With effort, however, she resisted the urge to remind him of all the horrible things he’d done to her. The male was a ruthless, cold-hearted monster. He didn’t know the meaning of regret.
“How did you use my medallion?” she abruptly demanded.
A strange expression tightened his blunt features. “What does it matter?” He motioned toward the troll. “Take her to the main cavern.”
“Wait!” Before the oversized demon could haul her away, Terra glanced toward the silver net. “What are you going to do with Javad?”
Vynom curled back his lips to reveal his fully extended fangs. “I’m going to give him the opportunity to become the legend he was supposed to be.” He turned his head to stab her with a glare of pure hatred. “Before you.”
Terra didn’t flinch. Which was impressive, considering the male could crush her with one hand.
“Before me?”
“Javad spent centuries earning his reputation as the most feared fighter in a dozen different dimensions,” he snarled. “Demons traveled thousands of miles just to see him in the cage. And then, you arrived.”
Terra snorted. Was he serious? He made it sound as if she’d dropped by for tea. “I didn’t arrive. I was kidnapped and sold to you by slavers.”
“I shouldn’t have bought you,” the male complained, like a petulant child instead of a grown demon. “After you arrived, Javad was restless and moody. It only got worse after you disappeared. He clearly mourned your absence. You took away his will to fight.”
Oh. Terra blinked, struck by a sudden realization. Vynom’s fury wasn’t just about losing money. He’d been hurt by what he saw as Javad’s betrayal. A brief flare of hope ignited in her heart. Was it possible that she could convince this male to release them?
“He never had the will to fight,” she told the male.
“Lies. We were a team. An unstoppable force.”
“He did it because you manipulated him into believing it was his duty to fight.”
“No. He did it because he was my child. My heir.” Ice coated the floor and rimmed the bottom of Terra’s gown. “Until you ruined it all.”
She softened her tone, attempting to reach any lingering bond the male might feel for Javad.
“He’s still your child. Let him go.”
There was a second of hesitation, and Terra held her breath. This was the moment. Had she managed to reach Vynom’s non-beating heart? The scent of rust thickened in the air, an indication that he was battling a strong emotion. Then, his expression twisted with ugly determination.
“He’s my retirement fund.” Vynom waved a hand toward the guard. “Take her away.”
Chapter 6
Levet had lost track of their journey through the caverns. They’d been forced to retrace their path over a dozen times to avoid the guards who patrolled through the narrow tunnels and dark caves. It made him feel as if they were wandering in circles.
Becoming increasingly wary that he was about to waltz into a trap, Levet halted as Sparkles led him through a narrow crack in the thick stone.
“Wait,” he commanded.
Sparkles glanced impatiently over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“I smell…” He sniffed again, his wings quivering with sudden horror. “Slave pens.”
The fairy smiled. “We have to go through them to reach the maze.”
Levet narrowed his gaze. He didn’t trust that smile. “Now I smell bullshirts.”
“Bullshirts?”
“Tell me where you are leading me.”
The female paused as if concocting a plausible lie. Levet folded his arms over his chest, and she sighed.
“I’m leading you to the slave pens.”
“I knew it. This is a trap.”
Sparkle turned to face him, her face pale and tense. “No, I promise.”
“Then why are we down here?”
“My people are locked in cells in the slave pens.”
Levet’s anger faltered, his heart sinking. He’d spent enough time in various pens to sympathize with any creature stuck inside one.
“How many?”
“Ten.”
Levet frowned, sure he’d misheard. “Ten frost fairies?”
“We started with thirty.”
“Thirty.” Oh…goddess. Levet’s tender heart squeezed with profound grief. He didn’t know the fairies, but he was certain that they were rare and precious and irreplaceable.
“Sometimes, the hellhounds win,” Sparkle said in dull tones.
“Mon Dieu.”
The fairy reached out her hand in a pleading motion. “Please, please, please. I need your help.”
“What do you want from me?”
