Cipher (Demonica Underworld #8) - Larissa Ione Page 0,57

by the news as Azagoth was. As far as he knew, no Memitim had also held the protected status of Primori.

“I don’t know, but the Council confirmed it. Amelia had a Memitim guardian from the moment of her birth. He was taken off the job just hours before she was killed.” When Azagoth just stood there, his fury congealing in his eyes, Hawkyn beat him over the head with the obvious. “Father, she was meant to die.”

And what that meant was anyone’s guess.

With a hiss, Azagoth turned toward the entrance to the Inner Sanctum, but Hawkyn grabbed his arm.

“Please, Father. He’s my best friend.” He tempered his tone, not caring if he sounded like he was begging. Because that’s what he was doing. “Cipher’s been through a lot with me. He’s an honorable male.”

Azagoth shook off his touch but didn’t turn around. When he spoke, he spoke to the wall. “And if becoming a True Fallen has changed that?”

Hawkyn swallowed, knowing the correct answer but not wanting to say it. Hell, he didn’t even want to think it. But if he wanted his father to give Cipher even half a chance, he had to.

“If Cipher has turned evil,” he said, “I’ll put him down myself.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Alarms blared as Cipher and Lyre crept through the ice hallways and narrow, winding stairwells of Bael’s castle. Armored Ramreel guards charged toward duty stations, exits, and Bael’s residence, their crude axes and spiked maces clutched tight in their meaty fists. They weren’t specifically searching for Cipher yet, but it wouldn’t be long before Bael filtered through the chaos and realized that only Cipher could have been responsible for the failure of not only the security system, but the downing of the soul barrier as well.

“This way.” Lyre tugged him down a corridor lit by flickering torch sconces that cast snarling, demonic faces in shadow. “There’s a side door. We can take the staircase into the outer dungeons.”

“Dungeons?” He glanced over his shoulder at a Ramreel that had followed them into the passage. Maybe it was coincidence. “Isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid?”

“There’s a tunnel from there that leads into the Bowel Mountains. Once we’re out, if the barrier is still down, I can flash us out of Bael’s territory. If the barrier is up again, we’ll still be ahead of his troops, and I know where we can access a Harrowgate that’ll get us into the human realm.”

A horde of several species of demons rounded the corner ahead, the leader’s dozens of eyes lighting up when he saw them.

No coincidence there.

“Shit!” She pulled him down another hallway. “Plan B.”

“What’s Plan B?”

“Run fast.”

He hated that plan. They took off at a dead run, the demons closing the distance behind them way too quickly.

“Hurry!” he shouted, putting on a burst of speed as the sound of snapping teeth rang out so close to his head he felt hot breath on the back of his neck.

“Out the front,” she yelled. “We can lose them in the chaos.”

Ahead, the giant double doors were open. Beyond the doorway in the courtyard, confused demons milled about beneath decorative corpses swinging overheard.

Cipher risked a glance behind him and instantly regretted his mistake. The number of pursuing guards had doubled.

He summoned the precious remains of his power, holding it at his fingertips and ready to strike. He was weaker without the wings, but even now he could feel the increase in control. A tradeoff, but really, in a fight it might be better to have uncontrolled strength than controlled crumbs of power.

This was not going to be a piece of cake.

But if they made it out of this alive, he was going to ask Suzanne to make one to celebrate.

They burst outside, jumping into the midst of hundreds of beings who clearly had no idea what was happening but wanted to be in the middle of the action.

Demons were stupid.

“There!” Lyre pointed toward the bridge that spanned the lava moat. “Once we’re across, I can flash us out of here.”

Okay. This might work. Hope trickled through him.

And then he looked up and jerked to a stop. “Oh, shit,” he breathed. Oh, fuck.

“What is it?”

“The spells. They’re not down. Azagoth can’t get help in here and we can’t get out—”

A massive explosion rocked the ground ahead. The bridge collapsed as giant boulders of rock and ice spewed into the air and cratered all around them, crushing demons, carts, and the stands where they sold their wares.

With shrieks of terror and pain all