Veiled Threat (2 page)

I yanked the door open and paused to stare at the man. “I suppose you’re wanting to come with us?”

He nodded and I pointed to the dark on the other side. “You first.”

He obliged and Liam let out a growl. “Go, I’m right behind you.”

I didn’t argue, took a torch from the wall and stepped through the doorway. Liam followed, shutting the barrier hard behind him. We crossed the veil, a tingle of awareness crawling over my skin, and then we were through to the other side, back home in North Dakota.

The air in the cave was cool and still.

“Where’d he go?” I swept the torch high, but saw no one beyond the cusp.

Liam pointed and I followed the scuffled footsteps to see the man leaning against one of the walls.

“Who are you?”

He lifted his eyes to mine. His face was familiar, but I couldn’t place him, couldn’t remember where I’d seen him. There were flecks of green and gold in his eyes, and he watched me carefully. He ignored my question, staring intently at my face. “You have the coloring of your mother mostly, but those eyes … they might as well be my brother’s staring back at me. At least in color, if not design.” He smiled and I just looked at him, unable to move, his words tumbling inside my head. The implication stunned me to the core. No, he wasn’t saying what I thought he was. He couldn’t be.

Before I said anything the doorway behind us flew open and the leader of the red caps stepped through.

Funny enough, he didn’t look all that happy.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Chapter 2

L
iam reacted first,
shoving me away and putting himself between me and the red cap. What shocked me though was the man—the one who was implying he was my uncle—pulled a sword from his back, one that looked suspiciously like my own. He put his other hand on my shoulder, tugging me with him, away from the doorway. His hand shook a little, a tremor running through him and into me.

“We don’t want you too close to that.”

I had to agree; in theory, being close to a red cap was not good for one’s health. Still, taking a backseat wasn’t my style. I pulled my own sword then shrugged off his hand, stepping up and stopping only when Liam put his arm out to block me.

The red cap’s lips curled up, showing his pointed teeth, blood dripping down into his mouth. “While I’d love to take your challenge, I am forbidden from drawing blood outside the castle walls.”

I pushed my way past Liam’s arm, forcing him to let me by. “Then what do you want?”

The red cap folded his arms over his barrel chest, armor creaking with the flex of muscles. “You saw the doorways, broken beyond repair?”

“I figured a little duct tape and wood filler would put them back together.” I mimicked him, folding my arms over my chest, though I doubted I looked as intimidating.

His lips twitched downward. “We will slaughter any who come into the castle. There are only three doorways left, and they will be protected. This is the only warning you will get, Tracker. Do not cross this threshold if you value your life.”

Three doorways. We’d only found two; I made a note in the back of my mind.

“We wiped your little red caps out once.” Okay, Pamela and Liam did, but that wasn’t the point. Liam made a choking sound. Maybe it wasn’t so smart to remind the red cap we’d killed a bunch of his boys.

He leaned forward, blood dripping in a steady stream down his forehead and off the tip of his nose. “Those red caps were children sent to test themselves. Those who guard the doorways have been trained and battle hardened. And they like little humans who scream as their bodies are pillaged for intestines and blood.”

I clenched my jaw tightly and leaned toward him, my eyes barely above his folded arms. “Go back to your castle and hide, red cap.”

He snarled and the blood flowed faster between us. I reached up and ran a finger through the stream of red, rubbed it between my two fingers.

The red cap stood straight and stepped back, his eyes narrowing. “You are warned. That is more than most get. A warning will not happen a second time.” He strode through the doorway, his shoulders brushing each side, and the frame rattling as he slammed the door behind him.

Liam stared at the closed door. “Does it ever occur to you
not
to piss off the big ones?”

The shadowed man behind us let out a laugh, even went so far as to slap his thighs several times—almost like he was trying too hard. “Gods, I feel like I’ve stepped back in time. Rylee, where’d you find this one?”

I frowned at him. “You talk to me like you know me. Who the hell are you? And why would it matter where I found Liam?”

His laughter faded and he let out a slow breath. “My name is Erik. I’m your father’s brother.”

I didn’t give the words time to really sink in, I couldn’t. Three steps and I was next to him, close enough that in the flickering light I clearly saw his face. The angles of his jaw, the color of his eyes, the shape of his face. All hints of myself buried in his skin, but that could be said of thousands of people. I’d never tried Tracking someone
related
to me, using that as a marker. But that would be a way to be sure. If it was possible.

