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“Why?”
“His blood is powerful. It changes her. It also gives her an insatiable need to procreate.”
Riley frowned. “How does that help you?”
“Waiting is always the hardest part, but we must leave the world for hundreds of years so the bloodline can spread throughout the population. To create our template.”
“A template for what?”
Deruthel’s eyes narrowed on her. “For our appropriation of this world.”
CHAPTER21
Riley noticed the pinhole in her cuffs. She wanted to inspect what she assumed was the release mechanism, but didn’t want to garner Deruthel’s attention while she did it. His willingness to explain how his species conquered other worlds was indicative of his belief that no one could stop him. She had to admit, his confidence was justified. How many worlds had fallen at his feet? Was hers already lost?
“So, the war was designed to bring the priestess to your world?” Riley asked.
“We have used various methods to start the terraforming process. I have abducted women and brought them to our world for the king, to start the procedure. Usually, when we send over warriors, they sent some back. Every world sends a hunting party and if we can’t infect the women, we infect the men. One way or another, our blood is brought into the new world.”
Riley pressed on a symbol etched in the metal cuff, but nothing happened. “So you always begin the process with a mock war, to start the terraforming process?”
Deruthel nodded. “It is a necessary hassle. Though there is some enjoyment in letting your opponent believe they have won, overtaking a world without the means to procreate would mean our destruction.”
She glanced at the women licking Deruthel’s feet. “If you’ve done this many times in the past, why are the women dying?”
Deruthel walked to the edge of the dais, with the women scrambling after him. “The process is taking an unnaturally long time to perfect, but you will help me with that.”
She kept her eyes on the Demon general as she tugged on one link. “You want to use me to open a portal?”
Deruthel turned. “Yes, but only after the conversion process reaches fifty percent.”
Her stomach seized. “That means half die.”
“Yes. We prefer to wait until we have a sixty percent proficiency rate, but there are always bloodlines that are resistant to transformation. Sometimes a transition will be successful, but the female is... unbecoming of our species.”
Her eyes roamed over his oily skin and thick horns. “How is that possible?”
Deruthel smiled. “You do not find our form attractive, but we feel the same way about yours. Humans are weak, and some transitions create an undesirable female. We don’t allow the sicklings to procreate.”
She didn’t need to ask the question. “You killed the females that don’t fit your guidelines.”
“Yes. We must avoid any weaknesses.”
“If you’re not using me to open a portal, what do you want?”
“You are the only successful transition from a demon. We will use your blood to transition more. Once we have perfected the process, you will make an excellent breeder, as will Dannika. We will dispose of your mates, but two females are not enough. We need hundreds of viable breeders.”
Riley glanced at the pinhole and the cuffs. It reminded her of the time she used a pin to unlock the bathroom door. She’d pushed against a lever inside the hole and the mechanism released. What she wouldn’t give for a bobby pin. “That doesn’t explain why you wanted a virgin.”
Deruthel growled. “Virgin blood would’ve held the portal open longer. Made it wide enough to allow the king’s passage. Hakim assured me you would remain pure. As usual, he lied.”
Riley huffed. “He was a complete bastard. He almost killed me. Had I known what he had planned, I would’ve let him.”
“You can’t change the past or your future. Hakim still has a role to play. His ancestor created a variable we have never come across, and we are still in the process of assessing that development.”
“You mean the shadows?”
“Yes. They were an unexpected result of the war. We had planned to lose as we had in the past, but the Bokor found a way to use our dead against us. The demons we discarded as we passed to a new world are quite eager to seek their revenge.”
