by Callie Rose
“I can’t tell where anybody is,” I said. “Not specifically. Even Xero’s just this sort of overwhelming presence.”
“Kai?”
“Your nose is better than mine. Mine’s still full of sewer.”
Jayce nodded grimly. “Best we can do, I guess.” He opened the door again and peeked through. “Looks clear. You know where we’re going, Piper?”
“I’ll know once we get out there.”
He nodded and slipped through the door. I went after him, and the other two followed me. We pressed up against the dank walls, trying to blend in with the shadows. The hallway looked even emptier now that we were in it. It was wide enough and tall enough for a platoon of cyclops to march through. I hoped that wasn’t a thing that happened frequently.
As we began to make our way down the hall, the tug in my gut sharpened so powerfully that it made me gasp.
“This way,” I breathed.
We moved to the left, and the internal reward was instantaneous. My magic was giving me little dopamine rewards whenever I moved in the right direction. It made me careless. I was so close, I could feel it—I could feel him.
I moved faster and faster until I was practically sprinting down the hallway, ignoring the hissed warnings from the men that I was going to get us caught. A violent blast of headache was the only thing that brought me to a sliding halt, mere seconds before I would have tripped over the armored boot of a giant guard.
Kai was right behind me. As soon as I stopped, he tackled me silently, rolled me up against the wall, and put a hand over my mouth. I looked up at him and he jerked his head at the giant, who hadn’t seen us. The massive man’s eyes were closed, and my heart thudded hard in my chest as I realized how close I’d come to blowing our mission as my succubus senses had overwhelmed me.
I nodded at Kai, lowering my gaze.
Shit. Motherfuck. Goddamn it. I’d almost gotten us all killed.
He released my mouth and put a finger to my lips, then mimed linking hands. The other two caught up to us and he repeated the motion. I agreed without argument. I clearly wasn’t thinking straight, and I needed my guys to tether me.
There was just enough room behind the giant’s feet for us to squeeze around behind him. Kai held my hand in front and Kingston behind, with Jayce at the rear. We held our breath as we pressed against the wall at eye level with the giant’s knee. The giant didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t even seem to be awake, but I was certain it wouldn’t take much to change that. Once behind him, I peeked through his legs at the hallway beyond.
It was an armory, and it was busy. Monsters of all kinds scurried back and forth with various weapons, all very intent on what they were doing. Maybe their distraction would be enough to save us. I hoped like hell it was. We were good as long as we were behind the giant, but as soon as we were on his other side, all it would take was one person looking in our direction. There were too many eyes around, too many potential witnesses.
I stopped, making everyone stop with me. Accidents happened in armories, right? Jayce gave me a questioning look as I pulled a magic smoke grenade out of my bag. I put a finger to my lips, then opened the tiniest portal in front of me. The other end would be right in the middle of the crowd of monsters. I pulled the pin and lobbed the orb through, then instantly collapsed the portal.
Three, two, one.
Pandemonium.
The giant snapped awake with a roar. He charged forward, demanding an explanation in a language I didn’t recognize.
The men and I bolted for the opposite hallway, disappearing around the wall just as the argument behind us turned physical, breaking into an all-out brawl.
“Nice,” Kai breathed. “What now?”
An ear-splitting alarm drowned out any response I might have had. The medieval torches on the walls became flashing red lights.
Shit. So much for my distraction buying us some time.
They knew we were here.
Chapter Six
“Run!”
I didn’t bother being quiet. The blaring sirens would drown me out anyway. I darted down the hall toward the pull in my gut, keeping an eye out for any monsters but no longer trying for stealth. The guys were right on my heels this time.
As we careened down the corridor, the floor began to shake.
“Earthquake?” Kingston called, his gaze darting around.
“You wish. One side!” Kai barked.
We flattened ourselves against the wall just as a thundering platoon of vicious-looking centaurs stampeded past. The ones in the lead glared ahead as if they could see their adversaries. But a smaller one near the rear was taking full advantage of his wide-set eyes, scanning this way and that as he stayed in step with his people.
