by Kay, Sharon
“And it sounds like no one will be around us.”
“That makes me feel better,” Nicole said. “I wish we could go with you, but I know sending more than two people attracts attention.”
They reached the top step and turned down the darkly paneled hallway. Sconces along the walls gave a dim glow to the space, mostly for decoration. The demons could see just fine without them.
They stopped outside Brooke’s door and Nicole pulled her into a hug. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She stepped back and searched Brooke’s face. “Don’t let Kai pull any of that rude crap with you.”
Brooke nodded. “Like I said, I can handle one grumpy, overgrown demon.” His attitude, sure. But his kisses? If she wasn’t careful, they’d crush her with sensual, devastating precision.
Morning dawned with ragged clouds obscuring the sun, a sharp wind chasing them across the gray sky. Brooke stood in the backyard with Nicole and the others, watching raptly as Rilan muttered some words in demonish and a giant shimmering ring appeared. Iridescent and waving in the air, it hovered a foot off the ground.
Wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, and hiking boots, she slung her backpack on. Even though this would be a short trip, she felt better having some basic provisions. Her ubiquitous water bottle, for one, as well as a few sandwiches, and a dagger that the men insisted she carry.
Kai carried weapons, as well. No firearms, because bullet holes mended so quickly among the fast-healing immortal species. She knew he had a knife in each boot, one strapped to his arm and one tucked into the thigh pocket of his black tactical pants. He completed a check of his blades, ending with the leather sheath at his arm, thick biceps straining against the short sleeves of his black T-shirt.
She turned to give her sister one final hug, and Nicole squeezed her shoulders with surprising strength.
“Now I know how you felt,” Nicole murmured.
Brooke smiled. Watching Nicole step into the portal a few weeks ago had been upsetting, even though she traveled with Gunnar.
“I’ll be fine.” Brooke nodded her head at Kai.
Nicole released her and Brooke walked over to face him. They had all told her that travel via portal felt like falling. Kai held out his hand. “It’ll be easier if you hold on to me.”
“Okay.” She placed her hand in his, caught off-guard by the heat of his skin. She forced a smile she didn’t quite feel, and looked up at him. “Now what?”
“Now we step in. Are you ready?”
She nodded and took a deep breath. He pulled her closer to his side, and together they stepped into the shining disc.
Brooke’s stomach shot up and hovered somewhere near her heart. It was like going down the first steep drop on a roller coaster. But unlike a roller coaster, the feeling of weightlessness didn’t come with a seat under her rear, or a safety bar to hang on to.
A small yelp escaped her mouth and she reflexively turned toward Kai, who folded her into his arms as she buried her face in his T-shirt. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused on breathing.
Dizziness and nausea closed in. Her breath came in short rasps and, finally, they landed with a thud. She gasped at the jolt and her eyes flew open, meeting Kai’s brown ones. They lay on the ground, with him beneath her, and she realized he had taken the brunt of their fall.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
He cocked an eyebrow. “It’ll take a lot more than this to hurt me, Sprite. How about you?”
“I survived,” she said, releasing her death grip on his shirt. She pushed off him and sat on the loose gray dirt, catching her breath. “I’m not looking forward to doing that again.”
“You don’t have to think about it for a few hours, at least.” He crouched beside her, scanning their surroundings.
She ventured a cautious look around, taking in the dreary landscape colored in varying shades of gray and brown. Kai hadn’t exaggerated in his description of the region. They sat at the base of a hill, which joined others to rise into nearby mountains. The grass-like substance covering the ground was gray and sparse. Boulders littered the hillside. Trees stood like spooky sentries, stripped of bark and leaves. Their surfaces were silvery-gray and smooth, with sharp spiky branches protruding from thick trunks.
Brooke shifted on the dirt beneath her. The sky was gray, with dark ashen clouds rolling across it. The wind swirled her hair, making a whistling sound though it wasn’t blowing strongly. In the distance, she heard a caw like that of a crow. ‘Inhospitable’ didn’t begin to describe this place.
