Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(45)

“Do you know how long it took me to prepare that spell, you stupid cunt?” he growled. “You’re going to pay for every minute.”

Cunt?

Oh, he didn’t just go there, did he?

She smiled, running a tongue along her razor-sharp fang. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to do this the easy way. Now there’s only one way.”

“And what’s that?”

“The hard way.”

“Oh yeah? You and what army?”

With a smirk, he reached toward the glowing crystal hung around his neck as he whispered words of magic.

No doubt he was conjuring a nasty spell, depending on his magical skills to protect him. Unfortunately for him, he’d never encountered a Hunter’s speed and before he could finish his chanting, Jaelyn was moving forward to jerk his tongue from his mouth.

The cur stood in frozen shock, his eyes shifting to the bloody length of flesh she held in her hands. Then with a mangled scream of horror he was spinning on his heels and attempting to flee. Jaelyn allowed him a few seconds of hope that he might actually escape before she slammed her foot into his retreating back and sent him flying into the nearest tree.

He slid face-first to the ground, his arms and legs churning in a combination of pain and panic.

She crouched at his side, her arms loosely wrapped around her bent knees.

“I did warn you it would be the hard way,” she taunted, dropping his tongue near his head. Eventually he would heal, but for now his wounds had to be near unbearable. “Listen very carefully, I’m going to ask you a series of questions. You will nod your head for yes and shake it for no. All very simple. Oh—” She leaned down far enough he couldn’t miss her deadly fangs. “And for every lie I will rip off another body part. Got it?”

He flattened himself against the underbrush, as if wishing he could sink through the hard ground. But his hasty nod assured her that he was ready to play nice.

“Were you responsible for the zombies?” There was a faint hesitation before the cur was nodding. She patted his head. “Good boy. Are the rest of your pack nearby?” Another hesitation and another nod. “Are they all curs?” she demanded, certain she was sensing a presence at the edge of the woods, but unable to determine exactly what it was.

Something that bothered her almost as much as a magic-using cur.

Mysteries in the demon world were never good things. He started to shake his head, but before she could probe into the members of his crew, a gunshot echoed through the air.

With a speed that defied physics, Jaelyn was able to dodge the projectile that was aimed at the center of her chest. Still, it managed to graze her shoulder with a searing pain that warned the bullet was made of silver.

Shit.

She could catch the scent of a nearby cur, no doubt the shooter, and moving closer was that oddly muted scent.

For a second she debated taking the wounded cur as a hostage. She didn’t doubt with the proper encouragement, and perhaps a few more missing body parts, she could get all the information she needed out of him.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t be certain what was lurking in the dark. It could be a mere witch with an amulet, or something recently coughed out of the bowels of hell. And with Ariyal possibly injured ... well, she couldn’t take the risk.

Time to get the hell outta Dodge.

Tearloch felt the prickle of magic before he entered the cavern to discover Rafael standing over a shallow pool of water in the center of the floor.

“Fools,” the spirit was muttering in disgust. “Why must they always call upon zombies?”

Tearloch crossed to peer suspiciously at the images reflected in the water. So the wizard possessed enough power to scry. A handy trick, but one a mere spirit shouldn’t be able to manage.

“What the hell is going on?” he rasped.

Rafael pointed a skeletal finger toward the floor. “We have been followed.”

Putting aside his unease at Rafael’s powers, Tearloch leaned forward to study the scene that was unfolding in the water like a soggy movie.

“Ariyal,” he muttered, easily recognizing his prince, as well as the fact that he was currently standing less than five miles from the entrance to the hidden caves.

“Yes,” Rafael hissed. “Your prince is annoyingly persistent.”

Tearloch abruptly leaned closer to the water, realizing that Ariyal wasn’t battling a group of humans as he’d first assumed. Or at least they weren’t human any longer.

With a shudder he stepped away from the water, glaring at the spirit, who was watching the fight with a faint sneer.

“Zombies are forbidden.”

“Surely you must realize that we are now above the tedious laws of this world?” Rafael questioned before giving a dismissive wave of his hand. “Still, I do agree that such abominations are regrettable. They are far too unpredictable and attract precisely the sort of attention we had hoped to avoid.”

“Then why did you call them?”

“This is not of my doing.”

Tearloch clenched his teeth. Was it possible for the spirit to lie to him?

Just a few days ago he would have laughed at the mere possibility. A spirit was bound by the will of the summoner and utterly at his mercy.

Now he wasn’t nearly so convinced.

“They didn’t crawl out of their graves by themselves,” he accused in harsh tones.