He raised his arm over Kiani’s head, doing his best to ignore the pain. “Trust me, Gray.” He stepped up to him. “I need you to lead them.”

  Knowing he was defeated, Fitz just looked around at the others and ended back on Logan. “Fine—damnit… Wanker.”

  He offered Logan his hand. “Until we meet again.”

  The two men embraced and then Logan did the same to CJ. “Listen to Mr. Clean over here. Regardless of how screwed up he acts, he’s a smart man.”

  She nodded, laughing at the jab. “If it’s okay with you, I’d rather stick next to Dave and Brett.”

  That got a laugh out of Logan and even a slight smirk out of Fitz. “Find out what you can about this Phoenix group. Use whatever sources you can trust—off the books if you have too. Call in help from home if comes to it. I want the Bullpen full of men we can trust.” He looked at Zeus who just coolly nodded his goodbye. “You too, under the radar intel. Double check the men there now. I don’t want any more rats.” Apollo was shouting instructions into his radio twenty feet away as Logan and Kiani were led into the woods surrounding the cave opening.

  Fitz and CJ were the last to move, watching the last of the Ru’kan vanish into the greenery. Wearing her emotions on her sleeve, CJ began to tear up at the separation of their team and her brother.

  Fitz put his arm around CJ and kissed the top of her head, spitting out something foreign. “Gross,” he said, turning her. She smiled at his attempt to cheer her up. “He’ll be fine. He’s got two incredibly strong ladies keeping him company. We’ll see him soon.”

  The chopper sounded closer, making them ditch their leisurely stroll and break into an unwanted run. Both limped as they ran but pushed each other forward. The plan was to head back to their original LZ and wait for Night-1 to arrive. He’d then radio in his approach and drop lines and harnesses. With only four of them remaining, the load would be light and quick.

  “What happens if their helo is still in the area when Night-1 arrives? CJ asked as they moved.

  “He has orders to light them up if necessary. Shango-1 is a warship remember, he can start a small war with that thing if he needs to. Those heavy machine guns on either side don’t have to be manned. Night-1 can operate them from the cockpit.”

  CJ’s eyebrow raised.

  Fitz smiled. “A handy little addition from the Americans.”

  She nodded but Fitz could tell she was still worried. “I wish I was as strong as Fayng and Kiani. I wish I could’ve done more to protect Logan.”

  “You are, Cass,” Fitz replied, watching her run, “believe me.”

  And then some…

  * * *

  They walked for an hour, heading deeper into the jungle. Logan did his best to track their direction, but the thickening canopy blocked out most of the sun’s rays, making it difficult to do so. Fayng stayed by his and Kiani’s side the entire trip, explaining things the best she could.

  “You will be taught to harness your gifts,” she said, “living among those who’ve had them their entire lives.”

  “Is that possible?” Kiani asked. “I’ve apparently had them my whole life and never knew. Is it possible that they may have disappeared?”

  “No,” Logan said, “from what I know about genetics, nothing truly comes or goes. Like cancers for instance… We all have those cells in our bodies. Some of us just have more active ones than the next. Some families have predisposed illnesses like heart disease or breast cancer.”

  “I just have demon DNA,” Kiani said, uncomfortable in her own skin.

  “But that doesn’t change you,” Logan said, softly.

  “No,” Fayng added, “but it can define you.”

  “What do you mean?” Kiani asked, stepping into a clearing and stopping.

  Fayng stepped in front of them and turned. “You can either let it control you, or…” she turned and motioned to the landscape, “…you can control it.”

  Both Logan and Kiani’s jaws dropped as they looked out over the small village. Homes lined the edges of the clearing, much like the Ka’s did. There was a central fire pit where four women sat, taking turns rotating a slab of meat. Children were everywhere too, chasing each other like all kids did. A stream finished off the settlement here, where it picked up on the other side of an eerily similar suspension bridge. Dozens more Ru’kan tribespeople could be seen on the other side, going about their daily lives.

