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"What are you going to do to him?" Foxx asked with a bored drawl Paenther turned to study the young Feral he’d known for three years, still trying to figure out if he werecontrolled by evil or if he had in fact been turned At the h, it didn’t seem to matter Not unless Foxx was one hell of an actor Because he see to kill hi his soul I have three Ferals at uar, I’ll have four I’d never believed catching all the Ferals was a possibility, but I’ to realize, your foolish loyalty to one anotheras I have you, the others will come to me And when I have you all, and have taken all your souls, you’ll open the Daemon blade the way it was meant to be opened and free Satanan once and for all"

Like hell But he was right The Ferals were loyal to a fault The others would mount rescue atteht Just as the seventeen had all those years ago, and died, their animals never to return It wasn’t in the nature of a Feral to abandon his friends and brothers And it was that very loyalty that would be their undoing

The pain began to swirl in his head, a strange-colored fog encasing hisHe found Skye, locked his gaze with hers, holding on against theto remove his soul

Pain and fear for him bled fro he knew the , would die He’d hurt her as he becaainst the men he’d sacrifice his life to protect

His body would continue to live and to kill, but the man he was, the man capable of love and sacrifice, would die

As the pain overtook hie and despair

Skye stumbled to her feet, her wounds nearly healed, her heart cruht of the terrible cri on the man she loved On the Ferals On the world

Vhyper stood well behind Birik, now, a man with a cold, emotionless face, his hands clasped behind his back

Skye went to him

"He loves you," she said quietly Desperately "He risked everything to come back here to save you"

"He’s a fool," Vhyper said coldly But so I can do" His voice was different, war, she gripped his arm "You’re the only one who can save him, Vhyper Ancreta made you what you are She caused the injury inside you that let the Mage get their claws into you Now they’re going to destroy Paenther"

Vhyper’s gaze looked elsewhere, but the fact he hadn’t shaken her off or hit her gave her hope he was listening But listening wasn’t enough

"Vincent!"

His gaze snapped to hers, a look of terrible struggle in his eyes

"Don’t let Ancreta win, Vincent!"

Skye saw thethe humanity With a casual flick of his wrist, he backhanded her, sending her slaainst the wall She slid to the floor, her head pounding, her body aching But she felt the creature inside Vhyper rear up, hissing and spitting Not at her At soood and evil in its purest for possession of his body His mind His soul

She tried to rise, but her head spun dizzily, and she sank back to the floor and crawled close to hiive him power, but they wouldn’t coer in his animal form and couldn’t hear her telepathically If she called to him out loud, she’d only attract Birik’s attention to herself and possibly to the battle going on inside Vhyper

Her head and body aching, she struggled to her feet, where Paenther could see her Where shehis help

But when his gaze turned toward her, his eyes held no warmth, no love Only pain

And the cold emptiness of the soulless

Chapter Twenty-five

The cold that rushed through Paenther as the evil spread over his heart was sharp and biting, but wondrous A frigid cleansing that rid hiuilt and sorrow and conscience

His body bled with pain at the transformation, but it was the pain of rebirth, and he exulted in it

Behind Birik, Skye rose, her gaze clinging to hi into him In a voice so soft, only a Feral would hear, she whispered to him

"Paenther, I need the words Help me save Vhyper! Help ive ave her power

"I love you, Paenther"

What difference did it one The reborn Paenther had no need for love

But deep inside his slowly hardening heart, a fire flared A desperate love A fierce need to help her The fire battled back the cold that tried to encase his heart And suddenly he was saying the words, his voice ringing through the cavern

Birik shouted "Cease! Stop hi to the words as she whispered the with hi the battle inside hiht for her For Vhyper For his own soul Discord rippled through the evil, as he felt the battle raging inside Vhyper even as he was consu to save them both

"Stop him!" Birik yelled a second time

"He’ll stop on his own," one of the sorcerers said "Once we have his soul"

Birik whirled on Skye instead He grabbed her fro her jaw closed as he pulled her away froe inside hi him apart at the most fundamental level Darkness swirled around his head, but he continued to chant, clinging tenaciously to Skye She was all that kept hiht he needed to hold on

But he was losing The chanting went silent as the words would no longer cohts flash and sparkle Where Vhyper had stood, now sat a great snake, growing by the second until it was the width of a

The snake slithered across the floor, coiling and rising beside the sorcerers As the darkness closed in on hi Paenther And in those eyes, he saw pain and joy, grief and love He saw his friend

The snake struck lightning fast, tearing off the heads of two of the sorcerers before they could ht it was too late, then war the cold as the invisible bonds disappeared In a rush of dizziness, he fell to one knee And felt his soul tumble back into place

Vhyper’s voice, warm and rich with the deep bond of brotherhood, whispered in hisdown

Paenther looked up with a fierce grin The heart Welcome back, Vhype

He called on the poithin him and shifted into his cat’s form in a burst of pain and furious joy, then leaped to Vhyper’s side

The snake let out a hissing sound Paenther kneell A viper’s battle cry We’re getting out of this together, BP Now, let’s do it!

"Capture them!" Birik yelled