Devoured by Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #7)(9)

“As if I would allow such nasty creatures to touch me.” Levet wrinkled his snout. “Mon Dieu, they smell like they just crawled from their graves.”

Tane flashed his fangs at the tiny gargoyle. “Then do something to help put them back in.”

“Well, I do have a magnificent fireball spell,” Levet offered. “Although there was the teeniest trouble the last time I used it.”

“What trouble?”

“There might have been a minor cave-in.” Tane yanked the dagger from the vampire’s chest and pointed it toward Levet. “No fireballs.”

“There is no need to bellow.” Levet sniffed in offense. “Either you want my help or you do not, please make up your mind.”

Laylah forced her attention away from Tane as he cut out the heart of the nearest vamp. Although he was injured from dozens of wounds, it was obvious he would soon be done with his attackers.

“Thank you, Levet.” She patted him between the horns. “I really am sorry for your … injury. Now, I really must run.”

Tane growled low in his throat, grasping the remaining vampire by the throat and lifting him off the ground as he turned his attention to Laylah.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Leaving.”

“Now?” “Yes.”

“You intend to abandon me in the middle of a battle?”

She glanced toward the two disintegrating vampires on the ground and the third who was all but dead, again, struggling to escape Tane’s crushing grip.

“Do you think I’m stupid enough to wait around so you can force me to the Commission?”

Something that perilously close to amusement shimmered in the honey eyes.

“I brought you chocolate cake.” His black brows lifted. “It was homemade.”

It had been delicious. German chocolate with fresh coconut and pecans …

She shook her head, moving toward the entrance to the tunnel. “I don’t care if the cake was orgasmic, it’s not worth being exterminated.”

A wicked smile curved his lips. “If it’s orgasmic you want, my sweet …”

“Goodbye, Tane.” She gave him a finger wave, pretending she didn’t notice the sizzle of heat that raced through her blood. Stupid vampire smiles. “I can’t say it’s been a pleasure.”

“Laylah.”

Ignoring Tane’s bellow and Levet’s flurry of French protests, Laylah charged through the darkness, knowing she was wasting her energy unless she came up with a plan for escape.

She had to get out of the tunnel.

And she had to do it before Tane finished off the last of the boneheads who’d been stupid enough to attack him.

Rounding a curve, she skidded to an abrupt halt. What was that? A breeze? Her hand lifted to her cheek. Yes, definitely a breeze. And the air was fresh. Which meant there had to be an opening nearby.

Her heart was pounding so loudly she wouldn’t have been able to hear a train approaching as she scrambled up the side of the wall, using her strength to crack open the small fissures in the ceiling.

It would all be a hell of a lot easier if she could just shadow walk, but it was difficult enough to crack open the stone of the tunnel until she rested, let alone rip a hole through space.

That was something you really wanted to be on top of your game to try.

She choked on the clouds of dust that filled the air, her eyes watering as a shower of rocks pelted her on the top of her head. The mini cave-in, however, had the intended result and, hoping the yummy chocolate cake hadn’t widened her ass, she wriggled through the narrow opening.

For a heart-stopping moment, her jean shorts were caught on a jagged rock, but grasping a nearby clump of grass she pulled herself out of the tunnel.

Panting and covered in dust, Laylah crawled away from the hole she’d created, impatiently brushing away the blood that dripped from a wound on her forehead. She wanted to flop on the damp grass and catch her breath, but she forced herself to her feet and jogged over the rolling field.

For the moment she might have outmaneuvered pain-in-the-ass-Tane, since no vampire, regardless of how arrogant, would dare the sun that threatened to rise at any minute. But he wasn’t stupid, and he already suspected she’d deliberately led him away from Caine’s lair.

He would use the tunnels to return there.

Thankfully she had a straight shot back to Caine’s, while the tunnels twisted and turned, forcing Tane to travel almost twice the distance.

With any luck at all she could retrieve her baby and disappear before anyone could follow.

Her lips thinned to a hard line as she found a dirt road that wound its way through empty countryside and picked up her speed. For the past fifty years her luck had been nothing but shitty.

Why should it change now?

Chapter 3

The sun was setting by the time that Laylah arrived at Caine’s lair, but as Levet had promised, Caine was long gone. And so were most of his guards.

Thank the gods.

She wasted no time in silently slipping into the private outbuilding that was wrapped in layers of thick illusion that kept her presence hidden from the world. Or at least it had until Caine had insisted she travel with him to Hannibal.

Inside there were few comforts. A ratty couch and chair that she’d found in an abandoned house along with a television was the sum total of furniture in her living room. While the attached room held a narrow cot and a crib. She didn’t collect possessions.