XII

Everyone sits around the map on the floor, all grim-faced at the mission at hand. Everyone with Demon blood back to their human forms. Jordan eating a large bag of chips after buying snacks on his trip back.

“There’s no way we can extract our people or get to Bathory. As soon as they see that we’re coming they’ll take off,” Dix stares down at Cairo Castle, “we have no advantage.”

“Fuck,” Adorna whispers.

Jordan and Raum came back with a very detailed report. Al-Qahira Castle was fully restored, but not all areas were open to the public. Thousands of Muhamasheen prisoners in “the area of the Maghreb”. The grain facilities, water reservoirs, and the guard towers were all operational and staffed, and all the palaces in the section were all filled to the brim with young members of the lowest caste of Yemen. No sign of Fingers or Shaw.

In the other section, all the palaces were open, filled with people lapping in luxury. All of them but one Jordan and Raum could get into. Dar al-’Amara, the palace designed for the sultan of the time, was closed off with heavy magic.

“We assume that both our men and Bathory are in this one palace, so that’s where we need to hit.” Maddox looks at Sauda with his hand on the map.

“This palace has secret passageways connecting to the other palaces. When they see us coming, they can easily go to another one,” Sauda has her arms crossed, staring down at the map.

“Fuck,” Adorna says a little louder.

“So we need to focus on all four palaces in this section... but we only have eight men.,” Maddox says.

“Fuck!” Adorna’s roar shakes the room.

She sits on one couch with a pillow stuffed under her knees. Her hands raked through her hair. Sammy paddles over to her and lays a paw over her feet and lays down. Jordan leans her forward, so he has enough room to climb behind her and he wraps his long limbs around her body. Raum for a second hesitates and then sits next to them, squeezing a hand around Adorna’s ankle.

Sauda looks at her friend, slivers of tears hanging on the edge of her face, a fist painfully clinched in Samuel Dean's fur, but he doesn’t move. Her other fist is grabbing her chest as she glares red eyes at the wall.

“The touching... is that a demon thing?” Dix asks.

Sauda looks at Dix, really looks at him. The red creeping up his face as his eyes dart from face to face of each person comforting Adorna.

“No. Demons aren’t usually the cuddling type. It’s more of a ‘us’ thing,” Sauda says, “Sugar isn’t a Demon, he’s a Shifter. Shifters are pack animals. Touching isn’t sexual to them, it's instinctual. When I first met Samuel Dean he didn’t enjoy it, but twenty-four years of petting and he’s learned to at least endure.”

Samuel Dean huffs and moves his head to rest on his paw on Adorna’s foot.

“Raum…”

Raum looks up to meet Sauda’s gaze.

“Raum isn’t too comfortable with it. Being bonded to someone is a serious thing, and he knows how Adorna feels, so he’s comforting her the best he can.”

“Wright and Mendoza are married?” Dix asks, nodding his head like it makes sense.

“No. Bonded. It’s deeper than marriage. A piece of Adorna’s soul is literally bonded to Ashleigh’s and vice versa. Two souls split apart and then melded together in two bodies.”

“Thinking your bonded is in trouble and could die is torture. A million times over,” Raum says, leaning closer to Sauda.

“You two are bonded?” Maddox asks.

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

Sauda turns to look at Dix again, as his eyes dart to them and then down to the map two times.

“Dix? Touching isn’t evil unless it’s touching someone who doesn’t want to be touched. Sex…”

Dix turns beet red.

“Isn’t evil either. Neither is wanting to be touched. We won’t make you do anything you do not want to, but we’re also not going to change because it’s not to your liking. If you’re... confused about how you feel, or very disgusted with our affection, we can talk it out. Later. We need to focus on extracting our people.”

Dix looks at Sauda, lips pinched tight and the tips of his ears red. “I was raised conservatively.”

“Oh, fuck you, and your conservative upbringing. I don’t care if Mom and Dad didn’t show you any love. Or taught you that only a certain love was right. Back to the plan for saving my bonded,” Adorna shouts, jumping towards Dix and the map. Jordan’s leg instantly wraps tighter around her, locking her in.

