Oh, boy. An out-of-body experience, literally. "Can something in that other realm grab me and keep me there?"
Adrianna tapped her jaw, thinking, then said in a little girl's voice, "You mean like the boogie man?"
And just like that, the ceasefire disintegrated. "You still need our help," Evalle reminded her. "In your case, payback can be a bitch."
Adrianna's smile broke out from behind her clouded expression. "Ah, there's the Evalle that Storm needs."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
That wiped the smile from Adrianna's face. "Where you're going, you have to be ready for any threat, because a realm where a witch doctor of Nadina's power would have taken him will very likely be far worse than anything you've ever witnessed in this world. Do not fight the spirits as they guide you, and don't try to interfere in the realm you visit, because you can't physically influence anything that is going on."
Evalle caught her meaning when Adrianna paused. The witch was warning her that Evalle had to use restraint even if she thought Storm needed protecting. "I understand. What else?"
With a nod, Adrianna continued. "Any abrupt action on your part may cause the spirits to break the connection. Otherwise, you can return when you're ready by thinking about this spot, but I warn you now that we can only do this once. Just opening this passage will alert spirits better left undisturbed. Understood?"
"Got it."
"One more thing. Making an educated guess at the type of place he may be, for you to pass through from the mortal world to a realm of darkness uninvited often requires a sacrifice."
Was she serious? Evalle suggested, "Can we use a chicken?"
Adrianna stared at her a minute, lips twisted with disapproval. "I don't sacrifice animals!" Adrianna looked away, blew out a breath and looked back at Evalle. "This would be something you sacrifice personally."
Evalle was still processing the angry "I don't sacrifice animals" statement. Her whole view of Sterling witches just tilted. When this was over, she intended to become far more knowledgeable on the Sterling family.
The one thing Evalle did know about dealing with anyone in the world of nonhumans was to be specific. "What exactly do you mean about something I sacrifice personally? All I brought with me are my weapons and you told me they couldn't travel with me."
"Think along the lines of what a spirit would want. It's better for you to decide what you're willing to give up so the spirits don't choose what to take from you."
A string of everything dear to her that she could lose crowded her mind, from Storm, Feenix, Tzader, Quinn, and the list went on and on. She would not risk any of them. "How do I declare what I'm willing to offer?"
Adrianna angled her head in acknowledgement of another correct question. "You say, 'In appreciation for allowing me to pass unharmed to my destination and back, I am willing to sacrifice ...' then you fill in the blank."
Evalle raked hair off her forehead, thinking.
"Are you ready?" Adrianna asked.
No, but that wasn't going to change any time soon. "Ready."
"I will begin chanting as I light the last three candles. As soon as the last wick flames, tell the spirits what you offer and close your mind to everything except picturing Storm. Ask the spirits to take you to him."
Adrianna's voice was crisp in the evening air. When she began chanting, it hit Evalle that Adrianna should be singing professionally. After a moment, Adrianna held her hand open and a tiny spark flamed in the center of her palm.
Okay, that was definitely new. Up to now, Adrianna had been using a long fireplace match to light the candles. Guess that made these last three special.
The flame walked across her creamy skin, not burning it at all. When the flame reached the tip of her index finger, she held it over the first candle until the wick lit, then moved on to the next one. Evalle was so mesmerized by the ceremony she almost missed her cue of the last candle firing up.
She took a breath, closed her eyes and said, "In appreciation for allowing me to pass unharmed to my destination and back, I am willing to sacrifice whatever I possess where I stand, except for my soul."
Adrianna had continued chanting, but she gasped at those words.
Evalle would not put anyone she loved at risk. If the spirits wanted to take away her powers then so be it. She would give up much more to bring Storm back.
Wait. Adrianna didn't say when the spirits would take delivery on that sacrifice. What if Evalle needed her powers where she was going?
Should have thought that one through better.
Evalle closed her mind to everything except Storm's face. The harder she thought on him, the more he came into focus. He had a strong profile. A proud one. He turned and his dark eyes stared back at her, telling her how much he wanted her. She'd been a fool time and again, falling into the jealousy pit and wallowing around. No more. When she got him home, she would accept that he was hers and she was his.
Maybe even mated, if Kai had been correct.
Home. She wanted to be with Storm and Feenix.
To her, anywhere with those two would be the equivalent of a picket fence life.
Noises blurred and stretched until it sounded as if she was flying through a wind tunnel. The whirring sounds weren't freaky, just wrapping around her and making her claustrophobic.
She was supposed to be talking to the spirits. "Please take me to Storm of the Ashaninka and Navajo." There couldn't be two of those, right? "I wish to go to Storm no matter where he is. Please-"
Icy fingers clutched at her, dragging her out of the wind tunnel. The cold digits covered her eyes and she managed not to panic. Just. Her body was drawn to the left then to the right, back and forth, weaving a drunken path.
She stiffened at being held, but Adrianna had warned her not to fight the spirits. A cold film started coating her body. She shivered hard against the chill. Where was she going? She'd envisioned Storm somewhere akin to Christian hell where fire blazed nonstop.
