Wicked Wind (Solsti Prophecy #1) (32 page)

“If you’ll remember, we told you that you had one more chance to talk to us before we brought you to him. You just blew that chance. Say goodbye to your little vehicle.” He plucked the keys from her fingers and dropped them on the ground next to the car. “You won’t be needing these anymore.” Then he chanted in a language she didn’t recognize.

Maybe it was old Demonish. Maybe it was the same tongue that the Ghazsuls on Torth had spoken. Either way, she was in even deeper trouble now. The demon’s eyes were open but slightly glazed as he muttered the words to a spell.

Paralysis crept through her feet, then her legs. She tried to move, but her muscles weren’t responding. The numbness spread up her body until she stared, frozen, at the demon. Gravity’s hold dragged her down and there was nothing she could do about it. Her head hit the ground with a thud, and her vision faded to gray and black swirls of nothingness.

Nicole awoke to total darkness, blinking into pitch black.
Where am I?
She lay on a dirt floor, that much she could tell. It was so dark that whether her eyes were open or closed didn’t seem to make much difference. She tried to move her head and then wished she hadn’t, as a wave of dizziness washed over her. Her hand burned. Her head throbbed and felt like it was full of cotton.

What happened?
Memories flashed into her mind in short bursts.
I was fighting the Ghazsul demons and I wasn’t doing so well.
One temple ached and she felt a lump under her hair, probably from when the first Ghazsul had flipped her to the ground in the field. Or maybe from when she had fallen down next to her car, when the second Ghazsul had put that paralysis spell on her.

Paralyzed
…she shifted her legs, relief flooding her veins, though her limbs were heavy as lead.
I can move!

Trepidation accelerated her heart rate.
Don’t panic. That won’t help. Think
… Forcing deep breaths, she calmed down enough to assess her surroundings. She slowly recalled the situation with the Ghazsul demons. Remembered being unable to do much to help herself. She needed to figure out where she was and how to get as far away from here as possible.

Tracing a finger through the dirt, she noted that it was soft and grainy, not muddy or packed down. Her ears picked up a faint noise and she strained to identify it. Barely audible, its high-pitched tone reminded her of a train whistle. And it sounded muffled, like there was a wall between her and the sound. She guessed she was inside some kind of building, and if the floor was dirt, her black hole could be a basement or cellar.

Another wave of dizziness washed over her when she tried to sit up. She stretched her legs out instead and met resistance in what she hoped was a wall. Scooting on her side until she was close enough to pat it with her good hand, she discovered the roughness of brick.
Brick means a wall
. Awkwardly, she wiggled and pushed until she leaned against it. She still couldn’t see anything and felt like she had the mother of all hangovers, but at least nothing could surprise her from behind.

She sat silently for several minutes, listening for any sounds or voices. Nothing. Fighting the dizziness and the unsettled feeling in her stomach, she stirred to explore her confines. Crawling was her only option, because there was no way she could stand or walk yet. On hands and knees, she crept along the wall of the room until she bumped into a perpendicular wall, then turned to follow it. Her basement idea was nearly confirmed as she realized there were four walls, and the room wasn’t large. But where were the stairs?

Looking up into the darkness, she saw nothing. The possibility of digging out through the floor crossed her mind. But who knew what was on the other side of those walls? Not to mention her hand still felt like it had been through a meat grinder on the sun. She closed her eyes and settled against one of the walls. Her thoughts drifted to Gunnar.

The last words he said to her echoed in her head.
I need you
. Infuriated at the way he ordered her to stay home, she’d pushed his voice from her mind. Now, alone in her dark prison, she allowed her emotions to surface. She wanted him here. Every time she had been in a tight spot in the last few days, he’d been there for her. Would he find her now? Was he looking?

She touched her lips, remembering his scorching kiss and the fire in his eyes.
God, those eyes.
She wanted to sink into those blue pools and never come up for air. Why had she pushed him away? She’d give anything to feel his mouth on hers again, to be clutched in his strong embrace.

He wanted to protect me. That’s nothing new
. And, heaven help her, she understood his reasons. Understood them on a level so deep that their souls found solace in their shared losses.

