And if they regenerated a third time, they came back petrified as a supreme power unlike anything imaginable.
That was the last thing anyone wanted to fight or encounter. An unholy hell-beast that only those well trained could stand against or kill.
Her eyes glowing softly in the dim light, she laughed again. Until her gaze went past his shoulder to focus on the other “Thorn” in the room. That sobered her quick. “Well, well. Bedding with your enemies these days, I see. How fast the mighty do fall.”
Fuck this. He had no tolerance for her or her insults.
Stepping back with a sneer, Devyl turned to Rafael. “Take her topside and set her ass on fire. Scatter her charred and besalted ashes over the waves, far out to sea.”
With those words, he headed for the ladder.
“Druid! Wait!”
Devyl froze as she let out the one tidbit of his past he never spoke about.
To anyone.
And it sucked every bit of oxygen from the room. Only Thorn and Marcelina knew about the days he’d donned the black robes of a pagan leader and counselor.
Only they knew the cost of that particular stupidity.
He took a deep breath to control his rage, then continued on for the exit.
“Wait!” she screamed again. “I can help you!”
“Can and will are two entirely different things,” he shot over his shoulder.
“I will help you! Duel, I swear it. Please!”
He paused to look back at her. “I should believe you … why?”
“Because the Carian Gate is cracking even as we speak. More of us are being unleashed. I know you want to find it and reseal it before she is released.”
Hardly. The bitch had no real, true idea how badly he wanted Vine’s neck within his grasp. However … “I don’t need you for that.”
“But you need me to find the Seraph she holds, if you’re to free him. You’ll never find him without me. Not alive or before she turns him.”
He steeled himself to show no emotions whatsoever. To give nothing away. It was the only way when dealing with a species so treacherous and cold. “What Seraph?”
“Surely the great Dón-Dueli knows about the Seraph Vine captured.” She cackled with laughter. “Is that not what brings the great Forneus here, too?”
At the mention of Thorn’s one true demonic summoning name, Rafael crossed himself and stepped back. He paled considerably from his sudden fear of who and what Thorn really was.
Thorn went completely stiff, while Devyl held his breath at something not even he had the bullocks to do. The use of his Leucious birthname was ballsy enough and as far as he dared take insulting the demon.
After all, in life, there were some actions just not worth the gamble.
Jumping from a cliff that overlooked a raging sea and sharp rocks. Eating glass. Throwing yourself into a raging inferno inside a volcano.
Touching the Dark-Hunter Acheron on the back of his neck.
Trespassing on the Chthonian Savitar’s island without his permission.
Telling the demon Simi no when she didn’t want to hear it.
And using Thorn’s summoning name.
“Your lack of discretion is foolish,” Devyl warned her. “Were I you, I’d stop before I lose more ground and my head.”
