Patrik and Scarlett did their best to perform an autopsy on the invisible daemon. Blaze and Heron had plopped the beast onto a spare table, but the Druid wasn’t even sure where to start his analysis, given his inability to see his subject.

While they tried to figure the creature out, we helped Caia regain her composure. She gulped down a glass of water and told us everything that had happened, between hiccups and sobs. Blaze helped fill in any blanks whenever Caia faltered due to her emotional distress. My heart broke for her. She’d watched Fiona get snatched, and I could only imagine how traumatic that had been.

After Jax debriefed Caia, I moved closer to her and gently squeezed her shoulder. I didn’t have a solution for our problem, but I was positive we’d bring down fire and death on anyone who stood between us and Fiona.

“At least you found the prison.” Hansa sighed, too tired to express the rage I knew was building up inside her. I felt the same.

“The daemon took Fiona,” Caia mumbled.

“We’ll get her back,” Jax reassured her.

“We should’ve gone after her!” Caia shot back, giving Blaze a brief glare. She was mad at his decision to come back to the infirmary.

“I wanted to go after her, but I didn’t want to risk your life in the process,” Blaze said, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he stared at the invisible creature on the table. “I didn’t want to break the team down any further, either, and I didn’t even know how many of them there were. What if we were flying into a nest of thousands? I also hoped we could at least analyze a daemon corpse before charging after Fiona.”

“I agree—it would have been unwise to go by yourselves, even if one of you is a fire dragon,” Jax said. “If you don’t know your enemy, you don’t know their numbers or which weapons are effective. Most importantly, I’m not sure how even a fire dragon would fare against what could be a massive army of daemons—it would have only taken one smart one to figure out how to slash Blaze in the eyes.”

“It’s also good that you brought the dead daemon here,” Patrik interjected, pouring black dust into the palm of his hand from a small leather pouch. “Because now we can try to find out what makes this monster tick.”

“When are we going after Fiona?” Caia wasn’t able to focus on the daemon, not that I could blame her. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at the table, with blood dripping from its edges. One of them had our friend—our partner.

“I’m hoping an hour, two hours at most,” Jax replied, then nodded at Patrik. “Depending on how fast you can get useful information out of an invisible corpse.”

“What about the prison?” Blaze asked, stealing a glance at Caia.

“Lord Kifo will have some explaining to do,” Jax replied. “But Fiona’s our priority right now.”

“Hold on,” Hansa said, and sat up, her bare feet touching the floor. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around what the daemons were doing down there. You said the Imen referred to them as ‘soul eaters’, right, Caia?”

“Yeah, and I could see what they were doing, clear as day,” she replied. “I mean, I think that’s what they were doing. It was the only thing that made sense at that point.”

“They weren’t killing them yet, though—at least, I don’t think they were,” Blaze added. “But the Imen were definitely in pain, weak, and pale… Maybe ‘soul eating’ doesn’t kill right away.”

“This is getting more and more complicated.” Hansa shook her head. “I don’t think just going into the Valley of Screams is going to work. We need more manpower here!”

“One of us could go back to Calliope using the swamp witches’ travel spell,” Scarlett suggested.

“True, but the clock is ticking, and it takes what, six or seven hours per trip?” I frowned. “That’ll be twelve hours we can’t yet afford to lose reaching out to Calliope—and we also can’t afford to spare any one of us right now. We’re a small team as it is. I think we need to go after Fiona first, then send one of us back to Calliope. The daemons won’t kill her yet, based on their patterns and what you saw in the prison. They’ll probably cage her like they did with Minah… and maybe feed off her soul.” I shuddered. That sentence didn’t end up sounding as comforting as I’d intended.

“Harper has a point,” Jax replied, clearing his throat. “We’re better off asking Lord Kifo for additional fighters. He has plenty of Correction Officers, from what I’ve seen today. Surely he can spare a couple dozen or more to support our entire team for a retrieval mission in the Valley of Screams.”

“Do you think he’ll want to help?” Blaze raised an eyebrow. “You know, given the shady prison situation we’ve uncovered…”

“I can talk to him,” I offered. “Like Jax said, Fiona’s our priority. I can go get him now, and we can hash things out with the guy.”

