Hunt the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #11)(18)

Genuine confusion rippled over the Miera’s face, his body seeming to smudge and flicker at the edges. What the heck? Was it an illusion?

“I have no fight with the vampires.”

“You will,” Roke assured him. “Styx takes it quite personally when someone tries to kill one of his clan chiefs.”

There was a hesitation and Sally belatedly understood Roke’s tactic.

He was judging the desperation of the creature not only by revealing that he was a clan chief, but also by tapping the box with the dagger. It would prove just how important the box was to the Miera and how anxious he was to get his hands on it.

“As I said, give me the box and there will be no need for bloodshed,” the demon at last commanded, clearly worried his box might be damaged by the dagger.

“You haven’t said what it does,” Roke countered, his attention focused on the Miera who was once again walking around the circle even as he spoke directly into her mind.

Be ready to run....

Sally swallowed a tiny gasp. Hadn’t she told him not to do that?

And if she hadn’t, then that was something that needed to be taken care of ASAP.

Well, just as soon as they were out of trouble.

“The shield is weakening,” the Miera pronounced, flicking his tongue with obvious satisfaction.

Roke covertly slid his dagger back into the holster at his lower back.

“If you attack us you risk destroying the box,” he reminded the demon, reaching to grasp her hand.

“There are some risks worth taking,” the demon hissed, his pale eyes abruptly morphing to a startling black that was slit with red.

Sally might have been wigged out by the strange eyes if she hadn’t been desperately struggling to maintain the shield.

The past three weeks had taken their toll.

Her magical tank was running on empty.

The cracks in the shield were beginning to form when she felt a warning blast of frigid air.

Roke’s power.

Familiar with the bad, bad things that could happen when the vampire released his innate talent, she made no protest when he yanked her to her feet and shoved her toward the door.

“Sally, now,” he barked, trusting her to lower the shield in time for them to leap over the candles.

The demon gave an eerie growl of fury, but before he could react there was a shower of splinters as the overhead beams shattered beneath Roke’s power. In the next second Sally was tossed out the door and the cottage that had withstood a century of violent storms, a rare earthquake, and an attack by a rival witch, collapsed into a pile of rubble.

Holy shit.

Roke clutched Sally’s fingers in one hand and the box in the other as he headed straight for the nearby shed.

“That was quite a trick,” she muttered, her steps shaky as she struggled to keep pace.

“It won’t hold him for long,” he said in absent tones, his gaze skimming the barren landscape.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for a vehicle.” He hissed in frustration as he realized they had no easy means of escape. He hadn’t heard the approach of a car, but that was hardly surprising. It might be humiliating to admit, but when Sally was near he tended to be dangerously distracted. “How did the bastard get here?”

“On foot?” she suggested.

“Possible, but Mieras aren’t as physically strong as most demons. They rarely travel more than a few miles beyond their lair.” He muttered a curse. There were way too many questions with no answers. “We’re going to have to make a run for it.”

She staunchly squared her shoulders despite her obvious weariness.

“Okay.”

His lips twisted. He didn’t doubt she would drive herself until she collapsed into a coma. And all without once asking for help.

She’d been alone too long.

Been hurt too many times.

What she needed was a kind, patient man who could tenderly heal the wounds that life had inflicted.

Not an ill-tempered, loner of a vampire who’d made a vow to devote his life to his clan.

Unfortunately he was all she had.

“Will you trust me to keep you safe?” he abruptly demanded.

There was a predictable hesitation, but after a long pause she gave a nod.

“Yes.”

Something moved deep inside him.

A seismic shift that cracked open a vulnerable fissure he had no idea how to repair.

And no time to consider the long-term consequences.

Instead, he swept her off her feet, cradling her against his chest as he flowed silently through the night.

“Hold on,” he warned, leaping over a wide culvert.

She threw her arms around his neck, anxiously trying to glance over his shoulder.

“Do you sense we’re being followed?”

His arms tightened protectively around her slender body, his fangs fully exposed as he made a direct path toward the trees that filled the small valley below them.

Anything that tried to stop them, he’d rip out their throat.

“No, but there was something off about that demon,” he said. He wasn’t intimately familiar with Miera demons, but he knew damned well the one that attacked them wasn’t natural. “For all we know the creature might be capable of disguising his presence.”

She shivered, but her courage never faltered.