She turned to Kai. “This is where you grew up?” she asked softly.
“Yep.” He stood up. “Looks pretty shitty, doesn’t it?”
She hesitated, wanting to agree with him but not wanting to insult him.
“It’s okay,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “I don’t have any fondness for this place.”
“It doesn’t look welcoming.”
“It’s not.” He studied a tree whose trunk had turned black. “Why don’t you work on your tasks before we start climbing? I’ll take a quick look around.”
She felt her eyes widen in apprehension, and Kai must have noticed it too. “Don’t worry, I won’t go far. I’ll never leave your line of sight.”
“Okay.” She cast a glance at the ground. Since some of that gray grass grew within her reach, she grabbed a few strands. Rilan had explained that the fauna here hoarded the tiny amounts of rain that fell each year. There was water here, somewhere, in this dead-looking place. She cleared her mind and focused on pulling water from the straggly blades.
After several minutes, she hadn’t succeeded. This grass wasn’t giving up its life source without a fight. She scowled at it and tried again, picturing tiny cells moving around inside the plant. Not that I have a clue about the cellular structure of demon grass. Finally, a tiny drop emerged along the base of the blade.
“Gotcha,” she said softly, then felt an odd moment of guilt as the gray strand shriveled and turned black in her palm. I killed it. She was suddenly unsure of trying this with tree leaves, as Rilan had instructed. What if she pulled too much water and the whole thing came crashing down?
Small stones crunched as Kai walked over to her. “How’s it going?”
She held up the dead grass. “I killed it,” she said, speaking her thoughts aloud.
“With your mind?” He gave a low whistle. “Hell, Sprite, we should have brought you here sooner.”
“I didn’t know I could do this,” she mumbled, staring at the blackened grass.
He gave her an appraising glance. “I don’t think anyone alive knows what you’re capable of, Brooke.”
The weight of his words settled on her. The Solsti were rare and powerful for a reason. God only knows what we’re supposed to fight. She couldn’t hold back a shudder as a chill crept down her spine. In her mind she saw the blond vampire from her nightmare, with its red eyes and gaping mouth.
She shook her head to rid herself of the image. The idea of a hike sounded excellent all of a sudden, and she could use the distraction of straining muscles. “I can keep doing this as we look for the flowers.” She clambered to her feet.
“You got it.” He gestured to the hill rising before them. “The bells will be higher up, so we’ll start climbing here. I want you to go first, in case you slip. Try to walk on the scrub grass, and watch out for the patches of small rocks.”
Brooke adjusted her backpack and walked in front of him. The steady climb felt good at first, but after an hour she needed to pause and catch her breath. She turned to tell Kai that, and her feet flew out from beneath her.
Gravity tumbled her backward and her arms shot out to the side, reaching for something, anything to grab on to. Before she could let out a yelp, strong arms encircled her waist and steadied her as she regained her balance. His chest was warm behind her back, holding her a second longer than necessary before she took a deep breath and straightened.
“I guess I need a break,” she mumbled.
She nodded and blinked, too surprised to say anything. I could’ve done that myself. He man-handled her like a doll. She should feel indignant. Too bad her belly was still completing its triple flip, thanks to the warmth of his hands. She stared in the direction he had disappeared, luxuriating in the sensations his touch left behind.
He was back before she got her water bottle open. “That was fast.” She noted his empty hands. “No luck?”
He shook his head. “We’ll have to go a little higher.”
“As long as we’ve stopped for a minute, let me try something.” She slid off the boulder to pluck a handful of gray grass, and concentrated on it. Like the last time, nothing happened at first. But then tiny droplets appeared on several strands, rolling onto her palm as the grass withered.
“Think you can do that to a Neshi demon?” Kai said, eyes twinkling.
Brooke only stared at him, mouth open. Could I?
