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“This is one of many battles. We cannot allow demons to walk this earth in any form. The humans who engaged with the demons must return to their master. I’m here for Dominique. If she views you as family, then I lend you my sword, so to speak.” Xavier’s fangs descended.
“I appreciate the help … both of you.”
“We all do,” Greyson told them.
“Grey-man. You good? Ya top off your fuel?”
“Well fed, Alpha, well fed.” Greyson flashed him a satisfied smile, his fangs in full view.
“Makoto. How about you?” Julian sensed the chaotic chatter in his mind. Rage and desire for revenge stoked the fire within him.
Makoto glanced at Julian but gave no response. Julian would allow him to fight but he’d flash him out the second he became a liability.
“Sayuri. I think we’re all good to go. You’re on.”
“Tonight we don’t need salt. Mother Aso is ocher. Ripe with iron oxide, she breeds the natural minerals that will contain the demon and other creatures of its ilk. Keep your minds clear and focused. Do not let the demon influence your thoughts.” Sayuri, wearing a black silk jumpsuit and leather boots, reached behind her back and withdrew her sword, and balanced it on her fingertips. “My katana. It is my father’s tachi forged by my mother’s brother in the Heian period. Kenji has its twin. They have been infused with the blessing of the Goddess, sacred steel meant to slay demons.”
Julian nodded. “Use it well.”
Greyson inspected it without ever touching it. “Nice.”
“I have killed many demons while searching for my brothers. Each time in battle, she doesn’t fail me.” Sayuri held it up to the sky. The wind changed direction, blowing hot steam from the springs into their path. Kissed by the spray of the mountain’s sacred hot spring, it was a warning. “When the time comes, I will slay the demon. It is the only way to bind it back to Hell forever.”
While Julian wasn’t usually impressed with theatrics, Sayuri’s skills had been established in the tradition of her craft. A demon slayer, she’d help keep all of them alive.
The Alpha reached for Cassia’s hand. The air grew thick with the scent of sulfur and he nodded to her.
“Every battle requires sacrifice.” Sayuri sliced open her palm and squeezed the blood onto the ground. Smearing her sword red in her essence, she held it up to the air. “Jibun no chi to karada o gisei ni shimasu. Watashi no katana ni watashi no chi no chikara o chunyu shite kudasai. Megami ni kansha shimasu.”
“Kenji.” He offered his hand to his sister. She made quick work of spilling his blood. “The bait has been set.”
“Alpha. Tonight the blood of my bond shall bind the demon forever.” She slid her finger across her sword, and painted a bloody stripe across his forehead. Sayuri turned to Cassia and repeated her action. “This demon came for you. For my brother. We shall fight with the blood of all my ancestors. My sword will forever bind him to Hell. But I must get close enough. You must fight … but don’t kill him. He will only re-create. Wound him in every way. Vampires. You may tear the humans he brings but do not drink the blood. Stay away from the cambion. My brother and I will slay them.
“It’s time to raise Asmodeus from this earth. Are you ready?”
“Do it.” Stand by … it is coming. Do not jeopardize your life, Julian told the wolves who remained a mile back from the crater. Come only when I call you.
“Ready your weapons. I’m going to pull this wretched demon from the dirt. He will summon those who owe him favors. They will not be able to escape the crater.” Sayuri turned to the bloodstained dirt and raised up her hands. “Hac nocte in tua gratia convenimus ut daemonem ad gehennam alligamus. nomino daemonem. Asmodeus. Virtus deae te vocat in aequora. In potestate deae tibi terra mandatur. Surge Asmodeus, surge. Surge nunc!”
Immediately the ground beneath their feet began to shake. A geyser sprang its boiling water high into the air. Under the light of the full moon, the wolves howled in the distance, their foreboding cries warning of the evil to come.
“Can you feel that?” Cassia asked.
“It’s coming. Be ready to shift. I sense cambion. At least five,” Kenji warned them.
“Surge Asmodeus, surge!” Sayuri repeated, a wicked smile on her face. As the ground began to split open under her feet, she jumped aside. “It’s here.”
“Who calls my name!!” The demon’s voice boomed from every direction.
The great roar shook the trees. Nearly thirty feet away, the demon ascended from a crevasse. Half man, half bull, its long spiked tail flailed viciously, whipping into the air. Its eyes glowed red with the evil of the devil. Its three-foot-long tongue whipped out of its mouth as it spoke.
“How dare you summon me? Who are you to do such a thing?” Its beady eyes honed in on Kenji. “This is about the hounds … the hounds you stole from me. I will turn all of you and then take turns splaying you open. A slow torture until you beg me to kill you.”
“We’re binding you to Hell, to Satan. You will never walk again on this earth … you will never command minions,” Julian told him.
It zeroed in on Cassia. “The chameleon. You may have slipped from my fingers but you will be mine. I’ll fuck you till you split open and make the Alpha watch.”
“Go to hell!” Julian yelled. “This ends tonight.”
