“VERY GOOD, SISTER.” Aine clapped as I sent small controlled waves across the lake. I passed my hand through the water and a five-foot waterspout formed a few feet from me. I held it for a minute then let it collapse. It was hard to believe that a week ago I couldn’t use my power without causing a near disaster.
Aine’s eyes shone. “You have improved so much these last few days.”
“That’s because you are a great teacher.” I couldn’t imagine someone sweeter or more patient than my sylph friend.
“Am I not a great teacher as well?” asked Eldeorin, appearing at Aine’s side.
“The jury’s still out on that,” I retorted as a mixture of excitement and trepidation stirred in my stomach at the sight of him. It had been a little over a week since our trip to the Mexican village, and Eldeorin had made good on his promise to continue my “education” as he put it. Every second day, he appeared to whisk me away on one of his training sessions, which always ended with me killing something.
First, it had been the drex demon in New Orleans, a nasty scaly thing that resembled an upright crocodile and disabled its victims by injecting them with venom that created severe hallucinations. I’d had to follow that thing as it dragged a young man into the bayou, not one of my more pleasant experiences. After the demon was dead, Eldeorin had helped me get the man back home again, and he’d assured me the guy wouldn’t remember the experience because of the aftereffects of the venom.
Next, we’d gone to Miami to hunt some vampires that had been preying on the residents of a retirement community. What Eldeorin hadn’t told me was that there were five vampires living in a newly formed nest in a nearby industrial park. Luckily for me, the vampires were all less than a few months old, and I had relatively little difficulty taking them out. Still, it would have been nice to have had a heads-up. When I’d said that to Eldeorin, he’d replied that I needed to learn to think on my feet because I never knew what I’d be facing out there.
Two days ago, we’d travelled to Seattle where I’d killed a vampire who was responsible for at least three missing teenagers. He’d been older than the vampires in Miami and he’d put up a little more of a fight, so the kill had been pretty messy. Eldeorin had to clean me up and heal a few scratches before he’d taken me home. But it had been worth it because I’d found two of the missing teenagers in the old house the vampire had holed up in. They’d been traumatized, but they were alive. Eldeorin used his magic to heal them and wipe their memories of their horrible ordeals before we’d dropped them off at the nearest hospital.
Every time Eldeorin arrived I had no idea what he had in store for me, and it scared me. At the same time, I couldn’t deny that I liked how it felt to kill those monsters and to save people from them. I felt like I had a purpose, like I was doing what I was born to do. Not to mention that unleashing all that power helped me focus during my training with Aine.
The only downside – and it was a big one – was keeping my adventures a secret from Nikolas. Whenever he asked me about my trips with Eldeorin I said we went to the desert to work on my power. Not telling him the truth gnawed at me, but Jordan reminded me I didn’t have another option, unless I wanted him to lose it. As much as I hated it, I decided to wait until I could prove I was capable of taking care of myself before I told him.
“So, Cousin, are you ready for our next little excursion?”
I waded out of the water and waited for Aine to do her little drying trick. “I don’t suppose we’re going somewhere fun for a change. They have vampires in Hawaii, don’t they?”
Eldeorin laughed and hugged me because he knew it bugged me when he did that. “Oh, I have something very fun for you today. You like snow, don’t you?”
“Snow?”
The word was barely out of my mouth when the world went black. I found myself standing in a foot of snow in the parking lot of what looked like a storage facility. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered in the bitter cold as fat snowflakes swirled around me. “Are you trying to freeze me to death?”
“Oops.” Eldeorin waved a hand and I was suddenly wearing soft-soled boots that came to my knees, a warm jacket, and a knit cap that I pulled down over my ears.
I waved a hand over my form-fitting outfit. “What’s with all the black? I feel like a cat burglar.”
He gave me a lopsided smile. “I figured we might as well have some fun.”
“You always have fun,” I reminded him, sticking my hands in my pockets to warm them. “I do all the work, remember?” I looked around the empty parking lot. “Where are we, and what are we doing here?”
“We are in Minneapolis to see a gulak demon that has decided to enter the slave business.”
Anger burned away the tiny knot of fear in my stomach. “Human or demon slaves?”
“Both, most likely.”
“This place looks deserted. Where are they?”
He took my arm and led me around to the front of the building. Then he pointed to a two-story warehouse across the road. “They are in that building.”
