High Demon 3 - Demon's King (3 page)

I still had no idea why my captors had kept me alive or what they wanted from me. I gathered my wits about me and made the attempt to skip. Nothing. I was still right where I was with my attendants securing me to a bed somehow. "Watch the bag." The voice came again. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I still couldn't place it. With my wits addled as they were, I wasn't surprised. My mind could be playing tricks on me, too—I knew that.

"All done," one of my attendants heaved a relieved sigh. I heard them walking out and then the sounds of an iron-barred door closing. I knew something of where I was then; I'd heard that sound many times over the past few years. It was the sound of confinement. I was in a prison cell.

* * *

"I think we can remove the feeding tube this afternoon." Second voice was back. I hadn't heard from him for several days. Someone else had come to bathe me in between. Someone with gentle hands, although they never spoke. Those hands always stopped if I whimpered with pain, giving me a moment to deal with it before beginning again.

"Then we'll have to remove the blindfold too, if we expect her to feed herself." First voice was also back. He didn't sound happy.

"She will be weak—she may not be able to lift her hand at first—you've kept her restrained. We should have been exercising her more."

"Don't tell me my business. I know what I'm doing."

"Of course. Sir."

"Call me when the tube comes out. I'll let you remove the blindfold at that time. We may get some feedback from our prisoner then." First voice walked away.

"Taking the tube out won't hurt much, don't worry about it," second voice soothed. At his words, I decided to try my voice. I hadn't spoken for a very long time.

"What does he want?" My voice cracked—my mouth was too dry.

"I don't know the whole of it, and I couldn't tell you anyway. He has forbidden it." I wanted to ask if they were going to hurt me. Ask what they knew about me to keep me like this. I didn't. I knew better. I had to be patient. Right then, I had very little in the way of patience. I would have to work on that.

"Pretty girl," second voice went on, "I have to ask you now not to hurt yourself if we remove the restraints. Can you do that for me? You won't have control over your muscles at first, and you're still in casts—your arm and both legs, anyway. We'll have to wrap your ribs better once the feeding tube comes out. I know it hurts to breathe." A hand stroked my forehead.

"Name?" I asked.

"He won't allow me to tell you. Mine or his." I tried to swallow but my mouth was too dry. "Here." He swabbed my mouth with a moistened applicator. That helped. "We have an IV line in too, to keep your fluids up. We'll remove that at the same time."

"Should have let me die," I whispered.

"No." Second voice whispered back. "The target did get killed. The boss said finding you afterward was the biggest bonus he's ever gotten."

Was he saying Zellar was dead? Was that what he meant or was there someone else? "Of course all of Zellar's little apprentices are out there now and we have to hunt them down." Second voice sounded extremely angry about that. At least I knew that Zellar was dead, but what was that about apprentices? How many were there? Would they do what Zellar had done, draining worlds until they died? That frightened me and my heart rate and breathing increased.

"I didn't mean to upset you, sweet girl. Calm down, all right?"

"You don't know that I'm sweet," I rasped.

"No, I don't know that," he chuckled softly. "I do know you're the prettiest thing I've seen in a long time and the boss will kill me if I lay a hand on you other than to treat your wounds." He moved around for a while before leaving. "I'll be back in a few ticks," he promised. The sound of the iron-barred door opening and closing came next. I heaved as much of a sigh as my ribs allowed.

* * *

"IV out first," my right hand felt the tug as the line was pulled out. The hand was wiped with cold disinfectant before a bandage was laid across the wound. "Not much bleeding, that's good," second voice said. "Now, for the feeding tube." He rustled around the bed, unhooking the bag, I imagined, just by the sound of it. A click—the line had been closed off. Didn't want the contents of my stomach everywhere, I suppose. "Now, we take the stitches out," a snipping sound and then the tugging came. Removing the stitches didn't hurt much at all. The tube coming out did. It caused a muffled shriek to escape—I hadn't been expecting it.

