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The answering grin that spread across Alastor's face made me fear for Raiden's life, again, in the span of a few minutes. What had gotten into him today?
"Do not worry about your bodyguard, he is only protecting you," Alastor replied.
Darkness glittered in the depths of his eyes, though, and I almost turned away from him and ran the other way. Any smart person would do that. Danger seeped from his very pores, but Ihad never been afraid of that. It was my job to run straight into it without thinking. So I held steady and waited for his plan to fall from his perfectly kissable lips. Maybe we could make time for kissing after this was all done, probably not, because he would leave and go back to wherever he came from.
"Although, he is right that using you as bait would be the simplest way," Alastor added. "However, if that is off the table, then we will need to corner him. Then I will open a portal to our realm and pull him into it with me."
"If it was that simple, why haven't you done it already?" Raiden asked. He crossed his arms, his legs spread wide in a stance that said he didn't believe the guy's bullshit story. He had a point, so I remained silent and cocked my head to the side to watch him.
"There are unexpected distractions in the human world. I can see the appeal that has drawn Bellamy here so much that he wishes to stay," Alastor replied, and the way his eyes lingered on me made my cheeks heat. There was no way he could be talking about me. I had only met him once the night before, well if you didn't count him coming to my rescue. "We can meet at the club tonight and discuss the finer details. I have a task to complete at the moment."
The crease in my forehead got deeper as I narrowed my eyes at him. He was hiding something, first the demon killing, now this. Raiden's large hand landed on my shoulder as he stepped next to me. "Wewill meet you there," he replied, speaking for me.
CHAPTER 12
Alastor
Cerberus trottedalong next to me as we moved through the forest. I had sensed a portal opening earlier. It had been around here. Finding it before nightfall would stop any unsuspecting human from stumbling into it. Not that there should be any humans in the woods at night. The first night I arrived told me it wasn't a certainty. I took in the large oak that parted the path into two. I had run into the three demons who thought that they were strong enough to take me out. Obviously, they were out of their depth, but it had made me curious. What were they hiding?
It was around here that I had arrived. It was a natural entrance into this world. You could feel the magic in the air that fueled the portals. Cerberus sniffed around the enormous tree, all three heads focused on the roots. Were the demons underground? Why did I care?
It must be the hunter. My Goddess, my love, my future. For her to be any of those things, I needed to help her, even if she didn't know that I was. Demons working together didn't happen, they were solo creatures. Amassing numbers was dangerous, and a single hunter wouldn't be able to stop them.
There were the witches that could help. Maybe that hunter made God last year would help. I hadn't helped him when he needed, but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Although all that would do would slow them down if the portal was still open. First, I would need to close it, eliminate the access point they found.
Lex would help. I saw the way he looked at my hunter. I would be jealous if I didn't already know that the Gods made her for me. No others would compare, and I would give her whatever made her happy, including the men she wanted. Maybe when I took her home, I could also bring along the others. My father would be so happy that I had found my love. He had told me my whole life that love was the only true thing that mattered. It was the only thing that would stand up to time, and he had been around for eons, so he would know.
Two demons came from the left pathway as I was musing, a gremlin and a leyak. The gremlin had black tar dripping from its body, long claws scratched against the forest floor as it moved on all fours. It didn't notice me as I ducked behind the tree, calling Cerberus back to me. The leyak looked human in the light of day, but the power seeped off of him. He used to be a witch, but the black magic had taken its hold and demanded to be repaid. At night, he would be a little more gruesome to come across, because his head would separate from his body, trailing his entrails through the air as he sought a human to sink his teeth into.
A twig snapped beneath my boot, and I sighed as I revealed myself with the sound. So much for following them and finding out where they were going. Cerberus let out a low warning growl as they came around the tree. I held up my hand to stop him, he couldn't go after the gremlin without getting hurt. I would handle these two.
"What are you doing in the human world?" the leyak mage asked as he caught sight of me.
"I could ask you the same thing," I replied. I could taste his magic in the air between us. He was gathering it to strike. Whatever they were hiding was serious enough to want to hide it from even me, a God of the Underworld. “Are you behind the dead girl?”
"That is none of your concern," he replied as a blue ball of flames formed in his palm. At the same time he launched it at me, the gremlin launched himself at me. I spun away, just barely dodging the toxic tar of his skin. It would burn if he got ahold of me.
"I've never known demons to work together before," I said as the forest caught fire behind me. That wasn't good.
"Things change. We have grown stronger, and some of us have decided that a life topside is better than one in Tartus. Not even our princes stay, so why should we?" he sneered as he formed another one of his flames. Guess my question hit a nerve.
"Wait, what if I said I could help?" I asked.
He paused in his action and cocked his head to the side. "Prove you mean it. Bring the hunter to us."
"The hunter?" I questioned, playing stupid.
"Do not deny knowing her, we saw you with her at Fantasia. Bring her to us, and we can talk," he said.
"What do you want with her?"
He chuckled. "Freedom. She kills too many of us."
"Where do I bring her?" Not that I would ever sacrifice her for knowledge. It wasn't even an option, but Lex was good with glamours. Maybe he could fool them like we used to fool our parents so long ago. He would do it for her, wouldn't he?
"You can bring her back here," he said as he gestured around at the burning forest.
"Not if there isn't a forest to come back to," I replied dryly.
