The instant Tane turned, waving his big sword, Laylah knew there was trouble.
A suspicion that was swiftly confirmed as she sensed a portal opening in the cavern overhead.
“Laylah, run,” Tane gritted, moving to place himself between her and the tunnel where they entered.
For once, Laylah wasn’t going to argue.
As much as she might hate leaving Tane in danger, he had forced her to realize that the child came first. She had taken on the duty to protect Maluhia from his enemies.
She couldn’t waver. Not even when the thought of abandoning Tane was like a dagger through her heart.
Unfortunately, she was no match for vampire speed.
Even as she sprinted toward the opening, she was stumbling to a halt as a blast of frigid air hit her with the force of a blow.
Marika.
Looking like she’d just stepped off the pages of Vogue, the beautiful vampire stepped into the cavern, her dark hair cascading down her back with perfect curls and her slender body attired in black silk slacks and matching top. Hell, she was even wearing black heels.
“She’s not going anywhere,” the vampire purred, holding up a slender hand as Sergei and a copper-haired Sylvermyst suddenly appeared behind her. “Not when I’ve gone to such trouble to arrange this long overdue family reunion.” Her eyes narrowed as she studied Laylah, then her gaze snapped toward Laylah’s inner arm that now carried the mark of her mating with Tane. “What have you done, child?”
There was a rush of air as Tane moved to stand directly in Marika’s path.
“Laylah, go.”
Marika growled, her dark eyes smoldering as she stabbed a finger toward Laylah.
“Take a step and Sergei will destroy your mate.”
Laylah snorted. At least Marika wasn’t stupid enough to threaten to kill the massive vampire herself. Even Laylah could sense Tane would crush her with little effort.
“Don’t listen to her.” Tane pointed his sword directly at the mage who turned a pasty shade of gray. “I intend to cut out the mage’s heart and shove it down his throat.”
Laylah licked her lips, a crazy idea forming in the back of her mind.
She didn’t have Tane’s raw power, or her aunt’s evil cunning, but she did know all about survival against the odds. And sometimes crazy was all she had.
“How can I ignore her?” she mocked, ignoring Tane’s furious glare. Instead she deliberately glanced down at the child in her arms. “You sound like a broken record, Auntie Marika. First my mother and now my mate. If you want me, why don’t you just come and get me?”
The dark eyes predictably flared with fury. Really, the female was embarrassingly easy to provoke.
“Bitch.”
Marika flowed forward, but Laylah had already scoped out her escape route.
Trusting that Tane would buy her time, Laylah hauled ass toward the small tunnel at the back of the cavern.
Swinging his sword, Tane forced Marika to dance backward as Laylah disappeared down a small passageway.
She hissed in frustration, chopping her hand through the air. Tane felt a stinging pain and he glanced down to discover a deep gash marring his chest. It wasn’t an unusual talent in vampires and, thankfully, Marika’s power wasn’t capable of more than flesh wounds, but it briefly weakened his sword arm.
He tossed the sword to the other hand, but the vampire was already slipping past him in pursuit of Laylah. He turned to follow, only to grunt in shock when he found himself flying through the air and slamming into the wall of the cave. He dropped the sword as he was held with crushing force against the cold rocks.
Goddamn magic.
“Release me, mage,” he roared, his voice causing the Sylvermyst to bolt in terror and Sergei to sway in fear. “Or I swear you will regret it for all of eternity.”
“I regret the moment I ever met Marika, vampire,” the mage said, his voice thick with sincerity. “There’s nothing you could threaten me with that would be worse than what she would do to me if I betrayed her again.”
Tane bit back the urge to explain in detail just how wrong the mage was. The things he could do would give the mage nightmares for an eternity.
Instead he opted for the good cop routine. Hey, it worked on CSI Miami.
“Then let’s negotiate what I can offer you.”
Sergei nervously glanced around the empty cavern. “I’m listening,” he at last said.
“What do you want?” “Marika dead.” “Done.”
He shifted, a sly glint replacing the terror in his eyes. “And the child?”
Tane swallowed a growl. “Out of the question.”
“It’s no good to you. Without my ability to release it from the stasis spell it’s nothing more than a paperweight.”
Tane strained against the invisible bonds that held him, desperate to rip out the throat of the mage before hunting down Marika and chopping off her head.
“What do you intend to do with it?”
“Are you kidding?” The mage regarded him in genuine shock at the question. “That brat would be worth a fortune to me on the black market. I could finally retire in the luxury I intend to become accustomed to.”
Now that was unexpected.
Tane frowned. “You don’t intend to resurrect the Dark
Lord?”
Sergei shrugged. “Not if I have a better offer.” “I have money if that’s what you want.” “How much?”
“Name your price,” Tane said without thinking. A mistake.
A man willing to sell a child on the black market could have no understanding of Tane’s utter indifference to the enormous fortune he’d accumulated over the centuries. He would naturally assume that Tane had no intention of paying unless he bargained a deal.
Sergei backed away, shaking his head. “No, I don’t trust you.”
Tane cursed his stupidity.
“And you trust Marika?” he snapped.
“Better the devil you know,” the mage muttered, heading in the same direction as Marika. And Laylah.
