“It moved like the wind, a shape that could not be seen, a monster that had no form but killed with ease.”

“A demon?”

His eyes stared up at me. “It wants the sealed door open. Don’t open the door, Tracker. The world will cease to be if you do. Orion waits for you on the other side.”

My jaw clenched and tears threatened at the back of my eyes. “My friends are in the deep veils, and I have no other way to get them.”

“One other way. Always another way.”

My fingers found his and I clenched his hand hard. “Tell me. Please.” I would beg on my knees, give him anything he wanted. I would put on his bloody cap if it would make him tell me.

A long low boom filled the air and his hand gripped my shoulder. “It tries to break the door. It cannot. Blessed gods, let it not be able to.”

I shook his shoulder, demanding his attention. “The other way into the deep veils. Please, I can’t leave them there.”

He took a sudden, sharp breath and let it out in a final word.

“Necromancerrrrrrr.”

His hand fell limp on my shoulder and I slid it off, placing it across his chest.

Another castle-shaking boom rattled the air. Whatever it was, even I wasn’t brassy enough to try and find it. I stood and backed away from the captain’s body.

“Alex, we are leaving.”

“Goody good.”

We jogged to the doorway and I looked over my shoulder, regret for the lives lost heavy on me. Even if they were red caps.

There was no way to honor them, to honor their sacrifice to keep the deep levels from opening. And they did deserve that honor, even if they’d tried to kill us. Twice. I knew it wasn’t personal; they were doing what they’d been trained to do.

Protect the castle.

“Boss is here,” Alex said and I whipped around to stare into the dark stairwell leading to the dungeon.

“Are you sure?”

“Smells him.”

I didn’t dare call out, hell, there was no way I wanted to draw the thing’s attention to us.

“Give a soft woof, Alex.”

He did, but there was nothing from below. A slow burning fuse of fear wrapped itself up my legs and buried deep in my belly. There were two ways to get to the upper levels on the other side of the castle. I’d gone for the more direct route.

But Liam … he would take the long way so I wouldn’t see him. Which meant he’d be closing in on the doorway.

“Oh, shit.”

I ran across the courtyard, Alex behind me. We’d never beat him to the sealed doorway.

I knew why he’d come; hell, I even wondered at how easy he’d let me go. But I was too blind to see he had no intention of letting me go by myself.

None at all.

We bolted up the dark stairway and another boom rattled the walls, dust falling around our ears. We had to stop and steady ourselves or fall back the way we’d come.

“I no likes this shaking shit,” Alex grumbled, his body pressed into the side of the stairwell.

“Me either.” Fuck, I didn’t know whether or not to call out to Liam. It would draw the attention of the thing at the doorway, which was one problem. Another shake dropped me to my knees. There was no way we’d make it up the stairwell before Liam …

A yell erupted from above us.

Liam.

The shaking stopped and we scrambled to our feet, running up the final few flights. Once on the upper level, I didn’t pause, just turned to the right and ran through the hall.

“Liam. Don’t open the door!” I screamed the words, and what came back was not Liam’s voice.

Alex and I rounded the corner and there was the sealed doorway, bite and claw marks etched into the steel. And a ghostly figure hovered in front of it. Seriously, it was like a ghost; I saw through him, and yet the figure flexed and reformed several times within those first few seconds. A red cap, then a troll, then an ogre and then human again.

Behind him huddled a tiny figure, a woman with crazy, bright white hair and a young face. Very young, like maybe my age if she was showing her true age. Her eyes were wide and wild with terror and power.

The ghost image turned to me and I knew what I was looking at.

We were fucking dead.

Orion stared at me, his figure solidifying for a split second. Tall, brawny, bald and seriously bad ass. “Ah, I thought you would come if you believed your mate was in trouble. So predictable. ”

“How’d you manage this, douche canoe?” I snapped, my fear making me stupid.

“Ah, well, it seems Milly has a fondness for that little witch of yours. She traded her services to me in order to keep the young one safe. For a few moments at least.”

“She wouldn’t do that, you’re a fucking liar!”

He smiled. “When the blind refuse the gift of sight, you only anger them by describing what the world around them offers.”

A chill swept through me. I’d heard those words before. What did Erik have to do with this?

Orion shifted, drawing my attention back to him.

I had to stall him. Try to figure out how to send him back, minus the availability of a volcano at my fingertips.

“If having Milly at your beck and call was all it took, you’d have done this long ago.”

He gave me a slow nod. “True. I needed a necromancer. Do you know they are notoriously hard to find, train and … bend … to one’s will? I’ve been working with Talia here for years. Years.” He shook his head and the image shattered into a swirling mass of energy.

I held my ground. I would not bow to this piece of shit even though he scared me to my core.

“Good for you. But you still don’t have a body, do you? And it’s awfully hard to rule without that.”

He snarled and the castle shook. “I have that taken care of. Finally. You know, it is easier to take over the soul of an infant than an adult. Surely a,” he let out a laugh that made the hair on my arms stand up, “Slayer such as yourself would know that.”

I wanted to vomit as his words hit my heart. Milly’s baby. Son of a bitch, let him mean something else. Yet what else was there?

He shimmered and an ogre looked at me now. “Her child will have a natural ability like no other witch ever born. I will have him. He will be my vessel.”

I lifted my swords, rage like no other coursing through me, so hot and sweet I thought I would cry with the poignancy.