It was easier this way. I was sure I’d get Caspian on board if I put him in front of my whole team. I had leverage on him, after all. He needed his identity beneath the savior’s mask to be kept a secret, and I needed a small army to get Fiona back.

Call it blackmail.

Patrik muttered something under his breath and blew black dust over the beast. The particles burst into flames as they touched the daemon, but it didn’t have any effect on its invisible cloaking. He was trying to find ways to reveal the creature.

“That would actually be sensible.” Jax gave me a brief nod.

I was secretly thrilled to go after Caspian again and torment him a little. He deserved it, and a hell of a lot more, but I figured I’d start with blackmail and work my way up.

Patrik tried another spell with the same black dust, which turned into water as it came in contact with the invisible skin. We all stilled as the water trickled down the creature’s back and revealed a small stretch of tanned skin. The Druid gaped at us for a second, then grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it all over the daemon.

We all gathered around the table, watching as Patrik rinsed the creature, its invisibility texture fading away and revealing its real skin. I couldn’t stop myself from gasping at the sight of it.

It was extremely tall, at least one head over Jax and Heron. And… judging by its physical features, it was actually a he.

“He’s naked,” Heron croaked.

“Well, almost,” Blaze muttered, his dark eyebrows raised.

The daemon had deep and wide holes in his torso and lower abdomen from where Blaze’s teeth had gouged him. The wounds had been fatal. But I had to admit that he looked absolutely nothing like what I’d expected… Not only was he tall, he was also very well built, with a heavy muscle mass, and toned to perfection. He’d clearly been designed for war and combat.

As Blaze had pointed out, he wore a short chainmail loincloth mounted on a black leather belt as his only item of clothing, and his limbs—arms and legs like the rest of us—were in good proportion with the rest of his body. Enormous claws protruded from his fingers, hard and sharp enough to match the damage we’d seen them inflict on me, Hansa, and others. Patrik pressed the tips of his fingers, to further inspect his hands, and the claws swiftly retracted, vanishing between regular nails.

“Oh… retractable claws.” The Druid cocked his head to one side. “What other secrets are you hiding, daemon?”

He moved closer to the creature’s head, where two smooth horns curled out from the back and extended forward, their tips sharp. They partially reminded me of the alpine ibex on Earth, in terms of angle and shape—they weren’t too long or thick, but could easily serve as weapons.

“Look at his mouth,” Patrik muttered, and pressed down on the daemon’s chin, opening his mouth. Two large white fangs extended from the upper jaw, significantly longer than vampire fangs.

“Are they retractable?” I asked, then put my hand out. I pressed on his gums, and the fangs retreated beneath, leaving small but equally sharp canines on display. “Yup, retractable.”

A minute passed as we all stared at the face of our enemy.

His face was humanoid and… surprisingly handsome, with a five o’clock shadow framing a jaw that could cut diamonds. He had long black hair, and his lips were large and full. I found myself wishing I could look him in the eyes—I wondered if they were red all the time.

I shivered as my gaze traveled back down his formidable body.

Ropes of muscle covering him from head to toe. Retractable claws and fangs that could rip into any throat, easily…

What had we stumbled upon here?

“At least we know what the enemy looks like,” Jax sighed, resting his hands on his hips.

“And we know they feed on… souls, I guess,” Hansa added.

“And they’re extremely fast. Terribly strong. And those claws can do some serious damage,” I said.

“Along with their fangs and horns,” Avril interjected.

“And one of them has Fiona.” Caia shuddered.

“We’ll get her back,” Blaze said firmly, moving to Caia’s side and putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Harper.” Jax spoke up. “I think it’s time you pay Lord Kifo a visit. Now that we’ve seen the beast, we must leave as soon as possible.”

He looked at me, his jade eyes nearly glowing with resolve and determination.

I nodded and drew in a deep breath, taking a moment to feed off both of those emotions before heading off. Based on that creature stretched out on the table in front of us, I was going to need them.

We were in for a heap of trouble.