Briefly halting his attempts to escape, Tane closed his eyes and sent his senses flowing outward.
He easily located Laylah rushing through a tunnel headed deeper into the bowels of the mountain with Marika in pursuit. A violent fury screamed through him, but he grimly turned his attention to the fleeing Sergei.
He couldn’t stop Marika from such a distance, but he could keep the mage from following them.
Calling on his abilities, Tane allowed a tiny pulse of power to flow through the air, aiming it in the opposite direction of Laylah. The mage didn’t have the ability to use his sense of smell to follow the females, but he no doubt had learned to associate Laylah with the tiny prickles of electricity she released when she was mad or upset.
If Tane could lead the bastard away, then Laylah would have a chance to escape from Marika.
He continued to send out the tiny pulses, a cold smile curving his lips as he sensed the mage becoming lost among the vast spiderweb of tunnels.
He hoped the bastard rotted among the frozen rocks.
Concentrating on his self-imposed task, Tane abruptly snapped open his eyes, watching in disbelief as the tiny gargoyle waddled into the cavern.
“Well, well.” Levet came to a halt, his eyes widening before a satisfied smile spread across his ugly mug. “I would have gone in another direction, but there is a piquant charm in decorating frozen caverns with vampires.”
Tane’s brows snapped together. “How the hell did you get here?”
Levet shrugged. “I hitched a ride with Cruella de Vil through the portal.”
Hitched a ride?
Well … hell.
Tane had to admit the gargoyle was nothing if not resourceful. He was also Tane’s only visible means of escape.
Dammit.
He was never going to live down the shame of being rescued by a stunted gargoyle if word got out.
A thought that did nothing to improve his already foul mood.
&nb
sp; “Get me down,” he barked.
Levet folded his arms over his narrow chest. “And destroy the lovely picture you make?”
A blast of frigid air tumbled the gargoyle backward as Tane’s temper flared.
“Levet.”
“Oui, oui” Climbing to his feet, Levet made a show of brushing off a bit of nonexistent dust, before moving toward him with a deliberately superior expression. “I am rushing to the rescue yet again.”
Tane clenched his teeth until they threatened to crack beneath the strain.
“Why me?” he muttered.
Levet lifted his hands in a grand gesture, then he paused, as if struck by a sudden thought.
“You might wish to turn your head and close your eyes.”
Recalling the fireball that had taken out a good chunk of forest, Tane gave a sharp shake of his head. He’d rather freeze to the wall than be blown into a million pieces.
“Wait, gargoyle, if you …” His words lodged in his throat as there was a brilliant flash of light.
Braced to be barbecued by the unpredictable gargoyle, Tane was totally unprepared when he felt nothing more than a warm breeze before the invisible shackles were disappearing and he was hitting the ground with enough force to rattle his spine.
Surging upright, he snatched the sword off the ground, feeling like an awkward fool. He glared at his aggravating companion, not entirely convinced that Levet hadn’t intentionally ensured he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Now, however, wasn’t the time to slice and dice his only ally.
He’d save that particular pleasure until later. “Come on,” he ordered, headed toward the back of the cavern.
“What? Not even a thank you,” Levet grumbled. “Next occasion I’ll leave you to the bats.”
Tane never slowed. “Laylah needs us.”
“Oh.” There was a flutter of wings as Levet hurried to catch up. “Why did you not say so in the first place?”
Chapter 21
Laylah turned down yet another passageway, the chill brushing over the back of her neck becoming more pronounced as Marika steadily closed the distance between them.
She could have escaped.
She had halted only moments after entering the tunnel to shadow walk. But rather than disappearing into the corridor, she’d shoved Maluhia into the mists and returned to the frozen mountain.
It hadn’t been easy to leave her child behind.
Even knowing that she’d never encountered another demon in the mists, not to mention the fact no one but herself could touch the babe, had made it easier.
Still, only the grim determination to bring an end to danger, once and for all, gave her the strength to leave Maluhia behind as she resumed her terrified flight.
“You can’t outrun me, Laylah,” Marika’s mocking voice floated through the air.
Laylah shivered.
Turned out that being chased through dark caves was just as creepy the second time around.
Just like when Tane was hunting her, there was no sound of approaching footsteps, no heavy breathing, not even the accidental kick of a pebble.
There was only thick silence and a relentless cold that froze her heart.
On this occasion, however, she wasn’t running blindly.
She had a plan.
A wild, insane, please-God-let-it-work plan. But a plan.
Entering the small cavern she’d been seeking, she slowed to a halt and turned to watch her aunt surge into the space behind her.
With an eerie ability, the vampire came to a precise stop. Laylah grimaced. One minute Marika had been charging forward at full speed and the next she was frozen in place. Not even a strand of hair moved.
Too weird.
The woman’s dark gaze scanned the cavern, searching for hidden enemies or a stash of weapons.
Thankfully, Marika was too much a vampire to consider that the cavern itself might be the trap.
Once confident she had her prey cornered, the older woman allowed a sneer to twist her lips.
“I warned you that you couldn’t escape.”
Laylah tilted her chin, but she didn’t bother to try and hide her fear.