"It's over, we just have to cover up the small wound," second voice said. He did so, wiping off the wound and covering it with more bandaging. "You'll still have to be bathed for a while until the wound heals and the casts come off. The scans look good, though. Should be a few days at most."

"I want to wash my hair." My voice sounded like one sheet of sandpaper rubbed against another.

"I know, pretty girl. We'll see about that."

"Don't fucking call her that." First voice had arrived and was watching. Second voice was silent. I cringed.

The restraints came off next. "Try to raise your right arm," second voice said. I tried. That was the best that could be said. I got it off the bed but I shook with the effort. "Grip my fingers." I gave the best grip I could. It wasn't much. Second voice moved to the other side of my bed and did the same with my left hand. My arm was weighed down by the cast, although it was made of the lightest materials. I did better at squeezing his fingers on that side.

"Now the blindfold," first voice demanded.

"Now the blindfold," second voice repeated. I learned it was grip-fastened in the back so I wouldn't have to lie on a knot in the fabric. Second voice pulled it away and I blinked, unprepared in the sudden light. Even though it was dimmed, it still hurt my eyes. They watered while I worked furiously to get my sight to clear. I peered into second voice's face. It wasn't a bad face and he was smiling at me. He looked to be around forty turns or so, had dark-brown hair, hazel eyes, a nose that was a bit large and a dimple when he smiled. I couldn't bring myself to smile back at him.

"We'll let you try to eat in just a little," he assured me. He wasn't going to tell me his name. Well, I wasn't going to tell him mine, either. Things might have gone well if first voice hadn't stepped into my line of vision. It took everything I had to rip one of the restraints from the bed rail and fling it at him, screaming the entire time.

Chapter 2
 

"Let me go, you stinking pile of shit," I shouted at Teeg San Gerxon. Of course, I was weeping and hanging precariously off the bed while I did it. My muscles no longer obeyed me and the pain of moving with cracked and broken ribs was unbearable. I learned then that my back, too, could bellow its displeasure.

Second voice was shouting for help and Astralan, the warlock asshole, was there to help in only a blink. Both got me back on the bed—with second voice fussing the entire time while Teeg stood off to the side, watching with hooded eyes and absolutely no expression on his face. Once I was back on the bed and arranged to second voice's satisfaction, Teeg came to the bed again. "Done with your little outburst, Reah?" I didn't answer him. "And I don't intend to let you go. While you voided the adoption with Arvil, we are still married. I never set that aside, you know. You'd have learned that if you hadn't skipped away from me the last time."

"Oh, boo-hoo," I said, turning my face away from him. "Send me back to the Alliance—they don't recognize your marriage contract there. See? Problem solved."

"I could have set it aside here. I decided not to."

"It's too late for me to sign a pre-nup."

"Reah."

"Teeg, don't even try. You get everything you want? Do you?"

"You're harder, now."

"You can bet your ass on that." Working for the ASD had done that. Dealing with what he'd done to me before had done that. Now he was back to torture me again.

"Can you still cook?" Astralan asked.

"Astralan, go ahead. Do your best sorcery or whatever the hell it is that you do. I dare you." I turned my head back to glare at the warlock. "How's Teeg treating you? As well as the Hardlows?"

"Not even a comparison," Astralan grinned.

"We had everything set up to take Zellar down inside that hotel room, Reah," Teeg crossed arms over his chest. That chest was just as wide as it was before. "But the Alliance sends in one of theirs. It couldn't have turned out more perfect. They hand you right back to me, when I've been looking for you for years." I pointedly ignored the fact that Teeg was just as handsome as he ever was.

"Sure, you looked for me. And Elves are real, too," I muttered. I didn't add that if I were in better health, I might consider breaking his perfect nose with a single punch.

"You might be surprised," a smile tugged at Teeg's mouth.

"What do you want from me, Teeg? Am I a hostage? You intend to beef up your bank account by selling me back to the Alliance? Force them to do something they don't want to, just to get your way?"