He misread her silence. “Shit, I didn’t mean to bring that up. Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said. “It’s just that sometimes my power is so frustrating. Sometimes it seems useless. I can’t do anything unless there’s water around. Like the other night—I was defenseless against the Neshi. I’m supposed to be this powerful creature, but I almost got myself killed.”
He took a step closer. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you had been at the lakefront, that guy would’ve been dragged to the bottom in a heartbeat.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t know what I’m capable of. I’d have a better idea if I’d grown up on a remote island, instead of a city.”
“Ah, but then Chicago wouldn’t be littered with thugs who’ve got your boot print on their jaw. Or ribs.” He grinned at her.
She smiled wryly. “All right. I’m ready to keep hiking.”
They climbed for another hundred feet when Kai stopped her with a gentle touch to her elbow. Electricity flooded through her, making her jump and topple backward into him.
“Easy there, Sprite,” he chuckled, keeping his hand on her arm to steady her. “Look over there.” He pointed to the left side of the trail.
“I don’t see anything red.”
“Exactly. But these are the tiny fissures made by their roots.” He stepped off the trail and crouched near a cluster of lines in the dry, flaky ground. They reminded her of how blood vessels branched in the body, larger ones turning into smaller ones, carrying life to every extremity.
“I would’ve walked right past that,” she murmured, as he motioned her closer.
“Come here.” He stood and led her around a large boulder next to the fissures. Nestled in the gray earth, deep red flowers bloomed on slender gray-green stalks. The weight of the tiny bells tugged the stalks down so they curved gracefully at the tips.
“Wow!” she said. “Nice work, demon.”
“Thanks, Sprite.” He flashed her one of his devastating smiles before crouching to pluck the flowers.
She pulled a ziploc baggie out of her backpack and nodded at the wide patch of crimson flowers. “Will this be enough?”
“Plenty. We’ll fill that bag, just to be sure we don’t have to come back for a while.” Kai worked quickly, snapping the stems near the ground while Brooke held the bag open. Then he froze. In a flash he yanked her down and she landed hard in the patch of red.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered.
“We’ve got company.”
CHAPTER 8
KAI’S HEART HAMMERED IN FURY. The nauseating tang of rotten meat filled his nose, indicating the presence of several Serus demons. They must have been watching him and Brooke, must have approached from downwind. Kai’s anger at being taken off guard faded as his tactical mind clicked through their options.
The Serus demons didn’t worry him. He could fight a number of them at once. But keeping Brooke safe at the same time was a problem.
“Kai?” she whispered, her gray eyes filled with fear.
“Serus demons. They can make their breath toxic. If you see them breathe a white cloud, duck.”
Her eyes widened to the size of saucers. “T-toxic?”
Registering a change in the air pressure, he threw himself over Brooke, shielding her. An axe embedded itself in the ground inches away from them, kicking up a fine spray of gray dust.
“Fuck!” He snarled. “Get your dagger.” He grabbed a knife from his boot. “And take one of mine. Hit them between the eyes. Stay with me, Brooke. You can do this.”
He leapt to his feet. Facing the nearest gray-skinned, black-eyed demon, he hurled the knife from his arm sheath. The blade sank into its chest. Bulls-eye. It went down instantly.
Kai’s victory was short-lived. In a quick scan he counted the Serus. Twenty-five. Shit! He couldn’t defeat twenty-five on his own. The gray demons ringed them in a half-circle, stalking closer.
“Should I try to squeeze the water out of them?” Brooke asked behind him. He could feel the fear rolling off her body, coupled with a streak of determination that made him proud of her.
“No. I don’t want them to know about you. Better if they think you’re fae.”
One Serus was bigger than the rest, his wide torso strapped with more weapons than his comrades. Kai guessed he was the leader. He gestured to Brooke and Kai, and six of his demons strode forward.
“Kai?” Brooke’s scared voice strained through her clenched teeth.
