Chapter Five
It was a two-day journey to reach the fortress in the underworld city.
We could have ported over, but Michael warned us that magic sensors might pick up on it. It wasn’t worth the risk. Besides, we’d already walked this far. It almost seemed like cheating to use magic now, after so many days of trudging across the fucking underworld landscape.
At least nothing bothered us and no creatures approached us as we walked. It seemed like the wildlife avoided this place as much as the fallen hermits did. The landscape flattened out once we got through the pass, making the journey even easier.
We were close enough to the fortress that we walked in the early morning shadow cast by its high walls when a sudden stabbing pain pierced my head.
“Ungh!”
I dropped to my knees as the searing pain ripped through my skull, turning my vision red.
“Piper! What’s wrong?” The men were by my side at once, touching me, running their hands over me. I sucked life force from them, desperate to make the pain go away. It subsided just enough to let me speak.
“My head,” I gasped. “Oh, God, it hurts!”
“Is it the smoke?” Kingston asked.
“No, we’d all feel that,” Kai said.
“Something psychic, then. Your succubus powers make you empathic a little bit, right, Piper?” Jayce’s voice was tight with concern. “This is a torture chamber. There’s got to be a whole lot of people in pain in there.”
That made sense. I breathed deep and centered myself, anchoring to my guys. It helped, but only a little. My head was still pounding too much to think clearly.
“Fuck. We’re too exposed here,” I rasped. “We need cover. And a plan.”
Kai and Jayce each took one of my arms and led me toward the fortress. The headache intensified, and I pushed it away again. I couldn’t afford the distraction. Not right now. Not when we were this close. We crouched beneath the blood-red boughs of a thorny shrub, and I settled my aching head against the oily black stones of the fortress wall.
“Jayce, you’re fast. Um… do a perimeter check. Entry point. Anything vulnerable and unguarded.” I struggled to get the instruction out and wasn’t entirely sure that anything I’d said made sense.
But my hellhound mate kissed me hard, bringing me out of my daze for a second. “You got it, Pipes. Be right back.”
He morphed and loped away like a shadow. He was hard to see in his hellhound form, like he was something you notice out of the corner of your eye in the dark after watching a scary movie. Your eyes would refuse to focus on him, and the faster he went the harder he was to see. I lost visual after a few seconds, but I could still feel him like a second heartbeat.
“So what’s the plan?” Kingston looked at me. “We just go in?”
“Fly over,” I murmured weakly. “Don’t get caught. See what we’re working with.”
“What?” His chiseled features contorted with surprise. “They’ll see me! I’ll definitely get caught.”
I pointed up at the sky. Wild dragons drifted lazily through the air like vultures, blowing out the occasional fireball. “Blend in,” I whispered.
He didn’t look happy, but he nodded determinedly. He ran a knuckle down my cheek before shifting in a whirl of scales and wings. As he flew away, I closed my eyes against the searing pain in my skull. Kai wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed my forehead.
“You’ll be okay,” he promised. “You’ll be fine.”
Reaching up weakly, I hooked a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. I kissed him, my succubus side seeking strength and power, and the part of me that still felt human just seeking comfort and closeness. Kai’s arms encased me, and I rested against him.
We waited in silence for the other two to return, exchanging the occasional kiss when the pain got too bad. It didn’t take very long, maybe an hour or less, before they found their way breathlessly back to the little hollow under the boughs.
“Nothing,” Kingston said bitterly. “Can’t get in over the top; those spikes are fractals. They’re forging weapons in that lava pit and tossing bodies into it. Tons of people everywhere.”
“I found something, but you aren’t going to like it,” Jayce said with a grimace.
“Will it get us inside?” I asked roughly.
“Well, yeah.”