Void Domain, Book 04 полностью

Insanity. Pure and utter insanity. Willingly diving into Hell for a girl who, from the augur’s reports, might not even be herself anymore? Wayne knew people who had been committed to an asylum for less.

Zoe’s half-smile turned to a frown as the final member of their insane expedition sloshed through the water.

“Foster,” Wayne said, mirroring his coworker’s expression. “Nice of you to show up.”

“Can it,” he snapped. “Bringing the hel’s latest mark to it is the last thing I have to do to get out from under its thumb. I don’t give two damns about the girl or either of you.”

Wayne rolled his eyes. “Good to know that you have our back.”

“And,” he continued without taking notice of Wayne’s words, “if either of you tell anyone about what we discussed earlier, Arachne being after your lives will be the least of your concerns.”

Wayne blinked, but Zoe beat him to speaking.

Or shouting, as the case was.

“You’re threatening us? You monster. I had a low opinion of you before finding out that you performed experiments on a little girl. And now you dare–”

“Please,” Foster said, waving one hand while the other scratched at his gangling beard. He acted completely unconcerned about the dagger that had slipped its way into Zoe’s hand. “It isn’t me you have to worry about. I would be displeased, but me and Eva? We can disappear easily enough. And I’m sure that with some effort, Eva could eventually convince Arachne not to murder you in your sleep.

“The simple fact of the matter is that you both have a lot tying you down. I don’t know if you’ve ever met true demon hunters, but they make the Elysium Order look tolerant and understanding. When they come knocking on your door to find what you know about us, I doubt they’ll like the look of that ring on your finger.”

Again, Zoe’s thumb darted to the dark band of metal.

Unlike Zoe, Wayne had encountered demon hunters before. Their feverish zealotry was as bad as demons themselves. If one caught wind of Zoe’s involvement in any sort of diablery, the most she could hope for would be a swift death.

It wasn’t, in fact, only Zoe that would be in danger. All of Brakket Academy and city would be in trouble. Spencer and her pet were not even the largest problem around. Turner staffed no fewer than four of the pests, probably more.

The zealots would be hunting down every single person in town, student or otherwise, simply for coming into contact with the demons.

Why, then, were they not around already? Surely the situation hadn’t fallen beneath their notice. Even if they couldn’t detect demonic activity–something Wayne was certain they could–there had to have been some rumors spreading around.

He hadn’t been present for the incident at Brakket, but the golems he had faced during the operation to recover Nel had been very obviously demonic. Someone at Brakket would have noticed and word would have spread.

Wayne’s thoughts led him to a single conclusion.

Someone, or something, was protecting Brakket.

Although, Wayne mused, who or what probably doesn’t matter much if I don’t make it back.

The water rapidly cooling broke Wayne out of his thoughts. He turned to one side.

Only the tips of Ylva’s bare feet had entered the water and it was already icing over.

“There have been no changes in Shalise’s abnormal condition. She has escaped her statues’ grasp and returned to the throne room. We continue to believe the best course of action will be delivering her to Eva’s domain until her… passenger can be extracted.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Foster said. “If you didn’t have anything new to tell us, you could have said as much. Or better yet, why don’t you go to Hell while we lord around the place.” His voice descended to low grumblings as he continued. “We’re not the ones who want a new servant.”

A lane of ice formed across the surface of the water. It wrapped around the demonologist’s arm.

He threw himself out of the way, grappling Zoe to keep himself from falling into the water.

She managed to stay up thanks only to Wayne reaching out and taking hold of her arm to steady her.

Zoe shoved Foster off of her, almost sending him beneath the water.

After regaining his balance, he twisted to glare first at Zoe then at Ylva. His glare died off as he glanced down to one side.

Which wasn’t hard to emphasize with. As much as Wayne disliked the man–on general principle and his distasteful personality–the glare Ylva leveled at him was both awe and terror inducing. Being on the receiving end of those cool eyes was something Wayne hoped to never experience.

“You test Our patience, Devon Foster. We will not be displeased to see you out of your debt. Finish your task and banish yourself from Our presence, lest We do it for you.”

Foster let out a long stream of unintelligible mutterings. As soon as he finished, he took a deep breath and ducked beneath the surface of the water.