Declan walked up to Ezekiel. “Those were some good men you just purged, asshole.”

He said nothing, only watched bask with the determination he never removed.

Declan grinned. “Boy, am I going to have some fun with you.”

“What are you doing?” Liam asked. “Aren’t you going to kill him?”

“Oh, after what we’ve gone through to find you, we’re just getting started.” He turned around. “You know what to do, men. We’re going Western style with this one.”

The Hunters fell into motion, quickly wrapping a rope around Ezekiel’s neck while Declan tossed logs and sticks into a pile nearby. An unsteady mass grew, and the Hunters hoisted their prisoner on top. With one final tug, the rope around his neck lurched him upright.

Ezekiel shifted back and forth, his platform uneven. He grimaced as the truth of his circumstances grew, but he did not speak.

“Ezekiel, is it?” Declan asked. “We’re going to play a little game with you. Try your best to stay where you are. With the weight of that sack of meat you call a body, I don’t need to tell you what’ll happen to your neck the moment you fall. Think you can stay still f–”

Declan paused, his lips suddenly shaking. He took a few steps closer. His eyes widened. “Motherfucker! I didn’t notice at first glance, but now that I see you strung up… Yes, I’d recognize that crown-of-thorns tattoo anywhere. How the hell are you still alive!?”

“What are you talking about, boss?” Oscar asked.

He burst into laughter. “Do you people have any idea who this guy is? No wonder he was so hard to bring down.”

The other Hunters looked from one to another in silence. Ezekiel grit his teeth, brow furrowed.

Declan jeered. “This Hunt just got a whole lot more interesting. We didn’t happen upon only one legend revived from the past with this living human over here. We’ve got a second right in front of us!” He held up a hand. “My good friends, may I introduce you to one of the best Hunters that Pandemonium has ever seen: Zeke!”

“This guy’s a Hunter?” one of the others asked.

“Not just any Hunter either,” Declan explained. “He was Hades’s go-to lieutenant when the Styx first came up. Purged hundreds of folks during the rise to power. We even thought he was gonna replace Leah one day at the top of the food chain, but then he went off and disappeared one day, never to be seen again. Man, did I never think I’d see him again.”

Liam watched on, dumbstruck. Ezekiel, a Hunter? It can’t be… His normally passive demeanor shattered under the reveal, his black lips barely containing the clenched teeth beneath.

“You lie!” Ezekiel spat. He cringed as the logs beneath him shifted, but he did not fall.

Declan flicked him in the face. “Don’t play dumb, Zeke. I might’ve just been a scrub manning the turrets when we founded Pandemonium, but I worked real hard to get my Rez to where it is now. A fish never forgets the shape of the sharks in the ocean.” He leaned in. “But it seems you might’ve. Tell me, Zeke. What the hell happened to you during all those long years? What could make a motherfucker as tough as you become like this? No more than an asshole traipsing around the woods with a stick and cape.”

Ezekiel closed his eyes and began muttering. Liam could only capture a few words of it, but he recognized the sound of prayer.

Declan yawned. “What a bore.” He picked up a tiny rock and threw it at his face. “Come on, guys. We came here for fun. Let’s have it.”

The others joined on, pelting Ezekiel with rocks of their own. He shuttered with each hit, the platform they forced him onto shaking and losing size, even as the rope around his neck held firm. Liam could see the trap. The longer this exercise wore on, the more likely he’d fall and break his neck.

Declan glanced over his shoulder. “You’ll be a good sport with us, at least. Right, human?”

Liam clutched his daughter closer. There was something off about the way this Hunter spoke to him. As if he intended to be sympathetic, but with an insincere undertone that still leaked through.

But this need not be overthought, so long as they brought them back home.

“Are you sure he’s a Hunter?” Liam asked. He just couldn’t believe it.

Declan nodded. “Tried and true. Tough as nails. Or was, anyway, until becoming whatever-the-hell this is.”

Liam swallowed the lump in his throat. It was true that he’d wanted to escape Brother Ezekiel since the moment he’d arrived, but there was something about this moment that wrenched his heart. Even though he towered above, this revelation did not seem to bring him any comfort. As his legs quaked with a rope around his neck, he’d never seemed so small as in this moment.

Liam frowned. He shouldn’t worry about his captor’s plight. “You wouldn’t happen to have brought a vehicle with you, Declan? Somewhere to keep my daughter warm? It’s been a tough journey.”

He shook his head. “Afraid not, what with the whole war and everything.”

“War?”

“Oh, right. I forgot you’ve been stuck out here, all alone.” He stroked his chin. “What the hell’s your name again?”

“Liam,” he said. “Liam Fenix.”

“Liam,” Declan repeated. “So you’re the one who Leah kept as a pet, huh?”

“It isn’t like that. She’s a good friend of mine. We go back together.” He stroked his daughter’s hair. “What did you say about a war?”

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He nudged over his shoulder. “Zeke’s Beholder friends ramped up pressure back home. Launched a surprise attack against Pandemonium and everything. We’d already set out on this Hunt, but it was total carnage from the way they tell it back at Seaside.”

Liam grimaced. “Surely, they would’ve been fought off with Pandemonium’s weaponry.”

“I’m sure they did.” Though he didn’t sound quite so certain.

There it was again. That glint in his eye. That deep, hungry ogle. His eyes probed Liam and his daughter like fingers slithering around their bodies.

Not just him either. The other Hunters were tossing their rocks at Ezekiel as he swayed back and forth, but their attention never drifted far from where Liam sat. Their eyes bulged from their sockets ever so slightly, and their mouths salivated.

