Her first impulse had been to kill the bitch.
That would put an end to her intrusion into Marika’s mind, not to mention the creepy knowledge there was an identical copy of herself walking around.
But some mysterious impulse had halted her bloodlust.
Almost as if she’d glimpsed into the future to sense she would have need of her dear, sweet sister.
“You see,” Sergei said. “Sleeping Beauty safely tucked in her bed.”
Marika frowned, infuriated by the stab of fear that pierced her heart. Kata might be a mere human, but she had gypsy blood flowing through her veins. Which meant she possessed a unique ability to injure a vampire. Something her tender heart had been reluctant to do in the early days. Back then she still thought of Marika as her beloved sister. Stupid female.
But over the last decades each time Sergei had released her from his spells Kata had been crazed, striking out so swiftly that it had been a miracle that Marika hadn’t been harmed.
She wasn’t about to put herself at risk again. “She’s stirring,” she hissed.
Sergei frowned as the woman in the watery vision turned her head, almost as if aware she was being watched. “Yes.” He shook his head. “That shouldn’t be possible.” “It shouldn’t be, but obviously it is. Find out why.” “I could wake her and …”
His words were squeezed to a halt as Marika grabbed him by the throat and shoved him against the roughly hewed wall.
“No.”
He smiled through his pain. “You’re still worried about the curse?”
Her fingers tightened. She was not pleased that Kata had outmaneuvered her. Again.
She dare not allow the little bitch to awaken, and yet she could not simply allow her to die.
Not when there was still the possibility that Marika could rule the world.
“Careful, Sergei, you’re not the only mage in London,” she said in a frigid warning.
“You can’t mean Lord Hawthorne?” Sergei’s expression twisted with a jealous hatred of the rival mage. “The man’s a third rate magician who hasn’t been worth a damn since he lost his imp apprentice.”
“He would serve my purpose.”
The pale eyes flashed with annoyance at her mocking taunt.
“Yes, but could he serve you?” he hit back, his insolent gaze running a path down her curves exposed by the thin material of her gown. “You’re a demanding mistress, Marika.”
It was a valid point. Few men survived a night in her arms. Not that they complained. Most of them died with a smile on their face.
But she had reached the end of her short patience. Her fingers squeezed until they were a breath from crushing his larynx.
“Find out what’s bothering my twin and find out quickly.” He hissed in pain. “Without delay.”
Tane was a vampire feared throughout the demon world.
Rooms emptied when he entered. Clan chiefs barricaded themselves in their lairs when he approached their territories. His name was used to terrify foundlings.
He was the vampire that even vampires feared.
With good reason.
Which put him at the very top of the food chain.
A pity all his power and props were worth jack shit in the cold, clinging mists.
Silently cursing the strange surroundings, he followed Laylah through the thick fog, her arms still filled with the unconscious gargoyle.
He’d devoted grim centuries to ensuring he would never again feel like an impotent bystander, no matter what the situation. He was a take charge kind of vamp and his ruthless power made certain no one questioned his authority.
Now a pint-sized mongrel had managed to drag him into this damned maze of endless fog, stirring ancient sensations he’d buried along with his massacred clan.
“How do you know where you’re going?” he demanded.
She tossed a mocking glance over her shoulder. “I just fumble around until I find the place I want.”
He growled low in his throat. “Laylah.”
With a sigh she returned her attention to the dense mist spread before them, walking with a confidence that set Tane’s teeth on edge.
It was bad enough to be stuck in the bizarro place without being able to see if there were any dangers lurking nearby.
“What do you want me to say?” she rasped. “It’s not something I can explain. I think of the location I want to go and start walking. Eventually I sense that I’m there.”
He grimaced. It wasn’t exactly an explanation that offered comfort.
But then again, would anything offer comfort at this point?
What the hell had he been thinking when he’d tried to stop Laylah from disappearing?
He always allowed his warrior’s instinct to guide him. It was the only way to survive for nearly a thousand years. So why hadn’t his instinct warned him to allow Laylah to escape with a wave of his hand and a pat on his back for being rid of the nagging, ill-tempered female?
Because when she was near it wasn’t his warrior’s instinct that was driving him, but an instinct far more primitive.
Why not admit it?
He had gone far beyond his duty to track down a stray Jinn mongrel. Not even Styx would have blamed him if he’d chosen to return to his lair and report that the female had managed to slip away while he was battling for his life.
As Charon he was expected to hunt down those rare vampires who drank blood tainted with drugs or alcohol. Few creatures knew that a vampire could become addicted, or that it would eventually drive them to madness.
And it was up to him to keep it that way, not to chase after Laylah like a hound in heat.
So why had he?
His gaze lowered to her slender body barely covered by the shorts that snugly cupped her perfect booty and the muscle shirt that did nothing to disguise the soft mound of her breasts.
The mere thought of having her pressed beneath him, her lips crushed beneath his kiss, and those slender legs wrapped around his waist …
His gut twisted with a ravaging need he hadn’t felt in centuries.
Shit.
