by Sharon Kay
She balked, feet planted on the wood floor. “No.”
His tail snapped in the air above her. “Yes.” Strong hands propelled her toward the bed and she dropped awkwardly onto it.
“I’m not going to sedate you yet. First, we’ll use this.” With his tail, he picked up a length of rope from the floor. He transferred it to his hands and tied her wrists to the frame. The rope started a quiet buzz, like a radio playing static with the volume set low. Just like with the keys, the rope glowed blue. Faintly, but it was there.
“Lay down.” He shoved her shoulder and down she went, bouncing on the mattress. At least it looked clean. Maybe it has magical bedbugs? Eew! She needed to think clearly. But everything she thought she knew had been turned on its head. She needed to learn as much as she could about this place. She didn’t care if he thought she was dumb.
He wrenched her arms above her head and pulled the rope tight.
“Why are you doing this? Why me?”
Finished with her hands, he paced slowly to the end of the bed, his glare raking over her body. “I’d like to keep you. I like puzzles. Since you’re so unique that my phone didn’t recognize you, my boss may be interested as well. So she may get you first.”
She? “What’s her name?”
The man grabbed her feet and secured them to the frame. “You’ll only be calling her ‘my queen.’” He moved back up to the headboard and leaned down, tracing his finger along her cheek. “You’re rather pretty. We’ll have fun together, you and I.” His gaze drifted to her breasts.
She shuddered, feeling exposed and vulnerable. Swallowing her fear, she whispered, “What’s your name?”
He tilted his head. “Xavier. And yours?”
May as well tell him. Hopelessness weighted her limbs. How would anyone find her? “Gin.”
“See, that wasn’t so hard. A simple answer. That’s all I ask.” Straightening up, he turned toward the door and then paused. “Try to get some rest, Gin. Later, you’ll either be spending time with me or her.”
She heard the front door slam and his footsteps on the stairs, then the crunching of the small rocks on the trail.
Time passed and she remained alone in the room. She didn’t know if it was minutes or hours. She didn’t even know if time passed the same way here. She recited facts in her mind. Xavier. Torth. He had a boss. There are two moons in the sky. I’m alone.
Thoughts popped in and out of her mind. Her sisters had explained the way to get here. What had they called it? Some way of transporting yourself almost instantly.
Did her sisters know Xavier? Did they know she was here? Probably not. That gas station had been deserted. Only the clerk was there, and what was he supposed to tell police? That she disappeared into thin air? Yeah, that explanation would get him laughed straight into a psych ward.
The gas station...had Xavier said a name when he grabbed her? Everything happened so fast. All she remembered was the strange shimmery ring they had jumped into.
She wiggled her arms and legs, but the rope was knotted securely. It didn’t look tight, but when she tried to pick at it, it only slipped from her fingers. Like she couldn’t hold on to it.
There’s a very strong possibility that no one is coming for me. Mathias and Ria…maybe they could help her, but they didn’t know where she was. Though their deception cut deep, maybe she shouldn’t have told them she never wanted to talk to them again. Maybe she wouldn’t be in this mess if she had listened to them and not raced away.
Tears burned behind her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Crying wouldn’t help. She fought the negativity that loomed in her mind, threatening to drag her under. She struggled to hold on to something rational. Something solid, like work. Facts. Science.
She recited the periodic table of the elements in her head. Hydrogen, helium. There has to be something I can do.
Carbon, nitrogen. Think, Gin. Oxygen. Oxygen…gives life to people, to animals, to…
Fire.
She gasped as flames danced in her mind’s eye. It’s your power. Use it. Her breath came in staccato bursts. No! It’s dangerous. I’ll hurt people.
It’s your power. Use it. The voice repeated in her mind. Learn it. Tame it. It was her, but a different, bolder version of her.
Tame it? Can I?
Something awakened deep inside her body. A door cracked open, only a millimeter, but it was one she hadn’t opened since she was a child.
