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My breath hitched, and my skin crawled as I entered the small space.
It’s a staircase. Not a closet. You’re fine.
I shut the door behind me and shoved back the panic raking its claws through my insides. Captain Coltrane sent me on this mission. And I wouldnotfail.
I sprinted up the narrow stairs, my legs burning and lungs struggling for air. Where the fuck did this lead? Was Karn hiding the stairway to heaven in his mansion?
When a small exit finally came into view, I sucked in ragged breaths and reached for the knob. I twisted it—the metal gears releasing a high-pitched squeak—opened the door, and crept into a room.
The eerie scarlet lights from outside poured in through the massive windows, flooding everything in a bloody hue. That wasn’t what sent a stream of ice water down my back, though. Like most of the house, red, black, and white coated the gargantuan room, and the gothic decor reminded me of Dracula’s castle. But within all of that, a collection of explicit and depraved sites screamed for attention. Heavy manacles tipped the ends of chains that dangled from walls, leather straps had been bolted to a table in the corner, and a chair with restraints sat next to it.
My eyes widened at the array of whips and bindings tacked to another wall, pulsating like signals of debauchery under the crimson lights. I spun and air siphoned from my lungs at the large, wooden wheel with leather restraints next to a thick, velvet curtain. The giant bed in the center of the room had metal loops in the headboard for shackles.
Did I just find Gomez and Morticia’s love nest?
I swallowed, but the dryness in my throat made me cough. This was Karn’s private room. Horrific images of the demon lord and his lovers—willing or not—flashed through my mind, and bile coated my esophagus.
I needed to get out of this nightmare before the demon lord brought in one of his love slaves. My fingers twitched and ran over a dagger on my belt.
Instead of grabbing my weapon, I snatched the ever-lightening leather pouch of Venari dust and sprinkled more into the air. The magic cloud slowly spun and drifted to the left. I followed it, my heart crashing against my ribs like the ocean pummeling the coast during a storm.
The shimmering particles stopped in front of a plain black chest atop a high table. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the trunk except that the dust had dropped onto the dull, ebony surface.
My pulse spiked so violently my veins wanted to pop from the pressure. The Infernal Sol had to be in there.
I lowered to one knee and examined the ancient lock as I slipped out my trusty tool. A few delicate metal puzzle pieces would not keep me from completing this mission. I steadied my fingers and worked the lock, ignoring the tempest of anxiety raging through my body.
All I had to do was open this box, grab the amulet, and slink out of this hellish mansion. The demon lord and everyone else would be none the wiser. If everything went as planned, they wouldn’t even notice the Infernal Sol was gone until it was too late.
The click of metal echoing in the cavernous room was music to my ears. Blood rushed to my head as I stood and grabbed the table's edge to steady myself.
Don’t lose it now, Tate.
The gothic red and black room stopped spinning, and I lifted the lid, my arm straining under the unexpected weight. There, in the middle of a bed of black velvet, rested the Infernal Sol. The gold setting gleamed, and the red stone became a liquid sun, glowing and pulsating.
I slowly reached for the necklace, my fingers brushing the cold metal as a door opened.
My head snapped toward the decorative divider sectioning off a small foyer in front of the door leading into the hall.
Someone had entered the room.
I silently closed the heavy lid, scurried across the floor, and dashed under the bed as a pair of black boots came into view. They were too large, scuffed, and well-worn to belong to Karn. His shoes had gleamed to perfection under the crystal chandeliers downstairs.
The guy walked through the room with silent footsteps, which was a feat considering how huge he had to be to match the size of his boots.
Ice slid through my veins. Was it the colossal, NBA-sized guard who caught me slinking around the mansion earlier? Had Furic woken up and found Mykel?
Sweat leaked down my temple and dropped to the floor as the guy approached the bed, skirting the edges. I twisted around, following his black boots until they disappeared out of view. I breathed in through my nostrils and slowly released the air from my mouth, my heart performing a frantic tap dance. If he was a shifter or a vampire, he would have heard my pulse by now.
Finding a shifter at a demon lord’s mansion in the Underworld wasn’t likely, but a vampire guest was plausible.
Silence stretched, and my breaths fogged the polished tiles beneath the bed. Maybe the guy had left. Maybe he’d—
A solid grip fastened around my ankle, and something yanked me out from under the bed in one swift motion. I barely had time to gasp before I was flipped onto my back and faced with a pair of familiar, scorching eyes, one vivid blue and the other molten gold.
ChapterThirteen
The sharp,slashing tattoos on the demon shifter’s muscled arms were so dark they wouldn’t allow the red light to so much as tint the black ink. His shoulders strained beneath the onyx t-shirt, threatening to shred the material like the Hulk.