She thought of his big arms around her and the electricity that zinged between them from the moment they met. But with him it was more than lust, more than scratching an itch. She’d felt so possessive toward him when they were at Rivkin. She hadn’t wanted to share him with anyone then. Now, she realized, she didn’t want to share him with anyone,
ever
. He was hers.
Will I get the chance to tell him?

They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, both incomplete until they snapped together. They had both lost much, but chose to focus their energy on a greater good. Warmth bloomed in her chest as the knowledge dawned that there would never be anyone so perfect for her. She needed him. She loved him. Dear Lord, she had fallen for him, head over heels.

Footsteps overhead jerked her from her warm thoughts. They stopped directly above her, and she heard the scraping sound of metal sliding against metal. A door in the ceiling opened, revealing a square of dim light about three feet across. She squinted even though the light wasn’t that bright. A wooden ladder descended into the square opening.

“Time to come out, little female,” called a voice that she recognized as the Ghazsul demon who had heated up her car and put that spell on her. So much for him being the good cop. She wasn’t sure which was worse–staying in the dark basement or getting near him again.

He didn’t give her time to think about it. “We know you’re awake, female. We heard you moving around. We can also hear the sound of your breathing. It’s different when you’re unconscious, you know.” He was back to that chatty, casual demeanor. She didn’t know if it was supposed to make her agreeable to their plans, but it only disturbed her more.

“And,” he continued, “If we have to drag you out, I doubt you’ll enjoy it. Unless you like pain.”

There was no way she wanted anything to physically pull her out of that basement. Suppressing a shudder and favoring her injured hand, she grabbed the ladder and started climbing.

C
HAPTER
23

G
UNNAR
AND
K
AI
crouched silently a hundred yards away from the farmhouse that matched their first coordinates. Concealed in thick, overgrown trees for several minutes, they watched and listened. Their Escalade was parked off to the side of the quiet road a mile away.

Gunnar glanced at his friend. This place truly did look abandoned, but the need for certainty screamed in his head.
End Maeron
. It was non-negotiable.

They crept closer, sticking to the line of trees that ran up to the rear of the silo. A few wooden beams remained of the once-shingled roof, and rabbits hopped in and out of the ripped up sides.

“No wards,” Kai muttered.

Gunnar had noticed the same thing. They were close enough to sense if the building was warded against intruders. And if a power-hungry Domu demon was preparing a life-altering spell in here, he would most definitely have wards in place.

“Let’s go in and make sure,” Gunnar said. The wind rustled the leaves of a towering oak as they approached the silo, which had one side caving in on itself.
Empty.
Then they moved to the house, entering cautiously. A quick sweep of the rooms confirmed their hunch that the place was deserted.

Gunnar called Rhys on his cell phone and found that the other two demons had run into a dead end as well. But Rhys, true to form, had printed out a list of other locations before they had all left the house. With a new set of coordinates to search, Gunnar and Kai strode back to their SUV.

Back in the car with Kai driving farther south, Gunnar tried to reach Nicole on her cell phone. It went straight to voice mail, and he didn’t feel like leaving a message in front of Kai. Not that his friend was fooled by anything.

As if reading his thoughts, Kai asked, “Is she your mate?”

It hadn’t even been a day since he had been hit with that stunning revelation. “Yeah.”

“You tell her yet?”

Gunnar shook his head.

“Maybe you should, dude. She was raised in the human world. She may be expecting a diamond ring or a big white dress or something.”

“She can have those if she wants. And when did you become an expert on relationships?”

Kai shot him a grin. “I watch Dr. Phil re-runs.”

Gunnar snorted and checked the GPS. “We’re almost there. Let’s pull over.”

They parked the car, jogged the remainder of the distance on foot, and repeated their surveillance procedures. Gunnar let out a string of foul curses when they came up empty a second time. The last thing he wanted to do was sneak around derelict buildings out in the boondocks on some wild goose chase. But everything else had either been a dead end or yielded no decent results.

His phone vibrated and he saw Rhys’ number on the caller ID. Picking up, he barked “What did you find?”

“Nada, dude,” Rhys drawled. “You?”

“Same.”