Shit. He was going to see us, I knew it.
I shoved at Kai, who took the hint and began to run. The centaur screamed a battle cry and peeled off from his platoon to chase us. The others went on as if they hadn’t heard him, chasing some unknown threat.
“Use your weapons!” I screamed.
Leading by example, I lobbed an orb at the monster, not even checking to see what it was before I threw it. It exploded on the thing’s chest, unleashing ropey vines which wrapped around each of its six limbs.
The centaur fell to the floor, still screaming.
A choral war cry echoed in the hall behind me. I turned around just as a wave of little black fiends filled the space ahead of us.
“Don’t stand still! Keep going!”
With one hand in the sack where I kept my weapons and the other slashing and hacking with a long knife, I charged ahead toward Xero. The only upside of this shitshow was that the adrenaline of the fight was overpowering my empathetic senses, making my headache fade to a dull pulse. I barely even registered it as I raced into battle.
Jayce used his crossbow to clear a path ahead of me while Kai ran by my side, slashing to the left while I slashed to the right. Our bombs and orbs made one hell of a racket. As another wave of fiends arrived, I wondered if we were just drawing more monsters to us with all this fucking noise.
I almost shouted an order to keep it quiet, but I realized that it would only cripple us. For as little and weak as these fiends were, they outnumbered us fifty to one. If I took the bombs away, we’d be slaughtered. I charged on ahead, blowing fiends to smithereens and slicing whatever body parts came close enough.
We rounded a corner—and ran headlong into a net covered in bits of glass. Fiends cackled as they rushed to wrap us up in it.
“Fuck this,” Kinston growled.
He turned and morphed, spreading his wings to push the net away and protect the three of us from the heat of his blast as he breathed a plume of fire. He must have killed three hundred of the little fuckers in a single blow. Blood trickled down my arms from where the glass had pierced me, but I ignored it. Just a few scratches.
Besides, we were almost there. I could feel it.
The feeling in my gut grew so strong that it overpowered everything else. It washed over me in a wave, leaving me feeling nauseated and shaky, like smelling a food truck nearby when you haven’t eaten for days. I didn’t know if I could make it through another wave of monsters. The ups and downs of my succubus senses were knocking me for a loop.
“He’s this way,” I called, gesturing toward the pull.
Squeaking cries of discovery rose up far behind us as more fiends came upon the remains of their fellows.
We had to hurry.
I tried, I really did, but I could barely force my muscles to work at all. Jayce grabbed my elbow and ran with me, half-dragging me through corridors, which were growing darker and dingier with every turn. I stumbled as my head exploded in pain again, and he caught me around the waist.
“Left,” I gasped. My eyes were squeezed shut, and I navigated on my gut alone. “Right.”
We snaked through turn after turn until the feeling was too much to bear. He was right here. I could see his face in the darkness behind my eyelids, f
eel his touch on my clammy skin. My heart hurt so much I couldn’t even breathe. Jayce had to hold me up, half-dragging me through the corridors as every molecule in my body trembled and shook.
“Xero!” Kai’s sudden hiss made my eyes fly open.
We were in a long, low-ceilinged corridor. It stank of sweat and blood and waste. Stains glistened in the dim light on the uneven stone walls and floor. Heavy iron bars crossed deep-set arches all along the walls. Cries and moans of the damned echoed hauntingly through the chamber.
I didn’t hear Xero’s voice, but I could feel him. He was close enough to touch; I was sure of it. Breathing hard, I turned, controlled solely by my need. Finally, my gaze fell where Kai’s had landed a moment before.
My blood seemed to freeze in my veins.
The lump shackled to the wall in the cell didn’t look like either human or demon, but like a poorly taxidermized bird. His arms stretched over his head, held in shackles that were bolted to the wall, given the appearance of grotesque wings by the tattered remains of his sleeves. I couldn’t see his face, and his scent was masked in blood and sulfur and despair, but every nerve in my body jumped in recognition.
