The Demon's Game (35 page)

I fought against Rojan’s instincts and turned Dylan’s
face to look at me. I focused on my breathing and pushed the calmest thoughts I
could. There were many times Rojan spent napping in a flower garden, which was
the most peaceful memory I could recall. “We’ll find them. Dylan, you need to
calm down. Use your head.”

“I’ll kill them all if they hurt by babies.”

“They’ll be fine. You have to calm down; you’re
hurting Sydney.”

He looked at the dragoness and she stopped convulsing
in pain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“I know. You’re too powerful to lose control like
that.” Dylan would never forgive himself if he really lost control and actually
hurt an innocent person. As he withdrew his energy, I helped Sydney and then
Taylor to their feet. Sydney was shaking but wasn’t injured.

“Were they kidnapped, or did they leave the school on
their own?”

“Well… the Charger is missing…”

“What color and year is it? Do you know the license
plate number?” Taylor asked, looking anywhere but at Dylan.

“It’s a 2013 black Dodge Charger. The license number
is 869OMG.”

“I’ll put an APB out on a black Dodge Charger with
that license plate. Would your boys skip town?”

“No, they’d come here, probably. Ron is intelligent
enough that if they made a move, he would know where to go. Ronez Yatunus is
nine and Samhail Yatunus is eleven.

“The two boys I met on Sunday?”

“That would be them. If any of your officers find
them, cage and muzzle them both immediately. Be careful of Ron; he bites.”

Taylor gave Dylan a look, probably having never heard
someone talk about their children like that, and I rolled my eyes. “You won’t
actually be able to capture them, just call us,” I said. He walked away to make
his call.

The demons had taken the opportunity to retreat and
more than likely gather forces inside the warehouse. While it wasn’t the
largest building I had seen on Earth, it was large enough to contain hundreds
of demons.

“Zeb, in a battle between demons and dragons, who do
you think would win?” Dylan asked.

“Whoever has you backing them. Honestly, I know
little about dragons. What I know comes from what I saw in Mordon’s head the
few seconds I was in him, and I always tried very hard to block out my host’s
memories. I have seen the battles Rojan fought. Rojan can probably best two or
three minor demons because his hide is resistant to magic, but he will be no
match for one as powerful as I. We can discard a body and take another before a
dragon could draw the breath to breathe fire. Plus, any demon worth his salt
will know a dragon’s weakness is the cold.”

“Actually, there are dragon breeds that can withstand
it,” I said.

“Not you, though.”

“No,” I admitted. “So how do we fight them?”

“You need a weapon that can kill an immortal. Demons
are creatures of the void; we cannot die by your sense of the word. You can
destroy us or send us back to the void. Of course, if Janus is truly gone, then
sending us to the void would be pointless, because we could just return. Therefore,
you must be willing to kill any demon we see.”

Dylan gave no warning before flashing away, only to
reappear a few seconds later with the azurath sword. He handed it to me. “Will
this do it?”

“Azurath metal is powerful enough to do it, yes. Are
you powerful enough to wield it?” he asked me.

To defend Dylan, I would kill any number of beasts.

“Mordon can do it,” Dylan answered confidently. “Are
we up against any Ancients, or just minor demons?”

Xul looked at the warehouse as if he could see
through the walls. “I only sense one Ancient.”

“The ‘queen’ demon that leads them?”

“Yes. Her name is Ilea.”

“I thought demons didn’t have names.”

“It’s a long story. The name holds no power over her
any more than ‘Zeb Carter’ does me. It’s not a true name. Be very careful not
to give her mine, or she can make me into your enemy.”

“I feel like we’re at war,” Dylan said. Xul and I
looked at each other and he nodded, agreeing not to say anything.

Taylor returned to my side. “Should we call the other
dragons in?” Taylor asked.

“No; there will be casualties if we involve them. The
warehouse is too small for full-sized dragons and we don’t want them burning
down the warehouse on top of us,” I said.

“It’s worth the risk,” Xul argued. “If you want to
save the boys before the demons have a chance to move them, we must move with
all our force and we must move now.”

“I can just flash to the boys,” Dylan said.

