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black eyes as he stared down at Halena. “How are you feeling?”
    Even if she could talk, she wouldn’t say anything. No, it might be time to withdraw into her mind, disconnect for now. Then strategize once her mind cleared.
    “You have many fans down here, Gatekeeper. The great Halena Girard, fervently sending demons to Hades with her trusty Mavet dagger. They’re lined up, waiting to take a blade to your skin.”
    But how are they topside? If she’d sent them to Hades, they should not be able to get back. Her Mavet was a final vanquish. And she knew damn well they weren’t in Hades. What the hell was going on here?
    “Ha. I can see your confusion.” Votar’s rancid breath covered her like soot. “I have my ways of getting my kind out unnoticed, just to pay you some attention. So, enjoy your time here while we play out the hand we’ve been dealt.”
    Hand they’ve been dealt?
    He glanced at Slade, then back to Halena and grinned. “This should get interesting…”

Chapter Six
    Three demons strode into Lena’s holding cell, and Slade jumped up from the chair beside the concrete altar.
    “Our turn,” the leader said.
    “No.” Slade fisted his hand. He refused to let anyone hurt Lena again.
    The demon growled. “What do you mean, no ?” Fangs descended.
    If only Slade had fangs, he’d fight all of them, even Votar. If it killed him, so be it. He couldn’t stand this any longer.
    Lena was tortured daily, hourly on some of the days. Votar made Slade watch, too. For almost three fucking days he’d watched Halena get cut.
    “Back off.” Slade had the blade he’d taken from Lena’s purse shoved down the back of his pants, ready to test out what he’d learned about it. Burning some demon skin would be just fine with him.
    The two other demons fanned out so all three faced Slade like an immovable force of evil. A gang.
    The leader had to be at least six and a half feet tall with biceps the size of tree trunks. “I’m going to snap you in half, fledgling. That bitch sent me to Hades five hundred years ago. It’s my turn for payback.”
    “She’s mine.”
    The leader lunged, his fist landing solidly in Slade’s gut. His back rammed into the altar, and he was sure it cracked. He hopped to his feet, blade drawn. “Fuck you.”
    The demon peered over his shoulder to his friends and laughed. Slade took that opportunity and buried the blade deep in the asshole’s chest, cracking through the rib cage. The demon let out a deafening howl before dropping to the floor, motionless, his eyes frantically bobbing from side to side.
    The other two glared at Slade.
    “That’s right, asswipes.” He kicked the downed demon in the gut.
    “That’s a Mavet,” one demon whispered as they both backed away, hands up.
    Slade watched them leave, then he dragged the paralyzed demon outside the cell. He wasn’t sure how long the creature would stay paralyzed once he removed the dagger.
    Glancing at the open doorway, he realized he could run. Just take off. He could try to get to Addie— Shit, he couldn’t leave Lena. Besides, he was in France, and Votar had arranged everything from day one, so Slade didn’t have any money, no ID, no nothing.
    He grabbed the weapon and bolted into the cell, closing the door behind him. Wiping the blade on his thigh, he backed toward Lena, still watching the demon.
    The creature didn’t stir. No movement. Slade shoved the weapon in the back of his pants and returned to Lena’s side.
    He dipped the cloth he’d torn from her shirt in his glass of water and dabbed at a cut on her thigh. It wasn’t healing as fast as the others.
    “I’m so sorry, Lena.”
    “I so want to kill you right now,” she whispered.
    He froze. She’d not said a word since Votar had removed her tongue. Slade had almost puked when he’d done that, but it must have grown back.
    “Get me out of here and…I’ll let you live.”
    “I don’t have the key to your cuffs.”
    She mumbled some things in French