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Kol
Monday Evening
Dark Haven Grounds
The night is still. Which is not a good thing. It means it’s the calm before the next wave of demons. Instead of staying content and feeding on the humans inside of Dark Haven, they are venturing out into the world.
Or attempting to.
We’ve banished hundreds, yet they keep coming back within days. Whatever was happening in Helheim wasn’t good. The fact our leader was doing nothing about it was disconcerting.
“Sir,” Veroh called out. As one of my strongest officers he’d been right beside me as we tore through the demons. So far none that we knew of had escaped, but I also didn’t know how much longer we could do this for.
Plus, I’d found a mate, yet couldn’t spend any time with her. Being here around humans showed me how out of touch we were from the start. I wasn’t gentle and soft like her human men. Hell, even Ivar had a charm she couldn’t resist. But I lacked the emotion they did, the connection.
I feared I was losing before we even had a chance.
“Sir?” Veroh’s second attempt at getting my attention worked, and I internally smacked myself. Showing weakness to my men was not what they needed right now.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Movement on the western side of the perimeter but we cut it out. No failures.” He was proud, as he should be.
“I’m starting to feel like this is a distraction,” I admitted to him. “Send a group inside as well, it’s almost nightfall.”
“Will do,” he said with a bow of respect.
He flew off to manage the troops, and I turned, ready to follow when something caught my eye. Instinctively I always glanced at the third floor, keeping an eye on my mate even if I couldn’t be there as much as I’d like. This time there was movement that shouldn’t be there.
Without a second thought, I flew to the roof and headed inside, taking the stairs a flight at a time to reach the third floor. I was focused on ensuring there were no threats on this floor despite the wards in place.
My memory was eidetic, photographic, and I pictured the exterior, comparing it to what I knew of the floor, realizing it went beyond what it should. How had I never noticed those windows were farther back than the interior I’d seen. And it ran beyond Harlow, Drake, and the empty room.
What was hidden beyond that. Where was the entrance?
No matter how I replayed the layout in my mind, I couldn’t find a point of entry. There were no doors from the main hall, nor in the common room. That left the nurses’ station.
The moment I landed on that conclusion, I knew I had to be right. Where else would they hide it so the patients were unaware of its existence?
Fury flared in my mind. I’d heard the stories by now, knew what Vane did in the secret hallway they’d found Harlow locked away in.
Was he doing something similar right under our noses?
The nurse who watched this floor was in the room when I wrenched the door open, startling at the sight of me.
“Move!” I thundered, pointing toward the door, and she didn’t hesitate to run from the room.
“No, you can’t go in there!” she protested in a hysterical screech that rivaled a wounded pterodactyl. Apparently she wasn’t terrified enough to run far. What was she protecting? “You don’t know what you’re doing!”
“Shut up, human,” I spit out as I walked in, slamming the door so hard the wood splintered and the hinge broke. The room was small enough my wings, though tucked close to my body, caused havoc as I spun, searching for the entrance. I expected it to be hard, to have to tear the place apart.
But Vane was arrogant and careless.
Right there on the floor in front of the bookshelf was a half circle carved into the floor. I cared little about the human’s belongings and ripped the first shelf straight from its place, revealing a hallway in the process. I continued until it was in tatters and the room was destroyed.
It stunk of human and demon, meaning I was likely on the right track. My mouth tipped into a smug smile, knowing I was the one who’d get to kill my mate’s attacker.
As I tried to cross the threshold, I was met by an invisible wall. Anger had me slamming my fist into the space, causing pain to radiate through my body as if I’d hit a stone wall.
