Page 93 of Devil Bound
With my mission clear, I led the way as the three of us walked through the opening in the metal fence, which was bent out of shape in places, graffitied in others.We crossed the aged pavement with cracks through which weeds had sprouted.
The warding was like a lure.It was too strong for anything that might be hidden away in an area like this; a rare strength in wards and not something humans used a lot.
The front door was locked, but with a wave of my hand and a thimbleful of magic, it swung open.At least with the warded space being in the basement, it would involve less stairs than a tower rescue.
Inside, Soul took the lead.I gave the place the most cursory of glances.Linoleum floor stained with the scuff marks of shoes, numbered mailboxes, dust in the corners.I did not want my Nelly here.
“If you cannot keep calm, maybe I should do the rescuing after all?”Tiamat said from behind me.
I accidentally growled at her.“Excuse me.I’ve got it, Dragon Mother.”
“Mm-hmm.”
What force it took to make me, the Devil, feel incompetent with just that hummed note of disapproval.I would have been impressed if I hadn’t been so unhappy about the general state of things and with my boyfriend being hidden from me behind wards.
Soul waited by a door painted a sort of ugly blue that should have been illegal to sell.It had scratch marks all over, and a few dents as well.
I turned the knob, and the poodle went down the stairs, claws clicking.It was even darker here, but neither I nor the Dragon Mother minded.We followed Soul silently.
The warded place was to the right.There was a light on at the end of the hallway, but it was the dull yellow of piss.It illuminated the dusty, dirty floor, and the rough walls.All of that made my skin crawl.Nelly would not leave my sight for the foreseeable future, that much was certain at this point.
Above the door, to the left of the lintel, I spotted the first ward.It had been drawn with black paint.Wards were like magical cursive, and this one had been done by someone well-familiar with the art.
Yet, while the lines showed practice and care, there was something jerky about them, almost like the person who’d created the ward had been trembling at the time.This meant the officer I was reasonably certain had taken Nelly was either working with someone who knew warding but was too old to keep a steady hold on a brush, or he had forced someone to paint it for him.
Nelly should’ve been easily able to handle one human as depraved as this.I wanted him to burst through the door, stumble into my arms, and declare that I was late, but he did not.I tried the door and found it locked.
I could break the ward or use magic to force the lock like I’d done upstairs, but without knowing the rest of the ward system, doing that could trigger spells or other defenses.I wasn’t worried for my own safety, but certainly concerned with how it might affect Nelly’s.
“Let me,” Tiamat whispered.
Her voice had darkened.The unstoppable force of a dragon hovered at my back now.
I gave a sharp nod and stood aside.Tiamat bent toward the lock and pulled a hairpin from her dark locks.The lock gave in less than a minute.
“Human skills,” the Dragon Mother said, putting the pin back.“Learning them does keep one humble.”
I nodded and stepped past her.Beyond the door, which swung open on well-oiled hinges, there was another hallway running perpendicular to the one that we were in.There were two doors, one left, one right.Soul picked right, and I trusted the hellpoodle’s nose.
The door on the right wasn’t locked.I pulled it open carefully, and Soul dashed through, completely silent but for her claws on the ground.I followed.
The room smelled of blood.Wards were drawn and carved all along the walls and on a plastic sheet curtain that wavered like foul miasma.
“What demon spawn are you?”I heard someone ask from behind that milky plastic curtain.
I walked toward the voice.
“I…I don’t know.”
Nelly.Thank every saint, demon, demigod, and made-up creature that never lived, Nelly was alive.
I hurried toward him, but Soul was well ahead of me.She ducked under the plastic sheet, gave a sharp, vicious growl, and attacked.
“Damn dog!”
I pushed the plastic aside.
Nelly was on the floor, bound, shocked, and shackled.He was gaping at Soul, who’d gotten just the rubber boot of that thing Nelly had flirted with, but bless that hellpoodle, she was not letting go.The thing in the rubber boots looked winded already.He was holding a scalpel though.We’d made it in time.
