“I feel like I have just sat down to a poison duel with a Sicilian,” I mumbled.
What? Darius frowned at me.
I shook my head. He needed to watch more movies. “Basically, the fire door looks terrible. You’d assume whoever set this shebang up is trying to steer you to the blue door—and you do not want to do what they want you to do. So then you take the fire door. But, what if they realized that you’d think it was a trap, and they knew you’d take the fire door, so in the end, it’s the blue door that is safe?”
His frown became more pronounced.
“If you’d gotten the Princess Bride reference, you wouldn’t be confused right now.” I glanced back the way we’d come. The sect had disappeared, replaced by a vision of a path crowned with glistening arches of ice that abruptly ended in an inferno. Flames curled up from a huge pit, reaching into the black sky above. “Nice.”
It is impossible to say which path goes where. He looked back and forth between them, and back the way we’d come. But we do need to choose. They will have discovered the dead conspector by now, and when the other sect swears they didn’t kill them, someone will mention the human and vampire escaping. They’ll come looking for us.
“I’d go fire.” I pointed, as if he didn’t know which I meant.
I can withstand larger quantities of heat now that we’re bonded, but I’m not sure I can withstand that degree of fire.
“Given that the dragon kept trying to fry people, I don’t think just anyone can withstand fire. This is probably just for show.”
Darius started forward, hard-faced. Without hesitation, and not much of a heart uptick, he walked straight into the sheet of flame and disappeared.
“We probably should’ve done that together,” I muttered as I hurried after him. For all I knew, we’d be sectioned off into two different places.
No heat surrounded my body. The flame didn’t lick my skin.
“My father the magic man.” The illusion cleared and I bumped into the back of Darius’s nude human form, standing on a wooden pathway that cut through clear blue water to a large, multi-roomed hut on stilts. There was no other path but toward it. Light pink and purple clouds hung low over the setting faux-sun in the light blue sky. Absolutely gorgeous clear water stretched forward into infinity.
“Keep your eyes up,” Darius said as he started forward.
“I wonder if the vultures in the desert belonged to one of the sects in that battle.” The waters moved like a calm ocean, with ripples and small waves.
“Up, I said.”
I yanked my gaze up from the water and glanced at the sky. Nothing awaited us. The hut loomed closer.
“It is likely,” Darius answered. “Though which one, I couldn’t say. I would’ve expected those birds to be in the battle.”
“With the dragons? They wouldn’t have lasted two minutes.”
Darius didn’t answer.
“I wonder if Vlad knows about the dragons,” Darius muttered. “Those creatures would dominate a land battle in the Realm.”
“My father would dominate a land battle in the Realm.”
“You only say that because you haven’t seen what some of the elves are capable of. Or a host of fae.”
And I didn’t want to. I wanted to go home, have a glass of wine, sleep for a decade, and go back to my old life hunting marks that had very little power or sense. This was too much work, and a war in the Realm sounded even worse.
Something was hunched beside the front door of the hut, just out of the glaring light spilling out onto the porch. I slowed with Darius, who clearly saw the same thing, twenty feet from the door, head moving as if scanning for a surprise attack.
“Should I just kill it?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. The bigger problem would be something coming behind us.
“Let’s approach.”
“I’m your Huckleberry.” I frowned. Because he wouldn’t get that reference, either. Ridiculous. How was I supposed to relate to the man when he didn’t speak in movie quotes?
The demon hunched a little more as we neared, holding its hands in front of its scabby chest like an old woman worried about a burglar.
That is the demon Callie and Desmond called, Darius thought.
I squinted into the shadow beside the door, my eyes playing tricks because of the light streaming out of the building. A gray knobby thing stared back, not stepping forward.
“Honestly, I saw that demon before my memory got an upgrade. It doesn’t look much different from all the others we’ve seen.”
Darius glanced behind. We don’t have time to dwell. Find out what it wants, beware of a surprise attack, and kill it if you can.
“Aye, aye, sir.”
When we reached the front of the hut, Darius continued forward, scouting the building. I stopped beside the demon, my power at the ready.
“Heir,” the demon said softly, not inching toward me.
“Everyone else who knew that information is now dead.”
“I’m bound to you. I can tell no one of what I know, and I cannot rest until you are safely out of these lands. Please, let me guide you. Only then can I be released.”
“We’re clear.” Darius’s voice echoed through the hut.
“What do you mean, released?” I asked, edging in through the door.
“Mistress Banks impressed upon me to guide you. This trinket led me to you.” It turned over a clawed hand to reveal a round imprint on its palm. “But the magic near the castle changes. I am not of the type able to go through to the other side of the inner gates.”
“How’d you know I would come out here?” I asked, edging a little farther into the hut.
“This is the entrance closest to the sect to which you were heading.”
It occurred to me that both doors from the ones we’d had to choose from would’ve led to the same place.
A crackle drew my gaze toward the area from which we’d come. Subtle blue lights, a shade darker than the water, flashed.
“Does that mean someone is coming through?” I asked as I jog-stepped deeper into the hollow hut.
“Yes. Do they follow you?”
“Of course they follow me! What do you think I am, subtle?” I wrapped the demon in air and tugged it behind me as I ran, my footsteps echoing. Darius waited on the other side with his satchel strung across his bare chest, looking up.
“We gotta go.” I ran past him with the demon bouncing along behind me. If I’d focused more, I probably could’ve kept it suspended a little better, but I was tired. It was lucky I hadn’t killed it.
“I still see no vultures.” Darius dug into his satchel, and I hoped he was looking for a miracle. A moment later he caught up. A quick glance behind us revealed he’d thrown up a privacy spell. Why he hadn’t gone for a more violent solution, I didn’t know, but there wasn’t time to amend the situation.
“Where to, guide?” I yelled at the demon.