Elina knew Tensel wouldn't abandon San Diego, but once he knew what he was really up against, with the information she could provide, maybe they could find Darkness and plan an attack.She wouldn't be able to fight with the hunters, but she would at least feel as if she'd contributed something. She'd brought Damonq with her rather than tell him, so that there would be no question whether or not she was crazy and just having nightmares.She had taken him to the deep but thin ribbon of water beneath the ground that fed the lake Tensel’s compound bordered.She turned to swim back toward the main artery underground. As she turned, Damonq suddenly caught her by the arm and thrust her behind him. To her horror, a shark, mouth open wide, snapped at him, catching his upper arm, spinning around and streaking through the water with him. At once blood turned the murky water red, so Elina, rushing after them, swam through a red tunnel.She didn't dare end the dream with one of Darkness’s creatu
Elina found herself smiling at him. I can't swim. Not really. I'm afraid to be in the water because I know what's down there. It was a confession. She was slightly ashamed that she couldn't be like other human beings, swimming on a hot day--or night.I think you have enough courage for ten people, Elina. Any more and I would spend an eternity being terrified my woman would do something crazy.He made her feel whole and happy even in the midst of knowing Darkness and his army could move unseen throughout San Diego. How were they going to destroy him if they couldn't find him? If he had so many exits?That is the job of the hunters, Elina. You did your job. You have supplied us with valuable information. We can find and destroy all the places he has built here. There are many of us now, more than he knows. Thanks to you, we have places we can start. From those places, we will find trails to others.She took a deep breath. It is close to sunset. Just once, I would like to have a night wi
The breeze stirred the leaves on the ground, throwing them playfully into the air. Dirt, cement and debris were piled high in the alley just behind the deserted building. The entire block of empty stores looked like a ghost town. The slight breeze used the alley as a private playground, lightly touching the debris, rifling through it. The wind slipped across the dirty glass of the windows, as if peering in, looking to see what state the shops were left in when people abandoned their businesses.Damonq circled one way, using the breeze to carry him where he wanted to go. Sandu and Ferro moved around the outside of the buildings from the main street, each searching for signs of demon activity. Andor took the roof. The hunters were traveling in packs, spreading out through the city, following the underground map Elina had laid out for them. She'd given it to Damonq, leaving it in his mind after she'd pulled him into her dream.Tensel and Max stayed in the compound surrounded by the h
That rules out my twelve-inch wingspan, Benedik grumbled. I am going in by the back wall three shops down.Damonq’s heart clenched hard in his chest. He knew that entrance--or more precisely--exit. Darkness had used it after he had impregnated Elina. Be especially cautious. That leads directly into Darkness’s private lair.He moved into the pile of debris, floating in the steady breeze down through the crevice and into the hallway of the underground city. Rock and dirt covered the floor in great impassable mounds. One rock blocked the door to the chamber where May, Liv and, farther back, Val had been held. Live experiments with children had been conducted there. Children were fed to the flesh-eating puppets Darkness had created. Most of those children had been alive at the time. In hunt mode, he was grateful he'd put some distance from his emotions. As it was, the place turned his stomach and sorrow slipped in. He began to drift away, more than happy that there was no sign of Darkn
Damonq inched closer to the open door. Inside he could see a second female, and this one looked very young, maybe in her early twenties.She was chained to the wall and hadn't fared any better than the other woman, maybe worse. She'd been severely beaten. Her face was swollen and bruised. Streaks of blood were smeared at her rib cage and along her right arm, where there was a large cut.Eugen stomped back to the girl and grabbed her throat, his thumb forcing her face up. "If you don't give Levon the information he wants this time, I'm going to hurt you like you've never been hurt." A malicious smile revealed his spiked, stained teeth. "Or I'll tell him you've deceived him all this time and you don't know how to undo the mage’s spell."Damonq had continued floating, inching his way around Eugen, but that brought him up short. The mage should be Xav. The latter had been one of the most powerful mages ever born. He was wholly evil and had almost succeeded in stamping out the ancient pe
Before Damonq made a move, he had to determine just what was going on. He needed information. He would have to send for backup in case one of the demons escaped the chambers, but that required energy and Levon would feel it. He remained very still. If Levon tried to kill the girl he would have no choice but to intervene immediately, information, backup or not.Juliet made it to the stone table, her eyes on Levon the entire way. There was fear, but there was defiance. She was a fighter, this one, and she was angry.From the cage came waves of soothing peace. The feeling settled over all of them, demon beast, hunter and enraged female. Levon glanced up, his face softening. He smiled at Elizabeth. "I see you are determined to work your magic on all of us, my dear. You don't have a mean bone in your body. I would give you anything you asked, but this one continues to defy me. We must move you. We must find a way. Darkness wants this part of the city abandoned. If he knew I was returnin
Levon suddenly lifted his head and looked around the chamber, searching inch by inch. He looked up at Elizabeth, who kept her head down. He smiled at her. "You have earned another lesson, my dear. You know you deserve punishment for what you've done." He uttered the words very softly, his white teeth snapping together. Elizabeth shuddered and kept her eyes to the ground.He whirled back to the mage lying on the stone table. He slammed one long talon--spiked like a thick ice pick--right through her throat. Leaving it there, pinning her to the rock with one long dagger, he waved his other hand toward Elizabeth.To Dragomir's horror her body began to dissolve, to become part of the rock her cage rested on. "Keep her alive or you die," Levon said to his servants. "If she lives, the rewards are vast," and then he was gone. That fast. So fast Damonq couldn't see him move. He must have gone under the door of the chamber, or even through it, because he didn't open it. One moment he was t
Eugene was aware of Damonq extracting his heart, but Andor bunched Eugen's hair in his fist and yanked his head back so hard it cracked bones in his neck. That didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was getting to the blood. He could see it, just out of his reach. Dark rubies. Gems of the purest blood he'd ever tasted. He had to have more.Lightning arced around the room, jumped to the heart on the floor, incinerating it, turning it to ashes. The white-hot energy bathed away the blood on both hunters and then the floor. Sandu had kept his arms and body over the mage but now he slowly released her."I stopped the bleeding, but she can't talk yet," he announced, lifting her easily to carry her to the stone table out of the way.Andor finished the job by incinerating the bodies of the two beasts."Gary is on his way," Damonq said. "Her name is Juliet and she's mage, a direct descendant of Xavi or one of his brothers. Levon is also holding an ancient woman named Elizabeth."Andor's