Page 111 of Demon's Bane

And though some distant part of me knows I’ll mourn that betrayal later, right now it doesn’t matter.

Nothing matters but getting help for Halla and finding Joan. Nothing matters but making these three demons pay for their sins.

I lower back into a fighting stance.

“I’ll find Tyvar and deal with him myself,” I say as they each step toward me. “After I’ve taken care of the three of you.”

Gorver’s lip curls, and he lets out a snarl of his own. “So be it. If you have a death wish, who am I not to grant it?”

He moves, I move, and the world explodes into violence and chaos.

35

Joan

For a few breathless seconds, I’m frozen where I stand.

Across the clearing, Tyvar and David are speaking—too quiet and far away for me to hear what they’re saying—but as soon as they’re moving again, so am I.

I need to get out of here.

Back to the path, back to the village. Maybe I can find Alva or someone else who can—

A twig snaps under my foot, and the night goes still.

I barely have time to breathe, and have just looked up when I meet a pair of bright red demon eyes staring right back at me from across the clearing.

“Oh, fuck.”

It takes half a second for Tyvar to materialize behind me, and the other half for him to stifle my scream with a hand pressed over my mouth. His other arm bands around my waist, keeping me firmly held as I thrash and struggle.

It’s a losing effort.

Tyvar might not be as big and broad as Rhett, but he’s still a hell of a lot stronger than I am. Once I’m in his grasp, I’m not going anywhere.

He lets out a low, harsh curse when I manage to get a sharp elbow to his ribs, but before I can land another one, the world dissolves into darkness and mist.

We reappear right next to David, and Tyvar pulls his hand from my mouth to grasp his shoulder. I start to scream, but another portal opens a second later, and the sound is lost in the rush of it.

The portal feels different this time—heavier, slower, like it’s more of an effort for Tyvar to drag two people along with him. When it spits us out on the other end, Tyvar is breathing hard, hand shaking as he lets David go and covers my mouth again.

I have no idea where we are. The forest is still thick, but there’s no clearing and no path, nothing but a small campsite in front of us with a tent and a dead fire, underbrush stamped down like someone’s been staying here for a while.

“You have anything in there we can restrain her with?” Tyvar asks David, nodding to the large leather satchel he’s carrying.

David—hard-eyed and utterly remorseless—nods and starts rifling through it.

Bastard.

I don’t make it easy for them. Struggling and kicking and biting at the hand over my mouth, I fight them tooth and nail to absolutely no avail.

A rope around my wrists, a length of torn fabric shoved into my mouth and secured with another tied around my head. I’m bound and gagged and at their mercy.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do with her?” David hisses.

Tyvar gives me a dispassionate once-over. “We get her out of the way. It was going to be part of the plan, anyway, once we’ve dealt with Rhett.”

Screaming behind the gag, I try to wrench myself out of Tyvar’s grasp.