by Rain Oxford
“They’ll be fine. You have to calm down; you’re hurting Sydney.”
He looked at the dragoness and she stopped convulsing in pain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“I know. You’re too powerful to lose control like that.” Dylan would never forgive himself if he really lost control and actually hurt an innocent person. As he withdrew his energy, I helped Sydney and then Taylor to their feet. Sydney was shaking but wasn’t injured.
“Were they kidnapped, or did they leave the school on their own?”
“Well… the Charger is missing…”
“What color and year is it? Do you know the license plate number?” Taylor asked, looking anywhere but at Dylan.
“It’s a 2013 black Dodge Charger. The license number is 869OMG.”
“I’ll put an APB out on a black Dodge Charger with that license plate. Would your boys skip town?”
“No, they’d come here, probably. Ron is intelligent enough that if they made a move, he would know where to go. Ronez Yatunus is nine and Samhail Yatunus is eleven.
“The two boys I met on Sunday?”
“That would be them. If any of your officers find them, cage and muzzle them both immediately. Be careful of Ron; he bites.”
Taylor gave Dylan a look, probably having never heard someone talk about their children like that, and I rolled my eyes. “You won’t actually be able to capture them, just call us,” I said. He walked away to make his call.
The demons had taken the opportunity to retreat and more than likely gather forces inside the warehouse. While it wasn’t the largest building I had seen on Earth, it was large enough to contain hundreds of demons.
“Zeb, in a battle between demons and dragons, who do you think would win?” Dylan asked.
“Whoever has you backing them. Honestly, I know little about dragons. What I know comes from what I saw in Mordon’s head the few seconds I was in him, and I always tried very hard to block out my host’s memories. I have seen the battles Rojan fought. Rojan can probably best two or three minor demons because his hide is resistant to magic, but he will be no match for one as powerful as I. We can discard a body and take another before a dragon could draw the breath to breathe fire. Plus, any demon worth his salt will know a dragon’s weakness is the cold.”
“Actually, there are dragon breeds that can withstand it,” I said.
“Not you, though.”
“No,” I admitted. “So how do we fight them?”
“You need a weapon that can kill an immortal. Demons are creatures of the void; we cannot die by your sense of the word. You can destroy us or send us back to the void. Of course, if Janus is truly gone, then sending us to the void would be pointless, because we could just return. Therefore, you must be willing to kill any demon we see.”
Dylan gave no warning before flashing away, only to reappear a few seconds later with the azurath sword. He handed it to me. “Will this do it?”
“Azurath metal is powerful enough to do it, yes. Are you powerful enough to wield it?” he asked me.
To defend Dylan, I would kill any number of beasts.
“Mordon can do it,” Dylan answered confidently. “Are we up against any Ancients, or just minor demons?”
Xul looked at the warehouse as if he could see through the walls. “I only sense one Ancient.”
“The ‘queen’ demon that leads them?”
“Yes. Her name is Ilea.”
“I thought demons didn’t have names.”
“It’s a long story. The name holds no power over her any more than ‘Zeb Carter’ does me. It’s not a true name. Be very careful not to give her mine, or she can make me into your enemy.”
“I feel like we’re at war,” Dylan said. Xul and I looked at each other and he nodded, agreeing not to say anything.
Taylor returned to my side. “Should we call the other dragons in?” Taylor asked.
“No; there will be casualties if we involve them. The warehouse is too small for full-sized dragons and we don’t want them burning down the warehouse on top of us,” I said.
“It’s worth the risk,” Xul argued. “If you want to save the boys before the demons have a chance to move them, we must move with all our force and we must move now.”
“I can just flash to the boys,” Dylan said.
“Ilea is smart. She knows she can use Ron, but she would rather kill him than have him on our side. Hail is useless to her except as a bargaining chip. We have to do this craftily and forcefully or you will lose someone.”
“She has the advantage because her men are disposable, while we don’t have the luxury of losing anyone from our side,” I said.
