But then, even the God of War had failed to figure out my hybrid heritage before he’d brainstormed with Lucifer. And when the devil had recognized my hidden origin, Ares had murmured. “Fuck me. I should have known it.”
Now that the demons thought I was their prince’s half-blood pet, they planned to torture me slowly, inflicting as much pain as possible before killing me.
They planned to make a show out of me and make me a sacrificial goat.
But I wasn’t this half-demon half-human thing they assumed. I was another kind of hybrid. I was far beyond them.
I didn’t suffer fools.
I summoned my magic, and again, it was but an ember in the ash.
Loki’s blood hadn’t been able to help me counter the dark spell that bound my power, but it had temporarily sated my hunger and boosted my energy level.
I was incredibly strong, though I didn’t look it.
The demons advanced closer as they kept mocking me, calling me a filthy half-breed, among other names.
I pictured their next moves. One of them would grab my throat, lift me in the air, make a speech to insult me and work the audience, then start to slash my skin shallowly so they could take a long time to kill me.
The spectators that I’d temporarily blocked out cheered and roared. They’d been doing that before the culling started. They were thrilled at what they thought would come next—a show of grotesque torture. They’d relish every gruesome detail, even getting off on it, if I let them have the show they wanted.
I purged every emotion from me.
No fear. No rage. No grief. No regret.
Only one purpose echoed in my skull—kill.
Ten yards, five yards, the demons swaggered toward me as if they owned the arena.
Three giant demons took the lead, craving the glory of breaking a little thing like me.
Now!I roared.
I leapt from my crouch, defying Hell’s gravity.
I might not have magic just now, but I was a hunter and always would be. Years of honed skills ran in my blood.
And I was a daughter of a Titan king, no longer restricted by my once human mind and ideology.
My feet skimmed over the top of the horn of the demon in the center front. I needed only a touch point to anchor myself. My twin blades glinted off the crimson moonlight as they swung down and slashed in force. Two demons’ heads rolled off their necks. They should thank me for preserving their horns, but then, they could no longer say thank you.
I whirled like the forest wind and jumped onto another demon’s head while my blade pierced his skull.
The rest of the demons yelled and pulled away, shocked and shaken. By the time they’d recovered, I had cut down a dozen of them and landed in a spacious circle they cleared around me.
The hot sand beneath my feet was sticky with blood, none of it mine.
“Bitches, want some more?” I grinned. “Today is your lucky day because you’ll get more and get it all free.”
They lunged toward me as one, and I spun like a violent twister. Wherever my blades touched, heads or limbs dropped.
None of the contestants were allowed to wear armor, which worked to my benefit. And even though the demons had natural spikes and scales covering their bodies, my blades met no resistance.
Loki’s dukes had offered me the best swords.
Lucifer and Ares wanted to cut down weeds in the culling game. That was all right. I was showing them how to cut down demon weeds. The audience had been stunned to silence when I’d made my first kills, and now they all stood up from their seats, bellowing like bloodhounds, which they were, in a way.
As the wicked duke had said, I didn’t look it, but I was faster and stronger than any demon.