"Don't you ever leave like that again! Do you hear me?!" he was screaming in her face and she looked up at him in shock. She had never seen him lose control before and it was scarier than when Jaia had done it. Kai was so gentle and sweet, but this was a furious monster. "Never! I will make sure you can never walk again if you do that again!"
She could only nod, her eyes huge as she looked up at his gleaming fangs and wild eyes.
Seeing her fear, he seemed to calm down somewhat but he was still angry and his shouting had brought others.
"Kai it's alright she's back," Uzo called as he reached them and tried to pry the vampire off her, but he had latched on.
"Never…" he snarled in her face and she whimpered.
"Yes Kai, never," she whispered and finally he let her go, allowing her to push herself up and crawl backwards from him into another pair of legs.
Looking up, she found Daemon grinning. No, not grinning. He was baring his teeth at her and she made a soft squeak in fear.
Before she could get away, he had her by the hair and was dragging her to her feet.
Shoving her up against the tree, he glared at her.
"Hands," he said simply and she swallowed, holding her hands out in front of her.
He wrapped his long fingers around them and then she was bound, trapped and with no chance of getting her wrists apart.
Daemon refused to let go of her again after that, instead keeping a firm grip on her and she frowned, but didn't argue. It was easier not to argue with him and he was exceptionally angry, which was odd because she had never seen him quite so angry before.
When they had dragged her back to the camp, he sat her down by the fire and she remained quiet, letting them talk before they finally had to stop pretending like she didn't exist.
"Did you get it?" Kai asked and she nodded, smiling at his look of wonder.
"They are logical beings, once I explained the situation it was relatively easy. I also found that I needed very little magic shared to be able to trigger the dormant links in my brain. This may not be the most difficult task in the world after all. Some of them will be harder than others,"
Kai and Etani looked at Demon, who grimaced at their glares.
"I tend to think the general creatures will be easy enough, but I recognised some of those names and it will require us to go to Faerie, and even the underworld. Why did you breed my family with the Gods?" she demanded.
"Because they were powerful," he said snippily.
"How many Gods are we talking about?" Uzo said warily.
"I counted six," Kai said and Etani nodded.
Daemon ignored their moodiness and looked away.
"Not only that, but we have a shapeshifter and a damned thunderbird… How do you even procreate with a thunderbird and why would you go with one?" the vampire wondered.
"Eyes," Daemon said simply and they all looked at him, then all heads turned to her and those eyes that had no way of being described fully.
"That's why I was trying so hard to get them back, look at them," Daemon said and she snapped at him when he made to grab her face.
"What about the Strigoi?" Kai asked and they all shivered.
"That one will be just as tricky. There aren't many left. They all gave into infighting and trying to gain territory," Versalis said, staring at the fire.
"Wouldn't Versalis be enough?" Etani asked, glancing at the man.
"I am a vampire king, but they are king of kings. Think of it like my being a prince and their being the king. I am king only because I stole that from a Queen and a vampire Queen controls a coven. The Strigoi control us all."
Biting her lip, she sighed and motioned for the pack. Kai handed it to her and she unfolded it.
"So we have covered the first three. Demon, vampire, and dragonkin. Next we have a harpy and… who is Mara?" she frowned at it, not knowing the name.
"Sort of like Hades but from a different background. Big, lecherous, evil," Uzo supplied.
Rubbing her eyes, she let out a slow breath.
"This is going to be impossible. How are we going to hunt down this being? Are they in this realm or Faerie?"
"Mara never leaves Faerie unless the humans need him," Versalis said.
"Unless there's some great battle to keep him entertained."
"What is he a God of?" she asked.
Daemon hesitated and she looked at him suspiciously.
"Destruction and desire," he said finally and the group let out a collective sigh.
"If I ever get back to myself, I'm going to kill you," she said, her head in her hands.
Daemon snorted, looking at her bound and held captive.
"You did that already, three times,"
"At least you won't have to worry about this again," she sighed, skimming over the enormous list again before turning to the map.
"What does that mean?" Daemon asked.
"This line will end with me," she said, tilting the map upside-down and frowning at it, not sure of where they were in relation to anything else, plus she wasn't able to hold it very well with her hands bound.
The silence of the group made her look up and she noticed everyone was watching Daemon. Looking at the demon, she found him staring at her intently.
"What?" she demanded, shifting herself a little away from him.
"I think you need to repeat what you just said, I feel like I misheard," Daemon said in a weirdly formal, dangerously calm voice.
"You heard me. There will be no more after me. Letari is dead, I will eventually be killed and that will be the end of it. You can start with some other messed up game."
His teeth flashed in a maniac grin and she met his grin with her own neutral face.
"You think you will end my line? I will put a child in you by force and keep you down if that is what it takes,"
Her face flushed and she glared at him. Kai was on his feet, Jaia baring his teeth but Uzo looked relatively calm. Versalis had vanished, a movement of him catching the corner of her eye but she pretended not to see it.
"You will not. You will accept that you have gone as far as you can with this game. It is time to stop."
He was on her before anyone saw him moving, her body slamming back so hard she cracked her head.
"You listen to me, you little bitch. I will not allow you to ruin my work just because you have had a hard time. You will do what fifty others of your family have done and give me the next generation. Or I will make the next generation from your body," his nose was touching hers in a light brush, his fingers curled around her throat only tight enough to keep her down.
"Then I suppose that's what you'll have to do. I will not procreate, I will find a way to destroy it every time like with Drizdan."
Uzo twitched but she ignored him, instead staring up into those feral gold eyes.
Daemon bared his teeth at her and she responded in turn, knowing he would make good on his threats just as she would.
"What's to stop me from keeping you immobilised?" he whispered.
"Them," she said simply.
Daemon glanced up to see every other member of their group inching in on him, murderous intent on their faces.
Looking back down at her, his sudden switch to calm had her immediately suspicious of him.
"No, you're right. It is your choice of course," he let go of her and pushed himself away. Kai appeared above her and he took her hand, pulling her up to her feet and immediately put his arm around her protectively.
After that there was no further discussion and they decided it was a good time to start packing while they figured out what to do next.