Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #9)(67)

At his low words Tane stepped into the room, his expression bleak in the glow from the fluorescent lights. “It’s not too late,” he said, his tone defying anyone to tell him otherwise. “Where’s Nefri?”

“I’m not sure.” Styx moved to stand directly in front of his brother, easily sensing the vampire was about to snap. The one-time Charon’s fear for his son had made him a seething rampage just waiting to happen. “Why?”

“She has the same pendant as Gaius. She can follow him and—”

“No, Tane,” Styx gently interrupted. “I’m sorry, but Nefri has already tried to use her medallion to locate the Dark Lord, without success. She thinks it’s because Gaius’s medallion is directly connected to the evil pain in the ass.”

Tane shoved unsteady fingers through his mohawk. “Damn.”

Styx placed a comforting hand on Tane’s shoulder. “We’ll find a way to reach your son.”

The honey eyes blazed with a sense of furious helplessness. “Laylah will demand to use her powers to shadow-walk.”

Styx grimaced, although he wasn’t surprised. Laylah didn’t have the power of a full Jinn who could move between worlds, but she could enter the mists that traveled between the dimensions. It was only to be expected she would try to use that talent to reach her child. No matter how dangerous it might be.

“You want me to forbid her?”

Tane snorted at the ridiculous question. “It wouldn’t help.”

True. Styx might be king, but that didn’t mean jack-squat to a female who was desperate to reach her child. “You’re afraid she’ll be captured by the Dark Lord?” he instead asked.

“No, I’m afraid she’ll be disappointed,” Tane admitted, his low voice harsh with pain. “She’s never sensed the entrance to the Dark Lord’s prison during her previous travels. I doubt it will make a magical appearance now that we need it. She’ll be devastated if she fails.”

Styx squeezed the younger vampire’s shoulder, offering his unspoken sympathy. “Will you go with her?”

Tane arched a brow. “Is that a joke?”

“Just be careful,” Styx commanded. “There are more dangers than just the Dark Lord.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Tane reminded him.

Styx nodded, wise enough not to point out that both Tane and Laylah were emotionally compromised and hardly capable of making rational decisions.

At the moment they were all emotionally compromised.

“And stay in contact.”

“I will.”

Tane gave a faint nod before whirling on his heel and disappearing from the room. Jaelyn followed behind him, leaving Styx alone in the barren cell.

Powerless to do anything to assist Tane in finding his son, let alone halting the return of the Dark Lord as the all-powerful Gemini, Styx turned to ram his fist into the cement wall. A shower of rubble and dust filled the air, along with his blistering curses.

“God dammit,” he roared. “I’m tired of constantly being one step behind.”

There was a faint stir of air before a slender woman with short, spiky, blond hair and green eyes that looked too large for her heart-shaped faced stepped into the room.

“It’s not your fault, my love.”

Styx instinctively reached for his tiny Were mate, pulling her into his arms and allowing her presence to ease his need for destruction. “I’m the Anasso,” he said, leaning his cheek against the top of her head. “It’s my duty to protect my people.”

Darcy wrapped her arms around his waist. “Now is not the time to dwell on failure. We must concentrate on what comes next.”

Styx’s growl rumbled through the room. “Chaos comes next,” he told her. “The Dark Lord has both of the children. The prophecy has been fulfilled.”

She gave a click of her tongue, tilting back her head to regard him with a chiding frown. “We don’t fully know what the words of the prophecy mean,” she said. “But I do know that the easiest way for the Dark Lord to defeat us is for us to simply give up.”

Ever the optimist, he wryly acknowledged. Which worked out just fine, considering he gave the definition of pessimist a whole new meaning. His gaze skimmed over her delicate face. This female was the light to his dark. Tenderness to his brutality.

The heart to his brawn.

Which made her a treasure beyond price. And specifically why he’d refused her request to join him.

“I thought I told you to stay at home.”

She snorted at his reproach. “And you know how well I obey orders.”

He brushed her lips with a rueful kiss. “Troublemaker.”

“You wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“No,” he instantly agreed, pressing her head back to his chest and returning his cheek to the top of her head. “I’m afraid, my angel.”

“I know,” she whispered, her hands running up and down his back in a soothing caress. “We all are.”

“If we can’t stop—”

“Shh,” she interrupted his dark words. “We’ll find a way.”

“How can you be so certain?”

“We’re the good guys.”

His short laugh bounced off the cement walls. No one had ever called him one of the “good guys.”