Page 18 of Demon Unleashed

“About?”

Winter met her gaze full-on. “The same as always.”

“Hmm.” Enya knew what this meant. Winter, a true psychic, who’d once been kidnapped by the demons who wanted to exploit her gift, had visions of events from the past as well as the future. One of these visions had saved her own life, another had led to the discovery of the source dagger and indirectly saved Pearce’s life. But there were other visions that had led nowhere, as in the case of Cinead’s kidnapped son.

“He said that while he was packing up the house, he found an old toy that belonged to his son, and he wanted me to have it. Would you mind bringing it back for me?”

“No problem.” Enya sighed. “He’s not giving up hope, is he?”

“Would you? As long as there’s even a one percent chance that his son is still alive, he’ll keep looking.” Winter let out a long breath. “And hoping that I’ll have another vision. I don’t have the heart to tell him that I doubt I’ll ever have another vision about his son’s abduction. He keeps sending me things baby Angus might have touched in the hopes that it will help me conjure a vision and tell us if he’s still alive.”

“Maybe the move will be good for him. There are too many memories in his old place. It’s time he moved on, physically and emotionally.” Despite her words, Enya understood the elder statesmen. His baby son had been believed killed by demons over two hundred years earlier, and only a few years ago, one of Winter’s visions had established that the baby had been abducted, not killed. Ever since then, Cinead had tried to find his son. His wife, heartbroken after the loss of her child, had killed herself on her son’s first birthday, unable to continue living with her grief. Cinead had never bonded with another.

“Thanks, Enya.” Winter turned on her heel and walked back up the stairs.

Moments later, Enya stepped into the portal, willed it to close, and allowed the darkness to surround her. She concentrated on her location, the secret council compound, and felt the air around her stir. Seconds later, everything was quiet again, and the portal opened, allowing light to stream inside. The sudden light made her sway, and for a fraction of a second, she felt dizzy. Damn it, she should be used to this. Besides, only creatures other than Stealth Guardians felt the disorienting movements of the portal.

Enya stepped out into the corridor and was instantly greeted by Jay, her fellow Stealth Guardian, who’d been assigned to the Baltimore compound a few years earlier and was now on assignment at the council compound.

“Hey, Enya. Long time.”

“Yep.” She wasn’t particularly keen on Jay. While assigned to Baltimore, he’d made a couple of passes at her, and she’d rejected him. She hadn’t exactly been very diplomatic about it either, which meant Jay had been rather frosty to her ever since.

“So it’s just you and me. Let’s get it over with, then.”

He motioned her to follow him into the direction of the archive. Considering that she had seniority—Jay was a good three decades younger than she—it irked her that he made it look like he was giving the orders. Not wanting him to get any ideas, she sped up and walked past him, then moved into the center of the narrowing corridor so he had to walk behind her. When she heard him huff, she grinned to herself. One-nil Enya.

In front of the archive, two heavily armed guards were posted. This hadn’t always been the case. The coded entry system had been sufficient to protect the contents of the council compound’s archives before the source dagger had been recovered and placed there. Protecting it was now the council’s highest priority.

“State your name and business, guardians,” the female guard demanded.

“Enya and Jay to retrieve the source dagger and bring it to council member Cinead,” Enya said before Jay could open his mouth.

The female guard nodded at her colleague, who pressed a small receiver in his ear and spoke into the microphone extending from it. “We have an Enya and Jay here to retrieve the source dagger for council member Cinead.”

For a moment, there was silence, then the guard looked at them. “Council member Norton is on his way. Please wait over there.” He pointed to a bench several feet from the door.

Enya made her way there, but didn’t sit down. Neither did Jay.

“Tight security,” Jay murmured.

“As it should be,” Enya replied tightly.

“But to waste a council member’s time to sign out the dagger? That’s a bit over the top, don’t you think?”

“And who else, in your opinion, should have the authority to sign it out?” she snapped. “Pearce nearly died for this dagger. Our compound fought to get it back. And you think it’s a waste of time for a council member to have to come down here to verify our credentials and sign it out to us? Think again.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Hey, you got a bee in your bonnet or what?”

“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?” She glared at him. She didn’t know why he irritated her, but he did.

To his credit, Jay quickly said, “Nothing.”

It didn’t take long until Norton walked toward them. “Enya, Jay, good to see you both.” As always, he was casual. “I reviewed your assignment.” He pointed to the door of the archive. “Shall we?” To the two guards he said, “Please open the archive for us.”

The female guardian entered a code into the keypad next to it, then pressed her thumb onto the scanner. Apparently, the automatic entry system had also been upgraded. When Norton caught Enya’s look, he explained, “Another layer of security. Only the guards assigned to the archive are able to operate the keypad. And only during their hours of duty. It’s all programmed in. The guards change every two hours, and rotate in an unpredictable pattern, making it impossible for an outsider to figure out.”

“You’re leaving nothing to chance,” Enya said. “I like it.”