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“And Vespyr.”
Not bothering to wait for any further details, I shot like a bullet of rage up the staircase toward Farryn’s room.
The wall across from her bed held a circle where the wallpaper had curled away and shriveled, the plaster beneath browned and stained, like the decay found in abandoned buildings. I touched my hand to it, noticing the ice-cold surface.
My father.
Fury cut through me like a sharp blade, and on a growl, I slammed my fist into the wall. Over and over, I punched it, rattling the armoire. A picture popped off somewhere to the left of me. All that stood on the other side of the gaping hole I’d created was the next bedroom. Muscles still burning with rage, I set my palms to the unruined parts of the wall, trying to catch my breath and calm the relentless pounding of my pulse.
“You saw them?” I asked, as Vaszhago strode up behind me.
“Only just. The entrance was shielded by a ward I couldn’t break through. There was a gray corridor on the other side.”
“Corridor.” My thoughts wound back to Farryn’s dream. The corridors. The devil knocker. “Infernium. They’re in the labyrinth.”
Vaszhago groaned and rubbed a hand down his face. “Fuck me.”
“I’ll need blood from Soreth, if I’m to walk there. The place feeds on vitaeilem. I’ll need my armors to slow it.” As a Knight, I’d been given black, steel armor, forged from the Obsidian Mountains. It was known to slow the osmotic way that Eradye fed on vitaeilem. Not strong enough to prevent depletion, but enough to stave it off so that I might have time to retrieve Farryn. “I just need enough to get in and get Farryn.”
“I’ll take care of that. And I’ll come with you.”
“I do not know what awaits us in this labyrinth.”
“Given the fact that my balls are on the line, here, I do not rightly care.”
With a nod, I headed toward my chambers, as Vaszhago made his way to the dungeons. Once inside my room, I pushed the armoire to the side to reveal a door hidden there. I opened it on a small chamber, where the armored suit hung from a bracket inside. The material was thinner than that of most armor, lighter to wear. In the center of the chest the emblem of the Knighthood, made of silver, stood out against the black.
I donned the suit quickly–the chest armor, pauldrons, bracers, and gloves, then pulled the hood of its attached black cape up over my head.
It’d been years since I’d worn the suit. Centuries since I’d faced the darkest of creatures in all five realms.
As I strode from my chambers, Vaszhago met me in the corridor, his jaw clenched in frustration. “The angel is gone.”
“Gone? You secured him last night, correct?”
“Yes. There’s no sign that he escaped through the bars, or any part of the cell. It’s as if he disappeared.”
Fuck. I’d gotten a decent dose of vitaeilem from Soreth, but probably not enough to make it through to Farryn. I only hoped a greater instinct to protect her, even in my demonic form, would tamp down any urge to snap her neck like I had the succubus. “I’ll deal with that later. For now, we need to get to the asylum.”
Vaszhago and I exited the cathedral, when an unsettling cold brushed over the back of my neck. An unnerving sensation, and I looked to the sky to see a black-winged figure flying toward us.
“The last thing I need right now,” I muttered, keeping on toward the horses.
“Sentinel?”
“Yes,” I said through clenched teeth, as Adimus touched down on the cathedral lawn.
Cerberus and the other dogs charged at him. With a raise of his hand, Adimus sent all three dogs flying backward on a yelp and strode toward us.
“Going somewhere?” he asked without a trace of humor in his voice.
“If you’ve come for her, she’s not here.”
“I’ve not come for her, specifically.”
Frowning, I steeled my muscles and turned to face him. “Know that if you’ve come for me, I will kill you before I go willingly.”
Adimus rolled his shoulders back, the insult undoubtedly a slap to his face. “I’ve not come for you, either. I’m here for Soreth.”
