Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity)
Page 33
“Don’t worry.” The female offered a mysterious smile as she glanced over Cassie’s shoulder. “You should brace yourself.”
“What?”
There was the scent of anxious Were before she was pulled off her feet and hauled against a broad, naked chest.
“Cassie,” Caine growled, his heart pounding beneath her ear. “I told you to stay put.”
“Wait.” She glanced over her shoulder, heaving an exasperated sigh as she realized the demon had already disappeared with Levet.
For the female’s sake, Cassie hoped she took good care of Levet.
Otherwise, she intended to . . . well, she didn’t know what she would do, but it would be bad.
Really, really bad.
“Cassie?”
“Never mind.” She turned back to bury her face in the neck of her mate, breathing deeply of his welcomed musk.
He released a shaky breath. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
“Not anytime soon.”
“Did you see that in a vision?” he teased, threading his fingers through her hair so he could tilt back her head and flash a smile that had melted a thousand hearts.
A thousand and one, she corrected as she lifted his hand to press it against the middle of her chest.
“No, here.”
Lost in the wonder of one another, not to mention the realization they’d survived the end of the world, they ignored the demons fleeing from their lost cause, swiftly pursued by vampires and Weres.
And even the unexpected sound of crying babies.
It wasn’t until Styx and Salvatore came to a halt next to them that they were pulled out of their brief illusion of privacy.
The two kings were looking a little ragged around the edges. Styx was coated in blood with his hair hanging in a tangled curtain down his back, while Salvatore had managed to pull on a pair of sweats to cover his nudity, his body still healing from a number of wounds.
“God . . . damn,” the Anasso muttered, his gaze shifting behind Cassie.
“What now?” Caine rasped, setting Cassie aside as he straightened to face whatever new disaster was about to attack.
Cassie was slower to turn. She didn’t want any more bad.
Not for a very long time.
At first her gaze lingered on a weary Abby, who was being held in Dante’s lap as he stroked tender kisses over her pale face. She looked drained, but amazingly unharmed considering she’d just battled the Dark Lord.
Eventually, she turned to see the vampire with the mohawk and fearsome beauty standing beside his half-Jinn mate, Laylah, as she held two babies in her arms.
Maluhia and his twin sister.
The babies created by the Dark Lord for his glorious resurrection who were now innocent children with the opportunity to follow their own destinies.
“Is it over?” she breathed.
“The Dark Lord is dead,” Styx said, pointing toward the singed spot on the floor where she’d disintegrated beneath the power of the goddess.
“Really, truly dead?” Salvatore demanded.
“So it would seem.”
They all turned to study the ancient vampire, but it was the King of Weres who spoke the words they were all thinking.
“You’re not filling me with warm fuzzies here, leech,” he said. “Are we safe or not?”
Styx gave a slow shake of his head. “I’m not sure. That kind of power . . .” He grimaced. “It just doesn’t disappear.”
Cassie understood what he meant.
At least vaguely.
Wasn’t there a theory about black holes and the quandary of what happened to the energy that was sucked into them? If the universe refused to allow energy or information to be lost, then what about the power of a deity?
But at the moment, it was all too deep to process.
Thankfully, Caine felt the same way. With one fluid motion, he was scooping her off her feet and cradling her against his chest.
“That seems like something for kings to worry about, not us peasants,” Caine assured them. He smiled down at her, a wicked promise in his blue eyes. “And I have a long overdue honeymoon.”
“Take care of her,” Salvatore warned, his voice gruff.
“I know, I know,” Caine said. “She’s the prophet . . .”
“No,” the King of Weres interrupted. “She’s a part of our family.”
“Family,” Cassie murmured, a warmth flooding through her heart.
She’d been alone for so long.
Now she had . . . everything.
Everything a woman could possibly desire.
“Whether you like it or not,” Salvatore warned.
“We like it very much,” Cassie said, giving her mate a warning pinch.
“Fine.” Caine sent his king a warning frown. “But let’s not plan any reunions for a century or two.”
Clearly done with the conversation, Caine turned to make his way out of the bloody basement, holding her as if she were a precious treasure.