Not somewhere that could compete with Antarctica.
All at once, the motion slowed until she just drifted. When the spirit removed its icy fingers, Evalle blinked to clear her vision. A huge, empty room came into view that reminded her of the amphitheater under the mountain shielding VIPER headquarters. This place looked like a giant had scooped out the rock, but left it open with no stadium style seats cut into the stones.
Ledges jutted out from the walls above the dark floor ... that just moved.
Not a floor. Bodies.
As more bodies moved, she could see that there were hundreds of them lying around. Maybe thousands. Some had animal bodies covered in fur or coarse gray skin. Others with human-like bodies were covered in tattoos of strange symbols designed in black, red or both.
She didn't see anything similar to a Cressyl or Birrn Demon, but they were from different parts of the world. Still, she recognized none of these creatures as fitting into the races of demons she'd studied. The power alone wafting off this group vibrated over her skin. She shuddered at the thought of facing even a handful of these in Atlanta.
In the middle of the room, one large shape had the body of a buffalo that was shielded in swamp-green armor plates the size of her two hands. It had a mangled human-shaped head with a pig's nose and long donkey-like ears. To the left of that one, a fifteen-foot long serpent body slithered down from a ledge. Clear scales covered the internal organs. Eww. Then it raised its head that was a mutant orange-and-brown cat shape, if the cat weighed a hundred pounds and had wide jaws that dropped open to show a double row of sharp teeth.
She had to stop shivering. They didn't know about her.
Once the serpent reached the ground, there was a ripple of movement through the room. Maybe her arrival caused a disturbance, an unexpected energy wave, because all at once a third of the heads popped up, looking around, searching.
Red eyes glowed on the demons.
The red eyes made her skin crawl. Those were the worst of all demons.
Storm was stuck in here somewhere?
Her heart kick boxed inside her chest. Where was he?
How could she move around to hunt for him? Staying as calm as she could, she tried swimming motions.
That worked.
She floated forward, eyeing the demons that appeared to be settling back down into their siesta. She had night vision, but a glow coming from the left shed enough light to illuminate much of the massive space. As she made it past a ledge to look in that direction, she squinted against the light but realized it wasn't affecting her vision.
When she took a hard look, she did a double take at the being slumped on a throne. Had to be a throne since it was the only chair in the room. Where had that thing gotten the owl shape to its head? No owl was that ugly and the bony body did nothing to improve his-she guessed it was a he based on the genitalia-appearance. Evidently, he had a fetish for skulls since his throne had been built out of skulls stacked like Leggos.
He was clearly head honcho over these demons, but who was he?
She couldn't waste time when she needed to get to Storm who could answer her questions faster. Stretching her head to take in the entire room, including ledges draped with more sleeping demons, she still didn't see Storm.
Her gaze caught on a recessed area on the far wall at the rear of the space-if that throne was at the front. There was a half-circle, thirty-foot-round area cleared of any demon in front of the opening to that hole.
Could Storm be in there, tucked away with his back to the wall so he could fight off these demons? That would fit for someone like Storm who knew how to best position himself in a room full of predators.
Had to be one to think like one.
Going into a dark hole raised all Evalle's childhood nightmares to the surface-the ones of growing up locked in a basement-but if she couldn't influence anything in this realm then those demons shouldn't be able to touch her. Right?
She swam above the field of bodies and worked to ignore her wildly thumping heart.
When she reached the small cavern, she eased in slowly, encouraged that her natural night vision allowed her to continue seeing in the dark because there was no light in here.
She'd just glided around a corner when she found Storm.
Naked. Sitting hunched up with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His head was turned facing away from her, staring into more black space beyond where he sat.
Ugly slashes marked his arms and legs. A nasty one gouged his shoulder. He'd fought the demons and clearly survived, but why hadn't he healed?
She didn't know, but Storm appeared in decent condition to fight. All she had to do was find out where this place was and come up with a plan to help him escape.
Deep growling rumbled then he said, "Leave, Evalle."
Chapter 12
Evalle got over the shock of Storm trying to send her away and kept her voice soft to keep from alerting demon central even if they shouldn't be able to hear her. "I came here to find you, Storm."
His voice normally had a rich tone, but now his words were deep and gravelly. An unearthly sound that raised the hair on her arms.
"I know. That means you survived the Medb and whatever happened on Treoir. I'm glad. Now go back."
That was it? All he had to say?
Why would he send her away?
Did he think she would shy away from fighting demons? No, but Storm would suffer anything before he'd risk her life. He didn't get that choice.
Not now that he belonged to her.
Putting steel in her voice, she said, "I'm not leaving without you or some way to get you out of here." She floated closer.
"Stop." He hadn't even turned to look at her yet, but she froze where she was and waited for him to speak again.
"Ask whoever brought you here to take you back. Get out of this place before you're discovered."
"No. I don't even know where this is. Why are you here?"
He heaved a deep breath that sounded as if he'd resigned himself to answering her questions. "I underestimated Nadina."
