Princes of the Underworld Read online

  In that moment, Sadie shifted into emergency paramedic mode. It was fast as lightning. Instantaneous. No feelings. No thought. Just her training. Just her doing anything she could to help.

  Sadie’s knife hit the floor with a thud as she rushed to the bathroom to get the first aid kit, turning on more lights as she went. She quickly grabbed the kit from her bathroom drawer and then rushed back to the living room.

  Eyes scanning the wound, she knelt beside the chair where her sister slouched. Sadie gently removed Blair’s hand that had been pressing against the gash and cut through the scruffy sleeve, revealing a deep, ugly slash that appeared to have been torn open by a jagged blade.

  “What did you do this time, Blair?” Sadie asked as waves of worry and confusion tangled in her mind. “What happened?”

  Blair only grunted in answer.

  “Jesus, Blair. Tell me,” Sadie said, begging clear in her voice. “Do I need to call the police?”

  “No!” Blair tried to stand but immediately collapsed back into the chair, hissing in pain. “No,” she said, weaker. “A job just fell through.” She gritted her teeth. “I only need a place to crash. I’m going to be fine.”

  If you say so. Sadie sighed. It always seemed like it was “just a job fell that through.”

  As she began to clean the outside of the wound, she asked, “What job, Blair? No one knows what you do.”

  “I hust—”

  “Yeah, yeah, sometimes you hustle pool.” Sadie rolled her eyes. “I had hoped this time you wouldn’t lie to me, though.”

  Sadie’s family thought Blair was unemployed, bumming off boyfriends since her fiancé died eight years ago.

  But there was obviously more to Blair’s life than she had let on.

  “What’s really going on?” Sadie pressed, tossing a bloody, dirt-covered gauze to the floor, picking up antiseptic and clean bandages. She gently cleaned out the mud caked in the gash.

  Her sister didn’t answer, only groaned in pain while Sadie nursed the wound, but Sadie wasn’t going to let this one go. Not this time.

  Neither of them spoke for a minute.

  “You need stitches,” Sadie said with a frown.

  “Then stitch me.”

  Sadie snorted impatiently. “This isn’t a damn hospital, Blair. You need to go to the ER.”

  “No,” Blair said firmly, glaring down at her. They stared at each other for a second before Blair softened, and her gaze flickered to the floor. “Sadie, I can’t. I can’t go to the cops. Please, you’re a pro at this. Please, stitch me up?”

  Sadie sighed, shoulders drooping in defeat. “Fine.”

  She could bring people back from the edge of death, run into danger and tend to gunshot wounds, but damn it all, she couldn’t say no to Blair.

  After gathering a few more supplies from the bathroom, Sadie sat beside her sister and quietly rubbed a bit more alcohol on the wound, not entirely looking forward to stitching up her sister. This would hurt, and she didn’t really have the right supplies.

  “I have friends on the force,” Sadie said, pausing as she inserted a suture into the wound to seal it shut, meeting her sister’s eyes. Blair’s breathing slowed but grew heavier. Sadie continued, “I can call in a favor and get you some protection, if you’re worried. If someone’s after you.”

  Blair gripped Sadie’s arm as if it were a stress ball and sucked in a pained breath through her teeth as the needle broke through her skin. “I told you. No cops.” She rested her head on the back of the chair and gazed at the ceiling. “There are too many cops on her payroll.”

  Sadie hesitated, finally getting somewhere with her sister. Apparently, her enemy, the person after Blair, was a woman. Interesting. Maybe the loss of blood had made Blair delusional, or maybe Sadie was about to get some much-needed answers. She remained silent, diligently stitching her sister’s wound.

  “Besides, no human can protect me now,” Blair said softly, almost a whisper. “No one can protect me from what’s after me.”

  Sadie furrowed her eyebrows, pausing as she stared at her sister. Okay, now that didn’t make a lick of sense.

  Delusions—this was a bad sign. Perhaps there was head trauma Sadie had missed, but in all likelihood, Blair was probably just disoriented from the blood loss.

  Worry clutched at Sadie’s chest. She needed to take her sister to the hospital, get some scans done. She could have brain damage. Or a lesion, or even some internal bleeding.

