by Linsey Hall
“Up the stairs,” I whispered.
We crept upward, finally reaching a level where the air smelled almost fresh. The hall was wider here, but still constructed of roughly hewn stone. A sense of misery still pervaded the space, as if the former occupants’ souls still wandered the halls. Ratty tapestries hung listlessly on the walls.
No wonder Victor had chosen to live in his mansion at the waypoint. It was much nicer than this dump.
“We need to head higher up,” I whispered.
Ahead of us, a figure stepped out from a doorway.
Shit!
I reached for the dagger strapped to my thigh. It was my spare and not enchanted to return to me like my old pair had been, so I had to make this shot count. I didn’t want to use my magic as it was too loud and too risky.
The demon opened his mouth to shout as I flung the blade. It sailed end over end, sinking into his throat. A gurgle escaped his mouth before he collapsed to his knees.
I raced to him, my footsteps silent. Aidan followed, dropping to his knees beside me and turning the body over. I yanked the blade out, making sure the demon was dead—and silent—before patting down his pockets in search of a transportation charm.
I came up with nothing, though it was no surprise. Victor probably rationed them out, giving them only to demons on missions outside of the castle.
“Nothing,” I whispered as I rocked back on my heels.
“Then let’s go.”
I rose and turned back the way we’d come, following the tug around my middle toward the artifacts I sought. As we passed through a shadowy, abandoned great hall, I shivered. Evil lurked in this room more than the rest, like a cloud hanging in the air. What had Vlad done in here? An old drawing that I’d seen flashed in my mind—people impaled on stakes while he calmly ate dinner. Had that happened here?
I’d been wrong about this place. It was perfect for Victor.
We hurried from the room and through several smaller antechambers. Fortunately, the place was blessedly empty. It seemed most of the guards monitored the walls, not the interior of the castle. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and my muscles were tense, waiting for a demon to jump out at us.
When we reached the spiral staircase that led up toward the artifacts, the comms charm around my neck vibrated with magic. Del’s voice drifted out, frantic, though quiet.
“Cass! The alarm is about to be raised. Get out now!”
My stomach dropped. “Do you need help?”
“I think—” The sound of a fight echoed through the charm. “We’ve got it. But a demon has run off to alert the others. This place is about to go crazy.”
Shit. “Okay. Get out safe.”
Del didn’t answer, but I heard more sounds of fighting before the charm cut off. I glanced at Aidan. “We need to hurry.”
“Are we close?”
“Yeah.” If we got a little lucky, we could make it out of here before anyone saw us. Worst came to worst, we could fly out of the tower windows, so going up was as safe as retreating.
We raced up the spiral staircase. One floor, two, three. I was panting by the time I reached the top, but grateful. The person coming up the stairs always had the disadvantage. I didn’t want to be caught there, with demons bearing down upon us.
At the top of the stairs, a dark, deadening feeling swamped me.
“You feel that?” I whispered.
“Yeah.”
“The Gundestrop cauldron is definitely up here.” My magic was totally repressed—nothing more than ashes in my chest. If there was an ember of power there, I had a hard time feeling it. The cauldron was one of the strongest dampening charms in the world. Maybe the strongest.
Without our magic, we were dead meat if the guards found us.
“Let’s hurry.” I took stock of our surroundings.
We were in a small hallway, with at least six doors extending off of it. This was a damned big castle. My dragon sense no longer worked, so we had to peer into each room as we passed. Fortunately, most of the doors were open. And I was grateful to see no one inside.
But something was eerie about the rooms—even more so than the great hall. By the third room, it hit me.
There were no windows.
Shit. That was our escape route.
“Hurry,” I said.
We needed to grab the things and make it back down the stairs. At least no one knew we were up here. That should buy us a bit of time.
The door we sought was just ahead. We were so close.
This was the only door that was closed. My hand trembled as I reached for the handle. The protective magic shocked me, making me jerk.
