Wicked Wind (Solsti Prophecy #1) (33 page)

Kai tore past him. “Let’s go find your girl. And you’re definitely riding shotgun.”

The sun sank below the tree line, lengthening the shadows as they neared the location of the Honda Nicole had driven. The last vestiges of fear and pain had stopped, and that worried Gunnar more than anything. Was she okay now? Had she escaped? Was she unconscious? The beast inside him paced furiously, desperate to get out and fight for his female, but Gunnar had no idea who they were up against.

Their coordinates led them to an open field with a few trees, and yes, there was the car. Gunnar was out the door and bolting for it before Kai stopped the Escalade.

She wasn’t there. Only faint traces of her peachy fragrance remained. How long had it been since she’d been here? One hour? Two? He stood next to the car in an agonized silence as Kai walked up next to him.

“Car’s intact. Keys, here.” Kai nudged the keys on the ground with his boot. He set a hand down on the roof of the car and quickly pulled it back. He looked at his hand and then at the shiny metal. “Something’s off here...”

They both scented the air and caught the same faint tendril. “Another demon,” Gunnar said. “Not Skell.”

“The Domu?” Kai asked, but then shook his head immediately. “Doesn’t stink like they do. Let’s take a look around.”

“How many other fucking demons have been hanging around the heartland?” Gunnar muttered.

They stepped into the field cautiously, but a quick scan with their heightened senses confirmed they were alone. Whoever had been here with Nicole was long gone. Gunnar’s heart constricted, this time not from fear, but from his own frustration and pain at the thought that Nicole was alone and hurt. He meant his words this morning. He needed her. He just hadn’t been able to articulate all the details at the time.

The tender possessiveness he felt for her was so new and surprising to him. He had never fallen in love before, had never cared so strongly for a female that he would bare the darkest secrets of his soul to her. Speaking eloquently had never been his strong suit anyway. As soon as he found her, he would tell her in whatever words he could that he loved her and wanted her to be by his side forever.

Walking in step, both males caught the tangy smell at the same time. It was blood, recently spilled.
Demon
blood
. Shit. What in the world had Nicole stumbled into?

Gunnar spied the black substance in the grass in front of them and knelt to touch it. He brought his fingers up to his nose, but he already knew what creature it had come from. He held his hand out to Kai, who confirmed Gunnar’s guess.

“No. Fucking. Way. Ghazsul demons here?” He looked around the immediate area and saw a large jagged branch on the ground. “There’s Ghazsul blood on that branch, too. But no human blood anywhere.” Kai rested his hands on his hips. “How does a Ghazsul end up hurt by a huge tree branch? They’re good fighters, and it’s not exactly an ideal weapon.”

Gunnar looked at his friend as realization dawned on him. “It is for a Solsti.”

Kai frowned at him, then started speaking in a tone that meant to be reassuring but that indicated to Gunnar that his friend thought he was nuts. “I know she works out a lot, dude, but I’m having a hard time picturing her lifting up a massive tree branch and stabbing a Ghazsul demon.”

Gunnar closed his eyes. “She didn’t lift it with her arms. Remember what she did with the Vipers’ arrows on Torth?”

After a long pause, Kai muttered, “Holy fucking shit.”

The two demons stared at the bloodied tree branch for another minute as reality sank in. Nicole had been here recently, and so had at least one Ghazsul demon. Probably more, since they liked to work in packs. There had been a struggle, Ghazsul blood had been shed, and now the area was deserted.

“What do you want us to do?” Kai asked.

“We need the Elder.” Gunnar gritted his teeth. “Call Rhys. We need to regroup. Now.”

Nicole cautiously pulled herself up far enough so that she could let go of the ladder and scoot onto a linoleum floor. She sat in a dirty, dusty old kitchen that looked like no one had prepared any meals there in decades. Layers of grime coated the scuffed, scratched floor. Standing near the basement opening she had just climbed out of was the second Ghazsul demon, as she had guessed. With him were two other Ghazsuls that she had never seen before, as well as a few Skell demons.

“Well, hello there,” the Ghazsul said in that eerily pleasant voice, as if he watched people climb out of basements every day. Heck, he probably did.

