Syra let out a sound that was a cross between disbelief and humor. "What the hell is that?"
The Daimon leader smiled. "I would say 'Your worst nightmare,' but I hate cliches."
"Marone, you're real."
Everyone on the "good" side turned to look at Otto, who stared at the leader as if he were looking at a visitation from the Devil himself.
"You know this guy, Carvalleti?" Jess asked.
"I know of him, anyway," he said, his tone deep and heavy. "My father used to tell me about the Daimon called Thanatos when I was a kid. We always thought he was making it up."
"Making up what?" Bjorn asked as he looked back in Thanatos's direction.
"Tales of a Dark-Hunter executioner called the Dayslayer. It's a story that's been handed down through my family for generations. Squire to Squire."
"And you're telling me this asshole is him?" Bjorn asked at the same time Syra said, "Dark-Hunter executioner?"
Otto nodded. "Supposedly Artemis once set up a slayer for you guys in the event you turned rogue. He can walk in daylight and doesn't need blood to live. Legend has it that he's invincible."
Thanatos applauded sarcastically. "Very good, little Squire. I'm impressed."
Otto's eyes turned glacial. "My father said Acheron killed Thanatos about a thousand years ago."
"Not to be a smart-ass," Bjorn said, "but he doesn't look dead to me."
Thanatos laughed. "I'm not. At least no more so than you are."
Thanatos approached them slowly, methodically.
Jess tensed, ready for battle.
Thanatos folded his hands behind his back and offered Otto a wry smile. "Question, human, did your father ever tell you of the Spathi Daimons?"
Thanatos looked at the Dark-Hunters. "Surely you older Hunters remember them?" He sighed nostalgically. "Ah, those were the days... The Dark-Hunters hunted us, we slaughtered them. We made our homes in underground catacombs and crypts where the Hunters couldn't go without getting possessed. It was an interesting time to be Apollite or Daimon."
He looked over his shoulder at the herd of Daimons who eyed them nervously for the most part. There were one or two who had no fear and those were the ones Jess paid closest attention to.
He didn't know anything about warrior Daimons, but he did know how to execute any and all who wanted a taste of a human soul.
When Thanatos spoke again, his voice was dark, sinister. "But that was before we discovered civilization and modern conveniences. Before the human world developed enough to where we could exist at night under the pretense of being one of them. Apollites owning businesses and houses. Daimons playing Nintendo. What is this world coming to?"
Thanatos moved so fast that no one had time to blink. He shot a blast from his hands, knocking all the Squires off their feet.
He surveyed his chaos with a pleased look on his face. "Now before I allow my people to feed on all of you and I kill the Dark-Hunters, perhaps we should talk a bit, hmm... ? Or do you Hunters really want to battle me while you weaken each other?"
"Talk about what?" Jess asked, moving closer to Syra. Even though he knew she could take care of herself, it was just ingrained habit for him to protect a woman.
"Where Zarek is," Thanatos said between clenched teeth.
"We don't know," Syra said.
"Wrong answer."
One of the unknown Squires let out a howl. Jess watched in horror as the man's arm was snapped in half by nothing at all.
Holy Madre de Dios, he'd never seen anything like that.
Bjorn attacked.