[Relentless 01.0] Relentless

by Karen Lynch

  I looked at the bloody knife in my hands and wondered if silver even worked on hellhounds. I took a deep breath. I had never harmed an animal in my life, but the pair of hellhounds looked ready to rip us to shreds. They stood between us and the trolls, and I’d fight them if I had to.

  “No,” Remy said softly, laying his hand over mine that held the knife as if he’d read my mind. “You talk to them.”

  “Are you crazy?” I asked out of one side of my mouth, afraid to take my eyes off the beasts. “These are hellhounds, Remy. You know – beasts from hell.”

  A small shrug was his only reply.

  Great. I was in the bowels of a mansion crawling with vampires and God only knew what else. I had no idea if my friends were okay, and I was facing down two of hell’s own. And all Remy could say was “talk to them?”

  “Okay, but if we get eaten, don’t blame me.”

  I eased down to a cross-legged position on the cold floor with my back against the wall and my knife on the floor beside me. The hounds watched me intently, but neither of them made a move for me. I was pretty sure that had more to do with their uncertainly about Remy than anything else.

  “I guess you guys are wondering what I’m doing, huh?” I said in my calmest tone, not looking either of them directly in the eye. Words didn’t mean anything to animals; it was your voice and your movements they responded to. I really hoped that applied to hellhounds.

  The closest hound lowered his head and let out a long, low growl.

  “Alright, so you’re a little pissed that we invaded your turf. I get that. But is all this snarling and foaming at the mouth really necessary?”

  Both dogs bared their glistening fangs. This was going about as well as I’d expected.

  Reaching inside, I unlocked my power, letting its golden warmth flow through me. I opened my wall and let a stream of energy seep into the air around me.

  One of the hounds stopped growling to sniff the air, then took a step back, his hackles up. I let more power escape. The second hound made a small whining sound then resumed growling.

  “I’ve never met a hellhound before,” I continued softly as a gentle flow of power moved outward from me in waves. “I gotta say, you’ve got the scary image down, but I don’t think you’re as bad as everyone says. And if you give me a chance, you’ll see that I’m actually a nice person.” And I don’t taste good at all.

  The growling petered out as one dog then the other lay on the floor, whining and still watching me warily.

  “I always wanted a dog, a big one like a Great Dane or German Shepherd. I never imagined one as big as you, though.” I let myself imagine one of these beasts living in our apartment and laughed softly. “I’d like to see Nate’s face if I brought home something like you.”

  One of the great black bodies shuffled forward a few inches. I looked down at my lap, pretending to ignore them. I focused my power, and it filled my voice. “I wish you understood that we only want to find our little friends and take them home. I know you’re just doing what you were taught to do, but you don’t have to hurt anyone anymore.”

  Nails scraped on stone as the closest hound moved. I held my breath as a heavy black head laid itself in my lap. Biting my lip, I raised a tentative hand and touched the creature’s wide forehead. The hair was thick but softer than I’d imagined, and I pushed my fingers through it, amazed by the texture. “What a beautiful beast you are,” I said as my fear gave way to wonder.

  The hound let out a shuddering sigh as my hands rubbed its powerful jaw and thick neck. Whimpering nearby made me look up at the second dog that had ventured closer, but hadn’t yet decided whether or not to trust me.

  “It’s okay,” I crooned. “I know exactly how you feel. I have trouble trusting people, too.”

  The second hound inched forward until his nose rested on my ankle. I continued to pet the huge head on my lap while directing more calming power at his brother.

  “A most interesting picture,” said a heavily accented voice I’d hoped to never hear again. “A tamer of trolls and the devil’s beasts. So many gifts you have, young one. Such a curiosity. It is no wonder so many seek to possess you.”

  The Hale witch stood in the doorway to the room we were headed for before the hounds arrived. The white around his dark pupils stood out in sharp contrast to his dark skin, and his white tattoos seemed to shift in the dimly lit cellar. He looked well recovered from our last encounter, but he did not instill the same fear in me this time.

