Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

“And if he can’t?” Emery asked.

Darius tapped his pointer fingers together, the only indication of his agitation. “Then it will be incredibly dangerous for us.”

“So you have a plan?” Emery asked.

“Of course,” Darius replied, and Penny let a breath whoosh out of her. “I have been planning for this moment since we first entered the Underworld. I feared it might come to this, eventually. This or something similar. I have made extensive networks and some allies. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to properly infiltrate the inner kingdom. They are incredibly loyal to their master. Still, we should be able to sneak in. I have a couple of routes plotted out.”

Penny stared at him with her mouth hanging open. He hadn’t mentioned to Reagan that he was preparing for something like this, that he was worming his way into the Underworld just in case. If he had, she would’ve told Penny. Reagan wasn’t good at secrets.

All this time, the vampire had been playing the long game, strategizing how to get Reagan back before her father even knew she existed. Any doubt that Penny had possessed about his intentions toward Reagan dried up completely.

“Wow.” Penny glanced at the large bed behind Darius. “Okay. Food. Rest. Then we storm the Underworld.”

“More like slink through it, but yes,” Darius replied. “You will need all your wits. This will be unlike anything you have ever experienced, and if we lose, we lose everything.”

No pressure.

Two

I opened my eyes slowly, and then closed them slowly. My wince didn’t do the pain justice. It vibrated through my entire person, pounding in some places, aching in others, hot in my joints and thudding behind my eyes.

I took a deep breath, and it felt like fire through my esophagus. Oh, right. Unlike the rest of the Underworld, there was no air in the inner kingdom. That was probably for the best—it hurt to breathe anyway.

I gave the eye-opening thing another try, and it took a while to get used to my surroundings, mostly because there was so. Much. Gold. Golden-hued bedding laced with cream and a matching canopy billowing overhead, tied with golden tassels to cream and gold bedposts. A hideous gold and cream pattern lined the walls, which Darius would scoff at, and to one side of me there sat a mirrored desk (gold-trimmed, of course) and a gold-upholstered chair. Not all real gold, of course, but enough that I would be running out of here a lot richer. If I could run, obviously. Or move without setting off an earthquake of agony.

Cahal sat in a cream chair beside me, a book in his lap and his ankle rested on his knee. He stared at me silently. I stared back, just as silently. Usually I was the one who spoke in our relationship. I didn’t much feel like speaking now.

My fingers were all straight, so that was good. I could bend them, too, though it hurt to do so. Bruises adorned my arms, and I didn’t much care to lift the sheet and inspect the rest of me.

Someone had dressed me in what looked like a super-luxe hospital gown.

“How do you feel?” Cahal asked, and his voice had an echoey quality to it. Magic carried words here, since there was no air. Though I did remember him saying he could breathe down here because his godly magic negated the airless spell. Regardless, his words had that strange, tinny quality to it. Just another little stop on the mind-fuckery train.

“Like I got beat up, actually.” I thought about sitting up. Then thought better of it. Then did it anyway to see how far away I was from healing.

Cahal pushed to standing and helped, fluffing my pillows and getting me situated. Usually I wouldn’t accept that kind of help, but usually I didn’t feel like sausage on the other side of the meat grinder, wrapped in too-tight casing.

“How long have I been in this godawful room?” I asked, taking a break from moving and closing my eyes against the onslaught of gold.

“You’ve been out for three days.” He pulled a sack from the floor and extracted a wriggling magical snake. He quirked an eyebrow, silently asking if I wanted to use it.

“I know they heal wounds, but can they really heal broken bones and things?” I asked.

He glanced between me and the snake. “I don’t know. I’ve never used one. I was told to offer this when you came to.”

I had used one before, so I knew it would make me feel less like I’d been hit by a truck that had then backed up and hit me again, but I hadn’t had internal injuries last time. And while I’d seen one of these buggers crawl out from a demon’s insides, I wasn’t sure I wanted one taking a jaunt through my body.