by Folsom, Tina
“Leave!” Zoltan thundered.
Ulric hurried out of the study, leaving Zoltan wondering whether the demon responsible for intelligence had spoken the truth. Had he disposed of the three demons after they’d returned to the Underworld in order to erase any evidence that may lead to Ulric himself? Or was Ulric truly clueless, and another demon had used the three to do his dirty work, knowing that Ulric would be blamed for it if the three kidnappers disappeared without a trace?
“Fuck!” Zoltan said under his breath. With every new piece of information he discovered, he got further and further away from finding the traitor. His pool of suspects was expanding. In addition to Vintoq, Ulric, too, had had opportunity to orchestrate the kidnapping. But had Ulric been behind the assassination attempt a few months earlier?
Zoltan marched to his desk and scanned it. He found the sheet of paper that Yannick had left for him: a list of demons who’d gone up top that day, together with the purpose of their trip. He studied the list, trying to recall the face of the assassin in the abandoned building. Vintoq was indeed on the list. He’d been in the human world that day. Had he been there, killing the assassin before the poor bastard could reveal his master’s name? There had to be a way to find out.
Zoltan walked to the door and opened it to leave his study and nearly collided with Wilson, the stocky demon in charge of weaponry.
“Wilson, is there something you wanted?”
“Uh, oh Great One. I wanted to mention to you that your subjects are getting impatient. They want to know what you intend to do with the Stealth Guardian prisoner.”
Zoltan tilted his head a little to the side. This wasn’t Wilson’s domain. Why was he concerned with what happened to the prisoner? “Yannick already informed me about that. I told him just as I’m telling you now that I’m still deciding on my course of action.”
“Very well, oh Great One.”
“But since you’re here, you might as well do something for me. I need to speak to the prisoner, alone. Go fetch her and bring her to my quarters.”
Wilson raised an eyebrow. “To your quarters, oh Great One? How many guards do you want me to bring to watch her?”
“Just one.” If Zoltan had said none, and Wilson had relayed this message to Silvana, who was currently guarding Enya, Silvana would have questioned Wilson and accompanied Enya anyway. She wouldn’t be so easy to shake. However, he’d make Silvana wait outside his private rooms so he could talk to Enya alone.
“Uhm.”
“What?” Zoltan snapped.
“Is one guard enough? What if she uses her powers and disappears?”
“Even with her powers intact outside the lead cell, she can’t leave the Underworld without casting a vortex. And I doubt that one of my subjects is stupid enough to cast one for her. Or don’t you agree?”
“I agree, of course, oh Great One.”
“And have some food brought to my quarters.”
“Right away, oh Great One.” Wilson scurried away.
18
Enya’s eyes had adjusted to the dark quite easily. There was no light in the cell, but there was a tiny sliver of space between the door and the uneven ground that allowed her to see if somebody moved in front of her door. Every so often, she saw a shadow blocking the light, and once she’d heard a dog growl. She wasn’t surprised that the guard who stood outside the door was accompanied by a dog. It was common knowledge that the demons used dogs to sniff out Stealth Guardians who’d made themselves invisible. Not that she had a chance to do that here. In the lead-lined cell, she was powerless. There was no chance of escaping through the walls or door either, because just as she couldn’t make herself invisible here, she couldn’t dematerialize either. Which left her with only one option: to wait until somebody opened the door and hope they’d transfer her somewhere else. Then she’d take her chances.
She hadn’t been locked up for very long yet when she saw several demons’ shadows move in front of her cell, though she couldn’t hear any part of their conversation. Enya jumped up and continued watching the door. Finally, she heard a sound of metal scraping against metal. Somebody inserted the key into the lock and turned it.
The door opened. Green eyes was the first thing she saw. A second later, her eyes adjusted and she was able to make out the person, a male demon just a few inches taller than herself, but at least thirty to forty pounds heavier. He stepped into the cell, and behind him, Enya now saw the other demon, a woman, hover with her Doberman.
A rattling sound made her snap her gaze back to the male demon. Only now she noticed the shackles in his hands.
“You give me any trouble putting the cuffs on you, and Silvana will tell the dog to go for your throat,” the demon warned her.
She motioned to the shackles. “Let me guess, they’re made of lead.”
The demon chuckled. “We got ourselves a real smart cookie, haven’t we?”
“Not smart enough,” the female demon he’d called Silvana replied with a snort. “Now cuff her already, so we can get on with this.” She spoke with a strong accent.
Knowing there was no use trying to fight the two demons without her powers, Enya stretched out her arms to be chained. The chains would have the same effect as the lead cell: they bound her powers just as they bound her hands. The demons were smarter than she’d given them credit for. Much smarter, or she would have never fallen for Zoltan’s lies. Now all she could do was hope for an opportunity to free herself and hitch a ride into the human world with an unsuspecting demon—just like Logan and Winter had done, and Wesley and Virginia before them.
The demon tested the shackles. They held. “Now let’s go.” He shoved her out of the cell and turned her to the left, where Enya could see a long corridor with several branches leading in other directions.
