Chapter 8

8

Tanner didn’t tell me anything on the phone, only that I would want to come to the underworld at my earliest convenience. It would have been right that instant, but Drake put a leash on me.

“Whatever Tanner has for you, you don’t know what to expect,” he said. “I’ll put a team together to go with you.”

I started to protest, but when he looked at me with those intense eyes, like two green flames full of power and strength, I was reminded why he was the unnamed leader of us all.

“But what about the dagger?” I asked, knowing that was important too.

“Levi is your mate,” he said. “We rescue him first, then worry about the dagger.”

Though I knew he was talking from experience—he would do anything for Thea—my chest expanded with gratitude.

Drake told me to meet the team in the foyer in two hours. I left his office and went to the training grounds where Zad was waiting for me.

I told him what had happened.

“I’ll talk to Drake,” he said. “I’m coming with you.”

I was on my way back to my room to pack—I had no idea if we were going there for an hour or a week—when I almost bumped into Farrah and Wyatt in the hallway.

“There you are!” Farrah smiled at me. “I was going to the training grounds now. Did you guys finish early today?”

I shook my head and told them about the new plans; they wanted in. Apparently, we would arrive in the underworld with an army.

I hoped Tanner’s lead was a good one.

After taking a quick shower and changing into a clean uniform—I wanted to be prepared in case of a fight—I packed a small backpack with extra clothes and marched downstairs to the foyer.

Drake, Thea, Aurora, all the princes and princess and their respective partners, Elisa and Zadkiel, Farrah and Wyatt, and Keeran and Luana were here. There were also a handful of lower-ranked vampires who I didn’t know well.

“Everyone is coming with me?” I asked as I approached them.

“No,” Drake said. “Zadkiel, Farrah, Wyatt, Frank, and Cyran, and I are coming.”

My brows slammed down. “Shouldn’t you stay here? The castle needs you.” And everyone else in the supernatural world.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Thea will stay and she can take over for a few days.”

“I already do half of the work,” she said with a wink.

“More than half,” Prince Aston said with a cough.

“Well, that’s probably true,” Drake agreed. Drake had fixed his shirt and put on his jacket and tie. The lord of the castle gestured to a page, who opened the front doors. “We’re waiting on one more.”

As if on cue, a portal opened outside the doors, and Lacey stepped through it. “Am I late?”

“You’re just in time,” Drake told her.

The portal closed and she walked up to me. “Surprise!”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, as a protective feeling came over me. I didn’t want her to come with us, because I knew it would be dangerous.

“You’re going after my brother and I’m coming with you,” she said simply. I glanced back at where the portal had been a second ago. “Abbie can’t come because she needs to stay with the hall. Maggie wanted to, but Abbie forbade her.”

“Good,” I muttered. “One less person for me to worry about.”

Drake cleared his throat. “Everyone ready?”

I nodded, and some answered out loud.

Then Keeran stepped forward and I understood why he had come: to open a portal for us to the nearest underworld entrance.

Zadkiel said goodbye to Elisa, while Drake hugged Thea and Aurora. Farrah and Wyatt crossed the portal, then Frank and Cyran.

Lacey and I started for the portal, but Aurora reached for my hand. I stopped and looked at her. “Everything okay, pretty girl?”

“The darkness is there,” she said, sounding older than she was. “It’s always there, but it’ll spread and come with. Be aware of the darkness.”

“Aurora?” I asked.

“What was that, sweetie?” Thea asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, her voice back to her childish one. “I could only see black everywhere.”

Over Aurora’s head, Thea met my gaze. “I’ll try to find out what it means and I’ll let you know.”

I nodded, and after squeezing Aurora’s hand, I crossed the portal. Lacey stepped through next.

Drake was the last one. He signaled to Keeran, who dropped his chin once, then closed the portal.

Keeran had sent us to a place I had been before—the gate outside Winnipeg. Right now, we were in an empty field that went on for miles with a large stone the size of a three-story building dead center. But I knew that if I walked several feet in any direction, an illusion would appear and I would find myself in the middle of a farm, complete with a farmhouse, a barn, and extensive fields ready for planting.

A dozen Blackthorn Hunters guarded the large stone wall, and two of them stood directly at its side. As we approached, they touched the wall at the same time and a green line appeared from their hands. It swirled over the stone until it met in the center and grew, becoming one large, green mesh shining bright.

