I’d been back at the house for twenty minutes and listened as my sisters reported in. Mystical and demonic creatures, all of which seemed to be after some sort of treasure, were overrunning Earth.
I’d just defeated six Morgre demons. They were nasty, toxic creatures that looked like a cross between a kangaroo with horns, and a man. I discovered the power of their legs when my roundhouse kick missed and I took a hit to the ribs.
I didn’t hit the ground but I did stumble. I knew the ribs on my right side were probably broken, because it hurt like hell to breathe. That made me angry. I’d already taken down three of the monsters and I turned my fury on the others.
They circled me, expecting me to jump at any second and strike. Staying in a crouching position, I used my saber to take out their big kangaroo ankles in one hard-core hit. My shoulders and arms shook with the effort, but it worked. They all three fell back helpless without the use of their feet for balance. After a quick decapitation their bodies became a big pile of black ash. That happened with certain demons, and it made cleanup a lot easier.
This had been my third round with a gang of demons. The first was at a museum in Florence, and the second on a deserted street in Cairo. There were several trinket shops surrounding the area, which made me wonder if these demons had also been after some sort of treasure. The Morgres had been just outside a church in Paris where jewels of former kings and queens were stored in crypts below.
“Why can’t we just shut down the damn portals?” I questioned Jake as I watched the blips disappear on the monitors. We were in the control room and the blips had finally slowed down.
Before he could answer, Mira walked in. “Black magic. Mom and your demon king were right. I helped Alex close down hers, and with our help we shut down Claire’s. Something is definitely wrong. I’m going to need your help and probably Mom or Aunt Juliet to close mine. We couldn’t do it ourselves.”
“We sent an electronic pulse, which usually shuts down everything immediately, but it bounced back,” added Jake. Thanks to Bailey we’d discovered that a combo of science and magic sometimes tilted the universe in our favor. Bailey had developed the pulse a few years ago, when we’d had trouble with one of the worlds breaking its treaty. “The good news is the jumpers have slowed down.”
I paced behind the control panels. The security directors were talking through their comms. All of them were nervous, and I didn’t blame them. They were human, and though most of them had been with us several years, none of us had ever seen anything like this.
“At least they aren’t attacking,” said Mira. She had a large cut on her shoulder. “From what I heard from Alex and Claire, there were three or four jumpers who were after some kind of treasure.”
“Same here.” I nodded. “It’s too coordinated to be random, and why all at once? Mira, you want to help me with the portal?”
We moved into the weapons room next door to get my watch. Just as we lifted our wrists to channel our powers through the watches, Claire and Alex stepped through. Well, Claire carried Alex.
The right side of her chin was burned, as were her arms and hands.
“Damn dragons,” Mira hissed.
I called for Jake to help Claire get Alex down to the healers.
“I’m okay.” Alex’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “They came out of nowhere. The portal was closed.”
“I was around the corner helping with cleanup from the first raid, and I ran as fast as I could.” Claire’s normally sweet face was twisted in anger. “They were dead, but not before they hurt her.”
Alex managed a weak smile. “They’re lucky they were already dead. Our little sister was in quite a mood.”
“Nobody messes with my family,” Claire growled.
Jake and one of the other security agents came in to help carry Alex, but Claire wouldn’t let go of her. We are all a bit protective of one another. We might give each other hell at times, but when it came down to it, we were as tight as any family could be.
“Claire, you have to put Alex down,” Mira ordered, her voice firm but calm. “You know how tough it was to close our portals. Gillian’s going to need our help, so let’s get it done.”
“What about me?” Alex’s voice was hoarse, and edged with pain.
“You visit the healers and do what they say. We need you at full strength. God knows what’s going to happen next,” I told her.
Mira gave me a soft shove. “Don’t say that, you’ll jinx us all.” I rolled my eyes, and Alex gave a short chuckle. “Put me down, little sister.” She patted Claire’s hand.
Claire reluctantly handed over Alex. “I can stand,” Alex grumbled as Jake took her in his arms.
