Page 17 of Demon Unleashed

8

Enya looked over Pearce’s shoulder at the computer screen. They were alone in the command center. The others had already left for their various assignments.

“Who else is on the detail?” Enya asked.

Pearce scrolled farther down. “Just you and Jay.”

“Will Jay be carving the portal?”

Pearce chuckled. “Are you kidding? Cinead is gonna do it himself. He was around back when we had the dagger the first time. He knows how it’s done.” He winked at her. “He’s probably champing at the bit already. He’s wanted to move out of his old house for decades, and all that’s been keeping him there was the fact that he couldn’t move to a place without a portal.”

“Well, all that’s changed now. Finally we can open new compounds and new residences for our people.”

“Yep, the source dagger makes it all possible.”

It was the only tool that could create portals, the teleportation devices the Stealth Guardians relied upon to securely travel from one compound to another. The dagger had been lost for centuries, but only months earlier they’d recovered it—and not a moment too soon, or it would have fallen into the hands of the demons.

“You’ll meet Jay at the council compound,” Pearce said. “There, they’ll sign out the source dagger to you. You’ll travel to the compound in Seattle via portal. From there—”

“I know the drill. Jay and I will travel invisibly from there until we reach Cinead’s new home. I assume he’s already there?”

Pearce nodded. “He traveled there last night, taking the same precautions as you will be to make sure the demons won’t get a whiff of you. After you’re done, you and Jay will bring the dagger back to the council compound. I’m told there’s a long list of applicants who’ve applied for a personal portal.”

“I assume the approvals go by seniority?” After all, Cinead was one of the oldest living Stealth Guardians and a valued member of the Council of Nine, their ruling body.

“Not necessarily. The locations for the new portals are thoroughly vetted for any security concerns. If you must know, Cinead’s first choice of location was denied, because the council deemed it not secure enough.”

“Even though Cinead’s on the council?”

Pearce shrugged. “Didn’t matter.”

“So what was his first choice?”

“Vancouver Island.”

“What was wrong with that?”

“The council will never approve an island, because there’s no escape route via land, should the portal have to be destroyed in case of detection by the demons.”

“Makes sense.”

Pearce pointed to the clock. “You should get going.”

“See you later.”

“Good luck.”

Enya turned and left the command center. The sound of her heels hitting the stone floor echoed in the long corridor of the compound. She descended two flights of stairs to reach the level where the compound’s portal was located. She’d placed her hand on the symbol of a dagger that was etched into the stone and already felt a warmth underneath her palm, indicating that the portal responded to her command to open, when she heard footsteps behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Winter hurrying down the stairs.

She wore her long red hair down, and it looked like she’d just awoken. “Enya!”

Enya took her hand from the portal and turned. “Is something the matter?”

“I heard you’re going to see Cinead.”

She nodded. “Yes, he’s moving to his new place, and we’re installing a new portal.”

“Logan told me.” Winter hesitated. “Cinead called me last night.”