by Tina Folsom
Moments later, Silvana’s boots clacking on the ground echoed against the rock walls and grew fainter and fainter. Then silence. Zoltan waited another minute to be certain that she’d turned into another tunnel from where she couldn’t look back to see what was about to happen in the cell cave. One hand in his coat pocket, Zoltan emerged from the tunnel and marched into the cave. The demon who stood guard outside of Enya’s cell was an experienced one. It didn’t matter. Next to him, the Doberman sat at attention, its head turning toward the sound of Zoltan’s boots.
“Oh Great One,” the guard said.
“Todd, is Silvana not here?” Zoltan asked, and approached as quickly as he could without causing suspicion. “She was supposed to wait for me here to walk to the meeting with me.”
“Oh Great One,” Todd replied, and turned his head to the tunnel in which Silvana had disappeared. “You just missed h—”
The dagger Zoltan stabbed into the guard’s heart cut his sentence short. “Yeah, I know.” He twisted the blade, making sure the man was dead, then pulled it out and wiped it carefully on the guard’s clothing, then let the body fall to the ground. He reassured himself that no blood had splattered on his own clothes and put his dagger back into his pocket.
The Doberman whined, and Zoltan turned to him. The good thing was that all dogs in the Underworld were trained to protect the Great One. They wouldn’t turn on him. He pulled a piece of sausage out of his other pocket and gave it to the dog.
“Good boy, Rex.”
The Doberman swallowed the sausage and what it contained: a fast-acting powder Zoltan had stuffed in its center to put the dog to sleep. In a few hours, Rex would be as lively as ever. While the dog grew calmer and lay down, Zoltan searched the dead guard’s pockets for the key to the cell and retrieved it quickly, then turned to the door. He cast a last look at the dog and noticed its eyes closing, before he unlocked the door and pulled it open.
“Enya, quickly,” he said.
She emerged from the dark cell. “You kept your word.”
“You still doubt me? Enya, Enya. I have the feeling I’ll have to pound it into you how much you mean to me.”
“And by ‘pound,’ you mean…?” She dropped her gaze to his crotch.
“Don’t look at me like that, or we’ll never get out of here.” He pulled his shirt from his pants, then pulled out a second shirt he’d stuffed underneath and handed it to Enya. “Put this on. It’s unwashed and has my scent on it. It should help with the dogs.” While Enya pulled the shirt over her top and buttoned it, he adjusted his own clothing. Then he looked back at the dead demon. “Take his dagger.”
Enya retrieved the weapon from the dead guard and bent down, then stopped herself and pointed to her bare feet. “You wouldn’t have a pair of shoes my size lying around, would you?”
“Afraid not. But maybe that’s a good thing. Nobody will hear you walking.”
“Okay.” She slid the dagger into one of the pockets of her cargo pants, then pulled her phone from another and switched it on. “No signal.”
Zoltan nodded. “Just like I told you. Good thing is you won’t need a signal. Make sure it’s on silent.”
“Already set. I’m ready.”
“Stay as close to me as you can at all times. My shirt will distort your scent, but not entirely.”
“Don’t worry, I’m gonna stick to you like glue. You’re my ticket out of here.”
He bent his head to her and smiled. “I hope that’s not all I am to you.”
She kissed him quickly, then stepped back. “I guess you’ll have to figure that out later, won’t you?”
“Tease.”
“That’s how you like it,” she murmured, and in the middle of her sentence, she became invisible.
~ ~ ~
With a last look at the sleeping dog, Enya followed Zoltan as he took her through a maze of tunnels. That Zoltan hadn’t killed the poor creature showed her that he had a heart. There was still some good in him, and she wouldn’t give up until she found a way to change him back to what he was born as. But right now, her focus was on two things: identifying the traitorous demon who threatened not only her life, but also Zoltan’s, and escaping from the Underworld.
To make sure that Zoltan knew she was with him, even if he couldn’t see or hear her, Enya put her hand on his forearm and walked beside him whenever there was nobody coming toward him. Only when she had to make space for a demon to pass them did she walk behind Zoltan.