I studied the warehouse. There were two loading doors and four upper windows on the side facing us, but I could see no sign of activity. Several inches of untouched snow lay on the ramps in front of the doors, indicating that no one had gone in or out that way in the last few hours.
The sound of an approaching truck broke the silence. A few seconds later, I spotted a white moving truck at the end of the street. “Um, shouldn’t we hide before they see us?”
“They can’t see us.”
“Oh, right, glamour.” I exhaled in relief. “When will I be able to do that?”
“Baby steps, Cousin.”
“You know, for a teacher you’re not that big on sharing.” I thought about our other excursions. “I’m not going to go in there and find a dozen gulaks, am I? It’s just one, right?”
Eldeorin shrugged. “A gulak usually has a second and third but they won’t be as strong as he is, and none of them is as strong as you.”
“Why doesn’t that make me feel better?” I recalled the fight at Draegan’s party. I’d only had to take out one of the gulaks because Jordan had killed the other one. And neither of us had faced Draegan because he’d been unconscious. Something told me he would not have been an easy kill.
The truck reached the warehouse and the driver put it in reverse to back up to one of the loading doors. The doors opened and a gulak and a ranc demon got out.
“How are they able to drive around in broad daylight without someone seeing what they are?”
“Glamours,” Eldeorin replied. “Warlock made, if I’m not mistaken.”
Silently cursing warlocks everywhere, I watched as one of the gulak demons typed in a code on the panel next to the door and the door began to rise. The ranc demon moved to the back of the truck, and I heard the truck door slide up followed by the unmistakable sound of crying.
“You’re up, Cousin. Get in there and go all Fae on their demon asses.”
In less than a minute, I was across the street and crouched in front of the truck as the two demons led seven bound and shackled humans into the warehouse. The four women and three men all looked to be in their late teens or early twenties, and judging by their various states of undress, they had been taken from their beds. I watched a pale red-haired woman stumble only to be yanked up violently by the gulak demon. She cried out, and my nostrils flared in outrage. The bastard didn’t know it yet, but he’d just hurt his last human.
The warehouse door began to close, and I jumped from my hiding place to slip inside before I was locked out. Knowing Eldeorin, the glamour hiding me would only last until I entered the building. That was his way of keeping things interesting. But, hopefully, that would be all the time I needed.
Just inside the loading door I ducked behind a stack of wooden pallets to size up the situation and get my bearings. The open area of the interior was lined with rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves that were empty except for a few crates on the upper shelves. That made it easier to follow the progress of the demons and their prisoners as they moved toward a door on the far side of the open space.
The ranc demon shoved the humans into the room, and I waited several minutes for them to reappear. They spoke in a language I couldn’t understand before the ranc demon headed for a room a few doors away from where the humans were being held. The gulak demon climbed a set of stairs to the second floor. I had a feeling he was going to report in to this boss. I’d deal with that later. First, I needed to take care of his friend and get those people out of here.
Remembering what Eldeorin had said about a gulak never working alone, I scanned the room to make sure it was empty before I slipped out from my hiding place. I stayed close to the wall as I silently made my way to the room where the humans were, and I let out a relieved sigh when I tried the door and found it unlocked.
I wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted me when I opened the door, and my hand flew to my mouth when I saw the large dog cages lining the walls of the room. They were stacked three high, and from each one a pair of terrified eyes stared at me. All but two of the cages held humans; the last two were occupied by mox demons.
“Please, help us,” sobbed a girl who couldn’t have been much older than I was. Her fingers curled around the bars of the cage and tears streaked her dirty face.
I put my finger to my lips and went to her cage. “Shhh. I’m going to get you all out of here, but you have to be quiet. Okay?”
She clutched at my fingers. “I w-want to go h-home.”
The girl’s broken plea shook me, and I was torn between the urge to comfort her and the need to free them all. My pragmatic side won. I squeezed her fingers before I pulled my hand away and whispered, “I’ll take you home. I promise. First, I need to get these cages unlocked. Do any of you know where the key is?”
“You mean this key?” asked a deep rumbling voice from behind me. There were cries from the cages as I whirled to face the gulak demon who dangled a set of keys from his clawed hand. He leered at me as he filled the doorway. “Hello there. Where did you come from?”
If I hadn’t seen and fought a gulak before that moment I might have been scared by the sight of the scaly demon. Instead, I was worried about how I was going to kill him without hurting anyone else. My power strained to be free, but I had to get this guy out of the room before I unleashed it. And I had to hurry before all his buddies showed up.
