Darkness Eternal (Guardians of Eternity #7.5)(26)

Yannah lifted her hands in a vague motion. “I’m not really sure.”

Great. Just freaking perfect.

“Is she a part of the illusion?”

“No.”

“But she’s dead?” Kata pressed. “I mean . . . dead dead?”

“Yes.”

Kata frowned, sensing that Yannah was hiding something from her.

“You don’t sound particularly confident.”

“She shouldn’t be here.”

“No shit,” Kata snapped. “She’s supposed to be frying in the pits of hell, but obviously she’s not.” Turning her head, Kata’s heart stopped as she watched Uriel fending off the feral vampire, his powerful body covered in blood and his elegant movements becoming sluggish. “Yannah, you have to get us out of here before she kills us all.”

Chapter 10

Unlike many of his brothers, Uriel had never been arrogant enough to assume he was invincible.

Not after his painful encounter with the Jinn.

He understood that vampires might be at the top of the food chain, but there was always the danger of meeting a bigger, badder opponent who could kick his ass.

So even with his secret boost of power from the Jinn, he devoted hours to perfecting his fighting skills.

Which was the only reason he wasn’t already a pile of ash.

Still, it was taking every trick he’d learned over the centuries just to keep Marika from ripping out his throat. And while his strength was rapidly draining from his numerous wounds, his adversary was as fresh as a f**king daisy.

He could only hope that Kata had managed to find a means to escape.

Almost as if the mere thought of her had created her from thin air, he heard the sound of her voice calling from across the glade.

“Uriel.” She waved her arms over her head to gain his attention. “This way.”

He swallowed a sigh of frustration.

Dammit.

Couldn’t one thing go right?

He turned, accepting that even if Kata had found a way out of the illusion she wouldn’t leave without him.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Perhaps sensing that her prey might slip from her grasp, Marika flowed to stand between him and the beckoning Kata. “We’re not done playing.”

Uriel deliberately allowed his sword to dip in a weariness he didn’t have to pretend, his other hand slipping into the pocket of his jeans. He had one shot at disabling the female long enough to reach Kata. It all depended on catching her off guard.

Marika’s dark eyes flared with smug triumph.

She was confident of her impending victory.

Hell, why not?

If Uriel was a betting man he’d put his money on the insane vampire who couldn’t die.

A humorless smile twisted his lips as he deliberately stumbled over a patch of grass, seeming to lose his balance.

That was all the encouragement Marika needed.

With a cry of anticipation she launched herself forward, her hands curled into lethal claws and her fangs fully exposed.

Uriel forced himself to wait until the last possible second, then yanking his hand out of his pocket he tossed the wooden box directly at her face. The death spell activated with a tiny pop, the magic halting her in her tracks.

He didn’t hesitate. With a fierce roar, he lifted his sword and swung it in a tremendous arch.

The blade whistled through air, offering a belated warning, but Marika was too lost in her bloodlust to notice. With lips pulled into a snarl and her icy power pulsing through the glade she launched herself at Uriel, managing to rake her claws down the side of his face even as his sword connected with her neck.

“Wrong, bitch,” he hissed. “Game over.”

Her dark eyes widened in shock as she at last realized the danger, trying to move to the side as the sword slid smoothly through her neck. It was all too little, too late and despite her frantic efforts she was helpless to halt the inevitable.

Uriel put his entire body behind the blow, slicing the sword cleanly through the vampire’s neck. He watched as Marika’s head flew through the air, landing on a patch of wildflowers, her eyes still wide with shock and her body dropping with a lifeless thud at his feet.

Not that he was deceived.

Not this time.

He grimaced at the lack of blood flowing from her lethal wound and the twitch of her limbs. She should be turning to dust, not laying there flopping like a fish out of water.

He didn’t know what the hell Marika had been transformed into, but he was fairly certain that she wasn’t going to allow a little thing like the lack of a head to stop her.

Almost as if to prove his point, a slender hand jerked outward, the fingers barely missing his foot as they dug into the ground and began to tug the body toward the missing head.

For a second, he was transfixed, unable to accept what he was seeing. Then, shaking off the paralyzing horror, Uriel turned to race toward the waiting Kata.

Flowing with a speed only a vampire could match, he was swiftly at Kata’s side, his senses on full alert at the familiar scent of demon.

“Yannah was here,” he said in flat tones.

Kata nodded, her face pale with weariness and her lovely eyes dark with fear. Still, there was a gritty courage in her expression and a determination in the angle of her shoulders that filled Uriel’s heart with pride.

This woman was a survivor.