Lost Soul (DarkWorld: SkinWalker Book 2) (22 page)

"She's got slaves?" I asked, pressing my fingers against my forehead. I was beginning to feel
more than a little lightheaded.

"Sure. She tells all of us what to do."

At that moment Saleem appeared out of thin air in sparks and tiny little flames. "She is there. He was right."

"Good. Then he gets what's coming to him." I met Saleem's eyes and he nodded. It wasn't as if I needed his permission, but we were kind of a team. I turned on my heel, drawing my sword at my left hip and ended off wide to my right hand side. The movement was smooth and Lester had risen to stand straight expecting me to mess up the salt circle and free him. His expectant grin never left his face. Not when his head began to slide off his neck, and not even when it hit the floor with a hollow thud.

"So he's served his purpose. Let's get out of here." I glanced at Skates who nodded while his eyes remained on Lester's head as it rocked back and forth until it stopped, Lester's eyes wide open and staring at nothing. My body stilled as the adrenalin surged away, fleeing my veins and making way for the pain and the weakness. My knees shook for a moment and I clenched my thighs, holding myself as stiff as possible, praying I would stay upright.

Saleem stepped toward the circle. "What are you doing?" I snapped.

"I want to see if he has a stone."

"Are you forgetting something?"

"What?

"You're a demon and that's a demon containment circle."

"Oh." Saleem stopped in his tracks. "Right."

I shook my head and turned to the boy. "You're safe now."

He nodded, a little hesitant. An odd look crossed his face and he opened his mouth to speak, then stopped and just nodded again.

"And you're free." I smiled at him. "How does it feel? Lester is no longer your master."

"Doesn't feel any different, I guess." The ghost boy shrugged and turned away.

I stared at him a moment, but we didn't have any time for me to have a heart to heart with him. Maybe later. "Will you stay with us or do you need to be somewhere?"

"I'll stay if you don't mind." He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Let's get out of here," I said to Saleem before putting an ear to the door
.

One last glance at the body confirmed what I'd expected. The head began to shrivel and whiten and soon it was just a pile of ash. The rest of his body remained within the protective circle.

Whole.

Saleem grunted at the body then said, "I'll check it out for you." Before I could even nod, he disappeared. Then returned in a few moments. "All clear."

I opened the door carefully despite his assurance but the hall was clear. We hurried out and I followed him, moving gingerly down the stairwell favoring my injured side. My panther ears confirmed Yanuk was still within the warehouse along with a couple of guards.

We reached the exit and Saleem turned the handle. It barely squeaked and the metal door cracked open. A quick glance outside. All clear. We hurried out and shut the door softly behind us, then ran as fast as we could back out of the abandoned part of town.

As we neared the dumpster that would by now contain the melted, gunky remains of the two demons, I glanced at Saleem. He already had a bead on the alley and ran straight for it. We were far enough to know that Yanuk and his guards hadn't sensed us so slowing down for Saleem was safe enough.

He rushed to the dumpster, which still sat open to the grey day. Or night or whatever it was. He hoisted himself up and leaned on the edge with is stomach. "Shit."

"What?"

"They've melted and disappeared," he said disgruntled, his face dark and almost angry.

"As demons do." I raised an eyebrow.

"But there's no stone."

"Maybe their possessions melt with them?" I suggested.

Saleem dropped back to the ground and looked disgusted. "We don't have the stone."

"What's so important about the stone?" I asked, feeling the weight of the blue rock burning a hole in my pocket. Was that what he'd been focused on all along? Even in the hotel when Lester had first pulled it from his pocket?

"If we can get a hold of one, we can control the spirits."

"Why would we need to do that when they are helping us of their own free will?" I nodded at Skates, who looked worried as he stared at Saleem. Probably worried he'd find the stone and control him too. "Come. We don't need it. And I'm really tired."

"Fine. But keep an eye out. We've missed out on two so far." He sounded resigned but I didn't trust him. He was giving up way too easily.

We hurried back to Tara's shop and I went straight to the kitchen and pulled out the first aid kit and a small black bag filled with the syringes Logan had given me. I set about tending to the demon-inflicted wound in my side, first cleaning it with alcohol then covering it with gauze. I used the syringe of swirling heat and injected directly into the visible edges of the wound. Heat spread like living fire through my flesh and I wanted to scream with the pain of it. I bit down on my lip not caring that it bled.

"Damn it, K—sorry, you should have called me to help," Saleem said as he hurried into the kitchen.

"I'm fine." I spoke through gritted teeth and he just snorted. I shrugged out of my jacket and untied the buckles on my armband. Saleem gasped when he saw my wound, which had gotten as bad as it ever was. "There must be something about this place. Seems to be multiplying the power of the poison."

"That makes sense. It is a demon plane, isn't it?" I gasped with pain as I spoke.

After the worst of the pain had receded, I took a second syringe and injected into the skin around the Wraith-sword wound. Again, heat flooded into my flesh spreading agonizing pain into my flesh and bone. I gritted my teeth while perspiration dotted my forehead. I had to endure the pain. There was no other choice, so I bit down and breathed through it.

I stared at the case of syringes. I couldn't use pain as an excuse. I needed a successful dose and Logan had said two to three if the poison had spread badly. I reached for a third syringe and Saleem held onto my wrist.

"So you really think it's wise? You're in so much pain."

I nodded. "Logan said two to three, and this is technically only two for the original wound. No pain no gain, hey?" I jammed the needle into my flesh and depressed the plunger, sending more agonizingly flaming heat into my body. I slid down in the chair a little, the pain and the exhaustion taking over. I was barely aware as Saleem zipped up the bag of syringes, closed the first aid kit, and returned everything to my satchel.

