Lifting his sword Viper prepared to plunge it into the remaining eye when the narrow head jerked upward and slammed into the ceiling. A shower of earth rained downward and Levet gave a squeak of alarm.
"Mon dieu, has he gone mad?" the gargoyle squeaked.
It did seem a distinct possibility, Viper conceded, as the demon lowered his head and once again reared up to thrust his head into the dirt above. The Lu demons were always unstable. Inbreeding was never a good thing.
He was in the process of deciding whether the Lu was trapped enough to risk a strategic retreat or to use the opportunity to tend a few more blows when the realization hit him. The Lu hadn't gone mad. He was doing precisely what he had warned he was going to do.
Kill him.
The tunnel gave a mighty shake and the earth began to tumble with alarming speed from above. Soon the demon would bring the entire ceiling down upon them. They would be buried beneath the rubble.
But not buried deep enough, he realized as he lifted his eyes upward in alarm. The soil was beginning to split open and when it did it would bring with it the tide of the early morning dawn.
Devil's balls.
"Levet," he called out in warning. The gargoyle would not be harmed by the sunlight but he would return to his statue form. He would be helpless if the Lu decided to carry him off.
Strangely, however, the small demon paid him no heed. Instead he knelt on the heaving earth and muttered beneath his breath.
Viper opened his mouth to offer another warning when Levet threw his arms upward and cried out.
"I call the night."
The words could barely be heard over the sound of the ceiling collapsing. There was no mistaking, however, the thick cloud of inky black that abruptly shrouded about them.
Viper froze in astonishment, his hands clutching the sword as if uncertain whether the foul cloud was a blessing or a curse.
Not far from him he heard Levet give a startled gasp and then a shout of triumph.
"It worked." His wings stirred the dark air with a flutter of excitement. "By my father's stone balls, it worked."
Chapter Ten
Shay had driven a car before. Not often and not well. But she knew the basic method of moving from one place to another.
She had never, however, had her hands on anything like the sleek Porsche. The barest touch on the accelerator and she was hurtling through the cresting dawn at a horrifying speed.
It was little wonder that she had managed to gather a few dents and one busted headlight by the time she arrived at the auction house and gathered her small store of magical potions she had left behind.
A demon was not intended to travel over a hundred miles an hour without some cost, she assured herself as she returned to the decidedly worse-for-wear car and sped back to Viper's estate. Besides which, the silver-haired vampire was bound to be so furious at her return he wouldn't even notice that she had managed to ruin the expensive automobile.
Adding several more dents, a broken window, and a flat tire as she cut through fields and back roads she squealed to a halt inside the garage.
The trip had been made as swiftly as humanly, or demonly, possible. Still, she couldn't deny a sickening dread that clenched her stomach.
A dread that nearly drove her to her knees as she slipped through the trapdoor and into the chamber below. Across the room she could see the door buckled and torn from its hinges by some unknown force. But that was not what made her blood run cold.
Even from a distance she could see that the tunnel had collapsed and morning sunlight was pouring in.
She was hurtling forward before she could even question why her breath was lodged in her throat and her heart was twisting with pain.
It couldn't be the fact she feared Viper would be dead.
That would just be... insane. Wouldn't it?
Refusing to ponder the panic bubbling through her blood Shay carefully cradled the bag to her body and forced her way through the small opening.
She wasn't sure what she expected, but it wasn't the thick cloud of darkness that was nearly tangible in the air.
"Levet?" she called softly. "Viper?"
There was a soft scrape and then the darkness was suddenly pierced by a soft glow. At first she thought someone had managed to light a candle, but as she turned her head she realized the light wasn't a candle.
Not even remotely a candle.
Frozen in horror her gaze ran over the enormous demon with its glowing scales and scarlet eyes. She had never seen anything like it. And never wanted to again.
As she watched, the bloody snout twitched with what she very much feared was a smile of triumph.
Oh... shit, shit, shit.
"The Shalott," the beast hissed.
Mesmerized by the fiery gaze it took Shay a long moment to hear the cold, furious voice from deeper in the shadows.
"Goddammit, Shay, I told you to leave. Get the hell out of here."
She grimaced as she came back to herself with a sudden thud. Were all vampires such ungrateful asses, or was Viper a special breed?
The demon standing before her gave a rumbling laugh that echoed through the tunnel. Disturbing. Very, very disturbing.
"There is nowhere you can run that I will not find you Shalott, but come to me and I will spare the lives of these two he promised in a rasping voice. Shay sucked in a deep breath as she covertly reached into the bag and closed her fingers around one of the ceramic jugs. "Come to me now" the demon roared!
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she muttered.
"Shay." There was an edge of something that might have been panic in Viper's smooth voice. "The Lu is trapped for the moment, but I can't hold him for long. Get out of here."
"Do what he says, Shay," Levet echoed. "You can't defeatthis beast."
The beast in question gave a low hiss toward the gargoyle before attempting to look harmless. A hopeless task, of course.
"I am not your enemy, my dear. I have only come to collect you for my master." The glow rippled eerily over the demons scales, as if he were in the grip of some fierce emotion. "A master who does not like to be disappointed."
She took a step closer. Not that she wanted to be in biting distance of those sharp teeth. But she had to be near enough to use what weapons she possessed.
"Who is this mysterious master?" she demanded, more to keep him distracted than to discover the truth.
Priorities, priorities.
Get out of this alive, and then worry about who wanted her so desperately.
"A powerful friend, or deadly enemy. The choice is yours."
"You still have yet to give me a name."
"His name is forbidden to speak, but I assure you that I mean you no harm."