Page 44 of A Trial By Blood

“This is a venious demon.” He motioned to its hands. “They poison their victims with their venomous claws, causing paralysis, so they can then eat their victims alive. It’s a slow, agonizing, and horrific way to die. The venious are sadistic, demented, pure evil.”

I swallowed loudly in the quiet room. “I think we’ll just leave him there then.”

“That would be wise.”

I took in the room again. “So is the guy upstairs a monster as well, just a different kind?”

“It appears that way.”

Wonderful.

I forced myself to take pictures of the room with my phone, not easy when Ronan was still holding my hand. But he obviously needed to have some kind of physical contact with me for his power to work on both of us. Somehow, I managed it, snapping all the pictures I needed.

Ronan led me back upstairs, and we did a quick search of the rest of the house. We didn’t find anything else, thank god. I didn’t think I could handle much more after the gruesome sight in the basement.

We were about to leave when a shout came from the living room. Ronan changed directions, leading us back toward the demon-eating old male who had been enjoying some intestines while he watched his favorite show.

But when we rounded the corner, there was a whole other kind of show taking place. A full-on horror show.

“What…what is that?” My stomach churned.

“He’s shedding.”

“Shedding?” Then I watched as the elderly male literally peeled his skin and flesh from his naked body. “Oh, goddess. That is…” I wretched. “Disgusting. Why is he doing that?”

“I assume because his outer skin has aged more than he’d like.”

There was a wet thud as the old skin hit the hardwood floor, then the bloody, slimy body that it had encased straightened. Using his hands to sluice all that muck from his face, then shoving back wet hair, he looked down at the mess on the floor. “Fuck,” he muttered as he stepped out of the pile of skin.

A male now stood there, taller than before, muscled, and definitely younger, a lot younger. I could tell even with all the blood and gore on his fresh new skin. “My vision. That’s it. Him, like that. Old, then young.”

“You’re sure?” Ronan asked, taking in the other male.

“Yes, I’m positive of it. Why would I have a vision of this?”

“I don’t know.”

This was incredibly frustrating. “Do you think he needs to eat demon organs to bring on this…shedding?” I asked, eyeing the naked guy across the room.

“It would seem so.”

I’d never seen one before, a naked male, that is. This guy was attractive, despite the blood, which felt weird to notice after what I’d just seen him do, but there you go. The male cursed again, then strode from the room.

A low kind of growling sound came from Ronan, and I spun back. He was watching the male walk away as well, and he didn’t look happy. The shower came on in a different part of the house.

“I think we need to come back and talk to him,” I said. “We need to know what was stolen. I’m not sure how else we can find out.”

Ronan’s jaw clenched. “We’ll come back in the morning and talk to him then.”

Ronan led us back across the room and through the door. He strode across the yard and out the iron gates and didn’t let my hand go until we were back at the car.

I frowned and looked around us. “Everything still looks all wavy. Your power didn’t drop.”

Ronan unlocked the car and walked back to the passenger side. “No. I haven’t dropped it yet.”

“But you let go of my hand. How is your power still surrounding me?”

He opened the door and motioned for me to get in. “I don’t need to make physical contact for my power to work on others,” he said.