by Ella Summers
Past the hot tub, closed doors advertised that a sauna lay beyond the steamed glass.
This wellness spa felt like a peaceful sanctuary amidst the turmoil of hell. The atmosphere was relaxing, even disarming. But if that unicorn painting were any indication, Bael’s spa was more dangerous than a fortress or castle.
“What other traps do you think lie in here?” Naomi asked Makani.
“Knowing Bael, many. And they are undoubtedly hidden beneath a pretty package. He is a twisted, devious demon.”
A voice echoed over the gentle splash of falling water. “Makani, we haven’t spoken in centuries and here you are, uninvited, unannounced, breaking into my sanctuary just to insult me.”
They turned toward the source of the words. The speaker stood in front of the open glass doors to the sauna, a white towel wrapped around his waist. Steam poured out of the room behind him, billowing up around his body.
Slightly-damp brown locks brushed the tops of his shoulders. Hair lightly dusted his broad chest, blending with his bronze skin. There was nothing out of the ordinary about his looks, nothing to set him apart. He had a face like many others—typical, unremarkable, and easily forgotten.
He might have looked like the perfect replica of a human, but he was definitely one hundred percent demon. Naomi could feel it in his magic’s aura. On earth, a demon could hide itself inside a human host, even masking its magic. Here in hell, however, they could not disguise their true nature. This demon’s magic thumped like a war drum, steady and hard, always keeping the same constant rhythm. It smelled like peppered roses and tasted like chocolate-filled doughnuts deep-fried in chili pepper oil.
Makani shot the demon a look of absolute abhorrence. “You are far too shameless to be insulted by anything anyone says.”
“True,” the demon laughed.
Bael dropped his towel, leaving him butt-naked. He met Naomi’s eyes, daring her to blush. He obviously hadn’t dealt with many fairies. She met his brown eyes coolly.
The demon nodded at her in approval, which made her wonder if she should have scrounged up a blush. She didn’t like the idea of Bael approving of her actions, like she was walking the line he’d set out for her.
The demon strode toward them, grabbing a robe from a nearby table. He pulled it on, then sat down on a chair that was the day spa equivalent of a throne. Woven together from flexible wood, it was bright gold in color. And it didn’t even look painted; it had too many natural circles and wood waves. Naomi found herself curious to see what hellish tree the chair had come from.
Bael snapped his fingers, and a side door opened. An entourage of three people, two women and one man, all dressed entirely in white, entered the room. They surrounded the demon and proceeded to pamper him. The man slathered bright red paste all over his face in what must have been hell’s equivalent of a facial. One of the women began to file his long fingernails. The other woman massaged his feet.
“So, Makani. Here you are.” Bael leaned back in his poolside throne, looking completely relaxed. He didn’t seem the least bit alarmed by their intrusion. “Have you come to repent, to cast off your wicked ways and finally take your rightful place as my warlord?”
“For seven hundred years, I have told you no,” replied Makani, his face hard. “Nothing has changed.”
“Oh, that’s not true at all. Everything has changed. You’ve left the spirit realm, you’ve found a lovely companion.” Bael nodded at Naomi. “And you are going to be a father.” His eyes twinkled with amusement. He looked absolutely tickled by the notion. “I must admit I never expected children to be in your future. Don’t dragons eat their young?”
The fires of hell had nothing on Makani’s gaze. “No, that is demons who eat their young. Dragons protect their young with everything they have.”
“Oh, yes,” Bael chuckled. “That’s right.” He flicked his free hand, the one his manicure lady was not working on. As though he’d forgotten all about demons’ child-rearing atrocities. “But we only eat the runts, you know. No one wants a lineage of weaklings.” He wiggled his finger at Naomi, beckoning her forward. “Come on now, girl. Let me see this miracle of life.”
Naomi glared at him, her hands dropping protectively to her belly. As there was no baby bump to hold or rub, the gesture felt weird. And yet it felt just right, like protecting her babies was precisely what she was supposed to be doing.
“You come near any of us, try to touch us, and I’ll cut your hand off.”
Bael laughed. “I like her, Makani. She has fire. She’d make a fine warlord. And her powers would be useful.” His expression grew reflective.
“How are you not dead yet?” Makani demanded.
Bael frowned at him. “I would ask the same of you, especially considering the way you’ve been antagonizing my war bands.”
“You mean expelling your armies, sending them along their way, deeper into hell?” said Makani. “You have only yourself to blame. Get better warlords if you want to see better results.”
“Funny, Makani. Very funny,” Bael said drily. “I have been trying to hire a certain Dragon Born menace, but he’s dead-set on marching to his own destruction—and taking everyone he cares about along with him.” His gaze flickered from Makani to Naomi. “I know about your little conundrum. You should have joined me when you had the chance, Makani. I could have protected you. Now it’s too late.”
“Is it true you cast the spell?” Naomi asked him.
“Yes.” Bael looked like a kitten who’d just stolen a dish of milk.
Makani stepped forward, his magic primed. Naomi held him back. The demon and his three guards—because that was what the spa workers were, beneath it all—had not made a move against her or Makani yet. They met Bael’s eyes, silently asking for permission to attack, but Bael shook his head.