That bitch would die, but not until Storm got his soul back and he returned home. Evalle asked, "Where is she?"
"Gone. Waiting somewhere safe until she gets word to come back."
"We'll deal with her later. How can you get out of here?"
He chuckled, the sound so empty and flat it could have come from a corpse. "I can't."
"Storm, look at me. Why are you not trying to leave? I don't understand you giving up. That's not like you."
The silence piled up and up until Evalle feared Storm had built an invisible wall between them that she wouldn't be able to pierce.
He finally said, "I never wanted you to see me like this."
Naked and looking as if he'd barely survived ten battles with demons? Did he really think she cared when he'd seen her shift into a monster born of her Alterant genes? She wanted to tell him how she was now a gryphon, but they could catch up later, once she had him out of this pit.
When he spoke again, her heart jumped with relief that he was still talking, until he said, "And now that you've seen me, I need you to leave, never come back and forget about me. Go on with your life."
Tears burned her eyes. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming at him to stand up and fight. Don't upset the spirits.
Nadina might have tricked him into this place, but how had she stolen his will to live? When Storm had battled back from death after Sen tried to kill him, Storm had told Evalle he'd pleaded with Kai to help him live so that he could hold Evalle one more time. She'd never known love, not the kind that happened between a man and woman, but those words had wound around her heart and held it safe.
Storm loved her. She knew this and he knew she loved him. Her Storm would never quit on them. Whether they were mated or not.
Didn't matter. In Evalle's heart, Storm was her mate.
That was all she needed to know. She'd find a way to get him out of here regardless of what Nadina had done to his mind. Evalle waited until she calmed down to keep from giving the spirits a reason to snatch her away.
Her words were quiet, but commanding. "You listen to me, Storm of the Navajo. I am not going back and forgetting about you because I love you."
His muscles tensed. He buried his face in his arms, shaking.
His pain wicked out and brushed her face.
She reached a hand toward him but pulled back, afraid of causing him more anguish. If only she could go to him and find a way to rally Storm to fight with her. But he'd drawn an invisible line that all her instincts were telling her not to step over, that it was important to him she not push that boundary.
The last thing she wanted to do was draw the attention of the demons who might attack Storm. Or wake up that creepy guy on the throne. She had to respect this limit until she found out what was going on with him. Had something changed once he came here to make him no longer want to be with her?
Too impossible to even consider.
She swatted away her insecurities. Storm had proven himself time and again to her. It was time to show him that she would come through for him.
He'd only said he didn't want her here.
What if she questioned his feelings for her? Could she strike a nerve and force him to show some life? "Are you telling me to go because you don't want me any more?"
Storm raised his head in a bold profile. Straight hair hung past his shoulders in black streaks. His eyes were closed. Thick lashes rested above proud cheeks. His lips were taut, forced together as if holding back a torrent of words. Muscles rolled and pulsed along his arms still wrapped tight around his knees.
His throat moved with a swallow.
Nothing prepared her for the guttural pain in his voice that was a harsh whisper. "I will always want you. I will always love you." A tear ran down the side of his face. "But every time I shift into my jaguar in this place, I slip further away. I barely returned to human form the last time. My Navajo heritage-my hum
an blood that once drove me to strive for a life of honor-is losing the battle to the blood I inherited from that Ashaninka witch doctor. Nadina bore me to be a demon. She has finally won."
She was Storm's mother?
The hits just keep on coming.
He took a breath that racked his body. "I will never return to your world. Some things can't be changed. Please, I beg you to please go so I can find a way to live without you, because life without you is worse than death. They will never allow me to die ... or I would."
Tears were streaming down her face. How could he quit now after he'd survived to this point? There was always hope. Without him, she would die inside. She was shaking with the need to go to him.
Chilly fingers touched her arms.
No, she wasn't ready to leave this place. Not yet.
She forced her mind and voice to be peaceful while she considered all he'd said. This was too important for her to lose her grasp on it.
Storm was fighting Nadina and everything in this place. He did not want to become a demon, but Storm would rather face that than put Evalle in danger. That was the man she loved and she would go up against any power in any realm to rescue him. He might think the witch doctor's blood ruled him now that Nadina had him imprisoned, but the fact that Storm cared enough to send Evalle away proved to her that his Navajo genes still held a grip somewhere inside him.
There was no point in arguing any more.
She just had to get him out of here before he lost what was left of his humanity. Evalle needed a game plan. To create one, she needed information.
Sounding as compliant as she could, she said, "I understand, but at least tell me who that guy on the throne is and what this place is or I'll spend forever wondering."
After another long moment of silence, Storm spoke in that rough voice again. "This is Mitnal and the ruler is Hanhau. He rules demons in an underworld from the land where I was born. Nadina made a deal with him that included getting me here so he could turn me into a demon to lead his army."
Storm thought he was doomed to only one destiny.
The Storm that Evalle knew would fight giving into the dark side with his last breath. If Nadina and Hanhau weren't going to allow Storm to die, then this had potential. Evalle just needed him to not give up in the meantime.
Nothing was impossible.