Wicked Flames (Solsti Prophecy) (25 page)

“Dammit.” She pulled out her own gem phone and dialed headquarters.
 

The cheerful voice of the receptionist, Ana, greeted her. Ria started to give her identification number but Ana’s exuberant burst cut her off.

“Ria! I haven’t talked to you in ages! Are you coming in? Done with your assignment?”

“No, actually, I need to talk to Arawn.” Ria pinched the bridge of her nose. Pissed wasn’t going to begin to describe his reaction. He would know she was on Torth, since the call was via gem phone.

“Oh, you’re in luck. He just finished a meeting. I’ll connect you. Miss you, girl!”

“Miss you too.” Ria waited as the line went quiet, then clicked twice.

“Ria?” Arawn’s deep voice boomed through the phone. “Do you have her with you? Here?”

“No.” Ria paused “I don’t have her at all.”

For a second, silence loomed from his end of the line. “I didn’t put you on this job to lose her, Tirianna. You better have a damn good explanation.” His voice rumbled, low and menacing.

Shit.
She swallowed a lump of I-don’t-want-to-have-this-conversation, and recounted the day’s events.

“Motherfucking shit! Do you have any good news? Or do I need to pull you both off this clusterfuck?”
 

“Mathias has a Deserati contact, who he’s calling now.”

“I want a name and location.”

“Understood. We’ll text them to you.”

He huffed out a breath and cursed again. She’d bet he was pacing around his office. Maybe she should have warned Ana that she had bad news. Anyone who crossed Arawn’s path right now would get an ass chewing just for breathing.

She heard a creak through the phone. Sounded like his chair.
Good, he’s sitting down
.

“Are you okay, Ria?” His voice was softer. Barely.

“Fine. Nothing like landing on a car’s windshield to relax my back. Anyway, your new shredder bullets worked like charms against the Deseratis.”

“Good to know. Listen, I have to go. I want to know every step you take. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Any change of plans. Any
possible
change of plans. Call me.”

“Yes, sir.”

He ended the call without saying goodbye. Typical. Their leader didn’t waste words.

Ria let out a huge breath.
That part’s over
. Now she could calm her racing heart. The thought of botching this job threatened to make her throw up again.

Besides that, she wanted to prove she could handle more. Males outnumbered females in the Watcher ranks, and while Arawn didn’t allow one iota of gender bias, she felt compelled to be better than the boys. Plus, she wanted to make Arawn proud. Maybe even get him to crack a smile now and then…

Magic pulsed in the air, sending prickles up her spine. She whirled, palms out, ready to summon demonfire.

“It’s okay. This one’s a friend.” Mathias nodded at a vertical swirl of mist that had formed nearby.

A breeze kicked up a handful of pine needles in a lazy circle, and with a soft pop the mist cleared. Standing in its place was a gorgeous red-haired female. Her green tail and the tiny horns above her ears indicated she was a Deserati.

“Bianca.” Mathias strode to the female and hugged her.

“Good to see you again, Hunter.” The female released him and looked to Ria.

“This is my sister, Ria. Ria, this is Bianca. She’s a porter.”

Ria extended her hand. “Nice to—”

“Your sister? She’s gorgeous!” Bianca rushed toward her and hugged her. “I love your hair. I always thought about going blond. It’s so good to meet you!”

“Thank you,” Ria said. “You too. I’m guessing you worked with my brother in the past?”

“Yes, we broke some friends out of Stroehm recently. Good times.” Bianca chuckled. “Do we need to do that again?”

“Not this time,” Mathias said. “I need to find someone.”

“Ah.” Bianca nodded. “You need me to scry?”

“Yes. If you can pinpoint a location, at least a region, and then take us there, I can do the rest.”

“Sure. I’m about to start a job in an hour actually. And I’m contracted to stay with the client for the duration. So I can take you to your next stop, and maybe the next after that, but then I need to split.” She reached into the pockets of her leather jacket and pulled out a small water bottle, a collapsible plastic bowl, and a tiny vial.

Mathias grinned. “You work from the road.”

“Yup. Some days I have extra time and I may as well make good use of it.” She winked and sat down cross-legged. Ria knelt next to her and Mathias crouched at her other side.

All Deserati had the ability to use reflective surfaces to see other places. Usually they could only see current events, not past or future.