  “I thought you said the hunters were one way and then changed as they aged?” Logan asked. “There seems to be a fair number of younger men and women here too. Not just the elders.”

  “You are correct,” she replied, “but that doesn’t mean that those hunters are doomed to stay that way. They can choose a different path if they want. They can accept their gifts and harness them or turn into the savages you encountered earlier and let it consume them.”

  You can choose to control it, Logan thought.

  He looked around and saw families—happiness. It wasn’t all bloody gore and brutal fighting within the Ru’kan people. It was understanding. If you truly understood yourself, you could train your body, and mind, to be a weapon for good instead of one for evil.

  Like protecting the jungle from the Nsanga.

  Logan eyed Fayng intently, feeling his body heal with every passing moment. He knew what he wanted and he was sure Kiani would agree.

  He squeezed Kiani’s hand. “When do we start?”

  EPILOGUE

  Four Months Later

  Logan watched from above as the unknown party hacked their way through the brush below, leaving an easy-to-follow trail in their wake. Wankers… Fayng took Kiani and him under her wing as her own after the death of her larger-than-life son, Baird, guiding them to this point. During such training, the three of them had taken it upon themselves to scout the area surrounding the Nsanga nesting grounds looking for hatchlings that may have survived the flood.

  There weren’t many…

  Fayng had traveled and spread the word to the other Ru’kan settlements throughout the jungle, moving quickly and without incident. Once she made it to her people’s boundary line, she conveyed with a messenger from another Ru’kan tribe and asked them to do the same.

  “The caves belonged to the Ru’kan,” was the message. If they wanted to live in peace, without worry from the outside world, they could. All Ru’kan were welcome too, not just Fayng’s tribe, including the elders, the Nua. She wanted peace for all her bloodline.

  Fayng, in general, preferred the beauty of the underground jungle. Some went deeper into the cave system and settled in the remains of the Ka village. Logan and Kiani agreed with Fayng, and instead of living aboveground, they made a small living space for themselves on the exact spot they’d first been together. It was one of the only times the original mission had brought them joy. They both missed the outside world and wanted to feel that happiness for as long they could.

  “So much for only hunting giant lizards,” Logan mumbled when spotting the eight-man unit. They were dressed in all black and covered head to toe in body armor just like the ones they encountered before.

  Initially, he thought they were Delta but knew it wasn’t true once he saw them up close. They moved like a private security firm rather than America’s best. Plus, Delta should have meant Zeus and company but it was easy to see that none of the men were Fitz who would surely be accompanying the Americans too. He was an easy one to pick out. He moved exactly as Logan did and no helmet could hide that man’s beard.

  “Who are they?” Kiani asked, perched next to him.

  “Not sure,” he replied, “maybe a Phoenix hit squad trying to clean up Ares’ mess?”

  A soft glow emanated from Logan’s right. Fayng was agitated from just the mention of the reformed Nazi group. She wanted to exact her revenge on them badly and close a seventy-year-old chapter in her life for good. She would finally be at peace with her husband’s death all those years ago.

  “What’s the plan?” Kiani asked.

  “Recon,” Logan said simply. “We don’t yet know who they are for sure. No reason to start an international incident if we don’t have to.”

  “And if they start it first?” Fayng asked. “If they are the enemy and are here to gain a hold of our blood again?”

  The way she said our blood was still eerie for Logan and Kiani sometimes—hard to handle. They were Ru’kan now and were still getting used to being something other than human. Part man, part Nephilim warrior. They both felt exactly the same as before except for some small changes.

  For one, Logan didn’t need to work out anymore to stay in shape. His body was sculpted like a world-class athlete’s—twenty pounds heavier, but as lean as ever. His strength had doubled too, as did his speed, endurance, and his senses. He could see and hear things he never could before and smell things he wished he couldn’t. They didn’t exactly have running water and soap out in the jungle.

