“No pet I know costs a chunk of your soul.”
“True,” Naomi said. “But when you are as powerful as she, one covets what they can’t have. Selene convinced herself if she could raise an army of them, she would rule the supernatural world. There are not many things that can bring us down as easily or as quickly as these.” She shuddered, rubbing her arms. “They are vile creatures.”
“They multiplied,” Tyler said, coming over to join us. His tone was even, the fight gone. “When Danny killed a few, more popped up in their place.” I smiled at my brother as he ran a tired hand over his face. I knew it took a lot for him to back off, and I was grateful he was willing.
Naomi nodded gamely. “Only the amount negotiated can be summoned from the Underworld at one time. When one is killed in this world, another materializes to take its place. It goes back to the Underworld to regenerate. They cannot find true death on this plane.”
“If Selene wanted to amass a huge army of these things”—I stifled a gag thinking about how awful that would be—“how much would she have to pay?”
“She would belong to the Underworld for all eternity. If she did that, she would control an untold amount of them and the world would be a very bleak place.”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “It’s a good thing she’s too narcissistic to give up her life in total. What do you think her payment is for this many?” I asked curiously.
“I would expect it to be a millennium of servitude; nothing less,” Naomi said. “Payable once she perishes on this plane.”
“So if we can kill her body long enough, the demons will come pick her up? It’s not a perfect plan, but it makes her disappear for a mighty long time.”
Naomi bit her lip. Her fangs were retracted so all that showed were straight, white teeth. “Yes, true death would be optimal, of course, but I would be satisfied seeing her in the demons’ hands for a millennia. They will undoubtedly torture her repeatedly and painfully, as she will do nothing for them willingly. It would be just punishment.”
“So how do we get by the devils?” I asked. We needed to start moving or nobody was going to get to do anything to Selene. My wolf gnashed her teeth. I agreed. This was taking too long.
Naomi shook her head. “It will be difficult.”
“Can they attack during daylight?” Tyler asked.
She shrugged. “I would assume so.”
“It seems they work properly only inside Selene’s boundary,” Tyler said. “Here they seem… off. This one is still moving slowly and it can’t possibly be affected by the spell any longer.”
“Boundaries would be in their agreement.” Naomi nodded. “Demons have very strict rules they must abide by on this plane, and a group such as this could kill a human town in a blink of an eye. They need bite a human only once to make them die in unspeakable ways. There would be precautions put in place.” Naomi peered closely at the devil. “I am surprised she did not save these until last, but likely she has trouble controlling them.” The thing hissed at her, its eyes flaming violent orange for a moment.
“But once we get by these things, we’re in for more surprises, right?” Danny said, coming up behind us. “This can’t be her only line of defense.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him, happy to see he was almost healed. All the gashes had closed and were on their way to fully mending. “Glad to see you’re up, Danny. If you can heal from these things, then we can find a way to defeat them. We just have to put our brains together and figure it out.”
Tyler stood next to me, but Eamon had refused to join the conversation. He was still angry. I was surprised he hadn’t just flown off, but risking his sister’s anger for the second time today must not be worth it.
“If the witch’s spells worked even temporarily,” Tyler said. “We could try and mix up the spells and find a way to blanket them across the group.”
“Yes, but a temporary fix will only send them after us once they wake,” I said. “That would trap us in her boundary with no shelter. We need to find a way to corral them, if not kill them permanently. Once we end Selene, they should pop back to the Underworld for good, since they can only reside in a domain she controls, right?”
Naomi nodded.
“Why don’t you freeze them?” a voice said from behind us. I turned slowly to see Ray, still perched on a log, looking tired. His face was drawn, but he looked determined.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“Use the cooler. You have enough dry ice to freeze a herd of cattle, and they don’t seem to work here in the trees. Lure them in here and freeze the bastards.”
“That has possibilities.” I pondered. “I see you’re still thinking like a detective, despite all the brain trauma you think you’ve endured. I’m impressed, Ray.”
“They are diminished here for some reason,” Tyler agreed. “The cooler might hold them if they stay alive. If they pop back to the Underworld once they freeze solid, we’re out of luck. It will be a tricky balance to keep them alive but contained. But it’s a possibility.”
“The reason they are over here has been puzzling me,” Naomi said. “They should not be able to exist at all once they cross over Selene’s boundary. Once across they should be immediately forced back to the Underworld. They are not in her control here. Yet they are alive, but cannot truly function. It should not be so.”
“I did sense a strange power signature by the boundary,” I said, heading to the separation point of the trees and the clearing. “I was surprised you crossed it, Naomi. It felt menacing and it was definitely not Selene’s magic.”
“I felt no foreign power signature. If I had, I would have stepped back.” Naomi followed me, her face pulled down in a frown. “Eamon is the sensor. I am the tracker.” She turned to her brother. “Did you sense other magics here?”
Eamon walked briskly to us, unclenching and reclenching his fists. He had let Naomi say her piece, but he was clearly beyond his limits of tolerance. “No. There is nothing here. She is mistaken. I can sense nothing, even now.”
“I feel it. Right here.” I placed my hand near the bark of the closest tree and wiggled my fingers. “It’s a small pulse of some kind and it’s buzzing a warning. It jumps like a heartbeat in my veins. I have to be right next to it to get a current, but it’s here.” I glanced at Danny and Tyler. “Come over here and see if you can feel it.”