Bound By Darkness Page 0,41
explain what the hell it is.”
The dark eyes glowed a dangerous gold. “At first guess, I would say it’s a trick.”
Santiago ran a finger down the edge of his blade. “It’s not just a vampire. There was also a cur.”
“Two curs,” Nefri murmured, a troubled expression marring her Madonna calm. “And a witch.”
Salvatore arched his brows in surprise. “The witch would explain the magic to cover their presence here. But what the hell were they doing with Cassandra and Caine?”
Her dark, magnificent eyes skimmed the stark cement cell.
“They lured them here.”
Santiago moved to stand at her side, shivering as her cool energy wrapped around him, licking over his skin and stirring his hair. Santa madre, that much power roused him like the finest aphrodisiac.
“Why?”
Her dark eyes held an ancient sadness. “They intended to capture them.”
Santiago grimaced. “Traitors.”
She dipped her head in reluctant agreement. “Traitors.”
Chapter 9
Jaelyn stumbled out of the portal and into the large meadow with the grace of a drunken harpy.
Recovering her balance, she whirled around, fully prepared to punish anyone stupid enough to be laughing at her. Luckily for them, her companions were struggling with their own exits.
Levet landed on his head, his horns stuck in the soft dirt. And right behind him, Ariyal fell to his knees, his long braid falling over his shoulder as he bent forward, struggling to catch his breath.
Obviously the effort of creating a portal to take three demons from England to America, not to mention bending time to make sure they arrived precisely at nightfall to keep Jaelyn from being turned into ash, had taken its toll.
“Bloody hell,” the Sylvermyst panted, casting an evil glare at the gargoyle, who had managed to free himself and was busy knocking the mud from his horns. “That’s the last time I haul your stony ass halfway around the world.”
The gargoyle squeaked in horror, his wings flapping as he turned in a circle, attempting to peer over his shoulder.
“Are you implying that I’m fat?” He halted to turn a pleading glance toward Jaelyn. “Ma enfant, am I fat?”
“Of course not,” she assured the tiny demon.
“There, you see?” He sent a raspberry toward Ariyal, patting his backside. “I have buns of steel.”
The Sylvermyst growled a harsh obscenity while Jaelyn struggled to hide her smile.
She’d convinced Ariyal they couldn’t leave the gargoyle behind. He was too intimately acquainted with their quest to track down the child of the Dark Lord to risk him falling into the hands of their enemies.
How much torture would the tiny creature endure before he was blabbing everything he knew?
Battle tactics demanded they keep him close at hand.
But she couldn’t deny the fact that Levet irritated Ariyal on an epic scale was a decided bonus.
“You’re a lump of granite who should have been left in the sewers of London,” Ariyal snapped, rising to his feet with a fluid grace that tugged at something deep inside Jaelyn.
She shifted uneasily, her gaze tracing the elegant male profile.
Dammit. This was why she was trained to avoid sexual relationships.
It would be bad enough to take him as her lover if he was still her target, but at least then she could have turned him over to the Commission after the deed was done. Or better yet, killed him.
Now she had no choice but to follow him when he claimed he could use his tribal connection with Tearloch to track him down.
A breeze stirred the air, bringing with it the rich scent of herbs. Ariyal’s scent.
Her fangs lengthened, her hunger rising as her gaze instinctively slid to the strong column of his neck. She swallowed a groan, sharply turning away.
She needed to feed.
This brutal urgency had nothing to do with Ariyal’s blood in particular.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
“I’ll leave you two to your male bonding,” she muttered, heading down the path as she sought to get her bearings.
Although they were currently surrounded by open meadows on one side and cornfields on the other, she easily sensed the press of humanity that marked Chicago. It also included a large clan of vampires she hoped to avoid.
Thankfully closer at hand was a decent-sized town that should offer a meal as well as a much-desired shower.
Intent on her escape, Jaelyn clenched her hands in frustration as Ariyal abruptly appeared before her, his face tight with suspicion.
“Where are you going?”
Her brows snapped together at his possessive tone. “Does it matter?”
His eyes shimmered with a pure bronze in the moonlight. “Yes, it damned well matters.”
“Why?”
“I don’t intend to be stuck with that miniature pain in the