“I was just passing by and thought I’d check this place out.”
His reptilian eyes swept me from head to toe. “Is that so? I think I should take you to see the boss.”
“Okay, but can my friends come too?” I glanced over his shoulder.
He spun to look behind him. It was all the opening I needed. I tackled him and knocked him to the floor outside the room. “I can’t believe you actually fell for that.” My glowing hands covered his mouth before he had a chance to shout for help. Power flowed into him, and he gagged as it encased his head and filled his mouth and nose, suffocating him. I tried to make it fast, to get it over with before someone heard us and came to see what was going on. The gulak decided not to go easily, and it took him a good minute to die.
I climbed off his body and dragged it back into the room, ignoring the two dozen pairs of eyes watching me. The demon had dropped the keys and I grabbed them off the floor.
“Okay, let’s get you guys out of here.”
A minute later, I swore when I realized that none of the keys on the ring fit the cage locks. The bastard had been playing me.
“The o-other one has the key,” stammered a blond man.
“The one who brought you here?” The man nodded, and I moved toward the door. “Hold tight. I’ll be back.”
I chewed my lip as I studied the door to the room the ranc demon had entered. I couldn’t just barge in because, for all I knew, there might be a dozen demons in there. But I couldn’t stand here waiting for him to come out either.
Before I could change my mind, I rapped on the door. There were sounds from within before the door opened to reveal a shocked ranc demon who was also very much alone. Using the element of surprise against him, I pushed him into the room and kicked the door shut behind me. Away from the humans, I didn’t have to restrain my power and I let him have it in the chest.
“Shit!” I backed away as his skin turned dry and brittle and began to fall away in chunks. His mouth opened in a silent scream before his whole head crumbled, followed by the rest of his body.
I stared at the pile of what used to be the demon then looked at my hands. “Maybe a little too much.”
I let out a groan when I realized the keys I was looking for were probably in that pile of demon bits. It would be just my luck to have melted the damn things.
It took a few minutes to locate the keys, and I let out a relieved sigh when I saw they were intact. On a table was another set of keys that looked like they belonged to the truck outside. I grabbed them and shoved them into my pocket. Wiping my hands on my jeans, I hurried back to the first room and fitted a key into the lock on the first cage. Thank you, God, I said silently when the padlock clicked open. I moved to the next cage, making a mental note to learn how to pick locks in the very near future. Either that or figure out how to blast them open with my power. Now that would be a handy trick to know.
The blond man whose cage I’d unlocked first climbed out and stood beside me, rubbing his arms. It was cold in here, and the poor guy was wearing a T-shirt and boxers.
“How are we going to get out of here?” he asked, following me. “There are more of those things out there.”
I focused on the lock I was working on. “How many?”
“I don’t know. At least one more of the scaly ones and it’s huge.”
The lock opened, and I removed the padlock before going to the next cage, which held the girl I’d spoken to.
“We’re going home now,” I told her in a soothing voice as I freed her. When the door opened she flung her arms around me, her body shaking in terror. I gently set her away from me. “I know you’re scared. I need to get everyone else out, and then we’ll leave.”
“Where are the others?” asked a dark-haired man as I unlocked his cage.
“Others?” Dear God, there were more prisoners here?
“The people with you who came to help us,” the man said as I helped him out of the cramped cage.
“It’s just me.”
“Are you serious?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes.” I tried to move past him, but he was blocking my way. “This will go a lot faster if you let me open the rest of these cages.”
The blond man pulled the dumbfounded brunette aside, and I continued to unlock the cages. When I got to the two mox demons, a hand grabbed my arm roughly.
“What are you doing? You can’t let those things out!” the dark-haired man hissed.
I shook off his grip and faced him. “These two are victims here just like the rest of you.”
“They’re monsters,” he spat. “I’m not going to die in this hellhole because you took pity on those things.”
I turned back to the cages again. “You don’t have to wait for me. I’m not leaving anyone behind.”
He gripped my arm again. “But they’re not human. Look at them.”
I swung around again, letting power flow to my hands until they glowed softly. The man took a step back and stared at them.
“What makes you think I’m human?” I looked at the people huddled together and staring at me with a mixture of fear and astonishment. “Listen, I know you’ve all been through a lot and you’re scared, but I’ve met creatures like these before and they are very gentle. I promise they won’t hurt you.”
