Veiled Threat

by Shannon Mayer

  I pushed the door open and stepped inside. A putrid scent of shit and ammonia filled the air, gagging my throat closed. Liam and Alex both let out low growls, and I was betting it was the scent of the demons, and not the shit, that irritated them.

  “These don’t smell like hoarfrost demons,” Liam said, his voice pitched low.

  Once Liam and I were through the door, Erik followed, moving beside me. “I told you, there are only so many of those bastards.” He glanced around, took in the scorch marks on the walls, the stains going part way up that had the look of piss marks, only normal piss didn’t tend to burn.

  I put the tip of my sword out, touching the marks on the wall closest to me. “You know what kind of demon we’re facing?”

  “Looks like hounds and their masters. The hounds love to mark territory, pissing and shitting on everything. The masters are not very big, about the size of a large monkey, but they’re fast and mean and have no sense of pain. So you can cut them into pieces and they’re still alive, so they’ll still come after you.”

  I let out a snort, gagged on the intake of air. “Gah. Sounds like fun.”

  We made our way deeper into the house. The bedrooms were clear, as was the living room. That left the bathroom on the first floor to check.

  Erik put a hand out, stopping us, his eyes flicking to Liam and then back to me. “The hallway is a perfect funnel for them, and if they’re in the shitter, they’ve got the high ground.”

  Liam shook his head. “Worse than that, they already know we’re here; if they have hounds there is no way they haven’t heard us talking.”

  Erik let out a loud, booming laugh, making the three of us jump. “Those bastards sleep like the dead, and coming through a breach in the veil will leave them exhausted. So we go in careful, but I’m betting whoever is on guard is asleep. They would have come out after us if they’d been awake.”

  Blaz spoke softly to me. Eve and Frank are here, do you want them inside?

  “No, keep them outside and out of our way.” Not that Eve would have fit well at her height, but she would have tried if I’d asked her.

  From outside the house Eve let out an irritated squawk. Liam lifted an eyebrow at me and I shook my head.

  Erik moved to the side of the bathroom door. Very slowly, he put his hand to the knob and turned it. The waft of air that rushed out of the room would have knocked me to my knees if I hadn’t been already exposed to the shit smell through the rest of the house.

  He pushed the door open and it swung inward on silent hinges. My bathroom looked the same, so I squinted and used my second sight. Nope, still nothing but a toilet, sink, and shower.

  Mind you, the shower curtain was pulled shut.

  I pointed at it and Erik nodded. With the tip of his sword he pulled the shower curtain back, the plastic crinkling with the pull of the rings across the metal rod.

  Bingo.

  The back wall of the shower was no longer the old, yellow tile that was a throwback to the seventies when the house was built. Nope, I had a lovely, deep violet swirling mass that took up the entire wall and seemed to be belching farts. Awesome, just what I wanted for the new year, a bathroom renovation complete with demons sleeping in the tub.

  A mass of light brown fur rumbled with a snore as it shifted in the clawfoot tub.

  How the hell could something so small, and so obviously stupid, have taken not only Pamela, but Milly too?

  The rather non-imposing ball of fur rolled over, its eye sockets empty of any actual eyes, its mouth open and three spiked tongues swirling out toward us.

  “Fucking hell!” I was closest to it, and I whipped my swords forward, lopping off the tongues reaching for me.

  “Rylee, don’t!”

  Too late.

  The thing let out a screech that drove all sense from me, and I couldn’t move. My body remained unmoving as the demon rose out of the tub, a vague shape of a hound underneath the muscle and writhing hunks of tongue. Its eyes, or the sockets where its eye were supposed to be, snared mine and I knew I was done in.

  “Do you think to stop us, little demon hunter? You have waited too long.” It licked its jaws with its stumps, pulling tufts of fur out of its own face. “We will rule this world, and the humans will bow to us.”

  The thing was breathing heavily in my face, so close I could have kissed it if so inclined, why couldn’t I move, why couldn’t I get away? Some demon hunter I was.

