Page 96

Story: Bad Magic

He hauled me off the ground again and tossed me back over his shoulder.Darkness surrounded us as Poe ran, carrying me away, away from Jagger.

I had no way to stop him.The sigil had bound my magic, and the drug was quickly taking effect, taking my fight along with it.

I hung there, limp, as Poe took several flights of stairs, climbing out of the sewer.He pulled me down from his shoulder and, holding me up against his side, walked out onto the street.I blinked several times.We were in a different part of the city.

A car sat waiting, a demon I’d never seen before behind the wheel.

Poe shoved me in the back and got in beside me, then we sped off.I continued to slide in and out of consciousness.When the car finally stopped, we were at Tarrant’s mansion.Bringing me here was stupid.Jagger, Lucifer, Rune, the hounds, they all knew this was where Tarrant lived.

Poe hauled me out of the car and rushed into the house.

“What is she doing here?”Tarrant said, eyes lit with fury.

“She’s mine,” Poe said, voice hard.“She comes with me.”

“After what just happened, everything we worked for fucking ruined, and this is what you’re most concerned about?”he all but roared.

Poe straightened.“I’m not leaving her behind.”

“Do you know who betrayed us?”

“Not yet,” Poe lied, covering for me for some reason.

“Could it be her?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“On my life.”

Tarrant’s eyes narrowed, but that seemed to appease him.He was used to Poe’s unfailing loyalty, so he was buying the lie.“There will be a price if you’re wrong, for both of you,” he said, eyes red, his face a mask of horrors.

Poe lowered his gaze.“I understand.”

Tarrant snarled, then turned and strode off down the hall, and Poe followed, dragging me along with him.Tarrant stopped at the end and touched something high on the wall.It slid back.A hidden doorway revealing itself as well as a set of stairs going down.

The door slid closed behind us, and Poe half dragged, half carried me down to a small room.Tarrant pressed his hand to the wall, calling to lord Beelzebub, asking him to grant him entrance.

The wall began to swirl, giving flashes of something beyond it, then finally a portal opened, and dread gripped me, shuddering through my body.

The demon blood in me knew instantly where we were going, the knowledge searing through my bones, and gripped my trembling soul.I’d been here before with Jagger.

Hell.

Poe was taking me to Hell.

Jagger

War barked orders, and we surrounded the demons in the sewer.Fender tore the cage from the stage where a naked and drugged female lay, then tugged off his shirt, covered her, and scooped her off the floor.The knights closed in, tearing the platform out of the ground, then jumped down into the lower level to free the other prisoners—and stop any demons still down there from escaping.

I frantically scanned the room, scenting the air for Sutton.It was weaker now, but still tainted with Poe’s stench.I followed it, leading me out of the main room.

“Poe has Sutton,” I yelled to War and jerked my head in the direction they’d gone.

War signaled Roman to follow, and I burst through the curtain and sprinted into the tunnel.Her scent was much stronger now that it wasn’t diluted by others.Rome sprinted after me, our boots echoing off the concrete floor as we turned one corner, then another.

Something zinged over my skin, lifting the hair on my arms and the back of my neck.I stopped in my tracks, my arm shooting out to stop Rome from barreling straight through.