The Demon King and I (19 page)

“Demons?”

“It’s Bailey. He’s missing. We checked his flight and he never made it on the plane from Houston.”

“Jake, you know how he is when he’s down there. He’s probably partying with his NASA buddies. He may not be home for a week.”

“Yes, ma’am. I know. It’s just he’s off the grid. We aren’t seeing him on the GPS. I’m afraid it’s been disabled.”

I sat up straighter and put my phone on speaker. “My sisters are here. Jake says Bailey is missing and he’s off the grid.” I felt guilty for not contacting the security team earlier when Claire couldn’t find him. Tears welled in my eyes, but I refused to let them go. I was the strong one, and I wouldn’t fall apart in front of my sisters.

While I spoke, I could tell Mira was trying to mentally connect with Bailey. When I saw a tear running down her cheek it was almost my undoing.

“I can’t see him. I don’t think he’s in our world.” She clasped her hands together.

I chewed on my lip.
Crap.

“Okay, Jake. We may be looking at something otherworldly here. Or it may be related to”—it hurt to say the words—“to the murders. Georgia told me tonight that she felt like someone was watching her. Right now, we’ll go on the assumption that someone may have taken him. He’s worth a lot and they’ll know it. They’ll probably want some kind of ransom.” I looked out the window to see where we were. “We’ll be home in five minutes. Keep trying to track him, and you better contact Mom.” I would have done it, but I didn’t know where in the hell she was. I hung up the phone.

“Whoever took him is going to die. You know that, don’t you?” Alex said. She may be an interior designer, and the ultimate party girl, but she protected our world from the dragons. She was born as tough as they come, and she had had a much easier time learning to kill than the rest of us.

“Amen to that,” the soft-spoken Claire added. She had pulled her knees up to her chin, her pink toenails sneaking out under the hem of her dress.

Bailey and Claire were only ten months apart and they had an incredible bond. He was close to all of us, but those two were almost like twins. They had their own special language. Claire was always in trouble. Her curiosity about the world kept her on my mom’s bad kid list. Whenever possible, Bailey took the blame. He could do no wrong in our mother’s eyes, and he knew that from a very young age.

“All right. We need a plan. Alex, you call Kyle. I just talked to him about Georgia—tell him to make sure she’s covered and to meet us at the house.”

Claire stared at me. “Gilly, have you had one of your dreams lately?”

I shook my head. “Not in the last forty-eight hours or so. At least not a scary dream, anyway.”

They all looked at me.

“It was a sexy dream, not really appropriate to share.”

Their eyebrows went up, but no one said anything.

“I don’t think he’s dead,” Mira finally said. “I would know. I mean, I can’t connect with him, but he’s a part of me, like you all are. If he no longer existed, I would know it.”

Mira was the most sensitive of us, and she had a point. She always knew when we were hurt or if something was going on. She could read minds to a certain extent, but it gave her a migraine. So she usually relied on reading emotions.

If Mira was right and Bailey was still alive, we would find him.

CHAPTER 22

A half hour later, the four of us sat at the table
in one of the large conference rooms of the security unit with Aunt Juliet, Mom, and Jake. Kyle was on the speakerphone.

Mom took the news better than I expected. She was always tough on the girls in the family. Dad had nurtured us and taught us about the arts and the world outside. He had helped each of us develop our public persona.

But it was our mother who had taught us hand-to-hand combat. She had also helped us to develop our powers and taught us how to use them. “The Guardian’s life is a rewarding one, but she must always be prepared for the worst.” That was Mom’s motto.

But when it came to Bailey, all bets were off. He wasn’t a Guardian, though he had been educated as one. Everything we went through, he did. After sixteen years of martial arts training, he was capable of killing, though he’d never done it. Whoever took him must have had a battle on their hands. They had messed with the wrong family this time.

Aunt Juliet looked mad. “It’s those damn dragons,” she bit out between clenched teeth. “Hardheaded beasts. You saw what happened on their planet. They’re doing this because they think we should have done something before their world was almost destroyed.”

