by Krista Walsh
Zach’s heart thumped against his ribs. Not only were they talking about the most secure building in the otherworld, but one seemingly now guarded by the worst monsters a human child could imagine. And they would have to find a way inside? Impossible. “How do we do this?”
Allegra held up a hand. “Are we seriously considering infiltrating Tartarus? Excuse my insensitivity, but I do not see that one teenage girl is worth the effort. Would it not make more sense to lure them out and put an end to this nightmare on neutral ground?”
Gabe’s face morphed into a scowl. “Setting aside the fact that these bastards possess everything they need to overthrow the otherworld, a sixteen-year-old girl is trapped in a place that turns our blood to stone. Are you honestly willing to leave her there? Because I’m not. Zach?”
Zach tightened his fists. “No.”
Vera folded her hands in her lap. “While I can’t say I relish the idea of going in, there’s too much at stake not to try. I swore I would reclaim the book that was entrusted to my family, and I promised Molly we would work to get her out. If it means we can also try to stop the demons’ plans from the inside and destroy Lozak and Rega, I won’t shy away.”
Daphne pulled the sleeves of her jacket over her hands, then stretched out her fingers. “When I decided to turn my life around, I said I would only use my magic where it could help people. I don’t think I could find a mission that was more worth my time and energy. You said it yourself, Allegra — we need to do whatever we can to stop them from unleashing their storm. Tartarus might not be high on my list of hot vacation spots, but I’m sure it’s a hell of a lot better than what the rest of the world will look like if these monsters are left to their own devices.”
Allegra looked at Daphne and frowned. Then she tilted her head, almost as if she were listening to something the rest of them couldn’t hear.
Zach didn’t care if she bowed out. The others were on his side, and with their diverse strengths, maybe they would stand the smallest chance of getting Molly back before those bastards hurt her more than they already had.
After a pause, the succubus’s shoulders drooped. “Very well. I will lend my aid where I can. If it means I finally have a good night’s sleep and am able to regain control over my demon blood, it will have been worth it.”
“And hey,” Gabe said, “if you die in the process, you won’t have to worry about either your dreams or your demon blood anymore.”
Allegra scowled, but Zach wasn’t surprised when she said nothing in response. What could she say? They were all aware that they might not come home, but if they succeeded, they would be saving the otherworld from potential destruction, not to mention securing their own personal ambitions.
Zach wondered if Jermaine could have foreseen this turn of events when he’d brought them all together in his locked room. Would he have been rooting for them, or would he have regretted the connection he’d created?
He wished he could have seen the warlock’s expression as his ‘invisible entente’ rose up to stand as a force against the end of the world.
12
Daphne’s mind was reeling as Gabe opened a rift to New Haven, sending Zach back to the Harris house, Allegra to her condo, and Daphne to her neighborhood.
As soon as the golden light disappeared from the street, exhaustion threatened to sweep her legs out from under her. She glanced at her watch and was amazed to discover it was only a little after midnight.
Since Gabe had never been to her place, he’d only been able to send her to the general area, but she didn’t mind the walk.
So much had happened in four hours. Hearing about an abducted girl, snooping around an empty factory, discovering the girl was probably being held at Tartarus. Learning that some of the otherworld’s most dangerous threats were not only running loose, but being recruited to move forward whatever plan required a book of otherworldly DNA, an orb that blocked otherworldly energy, and a software program that weeded that energy out.
She released a heavy sigh and turned onto her street. How had she gotten involved in this? What were the odds that all the people once locked in Jermaine’s room should be drawn together to prevent the balance between worlds from being upended? When she’d followed up on a tip three weeks ago to investigate possible gang activity in the suburb of Haybrook, how could she have known that she’d stumble across Zach and Molly fighting off a gang of demons? First Allegra, then them, and now this? It was too bizarre for words. She’d spent hours thinking about what it meant, but all she’d been able to come up with was that Destiny was a pain in the ass, and that there was a greater plan for them than she could ever fathom.
And now it seemed that plan was coming to fruition.
She wished she had faith that she would be up for it, but was she really ready to face the temptation? Already her magic was surging through her, eager to be set loose. All throughout the night it had simmered close to the surface, ready to rise up in the face of Allegra’s petulant insults. If she was unable to hold back against the succubus — an ally — how was she going to manage against the enemy? She’d told Gabe she was handling things one day at a time, but it was easy to show restraint when your greatest threat was a missed deadline. Against a prison full of demons, would she have the strength to keep her own monsters at bay?
She rubbed her eyes and stumbled on a crack in the sidewalk.
Sleep. She needed to get some rest, so her subconscious could do the heavy lifting for a while. And yet she knew that sort of mental break would be impossible until she’d spewed all of her thoughts and new knowledge to a sympathetic crowd.
Not only sympathetic, but helpful. Her mother and grandmother would be furious if she kept this from them. Tartarus prisoners at large? Cheryl Heartstone had played an important role against a few of the uprisings that had locked some of those villains away. Daphne couldn’t begin to imagine how her mother would react when she learned that someone was now trying to use them for their own gain.
