The creature stopped in front of one of the women, lifted a single clawed finger, and ripped open her cheek down to the bone.
With a scream, the woman stumbled back, her eyes widening until they filled her face as she finally saw the creature who'd attacked her. Her scream turned to one of terror as she tripped and fell back onto the floor. Crying and whimpering, she scuttled back from a monster more hideous than any nightmare.
"He'll leave her like that," Vhyper murmured, as if to himself. "They feed on fear and pain. He'll make sure they all see him before he plays with them."
"How can you know this?"
"You've been out of it a while, B.P. We've already fed two of these fiends."
The blood. No wonder.
As one of the men rushed to the woman's side, the Daemon circled him, then turned his body horizontal in the air and bit through the man's hand, tearing it from his body.
A guttural scream rose from the man's throat.
Humans. They didn't regenerate lost limbs or missing body parts. His forehead burned with fury at the rank destruction. Needless, vile...
Paenther took deep breaths through his nose as Vhyper's words echoed in his ears. With the power you raise with the little witch, we'll free an entire army. Every night the blood and sex, his body used to free more of this evil.
He couldn't let this happen. With a growl, he struggled to free himself until his body with slick with sweat and his muscles straining. He could not let this happen.
But no matter how hard he tried to free himself, the chains held him fast. Just as the cage held the humans below. He tried to look away from the carnage, but couldn't. All four humans were screaming now. All were bloodied, searching for a way out. But there was no escape.
The Daemon sank his claws into the arm of one of the men, holding him fast. As the man pummeled him with his free fist, the Daemon pulled a strip of flesh from his skull, hair and all. Blood poured down the screaming man's face.
"What are you going to do with these things, Vhyper? Capture human after human to feed them? You must know you can't control them. You'll never contain them once they're free."
Vhyper grinned. "Who wants to contain them?"
Paenther forced his gaze elsewhere, sickened by the thought of these monsters set loose on the general population. All around the glassed walls, Mage watched with avid, excited expressions.
Except one. Huddled against the wall, not six yards away, was Skye, dressed and showered. Her hand covered her mouth, tears ran down pale, pale cheeks as she watched the horror unfold in front of her.
Was this another false display of emotion for his benefit? Or had she honestly not known what use Birik intended to make of the power they'd raised?
A growl rumbled low in his throat. It didn't matter. If he ever got his hands on the vile, traitorous witch...
He'd kill her.
Skye turned from the glass enclosure and fled down the cavern passage, falling to her knees and vomiting onto the rock. After the ritual, she'd fled to the woods and only now returned. She hadn't known...
Dear Mother, dear Mother, dear Mother.
What had they done?
She'd overheard Vhyper tell Paenther they were to do this every night. Free more of these...things. This is what Birik had been trying to raise the power for ever since Vhyper brought him the blade. Never had she dreamed her gift could be used for such evil.
Skye collapsed against the wall, her head back, tears streaming down her cheeks.
In so many ways, Birik used her. But not for this.
Please, Mother. Not for this.
She pressed her freezing palm to her clammy forehead, her chest heaving with agitation.
She didn't have a choice. She never had a choice.
But Paenther's voice rang in her head, mocking her. Goading her. We all have choices, Skye.
She cradled her head, covering her ears, but the warrior's voice, deep inside her head, wouldn't be silent.
Whether we choose to face them or hide from them defines who we are. Whether we choose to let evil live, or we fight to destroy it, defines our lives.
Sobs wracked her body as the humans' screams ripped through the caverns.
Choose, Skye.
She couldn't let this go on. She could not be the cause of so much suffering. So many deaths.
Choose!
Paenther didn't remember having been enthralled again, but he came back to consciousness to find himself once more on his back in the cell, Skye standing beside him, her cold, trembling hand on his cock as she tucked his distended flesh into his pants. His body still pulsed with the exquisite pleasure of sexual release.
His gaze speared her. She'd used him.
As if hearing his unspoken accusation, she nodded. "I had to unenthrall you fast, and this is the only way I know how." She faced him with fear in her eyes. "I know you hate me, and I know you don't trust me, but hear me, warrior, and hear me well."
The urgency in her voice and in her face set up a drumming in his blood.
"I didn't know what Birik intended. You told me to choose, and I'm choosing. I'm choosing not to allow another Daemon to be freed. I'm choosing to free you instead."
He stared at her, his jaw tight, afraid to believe.
"You won't get out of here without my help. If you attack me, you'll never leave."
"Free me." The sound of a single piteous scream punctuated the quiet of the caverns.
Skye flinched and nodded. "She's the only one still alive. Once she dies, the crowd will disburse, and I'll never get you out of here. The two main entrances to the caverns are in the open, but I know of another one. You won't find it without me."
Like hell he wouldn't find his way out. After he got what he'd come for. Vhyper.
She unlatched his ankles then, one after the other, his wrists. His muscles were stiff as he pulled his arms down from over his head and swung off the rock and onto his feet with a rush of savage satisfaction.
He stared down at her from his far greater height, tempted nearly beyond reason to take out his fury on her as he once had Ancreta. Mage witch. But the rigid control that commanded his life held his hand. He still needed her.
"Where's Vhyper?"
"I don't know, but if you try to find him, you'll never get away. Your shackles are magic. Birik can call you back through them from a great distance. Throughout the caverns and the forests. Possibly beyond."
He grabbed her upper arms, squeezing until she winced.
"Remove the shackles."
"I can't! I don't have the magic." Her eyes beseeched him. "Paenther, there's no time! This will be your only chance to escape. Save yourself. Save us all."
The need to get Vhyper out of there, to fight his enemies, retrieve the Daemon blade, and kill the Daemons, was a breathing, burning thing inside him.
