Darkness Unleashed (Guardians of Eternity #5)(89)

The blade slid in with sickening ease, but the force of Sadie’s heavy body sent Regan reeling from the impact. Landing flat on her back, she ignored the teeth that sank into her shoulder and kept the dagger stuck deep into the cur’s flesh. Already the stench of burning flesh was tainting the air. It wouldn’t be long before the silver weakened Sadie.

She was right.

Only a few minutes passed before there was a shimmer around the wolf form, and Sadie was shifting back to human. A few minutes that seemed like an eternity as the bitch managed to gnaw her way to Regan’s shoulder bone.

As the wolf melted to a human shape, Regan forced herself to ignore her pain and rolled over so she was perched on top of her nemesis. Still clutching the dagger that she’d deliberately stuck in an inch above the woman’s heart, she struggled to catch her breath.

“Tell me where to find my sister,” she rasped.

The pale features twisted with hate. “Go screw yourself, freak.”

Regan didn’t hesitate as she yanked the dagger free and plunged it back in. This time directly into the heart.

The woman would rather die than betray Caine, and Regan wasn’t about to waste any more time.

“This is for Jagr,” she muttered as the dagger hit the cur’s heart.

She didn’t wait to watch Sadie die.

The silver would eventually do its thing, even if the cur managed to pull out the dagger, and Regan was far more interested in reaching Jagr.

Dripping blood from a half dozen wounds, Regan reached the back terrace when she heard an eerie laugh behind her.

Against her will, her feet halted and her head turned to see Sadie, crawling the short distance to her shredded clothing, pulling a pistol from the tattered pile of leather.

Stupidly, all Regan could think about was how the hell the woman had managed to hide a gun. The freaking outfit had been stretched so tight that not even a prayer could have come between leather and skin.

Then it no longer mattered where Sadie had stashed the gun.

Smiling with cruel intent, the cur pulled the trigger. Over and over.

“And this is for me.”

Regan was quick, but there was no dodging the bullets that drilled into her torso, shattering ribs and puncturing her lungs.

The force of the projectiles dropped Regan to her knees, her breathing labored, the pain ripping through her with relentless force.

“Shit,” she whispered as her life began to drain from her body.

The bullets had been coated in silver.

Chapter 20

Jagr felt like hell.

It might have been because he’d just survived an explosion, had a tea shop fall on his head, and was forced to dig a tunnel to avoid becoming charcoaled.

It might have been.

But it wasn’t.

For all his lingering wounds, his current suffering was entirely due to the woman lying on the bed in Tane’s lair.

Perched on the edge of the mattress, Jagr gently stroked his fingers through Regan’s golden hair, his gaze compulsively running over her too-slender form that he’d stripped down to the tiny bra and panties so he could keep a constant surveillance on her numerous injuries.

The gashes from the whip had healed before they had returned to the lair (not soon enough to ease Jagr’s fury at the thought of Regan being flayed by the damned cur), but the bullet wounds remained angry red lesions that made his gut twist with pain.

Silver-plated bullets.

If Sadie hadn’t already been dead, Jagr would have torn her apart limb by limb.

Without warning, Regan stirred beneath his fingers, and abruptly realizing his frigid power was blasting through the room, he hurriedly smothered his fury and leaned down to brush his lips over her temple in silent apology.

“Jagr.”

He pulled back just far enough to watch her lids flutter upward, revealing her pain-dazed eyes.

“I’m here, little one.”

“The explosion…” Her voice was a low, tortured rasp. “I thought…”

He tenderly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You thought you were rid of me? No such luck, I fear.”

An echo of remembered horror darkened her eyes. “Gods, don’t even joke. How did you get out of the house?”

“Vampires possess the ability to call the earth.”

“Call the earth?”

His lips twisted. The words made the skill sound pompously grand. In truth, it was a talent that allowed vampires to soften and shift the ground to cover themselves during the day, or more often, to hide the remains of their latest meal.

“We dug a tunnel,” he said dryly.

“Oh.” Her brows drew together as her gaze lowered to the burns that still marred his neck. He needed to feed and rest before he could fully heal, but his concern for Regan overrode any thought of his own injuries. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing that won’t be healed in a few hours.”

“You need to feed.”

“Soon.”

She frowned at his vague reply, but wise enough to recognize the bleak set of his features, she resisted any urge to lecture him.

“What about Styx?” she instead demanded.

“He’s recovering.”

There was a long silence as Regan drifted in and out of consciousness, then with an obvious effort, she forced her eyes open.

“How did you survive?”