“No, but a part of the tunnels were exposed.”
“And?”
“And it happened to be the part where the Jinn had stored his treasure.”
“And?”
Levet impatiently waved his stubby arms. “And I might have taken something he considered of value,” he grudgingly admitted.
Ah. They at last were coming to the truth of the matter.
“Then why do you not simply return it?”
He turned into yet another tunnel. “I lost it trying to escape.”
Juliet’s stomach clenched with dread. She knew very little about the Jinn, but she did know a great deal about demons in general and there was not one species that did not consider the theft of its treasure a suitable reason to maim, torture, and kill.
“Maybe we should hurry,” she suggested.
“My thoughts precisely,” Levet agreed, his remaining wing fluttering and his tiny legs churning.
They rushed through the darkness in silence, both acutely aware of the heavy sense of dread that was beginning to crawl through the air. The Jinn was near.
Too near.
Intent on keeping pace with the gargoyle, Juliet nearly tumbled over the top of him when he came to an abrupt halt.
“Mon Dieu. I smell it.”
Juliet regained her balance and glared at her companion. “What is it?”
“Continue north, ma belle. There is an opening less than a mile away.”
“Levet?”
She watched in disbelief as the miniature demon scrambled up the side of the wall, pushing his small body through a crack that hardly appeared large enough for a bat.
Well.
She did not expect Levet to grovel at her feet with gratitude at her heroic rescue, but to actually abandon her?
She had thought they were friends.
Thoroughly vexed by the unexpected betrayal, Juliet stomped down the tunnel, dangerously distracted by her flare of anger.
Not that being on guard would have prevented the wall of the passageway from suddenly exploding inward as a body was thrown through it. Or her scream of fear as she recognized her mate lying in a pool of blood at her feet.
Falling to her knees, she reached to brush the raven hair from Victor’s face, her heart contracting at the deep gash that marred the ivory skin of his forehead.
“Victor?”
His lashes slowly lifted to reveal remarkably clear silver eyes, his wounds already healing. She shook her head. Only a vampire could be shoved through four feet of pure rock and appear barely worse for the wear.
“I thought I told you to rescue the gargoyle and leave,” he growled, flowing to his feet.
She straightened, glancing toward the gaping hole in the wall. “And I thought you intended to rid us of the Jinn.”
There was a cloud of foreboding, then the booming voice of the Jinn echoed through the tunnel.
“Where is the gargoyle?”
Victor stepped in front of her as the Jinn slammed his way through the wall, the air crackling with electricity.
“If you have any other tricks, little one, now would be an appropriate moment to reveal them,” Victor rasped, pulling a large sword from the scabbard on his hip.
“What of your warriors?”
“Dead or wounded.”
Shaking off the clinging dust, the Jinn pointed a finger directly at Juliet, his eyes glowing with an eerie light and his hair floating as if caught on a breeze.
“Give me the gargoyle,” he roared.
Drowning in the potent presence of the Jinn, Juliet was caught off guard when Levet abruptly appeared on a rock above the Jinn’s head, his expression smug.
“I am here, you putrid saddlebag of rotting fungus,” Levet taunted, holding up his hand to reveal a wooden box ornately decorated with gold and precious jewels, including a ruby the size of Juliet’s fist. “And look what I discovered.”
Wondering if her friend had taken complete leave of his senses, Juliet shook her head.
“What the devil is that?”
Victor stiffened with a tension that Juliet did not need to be a mate to sense.
“The Jinn’s tiglia. It holds his anchor to this realm. Without it he will be forced to return to his own world,” he whispered softly.
The demon’s power surged through the tunnel, making the earth shake and the air so thick it was nearly impossible to breathe.
“Give that to me.”
Without warning, Levet launched the box over the head of the Jinn, directly at Juliet.
“Catch.”
Too stunned to think clearly, Juliet snatched the box from the air, her heart nearly halting at the malevolent magic that slammed into her.
Victor instinctively swept an arm around her, keeping her upright even as his wary gaze remained on the Jinn, who was already turning his fury toward Juliet.
“Can you destroy it?” he demanded.
Juliet’s first instinct was to deny the necessary skill for such a task. After all, she had never been properly trained in magic. How could she possibly destroy such a powerful object? And in truth, she simply wanted to drop the vile thing and run as far away as possible. The mere touch of it seemed to taint her.
But, drawing on the bond with her powerful mate, she steadied her nerves and forced herself to actually study the box with her innate talent.
The magic was unfamiliar, but she ignored the complex weave and instead concentrated on the odd tentacles she could sense flowing from the box to the demon. It was almost as if the very essence of the Jinn was in the box while the physical body was allowed to move around the world.
So what if she severed the connection?
She sucked in a deep breath, lifting her head to meet Victor’s steady gaze.
“I will need time.”
His smile was filled with a savage determination. “I can give you that.”
With a growl that made the hairs on her nape rise, Victor launched himself at the Jinn, the sword in his hand a blur of silver as he attacked. At the same moment, Levet jumped off the rock, directly onto the beast’s head.
Momentarily paralyzed, Juliet watched in horror as Victor ignored the massive blows from the Jinn, striking the demon with enough force to halt his desperate attempt to reach his tiglia. She had never witnessed a battle between two such mighty foes. It was…terrifyingly beautiful.
It was only when Levet sent a fireball over her head that she came to her senses.
“Sacre bleu, Juliet, you must do something.”
Juliet shook her head in sharp self-disgust, turning her rattled attention to the box she held in her hands.
She made no effort to destroy the actual tiglia. Such magic was beyond her skill. She doubted there was a witch in all of England who could perform such a spell. Instead she studied the tentacles that floated toward the Jinn like the strands of a web.