Veiled Threat Read online

  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.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  Why are you not in Portland with the ogres?

  Liam boosted me up on Blaz’s back first, and then he followed. “Change of plans. We’ll discuss it when we get back to the farmhouse.”

  Erik stood waiting, the late January wind curling around his cloak. “Well, Blaz, are you going to let me fly with you or should I call Ophelia now to carry me?”

  You can fly with me, Slayer. For now. With ease, Erik climbed on board, using the rigging we’d made for Blaz as if it were the most natural thing in the world, like he’d done it hundreds of times. And maybe he had if he had a dragon who carried him.

  Made with thick leather, the rigging went around Blaz’s broad chest, over his shoulders and tucked in behind his wings. Three spots were wound in to sit and strap your legs. It wasn’t much different from the rigging we used for Eve, only scaled for the dragon.

  Hell of a lot easier than trying to hang on every time he rolled mid air, just for the sake of the winter wind snapping along his scales.

  Erik settled in behind Liam, and Blaz leapt into the air, the dusting of snow on the ground puffing up around us, then lazily dropping as we soared high above the mine shaft in a matter of seconds.

  Liam and Erik were silent as we flew, but Blaz was a constant presence inside my head. I’d learned to tell when it was just him and me conversing and when he was projecting to all within range. His voice softened when it was him and me, as if all his confidence fell away. Then again, we could look inside one another’s head. Hard to be full of bravado when your rider knows you’re terrified shitless. Like your mate.

  She is not my mate. Not yet. I’d hoped Erik would keep her busy longer. You may laugh now, but when you meet her, if you meet her, you will understand. They don’t call her the red bitch for nothing.

  It should not have been a surprise that even Blaz had a fear that kept him awake at night. The dragon let out a long low snort, whether in agreement with me or not, it didn’t matter. I didn’t speak my thoughts and questions out loud; no need to air his dirty laundry. But I did wonder if Blaz had known Erik was my uncle.

  Of course I did. All the Slayers ride dragons. Or they used to. I forget you know none of this, that your childhood was not filled with training and learning the history of your family. Each Slayer rides with a dragon. That is how I knew you, when you showed up on my doorstep. It is imprinted in your skin that you would be my rider, the way you walk and talk. As much or more than being a Tracker, the ability to slay demons runs in your veins, hot like the blood that keeps you alive. He quieted for a moment. You don’t trust him?

  I wasn’t sure about Erik, and I didn’t like the niggling of doubt that bit at me.

  I cannot think of a way he could be anyone but who he says he is, not and keep Ophelia in the dark. I cannot read his mind though, so you are right, we don’t know for sure. We will keep an eye on him, but I think you are being over cautious. Blaz was taking my concern seriously, which I appreciated. I snorted at the over cautious comment. That was not a trait attributed to me.

  With my chin tucked to my chest and my arms wrapped tightly around my upper body to keep in what warmth I had, a question formed in my mind—two questions actually.

  First of all, you didn’t ask, which is why I never mentioned him. And you melt down like a fucking volcano when I pry inside your head to see what you’re thinking.

  I gave a slow nod. That was true. He tried it last month and I very nearly sent him to his home in France. Liam calmed me, gotten me to see that I was over reacting, yet it still burned in my gu
t. I didn’t like people in my head, didn’t like the feel of someone knowing my thoughts more completely than I did.

  As to your second question, yes, I’d planned on asking your help in dealing with Ophelia. I hoped to find her a mate and continue on as I have been. Alone.

  Brows dipping low over my eyes, I clamped my mouth together to keep from asking why out loud.

  Another deep rumbling sigh slid through Blaz as he banked his large body. The highway was to our left and though we were only a hundred or so feet above it, no one saw us. The beauty of belief in the human world was our side never existed. And what a human does not believe, they refuse to see. Or they deny. Either works in our favor.

  You have only been reading the prophecies within the Black book, so you know what the demons believe. But what they believe isn’t necessarily what is coming for you. You and I are bound together, for good or ill, and … he shook his head, scales catching the falling lights as the sun sank to the horizon’s edge of the badlands.

  He didn’t finish his thought, didn’t have to. I saw his image as clearly as if it were in front of my eyes. A slate rock covered in blood and dragon scales, a burst of light, demons lapping at the blood. I closed my eyes but the image stayed.

  I do not understand the whole of it, Rylee. When it comes, the battle will rage and there will be far more death than life. How can I bind myself to another when I know I will not survive?

  “Noble.” I whispered, the wind taking the word from me. I was not sure I would be so noble. I would not give up Liam, not even if I knew I would die and break his heart in my last breath. No, I was not so noble.

  Blaz’s voice stilled inside my head and that was for the best. We had larger problems than whether or not I was noble, or what Blaz would do if Ophelia showed up to claim him. I glanced over my shoulder to Erik. He stared off, his lips moving softly and I had no doubt he spoke with his dragon. His eyes flickered and then met mine. He gave me a slow nod and then a sheepish half grin. Like secrets he held, ones he couldn’t wait to see me react to. A chill swept through me. I didn’t trust him.