The entity glided forward and approached the first man. When he reached forward bony fingers pulled the man closer. Slowly, the entity’s mouth elongated, and the man was swallowed whole. Seeing what happened to the first of them, the other men began to scream.
Smacking his non-existent lips, the entity nodded. “Delicious. So much evil in such a small being. The deaths of children saturate them.” He paused. “And there are notes of demonic magic. This is a true delicacy.”
One by one he consumed them all. When he was done, he tilted his head. “The balance is not equal. Even with an eternity of torture for your enemies, I feel I owe you for this exquisite meal.” He waved his hand and an onyx ring appeared on her hand. “A small trinket, may it serve us both well.”
Another jagged shadow portal opened and then the entity was gone.
“Gods above!” Nearly everyone in the room fell to their knees.
Ryuu stood and shakily returned to her side. “Let me see,” he ordered.
She held up her hand. “It’s a ring.”
“I can see very well that it’s a ring. I hate that you have something of them.” He tried tugging it off.
Meryn just stared at him. “None of the shit I get comes off,” she said.
Ryuu ran his magic over it and eyed it carefully. “It’s a weapon.” He exhaled. “It’s just a weapon. It won’t siphon off your soul”
Meryn looked down at the ring. “That was an option?”
“With the dark ones, you never know.”
Slowly everyone stood. “Darling, what did you find where that creature was needed?” Brennus asked.
“A piece of hell,” she replied. She looked at the men. “I’m sorry if I made the decision for everyone.”
Rio shook his head, eyes wide. “There’s no way I could do to them what that shadow creature will do.” He swallowed hard. “Did you say they were now immortal?”
“Yeah, that was kinda part of the punishment.”
“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Ange said, shuddering.
Lily smiled and kissed her forehead. “You did perfectly. They got nothing less than what they deserved. Even the hereafter is safe for them,” she said.
Meryn brightened. “That’s true.”
Brennus rubbed the back of his neck. “Your aunt is gonna kill me.”
Lil shook her head. “Not when she hears what happened.”
Felix popped up from behind Meryn’s head. “Need to go home.”
Brennus nodded. “Darian should be here…”
The golden portal was a welcome sight after facing such abject evil.
Meryn looked at Kendrick. “The basement?”
He patted his bag. “I have them here. Everything else was… dissolved.”
“Thank you.”
“It was the very least I could do.”
Thane wrapped an arm around her. “Home, young lady. Then you have a story to tell.”
Chapter Sixteen