I looked over at Alex, and she folded her arms on the table. She hated the dragons as much as Juliet did, but something had happened to change the way she felt about the warrior Ginjin.

“I would agree with you, except we haven’t had any jumpers,” came Alex’s careful reply. “Since we closed the portals the other day, only Ginjin has come through, and we know he didn’t do it.” Alex sat back in her chair. “But that doesn’t mean they didn’t pay someone else to do it. I don’t trust them any more than you do.”

We didn’t have time to play the blame game. “Let’s just stick with what we know.” I had a pad of paper and a pen in front of me. Making notes while I talked always helped me to think. “Whoever has him has at least a two-hour jump, maybe more, on us. Mom, can you guys try to locate him with magic?”

She turned her hard stare on me. “Don’t you think I’ve already tried?” Her voice was steely cold. Determined. She wore a long gold caftan. The reason she’d missed the ball was to work with the high council. They were still trying to help the dragons.

Aunt Juliet reached over and took my hand. “She’s just worried, dear, that’s why she’s acting like a bitch.”

There was a slight gasp around the table. No one ever disrespected my mother—except for Aunt Juliet. The petite blonde woman was never afraid to speak her mind. I had a feeling she was also angry with my mother about what had happened with Arath and Throe. I didn’t blame her.

My mother’s frown increased and I looked down at the table. There weren’t many people or creatures who intimidated me, but my mother never failed in that respect. I’d stopped trying to win her favor years ago. I knew she loved us. She’d proven it a hundred times over in the way she cared for all of us. But she still scared the hell out of me.

“Sorry, Mom. I’m having a hard time with this. I mean, it’s Bailey.”

Her expression softened. “We’re all tense, Gillian.” She turned to Jake. “Did you find out anything from his friends in Houston?”

Jake jumped up and popped a DVD into the player and the screen on the wall lit up. “The hotel where he stayed sent us this copy of the security tape. It looks like he was abducted, but they were cool about it.” We saw two men holding my brother up, as if he were drunk. I remembered what Kyle had said about the drug the ME hadn’t been able to trace. Had they used it on Bailey?

His head was down, lolling from side to side, but there was no mistaking it was Bailey. His abductors’ heads were down, too, and both men were bald. As they passed under the camera I saw something.

“Stop the video.” I stood and walked closer to the large screen. “Back it up two frames.”

Jake used the remote to do what I asked.

On the back of their necks there was a tattoo with symbols. A demon language that I recognized.

My jaw tightened and a growl escaped. Arath had some explaining to do.

“Jake, call the damn demon king and tell him I want a meeting.”

 
 
“Your henchmen took my brother.” I hadn’t bothered
with niceties. As soon as he passed through the portal, wearing his Levi’s and a cotton shirt, I launched into a verbal attack. “Your demon brethren kidnapped him and have done God knows what. I want to know why you would let something like that happen. Since the portals are closed, how were they able to make it here without your knowledge? I mean, you told me yourself that you know who leaves and arrives on your world at any given time.”

We were in the weapons room, and, lucky for him, everything was locked up. Arath had shut down the portal that Mond, the demon he thought might be an assassin, had used earlier. Arath had traveled through the Vex to meet me, but I was far from grateful that he’d risked his life to get there.

“You are still in your formal wear.”

What the hell?
“Brilliant observation, Arath. What the hell did you do to my brother?”

“I do not understand. Your brother is not in my world. Except for Mond, who used the dark magic, no one has passed through a portal on Maunra since we locked them.” It bothered me that he didn’t seem flustered at all.

“I saw the tattoos on the neck of the two men who kidnapped my brother. It was a demonic language, so cut the crap and tell me where he is.”

His jaw jutted out slightly and his eyes glowed orange. “My word is my honor. If I tell you he is not on Maunra, then he is not.” The last words were said menacingly.

“Look.” I pulled out a picture we’d printed from the DVD of the kidnappers. “There.” I pointed to the tats.

His eyes flashed orange.

As he reached out, the picture flew out of my hand and into his. Scary orange eyes, moved things with his mind, and glowed when he was angry. The list of Arath’s powers seemed to grow each time we met.