Fear rode her hard. She was so used to running away from her ability, so used to locking it down tightly. The idea of embracing it was foreign. But the question bloomed like a flower, soft petals unfurling to tickle her with the possibility. What if?
She looked up at the single light, blazing from the wall opposite the bed. Xavier had called it a fire bulb. She had no idea what that was. It was white, and she couldn’t see any wires or fixtures. It simply hovered near the top of the wall, looking like a baseball-sized sphere of fire. And looking…beautiful.
Tilting her head, she stared into the white depths. It lulled her, and on some level she couldn’t explain, it was waiting for her.
Could I? She couldn’t stop asking herself the question. She swallowed hard, terrified to try. What if she set the house on fire while she was still tied to the bed?
She blew out a slow breath. Focus. Deep breath in, deep breath out. The breathing exercise had the blessed and scientifically proven effect of lowering her panicked heart rate.
Look at the facts Gin. You’re alone. You could try to use your ability. Just try. Start small.
She focused on the fire bulb. Just try. She willed it to grow bigger. She pictured it as the size of a basketball.
Instantly, it grew to the size she had imagined, and stopped. It didn’t grow any bigger.
Holy shit, it worked! She stared at it. It maintained its size, still hovering close the wall. Now get smaller.
The fire shrank back down to its original baseball size.
It…worked. A strange feeling washed over her—a mixture of relief, happiness, hope, and power. Maybe she could use it, just this once, to get herself out of this jam. She didn’t have to do it ever again. She didn’t have to run around using her ability against bad guys, the way her sisters did. Just this once. Okay, that sounds good. She stared down the fire bulb and experimented with its size again, making it change at her command.
After a few more tries, she’d mastered changing its size. Next she needed to work on the shape. She willed the fire to create a line outward, just like the ribbons of fire from Vôo de Dragão.
A tendril cautiously emerged from the bulb, slithering through the air like a snake. It extended about two feet, then its end tipped up, as if expecting her instruction.
Go back. The tendril moved back to the bulb, which absorbed it. She practiced a few more times with no problems.
Whew. The big question was, would she be mentally dexterous enough to make the fire burn through the rope without burning herself in the process? What if—
The ground rumbled beneath the house. What the hell? Did Torth have earthquakes? She wasn’t even sure she’d recognize one. Growing up in the Midwest, she’d never experienced one.
The earth shook again, enough to make the bedframe bounce along the floor. Gin’s breath again came in short gasps. Was it an earthquake? Or something worse?
CHAPTER 24
RIA AND MATHIAS LANDED IN A heap on the needle-strewn floor of a pine forest. Normally Ria loved the scent of pine, but after that portal journey, the sweet evergreen notes soured her stomach. She scrambled away from her brother, trying to put some distance between them, and threw up.
She remained crouched close to the ground as she caught her breath. “Dammit.” Rocking back onto her knees, she swiped her sleeve across her mouth and turned to Mathias. “Ugh, gross. When do you get used to portal travel?”
Mathias strode over and offered a hand to help her up. “It takes a while. Gets a little easier each time.”
She shoved h
er hair out of her face. “Can’t happen soon enough. I need more assignments in different realms.”
“Tell that to Arawn.” Mathias typed away on his gem phone. “Got our coordinates. We’re on the south edge of the forest. And.” He held up the phone, then drew it close for another look. “We have the place to ourselves.”
That was one thing in their favor—no immediate enemies to fight. “So, big brother, how do we search an entire realm for one female?”
Mathias blew out a breath. “She was taken by a Deserati. And we were attacked by several, on three different occasions. I have a Deserati contact. I’ll start with her, while you get to call our boss.”
She opened her mouth to protest. This news was absolutely the last thing she wanted to tell Arawn. By the way, we lost a Solsti.
Mathias held up a hand. “Don’t even start. You begged off talking to him last time. It’s your turn.” He turned away and started tapping on his phone again.
“Dammit.” She pulled out her own gem phone and dialed headquarters.
