Dev still wasn't sure where here was. One minute they'd been in the freezer while Fang "talked" to his people, and the next Fang had teleported him into some lightless void that reminded him of the Nether Realm.
Or a bad Night Gallery episode.
Yet it wasn't that either. This was almost like a vacuum...like space without stars.
Pulling him to a stop, Fang knocked on the door. The sound echoed around them. A heartbeat later, a light came out of the ceiling to illuminate the door so that Dev could see the medieval construction that even had rivets around the outer side of the door. The steel at eye level swirled and formed the face of a demon woman complete with fangs and blazing red eyes.
She scanned them before she spoke. "The master is busy."
Fang didn't hesitate. "I need to see him."
She hissed, baring her fangs.
"Let me pass, Shara. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."
She tsked at him. "You're brave, Wolf. Very brave. Or perhaps stupid is a better term. Of all beings who serve here, you should know better." She melted back into the door.
"Who is she?" Dev asked Fang.
Before he could answer, the door opened slowly on a well-oiled hinge that made not even a whisper of a sound.
Light spilled into the hall, hurting his eyes until they adjusted.
The demon was now a beautiful, slender woman around the age of twenty-two. With pointed ears and short black hair, she was dressed in a sheer red sheath that left every part of her body exposed to them.
Licking her lips, she gave Dev a hot once-over that left him strangely cold. He wasn't interested in any woman right now, except a certain Amazon.
She closed the door and led them from the small spartan antechamber into a dark room where ancient weapons hung as decoration on the walls. Swords, axes, spears...Some others that Dev couldn't identify. There was a huge, ornately carved desk in one corner with an overstuffed chair. The carvings were so intricate that it looked like the gargoyles on it would come to life any second and attack.
Fang led him to a single chair...or throne would be a more appropriate term. Like the desk, it was huge and carved with the heads of dragons. As they drew nearer, the carvings opened their eyes to show yellow and red pupils that focused on them with interest.
One of the dragons let loose a belch of fire, stopping Fang from getting any closer.
Dev frowned at the man who sat there. Impeccably dressed in a black silk and wool suit, he'd left the top button of his black shirt open. Dev saw a hint of a scar that ran across his collarbone where it appeared someone had once tried to cut his throat.
His features were so perfect, he would have looked feminine but for the lethal aura of I'm-planning-on-picking-my-teeth-with-your-spine. He narrowed a cold dark stare on Fang, then shifted it to Dev. "You can't have her."
"Excuse me?" Dev asked in an offended tone.
He swept a dismissive gaze over Dev. "If I let you have Samia, Lazaros will kill her. Painfully. Believe me, I'm doing both of you a favor by keeping her here."
Dev shook his head. "I can protect her."
"And you're doing such an admirable job of it too. If I were Samia, I'd be tickled pink by your care." That tone was so patronizing that it took all of Dev's control not to go for his throat.
Thorn ignored Dev's anger as he continued speaking. "Arrogance...how I love the sound of rampant stupidity after a long, dreary day." He held his goblet up and the female demon came forward to fill it with something that looked more like blood than wine. "Tell your bear, Wolf, that he's not equipped to deal with our enemies."
"I tried, Thorn. He won't listen."
"Pity they never do. At least not until it's too late to do anything more than scrape up their remains." Thorn sipped his drink as his eyes changed from a freakish luminescent green to a bright yellow which matched some of the dragon eyes that continued to stare at them. "You know the problem with seeing the future?"
"You run out of enough banks to hold all your lottery winnings?"
Thorn gave a short, dry laugh at Dev's sarcasm even as Fang sucked his breath in sharply and gave him a warning glare. "You can't circumvent free will. That is the curse of your existence."
Dev put his hands on his hips. "Funny, I always thought of free will as a gift."
"You would. Just goes to show exactly how naive you are."