This had to be the room.
Though it looked like the cauldron didn’t dampen spells placed on objects—just the magic possessed by a supernatural.
Aidan pulled the Penatrist charm out of his pocket, and I pulled out my own. I hoped they worked, though they should, if the enchantment on the door wasn’t affected by the cauldron.
I was about to enter when Aidan gripped my arm.
“Wait,” he murmured. He held up the small silver spell stripper and ran it around the edge of the door. “We can enter with the Penatrist charms, but I want to make sure there isn’t an alarm on the door.”
Smart. We didn’t need to direct Victor’s guards straight to us.
He finished quickly and tucked the spell stripper back into his pocket. “All clear.”
This time, when I reached for the handle, the magic didn’t shock me.
I pushed open the door and stepped inside.
The room was so dark that I had to raise my lightstone ring. The yellow glow flared to life in the small room, revealing a set of heavy wooden shelves along the wall. The Gundestrop cauldron sat next to the golden Chalice of Youth. Beside that was the Heartstone, glittering blue and bright.
Aidan moved quickly around the room, running his spell stripper over the shelves and walls, removing any protective enchantments placed on the room.
“Clear,” he said.
I hurried forward, reaching for the Heartstone and the chalice. If we just took these two, we’d stay fast and mobile but also put a real dent in Victor’s plans.
I grabbed them from the shelf, catching sight of a flash of silver metal beneath each of them just as sirens blared to life.
Shit! Victor had put human security measures in place? As soon as I’d taken the artifacts off the weight sensors, the alarms had blared to life. I’d never expected him to use human security.
Half a second later, four demons appeared in the room, their massive forms filling the darkened space. A heavy body slammed into me, throwing me to the ground. The Heartstone and chalice flew from my grip, clattering into the far corner where a demon swooped down to pick them up.
Damn it!
My magic was still ashes inside my chest. All I had were the daggers at my thighs, and the odds weren’t looking good. Aidan and I couldn’t even shift to get out of here.
The heavy body on top of mine was shoved aside. Aidan’s big hand grabbed my arm and pulled me up.
The demons stood opposite the door. Four more demons appeared.
“Run for it,” I said.
We whirled to escape, but more demons waited in the hall.
They closed in on us, all shapes and sizes. Shadow demons, the fire sword demons, and two I didn’t recognize.
I wanted to draw my daggers, but they weren’t enchanted to return to me like my other pair, so I’d be chucking away my only weapon. Instead, I reached deep for my magic, praying that I could access even a little of it despite the cauldron’s effects.
It sparked to life inside my chest, a tiny ember. I fanned the flame, pulling the magic from deep inside of me and calling upon my gift of lightning.
While I did so, Aidan drew his own pair of daggers and surged into the crowd of demons blocking the exit, slashing and stabbing.
When the lightning cracked and burned beneath my skin, I released a jet at the nearest
demon. Thunder boomed as it cracked toward him, but it was a puny bolt. Not even enough to kill.
The demon shook and dropped, and I built up my magic again, letting the lightning crackle and grow inside of me.
There was a lake of power within me that I could access only with a straw.
A demon lunged for me and I dodged, but the bite of steel cut into my arm. I gasped at the fiery pain as I threw a bolt of lightning at a demon near the exit.
As it slammed into him, another demon leapt toward me, swinging his fire sword in a great arc. I barely managed to dodge the burning blade, but another struck me in the back, slicing across my shoulder.
Beside me, Aidan had felled three demons, but there were still a dozen more now. Only a few seconds had passed, and we were already screwed. I didn’t have enough of my power, and there were too many of them, with more appearing every second.
We were trapped.
This was the end of us.
I’d fight ‘til I died, but I would die here.
“Do not kill them!”
My skin froze at the sound of the voice. I glanced over my shoulder, dread crawling up from the pit of my stomach.