  “Are you as curious as you were a few hours ago?” I challenged, and I saw in his eyes the remembered pain of our earlier showdown. The head in my lap lifted at the edge in my voice, and I scratched it soothingly. Remy stood silently beside me.

  The witch’s lips twisted into a small smile. “Curious, yes. Foolhardy, no. I see now that there is much more to you than I was given to understand.”

  “Pretty words, but forgive me if I don’t believe you.” I scoffed. I was suddenly grateful for the two hulking beasts between me and him.

  He stepped into the room, and the hound at my feet growled. “See? Who am I to provoke one who commands the devil’s own?”

  “I don’t command anything.” I ran a hand through the thick fur of the dog’s neck, and he gave a rumbling sigh. “They’ve never known kindness before. I just showed them how it feels.” I realized I had stopped using my power the moment the witch arrived. The hellhounds were under no one’s influence but their own.

  The Hale witch stared at me with open fascination. “Compassion and kindness are powers unto themselves if wielded correctly. Look at these beasts – they will serve no other master now. Yusri al-Hawwash will not be happy to lose two valuable servants along with his cargo.”

  Remy made a threatening sound at hearing his little cousins referred to as cargo. I reached over to pat his leg, and he laid a hand on my shoulder.

  Our interaction didn’t go unnoticed by the witch. “And did you show the troll kindness as well to gain its allegiance?”

  “No. His kindness gained mine.”

  Muffled thuds upstairs and faraway sounds of shouting made us all look at the ceiling. It was the first sounds of other people since Remy and I had entered the house, and it reminded me that we had no time to dawdle down here. I had no idea if it was the Mohiri or my werewolf friends fighting up there or what could come down those stairs at any moment.

  I gently pushed the heavy head off my lap and got to my feet with my knife in hand. The hounds stayed on the floor, looking up at me expectantly.

  “We know the trolls are down here, and we’re going to get them now,” I said.

  The witch put up his tattooed hands. “I will not stop you. I came here to fulfill a debt, and it has been repaid. My part in this is done.”

  “I heard that your people never work with vampires, that you hate demons. Why are you helping them?”

  He scowled. “I do not work with demons. I had to honor my debt. But as I said, my debt has been paid.”

  “So you won’t try to stop us?”

  “Were you alone, I might try,” he answered honestly. “You are a mystery to me. Your power runs deep and mostly untouched, and yet you have no desire to explore it. I would like to see how deep it really is, but I think that will have to wait for another day.”

  To prove it, he stepped aside and waved us toward the room behind him. I took Remy’s hand, and we backed along the wall to the doorway. The dogs watched us, and I put out my hand and said, “Stay.” I had no idea if they could understand the command, but they did not move.

  At the doorway, I said, “You said others want to possess me. What did you mean by that?”

  He laughed, and the sound echoed chillingly off the cellar walls. “That I cannot say. I am still bound by an oath of silence. But I will tell you what I know that they do not, what my far sight shows me. Those who hunt you will ultimately give you the power to become the thing they fear the most.”

  I scowled at his cryptic words. “That
tells me nothing.”

  “Then I have not broken my oath.”

  “Well, maybe you can answer another question for me.” He raised his eyebrows, and I asked a question that had been niggling at me for a few days. “You set those rats on us at the marina so you had to know where we were. Why didn’t you tell your friends we were under the dock?”

  His white teeth showed when he smiled. “You intrigued me when you pushed me out of the rodent’s mind. I had never met someone who could best me, and I wanted to take you on myself, to see if you were as worthy an opponent as you seemed to be. It felt… disrespectful to let you be taken by brute force after such a display.”

  His answer surprised me, but this was neither the time nor the place to ponder it. Maybe when all of this was over, I would speculate about why I was able to challenge the witch’s power when Nikolas said that even a seasoned Mohiri warrior was no match for a Hale witch. Right now though, my little troll friends needed me.

