I Regret Nothing - JB Trepagnier Page 0,60

out of Silverhold? I knew Hauser liked him and trusted him, but he wasn’t always right. I was about to ask why he thought my fucking CO would be on board with me breaking out of here, but I heard the key in the lock. Faust was back. I couldn’t talk about this in front of him, no matter what Hauser said.

“I have to go. Faust is back.”

“I mean it, Rei. If you ever want to make it to Belize, Faust is your best bet.”

“I’ll take that advice into account. Bye, Hauser. I should be getting my phone time set up soon. I’ll call again.”

Faust settled down into his desk and smiled at me softly. He just had this look on his face like if I asked him to help me get out of here, he’d do it.

But I’d been wrong before about men, and while he might help me out of here, I was pretty sure that didn’t extend to Dakarys and Rajack. I liked them too, and I wasn’t leaving them behind.

Chapter 37

Sota

T

his had to work. Amduscias was leaving with his family to run off to Olympus with Barbatos, and no one else in Hell was as familiar with Scorchwood as them. I couldn’t search every nook and cranny of this prison without them. Not without tipping Kudan off and having him find a new hiding place.

I stepped through the Fae portal, but I wasn’t in some apartment staring at Kudan. I was in a hallway. What game was this Fae playing? We needed the element of surprise! He would portal away if we kicked the door down.

Fergus placed his finger over his lips and shooed us back. I’d never seen him do this, but everyone in Hell was aware he could turn himself into a fire dragon. I watched him disappear entirely, and a small dragon made of flame appeared before me. Then, it just disappeared. I moved towards the door. I didn’t know what kind of games they played in the Fae realm, but this was serious.

Amduscias grabbed me and pulled me back.

“He’s shrunk himself to an ember and flown through the lock. He’s seeing if Kudan is inside. It’s the best way. Kudan won’t know he’s in there.”

Well, wasn’t that really fucking effective? Fergus wasn’t in there long. He came out, dragging Kudan with his hands in flame handcuffs and another around his neck.

“Any sudden movements, and I’ll burn your head off. Think it’s hot now? Try me.”

Kudan met my eyes and gave me a cruel smile.

“Sota. You won’t take me.”

Fergus twisted his arm.

“We have already taken you.”

A kindly looking older woman appeared in the hallway and stretched her hand out to Fergus.

“Oh, please! Let my grandson go. He means no harm.”

I transformed into my sacred bird and pecked her eyes out. That was no harmless woman. There was a mouth on the top of her head. She was a Yamauba, and we didn’t need her here. If she knew we were here, then his other minions did too.

Roman licked the blood spatter from his face and frowned.

“She tastes bad.”

Skoll popped him on the back of the head.

“What have we told you about eating blood spatter? It’s gross, Roman.”

We didn’t have time to talk about Roman’s eating habits. Yokai started spilling into the hallway with knives. Fuck. They weren’t mighty compared to a Tengu, but they were tricky. I called to my sacred bird as Skoll shredded his clothing and turned into a wolf. Amduscias took up half the hallway as his black unicorn. Roman was bouncing around, ripping heads off.

Everyone was focusing on getting to Kudan. Fergus dragged him into the apartment and kicked the door shut. I could hear crashing in there as we battled the Yokai, who followed Kudan. He had a few foxes with him, and they had surrounded Skoll. Most of Kudan’s followers were Obake, meaning they could turn into animals, but you should never call them a simple shifter. It was more complicated than that.

Roman was eating all the big cats around him, and the sight was brutal. He was covered in blood and getting it on everyone else. Every single Yokai tried to stay away from Amduscias. They were toroi if they followed Kudan, but they weren’t dumb enough to try to take on a massive demonic unicorn.

I spread my wings and swooped towards the foxes. I had a huge, sharp beak and deadly talons when I was my celestial bird. I jumped into the fray and started