by Lynn Hagen
Something moved behind Cadeym’s eyes as he nodded. “I’ll gather more warriors and let Panahasi know what’s going on.”
In less than ten minutes, Einarr was surrounded by his brethren. Panahasi walked through the men until he stood in front of Einarr. He’d always be thankful for the day the demon leader had taken him from Zakerym. Einarr would always be thankful for the guidance Panahasi had given him. But the demon leader had warned him that one day he’d have to face his past.
“Are you ready?” Panahasi asked.
Einarr thought of Kadrino and the torture his uncle had inflicted on him for so many years.
“Remember what I told you,” Panahasi said so only Einarr could hear. “The only power Kadrino holds over you is fear.”
Einarr leaned an arm on the brick building, steadying himself. He didn’t fear much in life, but his uncle was one of the things that still gave him nightmares. Einarr had faced down deadly creatures from hell. He’d battled the worst of the worst and smiled while doing so. The criminals feared him. The people of Serenity City stood in awe of him.
And he was cowering like a timid child at the thought of facing his uncle. He was terrified like he had been all those years ago. Sweat broke out over Einarr’s brow as he nodded to Panahasi. “I have to do this. I have to save my mate.”
One of Panahasi’s brows rose higher than the other. “So, Kendrick is indeed your mate.”
Einarr pushed from the building and stood proud and tall. “He is.”
“Then we shall rescue him.”
Panahasi threw his arm out, and a large, swirling black hole appeared. Einarr felt his knees grow weak as he watched each and every one of his brethren fall through it. He glanced up at his leader and then fell backward, landing on one knee before lifting his head and gazing at a place he had prayed to never see again.
“And I thought Remtin was bad,” Kobe said, and Phoenyx nodded. Both warriors had grown up in Remtin, and Einarr remembered going there to rescue Kobe’s mate. It had been bad, but was nothing compared to Zakerym. Deandre had grown up in this nightmarish place as well.
“Remember,” Einarr said to the others, “illusions are the favorite trick here. You can’t believe what your eyes show you.”
“I remember,” Wayland said. “Dead people look like real people, right?”
Einarr nodded. “They’ll know we’re here. Stay sharp.”
The other thing that scared Einarr about this city was that Panahasi’s portals didn’t work here. They were going to have to race through the streets in order to get back to Serenity City. Zakerym was a place that would try to seduce the unsuspecting, and if that didn’t work, the inhabitants would try to rip your heart out.
Since Einarr and Deandre had grown up here, they were immune to the trickery.
Einarr led the warriors to his side of town, to the place he’d called home his entire childhood and adolescent years. Nothing had changed.
“What’s that?” Wayland asked as he pointed to a woman dressed in red, dancing toward them so seductively that if Einarr hadn’t grown up here, he would have been captivated by the way she moved. It was seductive, sultry.
“Don’t watch her,” Einarr warned. “A vampire trying to trick you, nothing more.”
“She’s pretty damn repulsive,” Deandre said. “Kiss her if you want, Wayland.”
Wayland scowled.
“Just sayin’.” Deandre shrugged.
Einarr came to a stop in front of a building that looked abandoned, but he knew better. This was where his uncle kept his brothel. He should have gone to his uncle’s home to confront the man, but something had led Einarr here. Was Kendrick inside? Had his uncle—Einarr couldn’t finish the thought. Not when his entire body turned cold at the images that tried to flash in his mind.
“In there?” Panahasi asked as he nodded toward the building.
“It’s one of Kadrino’s whorehouses,” Einarr answered.
“And you think your uncle shoved Kendrick in there?” Cadeym asked as his gaze darted from Einarr to the rundown building.
“It’s what I would have done if I were him.” Einarr had always thought himself different from his uncle, more civilized. But as he stood in front of the place that he used to run, images of his past began to flicker through his mind. How was he any different? He’d killed, sold, and moved tons of drugs and had made sure this whorehouse ran like a tight ship. He could have taken off at any time during his youth. Why had he stayed?
