I wait beneath the mass of hot fur and cringe when I feel the impact of a fireball against Bones’ body. He cries out with a ferocious shudder. A few moments later the room is still again, and the suffocating weight releases as Bones phases back. He slumps against the wall, the whole left side of his body singed and red.
“Oh, no, I am so sorry!” I cry, rushing to him.
He shakes his head and leans away. His skin is blistered raw and oozing blood in several places. “Just leave me alone for a minute. Can you do that please? Can you stay out of trouble for one lousy minute?”
I sit back, stung by his rebuke. I know I deserve it, but still…Nothing hurts worse than knowing Bones is disappointed with me, and right now I can see he’s reached the end of his rope. As have I.
“There’s got to be a way out of here,” I mutter a minute later, mostly to see if he’ll respond. I don’t like it when he gets so quiet. The silence is insufferable. And right now I desperately need something to distract me…anything to take my mind off the fact that I was just betrayed in the worst way imaginable, again, by someone I had just risked my life for. Someone I loved, and who I thought loved me. Well, I’ll certainly never make that same mistake again. But right now I need to get out of here so I can kill something with my bare hands. Kieron preferably, but anything will do.
Bones suddenly speaks up. “They’re coming.”
Before I can ask who, an eerie glow illuminates the gloomy corridor. A moment later about a dozen demons appear led by the beautiful, blonde Xandria.
They stop about ten feet in front of us. “You,” she says, her callous eyes fixed on Bones. “You are the hound responsible for killing our sentries, no?”
“It wasn’t his fault—”
Bones pushes me back. “Yes, and I am very sorry, but the whole thing was a big misunderstanding. We never meant to provoke an attack, but were forced to defend ourselves—”
“Enough. And this demion, she was there, too?”
“Yeah, I was the one holding the Otium Peace Torch that your hounds ignored—”
“Silence! The other two hounds we have, were they there as well?”
“No, they are completely innocent—”
“Ha! I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘innocent’. They participated in the failed attempt at an attack here tonight.”
“Only out of pack loyalty. It’s our sworn duty to back each other up. They are no more guilty of wrongdoing—”
She holds up her hand. “Enough. I’ve made up my mind. We deserve retribution for your crimes, yet we do not wish to incite the wrath of the Legionare by overstepping our boundaries. So I am going to give you something. A gift.”
Bones narrows his eyes. “What gift?” he asks slowly.
“The gift of choice. I’m going to let you choose who lives, and who dies. Four of you are hostage. Two shall die, and two shall go free. It’s your choice.”
“Wait, what? I can’t decide—”
“Hey, wait a bloomin’ minute!” Gyan’s voice rings out from behind a row of guards. He steps around them and faces Xandria. “You and I had a deal! You promised! You were going to torture the hound and kill the demion slowly—”
“Do we need you for something else?” Xandria asks, her voice daggers of ice.
A guard steps forward, flames swirling in his palms. “Oh no you don’t.” Instantly Gyan disappears, reappearing by the exit several yards away. “I’ll get you for this, you two-timing bitch! Just you wait!” And he’s gone.
Xandria returns her attention to us. “You have until the triple moons become one to make your choice. Tick tock.” She spins on her heel and stalks away, followed closely by her henchmen.
Bones crouches to the ground and sinks his head in his hands. “What is this? How am I supposed to choose one of them—?”
“Two of them. Them,” I say, kneeling beside him.
“One. Obviously I’ll be the other.”
I jump to my feet. “No, not obviously!” I shout. “Not obviously by a million miles! Obviously we throw them Alik and Khalil! I can’t believe how lucky we got—”
“Lucky, I’m not throwing anyone anywhere. I will relay the ultimatum to Alik and Khalil and see if either of them wants to do the honorable thing. I have faith one of them will—”
“Stop it!” I scream. “Stop acting like you’re going to be some kind of martyr when you don’t have to be! We have a way out! You have a choice!”
“I choose to accept my fate. There is no way out for me.”
Hot tears burn my eyes. “Then take me, too.”