Sparkle pressed her hands together, her eyes filling with tears. “I managed to escape by hiding in the maze. The crowd assumed I had been eaten and eventually returned to the fights in the main cavern. I’ve been back down here time and time again, but I don’t have the strength to open the door to the cell.”
Levet’s wings drooped. He was a sucker for tears. “Even if I can release your people from their cells, what good will it do?” He tried to be sensible. There was no point in all of them wandering in circles. “We are still stuck in these caverns. Eventually, we will be discovered.”
Sparkle shook her head. “I was telling you the truth when I said there is a tunnel at the end of the maze.”
“Why should I believe you?” Levet asked, pretending his heart hadn’t already melted into a gloopy mess at the plight of the trapped frost fairies. “You have already proven yourself to be a liar liar pants on fire.”
“I didn’t lie,” the tiny female protested. “I just left out the bit about making a side journey to collect my people before we escape.”
Levet sniffed. “A rose that is named a cauliflower is still a rose.”
Sparkle blinked. Then blinked again. “What?”
“You lied.”
Without warning, the fairy dropped to her knees. “I beg you. Name any price, and I will pay it if you help my people,” she pleaded in husky tones. “If I don’t get them out, they will die.”
Levet heaved a sigh. He’d been a goner from the second the female appeared.
“You are fortunate that I am a knight in shining armor,” he muttered.
“You’ll release them?”
Levet shrugged. “It is what heroes do.”
With a cry of relief, Sparkle sprang to her feet and rushed to throw her arms around Levet.
“Thank you!” She planted soft kisses over his face.
Levet turned his head. He enjoyed kisses as much as the next male. Probably even more. But he no longer wanted them from every female who happened to find him irresistible—which, he had to admit, was most of them. He was, after all, a most magnificent gargoyle. But for the past few months, he had a singular preference for Inga’s lips. Or he would have if the stupid ogress would ever bother to kiss him.
“No need for that.” He gently untangled himself from the fairy’s clinging arms. “Lead the way to the slave pens.”
* * * *
Javad hissed as the silver net was roughly tugged off his body.
Grueling pain pulsed through him, sapping his strength as he struggled to heal from the deep burns. He had only a vague recollection of being hauled through the darkness. And then what seemed like an eternity of lying on a stone floor with the net covering him. The only thing he was certain of was that Terra was nowhere around.
“Terra.” Clenching his fangs, he forced himself to a seated position, glancing around the small cave. He ignored Vynom, who stood over him, and allowed his senses to flow outward. Immediately, he detected the guards just outside the opening, and above them, the choking smell of dozens of demons. Perhaps hundreds of them. That had to be where the cage match would be held. The huge crowd made it impossible for Javad to pinpoint Terra’s soft aloe vera scent. “Where is she?”
“Right now, Javad, you need to worry about yourself,” Vynom warned.
“Where is she?” he stubbornly repeated.
Vynom’s blunt features twisted as if angered by Javad’s concern for the female.
“Safe. For now.” Vynom crouched down, studying Javad with an expression of contempt. “Such a disappointment.”
“I could say the same.”
The older male ignored Javad’s insult. “The one thing I admired about you was your ruthless ability to concentrate on your goals. Nothing ever distracted you. Not greed. Not friends. Not even females. It made you the perfect fighter.”
“I’m not interested in history,” Javad snapped. He never thought about his time in the pits. It had been a dull, painful existence that wasn’t worth remembering.
“I just have one question,” Vynom pressed.
“What?”
“Why her?”
“Her?”
“The Seraf,” Vynom clarified. “Why was she your Achilles heel?”
Javad shook his head, realizing that the male truly believed that Terra had been a curse to Javad. No doubt because his rotten, corrupt heart couldn’t imagine the beauty of caring for another being.
“You’re wrong,” Javad said.
“About what?”
“You believe Terra was a weakness.”
“She was,” Vynom insisted. “She destroyed you.”
