“By four whole months,” Rory whined, throwing the pillow back.
“All right children.” Rian chuckled from the kitchen table where he had spread out the map of hell after throwing away the empty pizza boxes.
Waving everyone over, the Dragon Leader motioned to the map. “You’re up Brann. Show ‘em where we’re going.”
Rian sat back and listened to the detailed plans of their entrance into hell. Brannoc had done his homework. The navigator of the group had found the most direct route into the Underworld. He could now get them to within a mile of Adramelech’s castle without ever entering the common areas where they were most likely to be caught by any number of hell’s inhabitants. They had a plan to maneuver the realms of the Abyss to get to the River Lethe and most importantly, how to get to one of the seven portals leading back topside. Of course, all Brannoc’s plans were contingent on them being lucky enough to still be alive.
Go figure.
“You want to add anything else, Ri?” Brannoc asked.
“Not that I can think of, except we need to have Calysta and Kyra tell us what they’ve found out and we need to make sure Drago is up to speed.”
“For sure. I told Alicia I would give him the run down tomorrow morning. Siobhan gave him another treatment for his eyesight. From what I’ve seen, they kick his ass for about twelve hours. The migraine is almost unbearable,” Royce was quick to respond.
“You sure he should go?” Rory asked.
Shocking everyone in the room, it was Kellan who stood and answered with a passion he rarely displayed. “You’re damn straight he needs to go. I may not be the Commander of our Force at the moment, but I can tell you there’s no way in Heaven or hell one or all of you could keep me from being right by your side if you needed me. Kayne is Drago’s man. He’s the Assassin’s Fire. You can’t deny him the opportunity to be part of his brethren’s rescue.”
Before anyone could respond, the scarred dragon turned and left. A stunned silence sat heavy between the remaining Guardsmen until Rian finally spoke. “Man’s got a point. Drago goes. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” they all answered in unison.
Brow furrowed, Rory stood and headed to the door, speaking over his shoulder as he went. “I’m going to check on Kell. Talk to ya’ later.”
“Later,” Rian and Royce answered while everyone else watched in silence.
“Well, this just got real.” Lance sighed, immediately getting elbowed by Lennox then complaining, “Ow, damn Lenn, that hurt.”
“It was supposed to,” the Guardsman chuckled.
Royce nodded and grinned. “Thanks, Lenn. That’s usually my job.”
“Whatever, old man. You try, but I’m too fast.” Lance jumped out of his chair and began bouncing on the balls of his feet with his fists raised, throwing punches at an imaginary opponent.
Rolling his eyes, Rian could only shake his head as Lance bobbed and weaved while Royce laughed at him. Soon, everyone was in on the action and the Dragon Leader had to wonder if any of them would ever grow up.
Not a chance.
Again, a feeling that not all was right with his mate poked at Rian. Not that anything had ever been ‘right’, but this was different. It was an undeniable sense that something monumental had changed…that Audrey was in more danger than she’d ever been before.
Shaking off the fresh case of nerves plaguing him, the Dragon Leader pretended to laugh with his brethren, while increasing worry caused him to probe the mating bond he shared with Audrey for any way to contact her. He knew it was useless. They’d tried everything from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her all those years ago. But logic and reason had left the building…he needed to know she was all right.
Only half listening, Rian said good night to the others. He listened to their voices disappear into the darkness as they all headed home. He smiled as Lennox made them all laugh, joking about their trip to hell in less than twelve hours, but he actually chuckled when Pearce said, “Just like every mission, only with a little more heat.”
Turning off all the lights and heading to bed, visions of Audrey haunted his every step. Rian thought of the amulet Eleanor had given him almost fifty years ago. She’d taught him how to safely use what she’d called a ‘Looking Glass’ to catch glimpses of his mate. The old witch had warned that there was no way to know if what he saw was in real time or the past or even if the pictures transmitted would be in chronological order. It was haphazard at best but the only way she knew he could see his mate when they were apart.
She’d explained that the light green transparent glass was Moldavite, a gem formed deep within the earth after a meteorite strike, and that although it would show him his mate, its magic could not compete with hell’s evil forces even when reinforced with a ritual from her coven. The Priestess also warned him that looking too many times would create a path that Adramelech could follow back to Rian and his clan.
She cautioned Rian against using it, had even put it back into her pocket telling him it was too dangerous, but the Dragon Leader had begged and the Priestess had cautiously relented. He’d raced back to his basement, stood in the middle of the Devil’s Trap, and said the words Eleanor had taught him, “Is féidir le fáil ar mo ghrá.”
Holding his breath, Rian watched the clear stone turn cloudy then dark as night before showing him Audrey’s beautiful face. He’d been unable to look away, barely able to breathe, as he watched her reading a book in what he knew from her previous description to be the Chancellor’s library. Careful not to stay too long, he sadly whispered, “A bheith imithe,” under his breath as the woman the Universe had created for him faded from view. That had been the one and only time Rian had ever used the Looking Glass, always worried he’d bring danger into his clan; the very people he’d sworn to protect.
Lost in to his inner turmoil, it was only when his feet hit the concrete steps leading down to his basement that the Dragon Leader realized he had the Moldavite stone in his hand. His dragon chuffed as shock rocked Rian to his very core. He literally had no recollection of retrieving the Looking Glass from the silver lined safe in his office or unlocking the physical and magical locks to his cellar.
“Guess you need to see Audrey as much as I do, huh, big guy?” Rian spoke aloud to his dragon. “You’ve only ever pushed me like that one other time and I’d like to not think about that now.”
But words didn’t stop the memory of finding Royce covered in his mother’s blood or their unborn sister dead before her life had begun. Pushing all sadness aside, the Dragon Leader took a deep breath, entered the purified and blessed salt circle he used to protect his Devil’s Trap from detection, and dropped to his knees.