“Stop, Wilson. I will take her,” Silvana said.
Wilson turned around, and Enya noticed the silent battle between the two, until Wilson shrugged. “Whatever.”
Wilson walked away, while Silvana sidled up to Enya, the dog on the outer flank. “This is how this is gonna work: you walk where I tell you to walk. Try to run, and I send Rex after you. He’s not been fed today.”
“And apparently neither have you.”
Silvana rammed her elbow into Enya’s side, making her lose her balance for a second. Then the demon leaned in as if they were suddenly best buddies. “Between you and me, I hope you’ll run. I love watching.”
Enya glared at her, but she didn’t unleash the barrage of four-letter words she had at the ready for this bitch. It wouldn’t help her cause. But later, when she was free—if she got free—she would make sure Silvana died a slow and painful death.
She didn’t bother asking where Silvana was taking her. The she-devil wouldn’t answer her anyway, so Enya used her energy to memorize the path they were taking. By her estimate, they walked less than five minutes before Silvana stopped at an unassuming door and knocked.
It took only seconds before the door was opened and a very familiar man appeared in the frame. Her jaw instantly tightened, and her hands balled into fists. Just the person whose face she wanted to pummel.
“Bring the prisoner in,” Zoltan said.
Silvana gave her a nod to proceed, but Enya didn’t budge.
“Fuck you!” Enya cursed and spat on the floor for good measure.
Silvana raised her arm and swung, but her fist never made contact with Enya’s face. Instead, her arm was held back by Zoltan himself. Obviously stunned, Silvana turned back to Zoltan.
“But she insulted you, oh G—”
“Enough!” he said. “I’ll deal with her. You may go.”
He reached for Enya’s shackles to pull her into the room. Enya had no choice but to move her legs, or she would have fallen right into his arms.
“Leave!”
“I shall guard your door with Rex.” Silvana nodded sternly.
“As you wish.” Zoltan slammed the door shut.
“You f—”
Zoltan pressed one hand to his chin. But instead of screaming at her or striking back, he slapped one hand back on her mouth and lifted her off her feet. Before she could do anything to free herself, he was already carrying her around the corner of the large suite and kicking open another door. He stepped inside the smaller room, a bathroom, and closed the door behind him. There, he set her back on her feet and removed his hand from her mouth.
“Damn it, Enya, keep your voice down. We can’t afford for anybody to listen in on our conversation.”
“Conversation?” she growled. “You think we were having a conversation, you piece of shit!?” She thrust her knee up, but Zoltan blocked her.
“Hey, not the family jewels. We still need those.”
“We? In your fucking dreams, you two-timing bastard!” How dare he suggest that she would ever sleep with him again?
“Let me set the record straight: I didn’t kidnap you.”
“Oh no, of course not. You had your subjects do it for you! How stupid do you think I am? You were the only one who knew that I was in that motel, waiting for you to bring breakfast.” She huffed. “Tell me, was it fun tricking me into trusting you? Did you enjoy yourself? Did you have a good laugh behind my back? Huh?”
Zoltan grabbed her shoulders and pressed her against the stone wall. “No, I wasn’t laughing. I was too busy figuring out how I can free you and send you back to the human world.”
“Liar!”
“I didn’t order your abduction. It was the traitor who’s vying for my throne.”
“Oh, how convenient. That traitor probably doesn’t even exist.” Zoltan had probably planned every single incident from the start—like a well-directed stage play. And she’d played the main role, the heroine who was too stupid to live. “Nobody else knew where I was. I didn’t show my face outside. They came to the door. They knocked. They knew!”
Zoltan nodded. “Because there was demon blood on the heel of your boot. It remained visible while we left after we disposed of the bodies.”
She slowly shook her head. “That can’t be.”
“But it’s true. The blood was dry when I came back to the room, so it couldn’t have been from when the three kidnappers grabbed you. There must have been a sixth demon that night who followed us.”
Could this be true? Or was he lying to her again? But why lie now when she was already in his domain, when she had no chance of escape? What would it serve him?
“That’s how they found us,” Zoltan continued. “He must have brought in reinforcements while we… uh, slept… and then waited for a good opportunity to grab you.” He sighed. “I wish I’d never gone to get coffee and pastries.”
She looked into his eyes and only now noticed that he wasn’t wearing his colored lenses. He was all demon.
“Please, Enya, I need you to believe me.”
She hesitated, but his gaze intensified. His eyes became larger. It took her a few seconds to realize that the reason for it was simple: his face was coming closer. She could lift her bound hands to stop him from his intent—and she knew what he intended to do—but remained paralyzed.
“When I saw them take you, I was across the street. I couldn’t get to the vortex fast enough. I tried, Enya. I tried to get to you. Because knowing what my subjects are capable of, knowing what they could do to you, it almost tore my heart out. I can’t let them hurt you. It would kill me.”
There was a wet sheen on his eyes now, and they looked like deep pools of water. Against her better judgment, despite her fear that Zoltan could still be lying even now, she continued looking at him. Something was drawing her to him. She felt a connection, something that told her that she was safe with him, even though she didn’t understand it.
