A familiar voice vibrated down the hall. Strutting in like he owned the place, fearless as usual, Blayk grinned. “Actually, they worked together.”
Calloway’s head turned sharply toward him. “You were supposed to bleed her the moment he entered the cave.” Under his breath, Calloway muttered, “Can’t trust anyone these days.”
“Oops.” Blayk shrugged. “I guess I’m not very obedient.”
***
Rumbling beneath him, the cavern threatened to collapse around him. Eyes slamming open, Bennett rolled out of the way as a chunk of rock fell from the ceiling. Heat blazed under his skin, rapidly cooling under heavy beads of rain that fell from the ceiling.
Licking his lips, he tasted seawater.
Roaring, stomping… not an earthquake.
How long had he been out? The fever should have swallowed him, but he’d survived far worse.
He felt… different was an understatement.
Fight after fight. Evisceration. The surge of enhanced power from his demon ancestor and the thrill of an impossible victory. Heartache. Training for days on end until his knuckles bled and he could feel something. Face-to-face with his own end, again. Vampire blood infusing him with sharpened senses and speed. All had built up to this moment.
This? This was something else entirely. Like the vampire, hunter, and human inside him fused into one. He rose to his feet and tensed his fists, his arms, the speed of the vampire no longer awkward in the hands of a hunter, the heart of a human no longer muted.
Senses on full alert, as if he could slow the scene with his mind, he watched a beast rising from a stony grave. Tromos was pure demon. Humanoid like Ryan’s demon-king father, yet his fangs were massive, his eyes pale as the moon. And he was… huge, probably had a solid five hundred pounds on Bennett.
Snarling, he seemed to smile, but it was tough to tell, as his oversized canines were threatening no matter his expression. With the raspy breath of one that hadn’t spoken in centuries, Tromos growled at Bennett, his heavy brow furrowed in confusion as Bennett lifted his shield and tightened it down. “Impossible… You shouldn’t exist. Shouldn’t have… survived.”
The corner of his lips rising, Bennett shrugged. “You’re telling me.” Drawing his sword, he waited, knowing he needed to draw this out. “So you speak? I figured you were one of those rage-spewing demons that didn’t care for the humans you trampled.”
“A predator must know his quarry. I speak in all the whiny tongues of this realm.”
“Impressive.” Bennett nodded. Too bad that little trait wasn’t passed in his demon blood.
On the other side of the rock pile that had sealed him in, he heard the muffled sounds of his team making their way to him. Heat boiled behind his eyes, feeling their desperation to get to him, and knowing he couldn’t do this without them. Clearing his throat, he looked to Tromos. “Fascinating though, isn’t it? I’ve spent my life dreaming of embodying some great prophecy. Until it was the last thing I wanted.”
Tromos took a step toward him, the ground shuddering under his weight.
“I’ll bet you were looking forward to this day, too. The day you rise to power.” Rolling his shoulders, Bennett stood tall. “I hate to break it to you, as I know you’ve been waiting a long time for this moment, but I was not designed simply to wake you. I’ve waited my whole life to destroy you.”
Stomping his foot, Tromos roared and sent an impaling stalactite tumbling from the ceiling. Bennett held his ground, shifting his shoulder an inch to dodge it.
Snarling, Tromos picked up a boulder bigger than his head and hurled it at Bennett.
Raising his shield with a speed that would impress Adair, the boulder shattered against the steel and sent shrapnel flying off in every direction.
Tromos rumbled, “But you are also a puny human. Weak. Alone. Doomed.”
“Nothing new.” He shrugged. Ears perking up, Bennett heard his team drawing closer. Through the thinning rubble, he could scent Bodie, could hear Astrid insisting that Bennett couldn’t think he was alone, not even for a moment. “Hasn’t stopped me so far.”
“You were to hunger as I do.”
“Funny thing. I do hunger. Fuck, I’d give about anything to taste a human, to savor until my belly was full. But I am also a stubborn son-of-a-bitch and nothing likeyou.”
“Ah, but you are me. You drank from my vessel, or I would still be incarcerated in slumber.”
“Thanks for that, by the way. But I’ve also had an infusion, so to speak, from the mother of all demon hunters. So, well, the two rather balance out remarkably well.”
The earth quaking at his fury, Tromos held out his hands and roared to the ceiling. Rock came crashing down around him. The rain accelerated, as the ceiling separating them from the sea thinned.
Fast despite his size, powerful on long legs, Tromos shook the room as he ran for Bennett.
