“What do you want, Dekker?” Nox asked more to distract the man than really wanting to know.
He snaked his head around, and his body followed the action in a flow of muscle and bone. “Dr. Echols said your fuck toy—” He swallowed a laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry, yourAlpha, gave you the ichor from inside him and the other walking corpses in your band of merry men.” In a blur of movement, he was in front of Nox. “I want it.” Dekker’s blue eyes glittered with bits of yellow.
Nox growled.
“Then Dr. Echols is helping you.” Dr. Dante said it like he’d expected it.
“Nah, his only loyalty was to his science project. Wouldn’t have cared if he hadn’t tried to pick up where New World left off.” Dekker put a hand on the smoked glass. “Guess he forgot how well we can smell lies and taste deceit. And he had it so thick in his veins it made my teeth hurt.”
“You killed him.” Nox locked gazes with Dekker.
Dekker growled, and bits of yellow flickered in the blue of his eyes. “I didn’t just kill him. I ate him, Mr. Kelli. First his fingers.” He made a show of displaying one of his hands. “Then his toes. Do you have any idea how long it takes a man to die when you pull him apart one bite at a time?”
“Why?” Reese shook his head. “You need him.”
Dekker laughed. “And what makes you think that?”
“I read the reports: you need the VrK to keep the ichor from purging.”
“Oh, Dr. Dante, you are so misguided. So ignorant. But then I guess that’s why some of us are meant to beVaruand others are meant to be sheep.”
Varu? Nox glanced at Reese, who looked as confused as Nox.
Dekker laughed, and it bounced off the walls. “That’s all right. Even Dr. Markus misjudged the purpose of the ichor.”
“Did you kill him too?”
“Of course. But his was more of a mercy killing. He didn’t take it so well when he realized what he’d done. So, I alleviated him of his suffering. And there will be so much suffering.” A growl ticked out of Dekker’s throat. “Reign of humankind is done. The Mah walks. And we are the strongest, and they know it. They fear the darkness we bring with us.” Dekker put a hand on the glass. “Give me the ichor, Nash.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was only the ichor Koda gifted to Nox.
“Are you sure?” Dekker’s predatory stare fell on Luca again where he peeked out from behind Dr. Dante. “Or maybe you need some motivation.” He growled, and the muscles in his jaws rippled.
“Don’t.” Threads of black spiraled down Nox’s arms, sliding over his hands to form claws.
Dekker tracked the change with his eyes. Greed and envy reflected in their depths. “Can’t you see it. How different it is? Can’t youfeelit?”
“No.”
“That must be because it’s not meant for you. It was never meant for you. The path will never open. You don’t have the strength to tap into it. But I do, Mr. Keli. I have the strength to lead the way to the promised land.”
“You’re insane,” Reese said.
“My army is already hundreds strong,” Dekker said. “And I have hundreds more waiting to be gifted with the change. That’s not including the thousands more who will wake up to a new dawn if they’re lucky enough to survive the VrK.”
Reese clenched his hands as if he understood the nonsense Dekker vomited.
If he spoke the truth and had hundreds of Anubis? The potential havoc he could wreck would indeed change the world.
But the dread in Nox’s chest warned him that’s not what Dekker meant. Because it was far bigger.
“Let’s see if we can’t make you into a believer.” Dekker stepped in front of Dr. Dante’s cell and trailed his fingertips along the edge of one of the glass bars holding the other door shut.
“Don’t you dare.” Rage threatened to erupt, and Nox fought to retain his cognitive mind.
“What are you going to do about it?” Dekker shoved back the glass bar.
Luca’s fear spiked through Nox.