  If it was up to him, he would have ventured out into civilization overnight and procured some things to make life easier for Kiani and him. Fayng had other plans, though. She insisted that they learn the old ways and put aside any and all modern distractions and vices. Plus, their natural…fragrances...would hide them better than a jug of clean-scented body wash could. Stink was your cologne in the wild apparently.

  Kiani’s changes were similar to Logan’s in that she became faster and stronger too. She still kept her lean frame and tall stature but the added muscle gave her an appearance that others found intimidating. Logan found the woman as desirable as ever, stealing away whatever private moments they could together, whenever they could find the time.

  At first, Logan tried to forget that he was sleeping with a 150-year-old woman. It was the closest estimation to Kiani’s actual age anyway. Fayng said if the missionaries hadn’t administered Kiani any antibiotics that her aging would have been even more pronounced than even hers. Even for someone in the Ru’kan bloodline, Kiani’s aging was much slower than most and if she eventually died of natural causes it may not be for another four or five hundred years.

  It was an effect of the God Blood that Logan still couldn’t figure out. The best that he could come up with is that since Kiani was cured by the missionaries, her abilities stayed dormant and her aging normalized. So now she aged like a human but had the abilities of a Ru’kan—like Logan.

  Fayng also confirmed that a very small portion of the population in the outside world did, indeed, have the God Blood gene. They just didn’t know it. It was like not knowing your full heritage. It didn’t affect the way you lived your life in the least bit.

  “Are you ready?” Fayng asked.

  Logan nodded, recalling her teachings. It was on par with his Special Forces training, brutal but necessary. And this would be their first test in live combat if—

  A cough and a smack made the three Ru’kan members flinch as a bullet tore into the tree trunk next to Logan’s head. Had one of the men on the ground positively ID’d them, or was it of the spray-and-pray, hope-for-the-best kind of fire? As a second shot hit the same tree, Logan knew they wouldn’t be so lucky.

  In unison, he and the two women leapt from their current perch, traveling twenty feet to the next one, moving away from the men below. They still didn’t know who the soldiers were but the twin projectiles sent their way at least gave Logan the answer of who they weren’t.

  Definitely not Fitz and Zeus.

  “Fan out and head for ground level,” Logan whispered. “Stay out of sight until I give the order.” He grinned at the hypersensitive hearing he now possessed. No need to raise his voice when speaking. It was like having a superpowered tactical comms unit at his disposal at all times.

  Without replying, Kiani and Fayng headed away from Logan’s central spot, one to the left, the other to the right. He would drop straight down into the fray and they would close in from the sides. It was the same tactic the Ru’kan used when they first attacked their group four months prior.

  If it ain’t broke… he thought, not having to finish the overused saying. It was true, though. It did work. Two of his team were killed that night without a shot fired.

  As he calmly and silently climbed down the backside of the tree, he heard more coughs followed by the impacts of the bullets as they stuck in the same spot as last. The team below hadn’t seen them move off.

  Good.

  “Get ready,” he whispered again.

  When Logan’s feet touched the ground, he heard Kiani and Fayng answer back with an all clear. They were ready and waiting, but first, he needed to see what he could do by himself. Kiani wasn’t happy about the proposed idea but Fayng didn’t seem to think it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

  “G’day,” he said, stepping out from behind the thick tree trunk. “Any of you have a cold one handy? It’s been a while.”

  Eight gun barrels snapped his way as he stepped forward.

  “Don’t move!” the man said…in English.

  Great, Logan thought, more American spies.

  Logan did as he was told and stopped, giving the men a good look at him. He was wearing what Fayng had told him was standard attire for a Ru’kan male. The loincloth made him feel like Tarzan but he had to agree with the old bird that it made moving silently through the jungle easier. Plus, it was hot as hell and incredibly humid too.

  Kiani wore the same outfit as a classic bikini two-piece, looking very Jane-like. The light tan furs accentuated her darker skin tone that much more. The first time Logan saw her in it his jaw slammed into the ground.

  “Hands on your head and turn around!”

  He followed the boisterous man’s order.