“That’s not true. We have dragons to spare,” Xul debated.
I growled and pulled Sydney into my arms. “We are not using my dragons like that.”
“Not even for Dylan?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Dylan said. “The dragons will stay back. There is already a spy on the inside; we don’t need any more confusion. If things get real bad, we’ll call Divina. Sydney can come with us, but Taylor needs to wait outside and guard the exit.” No matter how many advisers Dylan had, he weighed my advice the heaviest.
“Sydney and Taylor, shift,” I said. They both obeyed. I had no scabbard to sheath the sword, but I figured I would need it at hand anyway.
“Do you want me to take the sword so you can shift?” Dylan asked.
“No,” I answered. I was safer in dragon form, but Dylan was safer when I was in person form. “Ready?”
He nodded and Dylan, Xul, Sydney, and I entered the warehouse. Taylor really couldn’t enter until he shifted, but I liked knowing he was keeping the exit clear for us. It was dark inside and boxes formed maze-like tunnels. Sydney brushed up against my side so I put my hand on her head in a soothing manner.
The cardboard boxes also retained the scent of everyone who came near it long after they were gone, which made it nearly impossible to determine which way to go. There was one scent that stood out clearly. I stopped Dylan with a hand on his shoulder. “The boys have been here. I don’t know how long ago, but Ron’s scent is stronger.”
We stopped at a three-way split. “We’ll split up. Xul, go left. Mordon and Sydney, go straight. I’ll go right. Be safe.”
We split up as Dylan directed and followed the hallway. A few minutes in, the smell of vinegar assaulted my nose. Sydney shifted back, unconcerned with her nudity. “That’s so strong,” she said.
“They’re not idiots.” Luckily, it wasn’t voraciously strong like at the lab, so I could actually smell a little. After about ten minutes, the scent faded somewhat. I was more troubled by then with the fact that we hadn’t found anyone. “This warehouse should be full of demons.”
“It should be, but I have the feeling they’ve been waiting for us,” Dylan answered.
I made Sydney find some clothes to wear out of the bag because her nudity was pleasantly distracting and I needed to be focused on protecting us, not her smooth, warm skin. It didn’t help too much that she picked a pair of boxers and a red t-shirt. She looked good in red. Maybe I should get some red bed sheets.
“Um… not a good time,” she said.
I realized that I was rubbing my hand over her neck as she tried to dress. “Shit, did I say that out loud?”
“In my ear, all sexy like.”
“Yeah, and I heard it, too,” Dylan added unnecessarily.
Mortified, I controlled myself and continued down the dark hall. We checked each door until we came to what appeared to be an empty room… only it didn’t smell empty. Sydney turned to move on, but I took her arm to stop her. “Wait. There’s something here.”
“It’s empty.”
“No, I can smell something over the vinegar. I smell fear.” I shifted my eyes and what little color that could be seen in the dark faded. Shapes dulled, but light shimmered throughout the room, particularly in five people-shaped spots. There was magic hiding the people. “Dylan! T
hey’re invisible!” I just barely got the warning to Dylan before someone hit me hard from behind.
I collapsed onto the ground, but I wasn’t disorientated. I rolled onto my back to see three demons, not as men but as slimy, black-skinned creatures with reptilian facial structures. Their bodies were humanoid, though thin, and their fingers were long and ended in wicked claws. One reached for Sydney and she started to shift.
“Don’t shift!” I yelled. Rojan had seen this tactic before; dragons were vulnerable in our person form, but we were completely helpless while shifting.
Luckily, she obeyed. I picked up the sword that had gone skittering across the floor when I had been hit and got to my feet. I may never have gotten along with my father, but he trained me diligently in the art of combat without tech weapons.
The first demon was fooled by a faked strike to the chest when instead I went for his legs. While it didn’t kill the demon, I knocked him and the demon behind him off their feet. The third demon came right at my sword, but stopped cold just in time to avoid skewering himself. He stared at me for several seconds, allowing me the time to get Sydney behind me, until the other two had risen.