The man who had confronted me nodded slowly and stepped back. I gave him a reassuring smile and crouched in front of the bottom cage where the female mox demon watched me warily. I couldn’t blame her after she’d witnessed what I’d done to the gulak demon.
“Can you understand me?” I asked gently and she nodded. “Don’t be afraid. I’m going to get you out of here.” I unlocked the door and swung it open, but she didn’t move. Figuring she was scared, I unlocked the last cage and stepped back so the two demons felt safe to climb out. The female did, but the male in the top cage stayed where he was.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked her.
“The gulak hurt his legs. I think they are broken.”
It didn’t take long to size up the situation. The male couldn’t walk and the female was too weak to carry him. I couldn’t touch him without hurting him. That left one solution. I looked at the humans who watched us warily. “They broke his legs and I can’t help him.” I held up my hands for emphasis. “Will one of you men carry him?”
The men exchanged looks, but no one volunteered.
“Please.”
A man who looked like he played college football stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”
I gave him a grateful smile and stepped aside so he could lift the mox demon from the cage. I opened the door and peered out to make sure the way was clear. Then I pulled the truck keys from my pocket. “Can one of you drive that truck?”
“Briig?” roared a deep gravelly voice that could only belong to the dead demons’ boss. “Where the hell is that slave I asked for?”
One of the girls whimpered. “Oh God, it’s coming!”
“Quiet,” I ordered softly, trying to keep my voice from shaking. I couldn’t help but remember how big and powerful Draegan had been. If this gulak was as big as Draegan, was I strong enough to take him? And how many more demons were out there with him?
Eldeorin thinks you can do this or he wouldn’t have brought you here.
I set my shoulders and put on my brave face. “You stay here and keep this door closed.”
“You’re leaving us?” someone cried fearfully.
“Just for a little while. I have to deal with the rest of them so we can leave.”
The guy holding the mox demon frowned. “You’re doing it alone?”
I smiled with a confidence I wished I felt. “Piece of cake,” I lied as I slipped out of the room and closed the door behind me.
“Briig, you worthless dung heap!” The gulak bellowed again. “Do I have to do everything myself?”
Heavy footsteps thumped down the stairs, matching the rhythm of my pounding heart. I cast a furtive glance around, dismayed to see there weren’t any places to hide on this side of the warehouse. I wanted to get a look at what I was facing before I confronted it.
There was only one place to go. I grabbed the metal shelving, very glad for all the years I’d spent climbing trees back home, and scaled it quickly. The third shelf was about fifteen feet off the floor and I had time to reach it and lie flat before the huge scaled demon came into view.
I smothered a gasp. “Huge” was not the right word to describe this demon. At least eight feet tall, the gulak was massive. The fact that he was alone did not offer any comfort because he looked like he could crush a car with those arms. Not to mention the inch-long claws on each hand and the sharp teeth protruding from the corners of his mouth.
If I survive this, I’m going to kill that faerie.
The gulak stopped at the bottom of the stairs and swung his large horned head from side to side before his eyes narrowed on the closed door of the room where the people were hiding. A growl came from him as he started toward the room. “Briig, you better not be playing with my slaves again if you know what’s good for you.”
My heart leapt into my throat. If he opened that door and saw everyone out of their cages, there was no telling what he would do. I had to stop him.
“Briig quit… permanently.”
The gulak stopped in his tracks. “Who said that?”
I stood and ran quietly to the other end of the long row of shelves to draw him as far away as I could from the room. “I did,” I called boldly from my new hiding place.
He spun and followed my voice. “Where are you? Show yourself!” he roared.
Taking a deep breath, I moved to the edge of the wide shelf.
A sneer twisted his thin lips when he stopped and glared up at me. “How did you get out of your cage?”
“Do I look like I was in a cage?” I swallowed dryly. Holy crap, he was even bigger and scarier up close.
He tilted his head. “Maybe not, but you’ll be in one soon enough. I have an incubus client who’ll pay a hefty price for a pretty little thing like you.”
“I think I’ll pass.” My stomach churned. How many girls had he sent to his incubus friend or to other horrible fates?
“You should have thought of that before you came into my place.” He grabbed the lower shelf supports to shake them, but they were cemented to the floor. “Don’t make me come up there after you, little mouse.”
“Or what?” I taunted with false bravado, knowing that sooner or later I was going to have to get very close to the gulak. The only way those people were getting out of there was if he was dead. Even if I could get them out somehow, I still had to kill him. I couldn’t leave him alive to kidnap and sell more innocent people.
