"She's mine. I must have her."
The vampire never flinched. In fact, he stood so still that he appeared more dead than alive. Only the cold power surging through the air warned there was something stirring beneath the beautiful facade.
"You intend to battle me with no more than a hexed knife?" he demanded.
The man swallowed. "I cannot defeat a vampire."
"Ah, you are not quite so stupid as you look."
The tiny eyes darted about and Shay felt everyone tense. The man was desperate enough to try battling his way through a vampire. When he moved, however, it was not toward Viper but instead toward the gawking Evor. With astonishing skill he had his arm around the troll's neck and the knife pressed into the flabby skin of his throat
"I will kill him. As long as he holds the Shalott's curse she will die as well." His gaze remained trained on Viper, no doubt aware he was far more dangerous than any other demon in the room. "She will do you no good if she dies before you can drain her."
Shay sucked in a sharp breath. She wasn't afraid to die. But, by God, if she were going to her grave she didn't want it to be while she was shackled to a pole and helpless to fight back.
Viper didn't move but his power was filling the room like an icy wave. The air stirred the silver strands of his hair and billowed the velvet cape.
"You will not kill her," he said in tones that made a shiver run down Shay's spine. "I do not believe your employer would be pleased if she is brought to him as a corpse."
The man gave a wild laugh. "If she ends up in the hands of another, I'm worse than dead. She might as well go with me."
"So does your employer desire her, or fear her?" Viper murmured, smoothly moving forward. "Who is he? A demon? A sorcerer?"
"Stop or I will kill her."
"No." Viper continued his flowing snide. "You will drop the knife and walk away."
"You can't glamour me with your eyes. I'm immune to mystical crap."
"Fine, then I will have to kill you."
"You can't—" The words of warning were still upon the man's lips when Viper had him by the throat and tossed him into a nearby wall.
For such a small man he managed to make a hell of a racket when he hit the paneling and slid to the floor. Astonishingly, however, he was back on his feet and reaching beneath his baggy coat in the blink of an eye. Clearly he was more than a mere human. No doubt a wizard with enough magical talent to offer some protection.
Lifting his hand, he clutched what looked to be a small rock. Shay frowned. She had lived with the witches long enough to know the crystal held a powerful spell.
"Viper."
She called out the warning without knowing why. What did it matter who won the battle? Was being nightly drained by a pack of vampires preferable to whatever the unknown monster might have in store for her?
In the end it didn't matter.
Even before his name had rumbled from her lips, Viper was leaping to the side and allowing the blast of black magic to strike the far wall. Flames crawled over the paneling and with cries of panic the wealthy guests began scrambling for the nearest door. Magical fire was the one thing that was as deadly to demons as to humans.
"Get the fire extinguishers, you fools." Evor cried, flapping his pudgy hands with growing panic. "I'm going to lose everything."
The mountain trolls reluctantly lumbered to battle the flames, but Shay's attention remained glued to the duel between the vampire and the increasingly desperate man.
Viper was on his feet, his black cloak flowing about him as he stalked in a half circle about the man.
"The spell that protects you will not keep me from ripping out your throat," he said in silky tones. "Are you that anxious to die?"
"Better my throat ripped out than what my master would do." the man rasped as he lifted the crystal and released the power toward the vampire.
Once again Viper smoothly moved aside to allow the blast to hit the podium. It burst into flames and Evor squawked in horror.
"Over here. Bring the extinguisher over here," the troll cried.