Page 69 of The Demon's Fire
“Thank you, Cleatra.” Alarik struggled with the effort to smile. He was weary, his ministry juggling too many balls. “Healers are testing all Alliance employees. They identified an agent in Chicago as a Blood Coven descendant. Rein is sending warriors to bring him to safety. On another note, with Logan’s help, we found a Margo Hunter who has mage ancestry. We sent a team to her place in Cleveland. Though they were able to get a blood sample, an unfortunate situation arose. She’s been kidnapped along with the Firebrand Chay. The stronghold is searching for them now. It’s imperative we find her. Her test shows she is indeed Blood Coven.”
Of course, Alarik was aware of another descendant sitting right at this table. He avoided glancing her way. Nobody except family knew Braelyn’s ancestry. “Braelyn’s trap may have proved successful. A human who claims Masoud as his ancestor phoned her call center. She must still verify his story. Any word from him?”
“None. No call back yet.” Braelyn tapped a pen on the table.
Cleatra raised her hand. “Shouldn’t he be brought to safety?”
Braelyn pressed her lips into a frown. “The English guy is real paranoid. Someone already tried to kidnap him. He eluded them. Though Firebrand techie Logan is searching for him, so far no luck. The Brit’s in deep hiding. No credit charges. No driver’s license. No electronic or paper trail. The guy’s a ghost. He wants the contest money to keep running. Apparently, he’s worried about giving his location away if he taps his own accounts. It’s likely he’ll call again. When he does, I’ll persuade him to meet.”
“Keep us posted. Promising news. Eliphias, have my scientists found a faster way to detect those with mage DNA markers? Our current method, computer searches of medical records, is slow, unpredictable.”
Eliphias shook his head. “No, Director. Sorry to say we have not. We are still pursuing solutions, however.”
Alarik steepled his fingers, resting his chin on them. “Echo, any success tracing descendants through historical documents?”
“I thank Eliphias for his recommendation of Sauro, who has been removing spells from ancient tomes to prevent them from self-destructing. We’ve been poring through these accounts. Many families consented to give us access to their written histories. My people already visited several homes. We are creating a giant tree and filling in the blanks. I plan a trip to Salt Lake City. I want to wait, though, until we have more to go on at this end. Also, and I almost hate to mention this for fear I will jinx it, Allias, a historical researcher who is a veritable bloodhound, says he has uncovered an obscure document of interest. Within it is a tiny reference which could have monumental consequences for our hunt. Though he is tracking it down, he refuses to tell me his suspicions yet. Says the possibility is too far-fetched at this point. Anyway, I hesitated to mention it. I thought, however, we could use some hope even if it bears no fruit.”
Ever since Braelyn had spoken, Indigo’s hand kept flying up in the air as if she were an eager student sitting in her desk, her teacher having posed a question.
When Alarik called on his sister, she sprang to her feet. “Miller Nash. We must find him now. He’s in grave danger. In the River Am, I saw some very bad Aeternals hound dog him. Three of them. A nasty coyote shifter. A demon. And a vamp. We can’t let him get his fangs into the guy. Blood is like GPS to those suckers.”
Her eyeballs flipped high and to the left. “Alarik, remember the lean, mean young coyote shifter who used to sneak onto our property? Blond, bushy-tailed devil?”
“Is he the male after this Miller Nash?”
“What? Why would you think that? No. He’s the hotty-totty who popped my cherry. Back to the river. In another stream, Miller was with a brunette chick who wore these ankle-strap heels I’d kill to own. She had these big bazoombas which were about to meet with a serious clothes malfunction. Whichever stream you believe, things won’t go well for Miller Nash. Bad if the evil trio snag him. Embarrassing if he goes on the hot date with the brunette.”
“Indigo, Miller Nash is my Englishman on the run,” said Braelyn, her eyes wide.
Indigo tapped her chin with a finger. “How very ungood.”
****
Chaysat on the cold cement floor, leaned back against the wall, and yanked on the chain attached to his ankle. It was solid. When the door opened, the demon motioned for him to stay put. Chay nodded.
His buddy, the incubus, opened the cell to shove a pale Margo inside. When her legs wobbled, she crumpled to the floor.
She was beyond Chay’s reach. “Red, scoot closer. Once she did, he carried her to the bed, where he cradled her head in his lap. His chest pumped like a bouncing ball.
What had they done to her?
“How was I?” She blinked. “Could you hear me? Was I ylve-struck enough?”
“You were perfect.” Chay caressed her cheek, brushed her hair aside, and kissed her forehead. “I believe you might actually be ylve-struck.”
“You wish.” Her head rolled to the side. Her eyes drifted closed, and she was silent.
“Red, talk to me.” He patted her face a few times until she swatted his hand away. “What happened in there? Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”
“No. Thing One and Thing Two gave me a sedative after they strapped me to a chair. Then they took my blood. Everyone wants blood. S’ my blood.” Her lids slid down again. She slurred her words. “S’mine.”
“They wanna see if you have a Blood Coven ancestor. If you don’t, they’ll have no use for us. If you do, our futures could get worse.”
“Worse than death?” Her eyes sprang open.
“Possibly.”
She swiped a hand across her face. “Need to sleep ’fore chatting.” Her lips sagged while every so often she wrinkled her nose or snuffled.
