The goblin pulled back his hand, waited for Darius to deposit two of the casings, and then slipped them into his pocket. “Meet you beyond the river. Usual place. I assume you only want your most loyal allies knowing of this?”
“Yes. Don’t dally.” Darius packed his things away and turned, heading farther into the area.
“I knew he’d been setting up a magical trade down here,” Emery whispered as they followed, still walking beside Penny and not behind, like Darius had said, “but I had no idea he carried so much favor with these people. They must really trust him to agree to something like this.”
“Reagan is not going to be pleased he’s been keeping secrets of this magnitude. If he’s got this going on, what else is he hiding?”
“He’s an elder vampire—my guess is a lot.”
Darius didn’t breeze through this place like he always breezed through the Brink. He didn’t stroll or strut, confident and arrogant. He trudged along like a creature at the end of his rope and ready to snap. He walked like he might snap into violence at any provocation. Like he would kill if he did. Like the doomsday cloud he really was.
Shivers washed over Penny at the change. He was clearly a master at knowing what persona was needed in any given place, and she was seeing it carried out in the flesh. Thank God he was on their side. Or…Reagan’s side, anyway, and Reagan was on hers.
If Reagan ever had to break up with him, she’d need to kill him. That was all there was to it. He was too dangerous to be an ex.
The feel of the ground changed beneath her feet. Squishy now, almost. She swore she’d stepped on a clump of something. Looking down, though, it was still the rough rock.
The walls started to taper down and then stopped, another invisible clump catching Penny’s notice. And then the landscape changed entirely. One minute they were walking through a leaking sort of cave, and the next they were on a wide, desolate beach that went on forever.
“What kind of messed-up place is this?” Penny said softly, clutching Emery.
“Pull away the magic. I need to see you,” Darius said, an edge in his voice.
Emery did so without hesitation.
Darius grabbed her other arm, pushing in close. “Stay together. If we separate here, the illusion will change. We’ll lose each other.”
She’d already had a hand on Emery, but he adjusted it so they were more tightly pressed together. The guys clearly thought she couldn’t be trusted.
She flinched when a drop hit her forehead out of a bland gray sky.
“I hate this place,” she murmured.
“You will find that it gets worse. Try not to think about it, and it isn’t so bad. Come on.” Darius started forward, Emery reading his cues and moving quickly. Penny was dragged between them. “It’s an illusion. Much of the Underworld is. Like what Reagan does, only more detailed and on a much larger scale. We will be going through a sect that is going to…broaden your voyeuristic horizons. I doubt you will be embarrassed by much after it, and I doubt you will be comfortable during it. It is the safest sect we can traverse, however. They are enamored by my kind.”
“You better not have cheated on Reagan, or when this is all done, I’ll not only tell her, I’ll help her torch your body and bury your black sludge guts in the yard.”
“I would never bed another,” he replied, and he had better be telling the truth, or Penny absolutely would help Reagan do something awful. “I certainly would not bed a demon. But I am a predator of humans, gifted with traits this sect of demons covet. They can sense my magic. They delight in it. Merely being in their presence… Well, you’ll see. I passed through a similar sect on my first journey through the Underworld, but this one holds much more power. Their power draws out my gifts. When we come back through, they will delight in seeing Reagan by my side, and she’ll…probably give in to my enhanced predatory traits. You will get to see quite the show. I know how you delight in such things…”
Penny’s face burned at the reminder that she’d walked in on him and Reagan, twice, and Emery chuckled, the jerk! “Seriously, this has got to stop! I was not trying to catch you two! It’s not my thing, honest!”
“We shall see.”
“Oh my God, I hate you.” The squishy sensation beneath her feet turned into the hollow thunk of wood. It matched the look of the pier.
Emery looked around, his gaze coming to rest on the fog in front of them, near the end of the pier, if she had to guess. “And that’s the fog you want us to take down?”