“Then help me,” she murmured.
“I promise I’ll get you out of here.” A second later, his lips were on hers, and he was kissing her with the passion of a man who’d been given a second lease on life. She welcomed him and parted her lips, responding to him like she’d responded the night before. But just as quickly as the kiss had started, it ended.
“I wish I could make love to you right now, but we don’t have much time,” Zoltan said, and pressed his forehead to hers. “I need to get you back to your cell.”
With her bound hands, Enya pushed him away. “What?”
“Let me explain.”
“Yeah, you’d better.”
“I still don’t know who’s behind all this. But I know that he’s been working against me for years. And I’m nowhere near close to figuring out who sent the assassins or your kidnappers.”
“Well, wouldn’t it be easiest to just ask the three who grabbed me who sent them?”
Zoltan grimaced. “That would be the easiest, but the three demons who kidnapped you disappeared. And if I’m not mistaken, they’re probably dead. The traitor doesn’t leave loose ends.”
“That’s convenient.”
“Yeah, it is.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “By now he probably knows that I have feelings for you, and he knows he can hurt me by hurting you. He’ll use you to get to me. He’ll never give up. I have to eliminate him.”
“So he won’t take your throne?” Enya shook her head. So all Zoltan was still interested in was his kingdom.
“My throne? You think that’s what this is about? Me being worried about being deposed?” He blew out a breath. “This is about you. Your safety. As long as I haven’t eliminated the traitor, you’ll never be safe from him. He’ll torture you. All because of me. Because I care about you.”
Enya stared at Zoltan. Too many thoughts and questions bounced around in her head. “And once you eliminate him, will you continue sitting on the throne of the Underworld?”
To her surprise, Zoltan let out a mirthless laugh. “Enya, that’s not important right now. Let’s just figure out the best way to get you out of here.”
Something in his expression made the wheels in her brain turn and click. She suddenly understood what he was doing.
“Once you’ve helped me escape, and eliminated the traitor, your days in the Underworld are numbered. Helping a Stealth Guardian escape… It’s committing treason, isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Zoltan, tell me the truth. What will happen?”
He hesitated for seconds that seemed to stretch to minutes. “I’ll be fair game for any demon to kill me without repercussions. And whoever succeeds will take the throne.”
Finally it sank in. Zoltan was risking his life for her. “Why?”
“That’s the rule.”
“No, not that. Why are you doing this for me?”
A genuine smile appeared on his lips, and he lifted his hand to brush his fingers over her cheek. “Because you’re worth it. When I look at you, I feel a connection. I feel as if I’ve left a part of myself inside you. And all I can think of is to protect you.” He laughed. “Crazy coming from a demon, isn’t it?”
“No, not crazy. Because that’s how I feel when I look at you. There’s something that binds us together. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it.”
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Now let’s figure out how to get you out of here and eliminate the traitor so he can’t hurt you like he hurt so many others before you.”
“What did you just say?”
“That he hurt others before you?”
She nodded. “What did you mean by that?”
“Just that he killed humans to interfere with my plans. Like he killed your emissarius Nancy Britton and—”
“And he gave Tessa an overdose of heroin!” Enya interrupted. “You said before that it wasn’t you who did that.”
“That’s right. I wasn’t going to tu
rn Tessa into a martyr so she could win the election. Nor did I authorize to have Nancy killed.” He raised his hands. “That was definitely not my plan.”
“Then I have an idea of how to identify the traitor.”
19
Zoltan stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder. “Ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Enya whispered.
“Then let’s get this show on the road,” he replied, and gripped the shackles around Enya’s wrists before he ripped the door open and dragged her outside.
As expected, Silvana stood guard, the Doberman standing next to her, its nostrils flaring at Enya’s scent.
“Take her back to the cell. And then call a meeting for all lieutenants. We’ll meet in twenty minutes. I want everybody there on time. Is that clear?”
Silvana motioned to Enya. “And who’s guarding her?”
Zoltan narrowed his eyes. “You’ve got plenty of men at your disposal. Choose someone, for fuck’s sake! And then get your ass down to the conference cave.”
“Right away, oh Great One,” Silvana replied, and grabbed Enya’s shackles to pull her along the corridor leading to the cells.
Zoltan followed them with his eyes. With a little luck, his plan might just work out. All depended on a carefully choreographed sequence of events. Zoltan turned into another corridor and let his memory guide him through the labyrinth of tunnels. Many a newly minted demon got lost, but he’d grown up here. As a boy, he’d played hide and seek in the many corridors, tunnels, and caves. He knew every dead end, every shortcut, and every crevice that could be used to hide.
He used this knowledge to reach the tunnel that led to right behind the cave that housed the cells. He heard the distinct, heavy footfalls of Silvana and the decidedly lighter ones of Enya, though not the virtually silent ones of the dog. Moments later, there was a hushed conversation, then the cell door was opened. More rattling of chains: Silvana was taking Enya’s shackles off, which meant she was now in the cell. A few more seconds, a few more sounds, and a key was turned in the lock.