by Linsey Hall
“Deal.” We set off, out of the library and back onto the stone pathway that was pressed up against the exterior wall.
The sun was setting now, and the bite in the air had grown stronger. I shivered as we hurried to the back of the compound. I couldn’t remember what the small gate looked like, but when I spotted the wooden door, it was obviously our target.
It didn’t budge under my touch, so I turned to Roarke. “Could you?”
“Yes.” He broke through it the way he broke through everything. With one solid punch.
“If you weren’t so destructive, you’d make a great treasure hunter,” I said.
He grinned at me. “Thanks. Somehow, I feel you’d frown on my methods.”
“Indeed. Destroying sites is strictly verboten,” I said primly, then turned toward the now-open doorway to the mountain outside. “Now let’s get a move on.”
We stepped through onto a rolling bit of mountain covered by a thick layer of snow. The wind howled like a banshee as it swept across the ridge, kicking up the snow and blowing it in my eyes.
“Shit.” I searched for anything that wasn’t white. “I don’t see the tunnel entrance.”
“No, it’d be well-hidden.”
I called upon my dragon sense, praying to fate it would lead me to the tunnel. We spent nearly half an hour tromping around in the snow—leaving all manner of incriminating tracks—until we finally found the tunnel exit deep beneath the snow. I was about to pull open the small wooden door when I felt the snow change.
No, it was my ice power that felt the snow change. Heat. Coming from a few dozen yards away.
“Del!” Roarke’s warning came in the nick of time.
I glanced up—to exactly where my ice power was directing me—and saw a demon’s fireball flying through the air, aimed straight for my head.
I lunged just as Roarke dove for me. We plowed into the snow, escaping the fireball by a hair’s breadth. The demon I popped up, loading up on my ice power, and shot a massive icicle straight at the red demon who stood next to the gate.
It plowed through his middle. Red blood sprayed on the snow as he fell.
“Damn,” I wheezed. “Good eye, Roarke. That was close.”
“No problem.”
I reached down and touched the snow, instinct propelling me. I wanted to get rid of our tracks, so I envisioned snow falling on them, just tiny, delicate ice. It worked.
In a matter of seconds, a mini blizzard covered our tracks and the demon’s body.
“Good job,” Roarke said.
“Thanks. I’m trying to practice more.” And not be so afraid of screwing it up. “Let’s go.”
Roarke pulled open the hidden wooden door, and we climbed inside. It was pitch black, so I called on my Phantom power, allowing my blue glow to illuminate the tunnel.
“Whoa,” I breathed.
Like the grand entrance above, the tunnel was magnificent. It was wide and beautifully paved with decorative stone in every shade of white, black, and gray.
“Your parents were not subtle people,” Roarke said.
“No.” I set off down the beautiful hall, vaguely ill at the excess. And coming from a FireSoul with a whole hidden treasure trove, that was saying something.
“I don’t think anyone ever used this,” I murmured. “If they had managed to, I wouldn’t be the last of my kind, would I?”
“No, that’s true. Whatever wiped out the inhabitants of this place, it did so quickly.”
“I was thinking.” I stuck close by his side so I could whisper. “We’ve only seen two demons our whole time here. So, they’re sentries or something. But most of the demons can’t pass the barrier in the throne room, so does that mean they’re working with demons who are on Earth?”
“Yes.” Roarke’s voice was grim. “And I don’t like it.”
“Do you think the uprising you were dealing with earlier this week had anything to do with it?”
“Hard to say.” He frowned. “But yes, possibly. Whatever it is, it seems well organized.”
“The worst kind of demon attack.”
“Exactly.”
The path began to wind upward. Suddenly, stairs loomed ahead.
“I think we’re getting close,” I whispered.
“Agreed.”
There was a brief, silent shoving match to see who would go up first. Roarke won, of course, considering that he could pick me up and set me down behind him.
He could even pick me up when I was in my Phantom form, which was annoying as heck.
I hurried up the stairs behind him. As expected, there was a flat trap door at the top, leading up to the spot by my mother’s throne, I guessed.
“Do you sense anything?” Roarke’s whisper was as quiet as a breeze.
There was no ice here, so I couldn’t feel for the warmth of bodies. But I couldn’t hear anything, so I shook my head.
“Then we’ll go.” He pressed his big palms flat to the trap door.
I grabbed his arm, the transparent blue of my Phantom form stark against his black jacket. “Wait! Let me check. I’ll just stick my head through.”
“Just your head. If you see anything, we run. You first.”
“Fine.” I joined him on the top stair and slowly stuck my head through the floor. It was so weird, almost funny. Like I was a cartoon.
As soon as my eyes cleared the door, I saw Draka, still chained in her human form and lying on the ground. Did she look skinnier? Were they feeding her?
Besides Draka, the room was empty.
Good.
I popped up through the floor, not bothering to tell Roarke. He’d figure it out. I raced to Draka, keeping my gaze on the room around me. Roarke was so fast, he was at my side as I fell to my knees in front of her. Her features were as timeless as ever.
“Draka! Wake up!” As I spoke, a massive silver cage fell down around us, clattering on the stone floor. It was huge and square, trapping us.