“Wait,” she abruptly demanded, ignoring her mate’s sigh of resignation.
“What now?”
She lifted her head to peer over his shoulder, meeting Styx’s curious gaze.
“There’s one prophecy I had years ago that I nearly forgot.”
The Anasso was instantly wary. “What is it?”
“The vampire who can read prophecies.”
“Roke?”
“Yes, he’s going to be important for the future of the vampires. Keep him safe.”
Styx’s large body stiffened in instant alarm. “He’s in danger?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s all I have.”
“Wait . . .” The vampire moved forward as Caine resumed his path to the door. “I have questions.”
“She’s officially off duty,” Caine growled, ignoring the chaos left behind them.
Cassie smiled, not at all bothered by his ruthless refusal to stop. She was more than ready to be just another female spending time alone with her mate.
“Where are we going?” she at last demanded as they left the warehouse and stepped into the moon-drenched night.
“Vegas, baby.” His smile held a promise that sent her heart racing. “Vegas.”
Epilogue
It was nearly dawn when the last of the vampires left the battleground, seeking the protection of their lairs.
Cautiously, Gaius crawled from beneath the stone wall that had collapsed on him after he’d been flung into it. A rather amazing stroke of luck, considering it’d protected him from the ongoing battle.
And more importantly from Styx and his goon squad, who would no doubt have killed him on sight.
Not that he was entirely certain he was glad to have survived.
His slavery to the Dark Lord might have ended, but he was a traitor to the vampires. He would have to spend the rest of eternity trying to hide from their wrath.
He was a pariah with no place to go and no one he could turn to for help.
Lost in his bout of self-pity, Gaius rose to his feet and glanced down at his bruised and bloody body. He would have to find someplace to hide, but first he needed to feed.
Taking a step forward, he was brought to an abrupt halt as a voice whispered through his mind.
“Gaius.”
“No.”
He gave a panicked shake of his head. It couldn’t be the Dark Lord. The bitch was dead. He could feel it in his very soul. The one he’d once sold.
The voice came again. “Help me.”
“No. Get out of my head.”
“Gaius, it’s Dara.”
He stilled, his hands curling into tight fists. “That’s impossible. You’re a trick of the Dark Lord.”
“No, Gaius,” the voice reassured him. “Your mistress is dead, but her death brought me here.”
He frowned. Was it possible?
The dimensions had been ripped open.
If the demons of hell could escape, why not the dead?
&n
bsp; “You’re here?” he asked cautiously, his desperate need to be reunited with his mate warring with the memory of the last time he’d been lured by the promise of Dara.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Where?”
“Follow my scent.”
He hissed in shock as the evocative aroma of myrrh and cinnamon teased at his nose.
It was her.
No one else carried precisely that scent.
Only his mate.
Moving as if he were in a dream, Gaius stepped over the rotting corpses and forgotten weapons, headed toward a distant corner. As he neared, a black shadow seemed to shift, coalescing into a slender female form covered by a plain white gown stretched on the hard ground. His step quickened and the darkness again swirled to reveal an oval, honey-tinted face that was framed by a curtain of straight, blue-black hair.
“Dara.” Falling to his knees at her side, Gaius reached to stroke trembling fingers along the pure line of her jaw. “How is this possible?”
“We cannot speak now.” Her smile pierced his heart. “We must get out of here.”
Gaius frowned. “How? It’s almost dawn.”
She reached a slender hand to touch the medallion that still hung around his neck. “With this.”
Gaius pulled back. Had her slender body briefly turned to mist?
No. He gave a shake of his head. It had been a figment of his imagination.
This was Dara.
His beloved mate.
His heart couldn’t accept anything else.
“Where will we go?” he asked softly.
She offered another soul-stirring smile. “Anywhere we can be together.”
“Yes.”
Gathering her fragile body into his arms, Gaius laid his hand over the medallion and closed his eyes.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2012 by Debbie Raleigh
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-1-4201-2843-7
Table of Contents
FEAR THE DARKNESS
Also by
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Copyright Page