Page 44 of Deranged Demons

“Then we keep searching while we’re on the way,” I say with a tight smile.

Nate looks thoughtful, and his nostrils flare as he scents the air. “And what about our assassinfriend?”

“What about him?” I ask.

Nate stares at me. “He’s out there watchin’ us. Do you want me to hunt him down?”

My lips quirk into a smile. “Let him follow. He’ll come out eventually.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean he won’t try to kill us first,” Nate mutters.

“He won’t,” I counter. “Not now that he knows we’re fated.” I pause and tap my finger on my lip. “At least…I don’t think he would.”

When no one else objects, we start moving again, traveling the winding streets. I’m busy staring at a faded painting that’s on the road when Nate lifts his arm, stopping me from taking another step.

His body stiffens. “You smell that?”

Lifting my head, I turn my attention to the end of the street. Prince Callan flicks his wrist, sending a gust of wind rushing toward us, and a distinct coppery scent reaches my nose.

“Blood,” I say, drawing my sword.

“Freshly spilled,” Nate adds, striding ahead of me.

We turn right onto the next street, and I slow my steps when I spot the carnage up ahead.

“I count six bodies,”Shade comments grimly as we get closer.

Nate growls, but he doesn’t identify any of the shifters, and we keep moving.

There are more bodies down the next street, and my expression hardens when I stop near the bodies of four broken alphas.

“Demons,” Dante says, looking over them.

“Look at how their horns have been harvested,”I comment to Shade, my heart rate picking up.

“Wait, Blake, you don’t think there are witches here, do you?”

My lips press together, and I share a tense look with Dante. We both knew these demons and the clans they belonged to.Fuck.

“Guess they didn’t make it to that park you were all at,” Prince Callan says to Dante.

Nate squats down to check on a body that’s crumpled near the side of a building in a pool of blood. “Still warm. Whoever did this, they can’t be far.”

It’s all I need to hear.

Gripping my sword tighter, I flap my wings and launch into the air.

“What are you doing?”Shade asks as she flies from my shoulder, pushed away by the force of the wind.

Dante calls after me, but all I can focus on is the ringing in my ears and my pounding heart. No demon has had their horns harvested since the witches were defeated, and these alphas were here because of me.

Beating my wings, I fly above the houses, scanning the nearby streets. Prince Callan and Shade follow after me, and I hear Nate’s roar from somewhere below. Dante is probably not far behind either. A small part of me knows we shouldn’t have split up, but I can’t let the witches get away. If they’re here, I need to keep one alive for questioning, but the rest will die by my blade. They roamed this land once, destroyingeverything in their path, and I’m not willing to let the demons be next.

I fly faster, the wind whistling in my ears as I frantically search every shadow and movement below, but all I see is more scattered bodies. A trail of dead alphas leads me further into the city, and they’re not all demons and shifters. There are archangels and water monsters, too, and I clench my jaw, fury swelling in my chest.

The cool metal of my hilt bites into my palm, and surprise mixes with my anger when I spot three alphas walking the street below. They’re not witches. They’regiants.Blood drips from the two-sided axes resting on their massive shoulders, and the demon horns hanging from their belts. I land silently on the street behind them, and Prince Callan drops down next to me soon after. Shade stays in the air, circling from above like she’s letting the others know where we are.

“You sure this is a good idea, Drax?” the voice of one of the giants rumbles down the street. “These are dangerous folk we’re messin’ with.”

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