Panic clenched my heart.
“Damn it.” Roarke’s deep voice echoed in the stone chamber.
Draka’s eyes flared wide as she looked around blindly. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Del. I’m invisible.” I reached for her hands, and she clutched at them, turning toward me.
Roarke knelt at the cage side and tried to lift it, but it wouldn’t budge. Magic. He was more than strong enough to lift the thing. Trying not to lose my shit, I left him to get us out of the cage while I turned back to Draka.
“I’ve got to get you out of those chains. Help me!” I pulled at the heavy metal shackles around her transparent blue wrists, searching for a lock of some kind. How had they found something that could hold a Phantom?
“You can’t. It’s impossible. As long as I’m trapped in human form, I can’t escape these. You cannot release me.” Grief crossed her features. “And you weren’t supposed to come for me! Flora was supposed to stop you.”
“That’s why you sent me to her.”
“Yes! The demons were forcing me to make a connection with you to draw you here. It was the only way to make them think I did what they commanded. I sent you a message, but they didn’t know what kind.”
“A message to keep me from coming for you? Nothing would keep me from rescuing a friend.”
“I’m not your friend.” She tried to harden her face, but I could see what she was doing. I’d felt her love in my dreams. “Go now!”
Behind her, Roarke had shifted and was trying to punch through the cage’s enchantment. It wasn’t working.
“I can’t leave you.” I tugged at the chains, fear and frustration rising in my chest. Any moment, demons would come. “How the hell did they manage to trap a Phantom dragon?”
“They’ve taken my source egg.” Devastation hovered in her gaze. “As long as it is trapped, I cannot shift to escape.”
“Where is it?”
“Their stronghold. It is too well-guarded—it will never be freed. Leave me.” She gripped my hands, desperat
ion in her grip. “You must run! Don’t let them catch you. You are the Guardian, not the Demise. But if they catch you…”
I hated to point out that they already had. “Tell me where it is!”
“No!” Her expression was hard as granite. “You would never survive. It’s too heavily guarded. You don’t know what they are capable of.”
“Del,” Roarke whispered. “We’ve got company. And I can’t get us out.”
Shit.
Demons came from the far doors, not from the walls like last time. They must not have expected us back so soon and hadn’t been lying in wait, but we’d triggered their trap all the same.
“You’re invisible. When they lift the cage, you must slip away and run,” Draka said. “Do not come back for me. It is what they want. I am a trap. For you.”
My heart tore in two—she was in this because of me.
More demons poured from the door. Two dozen. No, three. Four.
We couldn’t fight four dozen demons. They surrounded the cage, so many species. All of their gazes searched the space inside. Their noses twitched.
“Where are they?” one grumbled. “I smell them but don’t see them.”
“They’re somewhere,” another said.
“Does the air look funny in there?” A demon pointed into the cage.
Shit. Was the potion wearing off?
“Could be a spell,” a gray demon said. “Surround the cage. Then lift it.”
They formed a barrier around the edges, leaving no spot for us to escape.
Roarke turned to me and mouthed, Distraction.
An idea popped into my mind.
As a demon with glowing hands lifted up the cage, I called on my power over the past, letting it flow through me. I pulled it forward, trying to bring back a point where this room would have been flooded with people.
My mother’s fortieth birthday. It’d been a huge party—one I had heard from my tower. The suit of demon armor in the library showed how chummy my parents had been with demons. What would they think of this lot appearing at the party?
Like a barreling freight train, the past came hurtling back. The room filled with revelers, over a thousand of them. They danced and drank and sang, all dressed in crazy costumes in a rainbow of colors. A five-piece band played in the corner, filling the stone room with raucous music.
Roarke darted toward the edge of the cage, slipping a hand under the bottom edge just before the partiers noticed the four dozen demons in their midst. Screams sounded. Immediately, the partiers and the demons collided in a fight.
When a mage attacked two of the demons near the cage, a hole opened up that we could run through.
“Come on,” Roarke whispered.
“Hurry!” Draka hissed. “Your invisibility charm is fading!”
I gave her one last look, then ran to Roarke and slipped out from beneath the cage.
“Don’t come back!” Draka called.
Roarke followed me out. The demons were all busy fighting the party guests, most of whom were powerful supernaturals. There were shifters, mages, sorceresses, and fae, among others. Magic flew through the air as destructive spells were cast.
“To the main exit,” I said. There were more people between us and the trap door, so we sprinted the other way, dodging and weaving between bodies.
Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I caught a glimpse of my mother. Torn, I looked away and pushed myself faster toward the door. We just had to make it to the midpoint of the room—where the demons couldn’t pass.
We were almost there when something heavy slammed into my back. I stumbled, losing my footing. I slammed to the ground, barely catching myself with my hands.
Roarke crashed down behind me. I struggled to rise, but a heavy iron chain held me tight to the ground.
A woman kicked me in the stomach. Pain flared and I curled in on myself.
We were no longer invisible.
And we were caught.
Someone kicked me in the head, and I blacked out.
Chapter Ten
I surfaced from the blackness slowly. Pain was the first thing I noticed. My head ached, and my stomach felt like someone had set a bowling ball on it.