“She gave me the courage that eventually set me free.” Javad held the male’s gaze. “Without her, I would still be a prisoner because of my twisted sense of loyalty.”
Vynom surged upright, his icy fury frosting the air. “I made you.”
Javad remained on the floor. He sensed he was going to need every ounce of strength he could muster.
“You used me.”
“You think that Viper would have taken you in if it weren’t for the fact that I was your sire?” Vynom snarled.
Javad arched a brow. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s been trying to punish me for centuries. You were just another tool to bring about my destruction.”
“Why would he want to punish you?”
Vynom shrugged, his eyes smoldering with a toxic brew of emotions. “Jealousy, obviously.”
Javad swallowed a laugh. The male was unhinged if he thought Viper was jealous. The clan chief of Chicago ran an empire of demon clubs around the world, while Vynom had barely been able to manage a small-time fighting pit.
Then a sudden suspicion niggled at the back of his mind. There was no way Viper was jealous of Vynom, but the clan chief might have decided the male needed to be punished. Not only for how he’d treated Javad, but the other fighters as well. It was no secret that Viper detested bullies. That might very well be the reason for Vynom’s downfall.
A strange warmth flowed through Javad at the thought.
“Viper respects me,” he said, his pride unmistakable. “Just as I respect him.”
Vynom muttered a foul curse. “Let’s hope he respects his next manager just as much,” he sneered. From above them, the strike of a gong resounded, echoing and expanding as the sound traveled through the tunnels. “It’s time.”
“Time for what?” Javad asked.
“Your grand finale.”
Icy dread shot down Javad’s spine. “I thought I was going to be given time to prepare.”
Vynom’s lips twisted. “I may be down on my luck, but I’m not stupid. Even though I wanted to get as much buzz as possible for the fight, I’m not going to risk having you escape. I’m cashing in while I can.”
Javad grimaced as Vynom spun on his heel and marched out of the cave. Cashing in? Grand finale?
Neither sounded good for him.
Chapter 7
Javad had been right.
There was nothing good about being forced into a pair of black leather pants and thigh-high boots with his hair pulled into a tight braid. He looked like a stripper in a cheap Vegas club. And there was definitely nothing good about being led up the stairs to enter the enormous chamber now filled with cheering demons.
In the center of the space stood a large cage, constructed of iron bars and a canvas mat. It was attached to a foundation of stones so it could tower over the crowd. Javad was led past the bleachers and up a ramp by two goblins who were directly behind him with silver daggers pressed against his back.
With his head held high, Javad entered the cage and heard the door clang shut behind him. It was a familiar sound. Just like the shouts from the gathered demons were familiar. And…
And that scent.
Terra.
Javad tilted back his head, gazing to the top of the cage where Terra was standing next to a huge troll, who was tightly gripping her arm.
Javad’s fury at seeing her being manhandled by the oversized brute was tempered by the relief that she was alive and seemingly unharmed. The sheer intensity of his response revealed the depth of his fear that she’d been hurt.
Their gazes locked, and he watched her desperately shake her head as if she were pleading with him not to fight. He sent her a smile that he hoped was reassuring before turning his attention to the orc across the wide canvas mat.
Frack was a monster. Not a fairy tale creature with blue fur and googly eyes. He was a seven-foot mountain of pure muscle, thick hide, claws, six-inch tusks protruding from his lower jaw, and crimson eyes. He was naked, although various spots were covered by armor that had been magically embedded in his skin.
It left way too much hanging in the breeze for Javad’s taste.
“Hello, Frack. Long time no see,” he drawled. “Although I’d like to see a lot less. Did you forget your pants? I’ll wait if you want to go and find them.”
As expected, Frack bellowed in fury and recklessly charged. The orc’s sense of humor was as lacking as any amount of intelligence. It was depressingly easy to provoke him.
