His answer surprised me but this was neither the time nor the place to ponder it. Maybe when all of this was over, I would speculate about why I was able to challenge the witch’s power when Nikolas said that even a seasoned Mohiri warrior was no match for a Hale witch. Right now though, my little troll friends needed me.

Remy went under the arch and I followed him, colliding with his back when he stopped abruptly. I peered around him and gasped.

We were in a wine cellar with empty wooden racks covering the walls and a small shaded light in the center of the ceiling. In the middle of the room on a raised glass platform sat a glass cage that measured about three feet by four feet. The glass bars appeared to ripple as currents of red light moved through them like electricity. The hairs rose up on my arms as if the air in the room was charged and I felt the power in the cage from where I stood.

Inside the cage, three tiny bodies huddled together as far from the sides of the cage as possible and their frightened whimpers tore at my heart.

“Minka?” I called and the little trolls lifted their heads to stare at us. One of them moved too far and I heard a painful screech as red sparks flew from one side of the cage. Fresh sobbing filled the room.

Outrage swelled in me. What kind of monster did this to children? I rushed forward until the blazing power running through the cage would let me go no farther. “We’re here,” I called, backing away from the cage. “We’ll get you out of there.”

I turned to Remy to see him staring at the cage in fear. “Remy, come on. We have to get them out.”

“Yusri al-Hawwash spared no expense on this endeavor,” said the Hale witch and I spun to face him. “Trolls do not have many weaknesses and the sheik knew he would need a way to control his bounty.” He swept a hand toward the cage. “Demon fire. A legion of trolls could descend upon this place and not one of them could touch this cage. Only a demon can touch it.”

It hit me then why the house had been so quiet, the cellar unguarded except for the hell hounds and the witch. The people behind this knew the cage was all the security they needed. It also explained why they were working with vampires. Protected by their demon side, vampires could freely handle the cage and move it when it was time for transport. It was brilliant really, sick but brilliant.

From somewhere in the house above us I heard what sounded like gun fire before a blood-curdling howl rent the air. My heart leapt into my throat. My friends were up there fighting for their lives, I had to do something and fast. I searched the room for something I could use even as my heart told me there was nothing here to help me. What I needed was a demon. I let out a desperate laugh. Where were all the vampires when I actually needed one?

“Sara.” Remy’s voice was filled with despair. “Help them… please.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I cried. I’d barely gotten within two feet of the cage before the demon fire had driven me back. I was as helpless as Remy.

Remy’s tortured eyes met mine and he placed a hand over my chest “Demon in here.”

I shook my head and backed away from him. “No! I can’t do that. I-I don’t even know how.” All my life I’d struggled to control that side of me. Before I ever knew what it was, I knew it was dark and ugly; something to be kept locked away. The thought of releasing my hold on it now terrified me. What if I couldn’t restrain it again? What it if took over and I went insane like those other orphans Nikolas had told me about? What if I hurt one of my friends?

“Sara!” cried a small plaintive voice from the cage.

Tears spilled down my cheeks. The trolls were in danger because of me. If I didn’t save them, I could never live with myself. “I’m coming, Minka.”

I heard noise on the stairs and growling in the other room and I knew our time was running out. God only knew what was going to come through that door.

Come on, I told the Mori hovering in the shadows of my mind. I need you. I had no idea how to do this so I just dropped the wall that held back the demon. At the same time, I closed off the well of power at the center of my being. The demon was afraid of my power and it would not emerge unless I promised it safe passage.

The demon shifted and stretched and inched forward hesitantly as if it could not believe the barrier around it was gone. Like a moth emerging from its cocoon it pulsed and spread its wings joyfully. My body shuddered as a new consciousness invaded my mind, rapidly spreading until my head felt like it would explode from the pressure inside.

I cried out and fell to my knees, holding my head in my hands. “Stop!” I screamed as the demon moved through me, filling me, boiling beneath my skin. I tried to push it back but it was too late. I could no longer tell where I ended and the Mori began. It was strong, so much stronger than I ever realized. It was consuming me and I was powerless to stop it.

My legs moved and I found myself on my feet, walking toward the cage. Dimly I waited for the blast of scorching heat. It never came and I knew the demon owned this body now. I watched as hands that looked like mine grasped the glass bars and ripped them apart like they were toothpicks. Through a haze, I saw the smallest troll throw her arms around the neck of the demon that looked like me, felt it lower her impassively to the stone floor and turn away as the two remaining trolls jumped from their glass prison.

“Sara?”

The voice came from a long way off. The demon whirled to face the man filling the doorway and my shrinking consciousness gasped at the powerful primal connection that stretched between the two of them like an elastic band pulled too taut. The band began to shrink, drawing the man and demon toward each other.