Mentored in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

“Darius is at a diagonal to the right—” I shook my head in confusion. We’d have to snake through the building to find the way to him. “Where are you going?”

He turned a corner and slowed, looking for something. In a moment, I found out what.

My feet hit the ground, and I staggered into the wall to catch my balance. Cahal grabbed a humanoid demon with a wrinkled suit and bare feet and shoved him against the wall. The shadows peeled away.

“Where are the prisoners?” Cahal asked in a low voice born of nightmares. Rough and wicked and dangerous.

The man-demon’s eyes widened to the point of comedy. “Wh-wh-whaaaat?”

“The vampire and mages. The prisoners. Where are they being kept?”

“Dungeon. In the dungeon. In the stone cage so they can’t magic their way—”

“How do I get there?”

“D-down the rear steps. B-ba-back of the building.” He put forward a shaky finger. “That way.”

Cahal stuck his sword through the center of the demon, twisted, and ripped it out again.

“Make sure he dies—” Cahal started, but I was already on it. One swipe of an air sword, and the demon’s head fell to the ground. I ran in the direction he’d pointed, wiping goo from my hands. Cahal caught up and smashed me to his side again, covering me in the shadow. It was like physically being between a rock and a hard arm.

He hit the end of the corridor as someone shouted behind us. I glanced back over Cahal’s shoulder as he turned right. The dead demon had been discovered and the discoverer was currently looking around wildly, either for the culprit or someone to help. It had missed our escape entirely.

I sulked a little, because right now it was the Cahal show, and looped an arm around his shoulders so I could haul myself up just a little. His hip was digging into my side.

He slowed a little as a few demons ran around a corner up ahead, wearing helmets with metal nose guards protecting nothing above wide mouths full of large, sharp teeth. Metal breastplates covered wide chests and thick, hairy arms held spiked weapons or spears.

Better than guarding a prisoner… one thought as they rushed toward us.

I slammed all but one of them against the wall. Blood splattered and bodies crumpled to the ground. Cahal dropped me, immediately launching into a flurry of action—sticking them with the business end of his sword to make sure they didn’t get back up.

I caught the last one in a vise grip of power and immediately felt the same sort of power trying to shove me away. It froze. It knew who I was.

“Where’s the dungeon? Which way?” I asked, stepping closer, then back again because I didn’t want to tilt my head up that much. Given the width of its shoulders and the size of its massive arms and chest, the demon looked shorter than it actually was.

“Princess. I’m sorry… I have to wait for the Great Master. I can’t tell—”

I lit his legs on fire. “Tell me or I’ll kill you very, very slowly.” It couldn’t possibly know that I didn’t have that kind of time. “I won’t tell my father how I found out.”

It licked its thin lips, its expression one of consternation and agony. It didn’t give any other signs its lower half was burning.

“Two rights and a left. Down the stairs to the bottom. The Great Master said to hold—”

Off with his head, I thought, and stepped aside as his body hit the floor.

“I really didn’t need— Ugh.” I winced as Cahal squeezed me to his side again. “Seriously, how about a piggyback instead? This situation is not amazing. As I was saying—”

He ran around the next right, then veered to play Dodge the Demon as another group of huge, armored creatures jogged through.

I put my lips to the shell of his ear and used very little sound as we took the next right. “I don’t think I needed to storm the gates. I probably could have just told them who I am. They won’t fight the heir.”

Please back off a little, he thought, and I frowned and pulled my head away.

“Why? What’s the matter?”

He took a left, the hallway empty now. Midway through was a door labeled with what looked like a picture of stairs drawn by a five-year-old.

I am almost always your platonic friend, but sometimes, in certain situations, I remember that I am a man, and you are a beautiful, fiery woman, and my body responds accordingly. I have a thing for women in battle…and a thing with my ears. You are hitting too many buttons right now. I need you to back off.

I couldn’t help an evil grin. Too bad this wasn’t the time to mess with him.

He paused by the stairs and looked up and down the connecting hallway. An elflike demon in a fuchsia dress walked by at the other end, rounding a corner.