CHAPTER1
Death waited.Mere minutes away.
It always did in his life.
Even now.
“Come,vyerav’k,” thedregvardemon taunted in guttural clicks, small, malevolent eyes gleaming like the acid, yellow moon in his ash-blackened face. One long spiky horn stuck out like a dagger from his brow, the other broken and jagged. “What you wait for?”
As if calling Natepolluted blood, the vilest name for a mixed breed, would unhinge him, make him lose control.
Too bad today wasn’t that day.
He never lost control.Ever.
Sword clenched in one hand, dragging in the sulfuric air into his burning lungs, Nate countered his opponent’s deceptively slow moves with even slower ones, agony spreading from his many wounds. Blood saturated his ripped t-shirt, leaving a gory trail on the dusty ground.
“I’m right here,” he panted.
Growling, thedregvarlumbered forward, and the cracked ground trembled. Dust flew. His clawed fingers flexed, and his leathery face suddenly split into a macabre grin, revealing several rows of serrated, blackened teeth, intensifying the scare factor on his leathery mug. “I will feast on your innards,vyerav’k!”
Had Nate been anyone else, death would be moments away.
But fear washisfucking calling card!
His!
Blood…wantsss!The jubilant hiss scraped Nate’s mind, reminding him he wasn’t alone, and never would be.Kiiiillll, the shriek ricocheted inside his skull.
The crowd, hyped on the violence and gore, yelled, “Rip him apart, Kozzat!”
Too bad they chose wrong!
Blood thundered to Nate’s head, the killing rage sweeping through, burning like the eternal fires of Hell. His hands hurt as his talons broke free, and his sword clattered to the ground. The skin on his chest tightened and stretched, pressure building in his head. A blast of pain erupted inside his skull.
Yessss!The beast within roared in satisfaction.
Bloodlust consuming him, Nate tore across the pit and leaped up, lashing out, slicing thedregvarclear across the carotid. The demon yanked Nate off and flung him away. He hit the ground in a hard slide, lungs flattening, gravel scraping his back. Thedregvarstumbled back several steps, grasping his gushing throat in shock.
The noise around the arena erupted in a cacophony, drowning out the guttural choking. Thedregvarlet out a garbled screech and lurched for Nate.
Adrenaline surging, Nate shot into the air, grabbed his opponent’s head, braced his feet on the massive chest, and twisted, breaking thedregvar’sthick neck. With another swipe of his deadly talons, he severed the head from the neck. Skull in hand, he jumped down as the body lurched about, then toppled to the ground, blood spraying everywhere.
The noise dropped.
Silence deafened him.
Did they think him weak because he retained his human form despite his morphed, scaly black hands with the razor talons, the fangs digging into his lower lip, and the black horns he knew stuck out of his head?
Fucking assholes!
Nate tossed the head on the gravelly ground, and rampant cheering escalated.
Two-faced bastards, the lot of them!
“Sicari—Sicari!”they yelled his moniker.
Assassin?Yeah, he was. Whether in a mortal fight or hunting and eliminating a target, the end result was the same. He killed.
