She awoke well before sundown. Aidan was still sound asleep. He wouldn’t be up for several hours yet. She got up and padded barefoot through the house to the nursery. She was somewhat surprised that Littlespark hadn’t woken her. She’d gone to bed so early, Flame had expected her to be up early too, but there was nothing but silence from the nursery.

She quietly eased the door open and looked inside. Everything was dim and quiet. She stepped further into the room and suddenly froze. Her heart skipped a beat, and she caught her breath. Surely she couldn’t be seeing what she thought she was seeing? She rushed to the side of the crib and looked in. It was empty. The rails were still up so there was no way Littlespark could have gotten out on her own. Flame Song shifted into firecat form and tested the air. She could smell her daughter’s scent permeating the room, but overlying it was a strange, alien scent. She had never smelled it before, and yet there was something familiar about it, something that sent shivers up and down her spine. She didn’t pause to analyze it, but rushed out into the main room, shouting, “Aidan!”

She bounded to the bedroom, calling Aidan’s name again. He was sitting up on the bed, blinking groggily at her. “What is it?”

“Littlespark’s gone!”

Aidan snapped awake. “What!?”

“She’s gone, and I think somebody took her.”

Aidan got up, grabbing his belt with the twin daggers but not bothering to get his shirt on. “Can you track them?”

“Yes,” she said and without a further word she led the way back to the nursery to pick up the scent again. To her surprise it didn’t lead to the front door, but instead went to the kitchen. She followed her nose to the stairs that led downward to a basement storage area. She and Aidan exchanged a worried glance before descending. She was beginning to remember where she’d smelled a scent like the one she followed before. She hoped she was wrong, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn’t. At the bottom of the stairs the storage room was a mess. The walls were bare earth, as was the floor. Reinforcing beams stood at regular intervals along the walls. The space between two beams on the far wall gaped blankly. Earth was scattered all over the room. Somebody had obviously dug into the room from the other side. Flame and Aidan again exchanged glances. They both knew what lay on the other side of the wall. The northern continent was honeycombed with tunnels and caverns. They had been deserted for years, but once they had been home to a nest of demons.

That was actually how the pair had met. Aidan had been captured by the demons, who had wanted to dark iron torc he wore. It was a powerful talisman that protected anyone who wore it from harm by demons. In the hands of a demon lord it would have allowed the creature to rule over its fellows almost uncontested. Aidan knew he couldn’t allow that to happen, so he had resisted the demons’ attempts to get him to remove the torc. That was another piece of its magic, it couldn’t be removed by force, the wearer had to take it off willingly.

Flame Song had been digging her basement and happened upon the tunnels. She’d found Aidan and rescued him from the demons. They managed to collapse a huge section of the tunnels, killing at least one demon in the process, and not long after that an expedition by a few of their friends from the Clan of the Lost Dragon had cleared out the rest of the demons.

Without a word the pair proceeded into the dark tunnel. Both of them had excellent night vision that quickly adjusted to the dim light, though further in where there was no light at all they might find themselves blind. Flame Song led the way, her keen nose sampling the air. Aidan had drawn both daggers. Flame was sure now, though she wished she wasn’t, that the scent she followed was the smell of a demon. The thought of her daughter in a demon’s hands left her cold. She tried not to think of it, concentrating simply on the physical task of tracking the scent.

The tunnels were silent and empty, and smelled of mold, dust, and long abandonment. Obviously they had not been resettled by the demons, the only creature she could smell was the single demon she followed.

The darkness was thickening around them, and they were both moving almost blind, guided only by Flame Song’s nose. Then up ahead there was the faintest glimmer of reddish light. They advanced toward it cautiously. Down a long, narrow tunnel they found a small room with no other entrances. And standing in the center of the room was the demon. He looked like an incredibly handsome man in his mid thirties, but his glowing red eyes gave him away. He was surrounded by a sourceless reddish radiance that dimly illuminated the room. He held their unconscious daughter in his arms and wore a smile of dark amusement on his face.

Flame and Aidan stepped cautiously into the room, Flame leading the way on silent paws, Aidan following close behind. The demon’s smile widened into a grin. “Welcome! I had expected you much earlier. What took you so long?”

Flame ignored the demon’s question and said, “Give us back our daughter, demon.”

“Call me Asmodeus,” said the demon, the smile still on his too-handsome features. Flame just snarled at him. “No time for small talk eh? Very well. I will give you the brat in exchange for something I want very much. That collar your mate is wearing.”