Sam’s lips thinned.
“I see it in your eyes, your fear a bitter layer on my tongue. You've met my kind before. So I’ll ask you once more before I reach in there and tear the pretty amber from their sockets. What am I?”
Sam swallowed, ignoring the terror that had settled like a vice around his lungs. “A Daemon.”
“Not many have met someone like me and lived.” Gideon’s smile sliced cruelly across his face, widening when he glanced at Bishop. “Who?”
“I don’t know,” Sam lied. “I only saw him in passing.”
“Hmmm.” Gideon cocked his head when he turned back, and Sam stilled, hoping his racing pulse didn’t give him away. “You have no regard for your father. Why?”
“Fuck off.”
Something flashed in his red eyes, but too fast for Sam to decipher. “It’s interesting how you fear him.”
“I don’t fear him.”
“A lie, but one I’ll let slide for now.” Gideon moved closer, pressing himself against the cage with Bishop stepping to the other side. “Such deep rooted terror, which makes me believe your father has always been a devious little cunt.”
Another smile, one that made Sam’s skin crawl.
“But he’s weak, and weak men will do anything for a little bit of power. So we struck a bargain, his soul for a pack. And as you can see, I provided him with much more than he anticipated.”
Sam swallowed, flicking his gaze between Gideon and Bishop. “The skulls.”
“I thought it was fitting for them to look like death considering anyone I send their way ends up dead. He sold his soul, which means I own him. He’s got what he wanted, and now he’s once more an Alpha, just one who works for me.”
“What did you do to them?” The skulls seemed like empty shells, unable to feel pain. One had walked through fire, his flesh melting off with every step and not once did he grimace.
“Nothing they didn’t want. It wasn’t difficult to release a gas, one designed to find those of fragile mind. Manipulate them until they would do everything for another hit.”
“A drug?” Sam hissed, ignoring the prickling sensation against his back. Sweat coated his skin, and before long he’d start to blister.
“Crimson Mist is far superior to any drug. It’s a catalyst, opening up capabilities beyond anything you could ever believe. Imagine being beyond pain, beyond physical form. But, as with many experiments there’s a side effect, which brings me neatly back to you and the reason your father kept you his dirty little secret.”
Sam recoiled as Gideon straightened to his full height. With a click the side of the cage fell, allowing Sam to scramble out until he hit a cold, slightly damp wall.
Bishop chuckled, but stayed where he was.
“An old acquaintance of ours once tried to ascend shifters,” Gideon continued, a smile teasing his lips. “He believed your Breed would be strong enough to survive the magic, to create an army. He was wrong, and he lost himself in his beliefs before he met his demise. Shifters are nothing but feral animals.”
“Then why the fuck am I here?”
“Because despite being a cunt, your father’s right to have found you. Daemons are hard to generate, with the number of druids able to survive the transition almost at zero. Our old acquaintance, however, was able to leave us with some of his findings, giving us the knowledge to create an expendable, lesser version.”
“Much lesser,” Bishop added. “Nothing but obedient little shells, barely above the hounds.”
“But men, none the less,” Gideon said. “And we needed an Alpha to keep our new soldiers together. A pack you would say.”
Gideon stepped closer, and Sam pressed himself against the wall, his body rigid.
“As I’ve already said, the drug has an… interesting side effect. The shifters that survive excessive exposure to the gas seem to slowly deteriorate, their minds unable to grow along with their new… abilities.”
“They break, destroying themselves before we’re done with them,” Bishop said with a straight face. “Useless to us.”
“They kill themselves,” Sam said, voice dropping to a whisper.
“So we understand why your father wanted you, an Omega. Rare indeed. He wanted your aura to calm the newer recruits, see if you could influence their minds from breaking.”
