Page 43 of The Magic of Eternity
Of course, now that I knew more about who Khol Larsen actually was, I was curious what the true purpose of that mission had been. We were only in Port Black for about a week and as far as I knew, they hadn’t realized that we were there.
Kai was grinning at the males across from us, and I knew it was because with their extra strength and power behind us, we just might be able to turn the tables today and do the unthinkable.
In the end, it was Fischer who spoke before I got the chance. “I thought they called you the Exiled because you know, you’ve been exiled,” he deadpanned.
An eerie silence settled over our group as each side of the table took in the other side. They all still wore their masks—which I found strange—with most of them completely covering their faces. It was hard to tell what their current mood was. Without being able to read facial expressions, it really put a damper on the conversation.
The man in the middle, who had crosses for eyes, leaned back in his chair, like he was the true king here. I had to admit, he certainly had an air of importance to him. He didn’t look at Fischer. I could tell because his head hadn’t moved. He was staring me straight on. Now was not the time for some alpha macho posturing bullshit.
“Well,” he finally said, crossing his arms in front of him and leaning forward on the table. “That’s a long story. One that, unfortunately, we just don’t have time for right now. Let’s just say our isolation has now ended. That’s all that matters.”
I found myself running my fingers through my beard as I perused our new allies. “Actually,” I started, “what matters here—theonlything that matters here—is our mate. That’s number one.”
The pig mask demon shook his head, letting out a disbelieving huff. “It always comes down to girls, doesn’t it?” His voice was unlike any other demons that I’d heard. While I would consider most of the demon race to have accents that reminded me of British or Irish, his was more Russian, very harsh and to the point. That was when I knew exactly who I was speaking to.
“Not just a girl,” Fischer cut in, his hands clenched into fists. I knew that Fischer and Kai would also know the man by his accent. This was The Carver. His real name, Misha. He had earned his nickname through many bloody kills; he was an expert with a knife, or any blade really. His skills were legendary—as was his complete lack of humanity.
“That’s fine.” Another man shrugged, the one who wore the masquerade mask that just covered his eyes. You could tell he was older by the silver glint in his dark hair, mostly around his temples. Rhodes, I realized, the oldest of the crew. He was maybe ten or fifteen years older than his gang partners and often seen as the more responsible one of the group. I’d heard tales of people who’d made the mistake of thinking that responsibility was equal to softness. Rhodes was always quick to correct that misconception.
“We’re here because our interests align with yours. We want to see Asrael destroyed today, and I think that all of our goals will lead us to the same destination,” the man in the middle added.
Suddenly, I knew who this one was too. Of course.Of course he would be sitting in the middle.He was known as their ringleader, Ashland. He was known for tempting people, making deals with them. From what I knew, he had a bit of an addiction with gambling. Only with him, it usually wasn’t with money. No, he actually preferred the highest stakes a person could offer—their life.
That would mean that the remaining two men were the twins, Talon and Felix. These two made the twin girls from The Shining look like little lambs. Their bodies always moved to a strange beat that only they could hear. They couldn’t fit in if they tried. From what I’d studied about them in their files, they also had a tendency to be wildly inappropriate, often misreading situations. Or maybe it wasn’t even that they were misreading them, it was that they just didn’t give a shit. They often laughed at inappropriate times, smiled when a smile was the completely wrong reaction. Felix didn’t wear a mask. He wore face paint—white paint with deep black circles around his eyes, the features of a skull painted boldly. His twin, Talon, wore a gas mask and liked to carry an axe.
All five of these demons were completely unhinged, and in my opinion, certifiably insane. I had mixed feelings about their presence here. It was clear they had their own agenda, their own goals. I just hoped that they realized the moment they hindered our plans was the moment they would pay.
“What are you thinking about so hard over there, big man?” Felix asked, taunting me.
I ran my tongue over the backs of my teeth, staring at them. “Look, we need your help. This entire fucking realm needs your help. We need to come up with a plan that gets everybody what they want, and we need to stick to it.”
Ashland straightened up in his chair. “Is this the same kind of plan like the one last year, where you and your team snuck into our city to spy on us?” His head tilted, studying our reactions as the air grew tense.
“No, it’s not,” Kai growled. All five of the Exiled turned their attention, in perfect synchronicity, from me to Kai. “That was for our job. This is for our life. There is absolutely nothing similar. Every man has his limits, how far he’s willing to go in the name of his work. I can tell you honestly that for me and the other five men who are bound to our beautiful mate, there is no limit on how far we’re willing to go.”
Balor stood, suddenly sensing their tension. “Alright, everyone needs to get ahold of themselves. Everyone in this room is on the same side. You wouldn’t be here right now if that wasn’t the case. We don’t have time for this.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at us, like we were a bunch of unruly punks and not trained assassins who could kill him before he blinked.The man has balls.
“Alright then. Balor’s right,” Rhodes agreed. “We have more important things to discuss than your less than professional ability to sneak around without being detected.” His eyes glinted. I could see he wanted to rile me up, but I wasn’t going to fall to his level.
Before any of us could respond, Fischer held up a hand, immediately gaining all of our focus. “It’s Saige,” he said quickly, standing and walking over to the other side of the room. I didn’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to be distracted by us either.
“Why the masks?” Kai asked, straight to the point. “You didn’t have them last year.”
Felix chuckled. “Because they’re cool as shit.” He held his hands up in a motion that was like he was speaking to a moron. Kai actually laughed, and I swallowed a chuckle myself.
“So everyone here is aware that Asrael has dragons that he either captured or created locked in enclosures around the outskirts of the city?” I asked, letting my gaze fall on each member across the table from me.
Ashland chuckled. “Oh, we’re aware.” My shock must’ve shown on my face because he smugly added, “That’s right. We’ve known about this for a while, and in addition to keeping tabs on our city, we’ve been working on our own little project.” He looked over, giving a sharp nod to Talon.
The fire red-haired demon stood from his chair. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved a small canister. “We’ve created this.” Though I couldn’t see his mouth, I could hear the wicked grin on his face.
“What’s that?” Kai asked curiously, leaning closer to get a better look.
“This is a vapor. Essentially what it does is free a person from being under the persuasion of anyone else,” Rhodes explained.
“Why have you created such a thing?” I inquired curiously. It was definitely what we needed to be able to set the dragons free, and actually have them be of use to this fight. But I needed to know why. The Exiled would have spent time—and likely a lot of money—to create something like this. In the wrong hands, it would be a disaster. Control of power like this was used in high-security prisons for witches and mages, so if such a thing got out, it could really be scary.
Misha grunted. I knew he was a man of few words, so it surprised me when he said, “It was necessary.”