“I’m sure you can,” he told her, “right after we get you fixed up.” He gave her a look that made me wonder if he had a bit of a crush on her. Jake was hot, in a stuffed-shirt kind of way.
Huh.
They left, and the three of us raised our wrists. Concentrating, I envisioned the portal and it hummed to life, but no matter what kind of power we shot through it, nothing happened.
“Holy crap. This is nuts.” I pushed my hair back from my face. “Let’s try again.”
Nothing happened.
“What the hell?” I’d been a Guardian for a long time and there was no protocol for this. We’d always been able to shut down the damn things during emergencies.
“Maybe we should call Mom.” From her tone, it was clear Claire wasn’t happy with the idea. Bringing in our mother would mean we hadn’t done our jobs properly. That, as I’ve mentioned before, was unacceptable to the matriarch of the Caruthers clan. I had no desire to be around when my sisters told her what had happened.
“You should definitely let her know what’s going on, but I think I can solve our problem from the other side. I’m going to talk to King Arath.”
“Do you think that’s wise?” Mira frowned. “He’ll know we’ve lost control and that’s never good.”
“Can you think of any other way?” I asked them both, and they shrugged. “I’d rather deal with Arath than Mom. The portals to Maunra haven’t been tainted with the black magic yet, and I have a feeling he’ll know what to do.”
They nodded.
I picked up my sword, and grabbed one of Bailey’s guns just in case. I still had both of my knives in my boots from earlier. I twisted my shoulders and tried to relax. We’d all expended a great deal of power and I already felt the drain. It didn’t help that breathing was difficult thanks to the broken ribs.
Suck it up, Gilly.
“You guys see what you can do from this side. I’m going to have a short chat with the demon king.” The blue light of the portal shot forth and I stepped through.
Thankfully I landed on my feet a few seconds later,
but the jarring landing took my breath for a moment. I was met by a contingent of demons. This time there were ten different monsters. Some floated in circles around me; others stood at attention.
They weren’t attacking, which was a good sign.
I pulled my translator out and stuck it in the right ear.
“We are the protective guard. Your life is in danger. King Arath wishes to see you now.” The demon closest to me had a humanlike head. The rest of its body was covered in hair that fell to its feet.
I followed Cousin Itt to the castle door, the others circling us in protection.
Huh. I wonder what’s going on here.
Maybe Arath had experienced the same thing on Maunra as we had on Earth. This time the castle was filled to capacity. At first glance, every clan seemed to be represented. As we entered through the wooden doors, the crowd in the large hall parted and left us a clear path. Still, all those demons in one place made my skin crawl.
We went through an archway in the back of the room. I’d never been in this part of the castle. There was a long hallway with several doors. Cousin Itt knocked on a door.
Arath’s gruff voice answered from the other side and I entered. The room held an enormous round table where thirty different demons sat. All of them looked my way. At least I think they did. Some of them had so many eyes it was difficult to tell.
I bowed my head toward the king. Even though I needed his attention immediately, I waited for him to speak, another sign of respect. It was important to uphold tradition when surrounded by so many of his subjects, and these guys were obviously either heads of clans or demons of power. Peasants didn’t sit at the table with the king.
“Guardian, there is trouble in your world and mine. I am aware.” The power emanated off of him in waves, his voice strong and so loud it made my eardrums hurt. The scary thing was I knew there was more power in him. He was only using a small percentage to control the others.
I couldn’t keep my left eyebrow from rising, though I tried. “So you know about the portals?”
He nodded. “It’s more serious than you can imagine. Your Earth portals are not the only ones affected. There are no barriers between worlds and chaos reigns.”
Waving a hand around the table. “These are the heads of Maunra clans. They are here to discuss the thefts of several treasures. One clan believes another has stolen their precious items. Since this is so widespread, it is my belief that one group is responsible, or one being.”
Interesting. Their treasures were stolen, too.
