"What would you have me say?" he demanded in rasping tones.
She struggled to keep her thoughts focused. Good God. Now was no time to be thinking of… of… that.
"Something a bit more clarifying than the darkness.'"
There was a moment of silence, as if he were waging his own battle. Then at last he met her gaze squarely.
"Very well. The demon world refers to the darkness as the Prince, but in truth it isn't a real being. It is more a… spirit, just as the Phoenix is a spirit. An essence of power that demons call upon to enhance their dark skills."
"And the Phoenix does something to this Prince?"
"Her presence among mortals has banished the Prince from this world. They are two opposites. Neither can be in the same plane at the same moment. Not without both being destroyed."
Well, that seemed like a good thing. The first ray of hope in a very bleak day.
"So, no more demons?"
He gave a lift of his shoulder. 'They remain, but without the tangible presence of the Prince, they are weakened and chaotic. No longer do they band together to attack in strength, and rarely do they hunt humans. They have been forced into the shadows."
"That's good, I suppose," she said slowly. "And Selena was this barrier?"
'Yes."
"Why?"
He blinked at the abrupt question. "Why?"
"Why was she chosen?" Abby clarified, not quite certain why she even cared. She only knew that at the moment it seemed important. "Was she a witch?"
Oddly Dante paused, almost as if he were considering not answering her question. Ridiculous after all he had already revealed. What could be worse than the fact that she was being held captive by a vampire? Or that the one person who kept away all the scary, bad things in the night was now dead?
"She was not so much chosen as offered as a sacrifice by her father," he at last grudgingly confessed.
"She was sacrificed by her father?" Abby gave a startled blink. Hell, she had always thought her father was a shoo-in for scumbag of the year. He had been a brutal jerk whose only redeeming act had been tossing aside his family for a bottle of whiskey. Still, he hadn't offered her up as fodder to a band of crazed witches. "How could he do such a thing?"
The elegant features hardened with ancient anger. "Quite easily. He was powerful, rich, and accustomed to having his way in all things. Or he was until he was struck down with the plague. In exchange for a cure, he gave the witches his only daughter."
"Holy crap. That's horrible."
"I suppose he thought it a fair trade-off. He was cured and his daughter made immortal."
"Immortal?" Abby caught in breath with sudden hope. 'Then Selena is still alive?"
The beautiful features sharpened even further. "No, she is very much dead."
"But… how?"
"I don't know." His tone was rough with coiled emotions. "At least not yet."
Abby bit her bottom lip, attempting to wrap her aching brain around the consequences of such a death.
"Then the Phoenix is gone?"
"No, it is not gone. It is—" Without warning, Dante flowed to his feet, his head turning toward the closed door. A tense silence filled the room before he at last returned his gaze to her startled face. "Abby, we must go. Now."
Chapter 3
Dante fiercely cursed his stupidity.