Wicked Wind (Solsti Prophecy #1) (34 page)

“Stop! Why are you doing this? What do you want with me?”

He leaned down so that his face was close to hers. “I want to know what you are. I want to know the extent of your powers. And then I’ll decide if I’ll let you live and work for me, or if I’ll kill you.”

“Work for you?” She shrank from his hideous countenance. “Doing what? Who are you?”

“Ah, female, soon everyone in the world will know the answer to that. I am Maeron, and it will behoove you to be on my side when I’m running the show in every realm. Because you will have to choose. And everyone who chooses against me will die.” He snapped the other cuffs into place on her ankles and her other wrist. “Now, female. Give me a demonstration of your ability.”

Nicole swallowed and thought about lying again. She could tell him that she couldn’t always call upon her power. But that would lead to another lie, and she would have to make up reasons why her power wasn’t always available. Using her skills on command for Maeron was the last thing she wanted to do, but she also wanted to stay alive. Her life was not going to end in this crummy basement, not when she and Brooke had just figured out the purpose behind the gifts they had been born with.

And she had to stay alive so that she could tell Gunnar she loved him. It didn’t matter that he had simply told her that he needed her. Well, she needed him, too. She would be his mate or whatever he wanted to call it. The terminology wasn’t important to her; she wouldn’t let another day go by without telling him how she felt. He and the other Lash demons were out there searching for Maeron right this minute. She saw the images Rhys had pulled up on the computer this morning. Of all the dilapidated buildings he had found, surely this was one of them.

She looked around the room, eyeing the various objects on the shelves. She’d never tried to call up a strong gust indoors before, because she had never wanted to trash any of her friends’ homes. But this place could go up in flames for all she cared. Flames. She grimaced at the thought of Gin and the havoc she could wreak here.

The heaviest things in the room, besides the work table, were some of the books and a few large stone jars. She spotted a book that had been shoved carelessly on the highest shelf and stuck out into open space. Just like with the Ghazsul, this would probably piss Maeron off, but she wasn’t going to meekly follow every order the Domu barked at her. She concentrated her energy on the lifeless air in the room and began to coax it to viability.

A swirl, then a breeze, then she had a strong current moving around the basement. The Skells inched as close to the wall as they could, and the Ghazsuls shifted their weight from side to side. She directed the wind at Maeron, then focused on the book. The shelving unit swayed and groaned, and as its weight shifted, the book flew off the shelf. Nicole put as much force as she could into her wind and into the tome, and sent it flying straight into the base of Maeron’s skull.

He roared in anger as he stumbled to his knees. “Bitch!” he bellowed as he reached out and raked his claws from her hip to her ankle, shredding her jeans into ribbons.

A scream tore from her throat. Blood streamed down her leg. The last thing she saw was his other hand, formed into a fist and hurtling toward her face with demonic speed. She heard a sharp crack, which she dimly registered was her head hitting the wall, and everything went black.

C
HAPTER
24

G
UNNAR
HAD
BEEN
pacing for nearly an hour. His skin felt too tight, his muscles jumpy. He whirled at every rustle of leaves or whisper of a bird’s wing. While he’d prowled around empty rundown farmhouses in the middle of nowhere, Nicole had vanished. And from the echoing arrows of her pain that tore through him earlier, she’d been injured as well. A thought ghosted around the edge of his mind.
How could it get any worse
? But he refused to let it fully form, because as he knew too well, things could always get worse.

Kai had stopped telling him to relax and left him alone.
Thank God
. Gunnar barely kept the battle-rage at bay. The only thing helping to contain it was the lack of an immediate enemy to fight. He didn’t know exactly who had Nicole, so the beast inside him had no one at which to strike out. It howled its agitation for its mate.

Finally, Gunnar’s keen ears picked up the eight-cylinder roar of an SUV, spitting pebbles up from the road in its speed. Its light came into view first as tiny points, then grew to illuminate the inky black Illinois field. Brenin hopped out, followed by Rhys with his tablet computer in hand.

Brenin laid a hand on the sedan that Nicole had driven. “They used some kind of magic on the car. Since when do Ghazsuls cast spells?”

“Or visit Earth?” Kai muttered.

