“Why do you want to see her?” asked Vazel, his words thick and difficult to understand through his fleshy lips.

“These kids won’t last long down here. I thought she might show mercy and let them go.”

Vazel grunted in what must have passed for laughter for him. “Treszka doesn’t do mercy.”

“A bargain, then.”

“She has everything she wants. Why would she give up something now?”

“A woman as ambitious as she seems to be must have something else she wants. Maybe I could help.” Eric probably wouldn’t be able to stomach helping her reach her goals, but if it saved the young, he’d find a way to gut up.

“She’s going to get what she wants from you, with or without your cooperation. She always does. So far, it hasn’t mattered.”

“What does that mean?”

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” asked Vazel. “Maybe that blow to your head did permanent damage. Or maybe you’re just not that bright.”

Eric so wanted to lunge at the demon and slam him to the ground. But playing nice was in the kids’ best interests, so he tamped down the urge and stayed where he stood. “Care to fill me in?”

“Treszka is the most beautiful female ever born. Synestryn lords come long distances for a chance to mate with her, but she’s turned them all down.”

Remembering what she had hidden under her hair, Eric did his best not to gag at the thought of what might be lurking under all those clothes. “Dare I ask why?”

“She wants beautiful children. Strong children.”

All the lights went on in Eric’s head, blinding him with the truth. “She told me she had needs, but I didn’t realize she meant she was looking for a breeding partner.”

“It is why you’re here, Slayer.”

He shuddered at the thought, working hard not to puke up the water he’d just gotten down. “No fucking way, dude. Chick is not only crazy, but she’s got this horrible case of dandruff. Don’t ever touch her head. You might catch what she’s got.”

“I’ve seen her feed before,” he said, like it was some beautiful, intimate act she’d shared with him.

“On you?”

Vazel’s gaze dropped in embarrassment. “My blood is not pure enough for her. It will not sustain her.”

“Gee. Tough break.”

His weepy eyes jerked back up at the sound of Eric’s sarcasm. “You don’t realize how lucky you are that she wants you. If it weren’t against her orders, I’d kill you where you stand.”

“So she did order you not to kill me. Good to know.”

“Don’t push me, Slayer. Right now the scales are balanced—I have as much reason to kill you as to let you live. If you tip that in my favor, I won’t hesitate to do what I crave so deeply and empty your bones of the meat you carry.”

Lovely image. “Fine, then. We’ll be best buddies, because we both want the same thing: me not touching Treszka. Get me and the kids out of here and I’ll make that happen.”

“I would never defy her so openly. She’d kill me. Worse yet, I’d disappoint her, and that I won’t do.”

This dude really did have a huge crush on Queen Gaping Maw. Guess there was someone for everyone out there.

“So, what do we do? I’d just as soon keep her hands off my junk. How do we make that happen? Because when she goes slinging that magic around, there’s not a thing I can do to stop her.”

“No one can stop her. It is our pleasure to witness her getting her heart’s desire.”

“Not mine, buddy.”

“You’ll do what she wants. Maybe not today, but soon. You already belong to her.”

That pissed Eric off more than just about anything. “I don’t belong to anyone. If she pushes me, she’ll learn that the hard way.”

Vazel’s fleshy mouth wrinkled in what Eric guessed was a grin. “I may not see you as anything more than a tasty adversary, but I will take great joy in raising your young as one of our own. Uncle Vazel.”

Eric’s body temperature dropped about ten degrees with the chill that flooded his veins. “Never going to happen.”

Vazel shrugged his grotesquely hunched shoulders. “Resist Treszka all you like. Every Slayer child she sacrifices to soften your stubbornness is simply one fewer meal I must find to feed our troops. Eventually, you’ll run out of young and she’ll stop playing nice.”

Behind him, the young whimpered and sobbed quietly. Except for Kayla. She ground her teeth and growled at Vazel.

“I won’t let you hurt them,” said Eric.

“You won’t be able to stop it. The sooner you accept that, the more of your young get to live. It’s your choice, Slayer. I suggest you choose wisely. She’ll be coming for you soon.”

Chapter 22

The howl of rage and sorrow that spewed out of Joseph scared Lyka more than the surprise demon attack had.

She’d never heard a sound like that—so raw and wounded, so hopeless and hollow.

After that observation, she wasn’t given a chance for another. Her whole world was enveloped in frigid pain. It started in her shoulders and hips, where the demon’s claws had pierced her skin, and swiftly traveled to every other part of her body.

She collapsed where she stood, unable to do anything more than let out a scream of agony.

More demons broke through the trees, heading straight for her. She couldn’t move to defend herself. Her body was too sluggish, too swamped with pain. Every time she twitched a muscle, a burst of cold fire went off inside her nerves. She couldn’t even roll out of the way.

Joseph leapt over her to stand between her and the incoming demons. He cut through them with brutal force, mowing them down like weeds. A pile of bodies covered in greasy, matted fur grew at his feet as yet another demon fell to his flashing sword.

She’d seen men fight before. Skirmishes often broke out between young Slayers searching for their place in the pack. But she’d never seen the kind of controlled violence that Joseph was laying out. There was no frenzy in him, only lethal skill delivered with cold intellect.

Beneath the haze of pain inhabiting her body, she could sense the chill of his emotions freezing the conduit that linked them. He was keeping his head and dealing with the threat to her life. Deep inside he was howling in fear and desperation, but he let none of that cloud his thinking. He controlled his emotions, not the other way around.