This time? It was personal. And that fact sent a ripple of fear through me. It was easy to see that Camille and Delilah were feeling the same way. Besides the threat to ourselves, personal revenge all too often meant collateral damage, and we had lost enough friends through the years.
As we sat there, soaking up the information, Roxy, one of Carter’s cats, came dashing through, then climbed on Delilah’s lap and began kneading her jeans. She absently stroked it, then handed the gorgeous Aegean to Camille, who tucked the white cat to her chest and kissed her head. Lara, the other cat—a black-and-white Aegean and Roxy’s sister—peeked out from behind the curtain that partitioned off Carter’s back rooms from the living room area.
A moment later, Delilah let out a long sigh and leaned forward. “All right, we have a Degath Squad on our back. Do we know what kind of demons they are?”
“I can field that one.” Trytian stretched out in his chair, his legs long, as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He was actually pretty hot, in a dangerous sort of way, but his personality killed the attraction. “Our source who witnessed the gating said that one of them is a Naedaran, one is a Shelakig, and one is a Varcont.”
None of them rang any bells. I looked at the others, who shook their heads. “Okay, do you perhaps have a rundown on what they are and what they can do?”
Carter picked up the packet of papers he had set on the table and began handing them around. I glanced over the sheets. There were three, stapled together, and each page held a description of one of the demons. If there was one thing we could count on the demigod for, it was to provide us a detailed dossier on our targets whenever he could possibly do so.
“You can read the details in a bit, but I’ll give you a quick rundown. Naedarans are six feet tall. The body’s basically a spongy ball of flesh on one leg, with a central eye and a mouth that can devour a human in two bites. They have arms, with three long taloned fingers, and do not let the one-legged status fool you. They can hop faster than most people can run.”
“That sounds like a Fachan,” Camille said. “Scottish Fae. Nasty sort.”
“Perhaps it’s an offshoot, but this is far more dangerous, trust me.” Carter frowned. “The second demon—the Shelakig—is basically a giant scorpion. Except, rather than the venom only being injected through its aculeus, it’s also present in its pincers, which contain a series of serrated edges.”
“And how big is the Shelakig?” Trillian sounded as overjoyed as the rest of us looked.
“I’d estimate a good eight feet long, with the tail curving about four feet high. I’ve never seen one of these; it would be fascinating to dissect one and discover how like their nondemonic lookalikes they are.” Carter sounded so matter-of-fact that I felt like smacking him.
“Don’t sound so excited about it, okay? This isn’t a biology class,” I grumbled, but when he flicked a confused look at me, I just gave him a mute shrug.
“I happen to find the study of demonology interesting, so deal with it.” I almost missed the playful grin behind the jab, but then he flashed us a smile. “Even I can make a joke now and then.”
“So we have a one-legged mouth, a giant scorpion—and I assume the venom is deadly?” Smoky glared at Trytian, who was once again openly staring at Camille’s boobs.
“The venom will dissolve flesh on contact, a lot like a hellhound’s acidic bite.” Carter flipped to the third page. “Trytian, eyes off the woman unless you want me to let her husband take you apart.”
Trytian snorted but returned his gaze to the sheaf of papers.
“Now the third demon is the most problematic. The Varcont. This one is most dangerous in the fact that he is humanoid. He’ll look like any regular man, except for the red eyes.” Carter looked up. “In a sense, he will look like any vampire who might be a little pissed off. In fact, he’s very much like a vampire, seeing that vampires are considered, to be blunt, minor demons.” He gave me an apologetic look.
“I know what I am, don’t sweat it.”
“So a Varcont is a vampire?”
“A most dangerous one. Think vampire on steroids. He can walk under the sun, fire does not burn him, and the only thing that can destroy him is a silver stake directly through the heart. He can bring almost any younger vampire under his control, unless their sire is . . . well . . . one such as Roman—or like Dredge was. And the vampire glamour? They have it in spades.”
I froze. “He’s worse than Dredge was, isn’t he?”