It was him. I knew it was.
Xero.
I felt zombified and mostly useless, and my body jerked awkwardly as my feet shuffled toward the iron bars.
“Get this door open,” I gasped.
He wasn’t moving. My heart thundered with effort and anxiety as I clung to the bars, my gaze fixed on him, willing him with everything inside me to wake up.
Kai did something to the door, and a moment later, a bright green flash lit up the passage. The door swung open. Then my vampire bond-mate grabbed my limp arm and dragged me into the cell. It was like jumping in a cool pool after nearly dying of thirst in the desert. I just needed to touch Xero to get that life-saving sip.
But I wasn’t even sure where to touch him. He was so broken.
Air whistled through his lips, creaking, labored, and uneven. Purple and green welts, some split and oozing blood, covered his body. Fresh scars crossed his old ones, and he was caught in some terrifying half-form between human and demon. I reached out with trembling hands to touch him.
“Xero.” The whisper stung my cracked lips. I knelt on the floor beside him and pressed a hand to his shoulder.
Fuck. He’s burning up.
Tears spilled from my eyes as I slid my hand to his chin and lifted his head as gently as I could. “Xero?”
A sound from down the hall made me whip my head around in terror. I was already feeling better from the mere proximity of my mate, but Xero was in no condition to walk, let alone run.
We needed just a little bit longer. We needed to heal him enough to give him a fighting chance of getting out of here alive.
I turned my wide eyes up at Jayce, who nodded.
“Don’t worry, we got you. We’ll keep watch. Get him on his feet.” He jerked his head at Kai, who followed him out into the hallway.
Kingston knelt beside me and pulled something from his pocket.
“You have a lockpick?” I gaped accusingly.
“Yeah, why?”
I groaned. We probably set off some alarms blasting that green whatever-the-fuck, and he could have just unlocked the door. Now that I was skin-to-skin with Xero my brain was coming back on, and I could see all of the ways that we had royally fucked up this rescue mission.
“Nothing. Just get him out.”
Kingston went to work. I kissed Xero’s forehead, my lips trembling, my touch gentle.
“Come on, baby. Wake up, we gotta go.”
He mumbled something in his sleep, jerking slightly.
“Xero, it’s me. We came to get you out. But I need you to wake up. We have to get you out of here.”
Something in my voice seemed to affect him. He lifted his head with great effort and peeled one eye open. The other eye appeared to have been swollen shut. “P… Piper?”
“It’s me.”
Tears burned my eyes, and I tried for a smile, but I couldn’t make it happen.
He looked awful—so awful that I couldn’t believe he was still alive, in fact—and I didn’t know how to fix him. I was aching to kiss him, desperate for his comfort and my own relief, but it wasn’t the time. I didn’t know what any of the men lost when they charged me up, if anything, but whatever it was, he couldn’t afford it. He was barely hanging on as it was.
“Careful, buddy. We gotcha.” Kingston’s touch was careful as he freed one of Xero’s hands. The fire demon’s arm flopped limply toward the floor, and he would have shattered his knuckles on the stone, but Kingston caught his wrist in time. As soon as he released it, the injured man lurched unevenly toward me as if his core was made of clay.
I caught him around his broad chest, both of us on our knees. He wrapped a shaky arm around me as Kingston freed his other wrist.
With an effort that hurt to watch, Xero pulled back and cupped my face in his hands. His visible eye was cloudy with pain, and his thumbs trembled as they swept over my cheeks.
“Piper,” he whispered again, as if he couldn’t believe it. He let out a shaky sigh and touched my forehead with his.
“You’re okay now.” The lump in my throat made speech almost impossible, but I forced the words out. “We’re getting you out of here.”
He pulled in a shaky breath and touched my lips with his, a tender, gentle kiss. His uncertainty washed away as he kissed me, pouring healing love into my starving body. I knew he shouldn’t do this, that it was too much for him, but I couldn’t break away.
