Chapter 8

"We knew what we'd be facing," Blake revealed as he strode out of the community center's wreckage—now significantly more wrecked by our battle. His long gait had an odd hitch, his left step shorter than the right.

"You were here?" I asked in surprise, following the terramage. He looked about thirty-five to me. Eight years ago, he would've been on the young side for an elite bounty hunter, but no younger than Aaron was now.

The pyromage was walking at my side, while Justin trailed after us, listening intently. I disliked that this would be my brother's first major exposure to mythic crime and justice, but short of shooting him with a sleep potion, I couldn't make him stay behind.

My hand drifted toward my paintball gun. That was kind of tempting …

"A team had already captured a cultist in Portland and interrogated him," Blake continued, facing the center path that led to the temple ruins. "When they found out what was going on in Enright, they called in the entire guild. Teams rushed in from across the continent, and eighty demon hunters assembled in Portland."

"Eighty?" I repeated, appalled. "Against sixty-eight non-combat mythics?"

"Against eleven demon mages." His face hardened. "And I'll tell you now: only sixty-three Keys made it home. My team was among the seventeen who died."

His voice deepened hoarsely on the final words, and I almost felt bad for him—except he was a Keys hunter and had helped slaughter families victimized by a cult.

"If all eleven demon mages had teamed up against us, our casualties would've been catastrophic." Putting his back to the mountainside, Blake faced the overgrown road. "We spread out in a half circle, coming through the forest. The terrain was a nightmare, but the demon mages were forced to split up to meet our advance on the commune."

His gaze swept the winter woods. "We killed five in the forest, but the others didn't come for us. We assembled here, and by then, all the houses were empty. The families had gathered in the temple."

Turning toward the hillside, he pointed. "Five of the remaining six demon mages were lined up in front of the community building, waiting for us. If you didn't already know how screwed up this place was, three of them were teenagers."

My gaze skidded across the faded destruction. A slight twist of fate and Ezra could've been one of those five.

In his uneven gait, Blake headed up the hill. "It was the ugliest battle I've ever seen. The pure destructive power of demon magic—it was worse than I could've imagined."

We passed the first row of houses.

"We killed two, and the other three were giving ground. We could see they'd gone all demon—nothing human left. The demons were fighting for their survival, and they're more brutal than any human."

We passed the second row of houses.

"My teammates were already dead, and I was down. I never made it past this point. The remaining teams went for the fifth one. That demon was the most powerful—his magic seemed endless."

We passed the last row of houses.

"It took five contractors sacrificing their demons to kill him." Blake approached the temple ruins, steps slowing. "There was only one demon mage left, and the teams suspected he was hiding among the cultists in the temple."

The terramage stopped a few yards from the temple.

"The teams approached with caution, and the cultists just stood there. Men, women, some children. Maybe they thought they were safe in the temple. They didn't even try to run, and then …"

Blake gazed at the destruction before turning toward us, his face like stone. "And then the temple lit up with red light, and a blast of demon magic more powerful than anything we'd witnessed yet obliterated the entire cult."

Lightheadedness swept through me. "What …what do you mean?"

"The last demon mage killed everyone in the temple, including himself. I don't know if it was the man or the demon who did it." He looked from me to Aaron. "We assume the last demon mage was also the cult leader. It's happened before—the leader killing everyone when a cult is threatened—but we'll never know for sure why he did it."

I swallowed against the sickness in the back of my throat. "You found the bodies of all eleven demon mages?"

"Only the ten we killed. The bodies in the temple were …" He shook his head. "The MPD cleanup crew did a body count, though. All cultists were accounted for. Every single one dead."

"What about the original cultist?" Aaron asked. "The one interrogated in Portland?"

Blake grimaced. "That one is my guild's fault. They were holding him at headquarters, and supervision wasn't sufficient. He hanged himself."

Holy shit. Ezra really was the only survivor of Enright.

"So," Blake concluded, "there's nothing to investigate. The cult leader is dead, along with everyone else who was involved."

"Then why are you here?" Aaron asked bluntly.

Blake folded his arms over his broad chest. "I live on a bordering property, and I have cameras set up everywhere. I saw you drive in."