“I don’t think I like the way you’re looking at us, mate,” Liam said.

Declan beamed. “What can I say? This has been one hell of a day for us, and you smell real fine, Liam. You and that sweet little thing in your arms.” His nostrils flared, as if to accentuate the point. “Who would’ve thought that a crew like us would come across someone like you after all this time. And Zeke too? This might as well be two lottery wins in a row.”

Liam’s heart began to race. “Just don’t forget why you came.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t. A Hunt is a Hunt, and it’s our job to see it through.” He licked his lips.

Liam inched back, his heart racing. “That’s right. The Head Huntress would never forgive you if anything happened to us. Hell, she’d go to the ends of the earth to enact vengeance if she thought you had something to do with it.”

Declan stroked his chin in thought. “Yeah, that’s a good point you got there. Leah isn’t the type you’d ever want to get on the bad side of, especially now that she’s moved up in the world. The thing is, Liam… We didn’t just hear about the attack but also who got killed during it. Turns out the Head Huntress died when they attacked. Got crushed under a landslide the moment they charged.” He smiled wide, his teeth like razors. “Looks like it’s just you and us out here.”

No, that can’t be. Leah was practically indestructible. She’d know how to get out of a scrap like that.

But he couldn’t even think about that. Not right now. Not when these monsters were right in front of him.

The Hunters had stopped their stoning and focused onto him alone. Declan first drew a knife, followed by the rest of his companions. Their eyes all burned with glee for the feast that lay in front.

And Brother Ezekiel stood where he’d been left. Eyes downcast, silent, barely paying the rest of them mind. While the Hunters were growing in their bloodlust, he remained completely undeterred.

Without thinking it through, Liam set Leah aside. The shard of glass trembled in his numb hands as he stood back up and pointed forth.

Declan guffawed. “What do you possibly think you’ll be able to do with that, Liam? There’s four of us and only one of you.”

Wouldn’t be so sure of that if I was you, mate. Liam launched into an attack, ramming the nearest Hunter out of the way. The others recoiled from the sudden charge, and Liam pressed his luck. He lunged for the nearby tree with his shank.

A sharp pain burned through his side as a Hunter stabbed his chest. He gasped, his arms locking up. Another followed, sending a fresh wave of agony throughout his spine. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. The pain deafened him to the world beside.

Except for Leah. His daughter. Out there alone. Unsafe. With his last remnant of strength, he drove the shard down. The rope snapped free, and he dropped into the leaves below. Dust and dirt filled his throat as he coughed through the agony. The others rose around him, their forms blurry.

Save for one.

Ezekiel stood behind, his visage again locked in conviction. The rope swayed from his neck where it had been cut free.

“Oh, fu–” a Hunter started, only to be silenced when Ezekiel drove his foot through his skull.

Another turned, again too slow. Ezekiel rammed him upwards and into an exposed branch. His body twitched where it landed, the branch now jutting out from an eye socket.

The next managed to get a few swings in, but Ezekiel bobbed and weaved before they could land. With one final roundhouse kick, he finished what he’d started. The Hunter’s body held its ground for a few more seconds, even as his head tumbled behind.

“Not another step, Zeke!” Declan called out.

Liam squinted through the pain and his heart skipped a beat. Leah bawled between the Hunter’s arms, his knife pressed against her tiny neck. Her father tried to call out, but the air was trapped in his lungs.

“Put her down,” Ezekiel ordered, his tone hard and unyielding.

Declan scowled. “She’s the one you care about, eh Zeke? Well, you make the slightest move for me, and I’ll tear her throat out. Got it?”

“I won’t tell you again.” He took a step back and began circling around.

His body traced his movement. “You were the most ruthless killer I’d ever seen, Zeke. The hardest motherfucking out there, ready to destroy anything without mercy. The embodiment of a wolf in a world of sheep. Shit, most of us Hunters wanted to be just like you. We wanted to do what you did and roll in the pics while spending night after night in Elysium, as is our right.” He pivoted another foot to keep Ezekiel in sight.

Liam realized the trap getting set. With Declan focusing on Ezekiel, he was blind to where Liam lay. The other Hunters were dead nearby, their weapons free for anyone to grab. He strained his wrist and reached for the nearest pistol.

“But look at you now!” Declan barked. “All this skill as a Hunter, and you’re walking around the woods in that shitty little cloak, putting your life on the line for… What? A couple free meals? Some stupid fucking book? Why? What could have possibly happened to make you abandon all that power and prestige?”

Ezekiel sighed. “I found God. Just as you will too.”

Liam reached for the pistol and took aim. Declan looked over his shoulder when he caught his meaning, but it was too late.

The bullet pierced his skull before he could react.

Leah tumbled from the dead Hunter’s arms with a squeak, but Ezekiel had already dashed forth. She landed harmlessly between his thighs.

“Did any blood get on here?” Liam gasped. They weren’t out of the woods yet. Even if Soft HBRS pseudo-cells were rarities in blood, such risk of infection could not be overlooked.

“No, Liam,” Ezekiel said after a moment. He grinned wide. “Not a single drop.”

It’s over. Liam prostrated himself against the nearest tree and let out a breath of fresh air, even as his lungs shuddered in agony.

“Thank you, Ezekiel,” he said with a wheeze.

He let Leah down as she started bawling again and wriggled from his restraints. “You have nothing to laud me with praise over, Liam. Thank the Lord for his intervention.”

Liam laughed. “Just take the compliment, mate.”

Whatever came next, they had at least survived this day.

Together.