by Linsey Hall
“Just because he manages an Underworld doesn’t mean he’s necessarily evil,” Nix said. “It’s probably better if someone with that kind of power is fair minded.”
“I guess so.” I wished I knew more about the power structure of the Underworlds. Death was as mysterious to supernaturals as it was to humans. I was probably the only supernatural to ever see one of the hells and come back.
“Now that we know he’s not a super baddie, should we unfreeze him and see what he has to say?” Cass asked.
I eyed my sword, but decided I didn’t want to risk being frozen along with him. Cass and Nix would unfreeze me, but if it happened at the same time as the Warden, I’d lose the upper hand. I had a few seconds head start on him. I wouldn’t use it to run. He’d found me here; he would find me again. Better to face this head on.
“Yeah, unfreeze him.” I spotted a thick iron chain piled on a shelf nearby. “Wait! Let’s immobilize him first.”
“Good thinking,” Nix said.
I ran to grab the enchanted chain. When I reached the shelf, I hefted it, then called, “Give me a hand here.”
Nix joined me, and together, we carried the thing toward the Warden, stopping about six feet away.
“On three,” I said.
Nix nodded.
“One, two, three.”
Nix and I heaved the chain toward the Warden.
The artifact’s enchantment took over, directing the chain toward the Warden like a heat-seeking missile, albeit a slow one. The ends stood up like snakes and wrapped around his broad chest and muscled arms, pinning them to his sides. Finally, the ends met, turning bright orange as they welded together.
“Whew, that thing is cool,” Cass said.
“Can’t believe no one has wanted it yet,” I said. When we’d set our eye on that enchantment, I’d been sure it would sell quickly. It could contain anything.
“I can.” Nix glanced around at the wares that she protected and sold. “People are mostly interested in ancient beauty potions and the occasional enchanted weapon. That thing is a bit too weird for the common Magica or Shifter. And it’s heavy.”
“To our benefit.” Cass met my gaze. “Do you have another freeze bomb so you can run for it if you don’t like what he has to say?”
I nodded as I dug into my pocket for the blue unfreezing potion. “Yeah. Good thinking.”
I pulled the vial out and confirmed that it wasn’t the acid bomb—it’d be totally unfair to kill him while he was frozen. We didn’t normally deal in potions, but we’d recently started to see the benefit of their subtlety. Normally we just beat up whoever threatened us.
I made sure that I had another freeze bomb in hand—just in case—then chucked the blue vial. It didn’t explode like the gold one had. Instead, the Warden suddenly snapped to attention, his trance broken.
He glanced down at the heavy chain that wrapped around his chest and upper arms, his gaze confused. Then he reached up and tugged the chain away as if it were made of butter. Briefly, the muscles in his forearms bulged, but that was the only evidence that he’d just torn away a hundred pounds of iron chain.
Whoa.
Nix coughed, clearly attempting to cover some kind of noise, while I tried desperately to recover from the surprise.
“Looking for me?” I finally choked out.
Smooth. Real smooth.
His gaze met mine. A slow smile curved the corners of his mouth. I tried desperately to ignore the fluttering of my heart.
“I am.” His voice was deep and warm, and I hated the shiver that raced across my skin. “You’re good with the surprise attacks. Freeze bomb and enchanted chain?”
I nodded. Too bad the chain hadn’t really worked on him. “I wasn’t expecting you. How’d you find me?”
He pointed to his forehead. “You’ve left a trail of blood.”
I reached up and touched the wound at my head. From falling on the rocks in the Underworld. Right. It was mostly dried by now, though. The blood may have been from my chest wound. But even that hadn’t bled much.
“Not a lot of blood,” I said.
“I’m a good tracker.”
Something in his eyes looked a little off. A lie?
“I’m here to take you back,” he said.
“Too bad. I’m not interested.”
“I hardly think that matters. You’re dead. I don’t know how you escaped the Underworld, but you’re subject to my laws now. And you’ll be returning with me.”
