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Pellini lay sprawled on the grass, breathing hard and staring at the sky.
“You still with me, hoss?” I asked.
“Miffed that you wouldn’t let me go flying with our new friend, but except for that, I’m dandy.” He shoved up to sit. “Are we where we need to be with this?”
“I believe so,” I said then gestured gracefully toward the demon. “Everyone, meet Yulz. Not exactly who we expected, but he’s badass. We’ll make this work.” As soon as I caught my second wind, I’d figure out how to bind Mr. Yulz to the task of fetching Elinor. The hard part was over, at least. Once Elinor was successfully rescued and the demon dismissed, I’d spare a minute to try and figure out why the hell Yulz came through instead of the demon I’d actually called. But for now, it was time to get down to business.
My ears popped at a sudden change in air pressure, and the scent of ozone engulfed me. “Stay on your toes!” I shouted as I tried to figure out what the fuck was happening. It wasn’t coming from the nexus or the demon, but beyond that I had no clue.
> The slab shuddered beneath me, and an awful metallic tearing sound filled the air, like two eighteen-wheelers being scraped together by a giant. The remains of Rhyzkahl’s house sank a foot, then plunged into the maw of an opening rift.
Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
I flinched and threw a hand up to shield my eyes as light flared like an exploding transformer from the grass on either side of the rift. Lightning flashed at the outer edge of Rhyzkahl’s orbit then streaked around the perimeter, jumping the rift gap and continuing in a blinding race for several heartbeats before ceasing in an instant.
Blinking spots out of my eyes, I made a hurried check to make sure everyone was clear and okay.
No, Rhyzkahl was lying crumpled on his side, stricken by the disruption of the prison warding.
“Turek, get Rhyzkahl to the tree!” I shouted then added, “Please,” since I didn’t know how he felt about the lord. “Pellini, scramble Alpha Squad. Bryce, give Suarez the staff and get someone on the hose in case the grass catches fire.”
The tearing sound died away to the unpleasantly familiar hiss of a new rift. I allowed myself a few seconds to stare at it in horror and disbelief. Seriously? Of all the shitty timing, a rift had to choose now to appear and here by my nexus?
The lovely new addition to my back yard landscaping ran from the edge of the nexus to twenty feet beyond the outer edge of Rhyzkahl’s orbit. Gouts of magenta flame erupted from its depths, and lining the rim were complex braids of rakkuhr, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Ice spread across the ground, leaving only the nexus itself untouched. At least that was intact.
The netted demon began to laugh, deep and slow—a fiendish sound I hoped to never hear again, and a hundred times worse than any movie special effect.
A sick dread filled me along with the unpleasant feeling that this rift was no coincidence. I dashed to the center of the super-shikvihr, double-checked and reinforced the bindings on Yulz, then cleared away every speck of residual energy from the summoning.
Magenta flames leaped in the rift, casting an ominous light across the slab and highlighting the desperate circumstances. Around the nexus, chaos was held at bay by training, discipline, and loyalty. Roper had the hose pulled out and was wetting down the grass. Turek crouched in a protective stance beside Rhyzkahl at the base of the tree. Bryce now had a shotgun slung over one shoulder and hustled to get as much heavy weaponry as we possessed to the security guards.
Everyone was doing what they needed to do, which left me free to figure out the rest. Anything that Yulz found amusing was surely bad news for me, but no matter how much I extended my demi-godlike senses, I couldn’t get the slightest whiff of what to expect. Demons, no doubt, but how many? What kind?
I wove potency strands for ready use while I ransacked my brain for a solution to the dilemma. The only SkeeterCheater we had was wrapped around Yulz. I could banish him then use the net to cover the rift and slow down invaders, but I’d also lose the chance to get Elinor. That would suck, but so would dying in a hail of demon droppings. Then again, the fastest recorded time for demons to start coming through a newly opened rift was eleven minutes, with an average of eighteen. If I could get Yulz bound in agreement and on the task quickly enough, we might be able to salvage both the net and the mission.
That was a big if. And I needed to make a decision. Banish or bind?
The magenta flames abruptly snuffed out, and the hiss went silent. I froze, eyeing the suddenly quiescent rift warily, potency strands partially woven in my hands. In my peripheral vision I saw everyone else in similar attitudes of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even Roper had abandoned the hose and backed slowly away as he unslung his rifle.
Rakkuhr fog mushroomed upward and spread with the speed of a tidal wave. My bad feeling quintupled. I’d dealt with hundreds of rifts and never seen anything like this before. The fog rolled toward me. I sucked in a breath and held it as everything was blanketed in uniformly opaque red.
Fuck this shit. I tapped into the vortex of potency at the heart of the nexus, drew out thick strands and set them swirling around me. Blind me with an arcane fog? I’d blow that crap away with an arcane fan.
At least I hoped it would work like that. I heard Bryce’s murmured voice in my earpiece, telling everyone to stay calm and on their toes. Then, “Whatever you’re doing, Kara, keep doing it.” Relieved, I drew more potency, fed it into my whirlpool-fan-thing, and set it flying faster and faster.
The fog thinned then dissipated completely, revealing a naked man standing beside the rift. One eye was swollen shut, and crusted blood clung to his face. Pale gold potency ringed his neck and trailed into the rift like a collar and leash.
I heard Bryce suck in a breath, and a second later recognition punched me in the gut. “Seretis?” I started forward but stopped when he held a hand up in warning.
“Dekkak is coming through,” he croaked.
I breathed out a curse as all the pieces fell into place. It was a setup. The whole thing. Xharbek was probably chortling right about now. All he had to do was tip Dekkak off about the summoning and let the imperator take care of the Kara problem. Innards everywhere.
Dekkak had sent Yulz through to let him spring the trap and take a hostage. That was why he grabbed Pellini. At least one thing had gone our way.
With the nexus, I had sufficient power at my disposal to bind Dekkak—except I had no idea how to bind a demon coming through a rift instead of a summoning portal. And with an open rift, Dekkak probably wasn’t coming alone.
I pulled potency and started fashioning bindings. This would take being lordy to a whole new level.