“I did some research in the car.” Rhys opened a window on his tablet. “Check this out. There’s one foreclosed house about two miles west of here, and it’s right on a small river. There’re more old farmhouses in this area, but they’re all further out and not near water.” He tapped his screen and looked to Gunnar. “I say we start with this one.”

All the other Lash would defer to him on this mission. Even though the others were unmated, they recognized the depth of feeling Gunnar had for Nicole. There was no need to spell it out for them. They could see the glow of barely contained rage in his eyes. They knew that his inner beast had decided she was his. And they would do anything they could to help him get her back.

Gunnar nodded. They needed to go in carefully. If Ghazsuls were involved, then other predatory demons might be as well. His beast calmed down slightly as his tactical mind plotted their course of action.

They drove the first mile together in one of the Escalades, then covered the last mile on foot. They split up as they got closer, with Rhys and Brenin circling around to approach from the north. Kai and Gunnar had just taken cover in thick, overgrown brush a hundred yards from the house when Gunnar felt the unmistakable zing of Nicole’s power. It prickled over his skin and through his muscles in a warm electric current, driving his beast to the brink.
She’s fighting
. The beast bellowed to join her, to save her.

Kai’s head whipped around to Gunnar. “Holy shit!” He rubbed his hands along his forearms. “Your girl’s got game!”

“Almost there, Nicole.” Gunnar’s muscles urged him to bolt for the building, when his mind exploded in pain. He grabbed his head and doubled over, fighting to control the nausea flooding his body. He couldn’t allow himself to vomit or cry out. They were too close to nabbing this bastard.
Nicole
. Her name became a mantra in his mind, repeating on an endless loop as he willed her to hang on. Gunnar would shred the muscle and bones of whatever creature dared to harm her.

Kai crouched next to his friend and scanned the area. “Fuck. We gotta get her out of there”

Gunnar nodded. “No shit. I’m gonna skin every last one of those motherfuckers.”

“Save one for me, man. The good news is, looks like she got off a shot at one of them.”

And then, as quickly as the pain had started, it ceased. Gunnar blinked. “It just…stopped.”

“Is that good or bad?” Kai asked.

“I don’t know.” Gunnar straightened up.

They crept closer, advancing silently through the brush until Gunnar was hit with the odd feeling that it didn’t make sense to go any further. Their plan suddenly seemed ridiculous, their mission futile. The best course of action right now would be to turn around and leave. One look at Kai confirmed that his friend felt the same way.

“Wards,” Gunnar muttered, his warrior’s mind cutting through the magically-enhanced fog of doubt. They had been expecting as much.

Rilan had discovered several warding spells in the old Domu’s grimoire. The Lash demons figured that Maeron would use at least one of these to fortify his edifice. Because they knew the basis for the original spells, Rilan spent the morning working on a few counter spells, and relayed them over the phone to Kai while they waited for Rhys and Brenin to arrive. Kai then made sure all of them knew the counter spells, just in case they ended up going in separately.

Gunnar muttered the words now, and was infinitely grateful for Rilan’s skills as the heavy feeling of futility lifted from the air. They were close enough to see the house; their acute night vision noting every detail of the crumbling structure.

The roof sagged low over what had once been a garage. Many window panes had long-ago shattered, giving the home a gap-toothed appearance. The few gutters that were still attached to the eaves hung askew, swaying in the night air. Paint peeled from the siding and the front porch steps were rotted. As they watched the house, a flash of movement caught Gunnar’s eye.

A Skell. Unaware that it was being observed, it navigated the rotting steps and disappeared inside the house. Gunnar knew only too well that other demons’ sense of hearing equaled theirs, so he signaled Kai to wait. As they continued to watch, a Ghazsul demon came around the side of the house. It stopped near the porch and stood motionless, scanning the surrounding area.

Gunnar’s beast clawed at him, desperate to get out and fight the other predator. His blood boiled as he mustered the strength to hold it back.
Soon
. They needed to wait a few more minutes, to survey and try to gain every advantage they could before mounting their attack.

A faint yelp echoed from the other side of the house. Gunnar smiled. Rhys and Brenin had made their move. The Ghazsul at the front ran around the side, leaving the porch unprotected.