He didn’t know why this particular woman stirred his darkest passions, or how she managed to bewitch him to the point of reckless stupidity.
All he truly knew was that he’d let his cock do the thinking instead of his brain and it had led him straight to disaster.
Angered more with himself than the woman who had slowed, as if they were nearing their destination, Tane moved to her side, his fingers clutching his dagger as if it could stem his rising dread.
“And how do you get out?”
Laylah halted, turning to meet his wary gaze with a lift of her brows.
“Obviously, the same way I got in.”
“We barely survived the entry,” he gritted. “Are you certain the exit won’t be worse?”
“We barely survived because I had an unwelcomed passenger,” she tartly reminded him. “A passenger I don’t intend to have on my way out.”
He stilled, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. “You can’t abandon me here.”
“Why not?” she challenged, her chin tilted to a defiant angle. As if she weren’t facing down one of the most lethal demons in the entire world. “I certainly didn’t invite you to come along for the trip. You can find your own way home.”
“That’s not amusing.”
The chin went up another inch. “It wasn’t meant to be.” He reached to grasp that stubborn chin, ignoring the gargoyle sleeping in her arms. “I would be trapped.”
“So what?” The dark eyes smoldered with a direct challenge. “You intend to have me executed. Why the hell shouldn’t I leave you here to rot?”
His brooding gaze swept over her fragile features and the weariness she couldn’t entirely disguise. He wasn’t about to confess that he’d followed her for far more personal reasons than turning her over to the Oracles.
She had enough weapons to wield against him.
Dangerous, potent weapons, he grimly conceded,
a fiery awareness sizzling through his body.
“The Commission has commanded that Jinn mongrels be brought to them,” he said with a shrug. “There’s nothing to say that they won’t decide you’re not a danger and release you.”
“Yeah right.” Her sharp laugh was oddly muffled by the surrounding fog. “I suppose you also have some Bernie Madoff stock you want me to buy?”
His brows drew together. “What?”
“I’m not stupid,” she clarified. “As soon as they get their nasty hands on me I’ll be sacrificed for the greater good.”
“Very dramatic, but I can promise you that the Commission has far more important matters to concentrate on than a stray half-breed.”
His thumb absently stroked over the lush fullness of her lower lip, his body throbbing in tempo with her rapid heartbeat.
“What matters?”
He grimaced. He left demon politics to Styx. Why stab someone in the back when it was far more satisfying to stab them in the heart? But not even a complete hermit could have ignored the gathering tension.
Something big was coming and the Commission was bracing to head it off.
“The private discussions are above my pay grade, but there’s no secret that the Oracles have been gathered in Styx’s former lair south of Chicago for weeks,” he said.
“And what does that prove?” She jerked away from his touch, as if he’d scalded her. “That they’re a bunch of freeloaders who overstay their welcome?”
Tane shook his head, caught between the urge to wrap her into his arms and drink deeply of her passionate nature or to shake some sense into her thick skull.
As fascinating as he might find her fire and brimstone the Commission wouldn’t be even a little amused by her lack of respect.
“They’re not a fraternity who like to hang out and play Wii together,” he said, saving his lecture on treating the Commission with the proper reverence for later. Did he really want to point out just how dangerous the temperamental demons could be when he needed Laylah to get out of the damned fog? “Each of the Oracles are powerful demons of different species, some of them mortal enemies who are forced to play nice when they must meet to resolve conflicts or offer rulings. But they never linger a second longer than necessary.”
“Which only means that they are conveniently gathered for a lynching.”
Unable to deny her accusation, he smoothly slid into diversion mode.
Any warrior knew that a timely distraction was as effective as a full out attack.
“If they didn’t lynch Cezar then you should be safe enough,” he said with a shrug.
She awkwardly shifted the sleeping gargoyle still clutched in her arms.
“Who is Cezar?”
“A brother of mine who was reckless enough to mate the newest Oracle.”
“There’s another one? Perfect.” She glared at him as if it were entirely his fault that Anna had been revealed as the latest Oracle a few weeks before. “You’re just overflowing with good news.”
“A new Oracle is always a sign of coming trouble.”
“Like a mule-headed Charon?”
“Like a bad omen.” He grimaced. He wasn’t an adrenaline junkie who liked playing hero, nor did he subscribe to the theory it was thrilling to “live in interesting times.” He did his duty and returned to the privacy of his lair where he could indulge his various hungers and forget his past. The sense of looming danger was something that he had done his best to ignore, preferring the ostrich approach. But now … now he couldn’t entirely shake the disturbing premonition that this Jinn was somehow involved in the big bad future. And that an unseen hunter was stalking her. A thought that sent a shocking bolt of fury through him. “Believe me, if they didn’t consider the pleasure of continuing their torment of Cezar worthy of their attention, then you’re nothing more than a blip on the radar.”
She regarded him with blatant suspicion. “If I’m so unimportant, then why were you bothering to chase me at all?”
Wicked heat curled through his gut as he slid a lingering glance down her slender body.
