Goddamn magic.
“Release me, mage,” he roared, his voice causing the Sylvermyst to bolt in terror and Sergei to sway in fear. “Or I swear you will regret it for all of eternity.”
“I regret the moment I ever met Marika, vampire,” the mage said, his voice thick with sincerity. “There’s nothing you could threaten me with that would be worse than what she would do to me if I betrayed her again.”
Tane bit back the urge to explain in detail just how wrong the mage was. The things he could do would give the mage nightmares for an eternity.
Instead he opted for the good cop routine. Hey, it worked on CSI Miami.
“Then let’s negotiate what I can offer you.”
Sergei nervously glanced around the empty cavern. “I’m listening,” he at last said.
“What do you want?” “Marika dead.” “Done.”
He shifted, a sly glint replacing the terror in his eyes. “And the child?”
Tane swallowed a growl. “Out of the question.”
“It’s no good to you. Without my ability to release it from the stasis spell it’s nothing more than a paperweight.”
Tane strained against the invisible bonds that held him, desperate to rip out the throat of the mage before hunting down Marika and chopping off her head.
“What do you intend to do with it?”
“Are you kidding?” The mage regarded him in genuine shock at the question. “That brat would be worth a fortune to me on the black market. I could finally retire in the luxury I intend to become accustomed to.”
Now that was unexpected.
Tane frowned. “You don’t intend to resurrect the Dark
Lord?”
Sergei shrugged. “Not if I have a better offer.” “I have money if that’s what you want.” “How much?”
“Name your price,” Tane said without thinking. A mistake.
A man willing to sell a child on the black market could have no understanding of Tane’s utter indifference to the enormous fortune he’d accumulated over the centuries. He would naturally assume that Tane had no intention of paying unless he bargained a deal.
Sergei backed away, shaking his head. “No, I don’t trust you.”
Tane cursed his stupidity.
“And you trust Marika?” he snapped.
“Better the devil you know,” the mage muttered, heading in the same direction as Marika. And Laylah.
Briefly halting his attempts to escape, Tane closed his eyes and sent his senses flowing outward.
He easily located Laylah rushing through a tunnel headed deeper into the bowels of the mountain with Marika in pursuit. A violent fury screamed through him, but he grimly turned his attention to the fleeing Sergei.
He couldn’t stop Marika from such a distance, but he could keep the mage from following them.
Calling on his abilities, Tane allowed a tiny pulse of power to flow through the air, aiming it in the opposite direction of Laylah. The mage didn’t have the ability to use his sense of smell to follow the females, but he no doubt had learned to associate Laylah with the tiny prickles of electricity she released when she was mad or upset.
If Tane could lead the bastard away, then Laylah would have a chance to escape from Marika.
He continued to send out the tiny pulses, a cold smile curving his lips as he sensed the mage becoming lost among the vast spiderweb of tunnels.
He hoped the bastard rotted among the frozen rocks.
Concentrating on his self-imposed task, Tane abruptly snapped open his eyes, watching in disbelief as the tiny gargoyle waddled into the cavern.
“Well, well.” Levet came to a halt, his eyes widening before a satisfied smile spread across his ugly mug. “I would have gone in another direction, but there is a piquant charm in decorating frozen caverns with vampires.”
Tane’s brows snapped together. “How the hell did you get here?”
Levet shrugged. “I hitched a ride with Cruella de Vil through the portal.”
Hitched a ride?
Well … hell.
Tane had to admit the gargoyle was nothing if not resourceful. He was also Tane’s only visible means of escape.
Dammit.
He was never going to live down the shame of being rescued by a stunted gargoyle if word got out.
A thought that did nothing to improve his already foul mood.
“Get me down,” he barked.
Levet folded his arms over his narrow chest. “And destroy the lovely picture you make?”
A blast of frigid air tumbled the gargoyle backward as Tane’s temper flared.
“Levet.”
“Oui, oui” Climbing to his feet, Levet made a show of brushing off a bit of nonexistent dust, before moving toward him with a deliberately superior expression. “I am rushing to the rescue yet again.”
Tane clenched his teeth until they threatened to crack beneath the strain.
“Why me?” he muttered.
Levet lifted his hands in a grand gesture, then he paused, as if struck by a sudden thought.
“You might wish to turn your head and close your eyes.”
Recalling the fireball that had taken out a good chunk of forest, Tane gave a sharp shake of his head. He’d rather freeze to the wall than be blown into a million pieces.
“Wait, gargoyle, if you …” His words lodged in his throat as there was a brilliant flash of light.
Braced to be barbecued by the unpredictable gargoyle, Tane was totally unprepared when he felt nothing more than a warm breeze before the invisible shackles were disappearing and he was hitting the ground with enough force to rattle his spine.
Surging upright, he snatched the sword off the ground, feeling like an awkward fool. He glared at his aggravating companion, not entirely convinced that Levet hadn’t intentionally ensured he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Now, however, wasn’t the time to slice and dice his only ally.
He’d save that particular pleasure until later. “Come on,” he ordered, headed toward the back of the cavern.
“What? Not even a thank you,” Levet grumbled. “Next occasion I’ll leave you to the bats.”
Tane never slowed. “Laylah needs us.”
“Oh.” There was a flutter of wings as Levet hurried to catch up. “Why did you not say so in the first place?”
Chapter 21
Laylah turned down yet another passageway, the chill brushing over the back of her neck becoming more pronounced as Marika steadily closed the distance between them.
She could have escaped.
She had halted only moments after entering the tunnel to shadow walk. But rather than disappearing into the corridor, she’d shoved Maluhia into the mists and returned to the frozen mountain.