She eyed him warily. “Where am I?”

“You’re in the master’s lair, little female. He is most anxious to meet you. Come now.”

Meeting this master was the last thing Nicole wanted to do, but she was outnumbered. There could be even more demons scattered throughout the rest of the house. She stood up and slowly walked toward the Ghazsul. A subtle shifting in the air alerted her that the other demons had fallen in behind her.
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Dark wood cabinets hung on walls covered with peeling, faded floral wallpaper. Most of the cabinets had lost their doors, revealing mostly empty shelves, a few dishes, and ancient-looking coffee cans. Chipped yellow laminate counters were bare except for layers of dust, and one small table stood forlornly under a window.

The Ghazsul headed to a hallway that branched off the kitchen. Opening the first of several doors, he disappeared into it. Nicole followed him and stumbled on what she belatedly realized was a staircase going down. She grabbed for the railing with both hands, biting back a gasp as the rough wood chafed her injured skin. The staircase itself had no lights, but she could see a dim glow at the base of the stairs. She clutched the railing with her good hand and shuffled her way down. Reaching the bottom, she followed the Ghazsul and then froze.

They stood in a large room with cement floors and walls–clearly a newer basement. Maybe the tiny room she had been initially dumped in was an old fruit cellar. This room had several bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Metal shelving units crammed full of books lined two of the walls. Peering at the nearest shelf, she saw that these weren’t modern books, but thick tomes that looked centuries old. Some were bound with leather loops, and sheaves of paper stuck out at odd angles. They reminded her of the collection in Rilan’s study.

She gave a little jump when the Ghazsul who had come down the stairs behind her nearly bumped into her. “Keep moving, female,” it growled.

Inching further into the room, she noticed the other walls had shelves lined with odd equipment. Flasks and scales stood next to small stone bowls and tiny vials. Then she spotted the work table in the center of the room. The top was a huge stone slab with a large square opening in the center. The beveled edges slanted toward a vat containing a dark substance that she really didn’t want to identify. Staring in morbid curiosity at the table, at first she didn’t notice the huge creature standing across from her. Until it took a breath.

She couldn’t hold back a sharp inhale. The thing had to be seven feet tall. Its bare head brushed the low ceiling of the room. Its skin was dark gray and ashy, like charcoal. But the most unnerving thing about it was its large almond-shaped eyes, which glowed a sickly yellow as they bored into her. The pupils narrowed into reptilian slits. She gulped and jerked her gaze from those hideous orbs, only to feel a jolt of fear as she noted sharp claws at the ends of long gnarled fingers.

Big and powerfully built, it looked at her like she was dinner. Silence hung in the room as she waited for it—or anyone else—to speak. There was no way she was going to interact with that thing if she could help it. There were more Skells down here, shifting awkwardly in the shadows as if they were waiting too. Nicole shot furtive looks around the room, taking mental notes of her surroundings and also trying to look anywhere but at the thing across from her.

She sneaked a glance at the last wall and then wished she hadn’t. Four heavy metal chains hung from bolts in the concrete. Clenching her fists, she fought the rising panic. She still didn’t know if the huge yellow-eyed thing was the “master” that the others had referred to or simply another hired muscle, but she had a feeling she was about to find out.

“Female,” it rumbled in a low and gravelly voice. Its yellow eyes never left her face. “I hear you put up quite a fight against two of my associates today.”

Nicole stared mutely at those claws. What was she supposed to say? She could agree and then have him think she was more powerful than she actually was. Or she could disagree, which seemed like the worst idea ever. This thing didn’t look like it tolerated anything that disagreed with it. So she swallowed hard and remained silent.

“One of them is still recovering over there.” He gestured to a corner, where the other Ghazsul demon sat on the floor.

She recognized the one she had flung the tree branch into. Blood covered its chest, and its eyes were closed.

“Normally I wouldn’t have let him live, after he let you get the jump on him. But I was most intrigued with the story of how you injured him.” The creature paced slowly along his side of the table. “Now, little female…how, exactly, did you do that to my Ghazsul demon?”

Nicole stood, frozen to the floor. She couldn’t open her mouth to speak.

