Wars are fought on many fronts. A battle is raging across New Colorado Protectorate with both human and demonic players. Todd and Nick Ruger are sentries with an arsenal of talents and training to combat threats from a variety of enemies. Todd and Nick are given a mission to find and stop weapons smugglers by going undercover on the riverboat, Annabelle. These aren't typical arms dealers, they're demons and they're not afraid of a pair of sentries. The Rugers will have to use all their skills and their most powerful weapon, the bond between them, just to stay alive. Stopping the supply of illegal weapons turns to trying, and failing, to thwart an assassination. Todd and Nick have each other, but will they be able to keep their love intact?

Tethered Pair

Nick opened his eyes, gulped down one more breath, shut the thought of not seeing Todd again out of his mind, and ran.


It was less than three minutes before Nick was charging through the door of their stateroom. Nick listed off under his breath, “Sacrosanct oil, matches, bottle of magnetized iron shavings,” and he picked up one of the books with exorcisms in it and discarded it almost immediately. There was no time to memorize all the various exorcisms, and he had no way of knowing which would work, anyway. He did take his knives from their weapon trunk. Nick felt more confident having them. They might be useless against a demon, but they were more than adequate when dealing with humans, pyrahni, and rope.


He pulled his jacket on and tucked everything into the pockets except the knives. Those he sheathed, strapping one to his ankle and the other under his jacket on his belt. Nick stood in the middle of the main room of their suite, looking around and concentrating.


Chapter 36