  Remy went under the arch, and I followed him, colliding with his back when he stopped abruptly. I peered around him and gasped.

  We were in a wine cellar with empty wooden racks covering the walls and a small shaded light in the center of the ceiling. In the middle of the room on a raised glass platform sat a glass cage that measured about three feet by four feet. The glass bars appeared to ripple as currents of red light moved through them like electricity. The hairs rose up on my arms as if the air in the room was charged, and I felt the power in the cage from where I stood.

  Three tiny bodies huddled together as far from the sides of the cage as possible, and their frightened whimpers tore at my heart.

  “Minka?” I called, and the little trolls lifted their heads to stare at us. One of them moved too far, and I heard a painful screech as red sparks flew from one side of the cage. Fresh sobbing filled the room.

  Outrage swelled in me. What kind of monster did this to children? I rushed forward until the blazing power running through the cage would let me go no farther. “We’re here,” I called, backing away from the cage. “We’ll get you out of there.”

  I turned to Remy to see him staring at the cage in fear. “Remy, come on. We have to get them out.”

  “Yusri al-Hawwash spared no expense on this endeavor,” said the Hale witch, and I spun to face him. “Trolls do not have many weaknesses, and the sheik knew he would need a way to control his bounty.” He swept a hand toward the cage. “Demon fire. A legion of trolls could descend upon this place and not one of them could touch this cage. Only a demon can touch it.”

  It hit me then why the house had been so quiet, the cellar unguarded except for the hell hounds and the witch. The people behind this knew the cage was all the security they needed. It also explained why they were working with vampires. Protected by their demon side, vampires could freely handle the cage and move it when it was time for transport. It was brilliant really, sick but brilliant.

  From somewhere in the house above us I heard what sounded like gunfire before a blood-curdling howl rent the air. My heart leapt into my throat. My friends were up there fighting for their lives. I had to do something and fast. I searched the room for something I could use even as my heart told me there was nothing here to help me. What I needed was a demon. I let out a desperate laugh. Where were all the vampires when I actually needed one?

  “Sara.” Remy’s voice was filled with despair. “Help them… please.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” I cried. I’d barely gotten within two feet of the cage before the demon fire had driven me back. I was as helpless as Remy.

  Remy’s tortured eyes met mine, and he placed a hand over my chest. “Demon in here.”

  I shook my head and backed away from him. “No! I can’t do that. I-I don’t even know how.” All my life I’d struggled to control that side of me. Before I ever knew what it was, I knew it was dark and ugly, something to be kept locked away. The thought of releasing my hold on it now terrified me. What if I couldn’t restrain it again? What it if took over and I went insane like those other orphans Nikolas had told me about? What if I hurt one of my friends?

  “Sara!” cried a small plaintive voice from the cage.

  Tears spilled down my cheeks. The trolls were in danger because of me. If I didn’t save them, I could never live with myself. “I’m coming, Minka.”

  I heard noise on the stairs and growling in the other room, and I knew our time was running out. God only knew what was going to come through that door.

  Come on, I told the Mori hovering in the shadows of my mind. I need you. I had no idea how to do this so I just dropped the wall that held back the demon. At the same time, I closed off the well of power at the center of my being. The demon was afraid of my power, and it would not emerge unless I promised it safe passage.

  The demon shifted and stretched and inched forward hesitantly as if it could not believe the barrier around it was gone. Like a moth emerging from its cocoon it pulsed and spread its wings joyfully. My body shuddered as a new consciousness invaded my mind, rapidly spreading until my head felt like it would explode from the pressure inside.

  I cried out and fell to my knees, holding my head in my hands. “Stop!” I screamed as the demon moved through me, filling me, boiling beneath my skin. I tried to push it back, but it was too late. I could no longer tell where I ended and the Mori began. It was strong, so much stronger than I ever realized. It was consuming me, and I was powerless to stop it.

