“I eventually ceased all human bodily functions,” he answered, “and I survive entirely as a canagh demon on wraiths and sex. I assume I also need to find my Chosen to havechildren.”
“I see,” Imurmured.
“I think that when my human bodily functions stopped is when I completed the transformation, but I don’t know for sure. Maybe it happened before then, maybe after, and maybe it’s different for everyone who survives the change, but the demons don’t know the answer and neither do I. If you progress in the same way, it will be a couple of weeks to a month before you start noticingchanges.
“However, you’ll be looking for the differences, where I wasn’t, so you might notice them sooner than I did. Or it could take longer for you. My bodily functions didn’t cease until I was in Hell, entering the place where demons evolved may have sped things upinme.”
“That would make sense,”Isaid.
I searched the woods to see if I could detect any changes in my vision, but everything appeared the same, and everything soundedthesame.
“It’s only been a day,” Corson said and claspedmyarm.
My skin rippled beneath his touch; my breath caught as a rush of desire seared through me. His eyes widened as he must have sensed what had happened to me. I almost jumped him then and there, but Hawk’s cough stopped me from doing so. Hawk stepped away from the tree, jerked his head at the others, and turned to vanish into theforest.
I barely waited for the rest to walk away before I was kissing Corson. Tugging my pants off, I didn’t wait for him to get out of his before I wrapped my legs around his waist. I was already wet when his fingers entwined in my hair and I slid ontohiscock.
I nearly screamed at the sensation of him stretching and filling me as he sank into me. A few hard thrusts pushed me over the edge, and I came faster and more intensely than I ever had before. I clawed at him, needing more and more as we fell to the forest floor in a tangled heap oflimbs.
It wasn’t until hours later, when we’d finally separated from each other that I rolled over to stare at thetwilightsky.
“Nothing looks different to me, nothing sounds different, butthatwas different,”Isaid.
He rolled over and propped his head on his hand; he smiled down at me as his fingers created small circles on my belly. “I always made you come,”hesaid.
“Oh, no doubt,” I agreed with a grin. “But you might have shaken theearthtoo.”
He laughed as he gathered me closer and held me against his chest. I knew he worried I might still die, and so did I, but I was determined to savor every second of the time I had leftwithhim.
ChapterForty-Five
Wren
December brought a cold front with it. We’d moved further south to avoid the worst of the winter, and along the way, we’d encountered another group of demons and Wilders. I knew their leader, Elton, a little, but Randy had more dealings with him than I did. Elton had been leading his group of Wilders for ten years, so he had to be doing something right. Elton’s group wasn’t supposed to have been in this area, but a rockslide blocked their path and redirected theirtravel.
We were only a couple hundred miles away from the southernmost section of the wall, but it was still cold enough here to require blankets though fires for heat weren’t permitted. Any large fire was a good way to bring death down onusall.
Cooking fires were kept as small as possible and lit deeply in the caves we mostly lived in now. It was easier to hide a fire and the scent of cooking food when we were underground. We often spent days hunting, fishing, and preserving what we could beforemovingon.
We’d start moving further inland soon, but we’d decided to rest here for at least a week. It had been a tiring journey to this area; we all needed a break. Next week, Elton and his group would continue on their way, and we would go deeper into the Wilds. We were on the border of an area I’d never traversed before. I didn’t know how to feelaboutthat.
I was ready to move on, to do more to hunt our enemies down, but I was afraid of what we would find. Elton had said they’d heard some of the strangest sounds when they backtracked away from the rockslide. Some of his followers were standing behind him as he’d revealed this. Pale and trembling, they’d gazed at us withhauntedeyes.
I could only imagine what they’d heard. We’d probably encounter it on our journey, but it didn’t matter; we had to push on. If Astaroth and the others had gone somewhere in this country to hide, it was deeper inland. The idea of what lay ahead for us made me uneasy, but I would see the end of the horsemen. I also intended to find Randy, or at least discover what had become of him. I had no idea how I would do that, but I’d findaway.
I pulled my blanket over my knees and drew them against my chest as I surveyed the woods. Sitting on a rock outside the cave we’d spent the past few days living in, I caught the faint scent of fire from deep within the cavern . Before Corson’s blood entered me, I wouldn’t have smelled the burning wood from this distance. It didn’t float far past the entrance, but the acrid scent wasthere.
I’d constantly searched myself for changes from Corson’s blood; I’d detected more than a few of them already. The first had been my vision. It had been such a gradual thing that even while looking for differences, I hadn’t noticed it until three days ago when I spotted a sparrow perched in a tree a hundredfeetaway.
No one else had seen the bird, not even Corson until it took flight. He hadn’t been able to keep the smile from his face as he’d looked from me to the bird and back again. But I’d also seen the apprehension inhiseyes.
The change wasn’t complete yet; there was still a chance I would die. That chance lessened every day, but the possibility had the sharp edge of a guillotine hanging over ourheads.
A shadow fell over me, and I glanced up to see Raphael soaring low through the trees. The spread of his white wings revealed his golden sunburst of feathers. He’d found us again last week and returned with the skelleins to us. They’d located Kobal on the southern end of the wall, but further east of us, more towardFlorida.
Kobal had sent more troops from the wall to join us, and we would be entering the mountains with a force of nearly seventy-five. The king had said he would send more troops, and come himself if Corson and Bale believed itnecessary.
Corson had sent a scowling Raphael—who muttered something about not being a carrier pigeon—back to tell Kobal his presence wasn’t necessary, they preferred the smaller numbers right now, and Greed was already dead. They would take care of the other horsemen, and Astaroth, but if it became necessary for Kobal and River to become involved, Corson would letthemknow.
