With the power from Ulnyx running through me, my physical fatigue had vanished, but his power was all I had. I could have done one on one against Lylyx, and maybe even as far as six on one. These odds were ridiculous, and even though I put up a good fight, it was a fight I knew I couldn’t win. I managed to disembowel two of the weres, rip the throat out of another, and put a massive hurt on a fourth, but in the end Lylyx helped them drag me to the ground, and a well-placed stone to the back of my head took me the rest of the way out of the fight.

  I lost control of the Great Were’s power then, feeling my body shrink, even feeling the cold and wet of the night on my naked skin. I wished I could relish the feelings that had been evading me for so long, but the world grew fuzzy, and then vanished.

  Chapter 9

  I woke up in a small room, a simple room with stone walls, a small square window, a bed, a wooden door, and a clutter of straw-filled dolls that lay scattered around the floor. I wasn’t alone in the room. A fourteen-year-old girl with a plain face and brown hair was sitting on the bed next to me. An older man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail was leaning against the wall, looking out the room’s only window into a pasture beyond.

  “Josette,” I said, recognizing the girl. Her smile pierced me, and I could feel my heart begin to race. I reached out and wrapped my arms around her, holding her tight while she patted my back.

  “Landon,” she said softly. “I’ve missed you.”

  “You know I’ve missed you,” I replied.

  “Touching. Really,” the man said.

  “Piss off Ullie,” I said, breaking the embrace and staring down the demon. “What are you doing here anyway?”

  I knew what this place was from the memories - Josette’s Source. Somehow, I had found my way here after the weres had knocked me out. The good news, it meant they hadn’t killed me … yet.

  “It’s your party,” he replied. “If you didn’t want me along, you never should have invited me.”

  Not that I had a choice. Now I was stuck with him. “I liked you better when you didn’t say anything,” I said. “Your power is useful, your mouth isn’t.”

  I was rewarded with a chuckle. Josette squeezed my hand and regained my attention before I could say anything else. She started to speak, but I put my hand to her lips to stop her.

  “I’m sorry Josette, but can one of you please tell me what the heck is going on here? For the last five years you’ve both been silent except for these random memories that leave me struggling to stand, and now all of a sudden I get knocked out, and you’re both here? One of you I’m happy to see, but your timing kind of sucks.”

  “Be glad you have me, Landon,” Ulnyx said. “I’m the only reason you’re still alive.”

  “Care to elaborate?” I asked.

  Ulnyx bent over and picked up one of the straw dolls. “It’s like this, meat,” he said. “Lylyx has a thing for me. She always has. Man, no matter how hard I tried to satisfy her, she always wanted more. It’s sexy as hell, and so I have this thing for her too.”

  “She wanted your puppies,” I said. “You’re sterile.”

  I knew it would send him into a rage, especially since Josette was there. He didn’t disappoint, taking the straw doll and tearing it in half. He tried to come at me, but a thought was all I needed to hold him in place. I still owned his soul.

  “Yeah, anyway,” he said, his anger falling away in an instant, “if she’s been promoted to a Great Were, it means her master has major mojo, at least as much as Reyzl, and probably more. She’s going to see if she can have me extracted.”

  “Can that be done?” I asked, suddenly hopeful. I wouldn’t mind ridding myself of the demon, now that I didn’t need his soul anymore. I would miss his power, but not his twisted memories.

  “It can’t be done,” Josette said. “Anyone who says it can is lying.”

  “How do you know, Miss Priss?” Ulnyx asked, leering at the angel. Another thought, and his head turned to look out the window.

  “It’s been attempted before,” she replied. “Gervais has a laboratory where he performs certain… experiments.” We both shivered at the memory of the room, more torture chamber than science lab. “I’ve seen him try. Once a soul is absorbed, it is entwined with that of the bearer. Trying to unravel it destroys both.”

  Ulnyx sighed. “I wish you angels could lie once in awhile. The truth is crap.”

