Darkness Everlasting (Guardians of Eternity #3)(55)

Styx flashed his fangs. Maybe a little childish for a dignified leader of all vampires, but he wasn't feeling very damn dignified at the moment.

"I would have. That isn't my work."

"Darcy?" Salvatore slowly smiled, a pleased expression settling on his thin face. "Well, well. Who would have guessed? She is becoming quite a woman. One any man would be pleased to call his own."

Sheer savage fury raced through Styx and not even Viper's tight grip could keep him from darting across the floor and grasping Salvatore by the neck. He would drain Salvatore dry before he would allow the dog to lay a hand on Darcy.

With blinding speed Salvatore kicked out, managing to strike Styx in the knee. Styx hissed as his fingers tightened on the Were's throat.

"Did you send this cur to kill her?" he rasped.

Salvatore growled as he struck Styx viciously in the stomach.

"I always heard that vampires were lacking in certain aspects of their anatomy. I didn't know it meant the size of their brain."

Styx dodged an uppercut before Salvatore gave another blow to his stomach. He flinched and then was forced to leap backward as the Were smoothly pulled a dagger from beneath his jacket.

Freed of the immediate threat of death, Salvatore calmly straightened his tie as he glared at Styx. "I will sacrifice anything to keep Darcy alive."

It would be a simple matter to knock the dagger aside and once again have the Were in grasp, but Styx resisted the urge.

Bloody hell. What had happened to his aloof discipline? His cold cunning and logic?

The Anasso did not roll around in the dirt with a common werewolf.

"Then why did this woman attack her?"

"Jade tends to be a bit high-strung even for a cur."

Styx narrowed his gaze. "You expect me to believe that this... Were just happened by this warehouse and decided to attack Darcy?"

Salvatore shrugged. "She must have been watching your estate for an opportunity to get her alone." He paused, a mocking smile curving his lips. "Speaking of which, why was Darcy here alone in the first place?"

"Do not mistake me for a fool, dog." The dust swirled as Styx's power stirred the air around him. "Darcy may be an innocent, but I assure you I am not. You deliberately planted a fake picture to lure Darcy from my protection."

"There is nothing fake about that picture, vamp."

"Impossible."

"If you wish, I can have Sophia rip out your throat to prove just how very real she is." The golden eyes glowed in the dim light. "She might anyway once she discovers you have taken her daughter captive."

Styx paused. Could it be truer was the picture genuine? And if it was, could the woman be related to Darcy?

He sharply thrust aside the sudden questions. Now was not the time to trouble himself with 'what ifs."

"What is your game, Salvatore?" he demanded.

The dark features hardened. His own power prickled the air. "There is no game. Darcy belongs to me."

"Never."

"You have lived long enough to never say never, vamp."

The pureblood truly did have a death wish.

"I will see you dead before you put your hands on her."

"Not if I put you in your grave first."

Styx stepped forward, quite prepared to meet any challenge Salvatore was willing to offer.

"Is that a threat?"

"Oh yes." The glow in the golden eyes shimmered as Salvatore battled to control his beast. "You have kidnapped my consort. No one would blame me for any retribution I might choose. Including death."

"Consort." Styx jerked as if Salvatore had stabbed the dagger in his heart. In fact, it felt as if he had. "A pure-blood will only mate with another pureblood."

"Exactly."

Styx gave a low, warning hiss. The temptation to simply kill the Were and be done with it was growing by the moment.

Surely whatever penalty he would be forced to endure would be offset by the pleasure of putting Salvatore in a nice, deep grave.

"Darcy is not a werewolf," he gritted.

"Can you be so sure, vamp?"

"By the gods, this is some sort of trick."

A taunting smile curved Salvatore's lips. Think what you will." He twirled the dagger, then smoothly slipped it beneath his jacket and began to stroll across the room. "Come, Hess, we must be on the trail of my queen. So sorry you can't join us, Styx. By the time the sun sets again Darcy will be mine. In every sense of the word."

Styx was moving before he could even think.

That dog put a finger on Darcy? He would see him in hell first.

Springing forward, he was unprepared for the large form that suddenly loomed before him. He slammed into Viper with a stunning force, sending them both to the ground.

In the blink of an eye Styx was on his feet, but so was Viper.

"Styx, no," Viper growled, his fierce expression warning that he was quite prepared to fight Styx to keep him from pursuing the damnable Were. "It is too near dawn for you to be battling the Weres. We have to get out of here. Now."

"And leave him free to track down Darcy?" Styx demanded, his entire body trembling with the need to follow after the Were. "He will have her long before sunset."

A strange expression rippled over his companion's pale, elegant features.