  Shit.

  Hesitantly, Sadie wrapped up the final stitch and tied it off, not altogether pleased with her makeshift handiwork, and ran her fingers through her sister’s hair, gently checking for lumps or soft spots.

  There were none. As far as she could tell, no head injuries. It could have been a side effect from the trauma, but—

  “Sadie,” Blair said, a bit of a hard edge to her voice.

  Sadie snapped out of her thoughts and caught her sister’s eye. “What?”

  “It’s not safe for you if I’m here. Please, let’s finish so I can get you someplace safer.”

  With a sigh, Sadie reluctantly finished bandaging the superficial cut on Blair’s shoulder. She tended to a small scrape on her sister’s jaw when the young woman reached into the discarded jacket beside her and pulled out a beautiful amulet: a teardrop-shaped ruby, the size of her palm, bordered by a thin, silver strip encrusted with tiny diamonds that dangled from a golden chain.

  It glimmered and glowed as Sadie gazed at it, her eyes slipping out of focus, as if she were hypnotized.

  “Sadie,” someone said softly in her ear.

  Sadie gasped and looked around, hand on her chest in surprise at the voice, but no one was in the room save for her and Blair.

  She gave the amulet a sidelong glare, her skin crawling this time as she looked at the enchanting object. She leaned in toward it, fascinated, her fingers lifting to touch it, her curiosity getting the better of her. To her amazement, it glowed brighter, humming. She snapped her hand away.

  It felt almost… magical.

  “What is that?” Sadie whispered. She turned her gaze to her sister, seeing fear reflected in Blair’s wide eyes.

  Fear for her.

  “Shit.” Blair pocketed the amulet then stood. She mumbled to herself, limping while pacing, completely ignoring her injuries. “Shit, shit, shit. This is bad. This is bad. This is really, really bad.”

  “What’s bad?” Sadie jumped to her feet. “Will you please start making sense?” She gripped Blair’s shoulders to stop her from pacing. She couldn’t tolerate the confusion any longer. “Blair, you can’t keep stumbling into my apartment like this. I’ve let you get away with this long enough. The least you can do is explain to me what in the world is going on!”

  Blair’s expression softened as her eyes took on a haunted glint. “I’ve done bad things, little sister. I’ve gone after terrible people. People who want me and everyone I love dead. I’m sorry for always barging in here, but all my contacts are gone. I don’t know if they’re still alive or—" Blair choked, tears welling in her eyes. “I have nowhere left to go.” She sat back on the chair, wincing and lightly rubbing the bandage on her shoulder. “I’m afraid these people found out about you, and if they did, they’re going to come after you next. I have to find a way to keep you safe.”

  Sadie crouched in front of her sister to readjust the bandage, puzzled and apprehensive from everything Blair had said. She had never seen her sister like this. Blair had always been the strong one, the badass sister who could wield any weapon and make even the scariest dude in a bar steer clear.

  It gutted her to see Blair afraid, lost, and in so much pain.

  That’s it. Hospital it is. “We need to go to the ER,” Sadie said, helping her sister up. “You’ve lost too much blood, you—”

  “No!” Blair seized Sadie’s wrist, nails digging into her skin. “No, please. They’ll find me. They’ll kill me. They’ll kill you.”

  She’s hysterical. “Who, Blair? Who i
s going to kill us?”

  Blair didn’t answer.

  Sadie unwrapped her sister’s fingers from her wrist, torn and anxious from the fear and exhaustion in Blair’s eyes. Did Blair really have dangerous people after her? Aside from getting mugged in an alley, Sadie couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation that would result in an injury like this.

  Pushed to the brink, already exhausted, and now stressed beyond what she could handle, Sadie took a calming breath.

  She had seen stabbing victims in this state before, and they had not survived. She was scared for her sister’s life. She scrambled to clear her mind. This was her sister. She needed to be objective and do what would save her sister’s life, even if it wasn’t what Blair wanted.

  Blair sagged against the armchair, looking at Sadie, face slack, but her eyes were serious, sad almost. She seemed to be making her mind up about something. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word, her gaze darted to the door over Sadie’s shoulder and her eyes widened with horror. Without a word, she shoved Sadie to the side then stood in front of her.

