Gideon dropped down beside her. He instinctively tried to take the hand she reached out to him in his, but his passed right through hers. “Do you know where they took her?” he asked. “Did you see what they looked like?”
“Just one,” she corrected. “A big guy, bald, pointed ears, deformed face. His skin was gray, lumpy. God, he smelled…smelled like death. He came in the cell and Maggie and I, we fought him. Maggie almost got him with Angelfire. The minute we started the incantation to freeze him, he backhanded her, knocked her against the wall, and then he punched me.
“I don’t know what happened after that,” she cried. “When I came to, I was already tied up and she was gone. A little while ago…oh, God, Gideon.” She paused, sobbing now, looking as if she wanted to be sick. “A little while ago, I…I heard her screaming. Over and over. And then she went silent. Gideon, I don’t know if— I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop him.”
Fear nearly paralyzed him. “Where did the screams come from? Could you tell which direction?”
“That way, I think.” She motioned to the wall on the left. “But everything echoes in here. It’s hard to tell.”
“Get her out of here,” Gideon said then, meeting Xander’s steely gray stare.
“Will you be trapped here? I don’t even know where we are,” Kyanna said.
Gideon shook his head. “This isn’t Hell. Mortika? must have set up this lair Earth side. I can still shimmer us out if need be.”
Xander’s face was grim. Gideon could tell he desperately wanted to get his woman to safety, and Gideon didn’t blame him one bit. But Xander was also a warrior at heart, and leaving a comrade behind to face unknown odds didn’t sit well either.
“Go,” Gideon insisted.
“Gideon—”
“This wasn’t your fault, Kyanna,” Gideon assured her. “And now, thanks to you, I at least know for sure who I’m up against.”
He’d never done a damned thing to deserve the target Mortika? had put on his back. But this time bastard had crossed the line. He would pay with his life.
Asher had been anything but passive while the three had been talking. A loud thunk, and a slight screech echoed in the room. Turning, Gideon watched as Asher rose from his knees by the door.
“Come on, we gotta go before somebody comes to check on that sound,” Asher urged.
“Take her home,” Gideon ordered Xander one last time. He waited until Xander and Kyanna, locked in each other’s arms, disappeared in a distortion of air, before he took off after Asher. He was forced to crouch to get through the small doorway, and then he crept through the narrow hallway.
They went door to door and pried the tiny windows open to look inside each cell. Demon after demon in varying states of decay were chained to walls and bones littered the filthy floors. But no Maggie.
Then, three doors down, Asher hissed to get his attention and motioned him over. Abandoning the window he’d been working on prying open, Gideon rushed to Asher’s side.
“She’s in there.” Asher pointed to the door.
Gideon didn’t need to hear any more. He put his shoulder to the door and shoved with all his might. It opened with a wail, and he burst inside the room. Maggie hung from bloodied wrists that were chained to the wall. She was limp and unconscious. Duct tape bound her fists closed. Her head was flopped slightly forward.
Through the curtain of her hair, he could see the shadows of beginning bruises, and the trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth. Her T-shirt was torn at the collar, and one shoulder seam was split. Both knees of her jeans were ripped, revealing bloody, skinned knees.
“Maggie!” Gideon flew across the room.
He reached for her.
Pain exploded in his skull, and blackness descended.
Gideon groaned. His head rolled on his shoulders, feeling like a thumb somebody had smashed with a hammer. He tried to move his arms, and was met with the clank and rattle of iron from somewhere above his head. Gideon forced his eyes open despite the screaming pain trying to claw his brain out through his skull. He blinked woozily until he could focus on the woman hanging from chains on the opposite wall.
“Beware the demon you call friend,” a deep voice said from the doorway.
Gideon’s head swung toward the voice, and he glared at the two demons standing across the room.
“Guess everyone has a price. Asher’s always been very clear about his, haven’t you?” Mortika? asked Asher, though he didn’t wait for an answer. Turning back to Gideon, he went on, “For instance, all your capture required was his weight in gold. Well, he got that, and plenty more as a bonus for helping me locate your mate as well, and the Slayer’s. She’ll make a tidy little bow for the package, won’t she?”
So he didn’t know Xander had escaped with Kyanna yet. Good. That might buy him a little extra time. But then he puzzled over why Asher had let Xander and Kyanna go. His head throbbed so hard it was tough to reason it all out.