And Hunter…
She groaned. He really wasn’t going to be happy that she’d volunteered to be a part of this. He’d understand eventually — she hoped — but the road before her wouldn’t be an easy one. Likely he had gone home by now, so she would call him in the morning and fill him in. It would be better over the phone. Easier to downplay the seriousness of the situation and her own role in the plan.
For tonight, she would focus on convincing her mother and grandmother that she hadn’t lost her mind.
Daphne let herself into the house and headed up to her apartment first to dump her jacket.
“Daphne?”
She jumped, her hand flying to her heart as Hunter’s voice called to her from the bathroom. The door opened and the light switched off as he stepped out. “What have you learned?”
“I wasn’t expecting you to still be here,” she said, her emotions jostling like a pinball in a machine. She hadn’t planned to tell him in person, but there was no way she could leave him in the dark if he was already here. Fatigue threatened to strip away her courage, but she held on. There was no other option.
“Is that a problem?” he asked, and she caught the flash of hurt in his hazel eyes.
Daphne released a breath, letting go of her nerves. While she didn’t look forward to what she had to do, she couldn’t deny his presence was a comfort after all she’d learned. If she could find escape in his arms, even just for a moment, she was happy to take advantage of it. “No, not at all. I’m glad you’re here. The situation is…messier than I thought it would be.”
Hunter crossed the room, his auburn hair catching the ceiling light so it shone with layers of gold. “What’s going on?” He took her hand and tried to lead her to the couch, but Daphne held back. “Daphne?”
“I need to go downstairs and talk with Mom and Gram,” she said, apologetically. She pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. “What I really want to do is sit on the couch with you and finish watc
hing that movie, but something is happening. The girl, Molly — she’s been abducted by some bad people, and she’s being kept in a horrible place. I won’t be able to relax until we find her. And it turns out there’s more to it than just a simple kidnapping.”
Hunter kissed the top of her head, then drew away, his gaze heavy with concern. “Can I help? Or do you want me to leave?”
Faced with the choice, Daphne was tempted to let him walk away. Maybe it’s for the best tonight. I’ll call you first thing in the morning and give you all the details. But how would that be fair to him? He knew something was wrong. She couldn’t call him tomorrow to shrug away the danger she was walking into, then leave him blindsided if something happened to her.
“No, I think it’s important for you to stay. You should know what’s going on. It’s possible this could spill over and affect your job, too.”
He bowed his head to rest his forehead against hers. “Never a dull moment with you in my life.”
“Regrets?”
“None,” he said, and caught her lips with his. Warmth traveled through her stomach, wakening her magic so it trickled through her veins, until her entire body buzzed. It was a sensation that never got old.
Unfortunately, it was over all too quickly.
“Come on,” Hunter said. “You’ve got me in work mode now, so let’s get to the briefing.”
Daphne arched an eyebrow at him as they started toward the stairs, her fingers looped firmly through his. “Are you ever out of work mode?”
He shrugged. “For brief moments pre- and post-sleep. And when I’m alone with you.”
The way he said it set off sparks in Daphne’s stomach, but she pushed her thoughts away.
They reached the bottom of the stairs in time to catch Emmett sneaking into the house. The hood of his jacket was pulled up, but he jerked it down when he saw them. A cold feeling of suspicion slithered up Daphne’s spine.
“Where have you been?” she asked.
His gaze roved from her to Hunter and back. “Just out.”
She rested her free hand on her hip. “We’ve talked about this. You know what the rules are. If you’re doing something you shouldn’t…”
Emmett held up his hands, his gray eyes flying wide. “I’m not, I swear. I just — I still have a hard time being inside at night, all right?”
Emmett had lived in their converted basement apartment for the last two and a half months, but Daphne understood how it could still feel like a sharp change after being on the streets for most of his life. As long as he wasn’t picking pockets anymore, how could she begrudge him his late-night wanders?
“And anyway,” he said, “what are you two doing downstairs? Shouldn’t you be asleep? It is a work night.” He tapped at his non-existent watch.
Her initial concerns appeased, Daphne’s thoughts returned to the reason she was downstairs to begin with, and her stomach clenched. Emmett had shown an interest in Molly from the moment they’d met, exchanging text messages ever since. She’d been so focused on what she was going to tell Cheryl and Evelyn that she hadn’t thought of how to tell Emmett. He had to be wondering why Molly had never replied to his message.
“I have some bad news,” she said, having no idea how she was supposed to break it to him gently.
He stiffened. “What is it?”
The poor kid, she thought. His whole life has been nothing but bad news, and here I am heaping more of it on him.
She’d hoped that by bringing him in off the street, she’d be making life easier for him, but in a family of sorceresses, maybe that hope had been naive.
“Molly’s been abducted,” she said, figuring he would appreciate blunt over sugar-coated. “We think it’s the demons who attacked us at the college.”
She hadn’t thought it possible for his large eyes to grow any wider, but they seemed to take up his entire face.
“What? But—”
Daphne rapped at her mother’s door. “I know you have questions, and I’ll explain everything, but I may as well get it all done in one go.”
