Page 7 of Veiled By Smoke (The Nature Hunters Academy #5)

The door opened, and two dark fire acolytes, Jimmy and Jake, walked in.

The pair were brothers who had been loyal to Viscious since the day he’d found them standing outside of a burning house.

The boys’ parents were inside breathing their last smoke-filled breaths.

Had the boys started the fire on purpose?

Viscious still wasn’t sure. And he didn’t really care.

The important thing was the brothers’ affinity for magic was strong.

It had been so strong that Viscious himself had been drawn to their location.

“Be on guard while I’m away,” he told the pair. “Do not interfere with the demons unless they attack one of our own.”

“Yes, sir.” Jimmy bowed his head.

“Of course,” Jake agreed and also lowered his head to Viscious.

When he’d first appeared where they were, he’d only stood with the two boys on the sidewalk, watching their handiwork.

But a few minutes later, one of Aviur’s people had arrived.

Viscious had smiled as he took Jimmy and Jake’s hands and pulled them through a portal leading back to his realm.

The dark fire king rarely took in such young acolytes, the boys being only eight and ten at the time, but he certainly would not let Aviur scoop them up.

So, he’d taken the boys in and raised them himself.

Now, twenty years later, they were his most faithful servants.

He could see the questions in their eyes.

Considering the eruption of thousands of demons from the underworld wasn’t an everyday occurrence, the questions were justified.

But Viscious had pressing matters to attend to, so any explanation, not that he had one, would have to wait.

He went through the portal and stepped into the Dark Heart Forest.

“Why have you come, dark one? You are neither needed nor wanted.”

Viscious’s head snapped to the right. “Sepheron.” The fire king turned his body fully to face the king of dragons. “I am surprised to see you grace the human realm with your presence.”

“You should be more surprised I do not eat you where you stand for all that you and your colleagues have done to my race. It appears today is full of wonders.”

Viscious raised his chin. “Your kind suffered no casualties. Haven’t you heard the human saying ‘no harm no foul?’ Perhaps it is time to put the past behind us. There need be no animosity between the dragons and the dark royals.”

The dragon king shifted on legs the size of oak trees.

His tail whipped around until it curled around his feet.

“It is lucky for you I don’t have time to dwell on the past,” Sepheron replied.

“For now, I’m completely focused on the present, which, as I’m sure you know, includes a horde of demons currently swarming through the human realm.

As you can imagine, my kind will be busy cleaning up the mess. ”

Viscious narrowed his eyes on the dragon.

“And how, exactly, did the mess happen?” Viscious hated that he had to reveal his ignorance to the dragon, but he had no choice.

He needed to know what had changed to allow the demons to escape.

The earth was his domain, and he was one of the most powerful beings on it.

Osiris was a fool and a pawn, but he’d done a good job keeping the demons in hell where they belonged.

Viscious didn’t mind working with the devils; he’d summoned some recently after all, but he wanted to make damn sure he could control them before he did so.

The present situation was definitely beyond his control.

The dragon made a sound in his throat that Viscious could only guess was a chuckle. “So, the mighty fire king hasn’t heard the news?”

A sinking sensation developed in Viscious’s gut. “What news?”

“There’s a new sheriff in town, Viscious,” said Sepheron. “Osiris no longer rules the underworld.”

Viscious unsuccessfully tried to keep his eyes from widening. “How in the hell did that happen?”

Sepheron did his best imitation of a human shrug. “Nothing is permanent, Viscious. You know that.”

“Then who has taken the reins of hell?” Osiris, fool though he might be, wasn’t a pushover. It would take someone extremely powerful to oust the lord of the underworld from his grisly throne.

“Hell has returned to its original ownership,” Sepheron said, his tone even.

The words fell like weights at Viscious’s feet. “But that means . . .” He was afraid to finish the thought.

“Lucifer is waking,” said the dragon.

For a moment, the fire king was speechless.

Lucifer? Viscious’s mind lurched into gear.

This changed things as far as the demons being a problem topside.

It was more than an opportunity. This could be the best thing that had happened to the dark elementals in a millennium.

If the demons remained unchecked, their influence on the humans would grow.

As their dark influence on the world increased, hatred and divisions would multiply.

That kind of hatred would weaken Lucifer’s chains.

Eventually, when enough hatred permeated the world .

. . snap! The lord of hell’s chains would break.

The light elementals would be desperate to stop the demons.

They would commit all their resources to defeat the monsters, completely forgetting about the dark elementals.

And that’s exactly when Viscious would strike.

The dark fire king had to stifle a laugh.

He inclined his head to Sepheron. “Thank you, dragon king. This chance meeting has been most informative.” Viscious opened a portal back to his own realm.

“And please remember what I said. If ever you should like to make amends, let me know. I hold you in the highest regard. My kind would benefit greatly from having one such as you as an ally.” Without waiting for an answer, the dark king stepped through the portal.

But just as it closed behind him, Viscious could have sworn he smelled smoke and felt heat at his back.

S epheron stared at the spot where the dark fire king had just been standing, his mind full of all the consequences brought on by the release of the demons.

He’d seen the eager twinkle in Viscious’s eyes when Sepheron mentioned Lucifer.

When he’d spoken the lord of the underworld’s name, Sepheron had expected Viscious to be confused.

Like the light elementals, he’d figured that the dark fire king would ask who Lucifer was or where Osiris had gone.

But he’d done neither. In fact, he hadn’t acted surprised at all at the mention of the fallen one’s name.

“What does it mean?” he asked himself. The dragon turned toward the portal leading back to his realm.

Lucifer’s memory should have been lost to all the supernaturals.

Perhaps the opening of hell’s gates had somehow broken the magic concealing the knowledge of Lucifer’s existence.

If so, then did Lucifer’s name need to be mentioned before they really remembered?

Because, Viscious hadn’t known until Sepheron had revealed it.

Did that mean the other dark elementals wouldn’t know until they were told that Lucifer had awoken?

They were questions he would need to find the answers to soon.

Sepheron added it to his mental list of things that needed to get done.

When he crossed back into his realm, he saw the sun beginning to rise on the horizon.

A new day was drawing, as was a new era for the supernatural world.

The war between light and dark elementals was child’s play compared to what they were facing.

The time for rest was over. Now, his kind would prepare to fight for humanity, for good to overcome evil, and for the balance to be restored.

Sepheron threw back his head and released a roar that shook the ground beneath his clawed feet. Fire erupted from his mouth and smoke billowed from his snout. There, he thought with mild amusement, that should wake everyone up.