Darkness Eternal (Guardians of Eternity #7.5)(14)

The darkness in front of her began to shift, as if it were alive. Then, without warning, Yannah chopped her hand downward and there was a strange sound, as if the very air was tearing in half.

Blessed mother.

Kata shook her head, stunned by the outrageous display of power.

“Come on.” Yannah impatiently waved for them to approach. “Through here.”

Tentatively Kata edged toward the opening. She didn’t want to offend Yannah, but she wasn’t sure she entirely trusted the strange creature.

Uriel, on the other hand, had no trouble being blatantly offensive.

Stepping to her side, he pointed a finger at the opening.

“Where does this go?”

“Didn’t I just say there’s no time for questions?” Yannah turned to Kata with a baffled expression. “Was he hit on the head?”

“Yannah . . .” she started to soothe, no more anxious than Uriel to step through a hole in space.

A pity she wasn’t given a choice.

Studying the gaping hole in what might be the very fabric of the space/time continuum, Kata missed Yannah creeping behind her. It wasn’t until she felt the demon’s tiny hands on her ass that she belatedly realized her danger.

She gave a choked shout of alarm at the same time that Yannah shoved her forward.

Chapter 6

Uriel was rarely caught off guard.

A complacent vampire was a dead vampire.

But distracted by the lurking promise of an escape route, he hadn’t realized the tiny demon’s intention until too late.

Swearing as he watched Kata being pushed into the portal, Uriel didn’t hesitate. Knocking aside Yannah, Uriel charged forward, managing to wrap his arms around Kata’s waist as they both plunged through the shimmering mist.

There was the sense of freefalling through a tunnel of black nothingness and Uriel instinctively tugged Kata closer to his body. At the moment, she was the only real thing in the whirling darkness.

Wrapped in her sweet scent of tiger lilies and the tantalizing warmth of her lush body, Uriel was struck by a piercing desire to keep falling. Anything just so he could keep this woman in his arms.

Insanity, of course.

He was a vampire.

They didn’t do “happily ever afters.” Or even “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

At least not until they found their mate.

And this woman couldn’t be his mate.

Could she?

Before he could actually consider the disturbing question, their freefall came to an abrupt end.

Tumbling through the other side of the portal, Uriel hurriedly turned to keep Kata protected as they emerged into a heavily-wooded forest.

His back smacked painfully onto the moss covered ground as his feet tangled in the undergrowth. Not that he noticed the rock poking into his shoulder or the overhead cry of angry birds disturbed from their nests.

Instead he hissed in fear as a light breeze stirred the thick canopy of leaves and the dappled sunlight brushed over his skin.

It had been centuries since his last glimpse of the sun. With good cause.

Vampires plus daylight equaled instant death.

Something he’d tried to avoid over the years.

Now he braced himself for the searing pain.

A pain that never came.

Astonishment slowly gave way to the recognition that this place was nothing more than an illusion. There could be no other explanation.

Yannah had somehow created this bubble of paradise in the midst of the underworld.

But how? And more importantly, why?

Distracted by the possibility of spontaneous combustion, Uriel nearly forgot the bundle of lush woman he held in his arms. At least until she squirmed out of his grasp and darted away.

“Kata.”

Forcing himself to ignore the unnerving sunlight, Uriel hurriedly followed behind her, nearly running her down when she came to an abrupt halt at the edge of a large glade.

Sensing her tension, he studied the meadow dotted with wildflowers and the shallow stream that wound a lazy path through the grass. So far as he could tell they were alone in the strange vision, but that didn’t mean there weren’t dangers lurking among the surrounding trees or the distant hills that were silhouetted against the horizon.

Even paradise had its serpent.

At his side, Kata gave a slow shake of her head, her beautiful eyes wide with disbelief.

“No . . .” she breathed, “it can’t be.”

“Do you sense something?”

She shook her head, cautiously taking a step forward. “I know this place.”

Even knowing it was an illusion, Uriel had to battle his instinctive reluctance to step from the shade of the trees into the sundrenched glade.

“Careful, Kata.”

She tilted her head to meet his worried gaze, her skin brushed with golden sunlight and her dark curls spilling down her back in a glorious tangle.

“What is it?”

For a moment he was speechless. She was so . . . exquisite. But it wasn’t her beauty that held him captivated. Or at least, not entirely.

He’d known some of the most stunning women in the world over the years. Imps, fairies, humans, and vampires. But none of them stirred his hunger as this woman did.

Was it her earthy curves on full display beneath the nearly transparent nightgown? Or the passionate life that smoldered in the dark eyes? Or the fierce spirit that Marika and the damned mage hadn’t been able to crush despite their best efforts?