Betrayed (50 page)

“Move.”

Grinding my teeth, I kept going, my mind working furiously. The wide, curving, tunnel-like hal way looked nothing like the one at our HQ. Huge steel arches interspaced with concrete wal s and gray floor gave it a prison-like feel. The light source imbedded on the wal s came from the same luminous rocks we used at home. The only color was a thin blood-red line in the middle of the floor and the ancient writings on the doors. We didn’t meet any demons, though loud cheers surged and ebbed every few minutes.

“What do the writings on the doors say?” I asked, deliberately slowing down and pretending to pause to catch my breath. When Solange didn’t answer, I glanced at her. She was putting the Athame back inside her boot.

“House of Neteru,” she said impatiently. “The dome has four sectors, one for each of the four houses—red for Neteru, blue for Nosferatu, yel ow for Lazari, and green for Werenephil. The rooms behind the arena in each sector can be used by the leaders of the four houses, their families, guards, and workers.” She gestured sharply, indicating that I keep walking.

“Let me catch my breath.” I leaned against the wal , hoping she’d walk ahead of me and give me a chance to jump her. “How does the combat work?

What are the preliminary and chal enger levels?”

“You ask way too many questions and do too little walking. We’re almost there, and Valafar wil be more than happy to educate you.” Bitterness laced her words. Then she sighed. “If your ankle hurts that badly, I’l help you.”

I flinched and shuffled away from her extended hand. “No thanks.”

Annoyance crossed her gorgeous features.

“Then move it.”

“Tel me about the combat,” I asked again, stil stal ing by limping and using the wal for support.

“Each house picks sixteen fighters who battle each other in the preliminary until only two are left.

The two then represent the house by facing the fighters from the other houses at the elimination level until there’s a single winner. Then the chal enge level begins. Anyone can chal enge the winner. Unlike the other stages that start with hand-to-hand combat fol owed by weapons then powers, the chal enge level has no rules.”

“But Bran is a Guardian,” I protested even though I read the contract Bran signed. “He doesn’t belong to any house.”

Solange chuckled. “His mother was a Lazari, so that’s the house he’s representing. Since I left him fighting, he has either already won or is already dead,” she finished with a malicious grin.

My breath caught on a sob.
Bran,
I pinged again, hoping I was strong enough to send a signal far enough to reach him, that his shield wasn’t up and he could hear me. I had to help him.

“Here,” Solange said, pointing at a set of red double doors to our left.

I ignored her.

Walk ahead of me please…please, walk
ahead of me…
I prayed fervently, dragging my feet.

She muttered something under her breath and passed me. I launched myself at her.

Something large plucked me up in mid-air from behind. I opened my mouth to scream, but a hand closed over my mouth.

I gagged as the smel of burnt flesh assaulted my nose.

Don’t make a sound,
a voice warned.

Dante. Relief washed over me, leaving me woozy. I nodded, my heart stil pounding. He put me down and closed in on Solange. She must have down and closed in on Solange. She must have sensed something, but as she started to turn she was interrupted. Dante waved his arms, and her body went limp, eyes closed and head lol ed to the side. He grabbed her before she hit the floor, lifted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes then turned to me and said something.

I stared at his arm with wide eyes, not catching his words. The right sleeve of his black shirt was singed from wrist to upper arm. Patches of red, raw flesh and blisters were exposed through the burnt material.

“Lilith,” he hissed.

My eyes flew to his face.

“Your friends are waiting.” He nodded in the direction of my fake bedroom. “Head back that way and take the first set of stairs to the lowest level, then turn left. Keep going until you get to the fifth door on your right. Remember that…turn left…fifth door on your right. Solange wil be out for twenty to thirty minutes. That should give you and your friends enough time to make it to the surface and leave the island.”

It penetrated my head that he was helping us escape. Why?

“Lilith,” he ground out through his teeth, snapping me out of my trance. “Do as I say, or you’l never make it home.”

“Bran,” I blurted out in a shaky voice I hardly recognized. “Is he with the others?”

“No. Forget about him.”

That meant Bran was alive. “I can’t. We can’t leave him behind, Dante. Help me find him,” I begged, knowing the demon was already risking too much by helping us.

