Caleb shook his head. “Daeva don’t have friends. Just allies or enemies.”
“Any of them your former soldiers?”
“Yeah. But that doesn’t make them allies at the moment. I don’t know who they follow.”
“Why are there so many?” Kody whispered.
“Don’t know. We don’t usually congregate in a large number unless we’re fighting.”
“Which means someone’s leading them.” Xev moved closer to Bubba. “Any ideas?”
“I’d say they’re under Cyprian’s command. Once he emerged as the Malachai, he subjugated every demon he could find.”
“Great.” Nick started to stand when he heard them coming right at them.
Kaziel jumped on top of him, forcing him back to the ground and shielding him with his body.
Okay, Vawn was right. The Cwn Annwn was loyal to a fault.
“Thank you, Scooby.” Nick patted him on the head and was grateful for the assist.
At least until Kaziel sneezed on him.
“Uh! Really, dude?” Nick regretted speaking the moment the disgusted words left his lips.
Because it notified the demonic herd where they were.
Xev cursed. “Sneeze on him again.”
“Bite him!” Vawn growled.
En masse, the demons descended from the sky to land in the woods around them.
Great. Just what they needed. Raining bloodthirsty demons. All they need was a light dusting of hell monkeys followed by hailing brimstone.
“Run?” Nick asked.
“Only if you want to be chased down and murdered.” Caleb had them form a circle. “Hold fast and don’t fight until I say.”
Nick had never felt more naked or exposed than he did as a huge group of them landed in an even larger circle around his group. That was bad enough, but a bunch more who were in their crow and raven forms perched in the trees.
He stepped closer to Kody. “I saw this movie once. It didn’t end well for the humans. And I’m not Tippi Hedren.”
Caleb rolled his eyes, but didn’t comment on Nick’s reference toThe Birds. “Who leads you?”
A female Daeva approached. Nick was completely mesmerized. He’d always thought Caleb looked a bit gross, yet there was something compelling about this one. She had perfectly formed features. Beautiful, really. Her orange hair was pulled back from her face in intricate braids that had to be created with magic. Otherwise, it would take more time than he could imagine to create such an elaborate hairdo.
And the one thing he knew about the demons he’d met—they lacked patience.
White and gold armor covered curves that were quite spectacular and made him feel guilty for even noticing.
She held a sword angled toward Caleb’s throat. A snarl curled her lips as she narrowed those yellow eyes on him. “Traitor!”
Caleb dropped his sword and held his hands up. “It’s not like that, Lyseah.”
That only made her angrier. “You disgust me! How could you?”
“The same way you stood over me when I was punished. You said nothing in my defense.”
