"I do, but we still have enough daylight left that we should be able to get to him before he reaches the others."
Stryker scoffed. He knew better than that. Ravyn was like him-a survivor. If they wanted to take the city, they'd have to move quickly.
He turned toward his sister. "Gather Trates and the Illuminati."
"You're planning to hunt?" Theo asked, his eyes sparking a degree of relief and hope.
"Yes," Stryker said slowly.
"Good. I'll get my team ready."
"Don't bother, Theo."
His nervousness returned tenfold. "My lord?"
Stryker approached him slowly, methodically. He reached out and cupped the man's cheek in his palm. It was smooth and supple, as were all of theirs. Perfect. That was the beauty of never growing old.
Theo might be stupid, but he was as beautiful as the angels that many of the humans believed in. "How long have you served me now, Theo?"
"Almost eight years."
Stryker smiled at him. "Eight years and in all that time, tell me what you've learned about me."
He could feel the man shaking as he answered. The scent of fear and perspiration hung heavy in the air-gods, how he loved that smell. It was like an aphrodisiac to him.
"You're the Daimon King. Our only hope."
"Yes." He stroked Theo's cheek. "Anything else?"
Theo glanced nervously toward Satara before he returned to frown at Stryker. "I don't know what you mean."
He sank his hand into Theo's blond hair and balled his fist tightly in the strands so that the half-Apollite couldn't escape him. "The one thing you should have learned, Theo, is that I don't accept failure in any shape, form, or fashion. Your first mistake was letting the Dark-Hunter escape. Your second one was being stupid enough to come tell me about it."
Theo tried to pull away, but Stryker held him in place. "P-please, my lord, have mercy. I can find him! I can!"
Stryker smirked at his pathetic cries for clemency. "So can I. In fact, I intend to find more than just Ravyn. Before I'm through tonight, I intend to hunt and feed to my heart's content. But it won't be human." He licked his lips as he stared at the throbbing vein on Theo's neck. "Tonight I feast on Apollite blood and carnage... On you and your entire family."
Before the man could speak again, Stryker sank his teeth into Theo's neck, ripping out the carotid as he drank his fill.
Theo only fought for a second, before death finally claimed him. Stryker let Theo's limp body fall to his feet before he wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.
"You didn't take his soul?" Satara asked incredulously.
Stryker scoffed. "Why bother? He was too weak to even whet my appetite."
"So what is our plan then?"
Stryker walked down the steps of his dais to stand beside his half-sister. "To run the bastards to ground. Ravyn has a Squire, right?"
She nodded.
"Then let's put the fear of us into the Squire and he or she is bound to lead us straight to Ravyn."
"How do we do that?"
"Simple, sweet Satara. You're not a Daimon. You can enter Ravyn's house and then invite us in. Trates and the others will go for the Squire, and she will run to Ravyn for protection."
Satara considered that for a moment. "What if you're wrong? The Squire might run to others of his kind."