Chapter 15 #2
The limo swerved to park next to the sidewalk, barely waiting for them to climb out before it was zooming away. Obviously Saxton had ordered the driver to deliver them to London, but that was the end of his duty. He made it clear he wanted to be far away from them.
Fair enough, Wynn silently conceded, glancing around the empty streets. She attracted enemies at a dizzying speed. If she didn’t have to, she wouldn’t want to spend any time around her either.
“Does Axton have a lair near here?” Azh demanded.
Wynn reached up to comb her fingers through her hair before quickly returning it to its usual braid. This area wasn’t for the faint-hearted. Even in the morning hours.
“No, but if a demon wants to disappear in London this is the place to go.”
Azh glanced around in confusion. “This looks like any other street in the city. Is there something special about it?”
Wynn glanced toward a nearby building where she could see the outline of a fairy in the upper window. She knew from experience he would be holding a crossbow pointed at her heart.
“The Vasiliki control Hackney. They’re a powerful fey clan who’ve made a fortune by providing safe rooms for demons who need to disappear. Once you’ve paid their outrageous fee, they promise that no one will be able to track you to your hidden location.”
“What if whoever is hunting them agrees to pay more to find them?”
“It’s happened,” Wynn admitted. “That’s why they perform a public execution of any servant who is stupid enough to share more information than they should, just to remind everyone in the neighborhood to keep their mouths shut.
Whether they’re on the payroll or not. It’s usually some sort of gory curse or a disembowelment that involves a lot of screaming. ”
Azh arched a brow. Was he shocked by her indifference to such gruesome tortures? If so it was probably best he realized she might have been invited to sophisticated parties, but she spent most of her life in the sewers with the rats.
“Have you used their service?” he demanded.
“More than once.” With a shrug, she led him down the street, turning into a narrow alley that smelled like piss. “And since I’ve never trusted anyone, I made sure I had several escape routes prepared just in case.”
“Of course you did,” he said dryly.
Wynn paused as they reached the end of the alley, lifting her hand to press it against the brick wall in front of them.
“I’m hoping they’re still protected by my magic.”
Azh moved to stand next to her, the ground trembling as he allowed a portion of his off-the-charts magic to leak through his shields.
“If not I can find a way through the barriers.”
She sent him a chiding glance. “Your way is too noisy.”
He smiled. “Yes.”
She rolled her eyes, returning her attention to the spell she’d left embedded in the brick. Once she could feel the warm pulse of the magic, she whispered the words that revealed the hidden tunnel.
With a shove, she pushed aside the wooden planks to reveal the narrow opening. “Follow me.”
“Anywhere,” he murmured, creating a flutter of butterflies in the pit of her stomach as his heat reached out to stroke over her like a caress.
With a click of her tongue at her giddy awareness, Wynn scurried down the narrow stairs that led to a cellar beneath the pub.
Azh followed, only to grunt in discomfort as he was forced to bend nearly double to avoid the low beams that were blackened with age. This particular pub had been ancient when Wynn first arrived in London. As far as she knew, it’d been there for as long as there’d been demons in the area.
Wynn crossed to the center of the stone floor, crouching down to once again search for the magic she’d left behind.
“The spell is still active,” she said with a surge of relief. It’d been years since she’d been forced to go into hiding and she didn’t know how long her magic would last. “We should be able to enter without anyone sensing the shields have been breached.”
Azh frowned. “Tell me what we’re about to walk into.”
“Actually, we’re going to drop into it.” She ran her hand over the stones, revealing the outlines of a trapdoor. “There’s a large space dug into the ground that can hold up to a dozen or more demons.”
“A dozen?” Azh’s frown deepened.
“We’ll have the element of surprise.” She grasped the iron ring and tugged the heavy stone aside before Azh could stop her. “Just don’t cause a huge commotion. We don’t want the Vasiliki clan to know we’re here.”
“No promises.”
She tilted back her head, heaving a sigh at the sight of the nuclear aura that surrounded Azh and the beast that lurked in the depths of the storm-gray eyes. This male was custom-designed to attract attention.
“Never mind,” she said. “Let’s go.”
The words had barely left her lips when Azh was moving to drop through the hole, the translucent shimmer of his wings folded tightly against his back revealing how close his dragon was to the surface.
