Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(38)

“Cassandra.”

“Her scent was masked by a spell,” Nefri explained.

For the first time since their entrance, Hess moved, reminding Santiago that he was more than a lump of muscle.

“And Caine the Traitor,” he rasped, his eyes glowing the red of a cur on the point of shifting.

Salvatore sent his lieutenant a warning glare before brushing past Nefri to enter the cement cell. He smoothly crouched down to study the dried blood on the floor.

“Can you tell us how long ago?” he demanded of Nefri.

“Two, maybe three weeks.”

Santiago moved to stand next to the Were, still not entirely certain the mangy beast was as baffled as he pretended to be by the revelation of Cassandra and Caine’s presence in the wine cellars.

“Why would they sneak into your lair?”

Salvatore straightened with unnerving speed, standing nose to nose with Santiago.

“Careful, bloodsucker.”

With a click of her tongue Nefri shooed them away from the blood stains, still clutching the medallion in her hand. As she whispered a low word there was another shift in the air, revealing a tangle of scents that had been hidden by illusion.

Santiago muttered a curse, glancing at the stain. “It’s Caine’s blood. He must have been trying to protect Cassandra.”

“Si.” Salvatore absently agreed, his head tilted back as he breathed deeply of the stale air. “I smell vamp.” He stabbed Santiago with a suspicious glare. “Do you recognize the scent?”

“ No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“It’s ...” Santiago struggled to explain. “Missing. I can sense it was a vampire, but there’s a void around him.”

The Were scowled. “An amulet?”

“No.” Santiago shook his head, as confused as the Were. “The vampire isn’t hidden, it’s more like he, or she, has been stripped of his identity.”

“Impossible.”

“Then you 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.