Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (17 page)

Elyssa took his phone and swiped the screen to reveal a passcode prompt. "What's the code to your phone?" She held out his phone to him. "Our people weren't able to break your code during your incarceration."

He growled. "There's a lot of private stuff on my phone I don't want you people seeing."

"Does it look like I care?" she asked.

Kassus gave her the passcode and we spent the next half hour copying its contents. I looked over the complex code and decided it might be best to have him help us construct the aether pods. El Dorado seemed the ideal place to locate them since Altash and his dragon pals guarded it. If I procured some of those portal-blocking statues, I could also lock it down and prevent omniarch portals from opening there.

I took Elyssa into the hallway while Kassus worked on a user-friendly instruction manual. "We need to shore up our defenses before we attack Daelissa." I explained my idea for fortifying El Dorado.

She gave me a worried look. "Do you really want to raid the artifact room in Thunder Rock?"

"We don't have a choice," I said. "We can set up portal blockers at the Templar compound and our other strategic assets too."

She grimaced. "We'll need Kassus's help."

I snorted. "Unfortunately, yes." My stomach rumbled. "Let's get something to eat. I don't want to run into enemy territory on an empty stomach."

Chapter 15

After Kassus finished his sandwich, I explained the various ways in which he would help us.

"Christ almighty," he growled. "I thought you told me—"

I took a step toward him. "I told you in no uncertain terms you would help us with specific tasks before being free to go. Otherwise—" I wiggled my pinky finger at him.

"Dammit, fine." His fists tightened and he walked away, taking deep breaths. "Let's get this done so I can go."

I called Shelton and had him open a portal back to the mansion. I stepped through first, followed by Elyssa, Jeremiah, and lastly, Kassus.

Shelton's eyes went as wide as glazed donuts. "Holy dog snot, man. What's he doing here?"

"Harry Shelton," Kassus growled. "So this is where two-bit wanna-be battle mages go to die."

My friend's eyes narrowed and his lips peeled back from his teeth. "Wanna try me, Kassus? I may not know all the neat tricks you do, but I got plenty of horsepower to back me up."

It was Kassus's turn to look surprised. I figured most people ran in fear of the big bad battle mage. I happened to know that according to the standard measure of Arcane power, Shelton was a heavy hitter. I'd seen him demolish an entire mansion with giant flaming boulders.

"That's what I thought." Shelton looked at me. "You gonna tell me what he's doing here?"

"He's a free man after he helps us with the aether pods and a few other assorted items." I gave him the lowdown on the artifact room at Thunder Rock.

"Sounds even riskier than your usual craziness," Shelton said. "What if you run into Daelissa in that long tunnel?"

"I run away at top speed." I looked at Kassus. "How wide is the tunnel, and are there any other ways out of the artifact room?"

"The tunnel is wide enough to drive a truck through," Kassus said. "There used to be another even bigger tunnel, but it collapsed long before we ever excavated the place. There's also a Gloom arch just down the tunnel from the room."

That made me feel a little better about my odds of escaping if I needed to. I planned to deactivate the omniarch statues once we found them so Shelton could get us out with a portal. As a last resort, we could use the Gloom arch to escape. "Do any of the other Alabaster Arch stations have artifact rooms or Gloom arches?"

"We never found any." Kassus shrugged. "The only reason Thunder Rock has a Gloom arch is because we activated one of the cubes to see what it was."

"Why would the builders store all those artifacts at Thunder Rock but nowhere else?" Elyssa said.

Kassus didn't have an answer. I had him outline the environment in detail, including any security measures I might need to worry about. Apparently, there were guards and wards at the mouth of the tunnel, but since we'd portal somewhere into the middle of it, we'd bypass them.

I recorded the elephant fart music needed to deactivate the statues so I could have Shelton open a portal directly into the artifact room once we reached it. "If this works, we'll be golden." Unfortunately, from what Kassus told me, the arch cubes were too large to fit through the portal so we couldn't abscond with any of them.

"I'll be right back," Elyssa said and vanished upstairs.