“Um, no.” I shook my head and spread out my arms. “I’m not dead. I’ve got a heartbeat and everything. So you might as well forget any crazy ideas about dragging me back to the Underworld.”
No way I was letting him take me back. Then I wouldn’t find the Ubilaz demon, and I’d be stuck as one forever. They probably lived in the worst parts of the Underworld. That was not going to be my fate.
“And we’re kind of a package deal.” Cass gestured between the three of us with her finger. “You come for her, you’re coming for us.”
His gaze darkened, and he reached out a hand, beckoning. I sensed the tug of his magic. Was he compelling me? That was an uber-rare magical gift that would force the listener to comply. So much more subtle than using the crazy muscles I’d just witnessed.
When he spoke, his voice had deepened even further, turning into a massage that made my muscles feel like pudding. “Come, Delphine Bellator.”
Shock lanced through me at the name. I sucked in a ragged breath. “I’m Delphine Hally. That’s not my name.”
I tried to ignore the feeling of rightness in my chest. It was too weird.
“Delphine Bellator is your name.” Certainty filled his voice. “I know the true names of all my subjects. You are Delphine Bellator.”
I chucked the freeze bomb at him. When it exploded at his feet, he froze again, dead solid.
“You gonna run for it?” Cass asked.
“No.” I shook my head, hardly able to breathe. “He knows my name. My real name.”
Startled gazes met mine.
“Are you freaking for real?” Cass asked.
“You’re sure?” Nix asked. “He could just be confused.”
“Yeah. It feels right.” My chest felt shivery at the knowledge. My head felt shell-shocked. “Bellator is my real last name.”
I’d never known my true last name before. When Cass and Nix and I had woken in that field ten years ago, we’d known nothing. Not even our names. We’d named ourselves for the constellations above. Cassiopeia, Phoenix, and Delphinus. Since Delphinus would have been ridiculous, I’d modified it to Delphine. We’d picked our last names at random. I’d been going by Del Hally for the last ten years, having no idea what my true name was.
But this guy knew it. He knew it. How?
“Do you think he knows more?” Cass asked.
She’d recently learned a bit about her past, but Nix and I were still totally in the dark about our lives before we’d woken at fifteen with no memories. Information was worth more than all the gold in my trove.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I want to find out.”
“You’re not thinking of going with him!” Nix’s face was pale. “You have to find the Ubilaz demon.”
“I know. We don’t have time for this. But I do want to know more. I have to know more. Maybe I can grill him later or something. Trade him for information.”
“We don’t even know what he wants,” Cass said.
“Yeah, I may have jumped the gun by chucking the freeze bomb so soon,” I said. “I just freaked.”
“Understandably.” Wistfulness tinged Nix’s voice. “He knows your real name.”
I nodded, desperate to hear more from him. “Can you unfreeze him, Cass?”
“Yeah, but that’s the last of the freeze bombs.”
I nodded and she dug into her pocket, then chucked a small blue vial at him.
He unfroze, shaking his head as his vision cleared. His power swelled on the air, knocking me back
several feet. Nix and Cass as well.
“You need to stop freezing me.” His voice vibrated with command, but it was his power that had me nervous.
It’d pushed me backward. That was nuts. Since we hadn’t chained him this time, he shouldn’t have been able to tell we’d frozen him. It was a very subtle potion. But he’d sensed it.
I shivered. “What are you?”
“The Warden.”
“I know that. But what kind of supernatural?”
“Were-demon. What are you?”
Half demon, half Shifter? “They don’t exist.”
“Apparently they do.” He stretched out long arms, displaying himself. I tried not to stare too hard at the muscles that were so obvious beneath his dark shirt and jeans.
He was really a demon? But they were evil. Maybe I hadn’t felt it in him, but if he was right about what he was, that made him even more dangerous than I’d thought.
“And it’s time for you to return.” His gaze darkened again, and his voice deepened. “Come, Delphine Bellator.”
