“You won’t join the fight until you’re fully trained,” he said.
“I won’t,” she agreed. “I wouldn’t put you or anyone else at risk by being unprepared, and I plan to kill Savages, notbekilled by them.”
Wrapping his hand around the back of her head, he drew her close and kissed her forehead. “Good.”
When he released her, she turned to find her dad staring at her like he wasn’t sure who she was. Then, he gave her a small smile. “You’ve always been strong.”
Refusing to cry anymore, she blinked away her tears.
“That thing you saw in there,” Kadence said, “are you sure it was a demon?”
At this point, Saxon wasn’t sure it existed. He was exhausted, famished, beaten, and the pulse of Elyse’s blood called to him with every beat of her heart.
“It’s either a demon or some hybrid vampire or hunter,” Lucien said.
“I think it was our origins,” Saxon said. “It’s strong, lethal, had the white-blue eyes of a turned hunter that turned red when we pissed it off. It also had fangs, and its spine was like that of an infuriated purebred when their skin turns color. I don’t know if its spine is always that color or if we pissed the thing off and it was starting to change color.”
Silence descended over the room before Simone broke it. “They say hunters and vampires were created during a time when demons roamed the earth and mated with humans. The demons later retreated to Hell, or wherever they came from, when humans started hunting them. Why would they return now when there aremorehumans?”
“Maybe because there are more demons now too,” Elyse murmured, and everyone turned to stare at her.
“You think the demons have been breeding?” Ronan asked.
“It’s possible, but even if they haven’t been breeding, there are still more demons now than there was then. Vampires and hunters may not be full demon, but there is demon in you. I assume there weren’t many hunters and vampires in the beginning, but over the years and, like humans, your population has grown. There may only be the same number of that kind of demon as there was when they created your lines, but there are alotmore of you. And who knows, maybe there are more of them too, but I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” Saxon asked.
“Why would they be working to build an army of Savages if there were enough of them to destroy the world?”
“What makes you think they’re trying to destroy the world?” Declan inquired.
“Isn’t that what demons are supposed to do? That’s what’s always been said about them, demons are bad and up to no good, and these ones definitely don’t have the best of intentions.”
“I don’t know how humans beat them back before,” Lucien said. “That thing was fucking strong.”
“They had hunters to help them,” Kadence said. “And the humans were developing weapons.”
“And humans have more sophisticated weapons now,” Killean said. “So why would they take the risk of exposing themselves to the human population?”
“They’re not attacking outright now,” Saxon said. “They’re working on building an army, and they’re using people to help them keep an eye on things like they did with that town and with the news report.”
A chill ran up Elyse’s back. “How many humans do you think they control?”
“There’s no way of knowing,” Asher said.
“Maybe it was the only demon,” Simone suggested.
“No,” Saxon said. “There are more of them. That thing was calling out to its friends as it died.”
“I agree,” Declan said.
“So what do we do now?” Kadence asked.
“We prepare for war,” Ronan said. “We may have put a dent in their plans today, but they’re still out there, and they’re not going to give up. We have to be ready for when they come for us. And they will come for us just as they went for the hunters and other turned vamps.”
“Ronan, did you have something to do with the news story about me being found safe?” Elyse asked.
“Yes. That should keep people from looking for all of you,” Ronan said.