I glanced at Jeremiah who stood silently behind Kassus. Despite my distrust of the ancient Arcane, I'd kind of hoped he would offer some helpful advice for storming the artifact room. Instead, he seemed content simply to listen. I didn't want him sitting idly around or coming up with more nefarious ideas for revenge. Assigning him something to do might be the best, I decided.

"Jeremiah, can you take Kassus to the El Dorado cave and find a suitable place to build aether pods?"

"Son of a—give me a damned minute to catch my breath!" Kassus growled.

"You've had plenty of rest and relaxation in your cell," I reminded him. "If this is too much work—"

He backhanded the air. "Fine, but I don't think Jeremiah Conroy needs my help."

"Idle hands are the devil's workshop," Jeremiah said. "We'll gather supplies and get started after you leave."

I nodded and tried not to look surprised at his quick agreement. "Thanks."

Elyssa returned to the cellar with two strips of gray cloth. "Camouflage armor just in case." She pulled up her shirt to reveal bare skin and fastened the cloth around her waist. The cloth expanded beneath her clothes to cover her. I followed her example, and we both pulled off our street clothes. As usual, I felt a bit ridiculous wearing what amounted to a skintight unitard while Elyssa looked fabulous with her athletic curves filling it out in all the right places.

I caught Kassus eyeing her up and down. He looked at me and smirked.
The bastard knows I need him.
Otherwise I would have punched him in the throat.
Use him now, save the throat punch for later.
I mentally high-fived myself.

We made our way downstairs to the omniarch room. Kassus stood before the arch and closed his eyes. "Gimme a minute. I gotta remember the details of the tunnel."

Elyssa touched one of the swords sheathed diagonally across her back as if reassuring herself it was there, and unsealed a diamond fiber satchel at her side so she could look through it.

"Making sure you have plenty of lip gloss?" I asked.

She raised a dark eyebrow. "Just in case you forgot yours."

I winked. "I'm wearing cherry flavored today."

"Darn. I was hoping for watermelon." She pecked me on the lips and made a face. "Are you sure it isn't poo flavored?"

Before I could respond, the portal blinked open to a granite wall laced with a crystalline vein.

"It's open," Kassus said, stating the obvious.

I poked my head through the portal and looked up and down the tunnel. Hewn neatly through the bedrock, the large square corridor ran straight in both directions before disappearing around curves. Yellow light without any obvious source suffused the air. I listened intently for several seconds, but heard nothing. Before stepping through, I looked back at Kassus. "You're absolutely sure there's no other security past the guards at the tunnel mouth?"

He snorted. "I never saw or sensed any kind of wards or guards in the tunnel, and I sure as hell didn't assign anyone there." A shrug. "Then again, if something kills you, don't blame me."

With that wonderful assurance, Elyssa and I stepped through the portal and into the tunnel beneath Thunder Rock. It took me a moment to realize I didn't know which way to go. "That way?" I asked Kassus who still stood in the mansion cellar on the other side of the portal.

He frowned and jabbed a finger the opposite way just before the portal winked off.

Elyssa and I set off in the indicated direction.

"We should probably run," I said. As promised, the passage had no alcoves or niches to hide in.

She nodded. "I feel awfully exposed right now."

We blurred at top speed down the tunnel, our feet making almost no sound thanks to the Nightingale armor. As we rounded a bend, I spotted a large opening in the wall on the right.
The artifact room.
"So far, so good."

"Don't jinx it," Elyssa said, slowing down and grasping the hilt of a sword. "Let's hope Kassus was right."

"Not to mention telling the truth." For all we knew, he'd omitted something intentionally with the sincere hope we'd meet grisly ends.

We reached the opening. I peered through. I felt my eyes flare and my nose wrinkle. It wasn't because I saw something; rather, I smelled the faint but familiar odor of brimstone. My arm automatically caught Elyssa to keep her from moving another inch.

"What?" she whispered, drawing her other sword.

I sniffed.
Yep. Brimstone all right.
Whatever emitted the odor wasn't close enough for me to see. "We have demonic company."

"Crawlers?"

I shrugged. "Maybe hellhounds."

She pursed her lips. "What now?"

"We can't go back. The portal is closed."