Victor Orriodor stood in the center of the room, having just transported here. His dark gaze was gleeful as he looked at me. It was the most emotion I’d ever seen in him. Normally, he just looked like a bored banker, with the bland haircut and suit to match.
Despite the Gundestrop cauldron’s dampening power, his evil flowed out from him like a dark fog.
Oh, we were dead meat. No matter what he said.
The only positive was that Victor didn’t have his powers. Or did he?
I glanced at Aidan, and his gaze said the same thing I was thinking.
Run.
Even if it was hopeless, we had to run.
I turned back to the demons blocking our escape and fought with everything I had. I drew my dagger because my magic was just too slow. I sliced and stabbed, more savage than I’d ever been. But within seconds, a massive demon had his arms clamped around my middle. He squeezed so hard I dropped my daggers, but I thrashed and kicked.
It did no good. It was like being trapped in a stone wall.
Beside me, Aidan staggered beneath the weight of two demons who tried to drag him to the ground. Their muscled gray arms bulged as they gripped him, but Aidan was a huge man. It would take more than two demons.
Others rushed forward, intent on overpowering Aidan. My heart threatened to explode from my chest.
All was lost. We couldn’t fight over a dozen demons without our powers. Not with measly daggers.
A brilliant red bird zoomed by my face, plowing into one of the demons clinging to Aidan. The demon burst into flames and howled, staggering back. A blue blur flew at my face. It dodged me at the last minute, exploding against the head of the demon who gripped me from behind.
Icy water rained down on me as the demon choked and gagged, drowning in the water.
The dragonets!
The stone dragonet smashed into the other demon gripping Aidan, his little brown form packing the punch of a cannon ball. The gray demon was thrown back against the stone wall.
Aidan raced toward me. We had to run for it. The way was clear for just a moment.
Not long enough.
The other demons surged forward, blocking the way. The dragonets could help, but they weren’t enough. I didn’t care. I’d go down fighting so hard they’d have to kill me to get me out of this tower.
I grabbed my daggers from the ground just as the strangest clattering sound came from the round stairs. A half second later, the massive form of Pond Flower appeared in the hall. Her eyes blazed with flame, and her muzzle was pulled back from her teeth, revealing glinting white fangs. The smell of brimstone was so strong I almost gagged.
Behind her, more hellhounds appeared from the stairs. Black and brown, all as big as Pond Flower and all with flame-red eyes.
They charged.
My heart leapt into my throat, but they passed by me, headed straight for the demons. They bowled over the demon nearest me, opening the way for my escape.
“Thank you!” I cried.
Aidan lunged to my side. The hounds set up a barrier between us and the demons. An eerie black flame rose up from their fur, creating a wall. Why their magic worked here, I had no idea. Perhaps because they were animals. Or their magic was fueled by hell, something that had no basis on Earth.
I didn’t hang around to ponder why. I wasn’t an idiot enough to look a gift hound in the mouth.
Aidan and I ran for it, sprinting down the hall and the spiral staircase. The stairs were so old and uneven that I nearly fell three times.
By the time we made it to the bottom, the strange clattering sound came from the stairs again.
Hellhound nails on the stone, I realized. They were retreating.
“Go!” Aidan shouted.
We raced through the corridor and out into the great hall. There were demons in there now. Shadow demons, from the look of them.
They hurled smoke bombs at us as we raced through the great hall. I dodged one, but was caught by another. Pain flared at my back as the smoke bomb plowed into me. I flew forward onto my front, barely managing to break my fall with my hands.
Aidan grabbed my arm and pulled. I scrambled up off the stone floor and glanced behind me. The hellhounds charged across the great hall, fleeing the mass of demons behind them.
Our pursuers hurled smoke bombs and fireballs. They exploded all around, bouncing off the hellhounds’ thick hides. But Aidan and I weren’t protected by the same magic.
We turned to flee. We just had to make it outside or to a window. From there, we could shift and fly away.
