Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

He bent to the stall owner, a goblin reminiscent of the Red Cap from which she’d inherited the boost of godly magic she now carried.

“I am seeking passage to the inner kingdom,” Darius said softly, his words barely reaching Penny even though she waited right beside them. “For three.”

“Can’t get you there right now,” the creature grated, its voice like a knife blade pulled across her bones. “They found the heir. She’s up at the castle. The Great Master has locked the inner kingdom down tight. Everyone coming in and going out is monitored. Can’t get you through.”

“I don’t need passage, I need a guide to get us there. We’ll get through. Send word.”

“Who is this we?” the goblin asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Someone the heir will want to see. She will repay you for your help.”

“Yeah, sure. But the Great Master will skin me alive if he finds out. That’s not worth it.”

“Everything has a price,” Emery murmured as Darius pulled the backpack around and reached inside. He came back with four filled casings and laid them on the flimsy table.

Penny recognized their special markings. It was an incredibly ancient and potent spell Darius had found in a spell book and copied down by hand, not trusting the light of a copy machine against paper or parchment that old. At least, that was what he’d said. As they’d done the spell while in the vampire lair, Emery suspected Darius had taken it down from someone else’s book. The spell was so robust that they’d needed four casings to hold it all.

She and Emery had taken two days to prepare a few of those spells. Days they could’ve been on the road to Reagan. But Darius had assured them that the time was worth it. Necessary, he’d said.

The goblin licked its lips. It clearly recognized the casings and coveted them. The spell would allow a creature to change into any form it desired and live in the human world undetected by anyone. Not even shifters or vampires would smell the magic on him. It was like witness protection for magical people. For a creature like this, who basically couldn’t blend in in the human world, that was apparently an incredibly big deal. For people like Reagan, with demonic magic that Lucifer could track if he had a close, personal object of hers (news to Penny), it might mean the difference between freedom and servitude.

There was only one person that seemed to have such a handle on ancient magic like that. Ja. Emery had mentioned to Penny that he wondered what Darius had had to trade to get it. It sure would’ve been nice if they’d had it before all this.

“For that”—the goblin pointed at the casings—“I can get you near it. Then you’re on your own.”

“I need someone on the other side,” Darius pushed. “Someone who can get us in and out of Lucifer’s castle. No deal until we are out of the Underworld.”

“Are you crazy?” The goblin leaned forward. “Do you know what you’re asking? Do you know what kind of heat me and my associates would be in if we were caught?”

Darius touched the spell on the table. “Once you take this, I will set you up for life. You can disappear forever. Live as a wealthy human. Visit the Realm whenever you like. With this spell and my resources, you can have the kind of life you’ve never dared to dream of. It would get you out of here.”

The goblin shook its head, leaning back, not taking the bait.

Darius pulled a vial of blood out of the backpack. The goblin’s head stopped shaking. Its eyes widened in recognition.

Unicorn blood, a secret the vampires had been keeping for generations. It was essential to their creation of new vampires, but it also imbued anyone who drank it with certain powers. The vampires kept it a closely guarded secret for obvious reasons, but they wouldn’t need to anymore if they were allowed to return to the Underworld. Something about this place awakened their ability to procreate, a secret that Cahal had blabbed to everyone on Darius’s island and now probably wouldn’t be much of a secret anymore.

“One spell and vial for you,” Darius said softly. “And one for whoever meets us on the other side. Plus disappearing into the human world forever. If you don’t, you’ll be on Lucifer’s front line. I doubt you will last. Take this offer. It’s the best you will ever receive.”

The goblin stared at Darius for a long time. Seconds trickled by, then minutes. Darius did not shift or fidget. He just waited.

“He has him,” Emery said softly, his voice concealed by the spell.

“Fine.” The goblin reached forward to swipe the spell off the table.

Darius was there first, infinitely faster. “You will get half of this spell now. You will get the other half, and the vial, when we pass through the Edges on our way out. Your associate will get the same deal.”