Veiled Threat Read Free Page B

bodies. Dragon’s fire is best.” Erik cleaned off his sword and slid it back into its sheath at his side.
    The red cap’s captain stared at him. “It will be done. Your red bitch is on the other side of the third doorway, yes? We will take them to her.”
    Erik laughed; damn he seemed jovial for someone with the tag of ‘Slayer.’ “Still cranky, is she?”
    “Cranky? Is that what you’d call it?” The red cap turned to leave, paused. “If the demons are truly coming through, I do not know if we can stop them. But we will lay our lives out to try. We will block the doorways from our side.” His eyes rested on me for a brief second.
    The door shut behind him and I swallowed hard, finally taking in the moment. Demons were being sent through the veils and coming after me. No, it wasn’t ego, it was truth. One of the downsides of all the quiet time for the last month meant I was reading through the big black book of demon prophecies. Besides the nightmares, I’d learned enough to know that the demons saw only one outcome for the future: them ruling the world. A minor fly in their ointment though … I was the one who was going to stop their ‘messiah.’ Which meant, to them, I was the biggest threat and worth taking on at every chance. Nothing was going to change that. I was just surprised they hadn’t tried before now.
    A thought occurred to me. “Is that why Orion wants to speak to you? Because you are a Slayer?”
    Erik paused, his eyes downcast for a moment and I watched him closely. “Most likely.” And though I waited, he said nothing else. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I didn’t trust him. Or maybe I just didn’t trust anyone except my inner circle anymore.
    After that, the three of us left the mineshaft in relative silence.
    At the top of the shaft, Blaz waited, curled around the opening like a giant, blue and black scarf.
    Making friends again?
    Liam laughed, though there was no true mirth in it. “You could say that, Blaz.”
    The dragon lifted his head and stretched his wings and jaws wide. But as Erik stepped from the shaft Blaz recoiled, scrambling back with a speed that shocked me. How could one tiny human scare a dragon so badly? Was it because he was a Slayer?
    Please, pray to the sky gods, tell me you did not bring Ophelia with you.
    Erik smiled and shook his head and I finally got a good look at the man who claimed to be my uncle. His hair was dark with hints of red here and there between a few sparkling strands of grey. Heavily muscled, even though he had at least ten years on Liam, they were of a similar build. Hell, they could have been brothers except for their coloring. Tattoos wrapped around his wrists and crawled up both forearms, disappearing underneath a loose sand-colored shirt.
    Dark green pants and army boots and a heavy cloak edged with fur partially hid the sword at his side and no doubt more weapons than I could see. But it was the tattoos I focused on.
    Reading the black skinned demon book, I recognized them for what they were.
    My blade sang as I pulled it out. “Demon marked, I don’t think we’re going to be friends after all.”
    Liam let out a low growl, but Erik didn’t seem concerned, though his eyes gave a flicker of unease. “No more demon marked than you are; it is the way of a Slayer, to carry the marks of the demons. It keeps us safe from them.”
    He opened the throat of his shirt and there, lower down than mine, and closer to his stomach was a perfect black snowflake, identical to the one on my own chest. He turned away from me and finally answered Blaz’s terrified query.
    “Blaz, you can avoid her for only so long, she is your mate.” Erik lifted his hands. “But I did not tell her where I was going, only that I needed to go ahead of her to suss things out.”
    Blaz swallowed hard, his throat visibly bobbing and I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. “Seriously, are you afraid of your own … wife?”
    We were paired as children; I