The cheerful voice of the receptionist, Ana, greeted her. Ria started to give her identification number but Ana’s exuberant burst cut her off.
“Ria! I haven’t talked to you in ages! Are you coming in? Done with your assignment?”
“No, actually, I need to talk to Arawn.” Ria pinched the bridge of her nose. Pissed wasn’t going to begin to describe his reaction. He would know she was on Torth, since the call was via gem phone.
“Oh, you’re in luck. He just finished a meeting. I’ll connect you. Miss you, girl!”
“Miss you too.” Ria waited as the line went quiet, then clicked twice.
“Ria?” Arawn’s deep voice boomed through the phone. “Do you have her with you? Here?”
“No.” Ria paused “I don’t have her at all.”
For a second, silence loomed from his end of the line. “I didn’t put you on this job to lose her, Tirianna. You better have a damn good explanation.” His voice rumbled, low and menacing.
Shit. She swallowed a lump of I-don’t-want-to-have-this-conversation, and recounted the day’s events.
“Motherfucking shit! Do you have any good news? Or do I need to pull you both off this clusterfuck?”
“Mathias has a Deserati contact, who he’s calling now.”
“I want a name and location.”
“Understood. We’ll text them to you.”
He huffed out a breath and cursed again. She’d bet he was pacing around his office. Maybe she should have warned Ana that she had bad news. Anyone who crossed Arawn’s path right now would get an ass chewing just for breathing.
She heard a creak through the phone. Sounded like his chair. Good, he’s sitting down.
“Are you okay, Ria?” His voice was softer. Barely.
“Fine. Nothing like landing on a car’s windshield to relax my back. Anyway, your new shredder bullets worked like charms against the Deseratis.”
“Good to know. Listen, I have to go. I want to know every step you take. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Any change of plans. Any possible change of plans. Call me.”
“Yes, sir.”
He ended the call without saying goodbye. Typical. Their leader didn’t waste words.
Ria let out a huge breath. That part’s over. Now she could calm her racing heart. The thought of botching this job threatened to make her throw up again.
Besides that, she wanted to prove she could handle more. Males outnumbered females in the Watcher ranks, and while Arawn didn’t allow one iota of gender bias, she felt compelled to be better than the boys. Plus, she wanted to make Arawn proud. Maybe even get him to crack a smile now and then…
Magic pulsed in the air, sending prickles up her spine. She whirled, palms out, ready to summon demonfire.
“It’s okay. This one’s a friend.” Mathias nodded at a vertical swirl of mist that had formed nearby.
A breeze kicked up a handful of pine needles in a lazy circle, and with a soft pop the mist cleared. Standing in its place was a gorgeous red-haired female. Her green tail and the tiny horns above her ears indicated she was a Deserati.
“Bianca.” Mathias strode to the female and hugged her.
“Good to see you again, Hunter.” The female released him and looked to Ria.
“This is my sister, Ria. Ria, this is Bianca. She’s a porter.”
Ria extended her hand. “Nice to—”
“Your sister? She’s gorgeous!” Bianca rushed toward her and hugged her. “I love your hair. I always thought about going blond. It’s so good to meet you!”
“Thank you,” Ria said. “You too. I’m guessing you worked with my brother in the past?”
“Yes, we broke some friends out of Stroehm recently. Good times.” Bianca chuckled. “Do we need to do that again?”
“Not this time,” Mathias said. “I need to find someone.”
“Ah.” Bianca nodded. “You need me to scry?”
“Yes. If you can pinpoint a location, at least a region, and then take us there, I can do the rest.”
“Sure. I’m about to start a job in an hour actually. And I’m contracted to stay with the client for the duration. So I can take you to your next stop, and maybe the next after that, but then I need to split.” She reached into the pockets of her leather jacket and pulled out a small water bottle, a collapsible plastic bowl, and a tiny vial.
Mathias grinned. “You work from the road.”
“Yup. Some days I have extra time and I may as well make good use of it.” She winked and sat down cross-legged. Ria knelt next to her and Mathias crouched at her other side.
