simian tails. The end of each tail was tipped with a barb. The left cheek of each demon was branded with the same sigil that we had found on the rock that led to the portal.
They seemed like they ought to be supervising the proceedings, but mostly they appeared bored. One demon had a chair tipped back against the wall and appeared to be dozing with half-closed eyes. The other two were playing some kind of game in the dirt with sticks. There was a lot of arguing and punching involved, although that may have had more to do with the personalities of the demons involved than the actual rules of their pastime.
All seemed immune to the distress of the cubs. I didn’t see any sign of Wade, but there was another opening in the cavern beyond the demons. He could be held in another part of this place, or he could be in another location entirely. The cubs were before me, and obviously in pain, so they were my priority. Once the cubs were free, I could move on to the Wade problem.
The demons looked like they’d be easy enough to take out. The trouble was that they might make noise and raise an alarm, causing who knew how many demon compatriots to come pouring out of the opening behind them. Plus, I had the additional snag of freeing all the cubs and then herding them back to the others.
“Why did you tell me to come alone?” I hissed at Beezle. “This would be a lot easier with backup.”
“I just wanted to give you time to plan. I thought Jude would overreact if he saw the cubs this way.”
“And so he has,” growled a voice behind me.
I almost jumped out of my skin. Jude was so close that I could feel his breath on my neck. I turned to see the others crowded up behind me.
It was absolutely terrifying that four grown men could sneak up on me in the darkness and I had noticed nothing. I was really starting to wonder about my life expectancy.
I glared at Gabriel. “I asked you to keep them behind.”
He shrugged. I was beginning to think that he used this I-am-your-thrall business when it was convenient for him to keep me at arm’s length. The rest of the time he ignored me if it suited him. He seemed incapable of leaving me alone in a potentially dangerous situation, whether I ordered him to do so or not.
Jude looked like he was ready to leap over me and tear the guards into tiny demon pieces. I laid a restraining hand on his shoulder and he turned his furious, burning eyes on me.
“What now, Lucifer’s spawn?” he said through his teeth, pushing my hand from him.
“Don’t go charging in like an idiot,” I said, my own temper rising. I was sick of being called “Lucifer’s spawn” and having to deal with Jude’s rages. “We need a plan.”
I deliberately stepped back from the opening and waved them all to me. Nathaniel, Gabriel and Samiel followed, but Jude took another look at the cubs, then glanced at me.
“Don’t even think about it,” I whispered angrily. “Do you want to save their lives or do you want revenge?”
Jude growled something that sounded like, “Why not both?” but joined the group with obvious reluctance.
I outlined what I thought would be the best course of action given our limited numbers. They all nodded, even Jude.
Samiel stepped forward, to the edge of the precipice, and spread his wings wide. It was a mark of how disengaged the demons were that they didn’t notice a tall blond angel ready to take flight right at their doorstep.
I stood behind Samiel, Gabriel at my shoulder. Reaching inside me, I found the flickering candle that was the source of my magic. A blue ball of nightfire appeared, floating above the snake on my right palm. Beside me, Gabriel readied the same spell.
I tapped Samiel once on the shoulder. He took flight, arrowing over the heads of the cubs and straight toward the other entranceway.
The snoozing demon suddenly open his half-closed lids wide and the front legs of the chair slammed into the ground. He never had a chance to cry out. I hit him in the chest with nightfire and he burst into a riot of blue flames.
His equally lazy compatriots tried to rise to their feet, to turn and fight, but Gabriel took out one and I the other. The three of them were nothing but ash by the time Samiel landed in the doorway at the other end. He turned to us and made an “okay” sign with his fingers, indicating that the alarm had not been raised.
The rest of us ran down the ramp to the floor of the cavern and began untying the cubs. The children didn’t indicate that they were even aware of our actions.
Some of them slumped in exhaustion as the bonds that held them upright released their limbs, but they all continued to stare into the light pulses as though under a spell, even after we removed the tape from their eyes. None of us could find an off switch for the devices.
Jude gently shook the shoulder of one of the older boys. “Kieran? Wake up. It’s Jude.”
“Do you think it’s safe to just lift them away from the cameras?” I asked Gabriel.
He frowned. “I do not know. They seem to be under some sort of compulsion. I am afraid that if we did such a thing, we might damage their minds.”
“We can’t stay here,” I said, watching Jude grow increasingly frustrated as he approached each child, called him or her by name, and received no response. “I’m sure there are other guards here, and I don’t want to try to battle a demon horde while protecting twenty cubs.”
“Perhaps if we try to cover their eyes?” suggested Nathaniel. “First one, then the other. Maybe it will break the hold gradually.”
“Or maybe,” Jude growled, pulling away from another unresponsive child in anger, “we should just break the fucking things.”
He kicked the camera that was nearest to him even as I cried out, “No!”
The falling camera knocked over the rest of the machines in the row like a cascade of dominoes. The effect on the cubs was immediate. They all began to scream in unison, high-pitched wails that grew louder and louder.
There was a clatter of noise from beyond the cavern, the sounds of dozens of clawed feet clicking on the surface of rock, the angry, harsh cries of demon curses.
“Great,” I said to Jude. “Just great. Come on, let’s get them out of here before we’re overrun.”
Samiel stayed at the door and readied his nightfire. He still preferred to use his fists over his magic but he was a very fast learner. In some ways he was much more adept than I, and I’d had years of practice using my magic as an Agent.
Nathaniel scooped two cubs under his arms. As soon as the children were separated from the pulse of the machines, they went stiff and began screaming.
“Just get them up into the caves!” I shouted. “Nathaniel, you help me collect the kids. Gabriel, you help Samiel hold off the demons.”
“I’m going to scope out the action,” Beezle said, and flew off in the direction of Samiel. It was a good thing Samiel couldn’t hear or else Beezle would probably drive him insane with suggestions for how best to conquer the approaching horde.
Nathaniel and Gabriel headed off on their appointed tasks and I turned to Jude. He stared at the screaming cubs. He looked like he wasn’t sure if he was going to be sick or tear somebody’s head off.
“Jude, take a couple of cubs and head up into the tunnel. Try to get them to respond to you.”
He turned on me with a snarl. “I want to rip the limbs off the demons that did this to our cubs, not play nursemaid.”
“Will you stop arguing about every freaking thing?” I shouted. “They know you. We’re going to need the older kids to walk if we want to get out of here, so JUST DO WHAT I SAY! Nathaniel and I will fly them up to you.”
Jude huffed out an angry breath, then grabbed a couple of kids and bounded up to the tunnel.
I picked up two of the smaller children and they both began to scream. It broke my heart to hear such little ones in so much pain.
“Shh, shh,” I tried to soothe as I flew up to the tunnel. “It’s going to be all right.”
I handed them to Jude, who looked grim. I couldn’t blame him. The cubs were all still screaming their heads off. We had a lot of tunnel to cover to return to the portal, and I had no idea how we would do it with almost two