With a low growl of frustration, Wynn swiftly dropped in behind him, landing on the hard-packed earth with a jolt.
She grunted, painfully reminded that she’d hurt her ankle leaping out of Hexx’s window.
It might have seemed like an eon ago, but it wasn’t long enough to fully heal. Her ankle was still tender.
Swallowing her groan, Wynn quickly straightened, her gaze skimming over the cots shoved against the far wall. She counted six lumps that she assumed were demons.
“I told you to stay out,” a groggy voice muttered from the shadows.
“If we want something we’ll...” The words trailed away and one of the lumps suddenly sat upright, as if he’d just caught her scent.
“You.” The blankets were shoved aside and a large goblin leaped off the cot and lunged toward her. “Bitch, this is all your fault.”
The male was over six feet tall with a thick mane of black hair and a wide body covered in a thick layer of fur. Not thick enough, unfortunately, to disguise the fact he was naked. Or the fact that he was in dire need of a bath.
Wynn grimaced, not really worried as the male’s aura pulsed with a furious red power. She was fully confident that Azh was prepared for the attack. A second later, he proved her right.
Axton had barely reached the center of the room when white-hot flames circled him, forcing him to halt or be consumed by the fire.
“Nobody move,” Azh warned as the five other demons stumbled off their cots, looking around with wild eyes.
“Back off,” Axton rasped, sweat already dripping down his square face as the flames danced close enough to singe his chest fur.
“Who are you?” Axton glared at Azh, almost as if he thought he could intimidate him. Then, easily sensing he was no match for the stranger, he swiveled his glare toward Wynn. “Damn you. I hope you’re happy.”
Wynn folded her arms over her chest. “Not particularly.”
“You’ve cost me everything.”
Wynn was pretty sure he wasn’t exaggerating. The shop that had been in his family for centuries had been destroyed beyond repair. And worse, he couldn’t know whether or not he was still being hunted.
She might tell him that Malis was dead and it was safe to leave the hidden lair. Eventually.
“What happened?”
“You tell me,” he snapped, wiping his thick hand over his forehead.
The sweat was running down his face and dripping from his chin.
He was smart enough not to protest at the fire that burned and sizzled just inches from his face.
“Some crazy dude came in with glowing green eyes tearing the place apart. I tried to stop him but he killed two of my nephews before he pulled your necklace out of the hidden vault under the floor and demanded to know where to find the owner. I assume he meant you.”
“What did you tell him?”
Axton shrugged. “I gave him every address I could think of, plus a few I made up.”
“Thanks,” she said dryly.
“Hey!” Axton arched back as the flames flared.
“I didn’t have a choice. I was trying to save my skin.
When it was obvious the dude wasn’t happy with my answers I took off.
Just in time, as it turned out. I barely got to the end of the block before the place exploded.
” Axton pressed his hand against the raw burn on the side of his face.
“Who was that creature? And what the hell did you do to piss him off?”
“Just being my usual charming self,” she admitted with complete honesty.
“That would do it.” Axton made a sound of disgust. “Well, you buggered my life.”
“You’ll get over it.”
“How? How am I going to get over it?” Axton’s voice went up several octaves as he stomped a foot in frustration.
“My shop is destroyed. My clan is scattered except for these handful of losers.” He waved a hand toward the demons huddled together in the far corner.
“And I’m terrified to leave this hole in the ground. ”
Wynn reached into her pocket to pull out her necklace, holding it out so the silver caught and reflected the light from Azh’s fire.
“You can start by telling me why you wanted this medallion.”
Axton froze, his eyes widening as if he were unnerved by the sight of the pendant. Was he worried it was going to bring back the demon who’d destroyed his shop? Or was there another reason for his concern?
“I didn’t. Not really. I felt sorry for you, so I offered you a few quid for the thing.”
Wynn rolled her eyes. Did Axton think she was stupid? He’d never done anything out of pity.
“Right.” She snorted in disbelief. “You never cared about anyone but yourself. And you certainly never offered money unless you knew you were going to get something out of it.”
Axton shrugged. “I told you, I felt sorry for you. Do you know how pathetic you looked on the street corner begging for a few scraps—” The taunting words were cut short as Axton’s hair caught on fire.
“Argh. Stop.” Axton batted his hands against his head, desperately trying to put out the flames. “Please.”