We were both balancing on the fine line between life and death, holding each other over the chasm. I felt his life force igniting mine. Power rippled through my veins, plumping and soothing my dying cells.
“We better go if you’ve got him,” Kai said in a low voice, cocking his head as he listened down the hallway. “I’m hearing shit I’d rather not.”
“Getting some mad weird vibes up here too,” Jayce said nervously. He shot a desperate, impatient look at the dragon shifter. “Kingston. Come on, man! How long does it take to pick a lock?”
Kingston didn’t even bother responding as his face tightened in concentration. A second later, the lock sprang up, and he let out a triumphant sound.
“Done!” He gestured to Xero. “Help me get him up.”
I took one side and Kingston took the other, and we hauled Xero to his feet. He was unsteady and uncoordinated, but if we all worked together, we could move relatively fast.
“Did we come up with an exit strategy?” I asked, glancing around at the men.
They all looked at each other wide-eyed for a moment before turning back to me. “That’s usually your thing,” Kingston pointed out.
“Goddamn it. Xero, are you strong enough to go through a portal?”
I saw the flash of doubt before he arranged his features into stubborn determination. “Yeah, I’m good.”
My lips pressed together. “Don’t fucking lie to me. Did any of you see any openings into the courtyard?”
“Yeah, right before the dungeon.” Kai nodded in the direction we’d come from.
“Show me.”
“No way, Pipes. We can’t go out into the courtyard,” Kingston said firmly. “There’s no way we’d be able to walk through all those demons.”
“We aren’t walking. We’re flying. Hurry up.” That vibe that was bothering Jayce was getting to me too. It was a terrifyingly familiar aura of evil, bigger than a whole army of fiends.
It was pure fucking evil.
Gavriel was close.
Xero found his feet as we headed down the hall, but he was still too weak to carry his own weight. Kingston and I kept him upright until we saw daylight glistening off of the wall up ahead.
“Jayce, take over for Kingston and help me with Xero. Kingston, go ahead of us and be ready to shift. We won’t have much time.”
They did as I said, though I could see the apprehension all over their faces. Damn
it. Maybe this was crazy. Maybe it was stupid. But I wasn’t about to risk Xero’s life on a portal that might not even work.
It would be worth the attempt once we were free of the fortress, but until we got out of this place, it was too risky. After all, what kind of evil mastermind would Gavriel be if he didn’t shield his fortress from random portals?
We stopped just before the chamber curved into a flight of stone stairs which ended at an open door, which I was pretty sure led out to the fortress’s courtyard. The sounds of work, military drills, and torture floated in a steady organized sort of chaos. I held my breath. Nobody seemed to be chasing us anymore, and nobody seemed to have noticed yet that Xero was missing.
“Now,” I hissed to Kingston.
“Are you fucking kidding? I won’t fit in here!”
“So get a running start! I’ve seen you do it before.”
He gave me an irritated look, but I could see that it was just masking his terror. He’d seen what we hadn’t; exactly what they were doing in the courtyard. But he did as I said. He took a deep breath and bolted up the stairs, shimmering into his dragon form as he went. He took the smallest version of that form he could, but it was still a tight fit.
“Go!” I yelled.
Kai hung back while Jayce and I propelled Xero forward, then came up behind us and shoved Xero up the stairs as we lifted him.
At the last possible second, we all hurtled through the door as a group, leaping up to land on Kingston’s back. I felt him buckle under the sudden weight, but he quickly recovered, taking to the air almost before we had all found handholds. He flew straight up, forcing us to fight gravity almost beyond our ability.
As we rose up into the sky, wind whistling past our ears, Xero slipped.
“Fuck!”
As I turned to grab him, I saw why Kingston was in such an all-fired hurry. Gavriel stood in the very spot we’d just left, glaring up at us. He put his long, bony hands together and a bright red light began to grow between them.
“Kingston, dodge! Hold on, guys!” I screamed.