“It’s you I swore to protect,” he growled. “I’m already taking chances by helping your friends too.”

“Please,” I added.

His shoulders dropped. “Okay. I’l try, but I can’t promise anything.”

“And the List—”

“Go and find your friends,” he snapped, clearly exasperated. “The more you delay the higher the chances someone wil pick up on your presence in the hal way. Go.
Now.”
He dematerialized with the unconscious Solange.

Stairs…head down…turn left…fifth door to the right…. His words ringing in my head, adrenaline surging in my veins, I took off down the hal way at a dead run. Any moment, I expected Valafar or one of his minions to step outside one of the closed doors and yel out my name. With my red hair down, a demon would take one look at me and know who I was.

Squinting at the farthest section of the curving hal way, I teleported and banged my knuckles against a steel arch when I materialized. I ignored the pain and did it again. Careening around a bend, I almost missed the stairs. The writings on the doors and the line on the floor were no longer red. Instead they were yel ow. I did a U-turn and ran back. Dante forgot to mention the doors leading to the stairs.

Loud cheers reached my ears again.
Bran,
I screamed, my chest hurting as I imagined him out there alone, fighting a hopeless battle.

I burst through the doors, looked down from the top metal railing and gulped. How many floors did this stupid complex have? The winding stairs seemed endless. I took them at a run, teleporting where possible, eyes darting around in case someone was onto me. A stitch developed in my right side, sweat poured down my face and blurred my vision. Panting, I hit the last landing, lost my footing and skidded on the floor. The squeak of my boots sliding along the tiles helped me regain my focus. My whole body hurt, and for one brief moment, I wanted to scream in frustration.

A sound came from behind me and I whipped around, my heart hurtling to my throat, hand reaching for a dagger that wasn’t there.

“Dante,” I gasped. He must have teleported to the landing.

“You have welts on your face,” he said, frowning.

Hysteria bubbled to my throat, and I laughed.

His arm looked like he’d dipped it in boiling oil yet he was concerned about welts. He was the most contrary demon I ever met.

“They’l heal,” I answered, heading left, fingers squeezed into my sides to ease the annoying cramp.

The pain radiated from under my arm to my waist.

This hal way curved, too, but had fewer doors, no colored lines or writings, and it seemed dim and dingier.

“You’re not going to make it there fast enough.” He scooped me up, one arm under my enough.” He scooped me up, one arm under my knees and the other supporting my back, before I realized his intentions.

“Your arm—” I started to complain, but he already teleported. The next second, he put me down outside the fifth door. The acrid, dead flesh stench of hel hounds assaulted my senses, but a quick look around reassured me. We were alone though the floor bore burn marks and bloody smears.

Dante rapped on the door—twice, once, then three times.

His green-eyed partner from the al ey in L.A., also dressed in black, opened it from inside. Remy, Sykes, Kim, and Izzy were busy strapping on their weapons, a majority of which were stil spread on top of a steel table, the only furniture in the rectangular room. Seeing them brought a sudden rush of tears to my eyes.

They looked up and spoke at once.

“Lil…”

“You’re okay…”

“We were worried…”

“Have you seen Bran…?”

I didn’t know who said what, but my responses must have satisfied them because they went back to shoving daggers and knives in belts, sheaths, and inside boots. I searched among the weapons for the Kris Dagger. It wasn’t there. I grabbed my coat and dove into each pocket.

Nothing.

“Where’s my dagger?” I whispered harshly.

Dante and his friend exchanged an uneasy glance.

“Valafar put it in the vault under the dome,” Dante said.

There was no way I was leaving without the Kris Dagger. Focusing, my senses picked up its pulsating energy. It was stronger than earlier, but the connection was stil weak. I needed to be stronger.

“We’l forget about it for now,” I said. “Let’s head to the arena and get Bran first.”

“No. Leave the island and send the Cardinals to rescue Llyr,” Dante said firmly.

“We don’t rol like that, big guy,” Sykes said, shoving shurikens in his coat pockets.

“Meaning what?” Dante snapped.

“We never leave our people behind,” Sykes explained then studied Dante’s injured arm as though the subject was closed. “Won’t they know you helped us when they see the burn? It has
alpha
energy bal written al over it.”