“Don’t,” Panahasi warned. “Guilt and blame don’t belong here tonight.”
Einarr straightened his spine before he walked inside.
Chapter Eight
The room was something Kendrick would expect to see in a horror film about a haunted, ramshackle house. The paint had peeled from the walls, leaving behind a patchwork of grime that had Kendrick afraid to move. There was a bed—if one could call it a bed—against the far wall. The mattress was as thin as a cracker and so filled with stains that Kendrick would have nightmares about sleeping for years to come. The floor wasn’t any better. He shared the room with a rat, and there were so many droppings that the floor appeared speckled.
It stank like a garbage dump in here as well.
He stood perfectly still in the middle of the room and prayed no germs attacked him. If he got out of here, he was going to scrub his body from head to toe. Maybe dunk himself in a vat of bleach. But all of that was secondary to Kendrick’s fear. What if someone came in here and wanted…wanted to do things that he wasn’t willing to do?
Upon entering the place, he’d spotted a centaur, demons, vampires, and a host of other mythical creatures. From the way everyone was dressed, he couldn’t tell the clients and whores apart. All of their clothes were dingy.
And Einarr had grown up here? Kendrick wondered how Einarr had an ounce of compassion inside himself. The man should be just as ruthless, cutthroat, and obnoxious as the man who’d captured Kendrick.
He thought of his mate, and Kendrick felt his stomach twist into knots. Had Einarr figured out that he’d been kidnapped? Was his mate worried about him? Was he trying to find Kendrick?
Kendrick became rigid when someone worked the handle on the door. It jiggled and then fully turned. His sucked in a deep breath and then held it as the rickety door squeaked open. There was nowhere for him to run or hide.
He would be at the mercy of whoever walked through that door. The thought had his knees nearly clacking together as he waited.
The first thing he saw was a set of crystal-blue eyes. They appeared big and frightened. Next was a head of raven-black hair as the person peered farther into the room.
“Get in there,” a gruff voice on the other side of the door said. In stepped someone who was much shorter than Kendrick and just as thin. He scuffled forward before the door was slammed closed, and Kendrick heard a lock engage.
He stared curiously at the newcomer. The guy didn’t appear to belong here anymore than Kendrick did. The slight man visibly trembled as his gaze darted around the room.
“Who are you?” Kendrick asked. He spotted pointy ears, and the man had a blue pigmentation to his skin. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, which allowed Kendrick to see the guy’s narrow chest.
Kendrick had never seen a creature that was so innocently beautiful.
“I am Dasani,” the guy answered. “And who are you?”
“Kendrick.” He cocked his head to the side. “I take it you have never been here before.”
Dasani shook his head. “I was taken while hunting in the woods. I am a Shadow Elf.” Anger laced the man’s voice.
Kendrick nodded as he, too, gazed around the room. “I think we have to find a way out of here.” Although the brutish man who had brought him here hadn’t put Kendrick to work yet, his luck of being untouched wouldn’t hold out much longer. Sooner or later someone would come for him, and Kendrick wanted to be long gone by then.
“How?” Dasani asked. “There are two guards at our door, and I don
’t see a window anywhere.”
Kendrick smiled, trying his best to bring the man a small measure of comfort. “I haven’t a clue, but we’ll figure something out.”
“I heard Kadrino talking downstairs,” Dasani said.
“I don’t know who that is,” Kendrick admitted. There had been plenty of people downstairs when Kendrick had arrived, and he wasn’t introduced to any of them. Not that he wanted to be introduced.
“The person who owns this house of ill repute.” Dasani described the man, and Kendrick soon understood that Kadrino was the same person who had kidnapped him.
“He said since he possesses virgin goods, he is going to sell those goods to the highest bidder.” Dasani bit his lower lip. “I think he was talking about me. He said the man upstairs, which I assume is you, will be working by night’s end.”
The hell Kendrick would. He wasn’t working a damn thing. He might not be a virgin, but he was far from damaged goods. He could count how many lovers he’d had on one hand.
