Page 45 of Demon Unleashed

“Shut up, Stealth Guardian!”

Enya struggled and fought so hard that it took all three demons to lift her off the bed. Finally, her feet on the floor again, she tried to dig her heels in, but the demons just dragged her with them, out the door and around the corner of the end unit.

Right there, next to a big tree, one of them made a movement with his arm and cast a vortex.

Fuck! They were taking her down to the Underworld! She tried to scream, but the rag in her mouth prevented her from doing so.

Zoltan, you’re gonna pay for this betrayal! I’ll kill you even if that’s the last thing I do.

She was certain it was Zoltan who’d told the demons where to find her. Nobody else knew, and he was the one who’d so conveniently left the motel like a thief in the night. Christ, just by leaving her a note that he’d bring breakfast, he’d made sure that she’d wait for him. What a fucking idiot she’d been. How could she have trusted him?

~ ~ ~

Zoltan turned the corner of the building, a cardboard tray with two cups of coffee in one hand, a bag of various pastries in the other, when he looked at the motel across the street. His heart stopped at what he saw just a few yards away from the door to the motel room he’d shared with Enya the night before. A vortex was open, and three demons yanked a struggling, gagged Enya into it.

He dropped the breakfast and raced across the street, neither caring that cars were swerving to avoid him, nor paying any attention to their angry honking. All he was concerned about was reaching the vortex in time to pull Enya back. Despite his speed, he knew he would be too late. The last demon was already disappearing in the vortex, and the swirling mass of dark fog and air shrank.

“No!”

Nobody heard his scream. By the time he reached the spot where the vortex had been, the dust on the ground had already settled, and not even footprints from the demons’ boots were visible.

His heart pounded like a jackhammer, and fury charged through his veins. How dare those bastards touch what was his? How dare they put their dirty paws on his woman? Nobody had the right to touch Enya! Nobody but Zoltan! She was his, and his alone! Whoever had ordered Enya’s abduction—and he was sure the three demons were only henchmen—would pay for it.

He ran a shaky hand through his hair. Fuck! Everything seemed to spin around him as if his life had just been upended. A ragged breath tore from his chest, and with it, a realization manifested out of nowhere. He didn’t want to acknowledge it at first, but even he couldn’t deny what stared him in the face now: he did indeed have feelings for Enya. The reason he knew it was because the thought of somebody harming her sliced through his heart with more ferocity than an assassin’s blade ever could. However, this news wasn’t entirely welcome. If he accepted it as true, and acted upon it, his entire life would change. Everything he’d worked for, all his plans, his goals, his aspirations, would turn to cinder like the bodies of the many demons he’d tossed in the lava pits. And there was no guarantee that following his heart would yield success. Nevertheless, he knew he had to try.

Although he wanted to descend into the Underworld right away, he stopped himself and headed for the motel room instead. The door was left open, and Zoltan quickly entered and shut it behind him. He had to devise a plan to free Enya, and he couldn’t do that if he charged after her without thinking things through.

How the fuck had his subjects found Enya? He and Enya had been invisible from the moment they’d left the alley where they’d killed five demons. Zoltan’s phone was switched off, eliminating the possibility that he’d been traced electronically. Besides, nobody in the demon world knew of this phone. He only used it when transacting with humans. Knowing Enya, she was equally cautious when it came to having electronics on her that could be traced. Had Enya gone outside and been spotted by accident, even though he’d ordered no demon activity in Baltimore?

He looked around the room. There wasn’t much evidence of a struggle, though a chair lay on its side. However, Enya’s shoes were near the bed with a damp towel. She’d showered, gotten dressed, but hadn’t put her shoes on yet. She hadn’t gone outside, not voluntarily anyway. He glanced back at the door. The lock was intact, as was the doorframe. She’d let the demons in, which confirmed that the demons had known she was here. They’d targeted her, which suggested that his adversary knew that he’d been with Enya. But just how much did the traitor know about his relationship with her?

The kidnappers had left in such a hurry that they hadn’t even bothered collecting the daggers that Enya had taken off the dead demons the night before. They still lay on the table near the window. Zoltan walked toward it and accidentally kicked one of Enya’s shoes, turning it sole up. There, on the back of its heel, was a large green blotch. He reached for the shoe and touched the spot. It was dry. Blood from the night before. Blood that Enya couldn’t make invisible. Had another demon lain in wait, watching the five attack, then followed Zoltan and Enya after they’d disposed of the dead demons? The green bloodstain on Enya’s shoe would have made it possible for somebody to follow them at a safe distance without them noticing. If this was true, it meant the demon following them had reported back to his master with every detail he’d observed.

Enya and the demons who’d snatched her hadn’t seen Zoltan approach, which was a good thing. It meant he could prepare, work out a story that his demons could believe, and in the process free Enya. Most of them were gullible enough to believe anything if the Great One said it with authority. But the traitor who wanted his throne wouldn’t be as easily fooled. Zoltan needed a plan to deal with him. But he couldn’t lose time, because sooner or later, his underlings would start torturing their prisoner. And the thought of somebody hurting—or worse, abusing—his woman boiled his blood. He had to get to her before that happened.