Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #9)(58)

Without warning, the nearest bookshelf slid outward to reveal a hidden passageway.

Gaius tensed in shock, his fangs lengthening in preparation for an attack. Instead, Sally stepped into the room, her hair hanging around her face, which was amazingly devoid of her ridiculous black makeup, and her slender body covered by a flannel nightgown.

She looked like a child. As long as you didn’t look into the eyes, which were glowing with a crimson fire.

“Yes, Dolf, please enlighten me on how you intend to betray me?”

The cur fell to his knees, his head pressed to the floor at the sudden blast of power that had nothing to do with Sally and everything to do with the Dark Lord. “Mistress.”

Sally moved forward, her expression slack as she was piloted by the evil deity to stand directly next to the cringing cur. “I have made allowances for you because you are young and impetuous, but my patience has run its course.” The voice was female, but not Sally’s.

“No, please,” Dolf whined, the stench of his fear filling the air. “I swear I will never again question your powers.”

“No, you will not.”

Leaning down, Sally placed her hand on the back of Dolf ’s head, her touch almost gentle. But even as the cur’s violent shudders began to ease, a dark mist formed around his body.

At first nothing happened and Gaius wondered if it was simply a spell to keep him trapped on the floor. Then, instinctively, Gaius stepped back, watching in horror as the blackness began to boil and churn, consuming Dolf ’s body with a silent swiftness.

There was no other way to explain it. Wherever the mist touched Dolf, his body just . . . vanished. There was no sound, no scent, no sense of anything but death claiming its latest trophy.

A ball of dread lodged in the pit of his stomach.

What the hell?

Sally was only supposed to be a conduit for the Dark Lord, but it was obvious she was able to call on some hefty magic. The thought should have been reassuring. It surely meant that the Dark Lord still maintained a large portion of her powers and was capable of returning Dara from the grave.

Instead, Gaius could only watch Dolf being efficiently destroyed and wonder if the cur had been given the preferable fate.

It was the distant howls of Ingrid who had been driven to her wolf form as she sensed the loss of her brother that at last snapped Gaius out of his dangerous sense of unreality.

Lifting his head, he found Sally regarding him with those eyes that burned with crimson fire.

“A shame, but he had outlived his usefulness.” Stepping over Dolf ’s disintegrating body, Sally walked to stand directly in front of Gaius. “What of you?”

Gaius swiftly bowed. “I am yours to command.”

“So I have your loyalty?”

“Without question.”

“And what of your faith?”

Gaius warily straightened, praying the creature was incapable of reading his mind. “My faith?”

“It’s simple, vampire.” She reached to run a nail down his cheek. “Do you still believe we can achieve your glorious future together?”

Gaius suppressed his shudder, holding himself motionless beneath her light touch. No use provoking the crazy creature. “Of course.”

“Hmmm.” The nail dug deep enough to draw blood. “Not the ringing endorsement I might have hoped for from one of my most devoted disciples.”

Gaius desperately sought a distraction. “What would you have of me?”

The crimson eyes narrowed before she dropped her hand and stepped back. “I need you to travel to Chicago.”

“Again?” Caught off guard, Gaius spoke without thinking. “Did the prophet escape?”

The air hummed with a surge of power and Gaius silently cursed his stupid question. What the hell had happened to his frigid discipline?

“You agree with Dolf?” Sally asked in a lethally soft voice. “You suspect that I’m incompetent?”

“I . . . of course not.”

“But you suspect I’m incapable of holding on to my prisoners?”

“No.” Gaius sought to minimize the danger. “I was just curious why you would want me to return to Chicago.”

The punishing pressure eased, although the crimson gaze regarded him with an unwavering intensity that warned his brush with death was far from over.

“The child I need is being held there.”

Child? There was only one child that the Dark Lord could be interested in, and yet, Gaius paused, certain that he must have misunderstood.

“You mean the babe that’s being protected in the King of Vampire’s lair?”

Crimson eyes flared with hunger. “Yes.”

“That is . . .” This time Gaius managed to swallow his impulsive words.

“There’s something you want to share?” the Dark Lord mocked.

Hell yes, there was something he wanted to share. He wanted to share that it was sheer madness to try and battle his way into the most highly guarded lair in the entire world.

He would be dead before he ever reached the front gates.

“No matter what my powers, I can’t possibly bluff my way past the Anasso and his Ravens,” he cautiously pointed out. “And I certainly can’t overpower them.”

Sally shrugged. “You won’t be alone.”

Gaius glanced toward the flakes of black dust that was all that remained of Dolf. “I doubt my remaining companions would offer the firepower I would need.”