My eyes fell to the five hounds pacinganxiously before the wall. The other hounds moved forward, brushingby us to join their brethren in the scattered remains of thegobalinus lining the floor. Their growls were louder than a carengine revving as they rose and fell in sync with each other.
“There’s nothing here,” Magnus said.
“Something has the hounds riled up,” Kobalreplied, his gaze focused on the creatures he controlled.
I stepped out from behind his back to peerat the markings on the wall. I recognized some of them as the sameones on Kobal. Just then, as I looked closer at the seal, Irealized that what I’d believed were only designs or waves of fireon Kobal’s body were actually more of the ancient and powerfullanguage of the demon race.
“There’s more symbols on you than I everrealized,” I murmured as I gazed between the seal and him, pickingout more and more of the same markings on each of them.
“There are many on me.”
He said no more as he broke away to stridetoward the wall. The hounds stepped back as he moved in theirdirection, separating into two rows to allow him to walk betweenthem. Their front legs came out, and their hackles remained raisedas their powerful bodies bent down around him.
My breath caught in my throat, and my handfluttered to my lips as the hounds watched him from their bowedpositions. Their amber eyes glowed in the fires washing over them,their shiny black coats shining in the light. They were easilydouble the size of a lion and far more powerful, yet they bowed tohim with reverence.
I took a step forward when Kobal rested hishand on the seal. Flames encompassed his hand and slid down towardhis elbow. He craned his head back to peer at the wall stretchinghigh above him.
“It’s solid,” he muttered, his other handabsently falling to the head of the hound that rose to stand besidehim.
“What’s behind this seal?” Corson asked.
“The eightieth seal is the púca,” Kobal saidand took a step back. He glanced over his shoulder at me.“Shapeshifters who can take on animal or human form.”
My eyebrows rose at that, but aftereverything else we’d seen so far, shapeshifters didn’t seem overlyfrightening. Kobal dropped his hand away from the wall and turnedto pace before it, examining every inch of it before returning tostand before me.
“And the demons are behind one hundred,”Magnus said. “We can stop this before it gets to them.”
“What demons?” Hawk asked.
“Upper-level demons who messed up on Earthand have been locked away ever since,” Kobal replied. “It wasdetermined best to keep the species separated from each otherbehind the seals, but I am able to add more into an establishedseal, as were my ancestors. Some of the demons have been lockedaway for thousands upon thousands of years.”
“So they’re pissed,” Hawk stated.
“Just a little,” Corson said. “And theywould make strong allies for Lucifer.”
“Why?” I asked.
“They’ve already proven they want to be onEarth and can’t follow the rules set down for them while amongstthe humans,” Kobal replied.
“Why weren’t they destroyed?” Hawk asked.“It’s not like there weren’t plenty of other demons in Hell, so thebalance wouldn’t have been upset if they were gone.”
“Some may have believed it was kinder toallow them to continue living,” Kobal said.
“And you?” I asked.
“To me, death would be the only option, butthe laws were established long before I ever came intocontrol.”
“So the newest seals are toward the end,” Isaid.
“Yes,” Kobal confirmed.
“You told me once before there were a couplehundred seals, but how many are there exactly?”
“Two hundred and three.”
My gaze drifted back to the wall before us.“You and your ancestors didn’t lock many away over the past sixthousand years.”
“Things became a bit more chaotic down here.What had once been a ‘punish and keep the balance’ movement by myancestors, became a seek and destroy mission when Lucifer startedtrying to take over.”