  I swallowed my disappointment. “I get that our souls are connected,” I said. “I can feel that when I tap your power. That doesn’t answer why all this time I’ve only been able to catch whispers, and now we’re all having a pow-wow in your Source.”

  Josette shook her head. “I don’t know, fellow,” she said. “I could hear you calling out to me, and I tried to call back, but you never heard me. Ever since I gave you my soul, I’ve been lost in the dark, aware of your experience, but at the same time cut off from you. When Izak summoned me, I saw a hint of light for the first time in years. I spoke to you, and you heard.” Tears began to run down her round face.

  “It hasn’t been a picnic for me either, sister,” Ulnyx said. “I’ve had to listen to this one pray, listen to her cry, listen to her bitch and moan. ‘Oh my daughter,’” he raised his voice in pitch and held his hands up in hopelessness. I threw him against the wall.

  “Shut it Ullie,” I said. “I can make your eternity worse than being in Hell.”

  The Were swallowed and nodded. “Well, it sucks being here,” he said. “Sometimes you’re fun, like when you turned on that dude Silas.” He laughed. “Oh, and the way you played Lylyx was classic. Damn that kiss was nice.”

  “Do you have anything helpful to say?” I asked.

  “I’ve been kicking and screaming in here too,” he said. “There’s this light always shining down on me. Man, it was dim right after you got that witch to snuff herself. Then, when I smelled Lylyx, it just pushed me over the edge. If I had to guess, I would say your own power drowns us out most of the time. You get pooped, we get let out of our cages.”

  “There’s only one of you I’d prefer caged,” I said.

  “I’m sorry Landon,” Josette said. “I believe it is an all or nothing proposition. However; if you can learn to control it, we may be of some use to you. At the very least, it might help with the memories.”

  “Be of use?” Ulnyx asked. “Don’t look at me, I’m not about to help you out.”

  I threw Ulnyx against the wall again, and then began to compress his body. He cried out as his bones shattered from the force. “I can do this all day,” I said. My control over the demon’s soul was complete.

  “Okay, okay,” he begged. I let him straighten up. “I guess if I’m stuck with you, I might as well throw you a bone once in awhile.”

  I ignored him, struck by a thought that had crossed me before, but I had dismissed. “Tell me,” I said. “If I were less powerful, and I had absorbed a couple of demons who were much more powerful, do you think I would hear them talking to me all the time?”

  They didn’t answer right away.

  “Landon,” Josette said at last. “I know what you are thinking, but it doesn’t work that way. Even if Rebecca could hear Merov and Reyzl, she has total domination over them. She could quiet them if she wished.”

  It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I nodded. “But maybe they said something to her. Told her some lie, tricked her into leaving.”

  Ulnyx face-palmed. “Man, you’ve got to let it go. She’s a demon. She lives to take power, not play house. Maybe she cared for you, but you can’t deny your nature. Not forever. Face the fact that you were duped and move on.”

  I hated to admit it. I hated to accept it. I’d been holding onto hope, but it was fading fast.

  “That may be the first smart thing I’ve ever heard you say,” I told the demon. “Now, let’s talk about Lylyx’s master. I thought it was Gervais, but that’s obviously wrong. Whoever is Commanding her, they’re female.”

  “It has to be the Demon Queen,” Josette said.

  “No,” I replied. “She gave me the Grail. She told me Reyzl was going to turn on me. She had her blood blessed by an archangel, and she wanted me to win. Why would she do that just to turn on me five years later?”

  “You know the answer,” Ulnyx said. “How many times do you have to have your balls yanked by a foxy hellion before you wise up?”

  Demons were patient, and they were masters of deception and manipulation. I had already been over that thread with Dante. “The Outcast’s servant was sure it was Gervais.”

  Ulnyx shrugged. “So they’re working together. Probably having some fun in their spare time. Where’s the confusion?”

