Page 76 of Israel

God, he was going to torture her.

He said, “And when the demon departs, I’ll be able to get that infernal necklace off you. It’s got some kind of demon magic in it, doesn’t it?”

He hooked his fingers under her binding collar, and twisted. “I tried everything to get this off, you know. I couldn’t pull it off—I couldn’t even cut it off with wire clippers.”

No, he couldn’t. That thing was made of titanium and dragon magic, and without Larik forcing her dragon out of her, pretty much nothing in the world was getting it off her until the Draken Elders wanted it off. But she wasn’t telling him that.

He twisted the necklace harder, lifting her so the chair was tilted on two legs. Ashley felt her air cutting off. “Stop it,” she gasped. “I can’t breathe.”

“That’s right,” he said. “So you better behave. Because if this necklace won’t break, that means I can hang you with it.”

He dropped her, the back legs of the chair hitting the ground with a thud. Ashley struggled to get her breath.

He turned to the bed, and came back with the blowtorch. “So now,” he said, “I think it’s time for some purification.”

Israel pulled his van past the warehouse and into the parking lot of the building next door.

“It was that one back there,” Enzo said.

Israel had gotten stuck with Enzo as a ride-along. The other two had gone with Harrison, thank God, after a short but heated argument in the hotel room.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Israel said now. “Want to tell me how driving into an empty parking lot with my lights blazing and horn honking isn’t the best way to get Ashley killed?”

“I didn’t say you should honk your horn,” Enzo muttered.

Israel stopped the van out of sight of Greg Malone’s warehouse and climbed into the back, slinging an assault rifle over his back and checking his sidearm. His hunting knife was already strapped to his leg.

He looked at Enzo, who was crouched in the back. “Do you know how to use a weapon?”

“Don’t need one.”

Israel eyed him for a minute, then shrugged. “Just stay out of my line of fire,” he said.

“No problem.”

“Okay,” Israel said. “We go on foot from here. There’s an entrance by the loading docks on this side, and another one at the back that I observed when we drove up the parallel street. We’ll go in the back entrance—less likely to be watched or booby-trapped. If he’s alone, then he can’t watch every entrance.”

“What if he has them all booby-trapped?”

“We blow the doors.” Israel indicated the plastic explosives in his vest.

“Or we find another way in.” Enzo shucked his t-shirt and dropped his pants. “One for yes, two for no,” he said.

Before Israel could ask him what the fuck he was talking about, he shimmered and there was the light sound of bones snapping. A moment later, a giant raven sat in the back of the van. He was the size of an eagle, at least—his head came nearly up to Israel’s chest where he crouched on the floor of the van.

Well, shit. Israel eyed him for a second, then molded some C-4 into a handy fist-sized bundle and set it with a remote detonator. “Can you carry this?” he asked.

Enzo dipped his head in a nod and gave one “caw.” One for yes.

“Then take it. It might come in handy.”

He climbed out of the van and put the C-4 down on the floor by the door. Enzo hopped over, grabbed the C-4 in one lethal-looking talon and jumped out, flapping his huge wings and taking off just before he hit the ground.

He circled above Israel as he made his way over to the other building, a shadow against the dark sky. Israel didn’t know how much help a bird would be, but what the hell.

Nothing like enemies diving out of the sky to distract your target. Especially with explosives.