“Too close,” muttered Neil, after Sydney just barely sidestepped some acid.
“She’s got this,” I said. And as though on cue, another fireball blasted into one of the snake heads, leaving a charred husk behind.
“What’s taking Rose so long?” demanded Eddie.
I didn’t have an answer for that. She’d disappeared into the darkness, and none of us knew what was beyond that. She could have twenty doors to look in. Or maybe they were locked. Or Jill could be tied up or in chains. None of us knew for sure, and that uncertainty was hard on the rest of us.
Sydney had just annihilated a third snake head when I heard Eddie give a sharp intake of breath. In the shadows beyond the creature, I could just make out Rose, with another figure leaning heavily on her for support. The other person’s face was buried on Rose’s shoulder, but there was no mistaking the tangle of long, light brown hair. My heart jumped to my throat.
Jill.
Rose was obviously waiting for an opening to get back through, and a shift in Sydney’s stance told me she’d seen them behind the demon. She threw a fireball wide, one that wasn’t specifically aimed at a head but which forced the creature to rear toward the side of the corridor. Rose recognized her opportunity and hurried forward, half dragging Jill along the way. A cluster of tentacles made contact with Rose’s leg, and I stopped breathing—but then a rapid and well-placed fireball took out a fourth head. The creature let go and turned its wrath on Sydney as Rose broke through and got Jill to the stairs.
In a flash, Eddie and Neil were at her side, helping Rose bring her up. My stomach twisted as I took in the sight of Jill, and I had an unwelcome sense of déjà vu back to the time when we’d finally found Sydney in the depths of the re-education center. Jill’s condition was similar. She’d lost a considerable amount of weight, and her skin was pale, even by Moroi standards. She was in dirty, rumpled pajamas—what she’d been kidnapped in, no doubt—and it looked as though they hadn’t really let her bathe either. Her pupils were slightly dilated, which confirmed they’d given her some kind of drug that had interfered with me reaching her in dreams.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I drew spirit into me, prepared to heal her.
“N-no, don’t do it,” she warned. Even drugged, the bond must have still been working. That, or she simply knew me well enough by now to guess what I’d do. It took her a few seconds to form the rest of her words. “I . . . I’m just weak. Hungry. They gave me animal blood.”
My stomach turned at that. Moroi could survive on animal blood, but “survive” was about the kindest way you could put it. We’d stay alive but lose a lot of strength and energy. There were always stories that popped up once in a while about some Moroi family that got trapped without a feeder for a week or so and had to feed off animals. They’d emerge weak and debilitated, making for sensational headlines in Moroi news. I couldn’t even imagine what shape Jill must be in after a month of that. It explained why she could barely stand.
Still, the instinct was there to help her anyway, to give her a boost with spirit. “No,” she said sharply, again anticipating me. “Just get me to a feeder. And get someone out to the back of this property. There’s a shed there with another basement prison.”
“I’ll take her to a feeder,” said Eddie, starting to move her up the stairs. Rose helped by supporting Jill’s other side.
“I’ll go find the other Moroi,” said Neil, starting to move ahead of them. He paused and glanced back at Sydney. “Unless you need me?”
I shook my head. “I’ll get her out of here. Go help the others.”
The dhampirs and Jill disappeared, leaving me alone to look after Sydney. That snake demon was down to one head, but I noticed now that there was smoke in the corridor. One of her fireballs must have hit a door and found something to ignite.
“We need to get out of here,” I yelled to her. “That fire might spread. Jill’s safe.”
“I’m not leaving this guy to run rampant!” Sydney shouted back. A well-placed fireball nearly took out the remaining head, but the creature dodged at the last second, missing the hit by barely an inch. It roared in fury, and one of its tentacles shot out more quickly than Sydney could anticipate. It caught her by her feet, knocking her to the ground, and with equal speed, the demon hurried over, its last head rearing up in triumph as it prepared to drench her in acid.
Do something! Do something! Aunt Tatiana screamed at me.
But there was nothing to telekinetically throw, no plants to summon like Sonya might do. This was the waking world, not a dream. Spirit was not a combat magic, but in the space of a heartbeat, I still knew I had to act. Sydney—my heart, my love, and my wife—was seconds away from death. I would have gladly thrown my body in front of hers, but there was no time for that either. I had only a millisecond to decide, so I pulled out my last spirit trick.
“Stop!” I ordered.
Spirit burned through me, and I sent a wave of compulsion into the demon, attempting to bend its will to mine. I’d never done anything like that. I didn’t even know if it could be done. The creature actually paused, however, making me think it had both sentience and the ability to be controlled. Emphasis on ability. Because even though the creature momentarily restrained itself, I could feel my hold slipping, and it snarled again, ready to strike Sydney. The more strong-willed a person was, the harder it was to compel them. Demons must be in an entirely different class, because I was already amped up on spirit and was just barely having an effect.