  Hands grabbed me and pulled me out of the bathroom as the demon made a lunge for my head, and the door slammed shut behind us.

  Someone threw me over their shoulder and ran toward the dragons.

  Blaz and Ophelia fought to be heard inside my head but there was nothing I could do at that particular moment. Nothing at all. Weirder yet, I wasn’t scared, or even worried, I felt detached, as if I wasn’t really there.

  Distantly I heard Eve squawk, Liam said something to her and she was quiet.

  Then Erik’s voice argued with Liam and I was handed off and we were airborne and after that nothing made sense. A jumble of voices, and colors, red and blue, and the sound of the demon keening, and even that faded into nothing.

  I don’t know how long we flew, or where we were going, or even why.

  Best part was, I no longer cared.

  Rylee lay limp in his arms, her face pale, but breathing steady; they hadn’t been able to rouse her though and if Erik was right they needed to get her help. Even though there wasn’t a mark on her.

  “Blaz, what is going on with her?”

  Her soul has been detached. I am holding it tight to her, it is one of my jobs as her dragon to help her face the demons, but I had no idea it would be holding the little idiot together in such a literal way.

  “It wasn’t her fault. Erik let us walk in on the demon.”

  Ophelia let out a long snort ahead of them but said nothing.

  “Will she be all right?”

  I think so. Erik and Ophelia both seem confident. I would be more worried if they were having a meltdown. But they aren’t. Keep her warm; I will keep her soul close. That is all we can do until we reach the shamans. They have ways to bring her back to herself.

  Liam gritted his teeth and held tighter to her body. Anger and fear warred within him. “I think we need to bring one of the shamans along with us. It seems we’re always needing them to patch her up, or give us a hand anyway.”

  You would never convince them to leave their territories. They are not the kind that wander far from their homes. Blaz tipped his head to look back with one eye. But perhaps we could convince a druid to stay close. It is something to consider.

  That would mean bringing Deanna, most likely, which would mean Will. And Will wanted to make Rylee his mate. A growl slipped out of him just thinking about the cocky panther shifter, then slowly faded. There would come a day when he wouldn’t be there for her. Will could be the one who looked after her. The thought clutched hard at his gut, digging in with nails of truth he wished he didn’t have to know.

  Be easy, she loves no one but you. I do not think her heart has it in it to love anyone but you. She is not like other women I have known. She gives her heart freely to her friends and those she would protect, but you… you hold the keys to her deepest pieces, and she loves you beyond her own life. I do believe she would die for you, without a question, without a thought.

  Liam stared down at her face, soft with unconsciousness. She was his world, and she kept coming so close to dying that he knew at some point fate would catch up to her and that would be it.

  He could only hope he was there in that moment and could trade his life for hers.

  A prayer slipped from his lips. “Let it be done that way, or not at all.”

  The flight was smooth, mostly because I recalled none of it. With seemingly no transition, we were on the ground and I was packed into an adobe house I distantly recognized, but I couldn’t remember who owned the house. Someone, I knew the person. Maybe. Did it belong to a Daywalker?r />
  Vampire. He was a vampire now.

  Hands hovered over my face. How did I get on my back? Fingers snapped and the fog shrouding me cleared. I jerked up to a sitting position, gasping and choking as if I’d been running a fucking marathon.

  “Oh, well, welcome back, Tracker. Nice of you to join us.”

  Doran sat across from me, knees apart, elbows resting on them. Berget stood to one side of him, her eyes on me. Louisa was behind them both.

  “All your favors are used up, Rylee. There will be no more freebies,” Louisa said and then walked out. No goodbye, no see you later. But then, that was a typical shaman for you.

  Doran, on the other hand, was not so typical. In any way. He leaned forward, eyes intense. “How are you feeling?”

  I ran a hand over my face, closed my eyes for a brief second. “Fine. I think. What the hell happened?”

