44. Caliel

44

Caliel

Nemi fluttered along the ceiling as I balanced the tray and opened the door to the dungeon.

It was quiet down here. Peaceful, compared to the tumult in the hallways upstairs. I had no idea what was going on, but the entire place was in an uproar.

So long as it kept Victor, Finn, and Aurora out of my hair, I did not care what they were up to. I just wanted to get to Mykal and help him.

The Bellati guards merely glanced at me and opened the door. As Tez had foreseen, the chamber beyond was empty. The inner doorway to the cell where Bree had once been kept was closed, and everything was quiet.

Mykal lay as a human, close to the bars within the cage. I swallowed when I saw the size of him—he was all long bones and lean muscle, nearly an adult now. His big frame promised strength yet to come.

Why had Finn done this? I set the tray down, bent to place my hand through the bars, and touched Mykal's arm.

He did not even flinch when I sent my talent surging into him, but what I sensed confirmed that this was not just about aging him. His entire body was in chaos—and through it all swirled something so terrifying I started to shake.

I had nothing left to deal with this. Mykal needed a Watcher.

Suddenly, Nemi flew straight at my face, twittering wildly. Was something wrong? No sooner had I thought that, than the door opened with such force that it slammed against the wall.

Karst strode in, flanked by two huge Dires in beast form. The bones of his face writhed as his own beast emerged.

I spun away from Mykal, and Karst's gaze moved from the inert body to me.

"So it's trrue," he snarled. "You arre a traitorr."

My heart slammed to a halt as I straightened. "What fucking do you mean?"

"We got intel that we had trraitors in our midst. Then the demon kids pinned it on you. You arre not my son. You came from Victor's Drake bitch, didn't you? Did you and the birrdman help her escape?"

I managed to convert my panic into outrage. "The Priests took her!"

"No fuckin' way. She's back with the Drragons. Then I had a streetwalker tell me they attacked someone in a rred cloak, but he wasn't any fuckin' Priest. It was the birrdman—had to be." Huge muscles rippled along his shoulders as his top fangs dropped a good six inches from his mouth. "And that means it was you that took the picturres."

I had known that we were taking a big chance by staying. And it appeared my time had just run out. Lacking strength and concentration to grow my tiny claws, I reached for the knife at my waist…

Karst was on me, moving so fast I did not even see him coming. He wrapped clawed fingers around my throat and slammed me into the cage bars. And then he held his free forepaw with the wicked long claws against my stomach.

"You can't even shift, can you?" he snarled. "Slade might have been a stupid bastard of a son, but he was useful, and he knew his place. He'd enjoy watching me rripping you open."

With a shrill little squeal, Nemi dove at his face. She was powerless against him, but she offered a distraction for just a second?—

Long enough for a blur to dive through the door, sprint across the room, and leap onto Karst's broad back.

Tez moved so fast that the Dires were taken completely flat-footed. And a split second later, Karst stiffened as Tez's knife sank deep.

Karst dropped me, roared, and spun. Tez's human arms could not get completely around the huge beast Slade's father had become, but his knife rose and fell, striking through the thick fur and drawing blood.

The Dires leaped around the two, looking for an opportunity to strike. I felt helpless, standing there with my knife and zero idea of how to use it. Karst reared to his full massive height as he spun. Tez's hold slipped, his leg sliding around the beast's ribcage, and the shifter hooked claws into his thigh, and raked.

"…Enough!…" The word vibrated through three voices as the cell door opened to reveal the Trinity.

"…This is taking too long…" Finn stated.

All three raised their hands and sent a pulse of crimson energy that slammed into the combatants.

Tez and Karst flew across the chamber to crash into the wall. Hard enough that I heard bones break and the mortar crack.

They both collapsed to the stone floor and did not move.

NO! The word burst through my brain, and I was given no time to determine the source—because the Trinity now turned my way.

And the last thing I saw was a burst of pure blood energy coming straight at me…