Page 43 of Viper

Viper slowly blinked, thinking that none of the people who watched his brothers warily would ever for a moment guess that these conversations took place between them.

Dice did a double-take as he looked out of the window. “The fuck?”

“What?” Viper tracked his gaze to see—motherfucker—a strix stood outside the chain-link fence at the rear of the compound, looming over a corpse.

“Son of a bitch,” spat Jester. “That’ll be another of the missing humans.”

The strix noticed them looking but didn’t scamper. It remained in place and grinned cockily. Viper didn’t worry thatthe little shit would bypass the fence. The entire compound was protected by wards that were powered by his blood—no demon would get through them.

Abruptly, the strix did a one-eighty and dashed across the stretch of unused, barren land that led to a wooded area.

“It could have dumped the body and then snuck off,” mused Ghost. “It waited for us to see it. It’s trying to lure us to the woods.”

Dice nodded. “It won’t be alone.”

“No, it won’t.” Viper reached out to their other brothers on the club’s ‘channel’:Everyone get to the main area of the clubhouse. Now.

They appeared in fast succession, and Viper quickly brought them up to speed before adding, “The strix won’t all be waiting in the woods. It’s too predictable.”

“Where will they be?” asked Rivet.

Hustle rubbed at his jaw. “They’d want to blindside us.”

Viper swept his gaze over the land outside. Realization hit him fast. “Mist.”

Razor’s brows dipped. “What?”

“They’re hiding in mist-form on either side of the land beyond the fence,” Viper elaborated. “Look.Closely.You can see faint clumps of mist.”

“Do we pretend we’ve fallen for their trick?” asked Jester.

“Don’t really have much choice.” They could attack from the safety of the compound, but the strix would retreat if they were unable to land any blows. Viper and his club couldn’t eat at the colony’s numbers if they didn’t battle them.

Viper felt his lips thin. He wasn’t in the mood for this. Normally, he’d perk up at the prospect of battle. But he planned to head to the pool hall soon, just as he did every Friday. He wanted to see Ella, corner her, coax her into giving in to him.

He hadn’t seen or heard from her since he fucked her at his club on Monday night. She hadn’t come to him—disappointing, but unsurprising. Heneededher to take a step toward him, but he was prepared to make a move of his own; had warned her that he would. Viper didn’t want to rush her, though.

Viper slipped off his jacket and placed it on the nearby pool table. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about witnesses. The compound was out in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t vulnerable, though—not when it housed a collection of fallen celestials as dangerous as that of Viper and his brothers.

“We teleport outside the fence, forming two lines that stand back to back and fully face the mists,” said Viper.

“In our usual formation?” asked Sting.

They’d used such a move in the past during battles. “It’ll work best.”

Once the others had all removed their own jackets, Darko arched a brow. “We get to play again, right?”

Since Viper had somewhere to be … “Not for too long, so make the most of it.”

As one, they shimmered outside—seven forming a line facing the left of their land, the others forming a line facing the right.

Viper didn’t hesitate to make a move. He struck with a telekinetic wave that slammed down on the mists from above, forcing them to crash to the ground. The mists flickered, thickened, and rippled before reforming into a row of fifteen strix. Red eyes gleaming with pain, rage, and bloodthirst slammed on the Black Saints.

“I feel bad for them,” mocked Darko beside Viper. “I mean, how honestly devastated would you be if your eyes were red? I’d wear contacts for life.”

Two strix leaped to their feet and rushed him. Viper hit out with an archangelic blast. The rippling wave of unholy firerushed out and sliced through their bodies like a knife through butter. Bodies that fragmented into ashes.

The fight turned ugly fast. Hisses, screeches, laughs, the crackling of flames and orbs—all of it echoed across the vast spread of land. Orbs of hellfire and unholy fire bounced back and forth; slamming into bodies, blistering flesh, eating at cloth. The scents of blood, acid, pain, sulphur, and brimstone clogged the air and fed his entity’s hunger for violence and death.

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