Page 4 of Savage Hunt

A number was all I was to most guards. Unless they were in Venna’s trusted circle in Heldrok, no one knew who I was or what I’d done to get thrown in here.

“She’s much more than what she appears, Vankis.” The dux demon’s midnight horns curled from his forehead and disappeared into the shadows high in the ceiling. “Why do you think a royal demon is visiting Heldrok to torture her?”

Vankis huffed. “I could stomp on this little girl and ground her bones into dust.”

I rolled onto my back, gritting my teeth from the pain shooting through my extremities. “You can try.” Why was I goading this demon? I was in no shape to take him. Still, I couldn’t stop my hand from lifting to flip him off. “Remove this sigil if you really want to know the truth.”

“You’ll be dead in seconds, sigil or not.” Vankis’s heavy foot stepped into my cell, but the other guard yanked him back.

Tajeed slammed the door and locked it. “You have to do a lot better than that pathetic excuse to escape. Even if you managed to get the sigil off, you won’t make it out the doors of this place.”

They pivoted and trudged down the hall, leaving me in a heap on the hard, cold ground.

Why would it matter if I remained on the floor? The thin, lumpy cot wasn’t much better.

But Fane would tell me to drag myself off the ground.

A sharp bolt of pain hit my heart at the thought of the demon shifter. There was a time when his image brought on bouts of rage and disappointment. Now, I ached for him.

Fuck. I missed Fane. It felt like I hadn’t seen or touched him in years. Honestly, I had no idea how long we’d been in Heldrok. When we arrived at the onyx castle perched on a high cliff in the Underworld, Venna ordered the guards to separate us.

We hadn’t been able to visit each other outside of our bodies either. The dampening sigil each prisoner was given blocked most magic, but I’d hoped our bond was strong enough to break through.

I choked back the lump growing in my throat and pushed onto my hands and knees, crawling the few inches to the cot. The mildew, blood, and sweat aroma stirred as I climbed onto the uneven mattress. Fires burst through my body while I settled on my back, breathing heavily from the exertion and pain. Familiar cracks in the stone ceiling greeted me, and the spider in the corner hunkered down in his web.

Was he a regular, run-of-the-mill arachnid or a sub-demon biding his time to reveal his grotesque form right before he attacked me?

In this hellhole, probably the latter.

Another long shriek ricocheted down the hall, setting off more from the other captives. Their anguished cries pummeled my eardrums, so I slammed my hands over them, but muting that sense cast more attention on the others, especially smell. Being a shifter—even one who couldn’t transform—in this place wreaked havoc on my nose.

Death, rot, sweat, and blood perfumed every corner of Heldrok I’d visited, which wasn’t a lot. Venna kept me isolated. I’d only seen the inside of my cell, torture chambers, and the large shower room when the guards escorted me to bathe—while they watched. And not all of them had purely professional intentions. The lust pouring off them had my stomach churning and bile shooting up my esophagus. It reminded me of being in a few foster homes that weren’t as kind as they appeared on the outside.

When I showered, Mr. Bowden’s sweat, chlorine, and liquor odor would clog my nostrils like he stood right behind me. I’d check over my shoulder to find that one or both guards had stepped closer.

It was times like those I’d wish for the Infernal Sol’s dark power.

As I ran my hand just below my ribs, nothing stirred. The Infernal Sol remained dormant after they branded the dampening sigil on me. Blinding pain seared my veins as the high demon stamped that device on my arm and whispered a spell to mark me with the symbol that drained my shifter and demon power. I’d felt the moment they did it to Fane too, and then our bond quieted to a low hum.

My fingers trembled as I unbuttoned the orange jumpsuit and slid it down my arm to unveil the black symbol in the shape of interlocking triangles and swirls marring my flesh. Many prisoners had tried to destroy the mark or slice it off, resulting in a flood of pain so intense most passed out and pissed themselves.

This wasn’t the type of sigil you could simply cut off. An incantation weaved through it, tying the symbol to each individual. Shifters couldn’t fully transform. Vampire and demon strength and speed were greatly diminished. Any elemental magic in fae was unreachable, as was the magic within a witch. No one could use compulsion either.

Venna tried several ways to claw the Infernal Sol out of me without success. It only resulted in a shit-ton of pain on my part and frustration on hers. She couldn’t cut the amulet out without that dagger Furic left in Ruin’s house, and even that might not have been successful.

After Furic had attempted it, I tapped into the Infernal Sol’s magic and allowed it to take control. I plucked out his fears and made him experience them, feeding off his screams and torment. Even though the Infernal Sol was in in the driver’s seat, the real me was there the entire time. And I didn’t want to stop the mayhem.

In fact, I’d wanted more.

I finally took back the reins when Fane’s fear for his mother washed over me. Venna had snatched Kesandra to force the demon shifter’s compliance and mine by proxy. She knew I wouldn’t trade my life for Fane’s mother’s.

However, when Fane and I willingly went with Venna and Mykel to keep Kesandra safe, I didn’t realize how difficult escaping Heldrok would be.

Damn near impossible.

I rolled onto my side, wincing as flares of pain whipped through my body.

I’d been through worse. I could keep going.

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