Tentatively, I sent out a Tracking thread, focusing on the qualities and traits I had, and got—nothing back. Stupid, of course, it wasn’t like my family would be their own species. I stepped back. “There’s no way to prove you are any relation to me, nor any reason to think you aren’t here just to mess with me.”

The creak of Liam loosening his holsters turned Erik toward him. “Is Blaz still with you?”

My eyebrows climbed into my hairline and I would have answered except the door behind us opened again. Damn that red cap.

“What the fuck do you want now?” I snarled as I turned, confusion making me less than charitable.

The doorway had been flung open but what spilled through was not a red cap. Or at least not a whole red cap. An arm, a thigh, a piece of a head sliced down the middle. Yup, our time of respite was most definitely done.

Both my swords were free from their sheaths before I took my next breath, my legs braced for what crawled through the doorway.

Hoarfrost demons. Three of them, their bodies arching upward, part ant part scorpion, all badass destroyers of worlds. The black snowflake in the middle of my chest sang with a sudden, sharp cold that reminded me how very bad these particular demons were. An apocalyptic winter was not something I was keen on dealing with.

“Motherfuckers!” I jumped forward, hoping to hell we could kill them. The last time I’d faced a hoarfrost demon I’d been inside a pentagram; taking out the pentagram with the scorpion tip tail had banished the demon.

This time around they were in the physical world, no pentagram to hold them.

“Don’t let them sting you,” Erik said, calmly, as if telling me what the weather report was for the next twenty-four hours, “that would not be good.”

I ignored him, knowing the scar on my chest, the black snowflake, gave me Immunity from the demon’s venom. The first demon gave me a big grin, its mandible cracking wide and then chittering together, before engaging me. There was nothing I could do but work to get around it.

Working fast, I drove my swords through the air, through the demon’s waving pincers. Black, thick blood poured out of the stumps as the demon reared back in pain, its tail arching high, a thick drop of poison hanging from the tip.

“Come on, bitch. Let’s see what you’ve got.” I snarled, sliding around the side and driving both swords through the thickly muscled tail. The demon fell forward, unbalanced without the weight. I grabbed the stinger at the base and jumped onto the demon’s back, pushing the stinger deep into its neck. It shuddered once, twice, then went still. Booyah for me.

Liam was on the ground, a demon over him, and—Erik was engaged with the last demon, though he didn’t seem to be faring well. He was doing a lot of dodging and almost looked like he was trying to talk the demon down. His lips moved but I couldn’t hear the words. Not that it mattered.

There was no question for me. Liam came first. With him pinned to the ground, the demon had its back to me. Stupid, very, very stupid. I swung my two swords in tandem, crossing them in front of me. With one swipe I took the demon’s tail and head.

The body shuffled and I scooped up the tail, ramming the stinger into the demon’s back over its heart to be sure. Flopping like a decapitated chicken, nerve endings still firing, the hoarfrost demon bounced on the ground but it was death throes. Its jaw clicked a few more times even unattached from the rest of the body, eyes dulled and finally it went still.

Liam rolled to the side and we approached the final demon, who’d put Erik into a corner. He was blowing hard, barely able to keep the hoarfrost demon at bay.

“You are in trouble, little man. Orion wants to talk to you,” the demon said to Erik, its tail arching high overhead. Even with a clear shot, it never tried to stab Erik with the tip. Neither of them seemed aware we were coming up behind them. Good for us.

Lightning fast, Liam struck, taking out the demon’s legs and pitching them sideways. A scream of rage erupted from the demon, but I was on it before it could take a second breath, using its friend’s stinger and cramming it into the demon’s mouth.

“Suck it, you piece of shit.” I pushed hard, felt the stinger drive deep into the back of its throat. It thrashed for a moment, then slowly stilled. I climbed off it, breathing hard.

There was a shuffle of feet and the three of us spun to see the captain of the red caps standing in the doorway.

“Remind me again about how tough you assholes are?” I wiped off my swords with a rag from the red cap arm that had come through first.

“They appeared in the middle of us, through a cut in the veil, and headed straight for this door; demons are supposed to be bound to the deep levels of the veil.” He seemed truly confused. I didn’t care.

