Devoured by Darkness by Alexandra Ivy, now you can read online.
Chapter 1
Laylah was tired.
She was tired of the dark, cramped tunnels sprawling beneath the northeast corner of Missouri that she’d been running through for the past two days. She was tired of being chased by an enemy she couldn’t see. She was tired of her stomach cramping with hunger and her limbs screaming in protest at her relentless pace.
Reaching a small cavern, she came to an abrupt halt, shoving her fingers through the short, spiky strands of her brilliant red hair, her black eyes searching the shadows for her pursuer.
Not that she expected to actually catch sight of the frigid pain in her ass.
Vampires not only possessed supernatural speed and strength, but they could shroud themselves in shadows, making them impossible to sense, even to most demons. It was only because she had the power of Jinn blood running through her veins that she could detect the relentless leech following her mad dash through the tunnels.
What she didn’t know was …
Why.
She shivered, her mouth dry. Christ. She’d thought she was being so clever when she’d initially allowed the vamp to catch her scent. She’d hoped to lure him, along with the other intruders, away from Caine’s private lair.
Not that she gave a damn about the cur, but she’d hidden her most precious treasure at his estate, and she couldn’t afford to allow any creature with the superior senses of a vampire, or even a full-blooded Were, near her secret. She’d thought the demons would give chase for a few hours and then grow tired of the game, hopefully returning to Hannibal or even St. Louis.
But her hasty plan had fallen apart right from the start.
The Were had continued on his path to Caine’s lair, and the vampire had refused to give up, no matter how far or how fast she’d run.
Now she was too weak to call upon her shadow walking powers, and too far from Caine to call for his help.
“Oh, screw it,” she muttered, planting her hands on her h*ps and tilting her chin in unspoken defiance. “I know you’re following me, vampire. Why don’t you just show yourself?”
A warning chill thickened the air, prickling painfully over her skin.
“You think you can give me orders, half-breed?” A dark, sinfully beautiful voice filled the cavern.
Laylah’s heart missed a beat. Even with her demon blood she wasn’t immune to the ruthless sensuality that was as much a part of a vampire as his lethal fangs.
“What I think is that I’m done running,” she gritted. “So either kill me or go chase someone else.”
“Ah. Then you’re confident you’ve managed to lead me far enough away?”
“Away?” Laylah stiffened, licking her suddenly dry lips. He couldn’t know. No one knew. “Away from what?”
“That’s what I’m wondering,” the dark voice drawled. “It must be of great importance.”
Laylah forced herself to suck in a deep breath, refusing to panic. The stupid vamp was simply trying to press her buttons. Everyone knew that they loved to toy with their prey.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Hmmm. Have you ever watched a quail?”
She felt unseen fingers brush her nape, the cold touch ironically sending a bolt of heat straight to the pit of her stomach. She whirled around, not surprised that the predator had disappeared.
“The bird?” she rasped, belatedly wishing she was wearing more than a pair of cutoff jeans and a muscle shirt. Having so much skin exposed was making her feel oddly vulnerable.
Not that clothing would halt a determined vampire.
It wouldn’t matter if she were dipped in cement and wrapped with barbed wire.
“When a predator approaches the nest, the mother quail will feign a broken wing and dash away to lure the danger from her chicks,” her tormentor murmured, his voice seeming to speak directly into her ear.
She instinctively stumbled backward, her mouth dry with a sudden fear.