“We assume that Wright and Shaw are in Dar al-’Amara, same as Bathory. Our best shot is to hit there,” Maddox continuing to stare at the map, “Some of us hit the passageways and some hit directly. That’s the best we can do.”

“That’s the only thing we can do,” Sauda adds.

Maddox shifts in his low floor seat and nods.

“Eight of us. Two hit the passage through Dar al-’Adil, two through Dar al-’Shajarah. The other four, we’ll hit from outside.”

“Each null partner a preternatural?” Maddox asks.

“Roger. My team can take a passageway, Raum’s team will take another.”

“I’ll take the outside,” Maddox nods, “Which two points are on our marks?’

Sauda looks at the map on the floor. The map they got from a tourist spot but it was mostly just the outside of the Castle. Sauda and Raum drew all the specs.

“Here and here.”

“How are we going to get there unnoticed?” Malik asks. He sits next to Sauda, seemingly unfazed by the cuddle fest in the corner.

“We can’t. Not really. They’ll see us coming, and their magic will probably feel us coming way before then,” Sauda says. “I’d tell you to pray, but I was told God is still mad about the last time we asked for a favor.”

“I’ll pray, anyway.” Dix pulls out a rosary from thin air and begins rubbing it while looking down at the map..

“There’s got to be some kind of tourist attraction, like a guided tour, or something,” Maddox says.

“You see anything, Sugar?”

Jordan lays his head into the crook of Adorna’s neck and places a small kiss before looking back at Sauda. Adorna finally relaxes into his arms, letting go of Samuel Dean’s fur, and laying her head back onto Jordan’s shoulder. Everyone ignores her tears, letting her have her small privacy. Sauda can’t say that it doesn’t shake her, the little Succubus has only ever cried in front of her twice.

“Tour buses driving along the outside. Nothing on the inside,” Jordan reports.

“Good enough,” Maddox says, “but how are we going to get guns on a tour bus full of civilians. The locals didn’t seem too fazed earlier at bullets and magic, but this is a bus full of foreigners.”

“Guns under our coats?” Malik asks.

“Coats during a Yemeni summer, no. We can do layers and maybe not look suspicious, but not with heavy jackets,” Sauda says.

“How did you normally do this?” Malik asks.

“We had Ashleigh,” Adorna says, looking up at the ceiling. “A little Castor magic goes a long way. She can conceal almost anything.”

“You love her,” Dix states. Not a question.

She nods. “I didn’t at first. Her bonding with me when she summoned and trapped me… I hated her.”

“You didn’t kill her to escape?”

If I were to kill her, then the piece of my soul that’s tied to hers would die too. That piece of my being is a large piece of my power. If she dies, then it halves my power. At first, protecting her was purely selfish, to cover my ass. Without her, I’m not whole.”

“Forced bonding…” Raum says, “It’s taboo because it can be your worst enemy, but it changes you. You can’t live without them, literally and metaphorically. You crave their touch, you become like them. When they're gone... you’re empty.”

“Being bonded to someone, having a piece of someone’s soul in you, you meld together. I can sense her when she’s near, crave her when she’s not. She makes me good. As good as I can be as a Demon,” Adorna whispers. “A Demon with a piece of a human soul,” She scoffs, “Ashleigh’s moral, innocent soul. She’s a human with a piece of Succubus power in her. It’s made her hetero flexible towards me, and lustier than normal, but she’s remained untouched. The point is, without her, I’m not... whole.”

“Even if they weren’t bonded, Ashleigh is family. We will not let Bathory take ours,” Sauda adds.

“Dix with the Captain. Wright with Raum. Mendoza, you’re with me. Samuel Dean, could you partner Kettlewell?” The Major asks.

“It’s been a long time since I hunted with another hellhound, shifter or not. Think you can keep up boy?”

“Mm,” is his reply.

“Hit ‘em here in the north,” Maddox says pointing at the map, “I’ll find us a tour. We’ll get on and ditch closest to our marks and hit all at once.”

“That’s giving our enemies a lot of free time, Major,” Malik says.

“No other choice. Suit up.”