Despite the fact that Zoltan’s reign was being threatened, she couldn’t help but notice the respect with which his underlings greeted him. Nor the slavishness he seemed to inspire in them. For the first time since she’d found out who Zoltan really was, she saw the Great One in him. He moved with purpose, with determination, with the knowledge that his word was law down here. And they all knew it. His subjects were dispensable, exchangeable, and at the Great One’s mercy. As if putting on a mask, Zoltan had slipped into this character only moments after the tender moment they’d shared outside the cell. Nothing of the man she knew was visible now. That was how it had to be. If his subjects knew what lay beneath his ruthless façade, she and he would both be dead.
Zoltan walked fast, and Enya knew why. He needed to get to the meeting in time, preferably before everybody was assembled, so nobody would suspect that he’d had time to free the prisoner. He needed an alibi.
After making a few more turns, he stopped in front of a door and opened it. He marched inside the cave the size of an upper-class dining room, not shutting the door behind him, allowing her to follow. Around a large stone table sat two men, as well as one woman she recognized: Silvana. A fourth man stood at the head of it, slightly leaning over it. The moment Zoltan entered, their quiet conversation stopped, and all faces turned to their leader.
“Oh Great One,” they said nearly in unison, and rose from their chairs.
Enya used the temporary noise the chairs made as they scraped along the floor to hide her own movements and pulled her phone from her pocket. She unlocked it.
Zoltan cast a scolding look at the man who stood at the head of the table and now moved to the side. Clearly, this was Zoltan’s place. “Vintoq, where are the others? Yannick, Ulric, and Tamara?”
Vintoq bowed. “On their way, oh Great One. In fact, I believe I hear them coming.”
Enya took his picture.
Moments later, two men and one woman entered and greeted Zoltan.
“Sit,” Zoltan ordered them, and sat down at the head of the table.
Enya took several pictures, then walked around toward the other end of the table to get a better angle on the demons who were with their back to her, then she came to a rocking halt.
Shit!
There, on the other side of the table, hidden by its stone base, a vicious-looking pit bull sat at Silvana’s feet. Its ears perked up, and its nostrils suddenly flared. Had the animal picked up her scent? A low growl came from the dog, and it looked in Enya’s direction.
Silvana snapped her gaze to the dog. “Easy, boy.”
Zoltan jumped up and pounded his fist on the table. “You brought a dog in here? Explain yourself!”
Silvana cleared her throat while she petted the animal’s head. “It’s just a precaution, oh Great One. With a Stealth Guardian locked up in the Underworld, we can’t be too vigilant. The dog is here for your protection. Surely, you can appreciate that, in case of an escape, the prisoner might seek you out to take her revenge.”
“Yes, and whose fault is that?” Zoltan glared at the assembled. “If some idiot hadn’t sent three men to Baltimore and messed up my carefully planned scheme, we’d be inside one of the Stealth Guardians’ compounds by now. But no, somebody had to disobey my orders!”
Enya didn’t dare move for fear the dog would pounce if its sensitive ears perceived a sound, forcing her to snap pictures of the remaining demons from where she stood.
“And when I find out who did this, there will be consequences.” He sat
back down. “Now all I can do is try to save what’s to be saved. Getting the Stealth Guardian bitch to trust me now is impossible. She now knows that I’m the Great One. All we can use her for now is bait.”
Hearing Zoltan talk in such a degrading way about her felt jarring, but she understood why he had to call her names: if he didn’t, his lieutenants would wonder whether he’d developed scruples, or worse, feelings.
“I feel we’ve let you down, oh Great One,” Vintoq said. “I will make it my first priority to find the three demons responsible for the Stealth Guardian’s capture and question them myself to get to the truth.”
Enya studied Vintoq’s face. Was he just pacifying his leader, or did he mean what he said? She couldn’t tell. If he was the traitor, he was very good at hiding his true feelings and playing the loyal subordinate.
