Hunting's menacing, inhuman smile was the first thing I saw. He materialized a few feet away from us, so quickly he was almost a blur. Another Incubus appeared, and another. They ripped out of nowhere, one after the next, like links in a chain. The chain tightened, and they formed a circle around us.
They were all Blood Incubuses, with the same black eyes and matching ivory canines, except for one. Larkin, Lena's cousin and Hunting's lackey, had a long brown snake curled around his neck. The snake had the same yellow eyes as Larkin.
He nodded at the snake slithering down his arm. “Copperheads. Nasty little bitches. You don't want to get bit by one of these. But then there are a lot of ways to get bitten.”
“I would have to agree.” Hunting laughed, baring his canines. A rabid-looking animal crouched behind him. It had the huge muzzle of a Saint Bernard, but instead of big, droopy eyes, it had sharp, yellow ones. The hair on its back bristled like a wolf's. Hunting had gotten himself a dog — or something.
Liv clung to my arm, her nails digging into my skin. She couldn't take her eyes off Hunting or his pet. I was pretty sure she had only seen a Blood Incubus in one of her Caster volumes. “That's a Packhound. They're trained to go for blood. Stay away from it.”
Hunting lit a cigarette. “Ah, Ethan, I see you've found yourself a Mortal girlfriend. It's about time. And I think this one's a real keeper.” He laughed at his own bad joke, exhaling wide smoke rings into the perfectly blue sky. “Almost makes me want to let you go.” The Packhound growled low in its throat. “Almost.”
“You — you can let us go,” Link stammered. “We won't tell anybody. We swear.” One of the Incubuses laughed. Hunting jerked his head around, and the Demon didn't utter another sound. It was obvious who was calling the shots.
“Why would I care if you told anyone? In fact, I enjoy the limelight. I'm a bit of a thespian.” He stepped closer to Link, but I was the one he was watching. “Who would you tell, anyway? Now that my niece killed Macon. Didn't see that one coming.”
Hunting's Packhound was foaming at the mouth, and so were his other dogs, the Incubuses that only looked human. One of them inched closer to Liv. She jumped, tightening her grip around my arm.
“Why don't you stop trying to scare us?” I tried to sound tough, but I wasn't fooling anyone. This time, they all roared with laughter.
“You think we're trying to scare you? Thought you were smarter than that, Ethan. My boys and I are hungry. We missed breakfast.”
Liv's voice was tiny. “You can't mean …”
Hunting winked at Liv. “Don't worry, sweetheart. We may just bite that pretty neck of yours and make you one of us.” My breath caught in my throat. It had never occurred to me that Incubuses could transform humans into their kind.
Could they?
Hunting flicked his cigarette into a patch of bluebells. For a second, I was struck by the irony of the situation. A pack of leather-clad, cigarette-smoking Incubuses were standing in a meadow right out of The Sound of Music, waiting to kill us while the birds were singing in the trees. “It's been fun chatting with the three of you, but I'm getting bored. I have a rather short attention span.”
He whipped his neck around, farther than any human's could possibly turn. Hunting was going to kill me, and his buddies were going to kill Link and Liv. My brain tried to process it while my heart focused on beating.
“Let's do this,” Larkin said, flicking a forked tongue that matched his snake's.
Liv buried her face into my shoulder. She didn't want to watch. I tried to think. I was no match for Hunting, but everyone had an Achilles’ heel, right?
“On my count,” growled Hunting. “No survivors.”
My mind raced. The Arclight. I had the ultimate weapon against an Incubus, but I had no idea how to use it. I moved my hand closer to my pocket.
“No,” Liv whispered. “There's no use.” She shut her eyes, and I pulled her closer. My last thoughts were about the two girls who meant so much to me. Lena, the one I would never save. And Liv, the one I was about to get killed.
But Hunting never attacked.
Instead, he cocked his head to the side awkwardly, like a wolf listening to another wolf calling. Then he stepped back and the other Incubuses followed, even Larkin and the demonic Saint Bernard. His minions were disoriented, looking around at each other. They stared at Hunting, waiting for direction, but he didn't give them any. Instead, he backed up slowly and the others followed. They were closing in on us, but in reverse. Hunting's expression changed, and he looked more like a man again, rather than the Demon he truly was.
“What's happening?” Liv whispered.
“I don't know.” It was clear Hunting and his lackeys were confused, too, because they kept circling and pacing, moving farther and farther away from us. Something was controlling them, but what?
Hunting locked eyes with me. “I'll be seeing you. Sooner than you think.” They were leaving. Hunting kept shaking his head, as if he was trying to shake something — or someone — out of it. The pack had a new leader, someone he had no choice but to follow.
Someone very persuasive.