Jake pulled the Jeep onto the little country bridge. The wooden slats thumped beneath the tires. All dimensional cross-throughs to Karavel spanned water as water was a natural conductor of all things energy, including the unique life force of the Anointed. As half-mortal, half-Anointed, Jake and Cael could still pass through where their human father could not. Had Henry Gillant been in the Jeep with them, he would simply cross to the other side of the bridge on foot, while his sons, vehicle and all disappeared. It was really unfair that a pile of rusty bolts could cross over under an Anointed's hand, while a human wasn't able.
Jake glanced sideways at his brother. Cael was being uncharacteristically quiet, head drooping. Having to go to Karavel immediately after that demon messed with them wasn't ideal. But neither was doing their job without basic supplies. Sure they could handle werewolves or witches or any other kind of monster that liked to crawl out of the dark, but demons…nope, they needed the good stuff. And a slew of demons had just escaped Hell, thanks to that overgrown hellhound. That was on them. He and Cael needed to track them down and for that they needed the crystals.
"Hang on. Energy's buzzing," Jake announced as though the kid couldn't feel the shift in the atmosphere for himself. They didn't have to do anything, just know where the cross-throughs were. Anyone with an ounce of Anointed blood was simply sucked up into the dimension whether they wanted to go or not. Getting back out was an entirely different matter.
The air shimmered around them like driving through a film of oil, the buzz pulling on their molecules, and they emerged into a drizzling darkness on a country road. Hmm, it was either evening here or a stormy day. Jake wasn't sure since they'd never entered from this part of the continent so he wasn't certain what time zone they were in. He hadn't been back here since he turned nineteen several months ago.
Cael laughed beside him.
"Something funny?"
"It's raining."
"And?"
"We really should start putting the top up whenever we cross-through. Remember that time we came out right into a hail storm?" Cael's teeth flashed in the gloomy light.
"Good times."
Cael laughed again. "This dimension's weather sucks."
"Karavel sucks." Jake grinned, relieved the kid had pulled himself out of his earlier funk.
They drove through a lush forest. Rain-laden branches arched across the dirt road, dipping so low leaves brushed across the young trackers, spraying them with water. At one point, Jake stopped and they pulled the canvas top into place over the green Jeep.
Following the little signposts to the capital, they soon saw Tel-melah, the city of stone, in the distance. The skyline looked similar to pictures Jake had seen of the domed Mosques of Istanbul, the permanence of glittering gray stone instead of sleek western skyscrapers. Jake glanced over at Cael. His brother had gone ramrod straight.
They drove past the government plaza and to the dormitory, parking next to a flat gray vehicle. Their non-hovercraft got a few head-turns, but Jake was used to sticking out like a sore thumb here. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, ignoring the stares.
Inside, their wet sneakers squeaked on the large square tiles, echoing loudly through the vaulted chamber of the gigantic lobby. There were only a few students lingering in couches and chairs arranged for studying or socializing, much like seating arranged in intimate clusters in hotel lobbies. Jake smiled, enjoying the noise they made in the otherwise quiet surroundings. Several of the teen initiates glanced their way.
Though he and Cael had been raised here, the dormitory had never felt like a home, just a place that had tolerated two half-blooded children the administrators didn't quite know what to do with. So they trained them with the Anointed, they were Celalundria's only children after all, though Jake remembered the somber stares and whispers…training wasted on weak human blood…they'd never last long enough anyway…a pity Celalundria had no true Anointed sons…
Cael plodded beside him, hands in his pockets, head lowered, but Jake noted how he glanced into each corridor they passed, making sure no one stepped out of the living quarter hallways to catch him unaware. After what happened two years ago, Jake couldn't blame him.
They took the servants' stairway down to the basement, avoiding the more populated areas. As far as Jake was concerned this was an in and out job. Get the supplies, leave. They plowed through the swinging double doors and into the lab-slash-weapons storage. Shelves and drawers held an array of weapons, most common among mortals like assault rifles, swords, and grenades, but others…not so common.