“Do I need to remind you?” he husked. “Because I’m ready, willing, and eager to do so.”
The pulse at the base of her throat fluttered in response.
“I don’t doubt you’re always eager.”
He smiled, his gaze deliberately lingering on that revealing pulse.
“There are times when I’m more eager than others.”
She stepped back, the mists swirling around her slender body.
“You must think I’m a moron,” she accused.
“I think you’re feeling cornered and making hasty decisions that might get us all killed,” he soothed, his voice laced with enough compulsion to send a grown Ungmas demon to its knees. “Let me help you.”
Predictably she shrugged off his coercion. The woman was too damned obstinate to be compelled, no matter how powerful he might be.
“I don’t need your help.” Her jaw tightened, a bleak darkness flashing through her eyes. “I don’t need anyone’s help.”
Tane fought back the fierce urge to crush her in his arms and banish her shadows. The same shadows that haunted him. Alone.
Always and forever alone.
“Think, Laylah,” he urged. “You’re no longer protected by whatever spell Caine used to keep you hidden. As soon as you arrive in London you will be vulnerable.” He folded his arms over his chest. “And trust me, a bounty hunter won’t care if they capture you dead or alive.”
“Yeah, like you do?”
“We both know you would be dead if that’s what I wanted.” Her lips thinned at his blunt honesty. “If you’re trying to barter with me I have to tell you that you suck at it.” “It’s never been one of my finer talents.” “Then just spit it out.”
His brows lifted at her imperious tone, even as he hid a smile. Why the hell would he be amused by a creature half his size trying to boss him around?
“If you hope to survive, you’ll need my help.”
She bit her bottom lip, smart enough to know she was going to be a sitting duck, or rather a sitting Jinn, the moment she arrived in London.
“And what would your help consist of?”
He held her wary gaze. “I would do my best to protect you.”
“I could hire bodyguards.”
Was she deliberately trying to offend him?
“You keep reminding me that you’re not an idiot,” he drawled. “There’s no bodyguard you could hire for any amount of money who could match my strength or skill in battle.”
“And so modest.”
“I’m the best. No amount of modesty can change that.”
She paused, continuing to gnaw on her lip. “Do you promise not to try and force me to the Commission?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You know I can’t make that promise.”
“Then stay here,” she snapped.
“Damn you, Laylah.” With a blinding speed, he reached out to grasp her arm, sensing she was a breath from disappearing and leaving him stranded. “You want my promise? You have it.”
“You’d say anything to get out of here.” She held his gaze, refusing to back down. Dammit. That insane courage was going to put her in her grave. “You’re going to have to do better than a promise that isn’t worth jack squat.”
“What do you want?”
There was the briefest hesitation. “I want you to make a wish.”
Chapter 5
Laylah was prepared for Tane’s foul curse.
Jinn were universally disliked for their cunning guile, their unpredictable natures, and merciless power that few demons could match. And of course, there was always their charming lust for violence.
But while most creatures wouldn’t admit the truth, it was the Jinn’s ability to enslave others that truly made them itchy.
It wasn’t the pansy ass version the water sprites could conjure.
The fey magic could capture humans, and only if the mortals were fo
olish enough to accept three wishes.
There was nothing pansy ass about the Jinn.
They only needed a victim to willingly fall into their debt, no matter how slight an IOU, to make a claim on their soul. And it didn’t matter if they were mortals or dew fairies or vampires. They all fell beneath the Jinn’s spell of enchantment.
When Laylah was barely more than a child she had accidentally enslaved an imp she’d found caught in an iron trap used by a poacher. It was her nature to heal those in need and she hadn’t realized the danger until the imp refused to leave her foster mother’s farm, his desperate attempts to please her causing complete chaos until she’d finally figured out how to release him.
She’d done her best over the years to keep the talent locked deep inside her. It seemed immoral to claim another’s soul. Even worse than killing them.
And it was only when the mage had taken her captive that she’d deliberately tried to bind another to her will. Unfortunately the bastard had kept her so weak she hadn’t been able to use any of her powers.
Now she was left flying with a wing and a prayer.
Her usual state of affairs.
Tane narrowed his eyes, looking at her as if she’d sprouted horns.
“You have the power to bind a vampire?”
Well, that was the question wasn’t it?
She had no way to calculate how much strength it would take to enslave a vampire, but she was fairly certain it was waaaay more than she could claim. Her only hope was being able to … prompt him to do her bidding.
“I can’t turn you into my private puppet, if that’s what you’re worried about, but it does give me the upper hand in our negotiations,” she smoothly said, pretending she wasn’t completely clueless.
His hand lifted to cup her cheek as he easily sensed her shaky confidence.
“You’re lying.”
“Whatever.” She shrugged. “Are you coming with me or not?”
“Maybe I want to wish for something beyond …”
“I’m counting to three, you can come or stay, I don’t give a crap,” she hastily interrupted.
“Oh, I intend to come,” he assured her with a sinful smile. “In more ways than you can imagine.”
“One,” she gritted.
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