Darkness Unleashed (Guardians of Eternity #5)(54)

“A cur.” Levet halted in shock. “You are certain?”

Pleased to have his full attention, Bella ran a tempting hand through her hair. “I know a dog when I see one. He was far more handsome than you, but covered in blood.” She grimaced. “Bleck.”

A cur covered in blood?

Had one of them been injured?

And why did they smell like an imp…

Levet smacked his forehead with his clenched claw.

“Sacrebleu.” Smack, smack. “I have been such a fool.”

“Well, your brain isn’t very big,” Bella sympathized.

Lifting his head, Levet glared at the water sprite. “One more word out of you and I’m turning you into a carp.”

“Why do you want a stupid imp?” she pouted, blithely ignoring his threat. “They’re nasty, tricky beasts. Sprites are much more fun. Don’t you remember how you liked me rubbing your wings? Summon me and I’ll make you the happiest gargoyle in the world.”

“Enough, you make my head hurt,” Levet snapped.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t tempted. Bella was lovely, and he was a healthy male who liked having his wings stroked as well as the next gargoyle. Still, he understood the dangers of playing with the fey.

They always ended up being more trouble than they were worth.

Squaring his shoulders, Levet concentrated on the fading scent of plums. The damned cur may have tricked him, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use the situation to his advantage.

“Wait.” Breaking into his concentration, Bella swam closer to the shore. “Where are you going?”

He muttered a curse at the interruption. “I have a cur to capture.”

“I can help.”

“Bah.”

“I know where the imp is.”

Levet scowled. “How would you know?”

“I see things.”

“See things? What could you possibly see? You cannot be in this world unless you’re summoned…”

He stumbled to silence as his words sank through his thick skull. She couldn’t be here. Not unless she’d already been summoned.

She was nothing more than another bit of bait. Just like the scent of imp that had led him to this precise spot.

“Oh, shit,” he breathed, whirling just in time to watch the tall cur step from behind a tree.

His hands lifted to conjure a hasty spell, but the words didn’t have time to form before he was struck by a brilliant explosion.

The world went black.

Chapter 13

Regan shivered, absently rubbing her hands over her bare arms. The chill in the air had nothing to do with the brisk spring breeze and everything to do with the very large, very annoyed vampire stalking silently behind her.

Not that she was about to apologize.

She hadn’t asked for his interference, dammit. And she most certainly didn’t ask to be treated like a helpless bimbo who had to be tucked away in a safe lair while Jagr played superhero.

She was the one who Culligan had tormented and tortured for three decades. She was the one who had dreamed night after night of ripping out the imp’s throat. She was the one who’d tracked the bastard to Hannibal.

This was her fight, and by God, she was going to see it to the bitter end.

And her stubborn reaction to his protective instincts had nothing at all to do with the fear that the stunning pleasure she’d felt in Jagr’s arms had given him a power over her that was as ruthless and eternal as Jagr himself.

She shivered again.

Christ. She needed a distraction.

And a freaking jacket.

“What is this place?” she demanded, gazing around the wide stretch of open land that was surrounded by a handful of large, elegant homes. “A park?”

Quickening his pace to walk beside her rather than glowering from behind, Jagr deliberately pulled back his power, easing the chill in the air.

“A golf course,” he corrected.

“Ah.” Her lips twisted. No wonder she didn’t recognize the place. Culligan had never spent much time around the country club set. “That would explain the lack of teeter-totters.”

“And the manicured greens with holes cut in them.”

She shot him a startled glance. “You golf?”

“There are few things I haven’t tried over the centuries.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” she said dryly.

Heat flared through his eyes, burning away the lingering ice. “I’d be happy to demonstrate a few of them later.”

Regan hastily turned her head, following the peach-scented trail that led toward a line of woods at the back of the golf course. Not that she hoped for a minute the damned vampire couldn’t see the blush staining her cheeks.

“What would an imp be doing out here?” she muttered.

Half-expecting Jagr to pounce on her obvious vulnerability, Regan breathed a sigh of relief when he instead turned his attention toward the thicker shadows gathered ahead.

“My first guess would be that he’s hiding.”

“From us?”

Jagr tilted back his head as if sensing the night air. “His trail is fresh. And he’s near.”

Regan abruptly halted, realizing the scent of peach had grown considerably stronger. She pointed toward the line of trees along a barbed wire fence.