Page 88 of Demon Unleashed

The elevator doors slid open, revealing Blake already waiting for them. He wasn’t armed, but vampires were strong and fast, and lethal even without weapons. Their fangs and claws could tear flesh apart more efficiently than a butcher knife.

Blake’s nostrils flared. No doubt he recognized Zoltan’s scent. Grayson stepped out of the elevator and raised his hand.

“Yes, he’s a demon. And no, he won’t hurt anybody.”

Still, Blake looked past Grayson, his eyes finally focusing on Enya and Zoltan’s intertwined hands. His eyebrows went up. He looked at Enya. “I wish I could say it’s nice to see you again, Enya, but maybe I’ll reserve my comment for once I know what’s going on here.”

Enya nodded and let go of Zoltan’s hand. “We need to see Samson. It’s urgent.”

Slowly Blake stepped aside and motioned them to enter the hallway. “Amaury is with him right now. I’ll escort you.”

Grayson marched ahead and knocked on Samson’s door, then opened it without waiting for an answer. “Dad, Amaury, I need you to remain calm. I brought somebody.”

“Grayson, what—”

Enya entered with Zoltan by her side. Two pairs of vampire eyes fell on them—Samson’s and Amaury’s. Immediately their nostrils flared like Blake’s earlier.

“He doesn’t mean you any harm,” Enya said quickly. “He’s on our side.” She made a point not to mention Zoltan’s name yet, suspecting that once Samson and Amaury knew that the ruler of the demons had just walked into Scanguards, they wouldn’t be willing to listen to her. She needed to buy time to explain the situation to them.

Behind her, Blake closed the door and blocked it from the inside.

Samson glanced back at Blake, then at his son. “A little advance notice would have been nice.”

Grayson took the reprimand in stride. “There was no time.” He motioned to Enya. “Enya will explain.”

Samson glanced at Amaury, who shrugged. “We might as well hear what she’s got to say.” Then Amaury tipped his chin toward Zoltan. “We can always kill the demon later.”

His expression unreadable, Samson told Enya, “Go ahead.”

As concisely as possible, Enya laid out the situation, telling their vampire allies that the demon she’d brought was in fact Cinead’s kidnapped son, and that he was transforming back into a Stealth Guardian. She divulged Wesley and Charles’s involvement, as well as their belief that Zoltan would completely lose his demon powers within the next twenty-four hours, making it paramount for them to mount an attack on the Underworld immediately. For obvious reasons, she left out his name and instead called him Angus, the name Cinead and his wife had given their baby son.

When she finished, Samson ran a hand through his dark hair and Amaury blew out a breath.

“That’s one heck of a story,” Samson said.

“You believe us, don’t you?” Enya said.

“Oddly enough, I do. You can’t really make this shit up, can you?” He gave a bitter laugh. “So, this is Angus?” He shook his head. “You do actually resemble your father quite a bit.”

Zoltan nodded. “I know.” But he didn’t say more. Mentioning that he hadn’t actually met his father yet would raise too many questions and reveal that the council knew nothing of this situation. “Enya said you could help us destroy the demons.”

“What do you need?” Samson asked, all business now.

“Explosives, and a couple of people who know how to handle them,” Zoltan said.

Samson looked at Amaury.

“Quinn,” Amaury said, then looked at Enya. “Ryder is trained too.”

“We need a third person, if you can spare somebody,” Enya said. “There are three vortex circles in the Underworld. We’ll have to blow them up simultaneously.”

“I can handle it,” Amaury said.

“You sure?” Samson asked him with a sideways glance.

Amaury rolled his eyes. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve done anything fun, like blowing up demons?”

Samson chuckled. “You’ve got a point. Maybe I should join you.”

“Delilah is gonna kill you,” Amaury said.

“She doesn’t need to know.” Samson looked at his son. “Right?”

Grayson lifted his hands. “I’m not gonna tell Mom anything.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Relief washed over Enya. They’d cleared another hurdle.

Zoltan held out his hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Samson shook it. “We’ll need a little time to plan things. Do you have a layout of the tunnel system and the vortex circles?”

Zoltan shook his head. “No. But I can draw it from memory.”

“We’ll have to hurry,” Enya interjected. “We have no idea how long Z…Angus can still conjure a vortex to get us down there.”

“It won’t take long,” Samson assured her. “We have everything we need in-house.”