Page 29 of Savage Fate

“Security around Mohan Wilds will be tightened,” Camus said, pulling my attention back to the meeting. “If anyone wants to volunteer for patrols, we have a sign-up sheet. I want everyone to feel safe and secure, so any help is appreciated.”

How safe and secure could anyone be when we didn’t know what we were dealing with?

Fane and I volunteered to patrol and headed out once we received our location.

“There’s something weird about all of this.” Fane stepped over a broken log into a pile of crunchy leaves as we hiked just outside the territory lines. “If The Collective is involved, why would they have a dux demon toss a body into Corvin Manor?”

I scanned the forest, the full moon thinning some of the shadows. “It doesn’t make sense. Demons wouldn’t be working with The Collective. Ruin was different. He had his own agenda.” If I’d been more careful when I caught up to that dux demon, we might have some answers.

Fane grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop, those mismatched irises drilling into me. “Don’t feel guilty for not getting information from that demon. I’m the one who killed him.”

“Because I was careless and totally missed the fact that he had a knife to my gut.”

His nostrils flared. “Will you ever stop shouldering the blame for every damn thing?”

Probably not.

Fane opened his mouth, but he suddenly clamped it shut as he cocked his head to the side. At the same time, prickles crawled down my nape.

“Something’s out there,” he whispered.

Barely seconds after those words dropped off his tongue, pale, grotesque figures emerged from the shadows. They crawled on their hands and feet, and a red hue—full of hunger and bloodlust—glowed in their eyes.

Chapter

Nine

Frost skated downmy spine as a dozen hideous, Nosferatu-like creatures slinked toward us, saliva dripping down their chins. My nose wrinkled from their fetid stench clogging the crisp night air.

“Skalae demons.” Fane’s brow furrowed at the approaching group of sub-demons. “I’ve rarely seen these cave dwellers far from their dens.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a mystical hilt as adrenaline pumped through my veins. “So why would they be in Mohan Wilds?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Skalaes hated sunlight, hence their sickly pale pallor. The moonlight shone on their bald heads, pointed ears, and jagged teeth.

They also enjoyed flesh.

Fane glanced back at me as his pupils thinned to diamonds. “Ready for a fight?”

I ran my thumb over the rune on the hilt, bringing out the sword. “Always.”

A smile twitched at his lips. “Such a violent little thing. You’re adorable.”

“Keep it up, Maverick, and I’ll show you how adorable I really am.”

His laughter poured out like rich honey. “I’ll hold you to that.”

One of the skalaes released a vicious snarl and bared those jagged teeth.

The humor evaporated from Fane’s expression. “Be careful.” He turned and darted forward, jumping directly into the group of sub-demons.

They scattered, but the demon shifter used his talons to decapitate one, ripping his head clean off.

He could be such a show-off.

When a sub-demon lunged for me, I pivoted and then swung my sword, lopping off his head. Black blood sprayed the air and the fallen brown leaves.

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