Bianca popped the bowl open, then poured some of the water in. “Now.” She rubbed her hands together. “Who are you looking for?”

“Her name is Gin. She was taken through a portal by a Deserati. We’ve had several of them attack us on Earth. She’s Brooke’s sister.”

“Brooke’s
sister
?” Bianca’s tone was awed and her eyes wide as she stared at Mathias. “Then she’s…important.”

“Important.” Mathias cracked a humorless grin. “That’s an understatement. She’s a Solsti.”

Brooke knows Bianca?
Ria made a mental note to ask Mathias about that later.

“Do you have anything of hers? That’ll help tremendously,” Bianca asked.

Mathias frowned and shot Ria a questioning look.

She shook her head. “I don’t think I have anyth—”

“Oh wait. Here.” Mathias reached into his pants pocket and pulled out Gin’s pink iPod. “It was on the ground by her vehicle.”

 
“I’ll need to drop that in here.” Bianca eyed the device. “It’s electronic, so it won’t survive.”

“That’s okay. It probably got fried in the portal anyway. I’ll buy her a new one.” Mathias handed it to Bianca.

She gently dropped the iPod into the bowl, then picked up the vial and opened it. Allowing three drops of silver liquid to fall into the bowl, she murmured in Demonish.

Ripples appeared in the surface, spreading out from the center. As one, all three of them leaned toward it.

Ria sucked in a breath as the water stilled. An image of Gin formed. “Oh my God.”

Gin lay on a bed in a room Ria didn’t recognize, her hands and feet bound with rope to the head and footboards. She was alone.

“Fucking shit.” Mathias swore through gritted teeth. “Can we see more of the building?”

“I’ll try.” Bianca spoke again in Demonish, and the image zoomed out to reveal a small house with two bedrooms and one main living area. No one else was there.

“Can you show us more of the surrounding area?” Ria asked.

“Let’s see,” Bianca murmured. She closed her eyes and spoke again. This time the image in the water expanded, revealing that the house sat in a low valley. Foothills extended on two sides. A river snaked down the side of the image, gleaming silver against the night.

Ria gasped as she spied a landmark on the bank of the river, so white it appeared to glow. “Is that…”

“Ravenbane.” Mathias rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s near Ravenbane. That’s on the other side of the realm.”

“Have you been there before?” Ria asked.

“Been near enough.” Mathias flicked a glance to Bianca. “Got time for a trip?”

She checked her gem phone. “Yes.” Her green eyes were wide. “To Ravenbane.”

Ravenbane was an ancient ruin. The huge foreboding white tower was the most prominent identifying symbol of the crumbled structure. A battle between two warring species had ended in slaughter for one side, and the souls that died there were said to be cursed.

An entire army lay buried beneath the ground, rumored to be waiting for their chance to rise and avenge their loss. But the demon clan who had gained victory that day had died out. No one knew who—or what—would cause the dead to rise.

One certainty was that many steered clear of the area, believing it to be cursed. Rumors abounded of wraiths who haunted the caves and barren trees, and of travelers who passed the battlement and were never seen again.

Chills raced down Ria’s arms. She didn’t put much stock in the rumors. But she also knew it was possible for myth to become reality.
Case in point: the Solsti.

“And it’s night.” Bianca’s voice broke into Ria’s musings. “Because of my schedule, I can’t wait until morning to take you there.”

“We just need you to get us there.” Ria told her. “The Watchers have safe houses scattered all over Torth. We’ll find a place to stay.” Nighttime was deadly in this realm. Nocturnal beasts roamed in hordes. Even the Lash demons stayed out of sight.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine.” Mathias pinned Ria with a knowing look, then started tapping on his phone. “There’s a couple of safe houses nearby.”

“Then we should go.” Bianca packed up her items and stood. “I’m sorry I couldn’t show you better news.”

Mathias laid a hand on Bianca’s shoulder. “You showed us enough. Thank you.”

“I’ve heard traveling with a porter is a lot different than going through a portal,” Ria said.
At least, I hope so.
Porters were rare. Only six or so existed in all the realms. They could be any species, but they all had the ability to transport anyone, anywhere, without needing a transportation amulet.

“Girl, it’s like night and day. Guess the portal didn’t agree with you?”

“Not at all.” Ria made a face. “You must be really busy.”

