The Council (Darkness #5)(42)

“He never stops talking,” the defender next to Dominicous muttered in companionship as the last “maybe I just won’t bother” attacker turned and found somewhere else to be. “On and on he goes.”

As an afterthought, he nodded at Dominicous. “I’m Jim.”

Energy sapped from Dominicous’ body as he stood and waited. “Dominicous. He say anything about the black human?”

“Black human? The one with Julius?”

“No, not skin color. Black, as in magic level.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, that other guy is red, I think.”

“A black level female.” Dominicous had the impression this guy wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

“Oh right. Yeah, she took off with a bunch of wolves. Can you believe that? Intelligent wolves. It’s weird, man. An animal… that is a human. Anyway, he kept muttering about a link reformed or some damn thing. Said she was going to fight some kind of fated battle, or some form of stupid fantasy shit. I’m not into that kinda stuff. More a mystery guy, myself.”

Dominicous no longer had the energy to punch him in the mouth to shut him up, but he really wanted to. “Where?”

“Where’d she go, do you mean? Oh, she took off down that secret corridor with all them animals and whatnot. Gonna grab a plane to—somewhere. Oh wait—they didn’t know where. That’s right.”

With a final roar that shook the building, the demon dissolved, splashing the floor with thick black sludge. A weight snapped free from the center of Dominicous’ chest, having him pitching forward without the energy to put his hands in front of his face. His face slapped off the ground.

Cato sat right where he was. He did not bother moving. “As I was saying…”

Jim rolled his eyes and jerked his head. “See? Picking right up where he left off—that’s how much the guy talks. You need a hand up, man?”

“You need to push her harder, Toa.” Cato panted for a moment, his breath ragged. “You need to get her on the brink before she will open up to it. She’s a scrapper. She didn’t grow up poor, but she grew up deprived. She fights for survival with her teeth. She needs to be on that stake, with the flames licking at her feet, before she’ll fully give in to it.”

“There he goes with that black foot again. You’d think it was some kind of trophy.” Jim shook his head and glanced out at the battle still raging on.

“She has come extremely far in just a few months,” Toa answered just a tinge defensively.

A huge male with blood splatting half his body jogged out of the crowd. His fierce eyes found Cato, half-dead and exhausted, sitting on the ground. His eyebrows dipping low, he started forward.

“I got this, bro.” Jim jogged forward with his sword. Two other guys jogged forward with him.

Good. Dominicous didn’t have much left. Not at the moment, anyway. He needed a Gatorade.

Cato sighed in fatigue. “Well, we will part here. I have to rest before I can be of any help. I’m not sure what state this place will be in, but if I see the other side of it, we will meet again.”

Toa glanced up at Dominicous with a confused expression. Dominicous said, “We have some traveling to do.”

Chapter 12

The canvas hood was ripped off of Stefan’s face. He yanked at his arms, now tied to a feeble wood chair, ascertaining they were still bound. His legs were similarly tied.

He stared at Andris who stood in front of him. Stefan surveyed the dimly-lit room. Candles flickered on shelves and stands, like something out of a Renaissance painting. A large, perfect circle, painted with what looked like a stencil, decorated the ground in the middle of the open space. Males and females stood around, loitering in corners. If they’d all worn capes, Stefan would’ve thought they were on a movie set.

“When do you start filming?” Stefan asked, rolling his head to loosen up his neck. He’d fallen asleep in the motorhome on the way here. The drug had worn off and very minute impressions of Sasha had bled through the link. Her emotions colored him with determination, power and strength; all things that said she was kicking ass. It’d relieved him enough to catch a few hours of sleep while he could.

He still felt her, however distantly. Determination still bled through more than anything else. His heart swelled at the same time as it bled. He would never see that remarkable female again. He’d never feel her silky skin brushing against his body, or encourage her soft mews of delight. He’d been the happiest of his life with her. If he went for eternity, just him and her, with nothing else in the world, it would be plenty more than he had before her.

But at least she will live on.

He took a deep breath and refocused on Andris, directing the crew of four that lead something resembling a stubborn goat.

“You stopped to pick up a goat?” he asked, glancing around the sparse room. “Couldn’t find one any closer? Where are we, anyway? In a gym?”

Andris turned and studied him for a second. “You find this silly. Yes, I agree. The pentagrams and candles—it’s all a bit ridiculous. But I had human advisors who practiced this sort of thing—when they weren’t fixing computers or playing Dungeons and Dragons, that is—or whatever that asinine card game is. They set it up this way, and since it worked, I continued.”

“You had human advisors?”