Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity) Page 0,103
on demon ancestry dot com,” he pointed out dryly. “If I’m going to pin down Sally’s father, then I’ll need to retrace her mother’s footsteps.”
Styx scowled, but having already commanded Roke to find a way to break the mating, he could hardly forbid him from taking the steps necessary to discover the source of Sally’s demon blood.
“I don’t want you going alone,” he at last muttered.
“I’ll have Sally with me,” Roke said, pretending the thought of having the exquisite little witch far away from the constant surveillance of Styx and his guards didn’t send a flare of treacherous heat through his blood.
Who would ever know if he decided to steal a taste of her peach sweetness?
Dammit, no. She was off limits, he grimly reminded himself. Whether they were being watched or not.
The towering Aztec gave a shake of his head. “Not good enough.”
Roke made a sound of impatience. “You just said I wasn’t a prisoner.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to meddle among witches without protection.”
“Styx . . .”
A shrill chirp interrupted Roke’s protest and Styx offered a mocking grin as he reached for the cell phone on his desk and said, “Hold that thought.”
Roke bared his fangs as Styx pressed the phone to his ear, but his seething frustration was forgotten as Styx hissed in shock, a blast of his frigid power nearly knocking Roke backward.
Shoving the phone into the front pocket of his leather pants, Styx was heading toward the door, a force of nature that could destroy everything and everyone in his path.
“Come with me,” he commanded.
Roke swiftly followed his king out of the study and down the hallway. “What is it?”
“Spike said that Santiago just arrived.”
Roke lifted a surprised brow. The last they’d heard, Santiago was hot on the trail of his former sire. “He has news?”
“I suspect it’s more than that.”
Styx’s power was making the lights flicker and the priceless portraits tremble on the wall. Instinctively Roke reached to pull free the dagger he’d tucked into the sheath hidden in his knee-high moccasin.
Something was wrong.
“Why?”
“When Spike told Santiago I was in my study, Santiago said that he was here on an errand from an old friend from Rome,” Styx explained.
Roke frowned. “Does that mean something to you?”
“Gaius.”
Roke instantly understood Styx’s concern. Was Santiago sending a warning or a threat?
In either case, they needed to be prepared for the worst.
“What do you want from me?”
The vampire pulled out the massive sword strapped to his back. “Find Jagr and tell him to start a search of the grounds.”
They had reached the stairs when Roke grasped his companion’s shoulder and pulled him to a halt. “Styx.”
The Anasso sent him a frown of impatience. “What?”
“I know Santiago is a trusted brother, but Gaius is his sire,” he reminded his king. In the heat of the moment it was too easy to overlook the obvious. “That’s a bond not easily broken.”
Styx’s expression was as hard as granite. “I don’t question Santiago’s loyalty, but I’m not blind to the fact a vampire can be torn by a competing allegiance.” He grimaced. “Either to Gaius, or to Tonya.”
“The imp?”
“She’s been a part of his family for a long time.”
“Then you realize that you shouldn’t face Santiago alone.”
Styx grunted as he was neatly cornered by his own admission that Santiago might prove to be a danger. “Cristo,” he muttered. “You’re a pain in the ass.”
“I try.”
Pulling out his cell phone, Roke hit Jagr’s number and concisely revealed what was happening with Santiago’s arrival and Styx’s order to start a search of the grounds.
The Anasso gave a rueful shake of his head before turning to jog up the stairs. “This way.”
Roke was swiftly at his side, baffled as he realized they were headed toward the private wing of the house. “The bedrooms? What could he . . .” With a startled hiss, he came to a halt on the landing.
“Roke?”
Roke ignored his impatient companion, his hand lifting to press to his unbeating heart.
There was a tight ball of . . . what? Fear? Anger? Pain?
Actually it felt like a strange combination of all three.
He rubbed the spot in the center of his chest, baffled by the unfamiliar sensation. The feelings were inside him, but they weren’t his.
Insanity.
No, wait.
It wasn’t insanity.
It was . . .
“Sally,” he growled.
His muscles suddenly clenched, a fear that was all his own catapulting him into action.
He moved down the hallway with a fluid speed, absently sensing Styx keeping pace while his concentration was entirely focused on his connection to his mate.