Supernaturals are idiots. You’re fighting against your own kind. How do you expect to be able to take on all of the humans?” He laughed, but his eyes were murderous.
“Kill him,” Alfred growled, and the other demons nodded in agreement.
One of the demons on the council stood up. He had long black hair and pitch black eyes. He reached an outstretched hand toward the human, and the human’s color leeched from his face before he stopped struggling and fell over.
I let out a stuttered gasp. That demon was a soul eater, the type of demon that fed on souls. I’d only ever read about them in horror stories. I didn’t actually believe that they were a real classification, but I’m assuming that meant that their population had dwindled.
The demon met each of our gazes and smiled. “We hate the dragons in Blezen. They have a condescending attitude, and we have had several humans on our territory. Consider this human’s death the first act of our alliance.”
TWENTY-THREE
Wren
Damien’sshadowsleftusas we stepped into Rowan’s office. His fiery eyes snapped to mine, and I rushed toward him and fell into his open arms. I didn’t even care that we’d interrupted a meeting. Embers surrounded me as I inhaled his scent and took sanctuary in his strong, warm hold.
“I’ve missed you,” I murmured in his ear.