The tall being stopped his pacing and his yellow eyes pierced her. “What kind of creature are you, that you have the ability to use your mind to fling a tree branch at such a powerful fighter?”

Nicole looked at her feet. Ice shot through her veins and her head swam with questions.
Who are these creatures?
How had her innocent drive out to the country turned into such a mess?

“I am not a patient demon, female. Answer me. What are you?”

Oh, shit
. She had to come up with something fast. She couldn’t deny her ability, since the Ghazsul demons had witnessed it and the very evidence of her skill sat on the floor drenched in blood. So she did the only thing she could, and fell back on the story that had defined her life until a week ago. “I’m just a person,” she said quietly.

The tall demon in front of her burst out laughing, and it wasn’t a happy laugh. It was a nice-try-now-stop-bullshitting-me laugh. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that, female.”

Nicole thought back to the first conversation she’d had with Gunnar. She remembered her confusion when he implied she wasn’t human, and that the world was full of creatures that were supposed to be myths. “I grew up near the city. I don’t know what I am, other than a human who has a special...talent.”

“Oh, you aren’t human, little one. And with what you did today, I think you know exactly what you are.”

“But I
am
human,” Nicole pleaded with the creature. “What else would I be?”

“I grow tired of this talk. Let’s find out if you’re telling the truth.” He nodded to the second Ghazsul demon, who still stood slightly behind her and to the side. “Draw some blood. Her arm will do nicely.”

“Yes, Maeron,” the second Ghazsul demon murmured. He stepped toward her.

Maeron
? Nicole’s head spun.
This
was the Domu demon they had been searching for? If this was his lair, it made sense that there were Skell demons hanging around. But why did he have Ghazsuls with him? And why had they brought her to him? She still didn’t know if they had tracked her to the field on purpose or if this was all just a sick coincidence.

The Ghazsul grasped her arm and she tried to pull away, but he held her in a vise-like grip. One black claw arched out from a fingertip, and she had a flashback to the woods on Torth.

“No!” she screamed, but his claw sank into her upper arm, dragging downward in a slow line. She gasped as crimson blood streamed down her skin. He reached for a small glass jar and held it below the wound, allowing a few drops to fall in. Then he released her.

She cradled her arm and glared at him as he walked close to the center of the table. He bowed and extended his hand to Maeron, who plucked the jar from his grasp. Slitted yellow eyes never left her face as he raised it to his wrinkled lips and tilted it back.

Bile rose in her throat.
Did he just drink my blood?

Nicole didn’t think it was possible for her to get any colder, but she felt as if every cell of her being was encased in ice as realization dawned. The vat in the center of the table held blood.
Human blood
.

This room, this crazy laboratory, must be where the Skells brought the blood they gathered. How many human blood donors were needed? She thought Rilan had said five hundred. She fought the urge to gag at the thought of all that blood being stored right there in front of her.

Maeron flung the jar across the room, where glass collided with concrete in a shower of tiny splinters. “You lie, female.” He raised his yellow eyes to her, seeming angry but not surprised. “I can identify many species by the taste of their blood. And although I don’t know yours—yet—I know you’re not human.” He resumed his restless pacing. “I will ask you again. What are you?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole whispered. “I was raised human. How can I not be one?”

Maeron looked at the Ghazsul who had clawed her. “Other side.”

“No!” Nicole shrieked as the Ghazsul grabbed her good arm. Her other arm still stung from his claws. She wasn’t about to sit around and play pincushion. She twisted free, only to slam right into Maeron’s hard chest. She hadn’t even seen him move around the table. Up close, she realized that his skin didn’t just look like ash; it actually was ashy, like she could trace lines in it. She couldn’t hold back a shudder.

“I’ll do the honors, then.” His voice was menacingly quiet as he held up one long gray finger tipped with a jagged claw. “Unless you’d like to stop lying.”

“I’m not lying. I can just...move stuff sometimes.”

“You can move stuff,” Maeron repeated slowly, mocking her. One of his huge bony hands closed around hers, and he dragged her toward the wall with the chains. She dug her heels into the ground, but physically she was no match for him. They reached the wall and he slammed one cuff around her wrist.