"Maybe we can sneak to the statues, deactivate them, and have Shelton open another portal before anything finds us." Her forehead wrinkled, a clear sign she didn't like the idea.

"I have a better idea."

The lines on Elyssa's forehead arched to worry. "Let's not go Ivy on them."

"Go Ivy?" I felt my eyebrow lift in confusion.

"You know, blasting away like a one-girl army."

"Now you're equating my sister to Rambo."

Elyssa nodded.

I wanted to disagree, but having seen how my sister liked to blow up things and ask questions later, I couldn't. "My idea doesn't involve large-scale destruction."

"Oh?"

I shrugged. "I hope not, anyway." Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and let myself slip into a trance. Thanks to all the practice I'd had, I'd gotten pretty good at it, though nowhere near as proficient as my father. I sensed my inner demon prowling in its cage, restless and eager to cause mayhem. Using the incubus senses I normally extended out into the world to seek sustenance in the form of female soul essence, I instead redirected them inward, through the window in my soul, and into demon land, or Haedaemos, as the locals called it.

My tendril of essence lay in wait for a suitable demon to stumble across it. Some demons were the analog of animals in Eden, the real world. Others were powerful demon lords who might devour your soul if you tried to entrap them. I found what I was looking for within a few minutes. Opening my eyes, I focused on the floor and summoned a hellhound.

A dark pool of liquid seeped through the stone. The odor of sulfur bit into my nostrils. Something struggled in the ooze, fighting and straining to break free. At first it resembled an alien embryo unfurling, a round head first, with legs pushing up beneath a shapeless body. The shape of the head lengthened, the end forming a long, black muzzle. Yellow eyes blinked open as the body elongated into the familiar shape of a canine. The hound continued to grow until it rivaled the height of a Great Dane. Fangs dripped venomous saliva, and a low growl sounded in its throat.

Before it could fully gain its bearings I sent another demonic tendril into the creature and gripped its very soul.
You are mine.

Its eyes glowed with a dangerous light, but the growl died away.
Master
, it sent back.

While some hellhounds had enough intelligence to speak through thoughts, the ones I'd usually summoned weren't usually all that bright—Cutsauce, my pint-sized pet, being a prime example. Dad had told me most Daemos couldn't control the more intelligent spawn without a great deal of experience.

This summon was a pleasant surprise, but I didn't have time to gloat. Reaching back into the demon plane, I pulled through another hellhound, paused for a second, and then decided to go for a third just in case. Once incarnated, the other two hounds rolled on their backs to show submission, but they didn't talk with brainwaves like the first. Already, I felt the strain on my senses to maintain control over three hounds. To most experienced Daemos, this was something they could multitask with ease.

"Nice," Elyssa said, a proud note in her voice.

I grinned. "The only downside is their odor drowns out what I sensed before."

We will be vigilant, master,
said the large hellhound. His comrades growled in assent.

I almost backed up a step in surprise and wondered if I'd accidentally snagged a higher-level demon than I'd meant to and was now subjecting him to life as a dog. The hound's lips peeled back from its teeth, almost as if sensing my weakness.
There is no "almost" to it. He is sensing weakness.
I pushed away the uncertainty and reasserted my will.
Good. You three search for enemies in this room and report what you find.

It will be done.
With that, my new monster and his two demonic buddies fanned out and loped into the room.

After I breathed a sigh of relief, I told Elyssa how he was talking to me. "The big one is dangerous."

"I hope you didn't summon the wrong demon by accident," she said.

"Yeah." I looked into the artifact room and motioned Elyssa to follow me. "For all I know, he was out getting milk and bread for the wife and I just turned him into a giant dog. He's probably waiting for a chance to rip out my throat."

"Wonderful." Her tone indicated she thought it was anything but.

The artifact storeroom stretched at least a hundred yards long and wide. Rows of stone cubes in varying sizes stretched before us. Behind them rose towering shelves filled with the statues. The sulfuric odor from the passing of my hounds pressed against my senses. I listened for several seconds, but detected no discernible sounds.

Elyssa tapped my shoulder and pointed down the center aisle. "I think I see the statues we need to disable."