Chapter 520

I stared at the image. It shifted from a smiling face to the same shape that was strewn around us. Limbs spiderwebbing outward. Head severed. Blood and guts everywhere.

"Why him?" I asked. "Even if I did obey you, which I won't, how would I find him? I barely know his name."

"You will obey me, for a start." The creature snapped its fingers and the vision faded. I felt my head begin to spin, the forest around me blurring. My sense of self began to slip away. For a moment, I couldn't remember where I ended and the Lord of Hell began.

No... I shook my head to dispel the feeling and clung to my sanity as best I could, but it slipped through my fingers like sand.

“I'll guide you to him, of course. Since he'll be your first, you won't know yet how to follow the scents on your own. But once the ritual is complete, and your powers come to fruition, it will become second nature to you. You'll be even stronger than the Winter King. Keener." It sneered. "He was always... pathetic, anyway. I never expected him to last as long as he did. I knew someone else would come along. Little did I know it would be you."

I stared at him. At the creature. I didn't know what to say. I kept telling myself that this couldn't be real. I wanted to believe that it was just a bad dream, but... I knew it wasn't. Already, I could feel my feet moving without conscious thought.

"Find him," the creature called after me. “Kill him. And your children will be safe. For now."

And then he was gone, dissipating into that dark mist. The scent of sulphur burned through the air again.

But... No. He wasn't really gone. I could still feel him. His presence lurked in the back of my mind like a parasite burrowing into my skull.

I looked down at the bloody scene around my feet. The instructions were clear. Find the traitor. Kill him. And do... This to him.

My wolf stirred. He was eager. Ready. The demon's influence had already taken root.

I had no choice.

I didn't know how I knew which way to go, but I started moving. I shifted midstep and let the scent guide me. It wasn't a wolf's scent, but something else. Blood tinted with something indescribable. I could feel it pulling me toward him like a compass pointing north.

I ran.

The forest blurred around me. Trees became shadows. The rain turned to mist. All that mattered was the scent. The target.

The traitor.

I ran for what felt like hours, and it had begun to downpour in thick sheets, but I hardly felt exhaustion. I only smelled that blood, felt that urge to kill. With each step i became clearer

Find him. Kill him. Become the chosen one.

Become the Lord of Hell's favorite pawn.

The scent grew stronger, and I knew I was close now.

Finally, a cabin appeared through the trees. Small. Isolated. Smoke rising from the

chimney despite the late hour. That was where he was. I could feel it.

I charged through the door with a snarl. It exploded inward, wood splintering, hinges tearing free from the door frame.

Kill kill kill kill kill—

I froze when I saw her.

Natalia?

She was laying on the floor. Her hands were tied above her head. Her ankles were bound. Blood was dripped from her wrists and throat.

And Isaac was kneeling over her with a knife pressed to her neck.

KILL. HIM.

ет

I lunged without thinking. Whether it was the demon's influence or my own, it didn't matter. I just knew I wanted to feel that bastard's blood filmy throat. wanted to know what it felt like to crunch his bones between my jaws and make him suffer.

And most of all, the last shred of Andrei that existed within this shell wanted to destroy him and leave with his corpse before the Lord's

pawnturned his hunger toward Natalia

pawce has no blood left

to drink.