Embrace The Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #2)(100)

His annoyance faded as the memories of Shay rolled through his mind.

Shay stepping between him and the tormenting trolls. Shay threatening Evor with castration, and worse. Shay returning to the auction house to rescue him.

"No," he said softly. "And that's the beauty of it."

She opened her mouth to continue her ruthless badgering, but with a sharp motion of his hand Levet returned his attention to the cavern.

Shay was definitely close. But mere were also three vampires, the imp that Bella had warned lived in the caves, and...Evor.

"Damn." This was bad. Really, really bad. Reaching behind his back he grabbed the sprite's arm and pulled her to his side. "How long will this magic take?"

"You wish it and it happens," she grudgingly conceded.

"Good."

Levet sucked in a deep breath as she hurriedly pressed her fingers to his lips.

"Don't do this. Wish for me to be with you. I will rescue your stupid friend..."

"I wish I were the size of the King of Gargoyles," he growled.

He wasn't sure what he expected. A bit of tingling. A puff of smoke.

Fireworks and a Sousa band.

What he got instead was a sharp blow to the head as he was suddenly far too large for the tunnel.

"Ouch." He rubbed the rising lump and glanced down at his body that was three times the size it had been.

His wish had worked. He was now large enough to rescue Shay from anyone and anything that might stand in his way.

A fortunate thing considering he had barely blinked when the sound of a high, piercing scream abruptly shattered the air.

"Sacrebleu. Shay."

Chapter Twenty-Six

It was like one of those horrible nightmares that used to plague her. The one where she was trying to flee from the witches, but her feet were relentlessly sinking into a thick mud. No matter how hard she tried to flee she just kept going slower and slower.

She could see Damocles with his dagger gleaming in the light. She could see Evor struggling as his life flashed before his eyes. She could see the short distance she had to cross to halt the relentless blow.

But no matter how fast she traveled she couldn't reach the imp before the dagger was plunged into the troll's treacherous heart.

A scream of fury and fear was wrenched from her throat.

Evor wasn't the only one to see his life passing before his eyes, and it was all so brutally unfair.

For so many years she had taken her life for granted. She had even cursed the miserable existence given to her. Certainly she had never wakened with a fierce desire to leap from her bed and discover what the day might bring.

Now she at last had that. She had Viper. And the thought of dying now filled her with unbearable despair.

Continuing to run despite the futility of it all, Shay abruptly felt the earth buckle beneath her feet. She fell to her knees even as the stone around the entrance burst inward to shower her in a cloud of pebbles.

Not at all certain what had happened, she cleared her eyes and peered through the cloud of dust.

What she saw was a very large, very terrifying gargoyle. A gargoyle who reached out to bat the imp across the room.

With a sickening thud the imp hit the far wall and crumpled onto the floor. Even from a distance it was easy to detect the unnatural angle of his neck and the wide eyes that were blank with death.

Holy freaking cow.

Too stunned to even appreciate the fact that Damocles had miraculously been killed, Shay began to scoot backward as the looming demon reached down to pluck the screaming Evor off the floor and hold him in his claws.

She was alive for the moment, but the gargoyle that now held the troll didn't look in any mood to hear her pleas. In fact, he looked large and fierce and entirely capable of swallowing them all whole.

The gargoyle took a step forward and she gave a small shriek. To hell with courage. This thing was scaring the crap out of her.

The demon halted, and then shockingly he held up his free hand in a motion of peace.

"Shay, it is I" he rumbled. Then, as she continued to regard him with open horror, he gave a click of his tongue. "It is Levet."

"Levet?" Shay slowly rose to her feet, her gaze belatedly taking in the beautiful wings that were now as large as a small car. "What... what have you done?"

He smiled revealing teeth that could snap her in two. "It appears that I have rescued you once again from your own foolishness."

Rescued. Blessed saints. She was rescued. The relief flooded through her. Or at least it started to flare through her. It hadn't gone very far when it was replaced by a flare of fear.

Viper.

Spinning about she turned just in time to watch the beautiful, silver-haired vampire take the head off the Anasso.

This time the relief went unchecked. It was over. Truly, truly over.

She took a step forward to rush to Viper's side. She wanted to throw herself in his arms and shout for joy. She wanted to run her hands through his hair and kiss him until they both could forget the horror of the past hours.

Her steps halted, however, as Viper slowly slid to his knees and an expression of deep sorrow touched his face.

He had just been forced to kill a leader he had obviously respected for centuries. He deserved a few moments to reconcile himself to the painful death.

With an effort she slowly turned back to the waiting demon behind her. He didn't look at all like her beloved Levet. Well, except for the eyes. They could never change.