Darkness Everlasting (Guardians of Eternity #3)(44)

Levet stepped forward, his expression stubborn. "Salvatore's lair. You did tell me to search it."

The vampire gave a soft hiss of annoyance. "And to bring whatever you discovered to me, not Darcy. What the hell were you thinking?"

Darcy blinked in bewilderment even as the gargoyle gave a nervous flutter of his wings.

"Why should she not see? The pictures do, after all, concern her."

"Of course they concern me," she said, rising to her feet. She didn't understand Styx's odd reaction, and at the moment she was too overwhelmed to give it much thought. Nothing mattered but the picture. "This is ... I don't know. I must speak with Salvatore."

"Out of the question."

Darcy stiffened as she glared at the vampire looming over her. For the first time she noticed the elegant robe that was draped over his shoulders. No doubt a symbol of his authority.

A symbol that had obviously gone to his head if he thought he could order her around as if she were one of his vampire flunkies.

"It most certainly is not out of the question." She waved the picture beneath his arrogant nose. "Do you understand what this means? I have ... family. And the werewolf knows who and where she is."

With a blur of motion he had snatched the picture from her fingers and was glaring at her with smoldering black eyes.

"And what if it is nothing more than a trick?"

She took an instinctive step back from the prickling power that shimmered in the air around him.

"What do you mean?"

"Salvatore is desperate to get his hands on you. Do you think he wouldn't stoop to any means to lure you into his clutches?"

Something very close to disappointment clenched her heart. Perhaps it was understandable that Styx would treat anything that had been in the hands of the Weres with suspicion, but he could at least try to understand her excitement.

For goodness sake, she had waited for this moment for thirty years.

"That is no trick." She pointed at the picture in his hand. "Whoever that woman is she looks like me. Enough like me to be my mother."

"Darcy..."

He reached out as if he would stroke her cheek, but Darcy quickly darted away. She wouldn't be distracted by his tender caress.

This was too important.

"No. I have to know."

Impatience rippled over his beautiful features before he managed to regain that cool control that was so much a part of him.

"Then we will discover the truth," he said with dark authority.

"How?"

He gave a lift of his shoulder. "I will approach Salvatore myself."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Right, because it worked out so well for you last time."

A hint of fang flashed at her deliberate jab. He didn't like to be reminded that Salvatore had ever gotten the best of him.

"I was caught off guard. I assure you, that will not happen again."

Darcy believed him. He would kill the pureblood before he would allow himself to be humiliated again.

Which did nothing for her confidence in his ability to discover the truth that she needed.

She couldn't get answers from a dead wolf.

"Maybe not, but Salvatore's not very likely to answer any questions to his sworn enemy, is he?"

"He will if he knows what is good for him."

"Oh, for God's sake, you can't beat the truth out of him," she snapped, her usually sunny temperament pressed beyond all reason. "It makes far more sense for me to question him. This might be the reason he is seeking me. Maybe this woman has paid him to find me."

"Or else she is already in his clutches," he said darkly.

"Oh." She pressed a hand to her heart. The thought of the unknown woman being held by the Weres was enough to send her into a panic. "Dear God. We must do something."

"I have already promised I would deal with this, Darcy. Leave it in my hands."

She sucked in a deep breath. He had to be the most stubborn vampire ever created.

"If you insist on being involved that's fine, but I'm going to be the one to confront Salvatore."

The dark eyes flashed with warning. That is not your decision to make."

"I'm making it my decision. I won't have you endangering this woman because you want to punish the werewolves."

Darcy had argued all she intended to. She had made up her mind and that was the end of it. With firm steps she headed to the door.

"Where are you going?" Styx growled from behind her.

"To change."

Styx watched with impotent anger as Darcy swept from the room.

Well, he had managed to screw that up with stunning success.

Of course, it wasn't entirely his fault.

Whirling around, he pointed a finger directly at the tiny demon attempting to hide behind one of the wooden chairs.

"You," he breathed in a lethal tone. "You did this."

With an effort the gargoyle tilted his chin to a stubborn angle. "Hey, don't blame the messenger. After all, you're the one who sent me to that damn lair. I could have been killed."

A pity he hadn't been, Styx savagely told himself. He had come in search of Darcy in the hopes of spending the last of the fading night in her arms. He was in need of her soft touch after hours spent dealing with two demanding vampires who expected him to magically solve their troubles.