Rhys gave him another set of coordinates and hung up. Gunnar knew they had to find this guy fast, and this slow-ass method made his skin feel too tight. He itched for a fight.

The next location wasn’t far. The two-lane rural road followed the river. Wide fields lay fallow, punctuated with an occasional towering elm or linden. Drivers that passed them in the oncoming lane raised their hands in friendly waves, causing the two demons to look at each other and shrug. A hand gesture of a completely different sort was more common on Chicago streets.

Finding an area thick with brush, they hid their car and began yet another jog to the newest location. Gunnar absentmindedly rubbed the center of his chest, where a dull throb had set in.

Kai looked at him with narrowed eyes. “That’s the third time you’ve done that in the last few minutes. What’s up?”

Gunnar shook his head. “Not sure. It’s like an ache.”

“We don’t get aches. You get hurt last night?”

“No.”

Kai scowled. “Fuck.”

As the drawn-out curse lingered, the ache turned into a sharp pain that sliced through Gunnar’s chest. Falling to his knees, his lungs squeezed and he fought for air. Intense, piercing agony ripped through his torso with every breath. He may as well be on the receiving end of a chest strike from an evil Deserati’s tail.

Kai crouched beside him. “What the fuck? Is it some kind of dark magic?” His brown eyes scanned the area. “Any mage or sorcerer would have to be close, and we’re the only ones here.”

His friend’s words registered like they were far away. Gunnar braced himself with one hand on the ground. He pressed the other to his chest, where the striking pain turned to a burn.

What the hell was this?
Gunnar felt like a pansy. His insides stung and twisted like some psychotic supernatural chef was filleting and roasting them. He’d faced countless monsters in his two hundred years, and never experienced anything like this. Well, he thought, if anyone had to see him fall down like a little girl, he would choose Kai. His friend was the most loyal Lash he had ever met. He might have a short fuse sometimes, but Kai wouldn’t leave anyone behind–literally or figuratively.

In a flash of understanding, the cause of his pain crystallized. “It’s Nicole,” he rasped.

“How is Nicole doing this to you?”

Gunnar shook his head. “She’s not doing it on purpose. She’s in trouble. I can feel her panic. Something’s happened to her.” With trembling fingers, he reached for his phone, but his hand wouldn’t do what he wanted.

“I got it.” Kai grabbed Gunnar’s cell and hit redial. “Straight to voicemail. Shit, man. I’ll call Rilan.” Kai barked orders when the Elder demon answered. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, Gunnar listened to the entire conversation.

Dread filled his stomach like a lead balloon as Rilan relayed to Kai that Nicole wasn’t in the house and that one of the sedans was missing. “Goddamn it, I told her to stay put,” Gunnar muttered.

“You told her to practice,” Kai reminded him. “Stay with me, man. We’ll find her. Rilan’s going to look up her location.”

All of the demons’ vehicles had GPS trackers installed, in case anyone failed to return from an assignment. They had never actually had to use them before, and Gunnar would never have expected that the first time would be to locate his own mate.

He listened with increasing frustration as Kai talked Rilan through the steps of the computer program. Though grateful the Elder was home to do it, Gunnar knew computers were far from Rilan’s specialty. Maybe he should just cast a locator spell instead, Gunnar thought grimly. Not that he knew if Rilan could manage one.

“No, no, close that option. Now click on the box that says...” Kai said into his phone.

Gunnar forced himself to breathe. He clenched and unclenched his fists. The slashing pain had dulled, the fire banked to a vexing ember. His heart beat in rapid thuds as he pushed the last ragged edges down to a teeth-gritting discomfort. He pictured Nicole’s wide green eyes and the radiant smile she’d given him before she fell asleep last night. The need to locate her pulsed through his veins.
I will find you
.

After several minutes Kai repeated the coordinates that Rilan had been able to look up. Gunnar punched them into their GPS and groaned. She was more than an hour away, far from any towns. He didn’t know whether he should be relieved that she wasn’t in some blighted city neighborhood. Then at least he would have some idea of what she was up against. Out in the middle of nowhere, he had no idea what could have happened to create such fear in her that it physically affected him. Back on his feet and running for their SUV, he ignored the chest pain and breathing issues.