Levet took a sudden interest in polishing the end of his tail. “Well, it is difficult to say precisely what he desired considering I was speaking through a portal and our connection was not exactly 3G. There was some yadda yadda about this and some yadda yadda about that …”
“Levet.”
Sensing death in the air, Laylah hurriedly searched for a distraction.
“What the hell is a Charon anyway?”
It was Levet who answered. “A vampire executioner.”
“Nice.” She turned to meet Tane’s guarded gaze, belatedly realizing why the vampires had been so anxious to kill him in the cave. She’d bet he was the least popular guy at the family reunions. “No wonder you’re so eager to hand me over to the lynch squad.”
His dark brows lifted. “Lynch squad?”
“Tell me, is there some sort of Executioner Code of Honor?” she demanded. “Do you share bounties?”
“I do my duty.”
“You deal in death.”
He stiffened, almost as if her harsh words had wounded him. Which was beyond ridiculous.
“Deal in death.” Levet chuckled, blithely unconcerned by the lethal vampire that hovered mere feet away. “Death Dealer … get it?” His gray eyes widened. “Helloooo, did no one watch Underworld?”
Tane shot him a furious glare. “Go away, gargoyle.”
“And leave poor Laylah alone with a cold-hearted Charon? Do not be absurd.”
With a slow deliberate motion, Tane removed the dagger from his waistband. “That wasn’t a request.”
“No.” Laylah stepped between the two bristling males. “I want him to stay.”
Levet peeked around her knee to spray a raspberry at the towering demon.
“What can I say? I am irresistible to women.”
Tane ran a finger along the sharpened blade. “I doubt she would find you so irresistible if she’d heard your earlier opinion of Jinns and their offspring. As I recall you were foaming at the mouth to have Laylah hauled to the Commission.”
“Non, non, ma cherie. Never foaming,” the tiny gargoyle protested, moving to regard her with a pleading gaze. “It was merely that I had a most unpleasant encounter with a Jinn some years ago. Can you believe he mutilated one of my beautiful wings? It took me years to grow it back.”
Laylah shrugged aside the familiar sting of rejection. What did it matter? Levet was merely another to add to the very long list of those who judged her a monster without even knowing anything about her.
Instead she concentrated on his shocking revelation as she fell to her knees and grasped his shoulders.
“A Jinn?” she breathed. “Are you certain?”
“I assure you that it was an encounter that has been barbecued into my mind.”
“Barbecued?” She frowned before giving a dismissive shake of her head. “Never mind. Was the Jinn in this dimension?”
“Just barely.” Levet shuddered.
“Where?”
Another shudder. “London.”
“Gods.” Laylah struggled to breathe, her heart squeezed in a tight fist of disbelief. Since the day she’d been old enough to discover she was a mongrel she’d desperately sought to discover another with Jinn blood. She had finally accepted that she was completely alone in this world. “When?”
Levet blinked in surprise. “Really, ma belle, a gargoyle does not reveal his age.”