Zoltan nodded, even though she knew he suspected that the three men who’d taken her were long dead. “Now… Any suggestions as to how we’re going to use the Stealth Guardian female to our advantage now that my cover is blown?”
The five men and two women avoided looking in Zoltan’s direction, casting their eyes either downward to the table or to a spot in the distance. Enya wanted to snort. It was clear that Zoltan was the brains of this operation. Without him, the Underworld wouldn’t have nearly as much negative influence on the world. Except that there was one person—and she didn’t want to assume that it was a man—among the assembled who was hiding their true intelligence, their true cunning: the traitor.
“Anybody?”
“We could torture her to reveal the location of her compound to us,” a male demon said.
Zoltan gave him a bored look. “Torture, really? That’s your brilliant idea? We’re not talking about a human here. She’s an immortal. Whatever we do to her, short of killing her, will be nothing but a temporary inconvenience. We can’t inflict sufficient pain on a Stealth Guardian like her to make her reveal her secrets. Or would you reveal anything about the Underworld if you were tortured by one of them?”
“I’d rather die!” the demon responded without missing a beat.
Whether it was bravado that forced him to reply so forcefully or the fact that he feared Zoltan didn’t matter. His response squashed his offered suggestion of torture. Just as well, because while Zoltan was right that torture wouldn’t work on her, she still wasn’t particularly keen on being at the receiving end of it.
“Anybody else?” Zoltan asked. “Just as I thought. First you destroy my plan, and now you can’t come up with an alternative. Guess I’ll have to do everything myself, just as always.”
“Oh Great One, I’m sure we can devise a new plan,” Tamara said quickly as if wanting to appease her leader.
Before Zoltan could say anything else, the door was ripped open and a demon stormed in. Enya noticed the dog instantly jumping up and looking toward the intruder. It gave her a chance to move as well—closer to the other corner of the room, farther away from the dog.
“What the—”
“Oh Great One, the man guarding the Stealth Guardian was found dead in front of the lead cell.”
Zoltan jumped up amidst the stunned gasps of his subordinates, playing his surprise well. “And the prisoner?”
“Gone!”
Zoltan slammed his fist on the table. “Find her! Damn it, you imbeciles! Find the Stealth Guardian and bring her to me! Now!”
The demons around the table all jumped up, and Enya had to jump out of the way, pressing herself against the wall so nobody would bump into her.
Fuck! They’d found the dead guard too quickly. Now an escape would be doubly difficult and fraught with danger. She could only hope that Zoltan had a few aces up his sleeve.
20
Zoltan had hoped they’d have more time, but the discovery of the dead demon meant he had to improvise. Unfortunately, he had no idea where in the meeting room Enya was hiding out. He could only trust her instincts and hope she’d make herself known to him by touch as soon as she could.
“Everybody to your stations!” he said, wanting to clear the meeting cave as quickly as possible. “Alert your men and assemble search parties. Comb through every inch of the Underworld! I want her found!”
While the lieutenants rushed out, Yannick came toward Zoltan. “What about the vortex circles? What if she tries to hitch a ride with another demon?”
Zoltan growled. “Well, since you still haven’t found a way of shutting down the vortexes temporarily, you’ll have to double the defenses. And warn everybody as to what she may be trying to do! Now go!”
While doubling the guards at the vortex circles would make an escape somewhat harder, he had no choice but to order such a measure. Anything less and Yannick would smell a rat.
Finally, everybody was leaving the room, everybody but Silvana and her pit bull.
“I shall remain at your side,” she announced. “Together with Baby.” She petted the dog’s head.
Figured that she’d name one of the most vicious dogs in her kennel Baby. But no way was Silvana staying by his side. “I’ll take the dog myself. You’re needed with the other dogs. If anybody can find the prisoner, it’s you. I’m counting on you.”
“But, oh Great One, you need protection.”
“Baby here will protect me. Now go. That’s an order!” he said.