His voice tugged at me, but I shook it off. “No. You’re trying to compel me, but it won’t work.”
A scowl creased his brow. “No, it doesn’t seem to be effective on you. And it always works. The dead are compelled to obey me.”
“I’m not dead, so I’m not your minion.”
“No.” His gaze moved over me, appreciative but fortunately not sleazy. “You are not.”
“And I’m not going back to that Underworld with you.”
“I can make you.”
Cass gestured between the three of us again. “Package deal, remember?”
No way was I letting this dude drag me back to hell, no matter how hot and not-sleazy he was. That combination was a rare one, but not rare enough to go to hell for it.
“That’d be a fight,” he said.
“I imagine it would.” He lifted the blade in his hand, gazing admiringly at my beloved sword. “Any woman who dies with this in her hand isn’t to be underestimated.”
“You’ve got that right.” I sensed he could fight us and probably win, but he didn’t want to. He seemed the sort to only use violence when absolutely necessary.
I liked that. And I liked him. I shouldn’t, but I did.
“Since I’d prefer not to fight you and your friends, how about a threat? You’re the only supernatural to ever escape an Underworld. That should be impossible.”
“What about demons?” And I wasn’t just thinking about the Ubilaz demon. Other kinds showed up on Earth all the time, usually as mercenaries for some jerk who had bad intentions.
“You’re not a demon. And they don’t escape on their own. A wizard or mage must assist them. And only weaker demons can escape that way. But you…. A non-demon supernatural who shouldn’t be able to escape under any circumstance. You escaped without any help. How is that?”
“Nothing special. I just wasn’t supposed to be there. It’s fate.”
“No. There’s something very odd about your magic. Odd enough that the Order of the Magica would take interest. What are you?”
I shuddered at the mention of the Order, my stomach dropping. “Nothing special, like I said.”
“The Order doesn’t like the unusual,” he said. “Unknown magic is exceedingly rare. And dangerous. If you escaped an Underworld, you possess some power related to death. Something never before seen. What kind?”
Beats me. And that was the scary part. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
His gaze turned thoughtful. “Informing the Order is the smartest thing I could do. The responsible thing.”
My heart thudded. “You don’t want to do that.”
A bit of surprise flickered in his gaze. His expression turned solemn. “No, surprisingly, I don’t. You’d be out of my control then, subject to whatever horrors the Order deems necessary for a rarity such as yourself.”
I shivered, wondering what they might do to me. If they knew I was a FireSoul, they’d throw me in the Prison for Magical Miscreants merely for existing. As a weird deathling Magica, I was subject to mysterious horrors as they tried to figure out my species. It wouldn’t be good, that was for sure.
“So, since you don’t want to turn me in and I don’t want to go back to the Underworld with you, we’re at an impasse.” I didn’t even mention the info I wanted to get from him. I needed to keep that on the down low. It was too early to show my hand. Especially since I held almost no cards.
“Duty frequently requires that I do things I don’t want to do.”
The seriousness of his expression made chills race over my skin. He didn’t want to turn me in, but if he had to…
A buzzing noise sounded from his left wrist. I glanced down to see a wide copper band wrapped around it. He raised it close to his mouth. He wore a couple other metal bands on his right wrist, too, and I wondered what they were for.
“Yes?” he said into the comms charm.
“An Ubilaz demon has escaped,” a rough voice spoke through the charm. “Through your personal portal.”
Oh shit.
His brow creased. “Ubilaz? You must be mistaken. They can’t leave the Underworld.”
“I’m not, my lord. It is an Ubilaz, and it has been on Earth for at least an hour. Your personal portal was malfunctioning, and it escaped right before you departed the Underworld.”
Oh no. I met Cass and Nix’s gazes, and they looked as freaked as I was.
“Do you have any idea where it went?” the Warden asked.
“No, sir.”
“Do you know anything else about it? Name? Origin? What it’s after?”
“No, sir. We know nothing else.”