Javad stood still as Frack barreled toward him. There wasn’t much finesse about the way the orc fought. He was all muscle and primitive instinct. Above him, Javad heard Terra cry out in fear, but he waited. It wasn’t until he could smell the orc’s foul breath that he finally leaped straight into the air, kicking Frack in the face. The sound of crunching bones echoed before Javad flipped over the demon’s head and landed lightly on his feet.
“Bad leech.” Frack growled, whirling to reveal the blood dripping from his snout.
Javad wasn’t stupid enough to think he’d actually wounded the demon, but he had Frack foaming at the mouth. The more he infuriated the creature, the more likely it was that he would take stupid risks.
“I see you have a few more armor bits attached,” Javad said, pretending to admire the metal while he judged the best way to get through it. The only way to kill the orc was to cut off his head. An impossible task without a magically enhanced weapon. Or to cut through the heart that was located in his lower stomach. “Getting soft in your old age?”
Frack snarled and charged again. Javad waited for the orc to get close before he kicked out. This time, however, he didn’t bother aiming for the head. The demon’s skull was as thick as a brick wall. Instead, he smashed his heel into the armor covering the demon’s lower stomach.
The satisfying sensation of the armor denting beneath the blow traveled up his arm. Unfortunately, the price of getting so close to the beast was being unable to avoid the arm the size of a tree trunk that slammed into his side.
The blow cracked Javad’s ribs and sent him flying across the cage to smack into the iron bars. Another bone snapped in two.
Javad hissed in pain, ignoring the roar of the crowd as he regained his balance and started to circle the orc, breathing through the agony. He needed a few seconds to heal his wounds.
“When was the last time you bathed?” Javad taunted. “You smell like a rompo demon after feasting on a rotting hellhound.”
Frack scowled as he awkwardly turned to keep his wary gaze on Javad. “Stay still, leech.”
Javad flashed his fangs in a direct challenge. “You want me? Come and get me.”
&n
bsp; On cue, Frack bent low and lumbered forward. He intended to use his skull as a battering ram, but Javad easily skipped to the side, once again kicking at the armor. This time, the metal split, the sharp edges digging into the orc’s thick hide. Frack howled in pain, but with surprising speed, he slashed out with his claws, scoring deep gashes into Javad’s side.
Javad grimaced. He’d managed to injure Frack, but he was incurring too much damage in return. His hours wrapped in the silver net had drained his strength, making it harder than it should be for him to heal.
If he were going to try and make an escape, he had to do it now.
Pretending to charge toward the waiting orc, he used his momentum to leap up and grab the top of the cage. Then, with sheer brute strength, he pulled apart the iron bars to make a wide enough space to crawl through.
“Javad.” Terra struggled to move toward him, only to be jerked back by the troll holding her captive.
Fury raced through Javad, distracting him just long enough for Frack to grab his leg.
Shit. Javad tried to pull himself through the opening, but Frack had all the leverage. Not to mention a couple hundred extra pounds of muscle.
With a savage yank, Frack had Javad away from the bars and was carrying him over his head like a trophy. The crowd went nuts, screaming for Javad’s death.
So much for my adoring fans, Javad wryly acknowledged.
Struggling to break free of the orc’s crushing grip, Javad was helpless as the bastard bent his arms to ram his tusks into Javad’s back. The razor-sharp weapons sliced through Javad’s flesh, leaving a gaping wound.
Javad could feel his blood draining away at an alarming rate. Dammit. He had to do something. Now.
Closing his eyes, Javad concentrated on his powers, releasing just enough to cause a small fissure beneath the cage. The sharp sound of cracking stones echoed. Frack grunted as if confused by the tremor beneath his feet. Thankfully, the creature didn’t have the brains to realize the danger he was in. It wasn’t until more cracking sounded followed by a loud snap as the thick foundation abruptly split that he finally sensed the peril. By then, it was too late. The cage tilted, and he was forced to release Javad as he tumbled backward.
Sacrifice of Darkness: A Guardians of Eternity Novella Page 7