“Ilea is smart. She knows she can use Ron, but she
would rather kill him than have him on our side. Hail is useless to her except
as a bargaining chip. We have to do this craftily and forcefully or you will
lose someone.”

“She has the advantage because her men are
disposable, while we don’t have the luxury of losing anyone from our side,” I
said.

“That’s not true. We have dragons to spare,” Xul
debated.

I growled and pulled Sydney into my arms. “We are not
using my dragons like that.”

“Not even for Dylan?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Dylan said. “The dragons
will stay back. There is already a spy on the inside; we don’t need any more
confusion. If things get real bad, we’ll call Divina. Sydney can come with us,
but Taylor needs to wait outside and guard the exit.” No matter how many
advisers Dylan had, he weighed my advice the heaviest.

“Sydney and Taylor, shift,” I said. They both obeyed.
I had no scabbard to sheath the sword, but I figured I would need it at hand
anyway.

“Do you want me to take the sword so you can
shift?”
Dylan asked.

“No,”
I answered. I was safer in dragon form,
but Dylan was safer when I was in person form.
“Ready?”

He nodded and Dylan, Xul, Sydney, and I entered the
warehouse. Taylor really couldn’t enter until he shifted, but I liked knowing
he was keeping the exit clear for us. It was dark inside and boxes formed
maze-like tunnels. Sydney brushed up against my side so I put my hand on her
head in a soothing manner.

The cardboard boxes also retained the scent of
everyone who came near it long after they were gone, which made it nearly
impossible to determine which way to go. There was one scent that stood out
clearly. I stopped Dylan with a hand on his shoulder. “The boys have been here.
I don’t know how long ago, but Ron’s scent is stronger.”

We stopped at a three-way split. “We’ll split up.
Xul, go left. Mordon and Sydney, go straight. I’ll go right. Be safe.”

We split up as Dylan directed and followed the
hallway. A few minutes in, the smell of vinegar assaulted my nose. Sydney
shifted back, unconcerned with her nudity. “That’s so strong,” she said.

“They’re not idiots.” Luckily, it wasn’t voraciously
strong like at the lab, so I could actually smell a little. After about ten
minutes, the scent faded somewhat. I was more troubled by then with the fact
that we hadn’t found anyone.
“This warehouse should be full of demons.”

“It should be, but I have the feeling they’ve been
waiting for us,”
Dylan answered.

I made Sydney find some clothes to wear out of the
bag because her nudity was pleasantly distracting and I needed to be focused on
protecting us, not her smooth, warm skin. It didn’t help too much that she
picked a pair of boxers and a red t-shirt. She looked good in red.
Maybe I
should get some red bed sheets.

“Um… not a good time,” she said.

I realized that I was rubbing my hand over her neck
as she tried to dress. “Shit, did I say that out loud?”

“In my ear, all sexy like.”

“Yeah, and I heard it, too,”
Dylan added
unnecessarily.

Mortified, I controlled myself and continued down the
dark hall. We checked each door until we came to what appeared to be an empty
room… only it didn’t smell empty. Sydney turned to move on, but I took her arm
to stop her. “Wait. There’s something here.”

“It’s empty.”

“No, I can smell something over the vinegar. I smell
fear.” I shifted my eyes and what little color that could be seen in the dark
faded. Shapes dulled, but light shimmered throughout the room, particularly in
five people-shaped spots. There was magic hiding the people.
“Dylan! They’re
invisible!”
I just barely got the warning to Dylan before someone hit me
hard from behind.

I collapsed onto the ground, but I wasn’t
disorientated. I rolled onto my back to see three demons, not as men but as
slimy, black-skinned creatures with reptilian facial structures. Their bodies
were humanoid, though thin, and their fingers were long and ended in wicked
claws. One reached for Sydney and she started to shift.

“Don’t shift!” I yelled. Rojan had seen this tactic
before; dragons were vulnerable in our person form, but we were completely
helpless while shifting.

Luckily, she obeyed. I picked up the sword that had
gone skittering across the floor when I had been hit and got to my feet. I may
never have gotten along with my father, but he trained me diligently in the art
of combat without tech weapons.

