Ignoring her question, Kessar stepped forward. The red in his eyes intensified as he raked a sneer over her. “What information have you withheld from us about your champion?”
She swallowed hard. “None… I swear!”
Kessar refused to believe her denial. It was too convenient. How could she not know? These were members of her tribe, born into it. Had lived with her for years after their father ran off. Their mother was her primary champion.
Surely Nala knew who and what she’d harbored amongst her people?
Pissed, and cursing under his breath about how he should have left her and her Amazon tribe to rot, Kessar headed from his small throne room to the cell where he’d tossed Seraphina’s children. Since the gallu were being hunted by the Daimons who were preying on them and using their blood and souls so that the Daimons could walk in daylight, they’d been driven underground and into virtual extinction.
For the last few years, Kessar and his handful of loyal demons had played a deadly game of hide-and-seek with their former allies. And all because of a “small” falling-out he and Stryker had had over who to kill when and how. And the fact that Stryker had taken issue over Kessar going after his wife, daughter… and, well, him.
Though why it would bother the Daimon, Kessar couldn’t fathom. That was what happened in war. Goals changed. Borders shifted. Battles were won and lost, and new ground gained, while some was lost.
It happened and should be expected. As a commander, Stryker should know that as well as anyone.
In the end, friends and allies didn’t matter. Only your cause did.
Your allegiance.
But sadly, their alliance against the Olympians had dissolved after Stryker had awakened the Greek god War, and the ancient trouble-making entity had turned them against each other. They were no longer unified or after the same things. With one particularly bad night, they’d turned on each other and had splintered.
That was the problem with friends.
When the time came, and it always did, for the friendship to dissolve, those friends turned to enemies. And they knew the best place to strike to cripple you.
Yet now the tables were turning. When Stryker had allowed the Dark-Hunters to place the Sumerian amulet around Apollo’s neck and temporarily drain the god’s powers, he’d unknowingly opened a door for Kessar to slip in.
And brought to Kessar a whole new group of allies to play with and feast upon.
Just like Stryker, Kessar knew exactly how and where to make the coup de grace against the Daimons who’d turned on his gallu brethren. And he wouldn’t hesitate to take it. An eye for an eye. Throat for a throat.
Testicle for testicle.
It wasn’t in the nature of his species to let any slight go. The gallu had been bred as the final “fuck you” of their ancient gods to destroy the world should the world destroy them. Knowing that, Stryker should never have turned on them and declared them a food source for his people.
That was the ground the Daimon was going to be buried upon.
At least that was Kessar’s thought as he opened the door to the cell where the young Were-Hunters had been chained. He’d expected to find both of them where he’d left them.
Instead, the sight of the smoking remains of three headless gallu greeted him. Stunned by the sight, he cocked one regal brow. The chains that had held the young dragons had been ripped from the walls and the metriazo collars that he himself had placed around their necks to block their magick and keep them tame were laying in pieces on the ground at his feet.
“What the hell?” he asked slowly.
There was no sign of either young adult dragon. Gaping to the point he exposed his fangs, he turned toward the Amazon queen.
Eyes wide, she stared at the damage they’d wrought. “What happened?”
Namtar shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. By the time Neti and I got the door open, this was what we found. How could they do this?”
Kessar toed the remains of the gallu closest to him. There were very few creatures capable of this. And only one he’d ever fought against who could do such. A chill went down his spine at the prospect of facing that hairy bastard again. “What is the name of their father?”
Nala scowled. “I’m trying to remember. We never really used it. Um…”
You’ve got to be shitting me? She really couldn’t recall something so banal?
Or something so vital?
He met her vacuous gaze. “Was it perchance Maxis Drago?”
“Yes!” But the joy quickly faded from her gaze as she realized it wasn’t a good thing that he knew the dragon’s name. “How did you know?”
How did he know…
Sick to his stomach, he exchanged a glare with Namtar. “Son of the lilitu.”
It figured.
Still, she had no clue of the monster she’d unknowingly harbored. “What’s that?”
He laughed at her stupidity. But then, being female, she wouldn’t have ever drawn the attention of a lilit demon. They preyed exclusively on males, and in particular, male demons and gods. “In short, our mothers. The gallu were originally hatched in the eggs of the lilitu.”