Chapter Nine
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DEUMOS MARCHED AWAY from the empty house, profoundly disappointed with his failure.
He’d been so sure his offspring was there, but clearly he’d been wrong.
Rahab was going to be furious when he found out about how their mission had ended.
He was glad his commander was out of range and he couldn’t report in using his walky-talky yet.
He could put off being reprimanded until they returned to Long Island.
His four guards followed him through the trees, using the same path they’d taken to reach the property. None of them spoke and were wallowing in their misery. Reaching the beach, they worked together to shove the boat back into the water.
“It’s a pity we didn’t find anyone on the island,” one of the guards said after climbing on board.
“Rahab will be furious that we failed him,” another said.
Deumos was the last to heave himself onto the boat. His mind began to clear as he tried to get the motor started. He listened to the wooden chatter of his team and frowned. Shaking his head, his mind cleared further. Something had happened back at the house they’d just left.
Turning to the shore, he saw a smaller boat that had been beached on the sand.
It had a bullet hole in the side. Vague memories of chasing after someone who’d led them here surfaced.
A jerrycan had been discarded next to where their boat had been.
He vaguely remembered dropping it just before he’d helped shove the boat off the beach.
“Why did I have the jerrycan?” he asked in confusion. “What was I doing with it in the first place?”
“You were going to burn the house down with the fuel,” a soldier said, then frowned. “Where are we?” he asked in confusion.
“My spawn was there,” Deumos said as the fog lifted from his brain.
“Why didn’t I try to use compulsion on her?
” he muttered. He knew why. He’d wanted to look into her eyes as he’d taken over her mind.
Instead, she’d used her power against him and had sent them all packing.
She hadn’t been alone in the house. A Knight of Order had been with her.
“Urzra!” he spat as he recalled the gold comet landing and being sent to wait for their foe to appear.
The warrior had fled here and had led them directly to the cambion.
“What’s going on?” the fourth guard asked, looking around in puzzlement.
Deumos could feel the remnants of utter failure and realized what had occurred.
“The female can manipulate emotions,” he said with a grimace.
She’d turned their triumph at surrounding both her and the knight into despair and failure.
She’d made them believe the house had been empty and had prompted them to leave.
“At least she didn’t set us on fire,” a guard muttered dourly.
“Or fry us with lightning,” another added with a scowl.
Cursing beneath his breath, Deumos leaped out of the boat and dragged it back to the shore.
His guards jumped out as well and one of them helped him to haul the vessel onto land.
Following their footprints, they sprinted back to the house.
All five stopped at a safe distance to scan it.
“They’re gone,” Deumos said darkly. “We need to find them before they escape from the island.”
Racing to the front gate, they saw footprints in the dirt driveway heading to the left.
The pair had left just enough signs of their passage to follow them to a small marina.
Deumos skidded to a halt when he saw Urzra and the cambion in a sleek silver boat.
They’d already picked up on their arrival and the knight began backing the boat away from the dock.
“Aren’t we going to go after them?” one of the soldiers asked.
“Not yet,” Deumos replied, then lifted his rifle to his shoulder.
“I need to disable my progeny first, or she’ll just use her power against us again.
” A gust of wind hit him when he pulled the trigger and his first shot missed.
The same thing happened during his second attempt, but he managed to wing her.
Urzra turned the boat around and sped off.
Deumos fired a few more times, missing completely in his frustration.
“Go!” he shouted at his guards, then they all raced to the dock and split up to clamber onto the remaining vessels.
“The tank is empty!” Deumos snarled when he checked the fuel gauge.
“So is this one!” one of his companions reported. The other two boats were also devoid of fuel.
It was obvious none of the boats were as fast as the silver one.
Deumos watched it speed away. His daughter lifted her hand to wave at him sarcastically.
Her lips moved, but she was too far away for him to hear what she was saying.
He would have been tempted to blow her brains out if he’d had a sniper rifle.
Quelling his rage, he dreaded returning to Manhattan to report this debacle to his boss.
His disappointment was real this time, but fury was mixed with it.
Deumos was always the one who controlled lesser beings and he’d just had the tables turned on him.
He’d felt nothing but contempt for the other males who’d lost their younglings to their enemies so far.
Now it had happened to him as well. He was going to look like just as big a fool as the others.
Berit and another soldier had died at the hands of their own spawn.
Deumos’ mind had been turned against him.
“My offspring had better pray I don’t get my hands on her,” he murmured beneath his breath.
He would make her pay once he forced a bond between them.
Once that happened, she would be helpless to defend herself.
While she’d taken after him in looks, she had the same tiny size as her mother.
He smirked at the memory of the hours he’d spent tormenting the female.
Her terror had been the first thing he’d remembered when he’d woken up back on Earth eight months ago.
Finally, the motor coughed to life and he steered back towards Long Island. He switched his channel back to the one Rahab used to communicate with the soldiers who’d sired cambions. It was the other walky-talky that a voice came from when they were halfway back to land.
“Deumos? Are you there?” It was Phul, Rahab’s second in command. He sounded frustrated and annoyed.
“I’m here,” Deumos said when his guard offered him the walky-talky.
“Where are you?” Phul demanded. “Rahab’s been trying to reach you for the past three hours!”
“We found the knight and he sensed us and fled,” Deumos said. “We followed him to a small island and discovered my offspring was living there.”
“Did you capture them both?” Phul asked.
“They got away,” Deumos said. “We’ll reach Long Island in another twenty minutes. I’ll report to Rahab and fill him in.”
“Better you than me,” Phul said grimly. “He’s in a foul mood.”
“When isn’t he in a foul mood lately?” Deumos muttered to himself.
His guards exchanged worried looks, probably hoping they wouldn’t get caught up in their commander’s rage.
Rahab had been unstable ever since GG had escaped from his clutches.
Deumos didn’t know how a lowly human female could have affected their leader so strongly.
Rahab’s overwhelming pride had been wounded and it seemed he was never going to recover from it.
Deumos wanted to delay the inevitable when they finally reached the dock, but he knew it would be unwise.
He tied the boat securely to a post, then led the way back to Manhattan.
They sprinted past the militants who were on patrol or were searching for supplies.
None of the humans were even aware of them as they sprinted the length of Long Island in a few minutes.
They crossed a bridge to Manhattan without being noticed as well.
Slowing down when he was a couple of blocks from their base, Deumos sensed his boss wasn’t inside the apartment building. He kept going until he reached the gym where his leader was waiting, then braced himself to open the door.