“We’re going to need you to reverse the spell,” Naomi told the demon.
Bael’s cool gaze slid over to Makani. “Become my warlord.”
“Is that your condition for helping us?”
“You are debating with yourself whether your children’s lives and freedom are worth betraying everything you stand for.” The demon smiled.
Makani clenched his jaw.
“You should see your face, Makani. It is priceless,” the demon laughed. “But I was only kidding. Yes, I cast the spell, but it was not one of my own design. I took it from the Shifting Realms spell book.”
“Give us the spell book,” Naomi told him.
“Demanding, aren’t you?” Bael barked a laugh. “And yet I find myself wanting to do as you ask. Your demand tastes like the promise of a bloodbath after a long and uneventful siege. Delicious.” He set his fingers against his lips and kissed them to punctuate his point. “That is yet another intriguing ability you possess, fairy. I wager you could convince my enemies to surrender, and they’d be perfectly happy to do so.”
“So you’re going to give us the book?” she asked, almost daring to be hopeful.
He leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on a tea table. “Unfortunately, another demon stole the book from me last month.”
“Who?”
His smile was venom and sugar, all wrapped up in a tidy little package. “Rane.”
Rane was arguably the most powerful demon in all the realms. If she’d bothered to fight the other demons rather than live in isolation, she would have come out on top. She would have been their queen.
Desperation inspired insanity. “We have to go see Rane,” Naomi told Makani.
“I hope the Rane you’re referring to is not the crazy demon Rane.”
Rane was a unique demon. Her shadow magic allowed her to warp reality. And, unlike the other demons, she could live in her native form on both earth and in the spirit realm. Despite all her powers, however, she stayed in her own protected bubble, keeping well away from demon politics.
“One and the same,” Naomi said brightly.
“She won’t help us. She doesn’t like you. And she hates me
. The last time we met, she tried to kill me.” Makani glanced at Bael. “And, besides, you can’t trust demons.”
The demon snorted.
“I know,” Naomi said. “But Rane knows more about earth magic and spirit magic, about the powers that bridge the realms, than anyone. And she has the spell book we need. She might be the only one who can help us.”
19
Neither Ally Nor Enemy
When Naomi and Makani left Bael’s spa through the red door, the demon didn’t even try to stop them. In fact, he looked amused. Naomi hoped that didn’t mean they were playing right into his plans, whatever those were. But what else could they do but follow this trail of clues, hoping it didn’t lead them into a trap?
Back at the Weeping Willow Roundabout, Valin and Brant were nowhere in sight. Perhaps, Bael had summoned his warlords back to base.
“We need to figure out the best way to approach Rane,” Naomi said to Makani as they entered the spirit magic stream.
“I think you are concentrating on the wrong problem.”
“How so? As you said, Rane isn’t particularly fond of either of us. But I’m pretty good at convincing people that they want to work with me, not against me.”
“You are indeed,” he agreed. “I remember an impudent fairy marching into hell and telling me that we would be working together.”
“Our goals were aligned. You just had to see that. And Rane will too. She’ll see that her goals and ours are the same. I’m sure of it. As soon as I figure out what her goals are.”
“I have every confidence in your powers of persuasion, but you are still concentrating on the wrong problem, Naomi. The problem isn’t Rane. It is Firestorm.”
“You think she’s holding back, that she knows something she hasn’t told us?”
“I think she knows a lot of things that she isn’t sharing with us. This whole thing could be one big deception.”
Frowning, Naomi looked down at her tummy. It still hadn’t popped. “You mean I’m not pregnant?”
“No, that part is true. I can feel the babies’ Dragon Born and spirit magic,” he said. “But what if the demons aren’t inside of you? We heard that from Firestorm, and she isn’t a very reliable source.”
“We learned it from Firestorm, but that information was backed up by Loring and Bael.”
“Who are both demons. What we know is that for the first time we can remember, the demons of hell are working together, united under the banner of Paladin and Paragon. And we know Darksire and Firestorm made a deal with those demons. This whole thing could be a deception.”
“But to what end? What would they accomplish by lying about this?” she asked.
“They’d keep us busy, chasing one dead end after the other. So while we are fighting to ostensibly protect our own children, we are not fighting the actual threat. The demons are free to set their plans into motion without our interference.”
Naomi had to admit he had a point. Demons’ schemes were nothing if not convoluted, full of deception and misdirection.
“This could all be a lie,” she said. “Or it could be completely true. This isn’t only about our babies’ lives, Makani. It’s about their free will. It’s about their bodies and magic being usurped by demons to destroy everything we love in this world, all that is good and decent, all that is worth fighting for. We have to go to Rane. She will tell us the truth. She’ll tell us if the demons are hiding inside our unborn children.”
“Rane is also a demon,” Makani pointed out.
“But she lives apart from the other demons. She doesn’t involve herself in their politics, and she doesn’t take part in their schemes. If she’s going to screw us over, she will do it all by herself, without any of the other demons. She doesn’t need them. She has the power to warp reality, to mold it however she wants, to reshape the world. She can walk the earth and hell, without a host, without tricks. If she decided to move against us, this would play out differently. Since she doesn’t need the other demons’ help, she wouldn’t share the glory with them.”