  It was possible they were in it together. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice by trusting my female alter ego too far. Right now it didn’t matter. Even if they were tag-teaming me, if I could get to Gervais, I could get to Sarah. Charis had outmatched me the first time we had met, but that was five years ago. I had learned a few more tricks since then. Hopefully more than she had.

  “Okay genius,” I said to the Were. “It doesn’t hurt to assume you’re right. We have one little problem, in that your girlfriend has my body, and I’m unconscious.”

  “You’re going to wake up eventually, and like I said, she won’t harm you while she thinks she can get me out. She’s a bitch, but she’s my bitch, and I don’t want you to destroy her.” Ulnyx smiled - a vicious, devious smile. “Here’s what you’re going to do.”

  Chapter 10

  When I woke, it was dark. Not that dark meant much to me. It only took me a second to recognize that I was squeezed into a too-small sealed enclosure, my body contorted in a way that would make anyone cringe. I felt the pain of my burning muscles, but I had felt much worse, so I didn’t let it distract me. Instead, I focused on my sarcophagus, recognizing the feel of metal, looking for a locking mechanism. I smiled when I found the tumblers. A safe of some kind; it would be easy enough to get out of.

  Except, I didn’t even try. Ulnyx had given me a plan, and it seemed like a good one. Despite the pain and discomfort, patience was the best course of action.

  I focused on my Sight, finding Lylyx without difficulty. She was less than twenty feet away, I closed my eyes and focused on enhancing my hearing. She was on the phone.

  “Yes, master,” she said. “Yes, I know you said to distract him, but I did better than that. He’s nowhere near as strong as you thought. I captured him.” She stopped to listen, and I could smell her fear, even through the steel box. “Yes, master. I was only trying to make you proud. I’m sorry. You want me to let him go? I don’t understand? What do you mean it isn’t time yet? No, master, I’m not questioning you. Yes, master. I’ll leave him in Chantilly. Please, I’m sorry. Thank you, thank you. I won’t fail you again.”

  I heard her take the phone from her ear and put it on the desk. The chair slid back on a wooden floor, and a door opened.

  “Get the truck,” she called out. The door closed again, and then I heard her bare feet whispering along the hardwood. She stopped right outside the safe, crouched down and whispered. “Ullie, if you can hear me, I’ve never stopped loving you. I want to get you out of there, but if I don’t do what the master says I’ll be in worse shape than you are.”

  “If you don’t let me out of this safe, you won’t have to worry about it,” I said. I smiled when she gasped.

  “Wasn’t being beaten down once enough for you diuscrucis?” she asked, recovering from her surprise.

  “I’m afraid not,” I said. “Hey, I have a question for you. Do you accept that I’ve absorbed Ulnyx’s soul and have domination over him?” I added the last part myself. I hope the Were heard it.

  She paused. “I accept that you’ve absorbed his soul, but if your ability in a fight is any indication, domination isn’t a word I’d use.”

  The snark didn’t matter. What did matter was that she had confirmed Ulnyx’s continued existence, which was the lynchpin of the demon’s plan. Apparently, there was some odd loophole in were law that I could take advantage of provided she acknowledged him. It was his way of getting me what I wanted, and also something he wanted. A demon wouldn’t do it any other way.

  “In that case,” I said. “As the former alpha, I challenge you leadership of the pack.”

  I heard her gasp again. I smelled her renewed fear, though it was nothing compared to what she had exhibited when she was on the phone. We hadn’t factored that fear in, but it would play right into my hands.

  “What kind of trick is this?” she hissed. “You have no right to challenge.”

  I focused, finding the deadbolts and crushing them. She backed up when the door swung open and I pushed myself out, falling into a lump on the floor. Muscles and tendons popped back into place, my body healing almost instantly. I hadn’t realized how drained I was becoming by never shutting down. I felt stronger than I had in a long time.

  I rose smoothly to my feet, facing her, and felt a sudden rush of blood to my head. I hadn’t expected her to be nude. She stirred something in me that I knew wasn’t wholly mine.

