Losing patience, the gallu cleared her throat. "You are completely cut off. We will take all of you down. Your only hope is to surrender and beg mercy from Kessar and the rest of us."
The universe would shatter to pieces before he begged anyone for anything. Stryker rose slowly to his feet. Zephyra still gave him no clue as to her mood or intent. If she was being honest. Or setting him up. No matter, he wasn't one to be bullied ever. Descending his dais, he walked toward the gallu. The two holding Illyria tightened their grips, ready to kill her should he move on them.
"Sriana ey froya," he said in Atlantean to Illyria. Succor them and destroy them. He glanced at Illyria and felt his eyes change. No longer silver, he knew they were now glowing red. He was calling forth the god powers inside him. Turning back to the gallu, he locked gazes with her.
She stiffened instantly as her will was negated by the one blessing Apollo had forgotten to take from the Apollites when he'd cursed them. They could control anyone with a weak will. It was that gift that allowed them to take human souls into their bodies. But the hard part was finding humans whose love of life was strong, but their minds were weak. In the case of the gallu, the two were synonymous.
Stryker held his hand out to her. "Come to me, gallu."
She didn't hesitate to obey. A slow smile curled his lips as he pulled her close and then sank his fangs into her throat. She cried out as he drank and she bled. Illyria followed suit on the gallu to her left while Davyn grabbed the one on her right.
Stryker's head swam at the taste of power inside the gallu blood. At least until his stomach began to cramp and ache. Instinctively he started to pull away, only to find Zephyra there.
"Don't stop," she said, holding his head to the gallu's throat. "Not until she's dead." He pulled back enough so that he could speak. "I think I'm converting. I don't feel right."
"You will. Trust me."
She kept saying that, but he still wasn't sure if he should believe her. Honestly, he felt ill from the blood. As if he would vomit at any moment. But he kept his fangs in the gallu's throat and continued to drain her until Zephyra pierced her between her eyes to kill her.
Then he felt it. That moment when the last gasp of life left and the body went limp in his arms. He held the demon's chest against his heart—the center of his being—and waited for her soul to merge with his. Normally the absorption was a small shock that was followed by a sense of profound invigoration.
This time it struck him like a lightning bolt and caused him to drop the body and stagger back. He cried out as it ripped through him, blackening his skin. He struggled to breathe, but it was impossible. Over and over he saw lights flashing around him and heard the sound of his blood pumping through his veins. It was like staring at the fabric of the universe. The power coalesced inside him, heating his body and making his senses swirl.
He cast his gaze around the room and noted the way his men shrank back. Suddenly Zephyra was there. She took his face in her hands. "Look at me, Strykerius. Focus."
He did and as their gazes locked his heart slowed down. His vision and hearing cleared.
A slow smile curved her lips an instant before she ripped his shirt open. He frowned as she placed her hand over his heart, where there was no longer a black mark denoting where the soul exchange took place. Stryker stared at the unblemished skin in confusion. The moment an Apollite took a human soul into their body to elongate their life, a black mark appeared over their heart where the souls merged.
His was gone.
"I don't understand."
"When a Daimon merges with a demon, you have the strength of both species. They are immortal. Now so are you."
He was aghast. "How is this possible?"
She smiled evilly. "Gallu blood is potent. Whatever it is that makes it infectious merges with our DNA and strengthens us. You're free from having to take souls in."
He turned to look at Davyn and Illyria, who were now standing over the bodies of the gallu they'd killed. "We're not gallu slaves?"
Zephyra shook her head. "Not once your master is killed. It's a new world, Stryker. A new dawn." And Zephyra had given it to him. Nothing could have meant more.
"The only thing that will kill you now is decapitation."
He wanted to shout out in joy. "How many Daimons can we convert with one gallu? If we feed the blood to several and then kill the demon, will it convert all and then free them when we kill it?"
She shrugged. "There's only one way to find out. Try it and see."
Stryker laughed as he looked around at the Spathi who'd gathered. "You heard the lady. Let's hold an experiment and see what happens. If it works, we feed from and then kill them and we no longer have to take human souls to live. I think it's time we had open season on the gallu." He laughed again at the very idea of turning the tables on Kessar and his people. "Who's hungry?"
A roar went up.