Fear the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity) (25 page)

Gaius clenched his hands. It wasn’t that he didn’t sympathize with the man’s need to get his payment up front.
Merda
, he was desperate to be given his own rewards. But he wasn’t in the mood to play the role of diplomat.

Not only had he seen up close and in person just what happened to a servant who questioned the Dark Lord’s ability to fulfill her promises. But, he was still raw from his encounter with the King of Vampires and the reminder of his duty to Santiago.

He never allowed himself to think of the son he’d been forced to abandon.

Never.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he warned his companion. “The last creature to challenge the Dark Lord was eaten alive by a black mist. Do you think you’ll fare any better?”

“I won’t be denied my revenge.”

Gaius rolled his eyes, wondering how a man could sell his soul for mere revenge. “Once the Dark Lord has returned, you will be able to torture and torment whoever you want,” he promised dryly.

“And if he doesn’t return?”

“Then we’re both screwed.”

The blunt words hung in the air as they both considered the heinous consequences of failure. Then, with an angry shake of his head, Kostas turned to kick aside the chair, revealing a small lever built in the floor.

Gaius watched as the vampire tripped the lever and stood back while the hidden door slid open to reveal a small room beyond. Instantly, the sound of a crying baby filled the air.

“In there.” Kostas waved a beefy hand toward the dark room. “How do you intend to get it to the Dark Lord?”

Gaius pointed for the Hunter to enter the room ahead of him. Not only because he feared a hidden spell, but because he didn’t want the powerful demon at his back.

“I’m a vampire of many talents.”

Kostas glanced over his shoulder, a sudden cunning in his dark eyes. “I’ve heard the Immortal Ones have weird powers.”

“Weird?”

“Shape-shifting, mist-walking,” he named them off. “Enthralling other vampires.”

Gaius would never have answered if Kostas was still the leader of the Hunters. Whatever Styx’s accusation, he wasn’t indifferent to the debt he owed Nefri and her clan for taking him in.

But Kostas had been tossed out of the Addonexus. And more importantly, it was highly unlikely the brash idiot would survive his current tenure with the Dark Lord. Why not give him the answers he wanted?

“Shape-shifting is a talent that only a rare few vampires possess,” he admitted. “Although it’s impossible to fully develop the skill without traveling beyond the Veil.”

“And the others?” the man pressed.

“Nefri, the clan chief, has a medallion like mine that allows her to mist-walk and also to part the Veil so vampires can travel back and forth. And as far as enthralling other vampires . . .” Gaius shrugged. “There are those who can seize control of lesser minds.”

The dark eyes narrowed. “Are you one of them?”

“If I were, we wouldn’t be having this ridiculous conversation.”

Kostas stiffly moved to stand beside the narrow bed where the baby continued to cry, its tiny body wrapped in a blanket and his face scrunched and red with distress. “I don’t like this,” Kostas growled, scooping the baby off the mattress.

“You don’t have to like it, you just have to obey.”

With a warning glare, Kostas shoved the squalling baby into Gaius’s arms. Astonishingly, the child abruptly halted its crying, regarding Gaius with a pair of wide blue eyes that held an innocence that pierced him straight in his dead heart.

“You stiff me and there’s nowhere you can hide that I won’t track you down,” Kostas muttered.

Wrenching his gaze away from the sweet purity that was bundled in his arms, Gaius instead glared at his companion as he grasped the medallion.

“Stand back, you buffoon.”

The Dark Lord’s prison

Cassie was lost in a choking darkness. There were no sounds, no smells, no sense of touch. Just a vast emptiness that defied even the passage of time.

It was almost a relief when she distantly felt a sharp slap on her cheek.

“Wakey, wakey,” a female said in her ear.

Cassie struggled to wade out of the clinging fog, flinching as the slaps became more painful.

“Caine,” she breathed, slowly opening her eyes to discover a pretty young face hovering directly over her. “You.”

A pair of dimples flashed. “Yes, me.”

With a hiss of fear, Cassie scooted away from the evil deity.

And the bitch was evil.

Only a truly black heart would have taken such pleasure in torturing a helpless Caine while Cassie pleaded on her knees for mercy.

She had tried, over and over, to conjure the visions the Dark Lord wanted, but she wasn’t a sideshow freak. She couldn’t force the visions to appear.

At last she’d been sucked into the black hole of unconsciousness, her mind forced to relive every agonizing moment of Caine’s torture for what had seemed to be an eternity.

Now she could only imagine what new hell was awaiting her.

“Where’s Caine?” she managed to demand, her voice a mere croak.

The female straightened, smoothing her hands down the pretty white sundress she’d somehow managed to create to cover her naked body. “Don’t worry. Your devoted dog is nearby.”

The Dark Lord gave a wave of her hand and the swirling fog parted to reveal Caine, who was still trapped between wolf and human, lying motionless.

Cassie warily rose to her feet, her hands pressed to her aching heart. “What have you done to him?”

“He’s in stasis.” The blue eyes flickered with a sinister crimson. “At least for now.”

Cassie understood the warning. The temporary reprieve was over. “What do you want?”

The female reached to grasp Cassie by the hair, pulling hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. “You know what I want.”

Cassie didn’t try to fight. What was the point? The creature would simply break her neck. Or worse, she’d continue her torture of Caine.

Instead, she sent her captor a pleading gaze. “Please, I can’t give it to you.”

The Dark Lord gave her an infuriated shake, rattling Cassie’s teeth. “You’re just not trying hard enough.”

“I am,” Cassie cried out. “I swear.”

The female pointed her finger toward the unconscious Caine. “Do you need a reminder of the cost of failure?”

“No, I beg you . . .”

No big shocker—the evil bitch ignored Cassie’s pleas. With a small gesture the Dark Lord sent her invisible power slamming into Caine with enough force to wrench him from the spell and make him howl in brutal agony.

