The warehouse door began to close, and I jumped from my hiding place to slip inside before I was locked out. Knowing Eldeorin, the glamour hiding me would only last until I entered the building. That was his way of keeping things interesting. But, hopefully, that would be all the time I needed.

Just inside the loading door I ducked behind a stack of wooden pallets to size up the situation and get my bearings. The open area of the interior was lined with rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves that were empty except for a few crates on the upper shelves. That made it easier to follow the progress of the demons and their prisoners as they moved toward a door on the far side of the open space.

The ranc demon shoved the humans into the room, and I waited several minutes for them to reappear. They spoke in a language I couldn’t understand before the ranc demon headed for a room a few doors away from where the humans were being held. The gulak demon climbed a set of stairs to the second floor. I had a feeling he was going to report in to this boss. I’d deal with that later. First, I needed to take care of his friend and get those people out of here.

Remembering what Eldeorin had said about a gulak never working alone, I scanned the room to make sure it was empty before I slipped out from my hiding place. I stayed close to the wall as I silently made my way to the room where the humans were, and I let out a relieved sigh when I tried the door and found it unlocked.

I wasn’t prepared for the sight that greeted me when I opened the door, and my hand flew to my mouth when I saw the large dog cages lining the walls of the room. They were stacked three high, and from each one a pair of terrified eyes stared at me. All but two of the cages held humans; the last two were occupied by mox demons.

“Please, help us,” sobbed a girl who couldn’t have been much older than I was. Her fingers curled around the bars of the cage and tears streaked her dirty face.

I put my finger to my lips and went to her cage. “Shhh. I’m going to get you all out of here, but you have to be quiet. Okay?”

She clutched at my fingers. “I w-want to go h-home.”

The girl’s broken plea shook me, and I was torn between the urge to comfort her and the need to free them all. My pragmatic side won. I squeezed her fingers before I pulled my hand away and whispered, “I’ll take you home. I promise. First, I need to get these cages unlocked. Do any of you know where the key is?”

“You mean this key?” asked a deep rumbling voice from behind me. There were cries from the cages as I whirled to face the gulak demon who dangled a set of keys from his clawed hand. He leered at me as he filled the doorway. “Hello there. Where did you come from?”

If I hadn’t seen and fought a gulak before that moment I might have been scared by the sight of the scaly demon. Instead, I was worried about how I was going to kill him without hurting anyone else. My power strained to be free, but I had to get this guy out of the room before I unleashed it. And I had to hurry before all his buddies showed up.

“I was just passing by and thought I’d check this place out.”

His reptilian eyes swept me from head to toe. “Is that so? I think I should take you to see the boss.”

“Okay, but can my friends come too?” I glanced over his shoulder.

He spun to look behind him. It was all the opening I needed. I tackled him and knocked him to the floor outside the room. “I can’t believe you actually fell for that.” My glowing hands covered his mouth before he had a chance to shout for help. Power flowed into him, and he gagged as it encased his head and filled his mouth and nose, suffocating him. I tried to make it fast, to get it over with before someone heard us and came to see what was going on. The gulak decided not to go easily, and it took him a good minute to die.

I climbed off his body and dragged it back into the room, ignoring the two dozen pairs of eyes watching me. The demon had dropped the keys and I grabbed them off the floor.

“Okay, let’s get you guys out of here.”

A minute later, I swore when I realized that none of the keys on the ring fit the cage locks. The bastard had been playing me.

“The o-other one has the key,” stammered a blond man.

“The one who brought you here?” The man nodded, and I moved toward the door. “Hold tight. I’ll be back.”

I chewed my lip as I studied the door to the room the ranc demon had entered. I couldn’t just barge in because, for all I knew, there might be a dozen demons in there. But I couldn’t stand here waiting for him to come out either.

Before I could change my mind, I rapped on the door. There were sounds from within before the door opened to reveal a shocked ranc demon who was also very much alone. Using the element of surprise against him, I pushed him into the room and kicked the door shut behind me. Away from the humans, I didn’t have to restrain my power and I let him have it in the chest.

“Shit!” I backed away as his skin turned dry and brittle and began to fall away in chunks. His mouth opened in a silent scream before his whole head crumbled, followed by the rest of his body.

I stared at the pile of what used to be the demon then looked at my hands. “Maybe a little too much.”

I let out a groan when I realized the keys I was looking for were probably in that pile of demon bits. It would be just my luck to have melted the damn things.

It took a few minutes to locate the keys, and I let out a relieved sigh when I saw they were intact. On a table was another set of keys that looked like they belonged to the truck outside. I grabbed them and shoved them into my pocket. Wiping my hands on my jeans, I hurried back to the first room and fitted a key into the lock on the first cage. Thank you, God, I said silently when the padlock clicked open. I moved to the next cage, making a mental note to learn how to pick locks in the very near future. Either that or figure out how to blast them open with my power. Now that would be a handy trick to know.