Finally, she bowed her head, handed the dog’s leash over to him, and left the room. He watched her hurry down the corridor then disappear into a side tunnel, before he turned around and walked away from the open door to a spot where he and the dog couldn’t be seen from the corridor.
“Enya?” he murmured.
Almost immediately, he felt a hand on his back, then a breath at his ear. “What are you gonna do about the dog?”
Already, the animal was growling, smelling Enya, despite the shirt with Zoltan’s scent.
“Don’t worry about the dog,” he said. “All dogs down here are trained to listen to my command.” He looked at the dog. “Sit, Baby, sit.” The dog followed the command. “Down.” The pit bull lay down completely. “See?”
“Good. But we’re not taking the dog with us.”
“We have to, at least until we get to a vortex circle. If we run into Silvana and she sees me without the dog, she’ll become suspicious.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Enya said. “She won’t see you. I’m taking no chances. We’re getting out of here invisibly. Leave the dog here.”
The dog growled again.
“See, he doesn’t like me,” Enya said.
“That’s not it. He believes I’m in danger, because he can smell and hear you. He won’t leave my side now. Protecting me overrides any commands I can give.”
“Then drug him.”
“Sorry, I’m out of the sausage.”
“Fuck!” Enya cursed.
“Just walk on my other side, and if somebody comes toward us, walk behind me and put your hand on my hip so I know you’re there.”
“Fine.”
Judging by her tone, Enya was less than pleased about the turn of events, but Zoltan knew it was the best way. Marching through the tunnels and encountering other dogs would mean drawing attention if he and Enya were invisible. If he remained visible, the dogs would simply acknowledge him and pass, and with some luck, his scent and footfalls would drown out Enya’s.
“Let’s go.” He held out his free hand and felt Enya clasp it. It was still an odd feeling to touch somebody who was invisible, but he could get used to this.
“Come,” he ordered the dog, and started walking.
The corridor was empty until they reached the first intersection, but as soon as they turned into the first side tunnel, there was lots of activity. He squeezed Enya’s hand to reassure her that she would be fine, and marched along, while Enya fell in line behind him, her hand on his back. He kept the dog on a tight leash, making sure the animal didn’t stop to sniff who was behind him.
Several demons rushed past, greeting Zoltan in passing with a quick
nod and an even quicker “oh Great One.” For some reason, he was starting to despise the salutation. He didn’t feel like the Great One right now, because he wasn’t behaving like the leader of the demons. He was betraying his own race, and he didn’t even feel guilty about it.
And another thing suddenly hit him: he hadn’t had a single migraine attack since he’d started to develop feelings for Enya. Feelings that he’d had to confront the moment she’d been abducted by his subjects. He hadn’t put them into words yet, but he knew what they were. He’d never thought he’d be capable of feeling unconditional love for a woman, but here it was, black on white. He should confess his feelings to Enya, but what would be the use? In a few days he’d be dead anyway, either killed at the hands of a Stealth Guardian trying to save Enya from the mistake of being entangled with a demon, or—more likely—by one of his subjects once they tracked him down. He had no illusions about his future. He wasn’t that naïve. But one thing he would do before he died: get Enya to safety.
Zoltan took another tunnel, using his knowledge of the vast maze to avoid areas that would be swarming with demons. In the short connecting tunnel that they entered, they were alone. Finally, an opportunity to exchange a few words with Enya.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. How much farther?”
“A couple of miles. We have to take a detour to get to the vortex circle I have in mind. The less foot traffic we encounter, the better. I don’t want to have to explain to one of my lieutenants where I’m going.”
“You can always kill whoever questions you,” Enya suggested.
Zoltan chuckled. “Did I mention that it gets me all hot when you talk bloodthirsty?”
A soft laugh came from Enya. “Anything I do gets you hot.” An invisible hand landed on his butt and grabbed one cheek firmly.
The touch sent a bolt of heat through his body. “You’re quite a woman, Enya. You could have anybody. Why still hang around me?”
“You’re my ticket out of here.”
“Yeah, you said that before. What about afterward?”