Page 47 of Warrior Unraveled

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Armed with two daggers, Wes raced after Virginia, who’d already reached the door to the kitchen from which loud sounds of banging and voices originated. She looked over her shoulder, nodding at him. She was equally armed, and judging by the fierce expression on her face, ready to fight to the death.

Virginia put her hand on the door handle, but Wes stopped her and whispered, “Smoke.” He put his palm on the door to feel if it was hot, but to his relief it wasn’t. “It’s cold.” At least they wouldn’t be hit with a backdraft, though there was no way of knowing what would greet them.

“I’ll take the left, you take the right,” Virginia instructed.

Wes nodded, then Virginia ripped the door open and charged inside. He barreled after her into the room, smoke making his eyes tear up immediately. Still, he was ready to fight, even if he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

“Ugh!” Somebody coughed.

The sound was high-pitched, coming from a woman, he was certain.

“Virginia?”

Another sound, this time a whooshing sound, then some clanging and the sound of an exhaust.

Then a thud and the sounds of two people fighting in hand-to-hand combat.

“Fuck!”

This time, Wesley recognized the female voice. “Enya?”

He charged toward the melee, able to see the outlines of the two people fighting. “Shit, Virginia! Let go of her. It’s Enya.” The smoke was dissipating now, being sucked out through the powerful exhaust over the stove.

He reached Virginia and Enya just as Virginia let go of her fellow Stealth Guardian.

Enya stumbled backward. “What the fuck was that for?” She glared at Virginia, her eyes mirrors of fury.

From the open door, Wes perceived the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps.

“The alarm,” Wes quickly explained, whirling toward the door, his daggers ready. “You’re under attack by the demons.”

“What?” Enya choked out.

Two men charged in: Logan and Manus.

“What’s going on here?” Logan yelled.

Virginia, breathing hard, rushed to Wesley’s side. “We heard the alarm and assumed the compound was being attacked.”

Manus stopped and laughed. “That was just one of Enya’s attempts at cooking.”

“Shit, that was the fire alarm?” Wes asked, turning his head to Virginia, who stared at the two men, her mouth agape.

“There’s no need to laugh, you ass,” Enya griped from behind them. “Not my fault that the pancakes burned. I was just trying to keep them warm.”

Logan walked to the stove. On top of the burners sat a tray with pancakes that resembled the lava stones of the Underworld in color, though not in temperature: they were still smoldering. Logan chuckled and pointed to the controls of the oven, the door of which still stood open. “You do know what broil means, Enya, don’t you?” He turned the knob to the off position and turned his back to the oven.

Enya grunted something unintelligible. “Well, it’s still no reason to charge in here and attack me. I was dealing with it.” She pointed to the fire extinguisher that lay on the floor.

Virginia braced her hands on her hips and glared at Enya. “Well, excuse me for wanting to save your compound from a demon attack!”

“Why don’t we all calm down, huh?” The advice came from Aiden, who’d just appeared in the door. “We’ve got bigger fish to fry than Enya’s inedible pancakes.” He turned his gaze to Wesley. “You’re alive.” And as if he only now noticed Virginia, he quickly motioned toward her and added, “You, too, Counselor.”

Wes nodded. “It’s been quite a trip.”

“We got word of the attack on the council compound. Nobody had word of either of you. We didn’t think you’d made it out.”