"Okay, that explains why you're here right now." I cocked an eyebrow. "Doesn't explain why you'd want to live next door to a former cult where so many people died."

"I'm here because rogues are lazy idiots." He waved at the temple ruins, the three summoning circles cleared of snow. "Why build your own summoning circle when you can borrow an even better one? Rogue summoners think this place is abandoned, and my guild makes sure those rumors keep circulating, even this many years later."

Aaron blinked, then laughed with a note of grudging appreciation. "That's why no one destroyed it. It's a honeytrap for rogues."

"I tag a dozen or more a year. When I get sick of the deal, I'll destroy the circles before I go. Until then …" He shrugged. "It works for me. I like living out here, and I don't have to chase down my tags."

Just when I thought he wasn't twisted enough to be a Keys member, he admitted to liking it out here? Yeah, he was crazy.

Blake started back down the slope, and Aaron fell into step beside him, the fit pyromage looking a tad scrawny next to the heavyweight terramage. Their quiet conversation trickled back to me as I followed a dozen paces behind, but I wasn't paying attention. My gaze slid across the destroyed houses as I absorbed Blake's story.

While the terramage limped into the community hall ruins to get his quarterstaff, Aaron, Justin, and I reconvened at the car. Pointedly ignoring my brother, I leaned close to Aaron.

"The Keys killed ten demon mages," I whispered, "and claim the eleventh slaughtered the cultist families. But"—I dropped my voice even lower—"we know the eleventh demon mage wasn't there."

"Then who killed the cultists? Was it demon magic, or is that a cover story?"

I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "Honestly, I'm inclined to believe Blake—at least in that a demon mage killed everyone. Maybe it was an unaccounted-for one. Could the summoner have created a new demon mage in four weeks?"

My mistrust of the Keys aside, the terramage's story seemed sound. It didn't make sense for the Keys to murder unresisting families. I mean, yeah, a Keys of Solomon team had tried to kill me, Aaron, and Kai, but we'd deliberately and obnoxiously put ourselves between them and Ezra. Different situation entirely. Even a shithead like Burke would've thought twice about butchering families, right?

But if a cultist had committed the crime, the big question was …why?

Uneven footfalls, accompanied by the thud of a staff hitting the ground with each step, announced Blake's return. He gave us an assessing once-over.

"You don't seem to be packing up."

"Because we aren't," I said brusquely. "We didn't drive all the way out here to turn right around and go home. We're going to poke around for a bit. You can head on back, though. Tell your team or whatever to head back too."

"I was bluffing. I never called my team."

"Oh, well, you can just go, then, can't you?"

His eyes narrowed stubbornly, and I sighed in annoyance.

Our unwelcome supervisor waited as we opened the hatch. Surprise flicked over his features when Aaron pulled out a pair of shovels and a pickaxe, purchased in one of the towns along the way. With Eterran's tip about an underground lair, we'd come prepared to excavate the ruins.

I was so excited to dig holes in the half-frozen ground.

"You aren't planning to exhume bodies, are you?" Blake asked as Aaron handed me the equipment. "Because there aren't any here."

"Good." Turning, I dumped the shovels into Justin's unprepared arms. "I don't want to dig up any graves, on purpose or by accident. Since you're butting in," I added to my brother, "you can make yourself useful."

Scowling, he opened his mouth, then glanced at the terramage and said nothing.

With Aaron, Justin, and I carrying the gear between us, we headed back up the slope. Blake trailed after us, slowed by his gimpy leg. At the temple ruins, I rammed my shovel into the hard ground and surveyed the area, trying not to think about all the people who'd died in this very spot—including Ezra's parents.

"Okay." I rubbed my cold hands together, wishing I'd thought to grab my gloves from the vehicle. "Aaron, let's see if we can find the access point. If it survived the damage, that'll be the easiest way in."

"Got it. I'll start over here."

"Justin and I will take this end."

As Aaron started toward the far side of the temple, I grabbed Justin's arm and dragged him in the opposite direction. We walked into the rubble beyond the edge of the untouched summoning platform.

"All right, spill it," I hissed, my fingers digging into his wrist. "What are you doing here?"

"That's my line." His hazel eyes, so similar to mine, flashed angrily. "A cult? Demons? Dozens of people killed in this place? What are you doing here?"