The crowd around the table also explained why the castle was busting at the seams with creatures. No clan chief would travel without his guards. I stayed by the door, but moved just to the right. I didn’t like the idea of having my back open to anything coming up behind me.
“We’ve been experiencing the same sort of thing, but they are targeting religious artifacts, most of it jewelry,” I explained. “It isn’t just your people. My sisters reported that Fae, dragons, and Nereids are involved. It’s as widespread there as it is here.”
Arath translated what I told him to the other clan members. They all seemed to settle down. It was one thing to think your neighbor stole your stuff, quite another to think someone from another world did. I had a feeling Arath wanted to prove to them that this was the case. That would make the clans work together, rather than fighting against one another. He really was a wise leader.
“I’m more than happy to investigate the situation, King Arath, but right now I have a pressing problem.” I couldn’t talk about not being able to close the portals in front of the demons. “When you have a moment I need to speak to you privately about the shift.” It bothered me that I had to ask for help. My mother would be furious. Hopefully, Mira and Claire would be able to make her see reason.
Arath clapped his hands and Cousin Itt, who had led me to the room, appeared in the door again. “Take her to the Well Room. I will be there shortly.”
I started to say something, but I stopped myself. It would be rude to respond once I’d been dismissed. I bowed my head again and followed the demon down the hall. Arath obviously had his hands full, but my problem needed an immediate solution.
The door at the end of the hall opened, and my guide stood beside it as I entered. I hadn’t really known what to expect, but it wasn’t what I saw before me.
Glass windows made up the outside wall, which looked out over an ocean view. As many times as I’d been to the castle, I’d never been privy to this. Most of my meetings took place in the main hall or in one of the side rooms off of it.
Day faded into night and a light snow fell from the purple clouds. The water looked like dark blue glass, almost as if it were frozen but not quite. It was beautiful. For the first time in twenty-four hours my shoulders relaxed. The tension headache I’d been feeling eased, and I took a deep breath. My ribs still ached, but not as badly as before.
Several small tables and chairs had been set up around the room. I took the one in the center. It had the best view. As I continued to stare out onto the sea, my mind wandered. I didn’t think about killing the demons who had jumped to my planet or the troubles with the portals. No, I thought about how great it would be to have a snowmobile and ride it along the snow-banks before me.
I leaned back in the carved wooden chair. Unlike most of the furniture in the castle, the ones here actually had comfortable cushions. I wondered what my sisters were doing, and remembered that I needed to check with Georgia about the details concerning the Arts in Schools fund-raiser. Caruthers Corp. hosted the event, and Alex did most of the party planning. I was in charge of getting donations, most of which had been taken care of months ago.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I jumped up and ran for the door. It was locked from the outside. I chastised myself as I paced back and forth.
How could you be so stupid, Gillian?
I wanted to punch a wall, but I needed my strength.
When the door finally opened I was ready to kill the king. I drew my sword. He stopped short.
Brandishing it at him, I yelled, “What kind of magic are you using on me? You better stop it right now or I’ll kill you.”
CHAPTER 11
Moving into the Well Room, Arath belly-laughed. I
held my sword at the ready.
“I mean it. Tell me what you did to me.” I moved to the center of the room, my back to the ocean view.
He laughed again. “You have fire in your soul, and I do believe you might have tried to kill me. I sent you a relaxing, healing spell to help with your injuries.”
As he pointed to my right shoulder I looked down. The shredded leather hung there, but the angry claw marks and clotted blood were gone.
I felt foolish, since I hadn’t even noticed my own arm had healed. “I understand you wanted to help, but I’d appreciate you asking me beforehand. We have healers at home who take care of the Guardians.”
Closing the door behind him, he moved toward me. “Showing up here with demon and human blood on your body was not a good idea.” Now his voice was soft, almost seductive. “I can control my hunger, but there are those in the castle who cannot. It was not safe for you to stay in that room much longer, and that is why I healed your wounds.”
My anger subsided.
Crap.
“You’re doing it again.”