“How do you propose we escape?” Dasani asked. The man’s voice trembled as he looked at Kendrick with hope.
That was a damn good question. There was no way either of them could overpower the guards. And even if they could, there were too many guards all over the place. Kendrick had seen that while he was being forced upstairs. Unless one of them possessed Mission Impossible skills, they weren’t getting out of this.
Dasani didn’t seem the Ethan Hunt type.
“We’ll have to wait until my mate rescues us,” Kendrick said.
“You are mated?” Dasani crystal eyes grew slightly wider.
“Newly mated,” Kendrick said with a nod, “to one of the Demon Warriors.”
Dasani frowned. “I don’t know what a Demon Warrior is, but I hope he can save us.”
“You and me both,” Kendrick said with a shaky sigh.
* * * *
Einarr slid into the front door when someone walked out. He was invisible, but if anyone touched him, he’d be detected. The other warriors took up positions outside. They were waiting until the real fun began.
As soon as Einarr stepped inside, the memories of his time here assailed him. He stood in the exact spot where his uncle had beaten him to a bloody pulp in front of everyone because Kadrino thought Einarr was skimming from him. The pain of what his uncle had done to him came to Einarr like a phantom. His limbs ached as he stared at the stained carpet that he’d crumbled on so long ago.
Get it together. You’re not here to reminisce.
Einarr tore his eyes away from the floor and glanced toward the steps that led upstairs. The very steps I killed a drug smuggler on. Einarr wasn’t sure if he could do this. Too many painful memories were surfacing with everything his gaze touched. It seemed that no corner, no surface in this place, remained untouched by his uncle.
But you have to do this. You have to get Kendrick out of here. You can’t leave his stain on this place.
Straightening his spine, Einarr moved to the bottom of the steps. He skirted past the guard standing there and moved slowly upward, careful not to touch anyone. Whores of both gender and various species walked past him. Einarr crinkled his nose at the stench permeating from most of the people here. It was a smell of hopelessness, of never-ending eternal hell. It was a stench of the forgotten, of the scarred and battered souls.
The people who passed him had lifeless eyes, as if no one was home behind them. Porch light out. How had he forgotten the nightmarish conditions of this brothel?
Einarr moved slowly, his steps careful. One mistake and he’d be discovered. He paused just three steps from the top when Kadrino appeared from around the corner. He stood there talking with one of his guards.
Einarr’s heart beat wildly in his chest, and he feared his uncle would be able to hear it. The part of Einarr that remembered every single cruel touch from this man wanted to grab Kadrino and slice the man from navel to throat. He’d nearly taken the last steps to the landing to do so when his mind reminded him that he had to get Kendrick out of here.
Instead of going for the kill, Einarr stood there, his hand gripping the shaky banister as he catalogued every sinister inch of his uncle. He could finally look without being beaten for it. He studied the hard lines of the man’s face, the scarred chin, Kadrino’s misshaped nose, and the soulless eyes.
The demon had left causalities everywhere he went. No one was safe from the baleful man.
Note even his own flesh and blood.
“Take the Shadow elf down to the basement and make sure he’s cleaned from head to toe. I have a few buyers coming by.”
“And the human?” the guard asked.
Einarr’s stomach twisted into a thousand tiny knots.
Kadrino smirked. “Send up his first client.”
Einarr turned to the side and pressed himself as best he could into the banister as his uncle walked past him. The demon paused and glanced around, his eyes narrowing, before he continued his descent.
As soon as his uncle walked past, Einarr headed up the stairs. He moved past the guard, who didn’t seem to be moving so fast. Einarr couldn’t very well open each door to find his mate, so he pressed his back into the wall and waited to see which door the guard opened.
When the guard walked into the last room on the left, Einarr silently took out the two guards who had been standing outside the door. He pulled them into the room across the hall, thankful that it was empty.
Once he hid what he’d done, Einarr went to his mate. When he stepped into the room, he saw that the guard had a smaller man by his wrist, pulling the Shadow elf toward the door.