  Footsteps, the sound of lowered voices, then Erik stepped into the room with a more-than-agitated Liam right on his heels. “I told you she’d be fine, ease down, wolf man.”

  “It’s not about her being fine, I never doubted that. You knew going in, and you let her do something stupid without—”

  Erik rounded on him. “I did try to stop her, but if you haven’t noticed, she’s faster than a human, faster than she should be even as a Tracker or a demon hunter. I won’t make that mistake again. Trust me on that, there will be no more demon hunts until she’s had at least the rudiments of training.”

  “That ain’t going to fucking well happen. We have to get Milly and Pamela out. I can’t leave them there.” I pushed myself to my feet and was pleased to see I wasn’t unsteady in the least. “Why the hell did you bring me all the way here if I wasn’t in trouble?”

  Blaz reached out to me. Erik is lying; your spirit was being bound. You were alive and wouldn’t have died, but who you are was being eaten. Your bond to me staved it off long enough for Doran and Louisa to break the bond between you and the soul sucker demon.

  My eyes darted to Doran of their own volition. “Thanks. Seems you saved my ass again.”

  “My pleasure; after all it is such a nice ass to be saving.” He gave me a grin and a wink, his green eyes full of life and so very different from the eyes I’d seen in other vampires. Even Berget didn’t have the spark I saw in his emerald depths. Unlike other vampires, his soul remained intact when he’d become a night walking blood sucker. Apparently it had something to do with my blood being the catalyst in the spell that turned him. I shook my head.

  “Whatever. You need to get laid, vampire.”

  He let out a laugh and held out his hand to me. “You offering?”

  Berget’s words came back to me full force and I shot a glance her way. She lifted an eyebrow and one pale shoulder.

  “Thanks, but my dance card is full.”

  I hoped that would get the point across; I really didn’t want to be a bitch to him. He was a friend and an ally, and it looked like Berget was staying with him, which was good for her. He wouldn’t hurt her, or take advantage of her, and the memories trapped inside her head could help him lead the vampires better than if he was doing it on his own.

  Doran stepped toward me, one hand out as if to touch my cheek. “You sure about that?”

  Instead of continuing that thread of conversation I turned my back on him and changed the subject.

  “Berget, anything on your end of things?”

  She shook her head, soft blond hair shimmering. “Not yet, but I think I am making some progress.”

  “Okay.” I reached out and pulled her into my arms, gave her a hug. “Thanks.”

  She grinned at me. “We’re family, you don’t have to thank me.”

  “Just be careful.”

  “Of course.”

  Doran’s eyes whipped from me to her and back again. “What are you two up to now?”

  “Nothing you can do anything about.” I let go of Berget and then kept my eyes down as I checked my weapons. They were all there; that at least was an upside to this mess.

  Doran stopped me with a hand on my arm, and very gently pulled me aside. “There is a betrayal coming your way, Rylee. One I can’t see clearly, but it is there nonetheless.”

  I went still. He was buzzing on the blood I’d fed him in order to turn him into a fully blooded vampire? Damn, he must have gotten more than I’d thought at the time. It was the only time he could Read my future.

  “What kind of betrayal?”

  His brows crinkled, tugging the silver piercing downward over his right eye. “Your life and your wolf’s will be on the line, but it will be up to Liam and another to stop it from happening. It’s muddled because your blood runs thin in my veins. I should have thought to do a reading sooner, but I’ve been busy.” No doubt that was true, taking over the vampire nation was no small task.

  Great, just what I needed. That meant it would be me and Alex in trouble. Awesomsauce. “Any idea of time frame?”

  “Soon. Within the next few days. Death will be heavy with the one who betrays you.”

  That made no sense, but it was all he was able to give me. At least it was something. I thanked him and turned to leave, almost running into Erik. Bouncing off his chest I grimaced. Time to get back on track.

  “I’m not leaving Milly and Pamela in that freaking purple hole in my bathroom wall, Erik. So how are we going to get them out?” I didn’t wait for him to answer, but started down the hallway. Liam caught my eye and slid in behind me.