"Did I not explain to you yesterday how I'm done justifying my actions?"

"And I was okay with that—until you skipped town in the middle of the night."

Seething, I dropped into a crouch and brushed snow off some rocks. What would the entrance to a secret underground lair look like? Hidden, but presumably easy to get at, right?

"Look," Justin muttered, squatting beside me. "I was worried, okay? I didn't know if you were running away because of me, or if you were in trouble, or what."

"Yeah, but Justin." I glowered. "You shouldn't have known I was leaving town in the first place. How did you follow me?"

I hadn't noticed any suspicious vehicles on the drive, which meant he'd been far enough behind us to stay out of sight. That suggested …

"You hacked my phone," I growled.

"I didn't hack it. I unlocked it with the same passcode you've been using since you were sixteen."

Damn it. I was changing that code ASAP.

"That's illegal," I snapped at him. "You're a cop. You can't—"

"Are you going to report me?"

I glowered. Again.

He shuffled sideways and brushed at the snow coating a hunk of concrete that might have once been part of the temple roof. "What are we looking for?"

"I am looking for the secret entrance to the secret underground lair of the evil bastard who ran this secret cult—and killed everyone in it."

"And … why are you looking for it?"

"None of your damn business. But feel free to go home and leave me to it."

His jaw tightened—the same way mine did when I was digging in my heels with all the bullheaded stubbornness that fueled my cranky redheaded soul.

"Like you said, I didn't drive all the way out here to turn right around and go home."

I clenched my jaw right back at him. We glared at each other.

"Are you two searching or what?" Aaron called from the other side of the ruins, an annoyed bite in his voice. "We have an underground bunker to find, remember?"

Realizing the sum total of my and Justin's efforts was brushing away a bit of snow, I pushed to my feet, angry at myself for being distracted and at Justin for—

"That's what you're looking for?" Leaning on his quarterstaff, Blake stood at the edge of the ruins, halfway between Aaron and me. "An underground bunker? Beneath the ruins?"

"Yeah," I admitted, even more annoyed. "So if you don't mind—"

"Get over here, then."

"Huh?"

He waved at us to join him. "I'll prove you're on a wild goose chase so we can all go home. Unless you'd prefer to search the hard way."

I headed toward him, unconvinced and suspicious. "Prove it how?"

"I'm an earth mage and you're looking for a hole in the earth."

My eyes widened. I glanced at Aaron, who also looked surprised. He broke into a jog, heading for Blake, and I hurried to join them.

"You can detect underground spaces?" Aaron asked.

"Easily." Blake raised his staff in both hands. "I've always avoided shifting the earth up here to preserve the summoning circles, but checking for an open space shouldn't damage them."

He jammed the butt of his staff into the ground—and the earth vibrated as though he'd struck a huge stone bell. The booming toll rippled outward, making the thin layer of snow shiver and dance.

Blake gripped the staff, his eyes hooded with concentration. His breath caught. "Well, I'll be damned."

"What is it?" I demanded.

"There is an open space." He pointed to the hillside that rose toward the mountain's peak. "It isn't under the temple, but just behind it."

"Oh man," I gushed. "You just saved us so much time. Where's the entrance?"

"No idea, but we don't need one. Come on."

Resisting the urge to clap delightedly—I really hadn't wanted to dig—I followed on the terramage's heels. He crossed the summoning platform and stopped at the edge. Taking a moment to ponder the rocky hillside, he raised his staff. A complex twirl, then he tapped it lightly against the ground.

A three-foot-long crack split the earth. With a hideous grinding noise, the edges of the fissure peeled back, dirt rolling away from the widening gap. Impressive—and creepy. This guy would make the world's most efficient grave digger.

At the thought, my hand slipped toward the holster at my hip.

The tremors quieted. A new, almost perfectly square hole in the ground awaited us, the inside as dark as pitch.

"Nice!" Aaron exclaimed, unslinging a duffle bag from his shoulder. He pulled out two flashlights. "Shall we see what secrets await?"

"We shall," I agreed in the same grand tone. "Just one thing first."

As the three men looked curiously toward me, I raised my paintball gun and fired a shot into Blake's face.