“Let me go,” the Shadow elf snarled as he pulled and kicked to no avail. The guard backhanded the elf.
“Leave him alone!”
Einarr turned at the sound of his mate’s voice. He saw the determination in Kendrick’s green eyes. He was going to fight the guard in order to save the elf.
Einarr tapped the guard on his shoulder. The demon froze and glanced around. This gave the elf the opportunity to snatch his wrist away.
The guard’s gaze darted around the room. “Who’s there?”
Einarr moved in close and whispered, “Death.”
He snapped the guard’s neck before the guy had a chance to react. His body crumbled to the floor. Einarr caressed Kendrick’s face, and his mate leaned into the touch.
“Who did that?” the elf asked.
“My mate,” Kendrick stated with a tone filled with pride. “But how are we going to get out of here? There are too many people downstairs. We can’t just waltz right by them.”
The elf turned in a semicircle as he squinted. “I don’t see anyone.”
Einarr grabbed Kendrick by the hand and extended his ability to his mate. The human disappeared.
The elf squeaked. “How did you do that?”
“We can’t leave him here.” Kendrick squeezed Einarr’s hand, giving Einarr the comfort he so desperately needed. “He was snatched from where he lives, Einarr. We have to take Dasani with us.”
“I hear you talking,” Dasani stated as he reached out and felt through the air. “But where did you go?”
Einarr raised his mate’s hand and kissed the back of his hand before he gripped the elf by his upper arm. Soon Dasani’s molecules were mirroring his surroundings.
“I–I can’t see my arms,” the elf stuttered.
“Make sure no one touches you,” Einarr warned both men. “They might not be able to see you, but you’re still here. If they figure this out, we’re in a world of trouble.”
The three moved to the door, and Kendrick opened it. Einarr glanced down the hallway before he pulled both men out of the room. Kendrick closed the door quickly, and then they headed to the top of the steps.
Einarr bit back a growl when he saw two guards talking as they stood on the steps. There was no way he would be able to get by them, not when he had Kendrick and Dasani with him. They were going to have to wait the guards out.
&nb
sp; But that was dangerous. The longer they stayed here, the better their chances were of getting caught. They stood there holding their collective breath as time seemed to tick by slowly. Einarr started to wonder if the two would ever move when Kadrino appeared at the bottom of the staircase.
“Go see what’s taking the other guards so long.”
Einarr pulled Kendrick and Dasani aside as the two guards who’d blocked their way moved past them. Their time had just run out. Einarr had to get these men outside.
As if reading his mind, Kendrick began to move, pulling Einarr and Dasani with him. His mate hurried down the stairs but paused when he reached Kadrino.
The man stood smack-dab in the middle of the staircase, preventing them from moving past the man. Einarr moved until the three of them were plastered against the wall.
One of the guards appeared at the top of the steps. “They’re gone.”
“Who’s gone?” Kadrino asked as if the idea of his kidnapped prizes disappearing was ludicrous.
“The human and the elf,” the guard answered. “Three of your men are dead.”
Kadrino whirled around and shouted, “Lock this place down!”
Einarr’s hopes of a clean getaway had vanished. Two demons guarded the front door while Kadrino assembled the rest, instructing them to find Kendrick and Dasani. He also instructed his men to swipe their arms out while they searched.
Einarr eased down the steps, taking the two men with him. He posted them at the front door, inches from one of the demons.
As soon as they pressed their backs into the wall, the search began. If they’d stayed on the steps, they would have been discovered. The guards headed upstairs, covering every inch around them.
He could feel the elf shaking as well as Kendrick. Einarr wasn’t sure how much longer the two could hold up under this intense pressure. If Einarr’s nerves were frayed, he knew the elf and his mate were ready to explode. But Einarr was proud of the way Kendrick was holding up. Most humans would have had a meltdown by now. His mate stood there spine-straight, glaring at the men who searched the brothel—although he was still shaking slightly.