  Sadie tucked her arms and rolled as a bolt of fire shot past them, hitting the wall and leaving a dark patch of soot.

  “What the—” Sadie hunkered behind an armchair and peeked around it to find a tall figure in the entry. The gorgeous woman sneered wickedly, all white, sharp teeth and vicious, glowing, red eyes.

  The woman walked into the room, and pointed, antler-like horns, velvety wings the length of her body, and a spiky tail came into view. Gilded armor scantily clung to her body, and her harsh features were unearthly.

  Beautiful.

  Deadly.

  Sadie could have taken a moment to appreciate the dark elegance she exuded, but the woman stared right at her, eyes narrowing. She looked ready to kill. “You must be the sister.”

  Chapter Two

  Sadie

  “Mara.” Without missing a beat, Blair raised her pistol and pulled the trigger.

  The deafening boom echoed throughout the room. Sadie flinched. Her adrenaline pumped through her, flooding her body in shock. It was as though she were dreaming and drowning, all at once.

  The bullet hit the woman Blair had called Mara square in the chest, but she barely flinched. She grinned wider, those wicked teeth gleaming.

  Great. Beautiful and bulletproof.

  “This isn’t happening,” Sadie said softly to herself.

  It couldn’t be.

  Mara smirked, her ruby red lips perfect. “Nice to see you again, too, bitch.” The woman raised her hand, and a blaze of fire erupted from her palm.

  Magic.

  This woman, who looked for all the world like a breathtaking, winged demoness, had summoned fire on a whim. Sadie briefly looked back at the singed patch of her wall, and it all clicked.

  This was very real, and this woman had not only hurt Blair—she intended to kill them both.

  Fuck that.

  Sadie shook herself free from her daze and charged Mara, knocking her off balance. Mara’s armor heated bright red, scalding the skin on Sadie’s arms and chest and forcing her to back away. She ran to Blair’s side, who was already on her feet. Sadie was surprised at how remarkably well her sister moved despite her injuries, but adrenaline was one hell of a hormone.

  Blair looked at her, panting for breath. “You all right?”

  Sadie nodded, the sting of her burns already fading. “What are we going to do?”

  “Run,” Blair said softly. “As soon as the moment’s right.”

  Across from them, Mara crouched, snarling at Sadie. “You’re as annoying as your sister.” Almost too fast to see, she cast a ball of fire in Sadie’s direction.

  Sadie ducked, grabbed a snow globe from a nearby shelf, and sent it crashing against Mara’s head. Sadie did not expect her reflexes to be this enhanced by her unapplied martial arts training, but she was thankful nonetheless. With a smirk, she rolled away from the woman’s wings and knelt, ready to dodge another blow if needed. “Pleased to meet your acquaintance, Mara.”

  Adrenaline surged through Sadie’s veins as she dashed to the side, grabbed a stool, and then swung it into Mara’s back, sending wood splintering into fragments. The impact seemed to have jarred her more than it had Mara, who only smirked. If bullets hardly did anything, what did Sadie think a piece of furniture would do? Her heart pounded. Her eyes went to the knife she always kept with her, though it now lay on the carpet next to the door, but she doubted she could do anything with it.

  She needed to come up with a plan. How could she disarm Mara and get herself and her sister out of there alive?

  Mara’s serrated tail descended on Sadie, and the woman’s wings stirred a small breeze in the confined space. Sadie twisted to her right, dodging a blow to the ribs but not the painful scratch to her shoulder. She quickly inspected the area as beads of blood oozed out. It wasn’t deep but would sting in the morning.

  Blair propelled herself from the coffee table, lunging toward Mara and smacking the woman’s temple with the butt of her pistol. The woman’s head twisted to the side. Sadie then crouched down, hooked her leg around the woman’s calf, and yanked Mara’s legs from underneath her. There was a loud pop. The deadly woman screeched as she fell to the ground, wincing. Her skin might have been impenetrable, but she could clearly feel pain. She was only hiding it.

  Good to know.