  My legs moved and I found myself on my feet, walking toward the cage. Dimly I waited for the blast of scorching heat. It never came, and I knew the demon owned this body now. I watched as hands that looked like mine grasped the glass bars and ripped them apart like they were toothpicks. Through a haze, I saw the smallest troll throw her arms around the neck of the demon that looked like me, felt it lower her impassively to the stone floor and turn away as the two remaining trolls jumped from their glass prison.

  “Sara?”

  The voice came from a long way off. The demon whirled to face the man filling the doorway, and my shrinking consciousness gasped at the powerful primal connection that stretched between the two of them like an elastic band pulled too taut. The band began to shrink, drawing the man and demon toward each other.

  “What happened to her?” the man demanded of the troll as he strode toward us. The troll said something, but I did not hear it. The man stopped in front of us and took the demon’s face in his hands with gentle firmness. “Look at me,” he commanded. The demon sighed at his touch, and we looked into the man’s stormy gaze. I felt a tug at my dwindling consciousness, but no name came forth.

  “Sara, it’s time to come back now. Your friends need you. Roland needs you.”

  Those names meant nothing to us. The demon blinked and stood with its arms at its side. I took one last look at those demanding gray eyes and began to slip away into the endless cavern of the demon’s mind. I sensed rather than felt the slap against the demon’s cheek and its head snapping back as the man shook the demon.

  “Goddamnit! You will not do this. Do you hear me?” The words were faint, but the furious tone stirred a glimmer of recognition. I felt the demon twist violently as it struggled to break free of the arms that encircled it like bands of steel. I heard its roar of frustration when a voice began to speak incessantly into its ear. The words reached me like echoes in a vast room, and there was nowhere I could turn to avoid them.

  “You were right, Sara; you are not weak. In fact you are one of the strongest, most infuriating people I have ever met. You fight monsters, you befriend trolls and beasts, and you face horrors that would break a lesser person. And you walk headfirst into danger to protect the ones you care about. You are loyal, stubborn, and foolhardy and, though you don’t believe it, you are a warrior.”

  The demon stopped moving, and I floated closer to the man’s voice. A name floated just out of reach and I knew it belonged to the man whispering in our ear. Nikolas.

  “Few Mohiri could have
done what you did tonight, giving up yourself to save those trolls,” Nikolas said with quiet conviction. “You did what you had to do, and now you have to come back to us. To Roland.”

  The name conjured an image of a smiling face with warm blue eyes. “Roland?” I was not sure if it was me or the demon who spoke.

  “That’s right. Your friend, Roland. He needs you now.”

  Memories burst across my mind – my life, my friends, Nate – it all came rushing back. Roland needed me? I struggled against the demon, but it was too strong. The Mori settled back, enjoying its new freedom and the feel of the strong young body it possessed.

  Desperation filled me. I reached for the power I had closed off when I released the demon. The Mori knew what I was going to do, and it fought me, trying to force me into the same place where it had been contained all these years. But I was gaining strength, enough to nudge open the gate. The Mori was strong, but it was no match for the tide of power that swept upward, pushing it back and forcing it into its previous state of sullen watchfulness. No fair, it whined as the barrier shot back up.

  Sounds filled my ears: people talking and shouting, someone crying. My eyes focused, and I found myself looking at Nikolas’s worried face. For a moment, I was disoriented until it all came back to me slowly. Then I remembered Nikolas’s words, and the world slammed back into focus.

  “What happened to Roland?”

  Chapter 18

  “Where is he?” I cried as I raced through the main foyer of the house, skirting around fallen bodies of men and vampires without sparing them a glance. I burst through the front doors to find two men I did not know standing guard on the steps, their warrior garb identifying them as Mohiri. They stared at me curiously and one of them who looked Indian said, “Who?”

  “My friend, Roland. Nikolas said he was shot.”

  “Oh, the werewolf,” his Korean companion replied dismissively. “He took a round of silver to the chest. His pack came and took him away a little while ago. Didn’t look good.”