Dragon's Storm (Legion Of Angels #4)(11)

“All’s quiet in the west castle,” Claudia told her. “We haven’t seen any fog. In fact, we haven’t seen a single vampire yet.”

“Keep your eyes out for the fog. And for any signs of witches,” said Captain Somerset.

“Witches?”

“We believe the Kane coven might be responsible for the poison fog.”

“You hear that, Morrows?” Claudia said. “The witches might have cast a storm of poisonous fog on these castles. You’d best hold your breath for the duration of this mission.”

“And deprive you of the joy of my witty tongue? I’d never dream of it.”

“You keep your tongue to yourself.”

Captain Somerset ended the call, and not a moment too soon. I did not need to hear anything more about Alec’s tongue. But at least he wasn’t talking about his cannon.

“What now?” I asked.

In response, my jacket buzzed. I reached in and pulled out my phone.

“Hey, Leda,” Drake spoke, his voice so quiet I could barely hear him.

“Drake? Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t want it to find us.”

‘Us’ meant Drake and Jace. They were partners on this mission. Neither one had looked particularly pleased when Captain Somerset made the assignment.

“What is it?” I asked Drake.

“The fog.”

“This wouldn’t happen to be the cloud of poison rolling around the castlessouth, killing vampires, would it?” I asked him.

“You’ve seen it? And survived?”

“It didn’t target us. We saw it kill a few vampires and then dissipate. It doesn’t seem interested in killing anyone but the rogue vampires.”

“Not just vampires,” Jace said grimly. “It tried to eat us.”

“It nipped Jace’s arm before he managed to pull it away,” Drake told me. “It ate right through his clothes. Every inch of skin from his wrist up to his elbow is covered in blisters.”

Why would the witches target Drake and Jace? Maybe they realized the Legion would not be happy they were killing our prisoners. But if they were just trying to cover their tracks by killing all witnesses, then why hadn’t their poison fog attacked me and Captain Somerset?

Captain Somerset grabbed my phone. “Where is the fog now?”

“It’s dissipated,” Jace said.

“If you see it again, keep your distance. We’re coming,” she told the guys, then hung up. She handed my phone back to me. “They’re in the southwest castle. This passage should lead us there. We’re going to find the fog, those witches, and put an end to this nonsense.”

“Wait.”

We both turned at the sound of that voice, a voice that did not belong in this place.

Nero was behind us, his body framed by a halo of pale light. Magic. No daylight reached this part of the twisting tunnel. Nero’s magic, on the other hand, penetrated everything. The angel looked at me with eyes that burned like green fire. His gaze cut through me, right to my raw, naked soul. It burned away everything, until it was just the two of us and no one else. Nothing else.

He stood with his arms folded across his chest, a pose that accentuated the hard, supple muscles of both. The angel was like catnip for any woman with a pulse. I made a concentrated effort not to ogle. As Nero would say, ogling was not becoming of a soldier of the Legion. Sometimes behaving myself was seriously dull.

He wore the usual black leather uniform of the Legion. It was like a second skin to him, a part of him, of who he was. I’d once asked him if he even took off his uniform before he went to bed. He’d replied that I was welcome to come find out.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him. “Are you here to deal with the vampires?”

“No, I’m here to deal with the fog. Or, more specifically, the person behind the fog.”

He must have predicted that the Kane coven would go after the vampires.

“Which witch cast the spell?” I asked him.

“It was not a witch who cast the spell. It was my father.”





4





Cold to the Last Drop





We followed Nero down the tunnel. I had to run to match the pace he’d set.

“Your father is killing vampires?”

Nero looked at me, his mouth a hard, determined line. “It seems I underestimated Damiel’s magic. Early this morning, my security alarms alerted me that he’d broken through the magic field containing him. I tracked him here.”

“But why did he come here? And why is he killing vampires?”

“House Rune has turned many vampires. But it has also welcomed other rogue vampires with open arms. Before we met Damiel in the Lost City, he was searching for one of those vampires, a man named Raven Rhodes. Damiel believes Rhodes might be one of the last people who saw my mother before she disappeared.”

“And now he’s hunting down the vampire in the hopes of finding his wife,” I said.

So the Kane coven hadn’t come here seeking revenge. That was good for the witches. It wasn’t so good for Damiel. The Legion thought he was dead. They had ordered his execution.

“He’s risking exposure,” Captain Somerset said, voicing my concerns. “If the Legion finds out he’s alive—and that we’ve been hiding him—we’ll be the ones stuck in the Interrogators’ chair.”