“Demons have not been truly bound for nearly thirty years, and some don’t need a proper doorway to step through,” Erik said, helping Liam to his feet. “Were any of your red caps stung?”

The captain nodded. “Three.”

Erik’s eyes were grim. “Kill them. There is no cure.”

The captain didn’t argue, but he did give a slow nod. “I did not see you, Slayer. I thought all your kind were done in during the last rout.”

Slayer?

“No, not all. But most, you are correct. Kill your men, captain, and burn the bodies. Dragon’s fire is best.” Erik cleaned off his sword and slid it back into its sheath at his side.

The red cap’s captain stared at him. “It will be done. Your red bitch is on the other side of the third doorway, yes? We will take them to her.”

Erik laughed; damn he seemed jovial for someone with the tag of ‘Slayer.’ “Still cranky, is she?”

“Cranky? Is that what you’d call it?” The red cap turned to leave, paused. “If the demons are truly coming through, I do not know if we can stop them. But we will lay our lives out to try. We will block the doorways from our side.” His eyes rested on me for a brief second.

The door shut behind him and I swallowed hard, finally taking in the moment. Demons were being sent through the veils and coming after me. No, it wasn’t ego, it was truth. One of the downsides of all the quiet time for the last month meant I was reading through the big black book of demon prophecies. Besides the nightmares, I’d learned enough to know that the demons saw only one outcome for the future: them ruling the world. A minor fly in their ointment though … I was the one who was going to stop their ‘messiah.’ Which meant, to them, I was the biggest threat and worth taking on at every chance. Nothing was going to change that. I was just surprised they hadn’t tried before now.

A thought occurred to me. “Is that why Orion wants to speak to you? Because you are a Slayer?”

Erik paused, his eyes downcast for a moment and I watched him closely. “Most likely.” And though I waited, he said nothing else. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I didn’t trust him. Or maybe I just didn’t trust anyone except my inner circle anymore.

After that, the three of us left the mineshaft in relative silence.

At the top of the shaft, Blaz waited, curled around the opening like a giant, blue and black scarf.

Making friends again?

Liam laughed, though there was no true mirth in it. “You could say that, Blaz.”

The dragon lifted his head and stretched his wings and jaws wide. But as Erik stepped from the shaft Blaz recoiled, scrambling back with a speed that shocked me. How could one tiny human scare a dragon so badly? Was it because he was a Slayer?

Please, pray to the sky gods, tell me you did not bring Ophelia with you.

Erik smiled and shook his head and I finally got a good look at the man who claimed to be my uncle. His hair was dark with hints of red here and there between a few sparkling strands of grey. Heavily muscled, even though he had at least ten years on Liam, they were of a similar build. Hell, they could have been brothers except for their coloring. Tattoos wrapped around his wrists and crawled up both forearms, disappearing underneath a loose sand-colored shirt.

Dark green pants and army boots and a heavy cloak edged with fur partially hid the sword at his side and no doubt more weapons than I could see. But it was the tattoos I focused on.

Reading the black skinned demon book, I recognized them for what they were.

My blade sang as I pulled it out. “Demon marked, I don’t think we’re going to be friends after all.”

Liam let out a low growl, but Erik didn’t seem concerned, though his eyes gave a flicker of unease. “No more demon marked than you are; it is the way of a Slayer, to carry the marks of the demons. It keeps us safe from them.”

He opened the throat of his shirt and there, lower down than mine, and closer to his stomach was a perfect black snowflake, identical to the one on my own chest. He turned away from me and finally answered Blaz’s terrified query.

“Blaz, you can avoid her for only so long, she is your mate.” Erik lifted his hands. “But I did not tell her where I was going, only that I needed to go ahead of her to suss things out.”

Blaz swallowed hard, his throat visibly bobbing and I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. “Seriously, are you afraid of your own … wife?”

We were paired as children; I have no say in it. And she is not my wife.
He snaked his head toward me his eyes glittering with anger, and more than a little fear. I patted him on the snout, felt the heat of his belly fires rumbling up through his skin and promptly went to ignoring him. We had bigger issues than a dragon’s love life. Though I wasn’t wholly convinced that Erik was harmless, or even here to actually help, I had Blaz and Liam with me and there was no doubt who would win in a throw down if he proved himself untrustworthy.