Seduced by Power by Alex Lux Page B

the cavern. "What was that?"
    "That be the demon dragon." A forked tongue the color of raw liver poked out of his shriveled mouth. "You not be wanting to meet him. He eat pretty thing like you and live on that sweet pain for long time."
    Did that mean…? "Is that where my friends are? Derek and Dean." My heart thumped as an old memory resurfaced. A little girl taunting me. My power slipping out for the first time. Her dead eyes. "And Donna. I need to get the three of them out of here." Would there be anything left of her to save?
    He inched closer, his rancid breath gagging me. "That be where all lost souls live. They be our meals, parceled out one scream at a time to our starving world while dragon gluts himself on their tears."
    Another demon marched through the cavern dragging someone behind him. The poor beast screamed out a sound like pigs being slaughtered. The larger demon, skin the color of dried blood, entered the dragon's hall without looking our way.
    "That be a guard. He feeds dragon."
    "You torture your own kind for food?" Demonic cannibalism. Gross.
    "We die if not. But death not real, we just suffer in other level." His eyes dropped, face softening.
    I almost felt bad for them. They lived here unable to leave, unable to feed, forced to sacrifice their own people to survive. What had happened that they'd been cursed with this fate? "Will you help me save my friends? Please?"
    He shook his head. "Can't do that. I be dragon food if do."
    I resisted the urge to punch him. "I'm Rose, by the way. Rose Wintersong. What's your name?"
    His eyes widened in surprise. "Bankun be my name, the one you can pronounce."
    "Bankun, I'm looking for someone. My father. I'm half demon, and my father is from here. Maybe he can help me. Do you know who he is?"
    "I not know who you father be. You have name of him?"
    That would have been helpful. "No, not really."
    "Cannot help."
    "You must! This is important. I'll do anything to free them. Name your price." I knew I gambled with a lot now, but I had no choice. I really would do anything to fix my mistakes.
    His eyes lit up, his power reaching for mine. It felt slimy and old. "Anything?"
    I swallowed past a lump in my throat and nodded.
    "I help you free friends. But you do one thing for me."
    "What?"
    "You stay and be my dinner."

T WELVE
     
Courage
     
R OSE
     

     
     
    Screw your courage to the sticking-place.
    — William Shakespeare, Macbeth
     
     
    I AGREED, NOT because I looked forward to an eternity of torment as this beast sucked me dry, devouring my pain and causing more to feed on it, but because if I didn't agree, then it would be Derek and Dean who suffered that fate, and I couldn't let that happen. Not ever.
    Already the amount of agony they'd endured tore away at my gut, like a ravenous dog feasting on the intestines of the dead.
    "You have to guarantee the safety of all three of my friends. They must be returned to our dimension. If you can do that, you can have me in their place." I had no idea why I was worth three of them, but I wasn't about to argue.
    I knew my pain here would be nothing compared to the pain I'd suffered knowing I'd sucked the soul out of my fiancé.
    The large diamond on my left hand still sparkled, even in this dingy hell hole, and my eyes clouded with tears at the knowledge that we'd never get our happily ever after. It had been such a long shot to begin with, with so much stacked against us, but we'd come so close that it hurt to have that dream ripped from me now.
    Running my finger over the ring, I knew it would become my touchstone, my way out of myself when the torture here became unbearable. Our love would live in this stone, forever locked in memory as the one pure and perfect thing in my life. It would have to be enough.
    Bankun clasped his hands together and grinned. "I know secret way in. We trick demon dragon and steal friends out before he knows. You make tasty treat even now." He inhaled deeply, and my heartache blossomed, like a