Daegelus | Volume One: Subject 0333

Chapter Seven | Ridge

"Yeah, yeah. I've dealt with you people before," Ridge said with a victorious grin on his face, approaching Elijah. "You think you're so tough coming in here like some one-man army." He stopped in front of him and looked him up and down. "You're gonna end up in the same place as the last guy they sent after me."

Elijah had no idea what he was talking about. He snarled in response, watching as Ridge pulled a strange black dagger from his pocket.

"Do you know what this is?" Ridge asked, holding the knife in front of Elijah's face. "Of course you do. You Venaticus assholes seem more desperate to get this back than that stupid little hybrid's blood."

His pack crowded behind him and laughed amusedly.

Ridge leaned closer to Elijah's face. "This is gonna hurt—"

A blinding flash of red light suddenly clashed with several demons behind Ridge. Horrified screams filled the room, and when Ridge turned to face the crimson fire that had engulfed half his pack, Elijah seized his chance.

Elijah pulled his right arm free and tore out the throat of the man who'd been holding it. Then, he snatched the man holding his left arm by his throat and threw him into the burning crowd. The two men at his feet tried to grab him, but he kicked one across the floor and threw the other at Ridge, who tried to reach him with his knife.

That was when Elijah saw Zoe outside the window. Evidently there must be a balcony, which was the perfect way for him to get Ridge out of the casino without having to deal with security.

He grabbed the back of Ridge's shirt before the guy could flee and snatched his wrist, keeping him from swinging his knife at him. Elijah moved past the burning demons, but they should have been reduced to nothing by now. Why were they still writhing and screaming?

As he dragged Ridge—who was yelling and flailing around in an attempt to break free from him—towards the window, Elijah glanced over his shoulder at Zoe. "What the fuck are you waiting for?! Kill them!"

"Get the fuck off me you Venaticus piece of shit!" Ridge screamed.

Zoe stood there with a horrified look on her face.

Elijah snarled irritably and snapped Ridge's wrist, making him drop the knife. Then, he slammed the man's head against the wall, knocking him out before he could say another word. He let the man's body hit the floor and grabbed a colt from the poker table. The demon shot each of Ridge's wailing, burning packmates, and once they were all dead, he dropped the gun, threw Ridge over his shoulder, and took the knife, too.

The girl didn't say a word when he climbed out of the window onto the balcony. She followed in silence down the stairs and along the street, and only when they went into an alley did Elijah feel calm enough to ask her what the fuck she was doing without lunging at her.

He turned to face her. "What the fuck was that?!" he snapped, dropping Ridge on the muddy ground.

"What was what? I was helping you," she insisted.

"Any one of those guys could have got up and grabbed a gun! Why the hell would you just leave them burning?!"

"Because I'm not used to these kinds of situations," she mumbled, looking away from him.

He dragged his free hand over his face and realized there was blood on his chin from where he'd fed on one of Ridge's demons. With a frustrated huff, he wiped the blood from his chin and looked down at Ridge. He didn't want to scare this girl off; she knew things—more than she was letting on—and he wanted to know just how much she was keeping from him. But he had to remember that she was just some journalist and not a fighter. It seemed like manipulating hellfire was the only thing she could do.