Chaos Rises: A Veil World Urban Fantasy by Pippa DaCosta Page A

of his too-black eyes. Great, I’m heading into a basement with a demon at my back. What a fantastic idea, Gem. I wasn’t backing out now. To do so would tell Allard how I was indeed a frightened little half blood quaking in her boots.
    “This is a great honor. Only the select few know what I keep hidden below this hotel.”
    Okay… So why show me? And why now? I ran my hand along the handrail and jogged down the bare concrete steps. Allard’s element pushed at my back, a constant reminder of his power. But as we descended deeper into the cold, another element leeched out of the air. It shifted, loose and light, like the ghost of a demon’s touch. All elemental touches are invisible to human eyes, but this one was so weak, it could easily have been imagined.
    I gave the glyphs painted on the walls the side-eye. They were sloppy, spray-painted symbols. Demon symbols. The Institute knew a few of them and had gone to great lengths to ward their buildings with protection glyphs. These were unfamiliar.
    “The King of Hell originally designed them.” I jumped at Allard’s voice, too close in my ear. “As a way to control the elements and his princes.”
    I hadn’t known that, and the fact Allard knew about the origins of the glyphs had me wondering about his status in the netherworld. Vanessa had called him Azazel. I’d heard the name during the Institute’s endless research sessions, but there were a lot of demons with a lot of names, many reused and altered over time. Much of the truth about demons had long ago been corrupted by religion. Trying to filter the truth from fiction was a full-time career at the Institute. Allard was powerful. That much was true.
    “Do you know much about the king?” I attempted to make it side like an idle question. Allard had never volunteered information before. But then, we’d never really talked. He ordered, and my brother and I obeyed. That was how it had always been.
    “Only that he fled after the princes killed the queen.”
    In the netherworld, kill or be killed. The fact their own king ran from them says a lot about the princes.
    “The king, the hierarchy—none of that matters in this, the new world. When the veil sealed shut, it severed our connection to the netherworld and my allegiance to any court.”
    “Do you miss it?” I asked then wished I hadn’t. Of course, he didn’t miss it. He was demon. He didn’t feel much of anything besides fulfilling his wants and needs.
    “I find it…freeing. The hierarchy among our netherworld kin was stifling.”
    He sounded almost whimsical, like he was surprised by his own admission. I couldn’t imagine Allard following anyone’s orders, but what did I know about demon hierarchy? Only that I was at the bottom of it.
    “What do these glyphs mean?” I passed another swirling, rippling stamp of power.
    “If you didn’t have your demon shackled, you’d feel them. These are containment glyphs, like the ones used to keep the stock subdued.”
    I felt the glyphs and how they pushed and pulled on my demon, but I had no intention of sharing that knowledge with Allard. He’d likely use the glyphs against me if he realized I wasn’t immune to them.
    Clearly then, he was keeping a demon down here. Was that the slippery whisper of an element I sensed? What kind of demon needed to be hidden underground and subdued by countless glyphs?
    We descended another flight of stairs and came to a heavily glyphed door. Allard placed his hand against it, as he had the first, unlocked it, and opened it. Electric lights buzzed on, illuminating what had once been an underground parking garage. All the bays were empty, and the exit ramp had collapsed, sealing off the outside world.
    In the dead center of the garage, caged in what looked like an old wrought-iron elevator car, hunched a demon.
    “Go on,” Allard urged, his grin wide.
    I wet my lips and approached the cage. The demon had all the appearances of a man. His virtually hairless skin