happen.
“We did learn something else about it before you arrived,” Ronan said.
Lucien turned away from the door. “What?”
Ronan nodded to Saber, who stood behind the chair. Without a word, Saber lifted the chair and walked over to set it at the edge of the sun’s rays.
The demon hissed in a breath as its skin instantly started to smoke and flames blazed to life. Lucien recalled how the body of the one they killed in the tunnels went up like it was doused with gasoline.
This demon had the same volatile reaction to the sun. Savages caught on fire and burned, but it took a little time. This thing caught fire like a drought-ridden Christmas tree doused in gasoline and struck by lightning.
Saber moved the chair out of the sun’s rays and set it back in the shadows. Logan lifted a burnt blanket from the ground and used it to smother the flames. The demon’s crispy flesh continued to smolder while it glowered at them.
“Their tolerance to the sun is far worse than the Savages,” Ronan said.
Lucien rubbed his chin while he studied the repulsive creature and pondered this. “The human part of our DNA protects us from the sun… until we start killing. Then, the more we kill, the more we become like them.”
“It’s like killing strips the humanity from our DNA and leaves us more demon than human,” Declan said.
“And the more we become like them, the more we gain some of their strengths, but also some of their weaknesses.”
“Hence the Savages growing inability to tolerate the sun,” Ronan said. “And I suspect we wouldn’t be able to get this thing across a large body of water without inflicting a lot of pain on it.”
“I’d love to see how it reacts to a crucifix,” Saber murmured.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have any of those lying around,” Saxon said.
Logan stepped forward and crossed his index fingers one over the other. He held them before the demon who glowered at him. Logan shrugged and dropped his hands. “It’s probably not the same.”
“Probably not,” Nathan said.
“So, killing makes us more like a demon than a human. Of course, there are plenty of humans who enjoy killing too, but not like these things,” Lucien said.
“The more innocents we kill, the more demon we become,” Declan said.
“And this thing’s reaction to the sun is probably why they live underground,” Lucien murmured.
“That’s what we assumed too,” Ronan said.
So even if they still didn’t know what its intentions were, they had at least learned a few things about it. Capturing this thing hadn’t been a complete loss, but he wasn’t sure how what they’d learned would be able to help them.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Lucien didn’t want to be fascinated by this creature or these revelations, but he couldn’t help it. For years, he’d questioned why killing innocents mutated and changed them into monsters in such a way, and now they were finally discovering some of the answers to his questions.
The human part of their DNA gave them their humanity, but when the demon part of their DNA took over, that humanity vanished.
“There’s also this,” Ronan said.
He nodded to Saber again, who stepped forward, lifted the chair, and plopped it into the sun once more. A cry issued from the creature; it thrashed against the chains as its flesh sizzled again.
Saber lifted the chair and returned it to the shadows as Logan once again doused the flames with the blanket. Shoulders heaving, spittle flew from the demon’s lips when it bared its fangs and jerked against the chains.
Lucien was about to ask what else there was when Ronan turned the chair, and the demon’s back was to him. Its thrashing movements caused it to pull away from the chair and gave Lucien a good view of its spine through the slats.
Lucien’s jaw almost dropped when he spotted the red and black color of the demon’s spine seeping across its back. That color, spreading throughout its flesh, changed it from nearly translucent to one filled with red and black. He’d seen that same color do the same thing to his friends. He’d also seen it take over his body the other night.
Lucien didn’t know what caused the color to emerge, or why it infused him with a rush of strength when it did, but it happened to purebloods when a need to protect their mate or rage consumed them. Seeing that color on this thing made him realize how close they were to the demon part of themselves.
“Shit,” he muttered.
“That about sums it