“These are Amols. The slaves of the Manteros.” He frowned at the picture. “They are evil, and while they may look demon, they are not from my world.”

“How can you possibly know that? I know that language on the tattoos. I’ve seen it used in writings from your world.” My hands were on my hips. “What the hell is a Mantero?”

His left eyebrow rose. “The Manteros are most likely aligned with the darkness we’ve been fighting.”

“So, what, it’s like some secret society or something?”

“In a way, yes.” He didn’t elucidate.

“I’m sorry, am I missing something?”

“If these beings are involved, then you can expect things to get much worse.”

“Lovely. Can I ask how you know that they didn’t come from your planet?”

“I am aware of everything that passes through the portals in and out of my world.”

“So you said before. Do you have some kind of tracking system?”

“Not in the way you think. I
know
these things. I feel them.”

“That isn’t possible.” I shook my head. Who did this guy think he was?

He sighed. “You understand that I owe you no explanation.” I’d reached the end of my pleasant quotient for the night. “Arath, if your brother were missing, what would you do?”

Leaning back against the steel wall, he eyed me warily. “I’ve attuned my senses so that I’m aware of what passes through the portals to my world. I can feel when someone is there who shouldn’t be, and when trouble is brewing. I don’t always know who it is that wishes my world harm, but I sense it. No one arrives there unnoticed. I can track, as you say, at will. I tell you that your brother is not in my world.

“The markings on the necks of the Amols do suggest that someone from my world is involved in your brother’s disappearance. They do work with the Manteros, but it has been many years since I’ve seen evidence of such. Most of the Amols have moved on to other worlds, but we have a few left. I will question them. If they have any knowledge of the situation I will take the information and then kill them for you.”

“Thank you, but I would like to be there when you question them.”

“That is not possible.”

I had to make myself stop grinding my teeth. “Just take me to the Manteros. I will question them.”

“Do you understand that I could kill you where you stand with a simple flick of my finger?” His voice was low and angry.

I looked at him. The glow had begun around him. I didn’t care. Bailey’s life was at stake and I didn’t feel like wasting time arguing with a damn demon king.

“I did not intend to undermine your authority, King Arath. I’m certain if your brother were in peril you would want to question anyone who might know what was going on.” My measured tone was meant to be reassuring and respectful, but I could tell he didn’t take it that way from the way the muscles in his cheek ticked.

I wondered if the anger had more to do with my keeping mum about his mother, than me showing disrespect. I wasn’t proud of my actions, but I also didn’t live life with regrets. I’d made some bad choices, but in the end it had worked out. Though it probably wasn’t the time to tell Arath that.

“I will return through the Vex. If I discover information I will send it to you. There is no reason for you to waste time there when you should be searching elsewhere for your brother. If the Manteros are involved, and they seem to be, that means time is of the essence. Their prey seldom—” He stopped himself.

“What?”

“Make it out alive. Wherever they have taken your brother, he is in grave danger. The Manteros will take whatever it is they want from him and then kill him.” The words were said in a matter-of-fact tone, but they hit me like boulders in a landslide.

I pressed the heel of my hand against my forehead. I could feel an ache beginning at my temple. In a few minutes the pain would surround my brain.

“There is an uprising on Maunra. I won’t be able to keep all of the portals closed much longer, as I will need my power to stay alive. My people are upset about not being able to trade with other worlds. I will do my best to keep the Earth world safe, but I can make no promises.” He turned his head toward the portal door as if he were listening to something. “I must go quickly. Trouble comes, and my world is in danger.”

I sighed. “You must do what is necessary. I understand. But I want you to know that I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your mother. It never seemed like the right time.”

He turned his back to me. “You did what you thought was best. The dark magic isn’t affecting just us; it is everywhere. I don’t think any of us is going to be safe for much longer. Stay well, Guardian. Our universe depends on you.”

“I—thank you.” I said the last few words to air, as Arath had already passed through. It dawned on me that he’d come here even though he was under attack.