I wasted my advantage. The two demons started shifting in a gory fashion, as if their skin melted until they looked like people. “Go away, dragon. We have no business with you.”
“I am here with Yatunus-so Dylan to free those kidnapped by you.”
“You come seeking to destroy us then. No friend of him will leave this place alive. Dragons are no match for demons.”
The other demon suddenly slapped his companion’s arm. “That is Mordon, the dragon brother of the qadah. The goddess said we cannot hurt him.”
How the Hell did they know Divina was in their ranks? Why didn’t she come home and let Dylan know her cover was blown? And why are they taking orders from her? Divina was there for Dylan before I met him and it hurt to doubt her even a little. While I knew she lied and used her magic on Dylan frequently, I always believed she had his best interest at heart.
“What’s going on?”
“They speak of your wife,” Rojan said. It was weirder than him taking over my mouth, for it was as if he took over my mind. This was the first time Rojan was able to directly speak to Dylan and I hoped it was the last.
“Divina is a god; if she didn’t want her cover blown, she wouldn’t have let it be blown. Perhaps she found out they took he boys and she made them all her servants. No, that wouldn’t make sense because then we wouldn’t be fighting. Plus, the boys should be wherever the Charger is.”
“Stop working things out in my head,” I groused.
“But it’s too crowded in my head, and yours is so spacy.”
Rojan and I growled at his teasing simultaneously. The demons flinched back, obviously mistaking my growl. Sydney disappeared from behind me, but I couldn’t afford to look away from the demons. The demons didn’t seem to know what to do, since they couldn’t hurt me.
“This is weird,” Sydney said. “I can feel them, but I can’t see them.” Sydney pressed herself against my back. “These are all adults; I can’t find the children. There are four of them, including Jeffery, but the kids are still missing.”
“We’ll keep looking, but we need to get these people out.”
“We’re waiting to follow you,” a soft imitation of Jeffery’s voice said. It was as if he was on the other side of a wall.
I raised my sword at the demons, as threateningly as I could. “Get back.”
The demons all took reluctant steps away, but their eyes scanned Sydney and the invisible prisoners. They were looking for a way to get them without going through me. When the tallest demon nodded slightly to the other two, I knew they could communicate privately.
As they passed through the doorway, the invisibility magic fell off the prisoners. The four of them looked dirty, malnourished, and terrified, but otherwise unhurt. None of them limped or favored an arm, at least. There were three young women, all of which couldn’t have been more than in their very early twenties. Ron and Hail were still nowhere to be found.
Two of the demons moved to attack the prisoners and because the terrified people made no attempt to protect themselves, I had to do it for them. My shields were not as tangible as Dylan’s, so I reached through my bond with Dylan to draw his energy into myself. His Iadnah energy seemed to work on instinct and intent more than nominal energy. I created my shield just like I would with nominal energy, except I used his energy. The electrified shield closed over the group and the demon that hit it was thrown back. The other demon stopped when his companion was repelled.
The wiser demon, the one who didn’t attack, started to shift again, but it wasn’t into a black-skinned creature. His humanoid limps shrunk and lengthened. His knees reversed so that he fell to his arms. Hair receded on his head and sprout in awkward patches across his body. The black leather and denim he wore melded and melted into his skin. Within seconds, the demon shifted from a man to the creature every sago feared.
I knew it wasn’t a real dejeva, but the creature was terrifying beyond thought. Foam dripped from its narrow, snarling muzzle. While it had patches of thin hair, most of it was bald with splotchy gray skin. The four-legged creature reached my waistline on long, thin limbs. Even knowing it was just a demon pretending to be a dejeva, I couldn’t move. I literally couldn’t even breathe.
Sydney screamed behind me, not because of the creature, but the third demon. I tried desperately to turn and help the dragoness, but I couldn’t look away.