If she’d learned nothing else, it was that it was impossible to hide emotions from a vampire.
Besides, she wanted Marika to believe she had conceded defeat.
The longer she could keep the woman off guard, the longer she could slowly build her power. If she did it too quickly the revealing sparks of electricity would warn the vamp of danger. She was certain to strike out and try to disable her.
And truthfully, she was still aching from her trip through the mists while hauling along a very large vampire, not to mention her side trip to hide the baby.
“Then I suppose I’ll have to kill you,” she said, knowing the arrogant bitch was bound to think it was a bluff.
Marika stepped forward. “You really are the most ungrateful brat. If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t even exist.”
“You want me to thank you for arranging to have my mother raped by a Jinn just so you could use me to sate your lust for power?”
She shrugged. “Not everyone is perfect.”
Laylah snorted. “Yeah well, not everyone’s a psychopath either.”
A frozen fury slammed through the cavern as Marika’s gaze lowered to Laylah’s arms.
“Where’s the child?”
Laylah grit her teeth.
Obviously the pleasant small talk portion of the encounter was over.
Things were bound to get ugly in a hurry.
“Somewhere you can’t reach him.”
“We didn’t have to do this the hard way, Laylah.” Certain that Laylah was no threat, Marika slowly circled her, like a shark sizing up its prey. “We are family, after all, even if you don’t approve of my… methods.”
“Family?” Laylah shook her head. “You know, there was a time when I would have done anything to find my family.”
“If my bitch of a sister hadn’t given you away you would have been properly raised to understand your duties.” Marika halted in front of her, a cruel smile curving her lips. “In fact, one could claim this entire mess is her fault.”
Laylah suppressed the suicidal urge to punch the bitch in the nose.
She was very close to having the necessary power gathered. She wasn’t going to screw up her plan for a momentary sense of satisfaction.
“Why did you choose your own sister to sacrifice to the Jinn?” she demanded. “There must have been demons more suitable?”
Marika waved a dismissive hand. So much for sisterly concern.
“She was beautiful enough to tempt the fastidious demon and more important we share a telepathic link.” “You can read her mind?” “We share thoughts.”
Laylah recalled her brief contact with the woman claiming to be her mother. She had assumed there had been a spell that allowed her to hear her mother’s voice in her head. The thought she could share such an intimate connection with the woman who had given birth to her was oddly comforting.
It also reminded her to send up yet another prayer that the vampire Uriel had managed to rescue her.
“Then how did she keep me hidden from you?”
Marika looked like she’d just bitten into a lemon. “She shouldn’t have been able to. It was the only block she ever managed to put between us, and no amount of torture could force her to confess the truth.” Her lips thinned, not seeming to notice Laylah’s soft gasp at the thought of what her mother must have endured to keep her safe. Dammit, she’d been so hung up on the thought she’d been lied to and deceived that she hadn’t truly taken time to appreciate the sacrifices that had been made to keep her safe. Her mother had endured God knew what hideous torture. Her foster mother had given up her very life. Even Tane was willing to risk everything to protect her. It was her turn for sacrifice. “It was most annoying.”
“Obviously you underestimated the love of a mother for her child,” Laylah said softly.
“Such a human emotion,” Marika scoffed.
“And yet more powerful than a vampire and her stooge of a mage. Remarkable.”
“She’s a stubborn fool who has sacrificed her life for no reason.”
Laylah lifted her hands, allowing her power to flow through her body. “You don’t get it, do you?”
Suddenly wary, Marika took a step backward. “Get what?”
“A mother will do whatever necessary to protect her children.”
Glancing upward, she concentrated on the fissures that ran through the thick stones.
With Jinn blood running through her veins, she was intimately connected to nature. She could feel the age of the stone, smell the droplets of ice in the air, and sense the raging inferno that was churning deep in the earth.
The entire area was a powder keg waiting to blow and the numerous quakes had left several of the tunnels dangerously unstable.
Which was perfect for her needs.
Releasing her powers, she leaped backward, scrambling toward the small opening hidden behind a stalagmite as the entire cavern began to shake.
Belatedly realizing the danger, Marika tried to follow Laylah, only to be stunned as a large chunk of rock tumbled from the ceiling and struck her with a glancing blow. She fell to her knees, blood streaming down her face as she watched Laylah shoving herself through the narrow opening.
“No,” she screamed, flowing back to her feet, her hand slashing through the air.
Laylah felt a cut slicing through her chest, but she didn’t allow her concentration to falter. Exhausting the last of her powers she widened the fissures, ripping them apart with enough force to send several tons of rubble into the cavern.
The impact of the collapse thankfully tossed her backward rather than tumbling her into the lethal avalanche. She smacked her head against a low-hanging rock, and she choked on the cloud of dust that filled her lungs, but she was able to crawl away from the cave-in.
Which was more than Marika could say.
Or at least, that was the hope.
A grim smile touched her lips at the thought of the vicious bitch squashed beneath half the mountain. It would be a fitting end.
Of course, there was always the less pleasant prospect that the vampire had survived the crush of rocks and was even now clawing her way free to wreck horrible vengeance.
Devoured By Darkness Page 26