Page 26 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

Ra let out a slow breath and said, “Next.”

* * *

Osiris tappedhis fingers restlessly as he slumped on the throne made from the bones of demons he’d killed.

He hated waiting. He could have gone after the young Pharaoh himself, but what was the point of having servants if he did all the work himself? But it also meant that he had to attempt to be patient. Osiris looked into Crescious’s mind and saw the little peon watching the young king battle two mimicking demons. It was just as well that Osiris hadn’t gone after the mortal because he, too, couldn’t have removed the man from the level until he defeated the demons. Even the lord of the underworld had to follow some of the rules, though he loathed to admit it andwouldn’tadmit it out loud to anyone.

Beast, the demi-lord in charge of level one, had yet to return from the upworld, and Osiris’s hate of waiting caused him to consider going topside himself just to drag the demon back to Hades.

He turned his attention back to the mortal female that still lay in a deep slumber covered in the elemental fire. He glanced through the eyes of one of the demi-lords he’d left watching over her. He looked at the human and then turned his attention back to the forest across from him. Glowing eyes stared back. The level-one demons were very curious about their visitor, but none of them wanted to die, so they kept their distance.

Osiris pulled out of the demon’s mind and sighed. He still hadn’t decided if he wanted a bride. Females could be such trouble. He didn’t even know if he’d have time for a lover considering he thought something was brewing in the upworld. He also suspected that whatever it was might require some of his attention. After all, it wasn’t every day a mortal ended up in his domain. And the fact that she was marked with the dark fire king elemental’s fire was all the more intriguing. But it could also mean she was special in some way, and Osiris liked the idea of having control over something that Viscious, the dark fire king, wanted.

He shifted in his throne and rested his head against his fisted hand. His elbow sat on the femur that made up the armrest. The wails of the tortured were especially loud, and usually, he enjoyed the music of their torment. But at the moment, they were just getting on his nerves.

“It’s hell, you imbeciles,” he yelled at the writhing bodies in the river of lava that ran along the edges of his throne room. “Did you expect it to be a party?” The wailing softened a little. Even the damned didn’t like to draw his attention. Osiris could make their pain worse if he so wished. But even that got boring. Perhaps a bride was exactly what he needed to break up the endless cycle of torture, burning, wailing, and cries of help. Or maybe he just needed a break. A vacation in the form of a honeymoon? He smiled a wicked smile and thought about taking the mortal female out into the world to show her all the pleasures that the upworld offered. He had to admit, corrupting her sounded like a very nice way to pass the time.

Unfortunately, he’d have to be patient a little longer until he could finalize any decisions.

“Crescious, how much longer?” he asked his minion through the bond that tied him to all his demon peons.

“He’s killed two, my lord. One left.”

Osiris sighed and sat back in his throne and strummed. He began to hum and chuckled when he realized he was humming the wedding march.

6

Beast stepped into the dark forest located deep in the mountains of Mongolia. It had been a long time since he’d been in this part of the upworld. The population was sparse. With so few souls to corrupt, it wasn’t a place demons hung out often.

Here, the dark fire elemental king reigned. The ash-colored ground and the trees were charred and mangled. Even the air tasted like smoke, as if a fire had recently been put out and the remnants still hung in the air. Beast could feel eyes upon him as he moved silently through the woods, but no one approached. All was quiet, still as a stone. There were no scuttling creatures or squawking birds. It was quite a difference from the painful moans of the inhabitants of the underworld.

Finally, the silence was broken. “Why has one of Osiris’s lackeys entered my domain?” a deep, gravelly voice rumbled.

Beast corrected his course and turned to the right. There was the fire king, Viscious, standing twenty yards away. His shoulder-length black hair was shiny and made the landscape around them look even duller. He wore black pants, a black fitted shirt, black boots, and black sunglasses which covered eyes that Beast knew burned with a red flame. The king’s skin was the color of the Sahara desert, and combined with the dark hair, it gave him a Middle Eastern appearance.

“I could ask the same question of the dark fire king,” Beast said. “Why is there a mortal in the underworld, covered in your fire?”

Viscious’s face gave no sign he had knowledge of the human female. “Why has Osiris sent you instead of coming himself?”

Beast’s head tilted ever so slightly to the left as he narrowed his eyes on the dark elemental. “Is that why you sent her there? You wanted an audience with the lord of the underworld?”

“I’m not claiming to have sent anyone to Osiris. I’m simply wondering if Osiris has grown so weak he can’t even leave his hell.”

Beast folded his arms in front of his chest and leaned his shoulder against the tree beside him. “We could sit here engaging in this pissing contest all day long, or you could just tell me why there is a human female laying in my level of the underworld.”

Viscious sighed. “You demons used to be more fun.”

Beast didn’t respond. He simply stared back at the dark elemental, waiting. He actually wouldn’t mind playing a game of verbal sparring, but Osiris was waiting on his return. Beast didn’t want to make the lord of the underworld wait any longer than necessary.

“Fine,” the fire king finally snapped. “I put her there, or one of my lackeys did. She’s leverage.”

“Leverage for what?”

“For the coming war.”

Beast shifted as he pushed away from the tree. “War? What war?”

“The dark elementals are done playing in the shadows. It’s our time to rule this world,” Viscious said with a smile worthy of his name.

---