Page 8 of Demon Unleashed

“I’m afraid we’re limited when it comes to acquiring new weapons. Well, of course they’re not new. If they were, we wouldn’t be able to use them. I mean old weapons,” Wilson said, flustered as always.

If he hadn’t turned out to be so loyal, Zoltan would have replaced Wilson long ago. But Wilson knew when to grovel. Besides, he knew his weapons. He could tell a dagger forged in the Dark Days from any imitation. And only weapons forged in the Dark Days were of use to them when it came to destroying the Stealth Guardians. They couldn’t be killed with any other weapon. The same was true for demons.

Zoltan was already turning away from Wilson when the stout demon said, “But I might have a new source. A man who’s worked on numerous archeological digs. I’m supposed to meet him later this week to look at photographs he’s taken.”

“Good.” Zoltan pointed to Silvana. “How are the dogs?”

“Hungry.” Silvana’s Eastern European accent was as hard and grating as her demeanor. The job of dog handler was tailor-made for her. “Next time a Stealth Guardian tries to infiltrate here, they’ll sniff out the bastard in no time. No matter how much they’ll try to disguise their scent, they won’t be able to get past the dogs. I promise.”

Zoltan had confidence in her. Well-trained dogs were essential. Since Stealth Guardians could make themselves invisible, the demons needed a defense mechanism, so that their enemies couldn’t sneak up on them.

“See that you keep that promise,” Zoltan said rather than praising her. In many of his demons, praise seemed to have a negative effect: they became complacent. And complacency was the death of his quest for world domination.

“Yannick,” he said to the demon who had a particularly sensitive job. Yannick was responsible for keeping track of the comings and goings of all demons. “Have you figured out a way of shutting down any of our vortex circles in case of a breach?”

Yanick bowed his head for a moment, then looked straight at Zoltan. “I’m afraid not yet, oh Great One. The mystical origin of the vortex circles seems like a finely tuned machine to which we’ve lost the instruction manuals. What I’m trying to say is that unless we can figure out how they were created in the first place, we won’t know what it’ll take to shut them down temporarily, which I believe is what you’re asking, rather than permanently.”

“What are you saying?”

“Well, shutting down the vortex circles permanently is one thing; shutting them down for a limited time is another, because it would involve knowing how to restart them.”

“Are you saying there’s a way of shutting down the vortex circles permanently, and trapping all demons in the Underworld?” Zoltan leaned forward, eager to hear the reply.

Yannick nodded. “While I can’t confirm it with one hundred percent certainty, I believe flooding the vortex circles with lava would strip away their mystical powers and make them unusable.”

Everyone in the cave gasped.

“Who knows about this?”

Yannick looked to the assembled demons. “I’ve never before mentioned it to anyone outside this group. And as I said, it’s only an educated guess. And it defeats the purpose.”

“Yes, yes,” Zoltan said impatiently. “But if you’re right, then it’s even more important to learn how we can create new vortex circles. In fact, to control the human world once we’ve defeated the Stealth Guardians, we’ll have much more traffic going through the existing vortex circles. We’ll need additional ones to send more demons up top.”

Demons used vortexes as a means to teleport from one place to another. Once in the human world, demons could cast their vortexes anywhere they had a visual, but to leave or enter the Underworld, they needed to cast a vortex in one of the vortex circles, of which they only had three. Clearly, his predecessor hadn’t thought of logistics. It was up to Zoltan to plan for the future, because soon, the Stealth Guardians would be gone, and nothing would stand between the demons and the human population.

“I understand,” Yannick said. “I have my best men working on this. Mathematicians, scientists, occultists.”

“Then get me results,” Zoltan thundered.

“I will, oh Great One.”

Finally, he turned to Ulric, the demon responsible for intelligence. “Any new reports from your network of spies, Ulric?”

“They’re keeping their eyes and ears open. Nothing will escape them.”

Zoltan knew what that meant. “So you’ve got nothing!”

“I wouldn’t say that, oh Great—”

Zoltan pounded his fist on the table. “Then how would you say it?”

Ulric did well to bow his head in shame. “My apologies.”

Zoltan grunted. “Just as well that I myself am working on a direct lead to the Stealth Guardians.”

All eyes landed on him.

“If you need any assistance,” Quentin said, “perhaps I can—”

“I’ll help with whatever you need,” Vintoq interrupted.

“I can’t risk any of you screwing this up. I’ll fill you in when I’m ready to execute my plan.” And when Zoltan could be sure that none of the assembled demons was a traitor. For quite some time now, he suspected that somebody was vying for his throne—and using any means possible to attain it, even resorting to assassination attempts. But so far, Zoltan hadn’t been able to nail the culprit. “In the meantime, I’ll have to spend more time up top to lay the groundwork. Baltimore is off-limits to any demon until then. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, oh Great One,” they said in unison, sounding like the marionettes he’d trained them to be.