"Urn, guys," Phobos said, sticking his head out of the door, "I hate to interrupt whatever weirdness you two are partaking in, but we have a situation in here you might want to check on."
Frowning, Jericho led the way into the room to find a new group of Skoti.
Baffled by their appearance, he looked at Madoc for an explanation. "What's going on?"
Madoc held his hands up and shrugged. "We're not sure. They just appeared."
Another burst of light startled them as Nike flashed into the middle of the Skoti. Her back to him, she stood at an awkward angle with her wings drooping.
Jericho took a step toward her, then froze as she turned to face him and he met her gaze.
Nike was gallu.
Madoc and Phobos cursed as they manifested swords to attack.
"No!" Jericho snarled, shoving them away from her. "She's my sister."
Madoc looked at him as if he were one pint shy of a gallon. "She's infected. She'll kill all of us."
"I don't care." She was still his sister. Jericho armored himself before he approached her.
Snarling, she came at him like a wild animal, slashing at him with her hands and trying to bite him. Her wings fluttered out, but he managed to catch her from behind and hold her there even while her wings slapped at him. She screamed and kicked, then tried to head-butt him.
Even though he was armored, he could still feel her kicks against his shins.
"I need a cage," he grunted.
Delphine made one the size of a small closet. But it was large enough to hold Nike until they could find some way to help her. "Here."
Jericho shoved his sister into it and winced at the sight of her white eyes and serrated teeth. Bubbles foamed from her mouth as she reached through the bars to get to them.
Eros and Zarek exchanged a concerned look before they glanced to the Skoti.
Eros scratched his chin. "I'm thinking we should cage them, too, before they go Linda Blair on us."
One of the younger Skoti stood up. "We're infected. But with us, it's slow-acting."
Jericho scowled. "What?"
"They're testing a new venom on us to see if they can infect one of us during a fight without our knowing we're infected. So that once we return home, we can spread it to others."
How insidious-plus it would make them all suspicious of each other even after they'd fought.
Zarek cursed. "How do we fight this?"
"You have to kill the one who infected them."
They turned to Jared, who'd spoken in the most deadpan of tones.
"What?" Madoc asked incredulously.
"Zephyra discovered it," Jared explained. "If you kill the gallu who sired the zombie, the zombie reverts to normal."
Eros sputtered. "Well, that's just stupid. Who would have done that?"
"The Egyptian goddess Ma'at. The gallu invaded her domain centuries ago, and she modified them to give her people a fighting chance."
Madoc shook his head in disgust. "Peachy, just peachy."
"Yeah," Eros agreed. "By the way, no one here better tell Ma'at I said it was stupid. She has a nasty temper, and I don't need a smack-down from her."
Jericho ignored his random paranoia. "So how do we determine who infected her?"
Zarek shrugged. "Let's kill them all and let Hades figure it out."
Crossing his arms over his chest, Hades gave him an unamused glare. "For the record, I don't clean up after you bastards. And no gallu is coming near my domain. That's all I need is a realm full of infected dead. That has Cesar Romero all over it."
Eros held his hand up. "Uh, Hades, that's George Romero. Cesar's the one who used to play the Joker on the 'Batman' TV show."
Hades gave him a flat stare. "Do I look like I care? And how do you know that?"
"Psyche and I go to the movies with Acheron. He's a major zombie junkie."
Ignoring their sniping, Asmodeus stepped forward sheepishly. "I'll find out who infected her."
Jericho frowned at Asmodeus's offer. "What?"
"I can get in there without any suspicion. Hopefully, I'll find the gallu and kill it."
Delphine shook her head. "Asmodeus-"
"Look, it's all right," the demon said, interrupting her. "I know it sounds corny as hell, but all of you have made me feel like part of a team. I've never had that before. And I want to do my part to help. If any of the rest of you go in, Noir will kill you. Me... he'll only torture. Maybe gut and insult. Maybe even some bitch-slapping. But I'm the only hope you've got."
Delphine passed a worried look to Jericho before she returned her gaze to Asmodeus. "We can't send you in there alone."
"Eh, I'll be all right. Noir hates me anyway."
"But if he suspects you, he'll kill you."
The demon shrugged. "Who wants to live forever? Well, for the record, I do, but I want to do this for you."
Jericho stopped him before he left. He slid the ring off his finger and handed it to him. "Take this."
Asmodeus curled his lip as he shrank back from it. "I'm not about to marry your ugly ass, boy. No offense, but you ain't my type. I like my dates with less body hair... and with female parts attached by nature."
Jericho let out an aggravated growl. "It's not a wedding ring, asshole. It's Berith's ring. You get into trouble, you can summon him to help you get out of there."