I shot MJ a quick nod, and she released two arrows. They whizzed over our heads and pinned the Damned Soul to the trunk. He gurgled a laugh.
“Damn, they just keep getting more repulsive,” Alexei said, slowly approaching. “Remind me to ask the king not to send me to the Immolation Circle when I die.”
The male’s naked, hairless body glistened with a pinkish sheen, black gunk weeping from his wounds.
Alexei narrowed his eyes at the fluid. “Is it leftover from whatever the Immolation Lord uses to burn them with?”
“That doesn’t explain the veins,” I replied. “Or his horns.”
“Are we sure he isn’t a demon?” MJ asked, though her voice lacked conviction.
Demons might be the only creatures with horns or grotesque features, but they couldn’t survive in Hell without a soul. They belonged to Lilith. We’d wiped them out centuries ago, and the few who remained resided in Elora and her kingdom.
A few feet away, I lifted one of my Soul Swords, hearing the metal hissing as it met the Damned’s exposed skin.
He remained unfazed by the searing of his flesh. He didn’t act like he was in pain at all. It was possible he wasn’t. In rare cases, soulsin the lower circles could lose all sensation from repeated torture—so their lords would heal them just enough to make them feel again.
His wild eyes darted around, and his grin stretched wider, exposing pitch-black gums and razor-sharp teeth—teeth that matched the bite marks on the female’s skin.
“Did you kill her?” My voice darkened, pressure building behind my eyes like an impending storm.
“No. She’s my next follower,” he rasped, glancing down at her body as he ran his tongue along his teeth.
Follower?
“She’s dead,” Alexei said with disbelief.
The Damned Soul laughed, the sound ragged and wet. Black liquid flowed from his chest, staining his already ruined skin.
“Is she?”
“MJ,” I snapped, my pulse hammering against my ribs. “Check her teeth and hair.”
Every instinct screamed that I already knew what she’d find, but I fought to hold on to the sliver of hope that I was wrong.
“No change in her teeth,” MJ said slowly, “but… she’s growing horns.”
Fuck.Fuck!
How was that possible?
The Damned could infect others.
Lucifer needed to know—immediately.
“Is biting the only way you infect each other?” I squeezed the hilts of my Soul Swords. The Damned smiled, as if savoring my panic. I pressed one of my blades into his neck. “Is it?”
“Scared your little mind invasion with Silas will have consequences, General?”
How did he know about that?
The Damned jerked up his hand, grabbing ahold of my chin. I refrained from ending him then and there—I needed answers.
Alexei snatched the Damned’s arm and slammed his dagger into his hand, pinning it to the tree trunk. MJ did the same to his other hand with an arrow.
The Damned hissed through bared teeth, but there was no pain in his face, only anger.
“Come closer, General, and find out,” he taunted, chomping at the air. A slimy pink substance leaked from the points of his teeth, sliding down his chin. Slowly, his skin blackened where the fluid touched.