"Oh, I have a project in mind." He nodded at my assessment, his dark eyes giving nothing away. "But I want your help to track those fool apprentices Zellar trained first. They could be anywhere. I've hacked into the ASD records, Reah. I know you still don't miss. You're going to help me take those fuckers down before they destroy what I've tried to build."

He meant his new alliance. I realized that quickly. "Still building things, Teeg?"

"Trying to—yes." Long, well-shaped fingers raked through dark hair.

"Uh-huh." I handed him one of Queen Lissa's best, unusual phrases. It stopped him for a moment and he blinked curiously at me, attempting to determine what I meant, more than likely.

"I also know you have other mates. I suggest you cooperate with me or I'll put a price on both their heads." That statement made my chest hurt. It made me want to cry. "You didn't take him, did you?" I could barely get my hand up to wipe away the tear that fell.

"Take who?" Teeg was staring at me.

"Nobody," I muttered.

"Maybe we did, then." Was he using what I'd just given him or did he have Gavril? I was shaking.

"You're upsetting her." Second voice had my wrist in his fingers, checking my pulse.

"You mean Gavril, don't you?" Teeg sounded smugly satisfied. How had he gotten that name? I'd never said it to him. Neither had Ry nor Tory. An ASD agent never gave the enemy a target to go after. Teeg knew he'd hit the mark when I didn't answer. "We have him—we just didn't realize he'd be important to you in any way. We were going to present other demands to Le-Ath Veronis. Is that where you live, Reah?" Teeg was digging into my ribs verbally. It hurt. My breathing quickened.

"Do not hyperventilate," second voice issued the command. My body ignored him. Astralan helped get me sitting up in bed and my head down as far as it would go. "Get the quickshot!" Second voice shouted. I struggled; they gave it anyway. I was out in no time.

* * *

"It went better than I thought—I think she'll cooperate now," Teeg sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Why can't you just do what you normally do or have your wizards do something?" Doctor Jes Wurfl asked.

"Because of what she is. Besides, you have no idea how effective she can be against Zellar's clones."

"What is she, then? How can she have any effect against one rogue wizard, let alone half a dozen or more?"

"Have you ever heard of High Demons?" Teeg gave Jes a pointed look.

"Those are myth," Jes scoffed.

"Not myth. That's what my wife is—High Demon."

"Is she really immune to wizardry?"

"Every bit of it. She's going to get rid of the scum in the Campiaan Alliance. Then we'll use her as a bargaining chip with the Reth Alliance. Have them recognize us as an equal. There's a lot at stake here, Jes."

"Could she have killed Zellar?"

"She would have. All she needed was to be within arm's length. He would have died before he knew she'd cut his throat."

"She's that cruel?" Jes' hands went to his throat.

"No. Not cruel. Just well-trained and efficient," Teeg sighed. "She's been forced to be what she is. Besides, what sort of death would you wish for Zellar? He killed your home planet, Jes. She would have given him a quick death. He wouldn't have felt the bite of the blade, I don't think. It would have been merciful."

"But we blew him up with a ranos grenade."

"The grenade was the only thing we had to penetrate his shields, my friend. If I'd known Reah was coming after him, I would have sat back and watched the vid-feed for years to come."

"You had cameras there, didn't you?"

"Yes, and I wasn't watching, someone else was. They didn't recognize Reah, I did. When it was too late. Now we have to get her back on her feet and in fighting condition before I can take her hunting."

"Do you really have the one she asked about—what was his name?"

"Gavril?"

"Yes."

"Oh, yes. I have him all right." Teeg jerked his head toward his study door. Jes knew the conversation with his employer was over.

* * *

 
"I want to hear from Gavril." I'd had time to think about this. How could Teeg stoop this low? How? He'd seemed such a good man when I'd first met him. Before he became what Arvil and the Hardlows had been. Teeg had come by to supervise the washing of my hair—had brought in a hairdresser, no less.