I heard a scuffle behind me and suddenly the sword was taken out of my useless hands. Dylan stabbed the demon through the heart and pulled back the blade. The beast dropped easily, and that only made me feel weaker for my fear. Dylan handed me back the sword and braced me with both hands on my shoulders. “Everybody needs help sometimes, and everyone has a weakness,” Dylan said.
Although my brother could be ridiculously goofy, he was sometimes very serious and wise.
Sydney was alright, thanks to Dylan. I pulled her into my arms as Dylan checked the prisoners over. “Where are the missing kids?” he asked them.
The women looked terrified while Jeffery shook his head. “There was an attack a few days ago,” one of the women finally said. “The kids were taken somewhere and we haven’t seen them since.”
Dylan looked at me. “I’ve been all over this place and haven’t found anyone but demons who wanted their butts kicked. When you told me they were invisible, I used magic, and that was how I found some demons that were trying to ambush me.”
“Next time you go left,” Xul said, approaching from the other end of the hall. “I don’t think I had to fight that many demons in the void.” Following Xul were six more people, and they all looked hesitant to follow the Ancient. Two of them were men and the rest were women. Before they could get too close, I scented them.
“They are demons,” I warned Dylan.
“Did you find more innocent bystanders?” he asked Xul.
“I did. The demons here decided that any demon that doesn’t stand against you is to be captured and tortured.”
“Other than being demons, do they smell okay?”
That seemed very contradictory, but I scented them again. There was no anger towards Dylan or even suspicion. I just smelled fear. “They’re okay.”
Dylan reached out to shake the hand of the nearest woman. She took it hesitantly. “I’m Dylan Yatunus. You’re safe now; we’re getting you out. However, I need you to tell me if you know where the missing kids are.”
She glanced at the others that we rescued, but her hand tightened around Dylan’s as she subconsciously clutched him for support. “You wouldn’t hurt them, right?” she asked, her voice dry and cracked.
“Never. We came to save everyone that was kidnapped.”
“I’m a demon.”
“I’m aware. Can I know your name or do you not have one?” Since she was a minor demon and not an Ancient, we knew she had a true name,
but Dylan was trying to be polite.
“I have a human name I go by,” she said defensively, as if Dylan was asking to enslave her.
“I could call you ‘lady’ if you would prefer.”
“My name is Rebecca Sharp. I’m a teacher at the middle school. The kids aren’t here. My husband, me, and some of our friends got together and caused a diversion a few days ago. We got the kids out, and Keigan Cardigan.”
“These guys wanted to use the children as blood sacrifices. They were especially looking for children that were stranded here from their home worlds,” one of the men said.
“I heard about you, Dr. Yatunus,” Rebecca said. “I heard that you are the enemy of demons, the destroyer of our kind.”
“I’m not a destroyer of any kind.”
“I realized that already. You are not the enemy of demons but of darkness.”
“Shit,” Xul said suddenly. Before anyone could question him, he vanished.
I grabbed Dylan’s arm and poured my fire into him to calm his energy, because we both knew Xul was being pulled away in order to save the boys. “Let him do his job. We need to get these people out.”
The rumble from above came suddenly and expectedly. I pulled Dylan and Sydney closer in order to cover them, but Dylan put a shield over all of us. Debris bounced off his shield and harmlessly fell away, but the dragon that came through the new hole in the roof tore through the shield. Taylor roared, which echoed across the walls and boxes.
“They found your car,” I translated. “They’re on their way to the house where it was found.”
I made a hand signal and the dragon took to the sky. The hallway we had converged in was now a large clearing of melted and bent metal and flattened cardboard boxes. About two dozen demons emerged to surround us, but none made a move to attack. The ten people we rescued all moved at once to stand behind Dylan, both in a show of support and for his protection. Sydney stood to my right and Dylan to my left. One of the demons stepped forward.
“Hello, Sardis. I thought all the fun would be over before you showed up,” Dylan taunted.
“We already have what we need,” Sardis responded.
“You mean Ron?” Divina asked, appearing to the left of Dylan with Ron in her arms.