“Now!” Gunnar and Kai sprinted toward the house. There was no point in stealth. They had almost reached the house when three more Ghazsul demons came at them from the other side of the building.

The urge to fight rushed through Gunnar’s veins like lightning. He let his beast take control as he engaged the first Ghazsul, his sword swinging with a vicious urgency. Familiar rage engulfed him. His vision took on a red haze. His rational mind slipped under, buried by the fury of his beast unleashed. He moved faster than his opponent, slashing at him with unholy speed until he raised his sword for the killing blow. Slicing cleanly through the creature’s neck, Gunnar didn’t even stop to watch its head hit the ground.

Kai held his own with one of the Ghazsuls, so Gunnar turned to the third. It struck first, landing a blow to his shoulder. Gunnar grunted. Blood poured down his arm.

The Ghazsul lunged for him and Gunnar dodged out of the way, losing his balance in the process. The other demon was fast, and it leaped on top of him and rammed the huge ball of its fist into his face.

Gunnar looked the Ghazsul in the eye. This is what he’d been waiting for.
Bring it, motherfucker!

He moved his head out of the path of the demon’s clenched hand before it could land a second blow, and then he rolled them both across the ground and into the rotting steps. Jumping up, he grabbed the Ghazsul by its arms and slammed it back against the packed earth. It groaned but got right back up, only to get smacked across the face by a wooden board that Gunnar had ripped from the stairs.

Still it came at him, producing a small dagger from a holster on its leg. Gunnar twisted to the side, avoiding a wound to his belly, and the blade caught his thigh instead. He grabbed the demon’s wrist, yanked the knife out of his own leg and turned it toward the Ghazsul.

The Ghazsul growled through clenched teeth, muscles shaking as the blade inched closer to its face, pushed ever closer by the strength of Gunnar’s rage. Gunnar gave a final mighty shove, and the dagger sank securely into the Ghazsul’s neck. Black blood spurted from the severed artery. Gunnar raised his sword and decapitated the Ghazsul, ensuring he was truly dead.

He looked up in time to see Kai finishing off his Ghazsul with a ball of demonfire. A Skell that had been peering out one of the front windows turned and ran when it caught Gunnar’s eye.

“He knows we’re here now.” Kai nodded toward the door. “I’ve got your back. Let’s go get Nicole.”

Gunnar vaulted up the porch steps and burst inside the doorway. The inside of the dingy house contained a minimum of furniture. A small decorative shelving unit hung perilously on a wall above a worn orange couch. Holes dotted the plaster throughout the room. There was no sign of the Skell that had peeked out at them, but he heard a noise from the back of the house.

He and Kai crept through the front room and paused next to an open hallway. Stairs led up and two doors hung off their hinges, but no other demons were in sight. They continued moving to the rear of the dilapidated house, which contained a kitchen and what had once been a dining room. The kitchen sat empty. A forlorn, shabby door opened to the back yard. Striding to it, Kai looked outside.

“Rhys and Brenin are doing fine. Two down, two to go.” He twisted to take in the dirty kitchen.

Gunnar paused just inside the room as the familiar scent of peaches hit his nose. He and Kai noticed the square trap door in the floor at the same time, and rushed over to peer down into the space. Nicole’s scent saturated the air, but the little cellar was empty.

Turning around the room, Gunnar noticed a second hallway. Motioning to Kai, he moved toward it without a sound. A swift check of the open doorways revealed only empty rooms, so Gunnar kicked open the last remaining door.

The scent of peaches and Ghazsul blood assaulted his nose. And the tang of human blood and...another predatory demon. His beast roared as it recognized both its mate and its enemies in the same space. He rushed down the steps with Kai right behind him.

A deafening bellow of rage escaped his lips as he took in the sight that greeted him. Nicole drooped, unconscious, her limbs chained to the wall. Blood covered her leg.

One Ghazsul demon guarded her. Numerous Skells lined the walls, attempting to hide in the shadows of the basement. A bloody Ghazsul slumped on the floor. A work table held some kind of container, reeking of human blood. And in the center of it all, grinning a sadistic grin, was a Domu demon. Maeron.

“Ah, the Lash demons have come to save the day,” he called out with false cheerfulness. “What took you so long?”