But if she was right, escaping now, before Birik realized she'd freed him, might be his only option. He'd rally the Ferals, and they would attack as one.
Paenther released her.
She hesitated for one pulsing, wary moment, then turned and fled for the door. "Come."
Skye led Paenther down the back passage. When she reached the dagger fields, she turned to the menacing Feral towering over her from behind. "Watch your head as you watch your feet. If one of the stalactites crashes, we'll be caught."
He said nothing, the only emotion in his eyes the promise of a slow, violent death. Her heart thudded, and she thought of running and letting him find his own way out.
But he'd never find it. And they'd be right back where they were tonight, freeing Daemons.
Choose.
She took a breath and rushed into the uncleared field of stalagmites, leading him through the open to a particularly dangerous patch where the floor and ceiling sloped together, converging until the rocklike daggers hanging from above and rising from below began to resemble sharp, interwoven teeth.
She'd climbed through here enough times to know the only path, but she was much smaller than he was. Still, as she made her way, no sound followed behind her. She turned to find him moving through the rock as sleekly and silently as the cat that lived inside him.
In the distance, the last of the screams died away, and the sound of excited voices rose. Her pulse began to pound. They were running out of time. Few ever came this way, but she wasn't the only one who knew the route. If anyone saw her with the Feral, they'd sound the alarm, and his chance at escape would vanish.
Her heart thudding, beads of perspiration rolling between her breasts, she finally led him out of the difficult patch of rock and onto a wide path. Around the next bend was the small opening that led to the forest and freedom. Even from here she could feel the night air wafting in, cool and damp with rain.
With a breath for courage, she turned to the angry Feral. "When you get outside, run and don't look back. The shackles are magic and will keep you from shifting. I don't know how far is too far for Birik to call you back." She stepped back between two stalagmites and pointed. "There, warrior. Around those rocks, you'll find the opening to the outside. Be safe. Run!"
Paenther's hand closed tight around her wrist, his expression turning ugly. "Do you really think I'd leave you behind, witch? When all I can think of is taking my revenge on you?"
Skye's knees went weak with fear. "Please, I can't leave. He won't let me leave."
Paenther jerked her off her feet and into the solid rock of his chest, his free hand closing around her throat. "Your choices end here, witch."
As her mind went white with terror, his thumb pressed into the crevice beneath her ear.
Then all went black.
Chapter Seven
Cold rain drizzled over Paenther's head, running in rivulets down his bare chest and beating on the shackles he still wore as he ran through the dark, wet fields. He'd run several miles already but wasn't stopping until he had gone at least a few more. Around his shoulders, he'd draped the unconscious witch.
She'd told him the shackles could be used to call him back, and though he had reason to doubt everything she said, he was taking no chances.
Running from that place, and his chance to save Vhyper, was possibly the hardest thing he'd ever done. But he'd be no use to Vhyper or anyone else if Birik caught him and chained him again.
He wondered how long he'd been out of it between the blood ritual and the Daemon demonstration. He could have sworn it was night during the first, but as he'd escaped the cave, the sky had been purple with dusk. Had he lost another entire day? And how many more days on top of that since the witch dragged him down to her lair?
He followed the now-dark road but took care to remain out of sight of it. Half-dressed, wearing shackles, and carrying an unconscious young woman, he'd draw far more attention than he wanted from the humans and would be easy prey for the Mage if they came after him. His first goal was to find a phone and call Lyon.
And find a knife. He had yet to attract draden, but it was only a matter of time. There were no swarms this far from the Radiant, thank the goddess, but the occasional rogue draden could be found anywhere. Sooner or later, if there were any in the area, they'd find him.
As he approached a dark farmhouse, he decided a little breaking and entering was his only alternative.
He laid Skye within a cluster of trees on the hillside and pressed his thumb into her slender neck to make sure she stayed fully unconscious. He stared down at her damp, delicate face, emotions warring inside him. He hated her for reeling him in, for making him believe she was in need of his sympathy and protection when she was really just a conniving bitch. But even as he knew what she was, her fragile beauty tugged at him.
Paenther scowled and rose, turning away from the siren who enchanted him even in her sleep. What he'd told her was true. If it was the last thing he did, he'd get his revenge.
He approached the house with catlike stealth, frustrated he couldn't actually shift into his cat. No scent of dog reached his nose, which boded well for keeping his arrival a secret. When he found the back door unlocked, he slipped inside, palmed a kitchen knife from the wood block on the counter, and grabbed the phone.
He punched in Lyon's number, praying his chief would answer the call.
"Hello?"
"It's Paenther." He kept his voice low on the off chance there was actually someone in the house.
"Thank the goddess. Where are you?"
"Good question." Looking around, he found a magazine lying on the counter and read off the address.
"Tighe and Jag have been in the mountains looking for you for the past two days."
"Tighe's clone?"
"Is dead. Tighe's fine."
Paenther closed his eyes, sending a prayer of thanks skyward. "That's the best bit of news I've gotten in days. What about Foxx?"
"He's here. What's the situation? Do you need additional backup?"
"No. The attack is going to have to wait. I'm wearing Mage shackles and can't go near the place without risk of enthrallment."
"Then I'll send Tighe and Jag to pick you up."
"Roar, I'm not alone. I've got the witch who captured me. We have some unfinished business," he added darkly.
Lyon was silent for several moments. "The last thing we need is another witch in this house."
"She needs to be interrogated."
Silence, then a low growl. "Bring her in, but I want her hands tied at all times. And you'll have to be cleared of any possible enchantment when you get in. All of you. You want me to call Evangeline?"
"Yes." Evangeline had been his sexual partner of choice for decades. Their relationship had never extended beyond the sex, though that was his fault. He had no softness to give a woman anymore, thanks to Ancreta.