We crossed the portal and the world shimmered for a second, then settled once more.

A black path opened in front of us, flanked by hot red lava, its heat palpable. Above us, the sky was dark gray, and beyond the path was a huge black palace with several endless turrets sprawled over the dark landscape. Lightning cut across the sky, casting larger-than-life shadows everywhere.

I had heard King Tanner and Jasmin had done everything to tone down the menace and creepiness of this place, but its magic was so ancient and strong, nothing worked.

“This way,” Drake said, taking the lead across the path cutting through the lava.

As we approached the castle, I saw a handful of demon hunters standing by the giant double doors. They nodded at Drake and turned their attention back to the horizon. I frowned, confused for a minute, wondering why they didn’t open the doors for us.

But then they opened by themselves.

Inside, the foyer was as large as a ballroom and as dark as the outside. Black stone, dark gray walls, dark crystal chandeliers, dark framed mirrors on the walls.

We crossed under an archway into a wide hallway. At the end, another set of double black doors greeted us. Once more, the doors opened by themselves, and behind them a female smiled at us.

“Welcome to the underworld,” she said. I was certain she was a demon; I just didn’t know what kind. “I’m Lily, King Tanner’s assistant.” She gestured for us to come in. “Please, come with me.”

We followed Lily through the door into a large room. At the end of the room were two thrones made of black marble, one slightly smaller than the other. King Tanner sat on the largest one, while Jasmin was on the other.

When they saw us approaching, they stood.

“Thank you, Lily,” Tanner said. Then, he glanced at our group and smiled. “Welcome to the underworld.”

“Are we having a party?” Jasmin asked, her eyes alight. “I would have prepared the ballroom.”

“The underworld has a ballroom?” Lacey asked.

Jasmin nodded. “It has everything.”

“King Tanner,” Drake started, his deep, serious voice echoing through the large room and bringing everyone to attention. “It was my idea to bring a large party to the underworld. If your lead turns out to be a good one, I didn’t want to waste time putting a team together.”

“I understand.” Tanner reached forward and swept his hand from left to right. Chairs made of shadows appeared behind us, forming an arc in front of the thrones. “Please sit. I don’t like to talk with my friends as if they were my subjects.”

We all took a seat, but I couldn't settle. “What did you find?”

Tanner glanced to his left as a man entered the room from a side doorway. He was tall and broad, with cropped blond hair and a mean face. He wore black leather that looked like a modified demon hunter’s uniform, and he sported a bow across his back.

“This is Rage,” Tanner said. “He’s a half demon, half demon hunter like me. A couple of months ago, he joined us to explore the underworld.” He stared at Zad. “Unlike a certain angel.”

Zad took it in stride. “When you asked, I had other priorities.”

“Did you complete those priorities?” Jasmin asked and Zad nodded. He wanted revenge against the angel who had imprisoned him in the underworld for twenty years. “Are you ready to join us now?”

Zad shook his head. “I apologize, but I think my place is with Lord Drake and DuMoir Castle.”

“Can’t blame you,” Tanner said. “Things here are complicated.”

“What does any of that have to do with your lead?” I asked, my patience running thin.

Tanner looked at me. “I’m getting there.” He moved his hand again and this time a table that was at least twelve feet long and eight feet wide appeared before us, and on top of the table was a dark, magical map of a place I had never seen before.

The underworld.

Curious, I stood and approached the table to get a better look. Everyone loomed over the table as well. The map was a wonder in itself. It seemed made of moving shadows, and if I stretched up and crouched down, I could see the elevations.

Unfortunately, only the center was well defined, with this castle built of shadows in great detail. The immediate area around it was on the map, and then just another two sections were drawn and named, both of them a little bigger than the center and directly south of the castle.

The rest was plain dark clouds, though some had hard lines separating them.

“When we took over—” Tanner said, his voice closer. I looked up and saw him, Jasmin, and Rage on the other side of the table. “—the underworld was a mess.”

“It still is,” Jasmin muttered.

“The demons residing here ran rampant, either to other corners of the underworld, or to Earth,” Tanner went on. “Some even tried taking the castle, but thankfully, the demon hunters had come with us and made sure we had the castle and the entire area cleared.”