Paps sat at the far worktable hunched over some sort of glowing green worm he prodded with tweezers, his balding head shiny in the soft glow of the lamp. After all the pawn shops Jake had procured man-made guns and ammunition from, it always surprised him to simply walk into such a large weapons cache without running up against any kind of security, though since the Anointed dwelt in an entirely different dimension, he supposed it was a moot point.
"You stink," Paps said without looking up.
"Nice to see you too." Cael grinned, more at ease now that they were away from the living quarters.
Jake sniffed his shirt. He had pulled a clean one from his duffel once they'd left the repaired Hell-hole.
Paps's gaze finally flicked up. "You reek of demon."
"Ohhhh. Yeah, I got something for ya." Jake swung his pack off his shoulder to dig inside. "Here." He tossed the severed demon hand to Paps. "A little present for you."
Only Paps could squeal like a delighted little girl over the stinky body part of a hellspawn. Guy was an entirely different level of odd, but also a bona-fide genius. Like James Bond's Q only with added elements of the supernatural and spells and incantations in his arsenal. Paps had come up with the idea of using time-slowing spells on the ice bullets to keep them from melting inside the shotgun chamber.
"What's this?" Cael leaned over the little glow worm.
"Whoa, kid, not too close." Setting the demon hand down, Paps scrambled over and nudged Cael back a few steps. "Nasty little buggers. Some kind of parasite one of the teams picked up while exterminating an akhlys in Cambodia."
"Ew. Swamp hag?" Jake mimicked a shudder. "Hate those. Their eyes especially, all hollowed out and pitty."
Cael and Paps just looked at him. "Pitty?" Cael deadpanned.
Jake cocked his chin. "So whatcha gonna do with a parasite anyhow?"
Paps plucked the worm up with the tweezers and placed it in a jar. "Oh you never know what properties they have. Could have a deadly toxin. Maybe a cure for cancer. Or I could throw them on a pack of werewolves and give them the scabies for a week."
"Now you're talking."
"Yep." Paps passed Jake to put the jar on a shelf. "And you still stink."
"Demon bit him," Cael informed the weapons maker.
Paps spun. "What? You cleaned it properly?"
"Course." Jake stepped back from Paps who charged toward him. Little guy looked fierce, forehead lined in concentration, while plucking up a tiny brown vial from the shelf and cotton balls from a drawer on the way."
Jake threw his hands up to ward off the man. Last time the dude looked at one of his wounds he stabbed some kind of stinger into it. Stung like hell, even if the wound did heal up in half the time. "What? I washed it, poured consecrated water over it and everything."
"Where?"
"Right on top of the wound."
Paps's gaze rolled toward the ceiling. "Where'd you get bit?"
"Near his left shoulder." Cael laughed, enjoying this way too much.
Jake glared at him.
"Demon bites are nothing to take lightly." Paps poured whatever was in the little bottle onto a cotton ball. It was soon saturated a dark green.
"I know. That's why I washed it out."
Paps lifted his thin brows and held out the cotton ball. "Angelica oil. Don't be a child."
Jake wasn't going to look, but he swore he heard an impatient tapping of Pap's foot.
"Fine." He took the offered cotton. Both Cael and Paps watched until Jake pulled the neck of his T-shirt down and dabbed the oil over the bite marks. The two were worse than mothering hens. Well, okay, this stuff didn't sting and was numbing the pain a bit. It stunk though. "You girls happy now?"
"Ecstatic," Paps droned, pushing a cork into the top of the vial and handed it to Jake. "Keep it."
"Uh, thanks." Jake slipped it inside one of his pack's outer pockets.
"So, I take it you didn't show up because you missed my handsome mug. Your mother summon you?"
"No." Cael's brows scrunched together. He looked to Jake. Since Celalundria had sent them to their father two years ago, she'd never summoned them back.
"Why would you think that?" Jake asked.
"Oh." Paps turned away, busying himself with moving jars of questionable substances around the closest work table. "No reason. Just asking."
"Paps." Cael came around the table while Jake closed in from the scientist's other side. "What's going on?"
The old guy glanced up at one brother, then the other.