  “Wow,” I whispered, the word escaping me before I could catch it. She truly was a work of art, but that wasn’t part of the plan. “Pack laws don’t distinguish the meat,” I said, pulling my eyes up to her eyes. “Otherwise the strongest wouldn’t be able to claim new shells. You just confirmed that Ulnyx’s soul is inside of me, and that makes me eligible to challenge. They’re your rules, not mine.”

  She backed up a few steps, her eyes dropping to my own naked form. I fought to stay confident, despite her gaze on my overly cooperative midriff.

  “You’ve put me in an uncomfortable position diuscrucis,” she said, looking back up at my face. What about the uncomfortable position she had me in? “When I win, I’ll be forced to answer to the master for killing you.”

  I tried not to smirk, but I couldn’t help it. Ulnyx had told me how he thought this would play out, but Lylyx’s overwhelming fear of her master was making it much easier. I couldn’t communicate with either of them now that I was awake and my energy had been restored, but I knew they would experience the moment. I could imagine the demon’s glee.

  “You aren’t going to win,” I said. “In fact, you’re going to lose on purpose, because it’s the only way you have a chance to survive.”

  Her anger flared, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she walked across the room, rocking her hips suggestively. I ignored the temptation to follow her retreat, instead taking in my surroundings. Judging from the faded yellow striped wallpaper, the worn hardwood floor, the arched wood roofing, the filthy windows, and the pasture beyond, I figured I was on the top floor of an old farmhouse. It must have been the master suite, or an apartment, because there was one door which I knew led out to the rest of the house, and another that led into the bedroom, and beyond it the bathroom. That was where Lylyx was headed.

  She returned a minute later in a white silk robe that covered her modesty, but didn’t leave much to the imagination. I could feel Ulnyx still buzzing below the surface like the caged animal he was. She tossed me a matching robe.

  “Not that I mind the view,” she said. “But it’ll be easier to do business this way.”

  I caught the robe, fighting to keep my face from flushing. I slipped it on and focused, re-rendering it into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I did the same to her clothes; not a glamour, but an actual alteration. It seemed simple, but that kind of precision had taken months to develop. Judging by a sudden change in the atmosphere, she knew it was no parlor trick.

  “I agree,” I said.

  “Last night?” she said. It was obvious she had just realized how badly she’d underestimated me.

  “I had a long day, and was running out of steam,” I replied. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

  She looked at me like that was the dumbest idea she had ever heard. “Kill you? Do you know what she would have done to me for killing you? Besides, you have Ulnyx in you, I can see him in your eye. I’m not stupid, I know extraction is a supposed to be a myth, but there are rumors there’s a djinn in Moscow who can do it.”

  I filed that tidbit away. Josette had said it couldn’t be done, but there wouldn’t be any harm in paying this djinn a visit once Sarah was safe. “You keep talking about your master. I know it isn’t Gervais, so who is it?”

  Her face blanched. “The Demon Queen,” she said.

  I tried to stay stone-faced, to not give anything away. My heart began to pound, my mind began to race, and I knew I had blown it. The witch had been right, I was a fool.

  “She sent an archvampire to our den with the phone,” Lylyx continued, her voice frightened in response to my body language. “She told me if I would follow her, she would make me Great.” She smiled. “Of course I agreed. I’ve been in charge of the pack since Ullie left, but I’m getting old, and it was only a matter of time before I was challenged to a fight I couldn’t win.” She laughed. “I didn’t expect you to be the one to make that challenge.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was better to know what I was dealing with. It was better to know Charis had suckered me, but to what end? I clamped down on my emotions and opened my eyes again.

  “Your time is up,” I said. I walked over to the desk and picked up the cellphone. “She calls you on this?”

  Lylyx nodded. I looked at the contact list. I wasn’t familiar with the country code, but it wasn’t the United States. I pushed the call button.