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He had to be the warlock the dragon princes had mentioned in an unflattering manner, which meant his horned companions must be his demon army.
They stared in the direction of the far jungle, unfazed and unconcerned by the raging war inside. While I had checked the battle through Sybil’s eyes, I hadn’t spotted a single demon in the war zone.
As I studied them quietly, I had a foreboding sense that they were my worst enemy. They hadn’t rushed to act, unlike the hunters from the other ships.
This lot held back and waited, and I knew when they struck, it would be lethal.
Why had the Dragon King sent not only one, but three ships full of hunters of all kinds of species to slay me? If I hadn’t the mind to preserve my true loves for my own good, I’d dive down and consume all the hunters with my black fire. Perhaps I’d rip one or two of the prey apart first.
I pricked my ears, trying to catch their conversation, but the demon group remained silent.
“Lord Elvey—” the biggest, armored demon—he was probably eight feet tall—finally opened his mouth, confirming what I’d suspected. That outstanding man was indeed the warlock.
The big, green-skinned demon looked like the ringleader of the demons, judging from how he posed himself arrogantly, but I was certain he didn’t outrank the warlock.
Elvey raised his hand and silenced the demon leader.
“What?” the demon leader demanded after allowing his companion a few seconds of silence.
Elvey tore his gaze away from the direction of the jungle, shrugged, and strolled back into the ship. The demon leader gave Elvey’s retreating figure a furious look, waved irritatingly at the demons around him, and followed the warlock intoMistress.
The demon patrol team spread further.
I switched my gaze toward theFalling Star, the dark silver ship that had first fired on me.
It rested in the clearing of the old grandiose coliseum, next to a spaceshipVirgin, now a piece of junk, just like hundreds of other wrecked spaceships and expedited shuttles that lay there. The arena had been built by the first race on Pandemonium. They were long gone now. All that were left were exiled aliens and criminals from different galaxies, cannibals, vampires, and me, who had nowhere to escape. Few of us held hope for the future.
But today, neither the vampires nor any of the other clans had come to the arena to claim the new ship.
The thugs had seenFalling Starsending rockets my way. They knew they wouldn’t be able to overcome the newcomers, who had advanced weapons, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t bide their time to assimilate the hunters or destroy them.
To my surprise, there were no guards outside theFalling Star. I narrowed my eyes. Probably most of its hunters were battling the dragon shifters and my monsters inside the jungle.
I took a sharp breath, muffling a shriek, and swooped down.
All three my beast forms alighted atop the ship near the open door, stealthily and quietly.
“Captain, the men in the jungle are requesting reinforcement,” a man’s booming voice drifted out of the door. “They said they were under fire. Should we go?”
A radio buzzed, and a man shouted over it frantically, “The fucking dragons opened fire on us! There’re many monsters in this goddamned place, and we haven’t even seen the Furies!” The radio sound cut out in the middle of the man’s cursing.
“Captain?” the crew member asked.
“They’re on their own, as is every bounty hunter on the ship,” the captain said. “My job is to fly theFalling Star. As my crew member, you’ll only mind the ship’s business, unless you want a piece of the old Dragon Realm, like those fools. Declare it, and you’ll be dismissed from my service.”
“I’m not a fool, Captain,” the crew member said. “They’ll fight until the last man stands with the Furies’ big, fat heads. I’m turning off all the communication devices. If they return and ask, I’ll say all radio is malfunctioning.”
“Good excuse,” said the captain.
They weren’t a united front. I could play them against each other by using their divisions and the competition between them. I just need to come up with a good strategy and put it to use.
Since the slayers on this ship had no reliable backup and weren’t working with each other, I labeled it as the least threatening, though I wouldn’t underestimate any of my foes, who carried rockets and other high-powered weapons.
An impulsive thought slammed into my skull.
I would turn defense into offense and throw the hornets to my most formidable enemies.
I surged back up into the desolate sky, aimed the angle, and dove toward the demon soldiers.