“What?”
“You heard me. If you’re going to die, then I will too. We’ve done it before, right? Like you said. Besides…there’s nothing here for me. I don’t belong in this world. I haven’t for a long time…”
“Lucky, you don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do.” I fall into his arms and look deep into his eyes. “I am where you are. It’s that simple. You can’t leave me alone here. You just can’t.”
Bones leans closer and holds me tight. “There’s no guarantee we’ll be reunited,” he says softly. “None. And if we are, it could be years…I may not even be in human form…”
“I’ve made up my mind,” I whisper, locking my eyes with his. “If you go, so do I. There is no other option.” I realize this is true. Kieron’s brutal betrayal has already shattered what’s left of my fragile soul. And if Bones leaves, my life here is truly over. I’ll never recover from that pain. Death is preferable, and now is as good a time as any.
Wrapped in Bones’ warm embrace, I relax as I search his eyes. Occasionally his lips meet mine. This is the right thing to do. I don’t belong in this world as a fractured, broken Halfling. Maybe next time I’ll get it right, do it better.
“You say we’ve been able to find each other in every life?” I whisper, tracing his cheekbone. He gulps and gives my fingertip a small kiss, just as the cool tingles flush through my weakening body.
“Yes, we have. But there’s something you need to know—”
“Oh no, no, she’s coming…Bones, my time is up. Don’t tell Liora our plan…just do what I need you to do…”
Bones leans down until his lips are next to mine, and I barely hear him as he whispers, “You need to know that you also find Kieron. Every time.”
My world goes black.
Chapter 18. Liora
I know Bones probably has me under some sort of trance, and that’s okay. Whatever he’s doing to make me feel this good is A-Okay with me. I don’t even care that I woke up in some creepy medieval dungeon sitting on a straw covered floor, and that I just saw a big, fat rat scamper by. Or that my hands and clothes are covered with dried blood, and, judging by the fresh gashes on my arms and the wounds on Bones’ face, it’s probably from us. We’re alone, it appears. Trapped maybe. Definitely in trouble.
Maybe it’s his scent…or it’s his essence, I don’t know. I just know if they could bottle it and sell it, every drug dealer in the world would be out of business forever.
“Hi, Liora,” he whispers.
“Hi, Bones. Do I even want to know what’s happening here?”
He flashes me a sexy half smile and props me upright. “Probably not. But you need to know anyways.”
“I’m still alive,” I mutter. I run my tongue over my swollen lip and can feel it split in two places. My eyes throb when I blink, and my left cheek feels like it’s been beat with a hammer. “…But just barely, it seems.”
“We ran into a complication,” Bones says quietly, sending waves of a relaxing warmth down my spine where it settles comfortably in my belly.
I give him a smile. “Where’s Kieron?” I glance around, but we’re all alone in this place. Not my first choice of a hangout, but being anywhere with Bones is nice, so it’s all good.
Bones sighs. “That’s part of the complication. Look, Liora, there’s something you need to know. I have to go somewhere, and one of my pack-mates is going to have to take
you home. I don’t want you to be afraid. I trust him implicitly and have already given him instructions on how to take care of you. I want you—”
“Wait, where are you going? How could you leave me in this place with some creature I don’t even know? And what about Kieron?”
“Liora, sweetheart…some things have changed. Our circumstances aren’t exactly ideal right now, but don’t you worry about that. You are safe. I vowed to protect you for as long as I could, and that’s what I’m doing.” He reaches up and gently cusps my chin in his large palm. His gentle eyes fix upon mine and swim with unspoken meaning. “Right now my number one priority is to keep you safe. You are very important. More important than even you know. But more than anything, I want you to not be afraid. Everything happens for a reason, okay? This is meant to be. I’m so sorry that—”
“What is meant to be? Bones, what is going on with—?”
The rest of my question is drowned out as loud voices ring through the cave. Instinctively I press back against the wall and flash Bones a worried look. “What is that? Who’s coming?”
