“Dropping berries and nuts into your mouth.”

“That, and more.”

Mallian’s head and torso were silhouetted by the brash sunlight bursting into the Fold from somewhere else. Vince felt a terrible desperation to get to that doorway and launch himself through, whatever might be on the other side. Even if he died doing so, at least then he’d die taking action, doing what he could to escape. He didn’t want to die like this, with Mallian’s naked sex organs resting on his chest, the giant’s arse crushing his stomach down.

He supposed in Mallian’s eyes he deserved much worse than this.

“How did you get free?” he asked.

“Where are my relics?”

“I don’t know. Did she let you go?”

“You do know. You stole them, and you’re a fool, so you’ll have kept them close. You’re a weak fucking human, you wouldn’t have been able to resist keeping them somewhere you can peek at them from time to time. Things more amazing than you’ll ever be.”

“Things a human killed and stole to acquire.”

“Your kind occasionally serves a purpose. Now where are they?”

Vince closed his eyes.

The punch around the face was like being hit by a train. His teeth crunched, his neck jarred, and his head pounded. At least it smothered the pain of his left arm, if only for a while.

“Look at me,” Mallian hissed. Vince looked. Mallian didn’t even have his hand fisted. He’d barely tapped Vince. If he truly punched, Vince would lose his head. He’d seen Mallian kill people with his bare hands—crushing, ripping, tearing. The Nephilim was as furious now as he’d ever seen him. Vince was a heartbeat from death, and any wrong move, any wrong answer, would be his last.

“I don’t know where they are,” he said.

Mallian growled.

“Really. You’re right, they do fascinate me, but I’ve changed since I’ve been in here. Angela is my be-all, end-all, and any way back to her I’ll take. I took those things from you to protect the world from you and your insane plans. But no, I didn’t keep them. I’m way beyond that now. I threw them away as I ran from you, and I’ll never be able to find them again.”

Mallian bore down more heavily on Vince until he could no longer breathe and he was afraid his ribs would give way. He tried to move and struggle, but all Mallian had to do was use his weight and Vince was helpless.

“I need those pieces!”

“Why... I threw them... away.”

“You will remember,” Mallian said. “Somewhere in that rudimentary jelly you call a brain you’ll remember. Let me show you how.”