The first demon was fooled by a faked strike to the
chest when instead I went for his legs. While it didn’t kill the demon, I
knocked him and the demon behind him off their feet. The third demon came right
at my sword, but stopped cold just in time to avoid skewering himself. He
stared at me for several seconds, allowing me the time to get Sydney behind me,
until the other two had risen.

I wasted my advantage. The two demons started
shifting in a gory fashion, as if their skin melted until they looked like
people. “Go away, dragon. We have no business with you.”

“I am here with Yatunus-so Dylan to free those
kidnapped by you.”

“You come seeking to destroy us then. No friend of
him
will leave this place alive. Dragons are no match for demons.”

The other demon suddenly slapped his companion’s arm.
“That is Mordon, the dragon brother of the
qadah
. The goddess said we
cannot hurt him.”

How the Hell did they know Divina was in their
ranks? Why didn’t she come home and let Dylan know her cover was blown? And why
are they taking orders from her?
Divina was there for Dylan before I met
him and it hurt to doubt her even a little. While I knew she lied and used her
magic on Dylan frequently, I always believed she had his best interest at
heart.

“What’s going on?”

“They speak of your wife,”
Rojan said. It was
weirder than him taking over my mouth, for it was as if he took over my mind.
This was the first time Rojan was able to directly speak to Dylan and I hoped
it was the last.

“Divina is a god; if she didn’t want her cover
blown, she wouldn’t have let it be blown. Perhaps she found out they took he
boys and she made them all her servants. No, that wouldn’t make sense because
then we wouldn’t be fighting. Plus, the boys should be wherever the Charger
is.”

“Stop working things out in my head,”
I
groused.

“But it’s too crowded in my head, and yours is so
spacy.”

Rojan and I growled at his teasing simultaneously.
The demons flinched back, obviously mistaking my growl. Sydney disappeared from
behind me, but I couldn’t afford to look away from the demons. The demons
didn’t seem to know what to do, since they couldn’t hurt me.

“This is weird,” Sydney said. “I can feel them, but I
can’t see them.” Sydney pressed herself against my back. “These are all adults;
I can’t find the children. There are four of them, including Jeffery, but the
kids are still missing.”

“We’ll keep looking, but we need to get these people
out.”

“We’re waiting to follow you,” a soft imitation of
Jeffery’s voice said. It was as if he was on the other side of a wall.

I raised my sword at the demons, as threateningly as
I could. “Get back.”

The demons all took reluctant steps away, but their
eyes scanned Sydney and the invisible prisoners. They were looking for a way to
get them without going through me. When the tallest demon nodded slightly to
the other two, I knew they could communicate privately.

As they passed through the doorway, the invisibility
magic fell off the prisoners. The four of them looked dirty, malnourished, and
terrified, but otherwise unhurt. None of them limped or favored an arm, at
least. There were three young women, all of which couldn’t have been more than
in their very early twenties. Ron and Hail were still nowhere to be found.

Two of the demons moved to attack the prisoners and
because the terrified people made no attempt to protect themselves, I had to do
it for them. My shields were not as tangible as Dylan’s, so I reached through
my bond with Dylan to draw his energy into myself. His Iadnah energy seemed to
work on instinct and intent more than nominal energy. I created my shield just
like I would with nominal energy, except I used his energy. The electrified shield
closed over the group and the demon that hit it was thrown back. The other
demon stopped when his companion was repelled.

The wiser demon, the one who didn’t attack, started
to shift again, but it wasn’t into a black-skinned creature. His humanoid limps
shrunk and lengthened. His knees reversed so that he fell to his arms. Hair
receded on his head and sprout in awkward patches across his body. The black
leather and denim he wore melded and melted into his skin. Within seconds, the
demon shifted from a man to the creature every sago feared.

I knew it wasn’t a real dejeva, but the creature was
terrifying beyond thought. Foam dripped from its narrow, snarling muzzle. While
it had patches of thin hair, most of it was bald with splotchy gray skin. The
four-legged creature reached my waistline on long, thin limbs. Even knowing it
was just a demon pretending to be a dejeva, I couldn’t move. I literally
couldn’t even breathe.