There were no doors to go through, no getting away from these things and they moved fast, like water rushing down a river.

“A door, a door would be fucking well nice,” I breathed out as we ran, my eyes searching and then … shit, a door ahead shimmered into existence. I didn’t question it, though a part of my brain said I probably should.

No time.

I grabbed the handle and swung the door open, Alex and I falling through before we slammed it behind us. This room was darker than the others. Darker and it smelled like shit. I stood and gagged, unable to keep my gorge from rising.

“Damn stinky,” Alex grumped, heaving beside me. In the near dark, I barely saw him. Not that it mattered.

A shuffle in the room, a whisper of cloth, a sharp intake of breath neither mine nor Alex’s. The bugs slammed into the door, and their chittering climbed into a higher pitch.

“Sweet meat, sweet meat, sweet meat. We love to eat sweet meat.”

A rock and a hard place had never sounded so good as in that moment. Easier than the choices that faced us right then. “Alex. Stay close.”

Somehow we had to go down. And if we couldn’t find a stairway, I’d make one.

“Do you know who I am?” A voice, raspy with disuse, called from the darkest shadows of the room.

“Nope and we aren’t making any fucking introductions. Come any closer and the only hello you’ll get will be from the tip of my sword.” I backed away, Alex with me.

“Little Tracker, little Rylee. Don’t you want to see me, don’t you want to know what your fate will be if you keep on this path of destruction? If you wish to finally face Orion, you need to know what he will do to you. What he does to all demon slayers.”

That voice, it pulled at me, made me stop thinking about finding Milly or Pamela. For a moment, I forgot about the thousands of demon bugs waiting for us on the other side of the door, though they hadn’t stopped their sing song of death.

“Who are you?” I whispered.

He shuffled closer. “Do you not know your own flesh and blood?”

A light bloomed and his face came into view.

Erik’s face.

I stumbled back. “That can’t be, I left you behind. With Ophelia and Blaz.”

He let out a groan. “A doppelganger demon, one who took my face and showed you what you wanted to see. A family member, one who could teach you a little about demons, yes? Give you symbols and things that would help you stop them?”

I swallowed hard, my mind back tracking. Fuck me, how could I have not seen it? The pieces of the puzzle slid into place and I barely breathed. Erik, the one I’d left behind, and Orion had said the same thing. The same quote about the blind not wanting to see. Or what about the fact our blades only burned bright when Erik was with us? Shit, it had been him making us think there was power in his stupid freaking words and symbols. He’d even convinced me not to Track demons so I wouldn’t figure out what he was.

“Yes to all the above.”

“Words that would keep them from you? That would end their existence? Words like dabine.” The light around him grew stronger. “But did he say he had no real power, he was just a human, taking his brother’s place?”

I nodded, numbed to the core. “But he helped me; you aren’t telling me the truth.”

The Erik in front of me gave me a tired smile. “Did he help you?”

Again, I was forced to see that while I’d wanted the other Erik to help me, he’d always hung back—doing the minimum, really just getting in my way, slowing me down. Putting me in danger on my own.

This Erik, the one in front of me, let out a tired sigh. “In families of slayers, every member has magic running through their veins. There are no words that work against demons. It is your blood, your blood and your heart and the innate power you carry. The fact you’re Immune is proof enough. The fact that you carry a small ability to glamor, the fact that you’re a Tracker, all of those are proof that you are a Slayer to the bone.” He slumped to his knees, then fell back to his ass. It was then that I saw the chains, heavy black links that held him tight to the wall and allowing no more than a few feet in each direction.

“Ophelia vouched for him. Why would she do that?”

While I waited for him to answer I Tracked Slayers as a whole and got a solid ping right in front of me, but nothing else, not even on the other side of the veil, not even from Alex who supposedly had demon slayer blood in him. But of course, that was a lie too.

More puzzle pieces came together. If Alex and Liam thought they could take down demons, they would leap into the fray, putting themselves into danger they couldn’t truly face.

The demon Erik had been setting us up all along, hoping to kill off my allies. They would have believed themselves safe behind the demon Erik’s silly words and symbols slashed into the air. Rage flooded my body as the real Erik spoke.

“Ophelia is broken, badly, her mind twisted when your father died. She would be very easy to convince, easy to control.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I spluttered. “Easy to control?”

“That is what happens when the bond between rider and dragon is destroyed. The rider can survive, but the dragon, their minds are too deeply ingrained with the bond. Even if they seem sane they lose their ability to deeply read someone’s mind; it burns that ability clear from them when their partner dies.”

A sudden, sinking thought, like a half ton of cement slid through me. “If I don’t have Blaz to ride into battle against Orion, what happens?”

Erik lifted his eyes to mine. “The world is done. If your dragon dies, and Ophelia dies, there are none able to carry you into the darkness. They are the only two who could do it.”

Trust your heart, Rylee. Your heart will never lead you wrong.

Your heart will get you killed one day.

Love is never wrong, and your heart knows it.

My heart said he was telling the truth. I lifted my sword and he closed his eyes.

Only one thing left to do, and no time to second guess myself.

Chapter 19

The blade on the chains caused a spark, but the blade prevailed, biting through the thick chain with relative ease.

“Come on, uncle. We’re on a rescue mission. I just didn’t know we’d be taking three out of this hell hole.” He might not have been reliable in the past, according to my mother, but I didn’t think he was that way anymore. The man in front of me was a solid rock of strength; I guess being captured by a demon changed you. Besides, I needed him at my side.