The delay while she waited for one of the women inside to answer her knock stretched her nerves taut. She sensed Hunter’s and Emmett’s gazes boring into her back, both of them full of questions and working so hard to be patient. She appreciated their efforts, but her desire to tell everything was tickling her tongue. She wanted to move, to get back to the others so they could put the rest of their plan together and take action. The longer they waited, the more of a chance the enemy would be prepared for them to come. They seemed to have eyes everywhere.
Finally, a light turned on in the living room, spilling through the crack along the floor, and the door was yanked open. Cheryl appeared in the doorway, her gray-blond pixie-styled hair pulled away from her face with a headband that matched her blue pajamas. A thin purple robe was draped over her shoulders.
Upon seeing the gang outside her door, all traces of fatigue and irritation vanished from her face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Behind her, Evelyn stepped out of her room. Her shoulder-length white hair was braided to one side, and she sported a fluffy white robe over her pajamas. The same expression of concern lined the wrinkles around her mouth.
“We have a problem,” Daphne said. Without further explanation, she ushered the others inside and shut the door behind them.
***
Half an hour later, four faces were staring at Daphne with wide-eyed shock and horror while she nibbled on a chocolate cookie her grandmother had brought out with a pot of chamomile tea. It wasn’t so much that she was hungry as that eating gave her something to do with her hands so she didn’t accidentally send a blast of magic into the television. Every inch of her was screaming with tension.
As though he sensed it, Benji, her mother’s Maine Coon cat, lay in hiding across the room under the bench beside the window, his green eyes glaring at her.
“That poor girl,” Evelyn said, her fingers brushing over her lips. Tears sparkled in her eyes. “Undergoing such torture for something that isn’t even her concern.”
Cheryl pressed her lips together, her spine stiff. She said nothing, but Daphne could hear all of her thoughts even without words. Molly should have known better than to get involved, but she was courageous.
Hunter appeared too shocked to say anything, while Emmett was just about steaming with anger, his fingers tapping against his thigh. Not that the fidgeting alone was enough to tell Daphne he was upset — the guy never stopped moving — but the tightness around his eyes and the slight curl of his lip made his feelings clear.
“You and Zach should have known better than to let her take that thing home,” he burst out. “You knew the demons were coming after it. You knew she would do whatever it took to keep it safe.”
“I know, Emmett,” Daphne said, doing her best to remain calm. She didn’t need his guilt thrown at her along with Zach’s. “But how would you have suggested we stop her from taking it? You heard her — she was adamant. She knew the risks involved.”
He stood up and paced the length of the couch. “Of course she didn’t know the risks. She’s not of your world, Daph. She’d only experienced a small corner of it, and thought that was all of it. We’re not like you guys. We didn’t grow up being taught all there was to know.”
“I know,” she repeated, feeling her patience slip.
Hunter reached out and grabbed her hand, and she squeezed his fingers.
“I know,” she tried again, working to find her calm. “We made a mistake.” The words felt heavy as they passed through her lips, stirring up feelings of shame. “We didn’t realize they would come for her directly, or that they would leave Zach alone. I know you’re worried, but believe me when I say we’re working on a plan to get her back.”
Emmett snorted, but he didn’t say anything else.
“What sort of plan?” Hunter asked, eying her warily.
Daphne bit down on the inside of her thumb as she scanned the faces in front of her
. “We’re trying to figure out a way to get inside Tartarus Prison.”
Cheryl paled and wavered on her cushion, and Evelyn grabbed on to her arm to steady her.
“Are you serious?” Hunter asked. He pushed a hand through his hair and shifted to face Daphne. “You’ve just described this place as a kind of hell on earth, and you want to walk in and attempt a heist? I am not okay with this.”
He turned to Cheryl and Evelyn for support, and Daphne’s mother nodded. “It would be taking a very big risk, Daphne. For the world as well as for you personally. And with so little guarantee of success.”
“What other option do we have?” Daphne asked. “No one else knows about this, and there’s no one to tell. If the guardians were still around, we could take the situation to them and dump it in their laps, but these demons are the reason that’s no longer a possibility. Did you know they’re trying to build their own army? The book they took from Vera could allow them to recreate the guardian DNA. They already tried it with Zach thirty-seven years ago. They thought they failed, but they didn’t. Who knows how far they’ve come since then. Imagine a military race taking orders from the monsters who practically won the demon wars. This is what we’re up against, Mom. We should have been paying closer attention. All the changes we’ve sensed in the energy of this city, it all comes down to them. If we’d figured it out sooner, we could have stopped them before they got everything they needed. We ignored it for too long, and now it’s almost too late. We need to prevent them from starting a new war.”
Silence greeted her words, and she knew she’d hit a sore point for both Cheryl and Evelyn. Both women had endured various conflicts over the decades as the otherworldly butted heads with both the mundane and itself. Her Gram had been born shortly after the demon wars concluded, so she’d witnessed firsthand the tensions that had existed afterward. The demons had lost, but by such a close margin that the rest of the otherworld had waited with bated breath to see how they would act…only to watch them go silent. Learning that the demons hadn’t given up their fight but had instead moved into the shadows to ensure they came back stronger would be hard for her to swallow.