Heavy knocking pounded on the door and then a rough voice called out to the group seated inside.

"Innkeeper, open this door right now or we'll break it down."

The middle-aged man glanced at Sebastian who nodded to him.

"Hold on," the innkeeper raised his voice and replied.

He hurried over to unlatch the door and as soon as he did, a group of six men was revealed. The one in front pushed him to the floor for not moving out of the way fast enough. Having bullied the poor innkeeper, the new arrivals swaggered in and raked their arrogant gazes over the bunch of good looking guests that the inn had attracted.

"How many more of you are there?" The one in front asked. He wore a hat made of animal skin and had a sword under his belt. His greedy eyes were focused on Lucien, the youngest and most eye-catching of the lot. These ill-mannered interlopers had never seen a group of such good looking people before. It seemed such a waste to sacrifice them.

"Just a sick little girl upstairs. Please do not disturb her," Artemus replied in a polite tone.

"One girl, eh? If I find out that you're lying, I'll cut your tongue out," the man threatened.

"Can't you let them go?" The innkeeper begged. "How will this village survive another month if we continue to act-"

"Enough! Your son is already dead. Do you wish to see your wife killed next?!"

The innkeeper was silenced by the threat. He hung his head low, feeling helpless and angry. These strangers could have left when he had asked them to, but they'd stayed. Now they were going to get killed by the monsters. He wished he was strong enough to fight back, to break the idols and take revenge for his son. But he was just a weak innkeeper.

"I'm sorry..." he softly said. The villagers assumed he was saying it to them but the words were meant for the unlucky guests who were going to die.

"Get up and follow us," the leader coldly told the group.

Akida and Alka were upstairs, watching Abigail so they weren't worried about her getting attacked. Sebastian wordlessly stood up and he was followed by the others.

"You," the man said to Lucien. "What's your name?"

"Syryn," the redhead replied with an inscrutable smile. If he was going to be up to no good, it was better that he use his older brother's name since Syryn had already established himself as a trouble maker.

"Pretty name. It suits you, Syryn."

"Thank you."

_________

"Are we going to take them all up to the cave, boss?" One of the men whispered to the person with the hat.

"All of them."

"Seems kind of a waste giving them all up in one go."

"I'll ask to keep the redhead. The others will have to die."

"What are you going to do with him?"

"Make him my plaything."

The men thought that the group of people kidnapped by them couldn't hear what they saying, but they were wrong. Magnus and Artemus had caught every word.

"Walk faster," one of the kidnappers yelled to the group of supposedly 'soft' merchants they'd caught, a story fed to them by Sebastian. The fact that they had believed the story proved the lack of any meaningful danger they posed to the group.

"We're camping out next time," Artemus told Sebastian. Wild animals and monsters were easier to deal with than the complex scenarios associated with fragile human lives that needed saving.

"Seconded," Sebastian agreed.

The group walked through a footpath in the forest till they reached a brightly lit cave mouth. The entrance of the cave was painted black and decorated with the skulls of many dead people. And as they came closer, the smell of blood and death permeated the air with its foul presence.

"Lulu, what do you think about the decor?" Magnus lightheartedly asked the redhead.

"It's too tacky."

"Quiet!" The leader snapped. He eyed Lucien first, admiring the way torch fire lit up the teen's face. The village had a good population of women but none could compare to such an exotic boy. He was utterly smitten and impatient to hand over the others so that he could take him home and throw off every article of clothing that encumbered his eyes.

"Syryn, come here," the man told the redhead. Magnus stiffened beside him but Lucien gave him a look that bid him to stay put. "What are you looking at?" He growled at them. "Are you two lovers?"

"No, he's my stepbrother," Lucien told the man. "You can't blame him for being protective about me."

That seemed to calm the man down. When Lucien came to stand beside him, he touched the teen's neck and sniffed his hair like an animal.

"You smell so good," he growled. "I could just eat you."

Red eyes flickered with a dangerous light.

"I'm toxic," Lucien whispered.

It brought a leer to the man's face. "You're the type that would bite back, aren't you? I love breaking stubborn bitches. I'm going to enjoy putting you in your place."

"A hard place under the boss," one of his lackeys said as they all burst into laughter.

Sebastian squeezed Magnus on his shoulder when he felt the air suddenly heating up around them.

"Calm down," he whispered to the fire mage. "There's time later for burning the trash."

Magnus seemed calm on the surface but Sebastian felt the feverish, almost painful heat that radiated off the fire mage's skin. The sandy-haired mage worried that if the idiots kept teasing Lucien, a black inferno was going to burn them all down without exception. The dark fire was a special kind of magic that normal methods could not put out. Not even Sebastian was prepared to fight such an annoying flame.

"When?" Magnus asked in a serene tone.

"After we get to the demons."

"What's going on here?" A cloaked man appeared from the mouth of the cave and surveyed the large group of noisy people.

"We've brought sacrifices, visitors who were passing by the village."

Sebastian couldn't see under the hood of the cloaked man. His figure was taller than a human had any right to be. The part of his fingers that they could see under the cloak was thin and tipped with sharp nails.

"Visitors?" The hooded man asked. He sounded like he suspected something was amiss. "The village hasn't had any visitors in months. Who are you people?"

"Nobody. We're nobodies. Let us go, please. We'll leave the village and never return," Artemus said to the hooded man. He sounded like a scared man feigning calmness.

"It's too late," the hooded man replied. "Bring them inside."