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His flames? Hanging her head in her hands, Phoenix let out a groan. Her skull throbbed like a demon was pounding a nail into her skull. “Thank you for saving me.”
The cat creature’s eyes flared as she leaned in closer to Phoenix. “Something about you is different.”
“I’m not Daeva.” She shook her head, instantly regretting the worsening throb in her skull. “She’s my sister.” She wondered why the demon would mistake her for Daeva. They looked nothing alike now that her sister had taken on her demon form.
The demon tilted her head, a low purr sounding from her. “Daeva never mentioned a sister.”
“That’s because her memories had been erased.”
“What’s your name?”
“Phoenix.” She paused, nervously biting her lip. Her mates wouldn’t know her by Phoenix. They only knew Bennu. Even though she wasn’t fond of the name, perhaps she should start using it. “But I also sometimes go by Bennu,” she added.
“Bennu?” The demon cat rolled her name around on her tongue as if the sound tasted rancid. “It meant born of the ashes in the old tongue.”
“I know.” She tried squinting at her again, pleased when her two faces converged into one. “How did my sister know you?”
“I’m the one asking the questions,” the demon said on a snarl, flexing her claws. “How did you get here?”
Phoenix tensed at that. Perhaps she should’ve let the demon think she was Daeva. “A crystal.”
“What crystal?” the demon’s eyes widened. “The kind the hunters use?”
She nodded. “My sister’s mates found one, enabling us to travel between dimensions.”
“What are you doing here?” she snapped, her slitted nostrils widening.
Phoenix pulled her knees to her chest, not liking the weight of the demon’s stare. “I’m here to save my mates. They were cast down to this dimension almost three thousand years ago by the Vindictus.”
“The V-Vindictus?” The cat’s eyes widened, and she stumbled back.
“You knew them?”
The demon visibly shivered. “They were my enslavers long ago.”
“That’s how you knew Daeva?” Back before Daeva’s soul had been taken by Jezebeth. Phoenix recalled this story. Her sister had fed her bits and pieces over the past year. Daeva’s mates had freed her from the Vindictus not long after the Vindictus had taken over their dimension. She vaguely remembered Daeva mentioning a demon named Tigress had escaped with them. This demon with the catlike features and tiger stripes had to be her. She raised a shaky finger. “You’re Tigress?”
The demon nodded and then knelt beside Phoenix, her long tail swooshing dust and debris across the slate floor. “Tell me, has something happened to them?”
Phoenix stared into the demon’s golden eyes. “The Vindictus? We defeated them.”
“We?” She purred, her tail swooshing more rapidly. “Who?”
“Daeva and her mates and I. We freed Hecate and defeated the Vindictus.”
“I have heard of Hecate. She ruled before the Vindictus, no?”
Phoenix nodded.
Tigress’s features twisted. “When did you defeat them?”
Phoenix pressed her back against the wall, the uneven stones digging into her back, even through the padding of her jacket. Something about the intensity in Tigress’s eyes unnerved her. “About a year ago.”
Tigress stood and let out a hiss, the fur on her neck standing on end. “It’s been about a year since things changed here.”
“What do you mean?” Phoenix asked.
“Gorgo was enslaved to the Vindictus.” She paced the floor in front of Phoenix, her long tail wildly slapping the air. “He was their oracle. His powers were limited to a small section of this dimension because they’d bound his magic. Then, about a year ago, everything changed.”