Then he lifted me off the chair as if I weighed nothing and took my down the hall into Tara's room. I smiled, a little drunk on pain. I thought that Tara would like to know she'd helped me more than she'd expected.

He pulled down the covers and tucked me in, leaving my satchel and rucksack on the bed between me and the door. He understood. "Thank you."

"I should be thanking you. I haven't been much of a protector, have I?" He gave me a slightly self-deprecating grin.

"You've done enough." I swallowed, my throat beginning to tighten.

He snorted. "I get what Logan meant about you." I stiffened. What had Logan been discussing about me? "No nonsense, take it by the horns and don't mess with me. That's you in a nutshell."

I laughed softly. "I guess you could say that."

***

I dozed restlessly and didn't allow myself to lie there for too long. Eventually, I sat up and checked the wounds, all of which seemed to have recovered well enough to not be excruciatingly painful to touch. I got to my feet, put my jacket on to ward against the chill in the air and strapped on my swords just in case. Thinking of Tara, I bent to make the bed then realized I didn't really need to bother. It wasn't as if Tara was going to be walking in here any time soon.

Heading for the kitchen, I rummaged inside the cupboard for some tuna and crackers and prepared a small meal. I was sitting at the kitchen table washing the tuna down with water when Saleem walked in.

"You're awake already?" Saleem frowned.

"I didn't want to waste any more time sleeping. Besides, I feel much better now. Those syringes pack a bit of a punch." Saleem just glared at me. "Hey. I promise, I'm fine. I won't slow you down."

He snorted and shook his head, then proceeded to prepare his own meal. He'd polished off most of it and was swallowing the last of the crackers when the door in the storefront crashed open and footsteps thundered through the room toward the kitchen.

I ran to the room, my first thought for the weapons. Dashing in, I kicked the bag and satchel under the bed and pulled the covers to hang it over the side, hiding them. I turned around to see three lamia and another strange-looking, horned demon enter the room, their faces flushed and angry.

I didn't fight them off. Wasn't a point. I was surrounded.

I just hoped they wouldn't think to take my weapons away.

They grabbed my arms and hauled me into the kitchen where a dark, stone-faced demon stood with a blade to Saleem's throat.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I yelled as I glared at Saleem, knowing he could blink out of there in an instant but he just stared back serenely.

What was he up to?

"Shut up. You don't get to know anything." One of the lamias sneered. He seemed to be the one in charge.

I stared around the tiny demon-filled kitchen and had to wonder how they had found us. How had they known where we were hiding out?

"You can't just barge in here and grab us like this."

"Of course we can. And if you have a problem with it, then take it up with the boss." The lamia grinned and his putrid teeth shone.

I shuddered, still glaring at Saleem. When I looked around for Skates, he was nowhere to be seen and I felt a knot of suspicion grow within my gut.

Skates was gone and that made perfect sense. He was the only one who knew where we were. Had he found a way to tell someone our location while I was asleep? Whose control was he under now that Lester was dead? Wouldn't that be Yanuk? Had he gotten to Skates? Or had someone gotten to him before we even arrived, so he could have been setting us up all along.

"What did you do with the boy?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"What boy? I don't see any boy." The lamia just shook his head. I couldn't deny I was disappointed in Skates. I'd trusted the ghost, but bigger things were going on right now. More specifically, how we were supposed to get away from these sulfur-exuding creeps.

"Tie her up and let's get going." The lamia shot the instruction off and the horned demon nearest the door growled and spun on his heel. He left the kitchen and the others rushed to follow his instructions. I counted while another lamia tied a rope around my wrists so tight it would have cut off the blood supply had I not fisted my hands and created a little space between the rope and my skin
.

"Where are you taking us?" I asked, hoping to distract him and succeeding as he glanced up from his bad knot job.

"Shut up. You'll know when we get there," he answered, nostrils flaring.

I glanced around me, doing a quick headcount: three lamia, one horned demon, and the one holding the knife to Saleem that looked so much like a stone gargoyle I had to force myself not to stare. Only five. I could take them.

As we left the kitchen and entered the tiny hallway, I realized how fruitless escape was. The front room contained three more unidentifiable demons with weapons trained on me. Weapons I recognized from this very shop. Tara would be more than pissed.

I glanced at the weapons. I wasn't stupid enough to assume the ammo they contained wouldn't hurt me
.

I couldn't fight bullets.

We passed through the store and I gritted my teeth as I scanned what remained of the front door. They'd smashed it to smithereens. The demons hustled me outside and the other group followed closely with Saleem. They hurried along the deserted roads and herded us back to the abandoned part of town.

I walked stiffly, tugging my arm away from the hard fingers digging into my flesh. I glared at the demon, who just glared back. They were all so confident and cocky. What did they know that we didn't? What made them so sure of themselves?

We stopped abruptly, right outside the warehouse where we'd killed a bunch of their friends, and where I'd killed Lester too.

They were taking us to see Yanuk.

They shoved me over the threshold of the backdoor and I heard scuffling behind me as they did the same to Saleem. We passed the stairwell and entered the first floor to find only one corner furnished to an acceptable degree. And occupied.

A desk and a high-backed leather office chair sat to our left, back to the wall along a row of blacked-out windows. There was even a carpet in a lovely shade of grey. The demons pushed me to the front of the desk. One of them, the lamia whose throat I planned to slit, gave me a hard shove in the middle of my back that sent me stumbling forward with only the desk to stop me from falling flat on my face.