“I need to know the future, seer.” She glared at Cassie, frustration making crimson fire nearly consume the blue of her eyes. “You will give it to me.”

Cassie cried out, feeling Caine’s pain as if it was her own. “You’re killing him.”

The female gave Cassie another violent shake. “It’s up to you to save him.”

“Stop . . .”

Cassie’s words were lost as a familiar sensation seized her mind, driving out all thoughts of the Dark Lord and even Caine.

This power was bigger than all of them.

With violent force, the prophecy raced through her, searing a path from the great unknown to leave her shaken and disoriented. Like she’d been run over by a cement truck.

Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself befuddled and unable to remember why she was surrounded by white fog. Or why her head was throbbing. Visions weren’t usually painful.

Then, her gaze landed on a female who was bent over to study the shimmering glyph that hung in midair. What the hell?

“At last,” the stranger straightened, turning to grab Cassie by the throat. “What does it say?” Her fingers tightened as Cassie struggled to clear her mind of the lingering confusion. “Are you listening to me?”

“Leave me alone,” Cassie rasped.

“Tell me what it says,” the female roared.

“What?”

“The prophecy.” The fingers dug into Cassie’s flesh, branding her skin with a scorching heat. “What does it say?”

Cassie blinked, forcing her mind to focus on her surroundings. Fog. So much fog. And some strange monster who was shuddering in obvious pain.

Oh, gods. She was trapped in this hellish white mist with a crazy Dark Lord and Caine.

“I remember,” she whispered.

“Then tell me.” The Dark Lord shifted her hand to crush Cassie’s chin in a brutal grip, forcing her face toward the shimmering glyph. “Give me my future.”

Cassie grudgingly allowed her gaze to settle on the floating prophecy. The last thing she wanted was to give the Dark Lord the advantage in their ongoing war. But then again, did she have a choice? One way or another, the Dark Lord was going to force her to translate the vision.

She focused on the glyph, her brows drawing together as the words slid across her mind.

“Well?” the Dark Lord prompted, her nails slicing through Cassie’s skin.

Cassie bent her head, allowing her hair to cover the smile that suddenly curved her lips.

“
The tides of chaos break upon an impenetrable wall
.”

“No.” Abruptly loosening her hold on Cassie, the Dark Lord waited until she’d landed on her knees before she gave Cassie a vicious kick to the side. “A lie.”

Cassie lifted a hand to cover her shattered ribs, sensing that at least one of them had punctured her lung.

“The prophecies don’t lie,” she said.

“Then you lie.” The Dark Lord grabbed another handful of Cassie’s hair, yanking her head back to meet the crimson flames that had engulfed her eyes. “You hope to save your mate.”

Cassie frowned, failing to follow the logic. “If I wanted to save him, then I would have told you the key to your success is to release him.”

“No, this is a trick.” The female paced a circle around Cassie, her expression as petulant as if she were a teenage girl. “It has to be.”

Cassie kept a wary eye on the infuriated deity, knowing that it was quite likely she wasn’t going to survive the next blow. “I gave you what you wanted.”

“So you did.” Coming to an abrupt halt, the Dark Lord glared down at Cassie with all-consuming hatred. “Now it is my turn.”

Cassie tensed, knowing this was going to be bad. “What do you mean?”

“You wanted your mate, didn’t you?” The Dark Lord turned to smile toward Caine, who twitched in continued agony in the mists, his entire body rigid with the pain that was shooting through him. “Now you can have him.”

The female gave a twist of her hand and Caine jerkily rose to his feet, as if he were a marionette on strings. Then, with another wave of her hand the Dark Lord forced open Caine’s eyes, revealing the madness that had claimed him.

With a humorless laugh, the Dark Lord patted Cassie’s cheek. “Enjoy your reunion.”

Cassie didn’t bother to watch the bitch disappear into the fog, her attention entirely focused on the savage beast that was stalking toward her with lethal intent.

Sorrow filled her heart as she edged backward. “Caine.”

Chapter 16

Kostas’s lair in Platte

It was almost three a.m. when Styx got the call he was waiting for. Leaving Viper to deal with any emergencies, he took off for the small town of Platte, easily following Jagr’s direction to Kostas’s hidden lair.

Once there, he moved through the starkly barren bunker to the cramped cell where Jaelyn was waiting.

The Hunter was nearly invisible in black spandex that covered her from neck to ankle. Even the sawed-off shotgun strapped around her waist was made of a dull, unreflective metal. Currently, she was running her hands along the cement walls, clearly seeking a trapdoor. At his entrance, she turned to regard him with a somber expression that warned Styx the news wasn’t good.

“Kostas was here.” He stated the obvious, catching the scent of the vampire along with a sour hint of growing madness.

Damn. He had known the Ruah was furious at being demoted. He’d even expected the bastard to plot revenge. Kostas’s bloated pride would demand nothing less. But he hadn’t expected him to sell his soul to the Dark Lord.

Yet another mistake to add to his very long list.

Jaelyn nodded. “Yes, along with Maluhia.”

“Do you know when he left?”

“Less than an hour ago.”

An hour. Had the traitor known they were on his trail? Or was it just another example of Styx’s piss-poor luck that Kostas had taken off just before they could corner him?

“You can’t follow his scent?”

“Not yet.” Jaelyn nodded her head toward the open door. “Levet is searching.”

Perfect. Freaking perfect.

“Anything else?”

“He wasn’t alone.”

Styx didn’t have to be a mind reader to know who Kostas would be meeting. “Gaius.”

The Hunter grimaced. “Yes.”

“Damn.” Styx clenched his hands at his side, frustration pouring like hot acid through him. “Then he’s already taken the child to the Dark Lord.”

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.