“This better be good. I was in the middle of something…pressing.”
“I received a message a short while ago. Together, Mortika? and Ash?ek managed to open a portal onto land protected by the Fallen. Mortika?’s captured Temptation’s Halfling, and the Slayer’s mate as well, the Guardian.”
“Where are they?”
Dimiezlo looked decidedly uncomfortable. “Mortika? tricked Ash?ek into allowing him to hold the females. Then he secreted them away the moment Ash?ek stepped from the room and he changed the terms of his fee.”
Stolas growled low in his throat. “What does he want?”
“He said he wants Temptation. He said you can have the Halfling, the Slayer and his mate. But he wants Temptation.”
“Done,” Stolas immediately agreed. A small price in the grander scheme of things.
Dimiezlo ducked his head, cringing. “He also wants the sword.”
“The sword,” Stolas snarled. No need to ask which sword. Only one sword mattered. This was exactly why you had to be so careful of who you allowed to have certain information.
“No. He won’t get the sword. No Halfling’s worth that price.”
“He said if you wouldn’t bargain with the sword, then perhaps…perhaps Lucifer might be interested to know you have it.” Dimiezlo gulped, groveling.
Stolas glowered at the cowering minion. Mortika? had just signed his own death contract.
“Where is Mortika? now?”
“He’s gone into hiding. But I have Hunters after him. They’ve already locked on to his shimmer trail. It’s only a matter of time.”
“A matter of time! If he’s threatening to go to Lucifer, then I’m out of time.” Stolas moved his hands up, clenching his fists, then threw his arms wide open. Dimiezlo went flying through the air. He flipped end over end, stopping only once he was pinned against the far wall. The Animagi clawed at his neck, his red face taking on a purplish hue. “Do you remember what I told you would happen if this went badly?”
“Please,” Dimiezlo gasped, his eyes bulging. “Please, master. I will fix this.” He gasped again, flailing. “I will kill him myself and bring the Halfling to you. I swear it.”
“No. You will take me to him. And I will see that he is eliminated myself. The moment the Hunters notify you that they’ve located him, I want to know.” Stolas smiled then, evil power seething to the surface. “And you’ve forgotten one little detail.”
Dimiezlo forced a swallow, too fearful to speak.
“Now you suffer for failing me.” Stolas’s gaze went to the horns atop the minion’s head.
“No!” Dimiezlo pleaded now, reeking of the kind of raw terror Stolas savored like the finest of feasts. “P-please, m-master. Anything else. Anything. But n-not that. Not the—”
Stolas began to slowly, viciously twist the minion’s horns until they started to crack. Dimiezlo’s screams echoed in his ears.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Asher held out his hand, palm up. Gideon immediately slapped his palm onto Asher’s. Xander’s hand came down on top of his.
“Wait,” Niklas barked, stepping forward.
Mikhail advanced as well. “We all go,” he growled, reaching for the point of contact.
“Two contracts, two passengers,” Asher said, and the world spun away from the trio locked together by hands and blood contracts, leaving Niklas, Carly and Mikhail behind.
A dank cell materialized around them, a scene straight out of a medieval nightmare. Water trickled down the solid, grungy rock walls. The scents of mildew and refuse filled the air. A sputtering torch rested in a wall mount near a low, rust stained, iron reinforced door with a tiny window slot.
“Ky!” Xander shouted. He sprang away from them and fell to his knees beside the prone woman.
Kyanna’s hands were bound at the wrists behind her back, and her ankles were tied as well. A strip of duct tape covered her mouth. Her clothing was filthy and torn, and her left eye was all but swollen shut. Otherwise, she appeared unharmed, and mad as hell.
“Thank Christ!” Xander whispered brokenly.
He dragged his mate into his arms and squeezed her tight. His face went lax on a look of profound relief. She began squirming and mumbling beneath the tape. Xander turned her in his arms and gently pulled the tape from her mouth before he vanished her bonds.
“Gideon!” she exclaimed, twisting toward him. In the torchlight, her face was streaked with tears and dirt. Her long blonde hair was tangled and matted, sticking to her face and neck. “He dragged Maggie away.”