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“Damien and I found the woman walking home,” she said. “I stopped and offered to give her a ride while he hid in the trunk. There was nothing suspicious about her, I swear to God.”
“But then you didn’t go with him to the Demon’s temple.”
“I had to get to work!”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, wondering how it was possible people like this could be gainfully employed.
“What happened to them?” The man twisted his hands, casting a nervous glance around, and I moved back behind the doorway. “Who’s there?”
“Stop panicking,” the other man said. “There’s no one there. We just have to keep moving. We have to prepare for the Demon’s return. The Daughter has turned herself into our enemy. But we can’t stop.”
I frowned at that thought–was this wishful thinking, or was there a plan to help the Demon escape? But I didn’t have time to discuss it.
“If you assholes want someone to worship so much, why don’t you make me your god?” Cain demanded as he strode into the room. For a second, I could just imagine him slipping into the role of cult leader. Honestly, it would pretty much be a lateral move from the head of the Sphinx.
They gasped and scattered, one of them pulling a knife out. But Cain already had his gun in his hand and so did I, so I liked our chances.
“Oh, right,” Cain continued. “Because I don’t want you. You’re weak and pathetic, just like your master, the Demon. He couldn’t take anyone in a fair fight.”
“Don’t you dare speak of him,” the man gasped.
“I’m going to give you a chance to get out of here,” Cain said pleasantly. He raised his gun and shot the woman in the head. Her brain matter and blood sprayed across the cracked wall, and she crumpled to the ground. “Well, just the two of you.”
Given that she’d convinced a woman it was safe to get in the car with her, I didn’t feel bad for her.
“What do you want from us?” the man demanded.
“You two fight each other. I’ll let whichever one of you survives go free.” Cain smiled, the expression chilling on his handsome face. “Or you can meet the same fate she did. It’s all the same to me.”
“This is insane,” the one man babbled.
The other man was already pulling his knife.
The babbler stilled, his eyes widening.
“We can see which of you is the Demon’s true apprentice,” Cain taunted with a laugh.
The babbler rushed to grab his own knife. He was pulling it loose as his former friend struck out desperately, slashing at him. He danced back, too late, his arm was bleeding heavily. He let out short, gasping breaths of pain as he circled his opponent.
Cain's lip was curled in disgust, and he looked bored. “This is definitely not worthy of one of Pax’s matches.”
The babbler managed to knock the other down and drove his knife into his wrist, pinning him to the floor. The man screamed and yanked his arm free, shattering his wrist in the process. I winced–although not quite sympathetically. The two of them scrabbled desperately across the floor, stabbing each other, their blood running across the old hardwood floors.
I was worried Cain’s boredom would turn murderous before I could get answers.
“When you said the Demon was going to be free soon,” I demanded, grinding the toe of my shoe against his shattered wrist. “What exactly did you mean?”
“I’ll never betray the master,” he said.
“We’ll see.” I turned to the other cult member. He was bleeding heavily, and he was probably going to die too… soon. But maybe he could be useful in the meantime. “Show us what you do to your victims.”
Soon, the first man was screaming. But all he could tell us was that the Demon had promised he’d be free soon, and he didn’t know any details. I believed him.
So we let the other man kill him, and then Cain flipped him over and stabbed him, making it look as if the two had killed each other.
The man looked at him with betrayal written across his face, as blood began to pour from his mouth.
“Well,” Cain said. “I never promised I’d be ajustgod.”
