“Yes, once they go to Undirheim, there’s no way to bring them back,” Lady Albright affirmed.
“He wouldn’t be so stupid as to think he could bring her back,” Ratchet said as he sidled up and grabbed a cup of tea from one of the witches.
I wanted to correct him, but I also knew it wasn’t my place to treat him like a child. Even if he was acting like one, but fortunately, I didn’t have to.
“That was my tea. Thank you very much.” Katrina snatched her cup back from Ratchet.
“Right now, we’re just trying to find Cade,” I grumbled. “We need to stop the resurrection he’s planning.”
“I’m a demon,” Ratchet stated the obvious. “I’m going to Undirheim. It’s my native country and I’ll find out where Caroline is and what we can do about her. Going in there as a demigod means you’ll be stripped of your status. You’ll survive a little while, but not long.”
I bit my tongue. I didn’t tell them I didn’t care whether I was alive or dead. I didn’t care if I lived another minute, I just had to see Caroline again. I had to try to bring her back to life. She had so much good left to do in the world. She was a cancer research scientist for goodness sakes. She sure as hell wasn’t done with her life’s mission.
“So, Katrina,” I raised an eyebrow at the tall, angular witch, who was somehow related to the Albright Coven. Had she really just happened to be in the neighborhood? Very convenient and suspicious.
“Lady Albright told me she was coming here,” Katrina said, as if she could read my thoughts. “I came because she mentioned it.”
“Well, what would your coven say to do?” I asked. “I heard your high priestess. Mae is pretty clever with magic.”
“The power of Cougar Creek Coven is becoming legendary,” Katrina said, with a slight smile, and a nod. “She would say to seal off the region, so nobody can get in or out, but the problem is, the region is so large you’d have to seal up the entire volcano. That would concentrate all of your power into a single force field.”
“And would leave just me to take on Cade,” I said. “I’m in for it.”
“You’re assuming the rest of us aren’t into it?” Katrina asked a rhetorical question. “I can’t speak for Lady Albright or her clan, but I’d rather be at the front lines with you than creating a force field in areas where we don’t need it. I don’t think there’s enough of us to do such massive operations. I think we need to delivered specifically targeted assaults. We know there’s only one entrance to Cade’s lair. We just need to find it.”
“What’s the spell?” I asked. I’d been hacking through the jungle all day, thinking I’d eventually find some grand entrance to the cave, but I hadn’t. Instead, I had just grown tired and weary and emotionally exhausted.
“There’s a finding spell we can use.” Katrina gave a nod to Lady Albright.
“The power of the coven, along with Katrina’s experience using this spell with Cougar Creek Coven, should make it powerful enough,” Lady Albright mused. “I must warn you, though, the minute we enact the spell, everyone is going to find out exactly where we are and where we’re headed. That’s the weakness of it.”
“Bring every devil in the land to me,” I growled. I didn’t care. I wanted people to fight. Nothing mattered now. Not with Caroline gone. Let all the demons of hell find us. I welcomed the battle.
Chapter 3
LANEY
A dull glow came from the side of the cave, where Cade had chained me, leaving me vulnerable to whatever creature his brother was going to resurrect as. The bright hue in the room, I realized after a while, came from my skin. I was the firefly. I knew a little about what other supernaturals felt when they discovered they didn’t have much magic power; you’re in, but you’re not cool.
I almost thought it was better to be without magic powers and just be the cool human tagging along with all the supernaturals.
As the night wore on, my limbs grew weary, having remained tense and stressed since Caroline had first disappeared from Boston. My ears strained. It sounded like the earth was rising and falling in light groans beneath me. It wasn’t until a huge crack came in the side of my chamber wall that I realized Cade’s brother had returned.
I wanted to close my eyes so desperately and not look at him in the slightest, but it was impossible. It wasn’t my nature. I knew I had to see this wretched beast and look him in the face if he was going to attack me, or do whatever he had in mind.
Ryder was the only monster I knew, but he was a half monster. This creature would be a beast slain by Hercules himself.
The creature that stepped through the wall was more horrific than anything I could imagine. Its body was that of a lion, but a lion who hadn’t eaten in a long time. Its claws looked like black ebony. The body of the creature itself was a misty motion of molecules, waiting to find density in the physical world.
I supposed that’s where I came in.
The head of the creature was like one of those horrific Hindu masks of Kali with multiple eyes and fangs jutting out in various directions from its gaping maw. It walked on hind legs, its front arm stretching out like a human toward me. I closed my eyes and scrunched up into a little ball, feeling all my limbs shaking in fear as the creature lumbered toward me I wasn’t sure if it was going to fuck or kill me, but I knew it needed sustenance of some sort, and whatever it wanted I was supposed to be offering. Goosebumps crawled up my flesh and a cold tremor settled on my bones as the monster approached.
Suddenly, there was a popping sound inside my stomach and a bright flash blew up in the room. I opened my eyes and looked down. I was emanating a glow which was about 1000% brighter than what had come from me previously.
There was also something on my back. I reached my hands around and twisted my neck. I could just barely make out wings had appeared on my back. They were an incandescent green and purple hue, but what was most amazing was Cade’s brother had disappeared. Something about my light had dispelled his darkness. I was sure he wouldn’t be gone for long if Cade was dead set on bringing him back.