But there were no windows in this whole magic-forsaken castle. If we couldn’t make it to one, escape was impossible.
Del burst into the great hall from the other side of the room. The smoke dragonet was just ahead of her.
Leading her to us.
Her gaze widened as she caught sight of us, chased by hellhounds and demons. She sprinted harder, her dark hair flying behind her. When a smoke bomb nearly hit her, she turned into her phantom form, her skin glinting blue.
She collided with us, wrapping her incorporeal arms around Aidan and me, ready to transport us away. Her touch shocked my skin, but I’d take more than a little shock to get us out of here.
“Not without the hounds!” I yelled.
Her startled gaze met mine. “I don’t think I can take so many!”
The hounds were almost upon us now, only feet away. They gathered around, pressing close in a huddle.
“Try!” I cried.
The demons were almost upon us. Del clenched her eyes shut, and I felt the ether pull us in, sucking us through space.
When I opened my eyes, we stood on the tarmac at the tiny airport. The thirteen hellhounds were gathered around us, panting and smelling of brimstone.
We’d made it.
10
“This is the weirdest plane ride of my life,” I said.
I was still partially shell shocked from our near escape. We’d all made it out of Victor’s castle, though barely, and were hurtling into the sky in Aidan’s jet.
“So you got them all?” I asked my friends.
Every one of my friends had bruises or cuts, but their gazes were bright with victory.
“Yeah,” Nix said. “Three boys.”
I glanced toward the back of the plane. Emile was sitting with them, Ralph and Rufus on his shoulders. The boys looked to be about twelve and were skinny and pale. But they looked happy, surrounded by all thirteen of the hellhounds, who lounged on the floor. Actually, we were all surrounded by hellhounds. The huge dogs took up every bit of floor space in the plane.
Which smelled like brimstone.
At least we’d been partially successful. And no one had been killed, which was a small miracle.
“How did you transport so many hellhounds?” Connor asked Del. “I tho
ught you could only take a couple people at a time.”
“And why did you?” Claire asked.
“Pond Flower and her friends saved us,” I said. “And we promised her a new life.”
Claire glanced at the dogs doubtfully, clearly wondering where we were going to keep thirteen dogs who weighed at least two hundred pounds each and looked like they came from hell. Which they had.
“But how did you manage, Del?” Claire asked.
Del had been silent until now, her gaze alternately shocked and thoughtful. “I uh, felt strong when they touched me, I guess. Normally, transporting drains me. It’s why I can only take a couple people—that’s all the juice I have. But the hounds felt like part of me. It was so easy to take them along.”
Pond Flower, who sat at Del’s feet, pressed herself against her side and gazed at her adoringly.
“Holy shit,” Nix said, realization in her voice. “It’s because you’re Death. And those hounds are from hell. Death. Hell. Get it?”
She nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
Okay, wow. That was a revelation.
“So are they your dogs now?” Claire asked.
I glanced at the dogs. With the exception of Pond Flower, the rest were piled around the boys.
“I think they’re theirs.” I hiked a thumb at the boys.
Del nodded. “Yeah, I agree. I’m not a hellhound whisperer or anything.”
“They turned on Victor quickly,” Aidan said.
“They didn’t like him,” Emile said.
We’d reached our cruising altitude, and he’d come up to the front to join us. I glanced back to see the boys asleep on the couches, the dogs piled around him.
“Pond Flower here says they were sold to him by some demons,” Emile continued. “They didn’t like him, but they didn’t know where else to go. Once we came, they saw a better opportunity and took it.”
“They saved our life,” I said.
“Yes,” Emile said. “Hellhounds have rare powers. They make excellent guard dogs because of their black flame. No one can touch it or pass through it without their permission.”
“We saw that,” Aidan said. “They turned into strange torches and stopped the demons. But the Gundestrop cauldron didn’t affect them the way it did the other supernaturals. They still had their powers.”