  Between the gunshots and the screeching, the cops would be here soon. Sadie could use that to her advantage—maybe. It all depended on if anyone witnessed the demoness spewing fireballs or if that was going to be left exclusively to her testimony, because if so, she might not have a job in the morning.

  Sadie shifted her attention to Blair, who wobbled on her feet and shook her head, rapidly blinking her eyes. Sadie quickly stood and went to her sister’s side, helping to steady her while Mara writhed on the ground from a dislocated knee.

  “You ripped your stitches,” Sadie said.

  Blair shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Here.”

  She handed Sadie a knife, predominantly reddish brown with an iridescent blade. Sadie gripped the carved handle, her thumb brushing over the engraved symbol of a snake eating its own tail—an ouroboros, if she remembered correctly. Embossed scales and spirals brushed her palm, but she would have to examine the carvings on the knife later.

  Mara climbed to her feet, the action catching Sadie’s attention. Mara had somehow recovered and prepared to hurl another fiery assault as she held her hands out to her sides. Her palms ignited with balls of fire, growing bigger and blue.

  “The sooner you die, the sooner I can get what is mine. So, let’s just get this over with, shall we?” Mara hurled the balls of fire toward Sadie and her sister with a growl.

  Both Sadie and Blair dodged in opposite directions, avoiding the blast of heat as the balls of flame hit the far wall of Sadie’s living room. The curtains caught fire, the overhead light burst, and Sadie’s favorite armchair was caught in the inferno.

  “Shit,” Sadie muttered, watching her home become consumed in the aftermath of the fire strikes. They really needed to get out of there, and fast.

  Sadie advanced, sidestepping another fireball aimed at her. She ducked, evading another one that sailed close to her ear. The smell of burnt hair hit her nose, but she pressed onward.

  “Damn it,” she muttered as she charged the demoness. Frustrated that her raven locks got included in the crossfire, she bent low and then sliced Mara’s thigh with the exquisite dagger.

  Sadie expected the attack to hurt, for Mara to scream, or groan, or at least stagger a little at the sheer force of the blow.

  It was so much better.

  She didn’t expect the wound to spurt dark liquid, black as night—it looked like ichor, a supernatural river of blood, hissing and bubbling as it streamed to the floor. She paused as Mara scowled, enraged.

  So, she can bleed…

  Before Sadie could move out of the way, Mara bent her left wing an
d impaled Sadie’s forearm with the giant thorn on the wing’s apex, slamming her against the wall. Sadie screamed as pain erupted through her arm and into her shoulder. Mara twisted to face Sadie, holding up a single, glowing hand, red eyes glowing, ready to burn her to a crisp.

  “Time to die,” Mara hissed.

  Sadie’s heart pounded as she shut her eyes, wincing, waiting for the pain to hit her. A jerk came, and she was released from the wall, falling to her hands and knees. She opened her eyes to find Blair on Mara’s back, a dagger in hand—plain compared to the magnificent weapon she had given her—aimed and ready to be plunged into the woman’s chest. When the dagger sank into the leather of her armor, right where Mara’s heart should have been, it didn’t hiss or pop, or sizzle. No dark ichor seeped from around the blade.

  Sadie took note of the differences in the daggers. There must have been something special about the one that she wielded that could cause the damage. A poison, maybe. Sadie made sure to carry the knife carefully, so she didn’t accidentally cut herself and in case her sister didn’t have an antidote nearby.

  Mara used her wings to get Blair off her back, sending her flying to the floor. Blair shifted in the air, tucking her feet under her and landing gracefully in a crouch. She stood, maintaining her usual confidence. Sadie stared at her sister in wonder.

  A throb pulsed in Sadie’s shoulder. She grasped the puncture on her arm, knees buckling. It baffled her how her sister could endure this much fighting with all the injuries she had. What had her sister gone through to turn into this kind of a warrior? Blair looked like she could still fight for hours despite the numerous injuries she had endured already.

  Through Blair’s mask of confidence, though, Sadie spotted signs of exhaustion. Her sister’s knees shook, her chest heaved a little too hard, and she swayed a bit. Subtle, but to Sadie, it was obvious, and that worried her. If Sadie didn’t find a way to get herself and Blair away from this demoness and somewhere safe, they both may die tonight.