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Only three of the four humans in front of him wore their black masks. Every single one of them had a silver emblem etched into the sternum of their uniform, but only the maskless one wore a blue-jewelled silver medallion.

Her unfeeling gaze inspected him like he was hate-invoking. She clasped her hands behind her back, stood tall, and flicked her long dark hair back over her shoulders with a twitch of her head.

“I know your kind can project your voices past your skulls. Will you speak?” she asked, looking down her nose at him.

His blue saddened sight flared crimson.

He snarled in answer.If they know we Mavka can speak, then they chose to attack me on purpose.They hadn’t wanted to communicate with him, so why should he do so now?

He no longer desired their help. Actually, he wanted them all to crawl inside his maw so he could swallow them whole and take their humanity. He would steal their cunning and use that to destroy the Demon King.

They could have made a friend, but they instead made an enemy of him.

“Has it tried to talk?” she asked one of the other people in the room.

“No. Not even as we brought it to the dungeon.”

Was that the name of this room?

Ingram might have tried to bargain with them as he was dragged into this dungeon, but he’d still been enraged. Much time had passed, and he’d been taken away from the scent of blood. He was calm now, although rightfully furious.

“Where is your bat-skulled companion?” the woman asked, her expression unchanging as though she felt nothing looking upon him.

He couldn’t help the whimper that exploded from his chest at the reminder of his loss. To hide it, he growled and tried to snap his head forward threateningly, but was met with the tightness of his constraints.

“Why did you come here? Was your intention to destroy our fortress?”

He didn’t answer.

She stepped forward and bravely cupped the underside of his beak to ensure he was looking upon her. The bridge of her nose crinkled.

“Listen here, you bird-brained fuck.” He wished he could crack her head open with a single slam of his bony forehead, or perhaps even with one of his horns Especially when she grabbed the shaft of a stick jutting from him with her free hand. “You will answer my questions.”

She yanked it from him, and a yelp exploded.

The pain of it almost threw him back into mindlessness.

“Did the Demon King send you?”

His snarl was so fierce that even he thought it sounded twisted as it bounced off the stone walls.

The Demon King is my enemy,he darkly thought.And had your people not harmed me, I would have asked for aid to destroy him.

“What is he planning? Why are there more Demons on the surface? Just a month ago, we lost many to a small army of them. Tell me why.”

When he gave no answer, she yanked another stick from him.

“Start talking, Duskwalker. Otherwise I’ll gain other answers I seek.”

There was a phrase he’d overheard humans say to each other, as well as Merikh had uttered it to him and his kindred. He’d never truly understood what it meant, why someone would say it, until this very moment.

It felt perfect.

“Fuck... off,”he rumbled.

Her screwed nose, like it had been broken, twitched and crinkled tighter. Then, a glint brightened her features as snide, cruel humour, when she leaned back.

“Have it your way then.” She gave him her back, her hands once more behind her. “Bring me the doctor, as well as Emerie. Make sure she’s aware that after her actions tonight, she’s been promoted to Elder and my replacement underling.”