throat, his tail twitching. “He might have escaped.”
“Might have?”
“Very well, he escaped.” Levet’s wings fluttered in a shimmer of color. “Is that what you desired to hear?”
“No, it’s damned well not what I wanted to hear.” Ariyal looked as if he could happily have turned the gargoyle into a teeny pile of rubble. “I specifically told you to keep an eye on him.”
“I could hardly keep an eye on him when it was daylight, could I? Gargoyles have needs.” With an offended sniff, Levet turned to offer Jaelyn a charming smile. “Ah, ma enfant, I see that you are unharmed. I was so concerned.”
“Not now, Levet,” Styx growled.
Levet blew a raspberry toward the towering vampire, but with an impatient curse Ariyal leaned down to grab the gargoyle by the horn and turn him back to meet his fierce glare.
“Did you try to track the mage?”
“Of course I did.”
“And?”
“And he must have an amulet to mask his scent.”
Ariyal hissed in frustration. “So you have no idea where he went?”
Levet wisely stepped out of reach of the Sylvermyst, waving a hand toward the entrance to the caves.
“His footsteps led in this direction.”
“Shit.” Ariyal sprinted toward the caves. “The baby.”
“Wait.” Styx muttered a curse when Ariyal ignored his command. “Fifteen minutes, Sylvermyst.”
Jaelyn was swiftly following Ariyal as he darted into the caverns and headed down the nearest tunnel. She understood his concern. If the mage actually managed to get his greedy hands on the child and escape they might never track him down.
At least not until it was too late.
And if he screwed up and got caught then the wizard and Tearloch would be on guard, making it almost impossible to locate Ariyal’s tribesmen without attracting unwanted attention.
They had reached the lower levels of the caverns when Ariyal came to a sudden halt, turning to face her.
Jaelyn frowned, her senses on full alert. “What is it? Do you sense something?”
The bronze eyes shimmered with an emotion that seared her to the tip of her toes.
“You’re my heart and my soul,” he breathed.
“As you are mine.” She lifted herself on tiptoe to press a tender kiss to his lips. “We’ll face whatever comes together.”
He wrapped her in his fragrant heat. “Together.”
Chapter 20
Tearloch leaned over the pool of water where Rafael had scryed the image of a half-dozen vampires currently hovering near the entrance to the caverns.
No, not just vampires, he silently corrected, a sick sensation twisting his gut into knots. It didn’t take a genius to recognize the towering Aztec and the lethal predators that stood at his side.
The Anasso and his Ravens.
“God dammit,” he breathed. “I told you that you were wasting too much time.”
The wizard ignored Tearloch’s complaints, waving his hand over the water to zoom in on a vampire with dark hair and silver eyes who looked like a pirate with a bad attitude.
“Dante, how exquisitely appropriate,” Rafael murmured, a disturbing smile curving his lips.
“You know the vampire?”
“He was responsible for my death.” An eerie chuckle filled the cavern. “Now I intend to return the favor.”
Tearloch clenched his hands, the sharp burst of fear slicing through the cobwebs in his mind.
“Are you insane?” he demanded. “We have to get out of here before we’re trapped.”
Rafael clicked his tongue in resigned disappointment. “You are always in such a hurry to run, Tearloch.”
“Being intelligent enough to realize when I’m outnumbered has kept me alive,” Tearloch pointed out, his hands clenching at the sneer curving the wizard’s lips. “Obviously it’s a lesson you failed to learn.”
The red flames flared in the spirit’s eyes, the stench of the grave filling the cavern.
“Our master has no place at his side for cowards.”
Tearloch pointed toward the images reflected in the water. “You truly think you can defeat a half-dozen vampires?”
“We will be invincible once we have resurrected the Dark Lord.”
It was a promise that had been whispering in the back of Tearloch’s mind since leaving Avalon. Now, however, the seductive promise was more than a little tarnished.
“Then why didn’t you perform the ceremony when you had the chance?” he accused the worthless wizard. “Now it’s too late.”
“It’s never too late.”
“No? Your precious altar is buried deeper than ever thanks to Ariyal.”
Rafael’s gaunt face tightened with remembered fury. “Yes, he will pay for that, but for now we shall have to create a new altar.”
Tearloch scowled at the smooth words. A new altar? After they’d wasted days trying to unblock the destroyed tunnels?
“If that was one of our options then why the hell did you waste our time