  “Alex is already with Blaz.”

  “Good, we’re already so far behind we’re in fucking first place,” I muttered under my breath, half pissed that they’d brought me here, so far from home. But also knowing that if they hadn’t, there wouldn’t be anything of me left. What a hot shitty mess.

  “Where do you think you’re going? I was not kidding when I said that hunting demons is a bad idea until you know more,” Erik shouted after us as we strode through the night-darkened courtyard and past the koi pond to the two dragons waiting for us. They barely fit in the front yard, but it didn’t matter that this was a suburban area. Doran’s house sat within a fold of the veil, or a wrinkle, if you will. He used the veil to hide his whereabouts from the humans and anything within that fold couldn’t be seen by human eyes.

  So much disbelief in the world of magic kept them blind to all the wonder—and horror—that surrounded them.

  More horror than wonder. Blaz said softly, and I had to agree. There was far more horror in our world than I liked to admit. Yet I knew very little else.

  I was up on Blaz in a matter of seconds, Liam behind me.

  “Erik, either you’re coming with me or I’m damn well going in on my own. My friends need me, that’s all there is to this.”

  Erik scrambled onto Ophelia’s back. “You are no different than your mother, running headlong into danger for your friends.” He shook his head. “Fine. But you will listen to me the whole damn way back, not a word out of you. Understood? It is the only way it will work if we’re going to go into the deep levels of the veil to bring them back.”

  I nodded, ignoring his comment about my mother, my heart pounding with something akin to excitement. Shit, I was terrified for my two girls, but I was excited to learn I finally had an ability that would give me an offense instead of a defense. Blaz leapt into the sky, his wings stirring up the surface of the pond, lifting Berget’s curls back from her face. I lifted a hand to Berget and Doran who waved back to me in return. They watched until I could see them no more, and I had the feeling they watched still, long after we were out of sight.

  Yet there was no time to ponder what the hell I was supposed to do with Doran’s affections. Nope, I had a couple short hours to learn about being a demon hunter before going into the deep levels of the veil.

  Oh, I had to believe that we could do it, that we would be able to walk in, slaughter a few demons and pull both witches out intact.

  Yet a small part of me knew it was going to be much harder than that.
I only hoped that small part of me was wrong.

  Listen to that small part of you, Rylee. It is what has kept you alive all these years.

  Blaz words resonated truth within me.

  That’s what I was so very afraid of.

  Chapter 7

  THE FARM WAS still, the fields black and reflecting light only here and there on the patches of snow. If the clouds surrounding us were any indication, we were in for another big dump of snow that would cover the fields in a matter of hours.

  However, the weather was the least of my concerns.

  Ancient words still rang inside my head, two hours of memorization with Erik and I wasn’t positive I would be able to deal with the demons after all. To me the words didn’t feel like magic, or strength, or even anything important. They sounded like nonsense, gibberish words that would do dipshit. Would I use them? Yup, even if I thought I sounded like a fool. I had no choice. I was going in after Milly and Pamela. Just meant it was going to be a bitch of a rescue. Liam grasped the words quicker than I did, and Alex, though he didn’t recall any of the words, listened to everything Erik taught us via Ophelia. She projected his words to us along the flight home.

  Standing in front of the dark farmhouse, I knew at least the rudiments of how to tangle with the lesser demons.

  A loud screech turned us around to see Eve and Frank bursting out of the barn. Frank was downright tiny next to the Harpy, but it looked like he’d finally gotten used to her.

  Eve skidded to a stop, her wings flapping, right in front of me. “What happened? Did you find Pamela and Milly?”

  “Not yet,” I shook my head, “we’re going in after them now.” No need to point out that I’d blown it the first time.

  Frank cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up on his pimpled nose. “Umm. That might not be possible.”

  Liam put a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “Why not, Frank?”

  Frank gave a tiny shrug. “I can feel the … veil … when it opens. And when it closes. I think they closed this one.”