Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 12

Phoenix POV

I stared at the 3 martel demons who glared at the werewolf. No doubt he knew what they were. Their scent and unnerving grace gave them away instantly.

He immediately backed away from them, shrinking into the corner as he no doubt called for help through the pack link. Xenya, the female demon, carefully unlocked my arms and picked me up as though I weighed nothing. She nodded towards Jaxon and Zeron and they immediately turned to the cowering alpha.

"No." I croaked out. Darryl was Hunter's to kill, I had promised him that. Xenya must have read my mind, one of a martel's many powers, because she shushed me gently and nodded towards the demons again. One of them, Zeron I think, vanished then reappeared with a baffled Hunter. Hunter took one look at Darryl and shifted into his panther form, not asking any questions as he lunged forwards and ripped out Darryl's throat.

Darryl's lifeless body slumped to the ground and I turned my head away, wanting to simply go to sleep. Everything that had happened in the past 2 weeks had drained me and I just wanted to sleep for days and recharge. I could feel my magic slowly filtering back into me; it would take several hours before I was back to my full strength. The demons were discussing the best way to get rid of the rest of the pack while Hunter hurried to the dungeon to free the others. I just closed my eyes and finally surrendered to the darkness.

Mystery POV

"Sir, they took the bait. The decoy was killed. He found no useful information during the interrogation sessions. The captives were aided by 3 martel demons for unknown reasons and have left the pack house, and have presumably returned to the vampire's mansion." The quiet murmur of my beta came from behind me. I didn't turn away from the photo in my hand of two teenage boys holding hands with a boy many years younger then them. They were all covered in mud and grinning wildly at the camera. I sighed as I placed the photo back onto the desk and turned to the quiet man standing in front of me.

"They suspect nothing? You are sure?" I asked.

"I swear it sir." The man replied. I nodded and dismissed him, turning back to the photo. One down, one to go.

Hunter POV

It had been 3 days since we had returned to the vampires' mansion. Phoenix was in some sort of coma and we had no idea how long it would be until she woke up. Gabrielle, Jace's sister, was also in bad shape, with several broken bones and cuts all over. Not to mention she hadn't fed in days. The others were all fine except for the blood deprivation part and I was almost fully recovered due to healing spells I had found in an old grimoire they had in the library. The martels had vanished as soon as they dropped us off at the mansion, claiming they had some "things" to attend to. And Jayden was missing. We had searched the house and asked the staff but none of them had even realized he was gone.

I was currently wandering down one of the many identical corridors that formed a maze in this gigantic house. I came upon a staircase and shrugged to myself as I decided to climb it. It was dark and the stairs were lined with a thin veil of dust. I sneezed as a cloud of it puffed up as I brushed the banister, trying to figure out where the wall was. Finally, after what seemed like ages, I reached a small locked door. I whispered a quick unlocking spell and the door clicked open with a groan. I shoved against the door, forcing the rusted hinges to open. The screeching sound set my hair on end and I was sure the whole house heard it.

I walked into the room and felt for a light. Finding nothing, I pulled out the phone Sam had given me and used it to see around the room. I felt like I was in a museum; paintings lined the walls and various antiques were carefully arranged around the room. Thick velvet curtains were pulled tight over the windows and it took a fair amount of effort to open them. The fading light filled the room and I realized there were multiple lanterns hung around the room at regular intervals along the wall. I said a quick fire spell and they all light up, casting a faint orange glow over the room.