All Deserati had the ability to use reflective surfaces to see other places. Usually they could only see current events, not past or future.
Bianca popped the bowl open, then poured some of the water in. “Now.” She rubbed her hands together. “Who are you looking for?”
“Her name is Gin. She was taken through a portal by a Deserati. We’ve had several of them attack us on Earth. She’s Brooke’s sister.”
“Brooke’s sister?” Bianca’s tone was awed and her eyes wide as she stared at Mathias. “Then she’s…important.”
“Important.” Mathias cracked a humorless grin. “That’s an understatement. She’s a Solsti.”
Brooke knows Bianca? Ria made a mental note to ask Mathias about that later.
“Do you have anything of hers? That’ll help tremendously,” Bianca asked.
Mathias frowned and shot Ria a questioning look.
She shook her head. “I don’t think I have anyth—”
“Oh wait. Here.” Mathias reached into his pants pocket and pulled out Gin’s pink iPod. “It was on the ground by her vehicle.”
“I’ll need to drop that in here.” Bianca eyed the device. “It’s electronic, so it won’t survive.”
“That’s okay. It probably got fried in the portal anyway. I’ll buy her a new one.” Mathias handed it to Bianca.
She gently dropped the iPod into the bowl, then picked up the vial and opened it. Allowing three drops of silver liquid to fall into the bowl, she murmured in Demonish.
Ripples appeared in the surface, spreading out from the center. As one, all three of them leaned toward it.
Ria sucked in a breath as the water stilled. An image of Gin formed. “Oh my God.”
Gin lay on a bed in a room Ria didn’t recognize, her hands and feet bound with rope to the head and footboards. She was alone.
“Fucking shit.” Mathias swore through gritted teeth. “Can we see more of the building?”
“I’ll try.” Bianca spoke again in Demonish, and the image zoomed out to reveal a small house with two bedrooms and one main living area. No one else was there.
“Can you show us more of the surrounding area?” Ria asked.
“Let’s see,” Bianca murmured. She closed her eyes and spoke again. This time the image in the water expanded, revealing that the house sat in a low valley. Foothi
lls extended on two sides. A river snaked down the side of the image, gleaming silver against the night.
Ria gasped as she spied a landmark on the bank of the river, so white it appeared to glow. “Is that…”
“Ravenbane.” Mathias rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s near Ravenbane. That’s on the other side of the realm.”
“Have you been there before?” Ria asked.
“Been near enough.” Mathias flicked a glance to Bianca. “Got time for a trip?”
She checked her gem phone. “Yes.” Her green eyes were wide. “To Ravenbane.”
Ravenbane was an ancient ruin. The huge foreboding white tower was the most prominent identifying symbol of the crumbled structure. A battle between two warring species had ended in slaughter for one side, and the souls that died there were said to be cursed.
An entire army lay buried beneath the ground, rumored to be waiting for their chance to rise and avenge their loss. But the demon clan who had gained victory that day had died out. No one knew who—or what—would cause the dead to rise.
One certainty was that many steered clear of the area, believing it to be cursed. Rumors abounded of wraiths who haunted the caves and barren trees, and of travelers who passed the battlement and were never seen again.
Chills raced down Ria’s arms. She didn’t put much stock in the rumors. But she also knew it was possible for myth to become reality. Case in point: the Solsti.
“And it’s night.” Bianca’s voice broke into Ria’s musings. “Because of my schedule, I can’t wait until morning to take you there.”
“We just need you to get us there.” Ria told her. “The Watchers have safe houses scattered all over Torth. We’ll find a place to stay.” Nighttime was deadly in this realm. Nocturnal beasts roamed in hordes. Even the Lash demons stayed out of sight.
“Yeah, we’ll be fine.” Mathias pinned Ria with a knowing look, then started tapping on his phone. “There’s a couple of safe houses nearby.”
“Then we should go.” Bianca packed up her items and stood. “I’m sorry I couldn’t show you better news.”