He blinked. “You’re right.”
“Of course I am.”
“We’ll make a monarch out of you yet,” he laughed.
She winked at him. “Well, as long as I get to wear a crown.”
They’d reached their exit out of the spirit stream. As they jumped out, Naomi opened a passage back to earth.
“Firestorm has been right twice now. Her intel has panned out,” she commented as they walked down the dark street toward home.
“As we discussed, she could be lying about this whole thing.”
Naomi sighed. “As much as I want that, because it means the demons are not inside of our babies, I think she is telling the truth. Something happened between her and Darksire tonight, something that changed everything for her. I can see the anguish in her eyes, how her pain is bleeding out of her soul. No one can fake that state of complete and total desolation.”
“We’ll see,” Makani said, his voice as hard as his eyes. “But I have known her for too long. I was there when she betrayed us all, and not one of us suspected her before it happened. Even if she didn’t lie about the demons inside our babies, she is playing us. She is trying to get us dependent on her, trying to get us to trust her. And the moment we trust Firestorm, the moment that we do something we’d usually never dream of doing because she says it’s the only way—that’s when she will betray us. That’s when the trap will close.”
“That is so…cynical.”
Makani wrapped his arm around her. “That is how we’ll survive, Naomi. It’s how our children will survive.”
When they stepped into the garage, Makani’s commandos were standing around Firestorm’s cage—barely. They all looked like they were about to collapse.
Naomi wondered how much time had passed while she and Makani were in hell. Time flowed differently there. Unfortunately, the hell panthers had broken her magic watch, a gift from Gran; it had displayed the time in all the realms.
There wasn’t a clock in the garage. Makani didn’t like having one around when he was working on his weapons. He thought time was an unnecessary distraction.
Firestorm was balanced in a headstand position, her legs folded together, resting on her elbows. She wasn’t moving at all. She looked so relaxed, so at peace.
“You do yoga,” Naomi commented.
“It calms the mind,” Firestorm replied, her eyes still closed. “And the soul.” Her eyes fluttered open.
Makani glowered down at her. “Your scarred soul deserves no peace.”
“Perhaps that is true, but my soul craves it nonetheless. Such is the weakness of human nature.” Firestorm unfolded her legs and rolled up, rising to face them. “How did it go with Bael?”
“Bael cannot help us,” Naomi said. “He no longer possesses the spell book.”
Firestorm’s brows drew together. “Who does?”
She wants to steal the spell book for herself, said Naomi’s inner cynic.
Makani would have approved. He believed that cynicism would save all their lives.
But Naomi believed the world could do with a bit more optimism. If you never gave someone the chance to be good, they could never take it.
“Rane has the book,” she told Firestorm.
“Oh.”
“Oh?”
“That complicates matters,” said Firestorm. “Rane is a formidable foe. Even the other demons fear her. If you’re planning on paying her a visit, you will need backup.”
“Backup like you?” Makani’s words cut like glass. “How convenient.”
He really thought Firestorm was leading them into a trap.
“We’re not expecting a fight when we visit Rane,” Naomi told her.
A harsh grunt came from Firestorm. Had the Fire Monster just snorted?
“We have had dealings with her before,” said Naomi. “Rane is…” Neither ally nor enemy. Neither friend nor foe. Rane was just something else. “Well, we think we can convince R
ane to help us.”
Firestorm’s skeptical eyes mirrored Makani’s. “And why is that?”
“Because she has helped us before.”
Skepticism gave way to surprise. “When?”
Naomi shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
Rane had helped them in the Shadow World. There was no reason to bring it up now. It was complicated.
“Do you trust Rane?” Firestorm asked her.
“Not really.”
“I see.” There was something about Firestorm’s expression that seemed so lost. So broken. Like she was barely holding herself together.
“I want to speak to Firestorm,” Naomi told Makani. “Alone.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
Perhaps not, but it was necessary. There was more to Firestorm’s story, more going on between her and Darksire. Whatever it was, though, she wouldn’t open up about it with Makani and his devoted followers standing here, glaring at her.
“She’s in a cage, Makani,” Naomi said when he remained firmly planted by her side. “And I can take care of myself.”
His gaze flickered briefly to Firestorm. Then he lifted Naomi’s hand to his lips. “If you ever feel in danger, send her off to hell where she belongs.”
The Prince of the Pacific sure had a flair for dramatics.
“Ok,” she agreed.
“Get some sleep,” Makani told his commandos.
They were so tired that they didn’t argue. They left the garage and walked to their house next door. As the garage door slid down behind them, Makani gave Firestorm a scathing farewell glare, then went into the house.
Finally alone with Firestorm, Naomi turned to her. “Why did you come to us?”
“I told you already. I learned that Darksire made a deal with Paladin and Paragon, to help the demon princes merge with your babies. That crossed the line.”
“No.” Naomi frowned. “Tell me what really happened.”
Firestorm’s grimace was almost painful. “After I learned of the demons’ true scheme, I questioned Darksire about what else he hadn’t told me.”