"Paps. Please." Cael wielded sincerity like a weapon. His dark eyes widened. "If something's going on with our mom, we should know. She's okay, isn't she?"
"Celalundria?" Yep, Paps was a goner, poised to spill everything. Gotta hand it to the kid. "Kay, listen, your mother's fine. Don't worry about that, but something big is going on. Riffs and Hell-holes are opening up at an alarming rate, more and more demons are getting out. There was even a run at the postern bridge."
"What?" Cael stiffened. "Demons tried to get into Karavel?"
Paps nodded. "Got in, but that was the end of. All were slaughtered."
Jake didn't like the sound of that. Something felt off. Demons had been trying to get into Karavel for centuries, but to just rush in when they knew they'd be killed instantly… Jake shrugged. He and Cael would plug up as many Hell-holes as they could, but there were more than enough Anointed to take care of an extra influx of demons that got past him and his brother. "So what's that got to do with Celalundria?"
"Oh, not much, hotshot, except that some powers-that-be are blaming your mother for the upsurge in demon activity since she is the Administer of Defense and all."
Aw geez, politics. "So you thought she'd summon us to give us a good hand slapping over letting demons slip past us? We're only two people, ya know."
"I thought she might have summoned you to keep you safe." Paps's face reddened.
Jake felt Cael studying him. He stilled his features. "We weren't summoned. We came for more omthrodite."
That took the steam out of Paps's engine. He leaned back against the work table and scrubbed a hand across his head. "What you had before should've lasted a lot longer."
"Like you said, more demons are getting through." Hellhounds were bigger, making large holes, more wriggle room to get out. Maybe that's all there was to it. Mutts were eating their Wheaties, evolving into larger hounds. The Anointed were getting their starched panties in a twist over nothing.
"Jake."
The young tracker's entire body stiffened at the feminine voice. Muscles locked, Jake resisted the desire to turn toward the doorway and look at her.
Material rustled with her soft steps as she came to him instead. Intelligent blue eyes stared up at Jake from a face that was all smooth planes and sharp angles. She wore faded pink sweats and a Beatles T-shirt. Her light brown hair was tousled like she just woke up. Her feet were bare.
"Lisi saw you in the lobby." She folded her arms. "You weren't going to come see me?"
Jake swallowed.
She sighed, gaze skittering away until she found his brother. "Cael."
"Kiene." Cael nodded. Both he and Paps looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.
Kiene's gaze slid back to Jake, expectant.
He relaxed his body, though his heart was pounding. "So you're looking well. Fit."
Her chin raised a notch. "I am fit."
Jake stepped past her, muttering over his shoulder. "Glad to know all this Anointed training is working for you."
With a fluid speed that only Anointed's had, Kiene stepped around him, shoving him back. "You are such an ass."
Jake stared down into her upturned features, warmth flushing across his neck. "Never pretended differently."
She jerked away from him, eyes narrowed. Folding her arms again, she cocked a hip to the side. "You need to leave."
"But sweetheart, I just got here."
"Can you be serious for one moment? Gregor knows you're here."
Jake spared a quick glance toward Cael. His brother's lips firmed into a tight line. "I can handle Gregor." Even so, Jake flicked a look toward his backpack on the table and then back to Cael.
Cael nodded, scooping up the pack and steering Paps toward the weapons drawers. That was all they'd come for anyway. His gaze roamed over Kiene's slim form.
A delicate brow arched. "I know you can handle Gregor, but he's not coming alone." She glanced uneasily toward Cael's back. "He plans to finish what he started."
Jake's heart banged to life. "Cael. Let's roll."
Cael didn't have to be told twice. He ran over, pack on his back, bulging more than when they'd come in. Jake didn't ask, knowing the kid would have gathered the most necessary supplies.
Jake reached out to touch Kiene's arm. Stopped. "Uh…"
Her head angled toward the exit. "Just go."
He stared at her, then nodded once and pushed open the doors.
The hallway was quiet as was the stairwell. Jake turned the corner of the first landing and a shadow fell across him.
"Gillant. Where's that runt brother of yours?"
Three