He reaches across my body protectively and glances down at me. His smile is sincere, but his eyes are troubled. “Don’t worry. They just want me. Not you.”
“But—”
“Well, well. Time is up. Have you made your choice?” A pretty blonde woman stands before us. I know by her yellow eyes she’s not human, and I cower behind Bones a bit more. Demons I don’t know freak me out even more than the ones I do know.
Bones clears his throat. “Yes, I have. You may take me, and my brother Alik. We’ll go willingly and without a fight on the condition that this young girl is allowed to leave here unharmed, and that no further transgressions be made against her. She is to be escorted by Khalil and never be hunted or tracked—”
An outburst of laughter cuts him off. “I don’t think you’re exactly in a position to be giving orders, little boy,” she says, amused condescension dripping from her ruby-red lips.
“If you can’t guarantee her safety, then what point is there in not going out with a bang right now and taking all of you with us?” Bones asks. He holds up a small sack and takes out what seems to be a little purple marble. The group immediately pulls back, clearly afraid.
“Is that what I think it is?” the woman gasps, covering her mouth with her claw-like hand. I see fear in her yellow eyes. “How is that possible?”
“Don’t worry how it’s possible. Just know that it is. And I’ll happily take all of you out if you dare lay a hand on her, or even breathe on her hard with your stinking breath.” He pauses and lowers his voice. “I know you are a demoness of honor. You have to be in order to lead your tribe effectively. Give me your blood vow that she’ll be unharmed, untracked and unhunted, and not only will we go without a fight, as a gift I will give you five of these.”
Her eyes are like saucers. “Five? But how do I know they are real? They’ve been extinct for centuries…”
A small, wiry man steps forward. “Here, let me see it.” I shiver as he locks his beady eyes on us…black, soulless eyes more fitting of the dead rat in the corner than a man.
Bones holds the marble up as the man pauses a few feet away. None of them seem to want to come near us. I wonder why. Maybe they’re just afraid of a fight or something?
“It’s authentic,” he affirms, scrunching his nose. “This is an extraordinary mystery. If there is a way for us to get some, then I suggest you do so,” he tells the blonde woman.
She points her nose in the air. “Well, why don’t we just take all of them? Who are they to make deals? With that many veneficus calx we’ll be nearly invincible, even against the Legionare—”
“Try taking these and you’re toast,” Bones growls. “Liora is taking the others with her when she leaves. It is only after she is safely away, and I have the all-clear signal from my brother that I will hand these over to you and go through with the exchange. Otherwise, I have nothing to lose by blowing us all to hell right now.”
“Exchange? What exchange?” I ask quietly.
The woman’s eyes narrow. “You think you can make the arrangements around here? You are just like your bossy little friend, Kieron Ambrose…insisting that sending word that he was a prisoner was the only way to get you to come here. I’m glad he’s gone. Good riddance.”
“Wait, what?” I gasp, stepping out from behind Bones. “What did you say about Kieron?”
“Liora, now is not the time—”
“And just what makes you think you have any power anyway? You are trapped in there, so the stones are useless to you. They won’t penetrate the seal, and you’d just blow yourselves up—”
Suddenly, I snatch the bag from Bones’ hand and stomp over to the bitchy blonde. I grab out a marble.
“LIORA, NO!” Bones shouts frantically. The demons recoil in horror as I stick my face in hers.
“Tell me everything about Kieron—”
She shakes her head slowly. “But how…but how…?”
I hold up the marble. “I have a feeling this thing will kill you. And I’m not afraid to use it, in case you’re wondering. So I want you to tell me what you did with Kieron, right now, or I’m gonna shove this where the sun don’t shine…”
“Liora!” Bones shouts again.
I glance over my shoulder. “What?”
Bones is looking at me in amazement. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Cross the seal…break the magical barrier…”
I glance around, baffled. “What magical seal? I don’t see any—”
The creepy man steps forward and fixes his black gaze on me. “You are no longer a demon, you have become a human.”