Unbridled rage fired in every cell of his body. “Fucking hell. There’s too many. I’ll figure something ou—”
Two grabbed Kai’s arms and a third held an axe at the ready, while the others did the same to Brooke. Kai’s entire body jerked when their gray, claw-tipped fingers touched the soft skin of her bare arms. His instincts roared to protect her. But against this many? He was likely to get himself killed. Then she’d be alone with these monsters.
Suppressing a gag at the unbearable stench, he breathed through gritted teeth. The Serus demons closed in and marched them down the hillside, leading Kai in front of Brooke. He wanted to turn and offer her some kind of reassurance, but he didn’t have much in the way of comforting words. Some guardian he’d turned out to be. He grimaced as his earlier words echoed in his head. I’d be a sorry excuse for a Lash Watcher.
When they reached the base of the hill, the Serus demons herded them into the silvery-gray and black trees. Long ago, these trees were green. That’s what his mother had told him. She taught him so much when they lived here, just the two of them. He could track anything in this forsaken place, thanks to her. An image flashed into his mind. Her brown eyes that matched his own, smiling at something he’d said.
He pushed the unbidden memory away and scanned the skyline of ghostly trees. The dead forest continued for miles. What the hell was a large band of Serus demons doing marching through this wasteland? Had they established a base nearby? Unless they planned to chop down the trees and sell them, this land had nothing to offer.
Kai got the answer to his question about a mile later, as they approached a camp nestled in a large clearing. Another twenty Serus demons occupied the irregular, ashen circle. Logs used as makeshift benches centered around a smoldering fire. One large, dirty gray tent stood on the far side, with two Serus demons standing guard at the entrance.
The demon at the head of their party strode to the tent and spoke with the guards, then was ushered inside. The demons that held Brooke and Kai relaxed their grips, and Kai shook his arms free, glaring at them. He turned to Brooke and laid his hands on her shoulders.
“Are you okay?”
She cast a wary glance at the demons who stood in a circle around them. “I guess,” she muttered, rubbing her hands down her arms. “So much for having the place t
o ourselves.”
“If I’d had any idea about these guys, we never would have come.”
She nodded and inched closer to him. “Now what?”
He spoke in low tones. “We don’t have a lot of options. There are too many for us to fight. I don’t know why they’re here, but I’m guessing their leader is in there.” He inclined his head toward the tent. “I could create a distraction, but they’re probably expecting me to try something like that. I don’t know how far you could get before they’d catch up to you. I’d take down as many of these fuckers as I can, but I can’t kill them all. And if I can’t protect you…” Fuck. That wasn’t an option. He had to protect her.
She shuddered, and a breeze tickled his nose, carrying the scent of another Lash. Whirling to face the tent, he watched as the guards drew the flaps open. A tall, muscular blond-haired Lash demon emerged. He carried himself with authority and the Serus demons all inclined their heads as he strode through the camp. What the fuck? The two species rarely allied with each other. This one had to be the leader of the entire group.
The circle of guards shaped into a U-formation as the leader drew near. He matched Kai in height and had a warrior’s build. A cocky smile lit his face as he stopped a few feet from them. Kai fought the urge to step in front of Brooke, concerned that it would draw the wrong kind of attention.
“What the hell are a Lash demon and a fae doing in this wasteland?” the leader demanded. His brown eyes assessed Kai before traveling to Brooke and giving her a lascivious once-over. Kai fought unsuccessfully to stifle his snarl of protest. The Lash demon shot Kai a smirk, an evil twinkle in his eye, and turned back to Brooke.
“Would the lady like to answer my question?” he drawled.
“Our reason doesn’t concern you,” Kai growled.
The other demon gave a short laugh. “You’re right. I don’t care what you were doing. It doesn’t matter. It was your bad luck to be here.” He rubbed his chin and tilted his head, studying Kai. “Who are you?”