  As he turned he sniffed the air and found Kiani and Fayng’s scents nearby.

  Perfect.

  He was confident in his newfound abilities but agreed on having them close by, just in case something unforeseen happened. The sound of crunching boots behind him told him that three men were on their way to him. He allowed one of them to zip tie his hands behind his back and turn him back around.

  “Sir…” One of them said into a radio. “We have one.”

  Phoenix.

  The killer mumbled a reply into his headset before turning back to Logan. Just as the team’s leader faced him, Logan acted. He gritted his teeth and pushed, feeling his pulse quicken and his heart rate explode. It was the first lesson Fayng taught him. Their gifts were as he thought, emotionally driven or stress-induced.

  Like now.

  His muscles tensed and he yanked outward, snapping the normally ultra-resilient zip cuffs. The group’s captain stood no chance as Logan lashed out with a hard right, caving the man’s skull in with one quick blow. He slashed his quickly extending claws across the next closest man’s throat before he could shout a warning and then did the same to the third assassin as he watched the first two die.

  Then, things went really nuts.

  The five remaining men open fired on Logan’s position but Logan wasn’t there when the rounds zipped by. His downward arc wasn’t noticed in the dimming light until it was too late. He dropped like a missile from thirty feet, landing dead center within the gunmen’s circular formation.

  Then, Kiani and Fayng joined in.

  Only one other shot was fired and it went sailing harmlessly into the night sky as the last man died missing his throat. Logan dropped the bloodied gore and turned to Kiani. Her eyes glowed a bright green as did Fayng’s. Logan couldn’t see his own but he knew they were doing the same. He looked down at his hands and saw the blood vessels slowly dimming and his talons retracting back into his fingertips.

  The three just stood in silence and waited. The only sound was their heavy breathing and the ambient sounds of the jungle surrounding them. Life had returned to the region upon an agreement between Fayng and the remaining hunter tribe leadership.

  Fayng hissed and whirled on something, looking to her feet. She bent down and grabbed one of the men, picking him up like the Ka leader did to Logan upon their first meeting. The man was fading fast, covered in blood.

  “Who sent you?” Fayng asked. As she spoke a nasty set of fangs started to grow, making the dying man whimper in fear.

  “You…won’t get away…” he said, coughing up blood.

  “Who. Sent. You?” Fayng asked again, accentuating each word sharply, squeezing the man’s throat harder.

  He pounded on her wrist and then her face, getting no reaction out of the older woman. One of the blows broke her nose but it almost immediately popped back into place, mending itself without a glimmer of recognition from the woman. The Phoenix agent’s eyes widened at the sight.

  “It’s going to take a lot more than some amateurs to bring us in,” Logan said, stepping up. “I thought Phoenix would be tougher than this.”

  “We…” he answered, gasping for air through his punctured lung, “are much more than you think, Captain Reed.”

  Logan hid his reaction and his surprise. He didn’t want to give the man the satisfaction that he correctly identified him.

  “Answer the lady’s question… Who sent you? Give us a name, damnit!”

  Instead, the man let out a wheeze and slumped forward. Fayng released him from her grip and turned to Logan. “Now what?”

  Logan really wasn’t sure. They stayed out in the wild with Fayng so she could show them her ways—the ways of the Ru’kan. Logan was wholeheartedly against it originally, wanting to get back to Tanzania and rejoin his team—his friends. But after enduring the rigors of Fayng’s instructions, Logan now saw the benefit in learning how to properly use his gifts.

  He reached down and removed the dead man’s comms system, bringing the mic up to his own mouth. But before he could say anything, he heard someone on the other end asking for a mission update.

  “G’day, mate,” he said with venomous disdain. These people weren’t his friends. “My name is Logan Reed of the Seren—” he stopped himself and looked at the two women, “—of the Ru’kan. But you can call us the Devil’s Children… You’ve killed those close to me and countless others to meet your own sick endgame.” He grinned, feeling his fangs elongate further. “Now, it’s your turn.”