Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

“Ah. Checkmate. Nice setup.”

“As for your friends, I cannot help them. I cannot leave you, even if I wanted to. Lucifer and his watchers would notice my absence immediately, and they would hunt me down and capture me. My magic doesn’t work as well with demons. They are used to the shadows. They would find me.”

“You’re speaking from experience, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Why did Penny and them come in here?” I murmured to myself, my mind whirling.

“You know why.”

“Yes, but…” I did, obviously.

“Durant is the most cunning vampire I’ve ever known, aside from Ja. He is highly intelligent. He will know you need to get training. He will know that, inevitably, you will also need to escape.”

“And I doubt he knows what he’s getting himself into.”

“He has asked me many questions about Lucifer. I have told him all I know, which is extensive.”

I pulled away so I could turn and look him in the eye. “He did?”

“Yes. He will not be going into this blindly.”

I resumed sitting straight up, and my heart swelled. Of course he’d found out everything he could from Cahal. He’d probably done a crapload of research, too. Read everything he could get his hands on. He’d kept all of it from me, shouldering the worry by himself. That might have annoyed the old me.

“I miss him.”

“Good. Then you will want to return to him.”

“Bud, look, I’m not that last guy. I will leave this place. I’ll get my training, and then it’s adios. If Lucifer tries to hold me, I’ll leave violently. Otherwise I’ll say goodbye. But I will leave. I bet the other guy never said that.”

“No, he did not. He didn’t want to leave, even when this place was killing him. But it won’t kill you. It’ll call you.”

“Home calls to me too. This place is just a nice vacation.”

“I hope that remains true. For the sake of your future, I sincerely hope that remains true.”

I rolled my eyes. “Did you take a course on melodrama? Because you really have a gift for it.”

“Yes.” He was quiet for a moment. And then, in a small voice, he said, “I never got to see the dragons with the last heir. He went off to see them, but we weren’t friendly at that point. I’ve only seen them in the air, or from a distance.”

“Yeah. Dragons.” A surge of excitement cut through my grief. “It’ll make this whole trip worth it, I bet.”

“I hope so. I think we could use a bright spot at the moment.”

I just hoped that bright spot didn’t come with a heavy debt.

Ten

Penny crouched behind some sort of stone that felt like half-baked clay, her clothes grimy, her belly empty, and her energy nearly depleted. They’d been on the run for a week so far. The camp or sect or whatever the goat’s tits it was called they’d first landed in had been filled with bloodthirsty creatures armed with huge teeth, large claws, and an appetite for human flesh. Sneaking around hadn’t worked out so well—they’d only gotten a few hundred yards before a swarm of the creatures came out of nowhere and attacked. The three of them had left a trail of demon blood behind them. A trail that would be super easy to follow.

Darius had decided they couldn’t then go straight to their destination. He was sure they’d be hunted, and he wanted to erase their scent, so to speak. They’d gone a roundabout way through a docile camp that had tents and flowers and a lovely smell to the air. No one had noticed them, too busy painting and making daisy chains and singing. It was not what she’d expected of the Underworld. She would’ve been just fine staying there!

But no, they’d only stopped for a moment in some sort of rest area, where there was apparently some rule barring communication, which worked out well for them. She’d eaten and slept for a while in a fluffy pink bush, too tired to be weirded out by the strange foliage, while Darius stared at the sky. He hadn’t mentioned what he was looking for up there. Penny had been too afraid to ask. Bad news waited around every turn in this place.

Here they were now, though, in a part of the Underworld that was absolutely what she’d expected.

Fire covered the charred ground ahead of them, sweeping across it and curling upward into the sky. Within it, large cracks emitted blue flame, hotter than the garden-variety red and orange that swirled around the rest of the area.

On the other side of this field of awful sat their objective—a stone archway with metal gates. The gates stood open, the surface as blackened as the ground. No light shone from the sky, but it wasn’t night. As they’d gotten closer to this field of despair, deep gray clouds obscured the glowing orb that passed as a sun. Unfortunately, the fire was bright enough for them to see the danger that lay ahead.