Demon from the Dark

in the nose.

Blood spurted, but Ember rebounded, screaming thickly as she delivered a blow to the side of Carrow's head. Her ear sang. Damn, that sorceress was fast.

'Stop this, witch!' Lanthe snapped.

Too late. Carrow had already jabbed her fist against Ember's throat; at the same time, the sorceress popped Carrow in the mouth, splitting her lip.

'Portia, do something!' Lanthe said. 'They're going to gas us.'

'Stop!' Ruby suddenly cried. 'Something's coming.'

Lanthe grabbed Carrow, yanking her back. As Portia dragged Ember away, her gaze darted all around them, even above them. 'The child is right. Evil flies to us on a foul wind.'

'Evil flies to us?' Carrow dabbed the back of her hand over her bleeding lip. 'Really? And on a foul wind, no less!'

'There's a malevolence nearing us, witch,' Portia said. 'You can't feel its fury? Your girl did.'

Carrow did feel it then. The air around them was thrumming. But from what?

Down the corridor, the ghouls wailed their uneasiness. Gnomes hissed, and a centaur's hoofs clacked against the stone floor.

An outraged bellow sounded. Chase's? He was probably furious that Regin hadn't been destroyed completely.

Outside the storm grew fierce, rain pounding the roof and even the walls.

Ember wiped her nose, muttering, 'I hate rain.' She would.

Lanthe glanced from Carrow to Ruby. 'Just in case ... get ready to run.'

Carrow helped Ruby put on her boots, then hastily donned her own.

The lights flickered, the feel of power ratcheting up a notch.

'RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!' some being shrieked.

Icy fear slithered up Carrow's spine. 'What the hell is it?'

Lanthe mouthed, 'Don't know.'

The lights wavered once more, then failed altogether. No backup electricity fired. No emergency lights alleviated the pitch-darkness.

The facility was completely without power. Which meant no gas would disburse to sedate the prisoners?

Carrow jumped when more screams sounded.

'I hear others of our kind,' Lanthe said. 'Some of them have their sorcery back.'

'Then why aren't they escaping?' Carrow asked.

'None would have the ability to break the glass yet, even without a torque,' Portia said. 'Unlike Ember and me. I've already felt a lovely granite monolith deep in the earth directly beneath us. I'll raise it, rupturing this facility from the inside out. Anything I can't break, Ember will burn.'

Lanthe said, 'Carrow, hold on to Ruby. Tight.'

'Got her.' She swooped the girl into her arms.

'RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!' Whatever it was neared them.

Whispers sounded among the inmates, two words repeated: 'La Dorada.'

When even the two evil Sorceri looked unsettled, Carrow asked, 'Who's La Dorada?'

Lanthe answered, 'A sorceress, the Queen of Golds—and of ... Evil.'

Which meant she could manipulate evil better than anyone.

'She walks in apocalypse,' Ember said. 'I hadn't thought it'd be this soon.'

'I have nothing to wear,' Portia quipped, but Carrow thought it was to cover her anxiety.

Two Sorceri queens with their extraordinary powers feared this La Dorada?

'RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!'

Whispers sounded once more, another name added now. 'Lothaire ...'

Lanthe said, 'I think she might be here for the vampire.'

For Lothaire, the Enemy of Old?

Portia said, 'Before we were captured, we heard he'd stolen her ring, waking her.'

'Bet he's regretting it now,' Ember said. Then she frowned. 'But if he had her ring, then how could he have been taken by the mortals? It's the Ring of—'

Portia slapped her hand over Ember's mouth. 'She's coming down the corridor, drawing near.'

Moments later, La Dorada limped past their cell. She had a human form, looking like a rotting, mummified corpse brought to life—and soaked in water? Putrid gauze swathed most of her sopping body and trailed behind her. Her face appeared eaten away, and she was missing an eye.

An incongruous gold breastplate covered her chest and a crown sat atop her misshapen head. The Queen of Golds.

Wendigos flanked her, their fangs dripping. They seemed to be commanded by her.

Not them. Wendigos were quick, flesh-eating zombies with long, dagger-like claws and emaciated bodies that belied their strength. The only things Carrow feared worse than ghouls were the Wendigos. Both were contagious—a single Wendigo scratch could transform even a Lorean into their kind—but whereas ghouls were nearly mindless, Wendigos were cunning.

With each step, gold flakes and pus seeped from La Dorada's body. The trailing gauze swished from side to side over the stone floor, sounding like a soaked mop.

Carrow didn't know which was more harrowing, La Dorada or the Wendigos who clearly served her.

'RIIIIINNNNNNGGGGG!' she shrieked once more.

'You want your ring?' Lothaire's deep voice sounded. 'Then come and get it, you bitch!'

As La Dorada crept past, Portia's torque dropped from her neck. Ember's as well. Carrow gazed into nearby cells in disbelief. Every being in the Pravus was losing its torque. 'What's happening, Lanthe?'

'She empowers evil, manipulates it. And those torques limited the evil immortals could do.'

Just like Ruby and Carrow, Lanthe retained her collar.

Portia already had her glowing palms raised, her face sinister as she controlled some unseen mountain of rock.

The floor vibrated beneath them. Just outside their cell, the ground fissured around a burgeoning stone mass.

Ember, too, prepared to unleash her power. Her eyes were alight, her irises swirling, moving like flames. Fire danced above her palms. When she blasted the glass with heat, Carrow dove for the floor, covering Ruby with her body.

The glass exploded, shards raining over them.

'Ember, damn you!'

Under the unimaginable pressure of Portia's rising rock, the steel divider walls began to crumple. The facility's entire structure shifted, more glass shattering as supports buckled.

More immortals freed...

'Crow, what's happening?' Ruby whimpered beneath her.

'Here, get to your feet.' How much longer until the roof collapsed? 'We might have to run for it.'

When shouting guards advanced, tossing canisters of gas into their cell, Ember emitted streams of fire, popping the cans back at them.

Portia tilted her head at the men. 'These mortals need to get stoned.' She waved her hand, and a cement chunk from the floor went hurtling at one of them. Carrow covered Ruby's eyes just as it connected with the force of a rocket. The man's head exploded like a watermelon.

Ember said, 'Portia, stop showing off! We have business to attend to.' She turned to Carrow. 'First off, witch, you're going to pay for striking me.'

'If you hurt her,' Ruby said with her eyes shimmering, 'I'll hurt you worse.' Carrow jerked Ruby back behind her.

Why was Ember hesitating? She could burn them all to ashes.