Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(27)

“Oui.”

“It’s a position of great honor among vampires,” she mouthed the well-rehearsed words. It was true enough that most vampires envied those chosen by the elite Addonexus. They saw only the power and wary respect offered to the members, without ever understanding the cost. “Why would anyone wish to leave?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I can think of a few hundred.”

She came to a halt, the hair on the back of her neck rising at the unmistakable stench that filled the air.

“I smell trolls.”

The gargoyle gave a delicate shudder. “I did warn you that it was a low-class establishment.”

“So you did.” With a smooth motion, Jaelyn was bending to lay Ariyal on the hard pavement, sliding her hand over his hard body until she found one of the numerous daggers he had hidden. Gripping the ivory handle, she straightened and pointed toward the gargoyle. “Remain here with the Sylvermyst. I will return as soon as I can.”

“Where are you going?”

“To negotiate for a room.”

She had already turned to make her way down the steps that led to the cellar beneath the silent pub when Levet reached to grasp her free hand.

“Be careful, ma enfant,” he pleaded softly.

She glanced back in surprise. First Ariyal tried to protect her and now this creature was looking at her as if he was truly concerned.

It was ... unnerving.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said gruffly.

A faint smile curved his lips, lifting his hands in a helpless gesture.

“It is what I do.”

With a scowl she ignored the tiny flare of warmth as she vaulted to the bottom of the steps and shoved open the heavy oak door that was hidden from humans by a spell of concealment.

Dammit.

She was supposed to be terrifying others with her mad skills, not encouraging them to treat her as if she were some helpless female in need of coddling.

Thankfully she had no trouble slipping back into her I-want-to-kill-something mode as she stepped into the large room with wood-plank floors and a low, open beamed ceiling.

Her gaze skimmed over the nearly empty booths that lined the walls, where a handful of weary humans sprawled, their eyes glazed with drugs and their thin bodies barely covered. She grimaced. Even at a distance she could see the bite marks where vampires had fed on their tainted blood.

She crossed toward the bar at the back, allowing her senses to flow through the building. The fighting pits were beyond the bar as well as the cubbies for those demons who preferred a bit of privacy for their sex. Beneath them she could sense several locked cells where a troll, two ogres, and at least three curs were sleeping off their numerous injuries.

Her attention, however, was trained on the male imp behind the bar. With his long golden hair pulled from his narrow face and slender body encased in skin-tight leather, he should have been handsome, but there was a hard cunning in his green eyes and an unpleasant curl to his thin lips.

Reaching the bar, she stiffened as a half-breed troll stepped out of a cubby, his rough features almost human if one didn’t look too closely at the beady eyes that glowed red in the overhead lights or the double row of teeth that were razor sharp.

“Vampire,” the creature growled, hitching up his filthy pants that matched his too tight T-shirt. “Tasty.”

She returned her gaze to the imp even as she felt the disgusting mongrel move to stand at her side.

“I need a room,” she said.

Predictably the mongrel troll leaned close enough to gag her with his putrid breath.

“You can share mine, pretty bloodsucker.” He grabbed her hand, pulling it toward his crotch. “So long as you suck on—”

His words broke off on a high-pitched scream as she allowed her fingers to wrap around his aroused cock, squeezing until she threatened to make him a eunuch.

“Touch me again and I’ll fillet this tiny dick and serve it to you for breakfast,” she drawled in sweet tones. “Got it?”

“Got it,” he squeaked, his round face flushed as he danced on his tiptoes.

For a minute she considered simply carving out the bastard’s black heart. Trolls, even those of the mongrel variety, possessed an insatiable appetite for rape and she didn’t doubt he would have thrown her to the floor and forced himself on her if she hadn’t fought back.

Then, with a disgusted hiss, she shoved him away, barely noting his glare of hatred before he was scurrying toward the door.

The imp flashed a mocking smile. “That time of month?”

Jaelyn narrowed her gaze. “You next?”

“Here.” The man slapped a key on the counter before pointing toward a narrow door carved into the paneling. “Vamp rooms are down the stairs, last door on the left.”

“How much?”

“One hundred pounds for the room and another hundred for a host.” He nodded toward the pathetic humans. “Top of the line.”

She rolled her eyes. “More like scraping the gutter.”

The imp shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”

Jaelyn reached beneath the neckline of her spandex top, pulling out a folded bill.

“Fifty American bucks for the room.” She dropped the money on the bar. “I brought my own host.”

The green eyes glittered with a sly greed. “Seventy-five and I don’t let every demon in the place know there’s a female in the basement.”