Chapter 16
Flames roared and crackled,lighting the distant hills. The houses dotting the craggy, dull gray landscape flared like torches. In this constantly overcast place in the Dark Realm, the sweltering temperatures reminded Týr of a furnace. Like the cold, the heat didn’t bother him. However, dressed in all black, he and Dagan probably resembled those assholes in the distance, shoving a line of prisoners—mostly females—along with them.
Sheol, the supposed protected domain for the docile Otium demons was anything but safe. Pain and fear thickened the air, wrapping around Týr like razor wire.
“I doubt they would bring her to a place like this,” Dagan said at his side.
Every time Týr opened a portal, he always ended up in the wrong parts of this damn realm, first at the blood demons’ territory of Eurymos’ Run, then two more obscure places, and now here.
An hour in this place and he’d have lost almost an entire night in the human world. And four days since Kira had been abducted because time moved so fucking slowly here.
Týr’s fingers balled, his powers roiling beneath his skin, wanting to escape him—to burn this hellhole to the ground. Teeth gritted, he turned away. A figure came barreling into him. With a flash of his hand, Týr grabbed the male by his collar, his katana palmed and raised for a kill.
The watery, red-tinged eyes of a pre-teen demon boy shut in hopelessness as if knowing his fate was sealed.
And that pissed Týr off. His patience as short as his temper, he snapped, “You should try the human realm, it’s safer than this shithole.”
The boy’s eyes snapped open, surprise widening them. He twisted free and scampered off.
“Let’s go.” Dagan waved his hand, and the murky air split apart, revealing a portal. They leaped through the shimmering gateway and ended up back in the biting cold air of New York.
Týr just stood there, anger, frustration, and helplessness garroting him. Why the hell couldn’t the Fates give him a fucking break for once.
As he glanced around the cold, dingy backstreet, a familiar mental knock swept through Týr’s head.Get over here,Aethan telepathed.Found the bastards and several kids!
Týr dematerialized, tracking Aethan to the warehouse in New Jersey near the bay. He kicked free the rusty door hanging on its hinges. The thing flew back, clattering to the dirty floor, raising a layer of dust. Aethan crouched near several children with tear-stained faces huddled on the dirt-covered floor.
A lingering trace of candy and spice snagged Týr’s attention.Tomas.
He tore down the stairs into the basement. Nik turned from examining a huge, empty cage, his expression hard. Týr skated to a halt next to another vacant cage where the scent was strongest. “Where’s the kid from this one?”
Nik shook his head. “Gone. Got here minutes too late, but we have one of the fuckers. Not locals. They’re hired muscle straight from the Dark Realm.”
Dammit! Týr stomped past Nik, frustration strangling him. Near the cages and concealed in the gloom, a demon sagged, frozen to the wall with ice manacles, the stench of sulfur reeking off him thick enough to burn layers off the inside of Týr’s nose. On the floor was a pile of disintegrated demon dust.
Týr waved his hand, melting the ice off the demon’s mouth. He yanked the scum by his hair. “Where are the children?”
“You assholes are too late.” The scourge laughed, his eyes bleeding red, his skin mottling to a leathery black. “They’re gone to where they’ll be of better use. There is nothing you can do.”
Fury barely leashed from his empty search in Sheol, Týr summoned his Gaian sword and swung the blade in a deadly arc, beheading the waste of space. Dismissing his weapon, he jogged up to the ground floor. Nik followed.
Aethan turned, pushing his cell back into his pocket, his expression grim. “Tagg’s on his way. He’ll handle this and the law. Hell…” He glanced at the children sitting near the wall, watching them with curious stares now. Obviously, he’d already scrubbed their memories of this horror. “Some of these kids don’t look like they’re from the streets. Let’s get going. It’s close to daybreak.”
The moment the cop-slash-bouncer entered the building, Týr’s stomach heaved, recalling Kira with him. Tagg nodded. Týr walked out.
Back at the castle, he stood at the open French doors, staring outside into the dark, his mind splintering. Snatches of the warriors’ conversation with the Arc about the children found drifted to him. “Anything?” Michael then asked someone.
“No,” Dagan answered. “Been in Sheol. Nothing there but burning villages.”
Týr barely heard them, Kira’s scream ricocheting inside his skull again as the demon hauled her through the portal.
Heavens, he shut his eyes. It had been days. He had to find her. It was killing him wondering what she must be going through. To keep from pounding the granite wall and destroying their home, Týr stepped out onto the freezing terrace and dematerialized.
* * *
Kira walked along the third-floor corridor, trying hard to ignore the curious stares of the demons who eyed her inquisitively but also gave them a wide berth.
Riley smiled encouragingly at her. At least he didn’t say it would beokayagain.