Groggily, I blinked, slowly taking in the fact that I was slung over the shoulder of some massive demon. My wrists were bound with thick metal shackles. I tried to struggle, but my limbs were so heavy they could have been made of iron. Worse, my mind felt like it was running at half speed.
A sedative?
It was all I could do to keep my eyes open, so I assumed yes.
I tilted my head to the left, catching a glimpse of Roarke. It took three demons to carry his unconscious body. We had a guard of at least twelve, all massive demons of a variety of species.
My heart thundered. Where the hell were they taking us?
All around us, massive trees reached up into the sky. Not as big as redwoods, but close. A hazy black mist snaked around the tree trunks, bringing with it the most visceral sensation of evil.
My stomach lurched. I swallowed hard.
If I could just shift, maybe…
I gave it my all, calling upon my Phantom magic, but something stopped it.
The shackles.
Damn it—they were the magic-dampening kind.
“Quit your wriggling.” The demon who held me gave me a hard shake.
I was about to punch him in the back when a big hand shoved a smelly rag in front of my mouth and nose. I thrashed, trying to break free, but my mind began to shut down, wooziness pulling at me.
“Told you we didn’t give her enough of the stuff,” a gruff voice muttered.
It was the last thing I heard before I blacked out entirely.
I snapped awake.
Darkness.
Everything was darkness. The stone floor was cold and damp. The dungeon silent. No noise, not even the soft breathing of my only companions.
Where were my friends? Had the Monster taken them? My heart jumped into my throat as I scrambled upright.
“Cass? Nix?”
No answer.
Tears sprang to my eyes as my chest clenched in panic. I crawled from my spot, blindly seeking them. After a few feet, a chain tugged at my wrist, cutting into my skin.
I was chained? I wasn’t normally chained in the dungeon.
Memories slammed into my mind, stealing my breath.
I wasn’t in the Monster’s dungeon. And he hadn’t taken my friends.
Because I wasn’t fifteen anymore.
Relief made my muscles turn to water. Anything was better than being in the Monster’s dungeon. I sagged against the ground. I reached up to touch my lucky necklace and felt the heavy weight of iron around my wrists.
I licked my lips, tasting the sweet remnants of whatever chemical the demons had used to knock me unconscious.
I sucked in a ragged breath and tried to take stock of my surroundings. The demons had taken me somewhere and chained me up, alone in a dark dungeon. Now that my eyes had adjusted, I saw the sliver of light beneath the door. It was dim, but gave just enough brightness to reveal that I was alone.
Where was Roarke? Dark magic was strong on the air, bringing with it the scent of a garbage fire. It was pure evil. Where the hell was I?
My skin prickled with nerves.
Nowhere I wanted to stay, that was for damned sure.
I reached up for my comms charm, but it was gone. Lost or taken, I didn’t know which. But I was definitely alone.
I called upon my Phantom form, praying to fate that it worked.
Nothing happened.
“Damn it!” I shook my wrists, tugging at the magical chains that dampened my magic. They were stuck hard into the wall.
Freaking things!
Roarke was probably trapped, too. Draka needed me. And inside this dungeon, there was every chance my location was shielded from my deirfiúr. I needed to get the hell out of here or Draka would die in those chains, tied up near my mother’s throne.
&nb
sp; Which somehow made it even grosser, though I couldn’t quite pinpoint why.
A voice sounded from outside. I stilled, listening.
A demon was somewhere at the other end of the hall. My heart raced. Was he coming for me?
Then I heard a key scratch in the cell door’s lock.
I reached out, trying to get a feel for the magical signature of whoever was entering. Heat warmed my skin, and the smell of iron hit my nose.
A gift over metal, maybe?
I could use that.
Quietly, I lay down, pretending to be unconscious. For good measure, I pulled my shirt up, revealing my stomach. It made me gag, but I tried to pose sexily. Unconscious girls weren’t sexy unless you were a pervy criminal, but if I had to bet these demons were probably pervy criminals.
And I wanted this one to get close.
The key snicked in the lock, and the door creaked open.
I shoved aside the desperate desire to open my eyes and lay still. I could just make out the demon’s footsteps as he approached.
A big foot nudged me in the side, and the demon said, “Wake up. The Masters want to have some fun with you.”
The dark glee in his voice made sweat break out on my skin. I could feel his gaze crawling over me like roaches. I snapped my eyes open and lunged for the figure towering over me.
I slammed into his legs, taking him to the ground, and pinned him. He thrashed beneath me and would have thrown me off if I hadn’t managed to grab a handful of his balls.
Bile rose in my throat as I squeezed. But the demon stilled, so…jackpot.
“I bet you like these, huh?” I said.
He grunted.
“You know, I could tear these right off.” I squeezed. “In fact, it’s how I like to spend a Saturday night. I don’t even like to use knives. Just…yank.”
I pulled for good measure, and he made a weird wheezing noise.
Fates. I was so glad I didn’t have a pair of these liabilities.
“You got a key to these chains?” I asked.
He shook his head frantically.
“No problem,” I said. “Because I think you have a metal gift. You can melt it, can’t you?”
