I glanced over to see Shade and Vanzir working on the guard next to us, so I darted forward, grabbed up the spirit seal from the fallen demon, and thrust it into my pocket. A surge of energy raced through me and I was startled to see the wound on my arm begin to heal up. I healed fast—vampires always did—but this was definitely quicker than usual.
Jacob and Lokail were fighting the third guard. Trillian had moved on to help Trytian, who—with the remaining daemon—was working on the fourth guard. I decided that Jacob and Lokail needed my help the most, and I was right, because at that moment, the demon skewered Jacob through the heart and he vanished.
“That does it . . . I’m done with this shit.”
I slid in beside Lokail, who was grimly hacking away with his sword, and began to repeatedly batter the demon with one quick blow after another. That gave Lokail the chance to slip around behind him and slice him between the ribs.
The demon—this was the Tregart—blinked in surprise, right before I brought the ax down on his head. Wincing—brain matter is ugly no matter who you are, unless you’re a zombie and then it’s lunch—I jumped back out of the way as the Tregart face-planted in front of me. I motioned for Lokail to go help the others while I retrieved the spirit seal from the dead demon’s neck. Emerald. The first seal we had found. Shadow Wing had stolen it from us when he killed Tom Lane. Somberly thinking about Titania’s fallen lover, I quietly slipped the seal in my pocket with the other and zipped it shut.
Shade and Vanzir had taken down their opponent and tossed me the smoky quartz necklace. But Trytian and Trillian were having a hard time with theirs. We couldn’t all fight him at once, there wasn’t room, so I went back to breaking Nerissa out of the cell. I had just managed to bend the bars far enough apart for her to climb through when there was a short, harsh scream, and a roar. I whirled around just in time to see Lokail go flying across the room—without a head.
The demon was no longer in human form, but where he had stood, there was now a massive hydra with four heads. The chain holding the spirit seal had snapped as he transformed, apparently, because I saw the amethyst pendant fly through the air to fall next to me. I snatched it up, stuffing it in my pocket with the others.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Trytian shoved Trillian toward the door. “We can’t fight a hydra.”
“I can.” Shade moved back and the next moment was transforming into his dragon self. The rest of us ran for the door.
As we burst out of the complex, I frantically looked around for any more demons, but the rest seemed to have marched off with the contingent we had seen leave. Frantic, I grabbed Nerissa’s wrist and we made for the cover of the scrub. As we reached the first massive, sprawling tree, we turned to see the two monsters breaking through the roof, locked in combat.
“Damn Shade, we could be off and going now if he hadn’t decided to stay and duke it out.” I was furious. We needed to get the hell out of Dodge, and there wasn’t room to play hero here. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t figure out who had gutted the complex.
“Get moving.” Trytian pushed me forward.
“But Shade—”
“Move. You remember the route, I’ll bring up the rear.”
Trillian gave me a grim jerk of the head. “He’s right. Get a move on. Vanzir, go with them. I’ll fall back with Trytian.”
I realized Nerissa was barefoot. I wanted to give her my shoes, but that wasn’t possible—she couldn’t fit in my boots and that would hurt worse than the desert floor. But I motioned to Vanzir. “Your shirt. Tear it so she can tie the rags around her feet and have some protection.”
“No, I’ve got a better solution.” Nerissa stepped back and—in a shimmer—changed into her puma self. She started loping along beside me, sleek and confident.
We headed out. I didn’t want to leave Shade, but then a moment later there was a great shaking of the ground and we turned to see Shade swooping in behind us. The hydra had fallen. Shade landed beside us and I realized what he was up to.
“Climb on his back. We can make better time back to the gate this way. Nerissa—change back.”
“We’ll be noticed by everyone and everything in the area.” Trytian frowned.
“Like word isn’t going to get out about what just went down? This way they may not have time to catch us. Hurry up!”
I hoisted Nerissa up onto Shade’s back, then climbed astride the skeletal dragon’s vertebrae. Within seconds, Trillian, Vanzir, and Trytian joined us. Shade took off, a bumpy takeoff for sure, but we were airborne and aimed directly for the forest. We swept overhead and from the air, I realized just how dangerous a labyrinth the forest was—even as clear of undergrowth as the petrified trees were, the chances of getting lost were incredibly high. The forest stretched on east and west for miles.