“Fine. I’ll deal with it.” The Warden lowered his arm and looked straight at me. “This is your fault.”
Yep. Totally was. “No. It’s not.”
“Ubilaz demons are Cat 5s. You’ve heard of Cat 5s?”
I nodded. The Order categorized demons from one to five, like hurricanes, with five being the absolute worst. Totally catastrophic. In my side job hunting demons for the Order, I never came across Cat 5s. Cat 3s at worst.
“A Cat 5 shouldn’t even be able to escape the Underworld,” he said. “Their dark magic is too strong. Even the most powerful mage can’t get them out. Whatever you did to my portal allowed that demon to escape.”
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. My mind raced. Now I was poisoned and I was going to get in huge trouble for this.
“Can’t you track it like you tracked me?” I asked.
“No. Unless it’s bleeding and leaving a trail.”
“I’ll help you find it.” I’d get some of the demon’s blood, and he could have the demon. “We’ll trade. Once I find the demon, you forget I was ever in the Underworld. It was a fluke. And forget any weird, incorrect suspicions you have about me. And give me my sword back.”
His dark brows rose. “You can see how that might not be a fair exchange.”
I scowled. “‘Course it is.”
“You want three huge favors in exchange for solving a problem you created.”
When he put it that way… I had revealed my hand too early. I glanced at my deirfiúr. Their gazes confirmed my fears. Always jumping too fast at things, that was my problem. Good intentions, poor execution.
“It’s a Cat 5,” I said. “You need my help. You can’t track the demon, but I can.”
“How can I be assured that you are even any good at finding demons?” he asked.
I laughed. “Oh, I’m good at it. I’m a mercenary for the Order. A demon hunter, to be precise.”
Fortunately, it was a job that didn’t put me in the way of the Order hardly ever, since I got my assignments by phone. I also liked to think I’d be on their good side if they ever discovered what I was. Wishful thinking, probably.
“More importantly, I’m a third of this operation”—I waved my hands to indicate the shop—“that identifies and locates the artifacts that contain magic we want to sell
. I’m the Seeker. So, you see, I’m perfect for finding your lost demon, because I can find anything.”
Maybe if I helped the Warden, he’d let me off the hook.
“She’s the best at what she does,” Nix said. “Best Seeker I’ve ever seen.”
Cass said nothing, but I could see the worry in her eyes. She didn’t want me to work with him, I’d bet.
The Warden’s thoughtful gaze skimmed me as he considered. I tried not to fidget, but I wasn’t often the recipient of such an intense stare.
He stepped closer to me, his eyes widening. “What’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I can sense demon magic on you.” His gaze traveled over me, landing on my upper chest.
Shit. I hadn’t zippered my jacket.
His brows drew together over his eyes. “Your shirt is covered in your blood and…” He sniffed the air. “Ubilaz poison.”
I said nothing. What was there to say?
“Damn it.” His brow creased. “It scratched you, didn’t it?”
Reluctantly, I nodded.
“You’re going to have to come with me. You need the demon’s blood for the antidote. I can’t have another Ubilaz demon on my hands. You’d spend eternity in the Underworld as a Cat 5 demon. That’s the last thing I need.”
“Okay, I’ll help you. But what about my requests?”
“Undecided. But if you get the demon back, I’ll give you your sword.”
“What about the other stuff? I’m not going back to the Underworld.”
“Don’t push your luck.”
“That doesn’t sound promising.”
He shrugged. “You haven’t got much choice. Your first priority needs to be getting the antidote.”
He was right. And he held all the cards.
“Fine.” I nodded sharply. “How do I contact you once I have the demon? Through your comms charm?”
“Why would you need to contact me?” He smiled, too handsome for my own well-being. “I’m going with you.”
Chapter Four
Great. I’d have to spend who knew how long with this guy.
But maybe it wasn’t all bad. I needed to convince him I was trustworthy and shouldn’t be dragged back to the Underworld. This was the perfect opportunity.