“Damn, have I been missing the fun?” he demanded, instinctively moving to stand beside Darcy in a protective manner.
The tiny blonde flashed him a smile. “Cezar was just about to make a shish kebab out of Levet.”
The large vampire’s lips twitched. “Maybe you should wait until after he’s inspected the cell,” he told Cezar. “I’d hate to finally have the pleasure of toasting him over an open fire just when he might have a bit of use.”
“Ha, ha, ha. You are a million chuckles,” Levet muttered, waddling toward the door. “Where is this cell? I have better things to do than go around playing Christopher Columbus.”
Anna glanced toward Darcy. “Christopher Columbus?”
Darcy laughed. “I think he means Colombo.”
“Ah.”
Styx and Darcy fell into step behind the retreating gargoyle. Anna followed behind them, not surprised when Cezar appeared at her side and took her hand in a firm grip.
He wasn’t the bring-up-the-rear sort of vampire.
“Did he trouble you?” he demanded in a low voice.
She lifted her head to meet his searching gaze. “Who?”
“The gargoyle.”
“Not at all.” Anna hid a smile. She didn’t need special powers to know that Levet annoyed the hell out of Cezar. “I think he’s…”
“An obnoxious pain in the neck who should have been made into a pair of shoes and matching handbag eons ago?”
“I can hear you,” Levet called out.
“I know,” Cezar muttered.
“I think he’s cute,” Anna said.
“Cute?” Cezar glanced at her as if he feared she’d taken a blow to the head. Perhaps several. “That…sad embarrassment for a demon?”
“I’m French, Cezar,” Levet said smugly. “Females always find me cute. It is both a blessing and a curse.”
Cezar muttered beneath his breath, “I’ll give him a curse.”
Anna chuckled as they turned from the main hallway and Styx took the lead. He halted at what appeared to be a plain piece of paneling, his large hand stroking over the wood. A hidden door sprang open and with a backward glance toward Cezar, he led them down the dark, narrow staircase.
A dark chill wrapped around Anna as they climbed steadily downward, the eerie silence making her clutch at Cezar’s hand, even as a small voice in the back of her mind warned that he was probably the most dangerous thing lurking in the shadows.
Down and down they went, occasionally halting to unlock another set of doors before continuing. It was only when Anna was certain they must be in the deepest bowels of the earth that the stairs came to an end and they stepped into what appeared to be the intersection of several tunnels.
Torches set into the dirt walls offered a wavering light, giving a hint of the vastness of the underground cavern.
“Holy crap…” Anna breathed, her eyes wide as Styx tugged one of the torches from the wall and headed down a dark tunnel to the left. “I thought the upstairs was huge.”
Cezar’s thumb absently stroked over her knuckles as they moved through the flickering shadows, no doubt sensing her growing feeling of unreality.
“A vampire always makes sure he has a few escape tunnels in his lair,” he whispered close to her ear.
Anna sucked in a deep breath of his sandalwood scent, oddly comforted by his presence. As much as this vampire aggravated her, she knew she would be a nervous wreck without him at her side.
“A few?” She gave a shake of her head as they walked through the tunnel, an occasional steel door set in the walls. “The entire city of Chicago could evacuate to Mexico in these.”
Cezar flashed a wry smile, but before he could respond Styx halted before one of the steel doors that was guarded by a tall, blond-haired…well, Goth was the first thought that popped into Anna’s mind. Not the Goth of today, but the ancient Germans who’d battled the Roman Empire.