Unleashed by Kate Douglas Page A

make sure my assistant’s got everything under control. He’s a good vet. Esteban’s used to running the place, so if animals are affected again he’ll have heard.” He checked his blade and then glanced toward the plaza filled with citizens. “Should we tell anyone we’re going?”
    Alton nodded. “I’ve contacted Taron. Told him we’ve got a new demon outbreak in Earth’s dimension. I wonder if this is the group Isra saw the demon king sending toward Sedona?”
    “It has to be.” Ginny took off at a trot toward the council office and the small portal. “We couldn’t find any sign of them when we were there a couple days ago, though. Makes me wonder what they’ve been up to.”
    Alton shook his head as he pushed the pace. “Nothing good, that’s for sure.”
    He and Ginny led Dax, Eddy, Daws, and Selyn through the door into the chancellor’s office. Dawson paused by the portal—the one that led directly to the small vortex at Red Rock Crossing.
    “Let’s go to my place first,” he said. His home was close to the portal. “We can charge our cell phones while you use the landline to try and reach Markus. I’ll get in touch with my clinic, see if they’ve heard anything, but we might want to fan out, cover as much area as we can.”
    Ginny nodded. “Works for me. Let’s go.”
    They slipped through the portal and entered the vortex at Red Rock Crossing. The entire chamber reeked of sulfur, and Dax stopped everyone with a wave of his hand. “Look. The portal to Abyss. It’s open again.”
    Ginny drew DarkFire. “I’ve got it.” Anxiety rippled across her shoulders as she pointed her sword at the pulsing gateway to hell. A beam of dark light shot from the end of her amethyst blade. Silently she willed DarkFire to hurry. In less than a minute, the small portal was once again sealed. Ginny slipped her sword into the scabbard and set a glamour over the blade.
    The brilliant amethyst sword faded from sight.
    Dawson was the first to step through the portal out of the vortex and into the waning light of a late October afternoon. The area was empty, the blue sky a welcome change after the caverns of Lemuria.
    Ginny took a deep breath of the clean desert air. No sulfuric stench of demon here, no sense of danger, but Markus had sounded absolutely terrified.
    Alert and moving quickly, she followed the others—this amazing band of demonslayers—along the well-marked trail. It led to a shortcut that ran cross-country for a short distance before eventually dropping them into the back side of Dawson’s property.
    It would be night soon. The perfect time to hunt demons.
     
    * * *
     
    Visibly trembling, Isra clutched the hilt of her crystal sword and stared at the shimmering blade. “Why, Taron? I heard her voice, but . . .” Slowly raising her head, Isra stared at him. “I’ve done nothing to deserve her praise. How can this be?”
    The other women in the training room gathered close as Isra’s sword shimmered, diamond bright and pulsing with life.
    Once again the blade flashed and the sentience within spoke. The voice was soft and melodic, definitely female. “You will call me FrostFire, Isra. My name will forever be a reminder of the cold that once encased your heart. I speak because I wish to, because it is time. You had more personal demons to overcome than most, Isra, once a Forgotten One. You turned away from evil. You saved Nica’s life. You have fought your own demons to become a stronger, better woman. You’ve done this, not for personal glory but for Lemuria. We will make a formidable team, you and I.”
    The glow faded, the blade was once again merely faceted crystal. Isra raised her head and stared at Taron, not as a man she wanted to bed, but as a friend, one who might understand what had just happened. All sense of her earlier flirtation was gone. Tears coursed down her cheeks, but she didn’t say a word. Her rapt expression spoke volumes.
    Isra’s silence was not unexpected. Taron