“Apart from Lily and Moth,” Jasmin said.

“Right. Lily and Moth are two lower demons. They've proven themselves loyal to us.”

“Lily served as a maid, so she knew most of the castle’s secret passages and what was where,” Jasmin said. “While Moth was a servant for Brikan. He was the fly on the wall on several of his meetings, though he admits that he was afraid and never really paid attention to what was going.”

“However, he seems to remember some details about the land,” Tanner said. He pointed to the map. “He told us that the castle is the center, and that the entire underworld is twice the size of Earth.”

“With a lot less water and more land.” Jasmin shuddered. “Dry, brittle, dead land.”

“Anyway, Rage here is looking over the exploration of the underworld with a few trusted demons,” Tanner continued. “He started exploring this section.” The king gestured to a large area on the upper part of the map. “Tell us about it, Rage.”

Rage nodded once. “Right now, we believe this area is probably the size of Asia. But it could be bigger.” His voice was deep, which definitely gave out warrior vibes. “A couple of days ago, I encountered demons here.” He pointed to where the section met another. “They were hiding, but harmless, afraid of all the changes and what it meant for them. They told me they saw a big ball of fire with some weird, moving shapes fall from the sky in this direction.” He pointed to the middle of the section. “An explosion followed, and then everything went quiet. Usually, I go inch by inch, registering everything so we can map it out, but King Tanner told me about your predicament.” He glanced at me. “So, I went directly to that area.”

I held my breath. “And?”

“It opens to a big cliff with mist at the bottom,” Rage said. “But I saw a trail of scorched earth where the ball of fire could have touched before falling into the mist.”

“And you’re assuming this ball of fire was Levi and Ylena?”

“It’s a stretch, but it matches the timing. Plus, this cliff and whatever is down there seems like a prison for dangerous demons.”

“Something like fiery pits,” I muttered.

Rage nodded. “Exactly.”

“When Rage told us about it, I knew I had to tell you,” Tanner said.

I looked at him. “Thank you.”

“In all honesty,” Tanner continued, “if I didn’t know you were looking for your demon, I would have probably told Rage to continue exploring everything around the cliff and leave that for last. But knowing you’re after your demon, I offer you a chance to go down into the mist and search for him.”

My demon.

I wish.

I looked at my friends. They all stared straight at me, unmoving, unbreakable, as if nothing I said would change their minds.

“Remember,” Rage said. “This seems to be a prison, and we have no idea what we’ll meet at the bottom.”

“You’re coming with us?” I asked, a little surprised. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting that.

He stood even taller, his chest puffed. “Sure am. I’m the first of King Tanner’s warriors and the current explorer. It’s my duty to go into the mist and map it out.”

“I’m okay with that,” I said.

“I’ll go too,” Tanner said.

“What? No!” Jasmin almost shrieked. “We’ve had this conversation. You’re the new king of this place. Many of those demons want to kill you. Do you want to make it easy for them?”

“They want to kill the previous king of the?—”

“Do you think that matters to them?”

“Perhaps it doesn’t, but?—”

“You’re not going!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

“I’m your sister and second in command and?—”

“I agree with the princess, King Tanner,” Rage said, interrupting the two. I had heard about their bickering, but this was the first time I had witnessed it. I had to admit it was quite entertaining.

“Me too,” Drake said.

Tanner almost glared at him. “You’re like a king to your coven and you’re going down there!”

“I’ve been the lord of DuMoir Castle for a while now,” Drake said, “and I’ve trained Thea and the princes to take over and remain in power, in case I’m gone. Your rule, though, is still new and unstable. You need to make sure it only grows stronger, and you can’t do that if you put yourself at risk.”

Tanner’s glare intensified. “Fine. I won’t go. But when you’re back, Lord Drake, we need to discuss an idea I have for these rampant demons.”

Drake nodded. “So we shall.”

“He’s not going, but I am,” Jasmin announced.

“What?” Tanner almost shouted.

She glared at him. “Do not start arguing with me again.”

Tanner huffed but kept his mouth shut.

I let out a sharp breath. “Is that settled? Can we go now?”

Rage looked at Tanner. When his king nodded, the warrior nodded too. “If you’re ready, we can leave now.”