Bianca smiled. “Yes, but I make time for friends.” She grabbed both of their hands. “I need contact with both of you,” she explained to Ria. “Just relax, we’ll be there in a minute.”

Ria nodded and hoped like hell this wouldn’t make her sick again. She reached for her brother’s hand, wanting to hold on to as many tangible things as she could.

Bianca closed her eyes, and tendrils of fog swirled around their group. Ria was engulfed with the sensation of moving…rising… She couldn’t feel the ground beneath her feet. Fog surrounded them. She couldn’t see anything except Bianca and Mathias.

No doubt guessing her thoughts, he sent her a reassuring smile. She squeezed his hand and relaxed into the gray haze. Relaxed but ready for anything. The awful nauseating feeling of the portal never came, and then she felt the hard contact of ground beneath her boots.

The fog cleared. Ria sucked in a breath. “That’s it?”

“Yep.” Bianca released their hands. “Told you it was different than those amulets.”

“I wish we could do that all the time!” Ria exclaimed. Though the air was warm, she shivered as she glanced around.

They stood in a valley. Directly above them hung Torth’s two moons, waxing crescents partially obscured by clouds. The crash of rushing water reached Ria’s ears. Sparse pine trees rose in a cluster to one side. No creatures stirred or scurried.

“There. The house.” Mathias nodded to his left. “Bianca, thank you. We’re in your debt.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me? I can delay my trip. I’d break my contract for a Solsti.” Calm resolve shone in her eyes.

“I appreciate the gesture, but we’ve got it from here.” Mathias flicked a glance to Bianca and then back to the house. “We want to get her out as soon as possible, but we don’t know how long this will take. We don’t know about the wards on this place, or how many enemies are near. You’re not a trained fighter.”

Bianca nodded. “Got it. I suck at combat. Not that I wouldn’t try my best, but I don’t want to be a liability.” She turned to Ria. “It was nice to meet you.”

“You too,” Ria said.

“Good luck.” Bianca stepped back, closed her eyes, and disappeared in a swirl of mist.

“Let’s move.” Mathias jogged toward the house.

The night brought cooler temperatures, but since they were in the southern region of Torth, daytime would be swelteringly hot. Ria still wore her winter coat and it bordered on uncomfortable, but this wasn’t the place to leave it behind.

She followed Mathias, deferring to his superior senses. They approached the front of the house, getting close enough to make out the weathered boards of the steps that led up to a porch. The front door was closed, and one window was at the front of the house, with another on the side.

They shared a glance, then each jogged around opposite sides of the home.

Rounding the back corner, she gasped as a crackle of power singed the air. Unfamiliar and raw, it made the hair on her arms stand up. Her eyes widened.
Oh my God
. Her brother stood, hands on hips, staring at the back wall.

She whisper-yelled, “That came from inside the house!”

Mathias turned to her. His eyes held the same wonder that she was sure hers did. “Sure as shit, it did. And Gin’s alone in there.”

C
HAPTER
25

M
ATHIAS
DETECTED
NO
OTHER
SCENTS
or presences. That unusual cracking heat could only be Gin’s power.

Her energy signature was unique. Oddly, it bore no resemblance to that of her sisters. The trace of Gin’s power lingered in the air like smoke on a windless day. When he inhaled deeply, her energy pushed against his senses like a wild aura, deadly and menacing, yet it contained an element of coiled potency. It waited for her command.

His inner demon raged to see her safe. He wanted to bust down the door with fire in one hand and his dagger in the other and get her out as fast as possible. He hated that she was alone, probably scared, and definitely pissed at him. He wanted her back in his arms.

That is, if she’d
want
to be. He and Gin had left things between them in the shittiest stinking gutter known to man or demon.

Fuck. No time to dwell on personal shit right now. Whoever had tied her up may be back soon, and with friends. He and Ria made a good team, but there were scores of nasty nighttime creatures that roamed about. He didn’t want to attract any attention.

Mathias turned to Ria. “Feel the wards?” The air dripped with magical foreboding, like fire ants crawling on his skin. He didn’t fall for it. It was only a spell, one that would send weaker creatures running from this shit shack.

Problem was, the creepy-feeling spell was only the first layer. If they pushed through, they’d likely find a trap. They needed to disable the whole mess.