“Well, duh. Did you get an A plus in your ‘Stating the Obvious’ class? I am human. I have nothing to do with whatever demony nonsense y’all have going on right now. The only thing I care about is Kieron…and Bones, I guess,” I add as an afterthought.
He narrows his beady eyes and steps closer. “But you are still a demon…at least part of you is—”
“Enough!” the blonde demon snaps, holding up her hands and watching me with wary suspicion. “I don’t know how you were able to penetrate the seal, but I do know you’re in way over your head—”
“Tell me about Kieron,” I repeat, my jaw clenched as I take another step. I don’t know where this sudden surge of power is coming from…this utter fearlessness…
“What do you want to know? We let him go as part of our deal—” Her face is a mixture of fear and anger. She obviously didn’t expect a human girl to start calling the shots.
“What deal?”
“You two for him. Well, you two, and he said there would probably be at least a few more. And he was right. Extracting you from Dryndara would have been far too messy, with too many casualties. And we might have gotten on the Legionare’s radar. Of course, no one wants that. We were fortunate, however, to capture your friend, and to save himself he said he’d use himself as bait to draw you to us. If it worked, we’d let him go. If it didn’t, we would kill him. We agreed, and lucky for him, it worked.”
“Kieron knew we’d come to try and save him, so he set this up as a trap?”
“Yes. He was the one who knew to recruit Gyan—”
“I don’t know who Gyan is, and I don’t want to hear anymore.” My knees are shaking, and I feel sick. Kieron, who said he loved me, set me up like this? Something doesn’t seem right. I don’t think I’m buying what this demon lady is selling. But I glance at Bones and his face tells me he believes it. Kieron really is gone, and Bones and I really are trapped here in some creepy dungeon with enemy demons who want to kill us. And I’m sure Lucky did do something stupid that would put her on their shit-list.
I clutch the small bag tightly and pull it close to my chest. “What are you going to do with Bones?”
Her gaze moves past me to him. “He’s agreed to help make amends for damages he’s caused. It doesn’t concern you—??
?
“Yes it does!”
“Liora,” Bones’ soothing voice lulls me. “Liora come here to me.”
I practically skip back to where he stands, suddenly desperate for his touch. Gently, he takes the marble from my hand. He drapes his arm over me, and I snuggle my face into his chest. I feel positively giddy.
The woman lets out a cackling laugh. “Ahhh. The cheap parlor tricks of an incubus. How charming.”
“It helps her to calm down,” he says, smoothing my hair. His hands are warm on my head, and soon my mind is swimming with naughty, delicious thoughts of Bones. Of kissing him and holding him. Of making love to him…
“All right.” The woman’s voice sounds irritated. “We agree with your conditions. The girl’s safety for six of the stones.”
Bones nods. He takes the bag from my hands and tucks it inside my cloak.
“It’s time to go. Drop the shield,” she says.
The little man waves his hands and mutters something that sounds like Pig Latin. Bones takes me by the hand and together we follow the crowd out of the cave and into the bright outdoors. We’re joined by two other naked men who seem to know Bones. They both look at me with fascination, and I keep my eyes safely at head level. You’d think after all these years the hounds would’ve figured out some way to cover up when they shift from hellhound to human. No one is interested in seeing their junk. But they don’t seem to care. Figures. Demons have no sense of modesty at all. No class.
One of the men comes to stand beside me. “Liora, this is Khalil. He’ll be taking you back to Dryndara and then back home.”
“What about you?” I ask, losing myself again in his warm honey gaze.
“I have to stay here for a while…take care of some things. Don’t worry. You’ll see me again.” His smile is sincere…soft, and sad.
I reach over and give him a hug, savoring his sweet scent once more. “Okay. Bye. I’ll miss you.”
His deep eyes search mine. “You too, love. More than you know.”
A sudden boom literally shakes the air, and the ground trembles beneath our feet. A high pitched wail, louder than anything I’ve ever heard before, pierces the atmosphere. I cover my ears against the sonic screech and stagger to the ground in pain. My head feels ready to explode from some unseen pressure, squeezing it tight.