“Can you climb, you overgrown iguana?”
A deep laugh rumbled from him. “No, but I can do this.” Leathery wings spread out from his back, spanning twenty feet across. I barely had time to think there wasn’t enough room for him to fly when he lifted straight off the floor toward me.
I stumbled back and caught a support bar before I fell off the other side of the shelf. There was no time to run, and I gasped as a clawed hand wrapped around my arm.
“Gotcha,” he gloated.
My pulse skyrocketed, and I didn’t know if it was fear or adrenaline. I grabbed his arm with both hands. He bellowed as the first jolt of power slammed into him, and he dropped out of the air, pulling me with him.
His back hit the cement floor, and I landed on top of him. My teeth shook from the impact, and I was temporarily winded, giving him enough time to recover. An arm snaked around my waist as he moved to get up.
“I think I’ll get double my usual price for you. My clients like some fire in their slaves.”
“I’m. Not. For. Sale.” I gritted my teeth and slammed a hand into his chest.
The gulak’s roar shook the building as he threw me away from him. I sailed through the air and hit the floor hard, and a small scream tore from me when I felt a bone in my wrist snap. Gasping in pain, I rolled over and struggled to get to my feet before he attacked again. That was when I realized I’d twisted an ankle too, and I was in no shape to fight him.
Then I’d better end this quickly. I limped to where he was sprawled paralyzed on his back with a large black mark covering his chest. My eyes widened when I saw the leather had been burnt from his wings and all that was left were the spines.
“What are you?” he rasped, hatred burning in his eyes instead of fear.
“I’m one of the good guys.”
He tried to laugh and it came out as a croak. “Good guys never win.”
“I guess I’ll have to change that.” I knelt beside him, holding my injured arm to my stomach, and laid my free hand on his charred chest. He didn’t blink or utter a sound when I finished the job. His mouth gaped open and his tongue hung out as he stared unseeing at the ceiling.
“Is-is it dead?”
I looked up and nodded at the dark-haired man who was standing a dozen feet away. “Do you think you could help me up?”
He hesitated for several seconds then rushed over to help me to my feet. I tried not to moan when he jolted my broken wrist.
“Come on; let’s get you guys out of here.” I limped to the people crowding the doorway of the room. “You’re safe now, but you should go to the hospital to get checked out. Can one of you drive the truck?”
“I can,” said the man beside me.
We were a sorry-looking bunch when we filed outside. Everyone but me was barefoot and shivering, but they were too happy to be free to care about the cold. The dark-haired man climbed up into the cab to start the truck and the rest of them hurried to pile into the back. The mox demon held back, as well as the blond man holding her friend.
“What about these two?” the man asked.
“Set him down here. I’ll take care of them.”
“You’re not coming with us? You need a doctor more than we do.”
“Don’t worry about me. My ride will be here soon.”
“Here.” One of the women held out a blanket that had been in the back of the truck. “Wrap him in this.”
The kindness of these people after their terrifying ordeal warmed me. I took the blanket and wrapped it around the mox demon before the man laid him on the ground. There were a lot of tears and cries of thank you before the truck finally pulled away, leaving me alone with the two mox demons.
“Perfection.” Eldeorin appeared before us, startling the already frightened demons. “You were amazing, Cousin.”
“Not exactly perfect.” I grimaced. “I should kick your ass for this one.”
“As if you could.” He laughed and touched my hand, making the pain in my wrist and ankle disappear. “Admit it, you enjoyed that.”
“Yeah, I always like getting tackled by demons ten times my size.” I shook out my newly healed wrist. “Do you have the phone?”
He waved and a cell phone appeared in his hand.
“Show-off.” I took it and called David, who let Kelvan know about the mox demons so he could send someone for them. I refused to leave them until help arrived, for fear some more of the gulak’s henchmen were nearby. Ten minutes later, I saw three mox demons walking up the street toward us, and I let out a sigh of relief.
“Will you be okay?” I asked the female demon and she nodded timidly.
“Good.” I turned to Eldeorin. “Can we go home now?”
Mischief sparkled in his dark blue eyes. “Already? The day is still young.”
I waved a finger in his face. “No way, Eldeorin. That was enough training for one day.”
He took my hand and laid it in the crook of his arm. “This one will be fun; trust me.”
“That’s what you always say,” I complained before Minneapolis faded around us.
