Page 103 of Bent Out of Shade
“One of the other vampires?”
Another head shake. The answer went into the “later” pile because I didn’t have time for charades. I had to focus on the living.
“We’ll retrace your steps and find Laurent.” I stepped into a shadow but couldn’t access the KH. Was this a hidden space? I tore a corner of the blackout fabric free, revealing the sky darkening over an ordinary backyard.
My relief turned to a tight ache. I’d missed the test, my one-time chance to check the Library of the Arcane for the means to wake up Sabrina. Later.
A flash of gold through the trees caught my attention. Rising onto tiptoe, I shuffled to my right, only to be rewarded with the edge of an enormous gold moon beaming serenely down.
Laurent. Later, I snarled at myself.
I strode across the room. Emmett and I were in the real world, but I couldn’t sneak us out via the KH. I jiggled the knob, but it was locked, so I pressed my hands to the door to determine if we could kick it down.
A hum rolled along it, buzzing through my palms, and when I pushed against it, it pushed back. The buzz extended along the walls on either side of the door.
“We’re magically locked in.”
Delilah appeared and I rubbed my shoulder against hers, delighted that at least this particular magic worked. “Let’s try green vision,” I said.
Her shadow vision displayed the ward as a pulsing band running the circumference of the room, which was cool but also hammered home that we were well and truly trapped.
Just then, the door opened and both Delilah and I were blown back against the far wall. My shadow lost her animation and crumpled to a puddle of black at my feet.
I dragged in a shaky breath, holding my poor shoulder, ready to take Vincenzo on. Except he wasn’t our new visitor.
Kian, the estrie, the demon who should have been imprisoned in Zev’s dungeon, strolled in carrying a huge bloody monstrosity like he weighed nothing. The beast shifted in fits and starts, a grotesque dance between fur and flesh set to the crunching of bones and a low, pained wail. If Hell had a melody, this was it.
This may have been the real world, but the nightmare had just begun.