Dante shrugged. “What’s done is done.”

“What happened?” I asked, sliding knives inside my boot. No demon ever survived an alpha bal attack.

“We regained consciousness to find Dante and Kael standing over us,” Remy explained. “We didn’t know they kil ed the hel hounds guarding us and this room. We thought they came for us and attacked. He’s lucky Sykes’ aim was off.”

“It wasn’t,” Sykes snapped back.

Tension was high without us turning on each other. Before I could say anything, Dante jumped in with, “He wasn’t off. He caught me teleporting.” For a demon, the big guy was perceptive. His soft voice didn’t seem as creepy as the first time we met.

“I’m sorry I can’t heal your arm,” Izzy added, glancing at Dante. “I can bandage it for you. Oh, and Kael said one of the Specials is a powerful healer.

Maybe you should come with us, so he can take care of that.”

Both Dante and Kael grunted.

“What?” Izzy asked, looking bewildered.

“You worry too much about insignificant things,” Kael said enunciating his words as though he was trying not to snap. “We should leave.” Dante

angled

his

head

as

though

communicating with someone, his black eyes sharpening. “We can’t leave the dome yet,” he said, louder. “Valafar knows Lilith is missing and has sent trackers to find her. They’l penetrate the shield we put down here if we don’t find a different hiding place.”

“Do you want me to distract them?” Kael asked.

Dante shook his head, but from the scowl on his face, he was trying to come up with a solution. He glanced at Kael then said, “Give me a second” and disappeared.

“Where did he go now?” I asked.

“To check on something,” Kael said mysteriously. For the first time, I wondered if perhaps we trusted them too much.

I tore my eyes away from Kael to look at my friends. They al gripped weapons, determination friends. They al gripped weapons, determination written on their faces, ready to go down fighting, but they couldn’t hide their fear. They were terrified just like me. We didn’t stand a chance against Valafar’s minions even with Dante and Kael on our side, not without the Kris Dagger. Our only chance was to find it, get Bran, then sneak out.

“We need to split,” I suggested.

“No,” Izzy, Kim, Sykes, and Remy protested in unison.

“Yes,” I shot back. “They’re looking for me, not you guys. They don’t even know you’ve escaped.

Leave with Kael, find Bran, and head to the surface.

Dante and I wil get the Kris and fol ow you. If they catch up with us, at least you guys wil be safe.”

“We leave together, Lil,” Remy said in an uncompromising tone. “End of story.”

The others nodded.

“Then don’t leave me behind,” I whispered, my voice slightly unsteady. “Wait for me on the surface.”

Izzy’s eyes grew bright, and she blinked rapidly as though to stop tears from flowing. Kim’s lips stiffened, the hand holding her dagger trembled.

A muscle ticked on Remy’s jaw while Sykes’ eyes flashed as though he wanted to punch someone. I got it. They didn’t want to leave without me. But I couldn’t put them in danger.

“If Valafar’s men catch up with me, they won’t hurt me,” I pushed. My voice came out firm and confident. No matter how scared I was, I couldn’t afford to show it, or they wouldn’t leave. “From my conversation with Solange, I know what he’s planned. He’s manipulative and wil do whatever it takes to go through with it, including using you guys.

Don’t sacrifice yourselves or give him the satisfaction of kil ing more Guardians.” From the way my friends stared at me, I knew I got their attention.

“She’s right about one thing,” Kael said. “Lord Valafar wil not stop until he gets what he wants. He plans to trade you four for the Specials. If that plan fails, he wil not hesitate to kil you. As for Lil, he set up this entire mortal combat event to get her here.” While my friends absorbed Kael’s words, Dante reappeared. “Lord Valafar mobilized al his guards,” he said. “There are more searching in the other sectors and on the surface. You should al wait in Lil’s room.”

“Lil’s room?” someone asked, Kim or Izzy, I wasn’t sure.

Dante nodded. “The trackers already searched it. I know because I suggested it. They won’t think of looking there again. Once it’s safe, we’l lead you out.” He gave me a hard look. “We’l have to rethink finding Llyr.”

I didn’t say anything, but Tartarus would open up before I left without Bran.