“I’m… not… strong enough…” Zack’s trembling voice murmured. He still stood frozen, his eyes wide with fear and disbelief as he stared at the spot where Remy’s body lay. “He… Remy… Remy is dead… because of me… it’s… my fau—”

  SMACK!

  Tony’s open palm struck Zack’s cheek with brutal force. The sharp crack echoed through the silent courtyard, a violent interruption to Zack’s mental collapse.

  “Focus!” Tony shouted, his voice an icy, commanding thunder. “We have to keep moving! Two of them are already after the demon. The three of us are still here, and the house is right there. We move.”

  Without waiting for a response, he grabbed Zack roughly by the collar. He yanked him away from the spot where Remy had fallen and dragged him toward the wooden house hidden between the larger buildings.

  Lori still held her hand over her mouth, her eyes filled with horror. But she did not stay behind. She forced herself to push the grief aside, cast one last fearful glance at Remy, and followed the two men, her steps quick and uncertain across the cobblestones.

  Tony kicked the wooden door of the house open. The crash echoed in the silence as the door burst from its hinges with a splintering crack. His expression was focused and severe. His eyes scanned the entrance and the small living room in a fraction of a second.

  “Zack, check upstairs,” he ordered. “Lori, watch outside and keep an eye on that alley. I’m going to the basement.”

  Lori nodded firmly. She turned and took position at the entrance, her gaze fixed on the dark alley.

  Zack, however, was still in shock. It was visible in his eyes—the haze of trauma and disbelief. Yet he moved. The automatic response to Tony’s command took over. He stumbled toward the stairs and began climbing the wooden steps.

  At the top, there were two closed doors. Zack opened the first and saw nothing unusual: a bedroom with a bed, a wardrobe, and a mirror. Nothing of value.

  As he turned to the second door, he heard a soft scraping sound from inside.

  He turned the handle and looked into the dark room. It resembled a small office, with a desk in the center.

  Zack took his first step inside—and from the corner of the room he saw something.

  Two round, glowing red eyes stared back at him.

  He recoiled in shock.

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  A demon? How?

  Zack stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet. The red eyes rushed toward him—but it wasn’t a demon.

  It was a dog.

  A medium-sized black dog with eerie, red demonic eyes. The animal lunged at him.

  “What?!” Zack shouted, confused by the attack and the strange creature.

  Before the dog could reach him, it was pierced in midair.

  Two knives flew through the doorway with lightning speed and struck the animal at the same instant.

  Tony stood in the doorway, his arms still extended.

  “An Umbral?! How did that get here?” Tony shouted, his voice filled with anger and disbelief.

  The dog dissolved instantly into thick black smoke.

  Zack’s face twisted. He had inhaled a large breath of the foul vapor. Immediately his vision blurred. A shrill ringing filled his ears, and somewhere behind it he heard Tony’s voice sounding distant.

  “Zack?! Zack!?”

  Zack felt his body sink as if gravity had slowed, as though he were falling through thick mud, until his head struck the hard wooden floor.

  He lay there, unconscious, surrounded by the last wisps of black smoke.

  “Umbrals? What are Umbrals?” Eli asked Natasha, quickening his pace to keep up with her.

  The large, uneasy group—consisting of the two men from Norvella, Eli, Natasha, Benny, Gina, Thomas, and Kevin—was on its way back to Brittania. They moved through a dense, dark forest.

  “Umbrals are mutated animals,” Natasha replied. She sounded tired but focused. “They’re demonic, but they don’t feed on souls. They exist only to kill. Pure aggression.”

  Thomas, walking near the edge of the group, added, “Umbrals come in different ranks as well. But more importantly—when the moon is full, like tonight, there are fewer pure demons around… but more Umbrals.”

  Benny, who walked at the front with his strange black-and-white eyes, suddenly stopped. He raised his hand, signaling the others to be silent.

  The entire group froze instantly.

  Then they heard laughter.

  A raw, shrill, sickening laugh that was not human—but too intelligent to belong to a wild animal.

  Eli sharpened his hearing, his heart pounding in his chest.

  Who else was in the forest?

  And why were they laughing like that?

  The laughter grew closer. Soon it became clear that it was not just one voice—it was many, a chorus of macabre mockery.

  Bj?rn drew his enormous, roughly forged sword. The metal caught the faint moonlight.

  “Umbral Hyenas!” he thundered.

  Eli instinctively drew his dagger. His gaze darted through the darkness and he saw them—yellow, demonic eyes appearing all around the group.

  There were at least fifteen of them, black shapes preparing to strike.

  The attack came from every direction at once.

  The Umbral Hyenas were faster than their earthly counterparts, and their black fur absorbed the moonlight.

  Bj?rn, the warrior from Norvella, stood like an immovable rock. He roared and brought his sword—a broad, heavy blade—down in a devastating arc. The first hyena that came too close was split in two; the impact was so powerful the ground seemed to tremble. He turned and cut again, his strikes slow but unstoppable, effortlessly holding an entire sector by himself.

  At his side fought Kevin. His sword was lighter and faster, and he moved with almost acrobatic agility. While the Umbrals avoided Bj?rn’s crushing power, they tried to overwhelm Kevin with sheer numbers. Kevin responded with swirling parries and rapid thrusts, keeping the beasts at bay just long enough to avoid being surrounded.

  In the midst of the chaos, Jakob raised his bow.

  While the melee raged, he chose his targets with deadly precision. Even in the darkness, his arrows found the yellow eyes without fail. Any Umbral that threatened to break the formation was cut down by his shots. His role was long-range defense, and he carried it out with cold efficiency.

  Benny and Eli stood shoulder to shoulder, their style a stark contrast to the heavy steel of the Norvella warriors.

  They fought with short, quick daggers, striking at the necks and flanks of the beasts. Benny, with his terrifying eyes, moved with unnatural speed—almost as if the Umbrals saw him in slow motion. Every thrust of his blade was fatal.

  Eli fought on instinct. He shoved one hyena away with his shoulder and drove his dagger into another. He was fast, but lacked Benny’s raw, absorbed power. Still, he held his ground, his movements driven by adrenaline and the will to survive.

  The ground was soon littered with dissolving clouds of black smoke from the fallen Umbrals.

  After a frantic minute of swords, daggers, and arrows, the remaining Umbral Hyenas retreated. The yellow eyes vanished as quickly as they had appeared, and the shrill laughter faded into the darkness.

  Bj?rn took a deep breath, his sword still dripping.

  Kevin leaned on his knees, catching his breath.

  The group stood in the smoky silence of the aftermath.

  Eli wiped blood and sweat from his face, the weight of reality heavy on his shoulders.

  The demons were not the only enemy.

  And this battle had only just begun.