Jaelyn shuddered. She had never fully revealed what had happened to her in the hands of the Addonexus, and in particular Kostas, but what little Styx had discovered had been enough for him to make a clean sweep. He wouldn’t have his people terrorized by tyrants.
“There’s no one else who is capable of cloaking themselves so deeply in shadows,” Jaelyn pointed out, her gaze turning toward Styx. “And he’s been crazed with the need for revenge since you removed him as Ruah.”
Shadows.
Styx felt the urge to ram his thick head into the wall.
“Beware the shadows,” he snarled. “Dammit, we were warned and I still failed.”
“No, the failure was mine,” Laylah said softly, her voice filled with such heartbreak that it filled the air with sorrow.
“We will get him back, Laylah,” Styx said, his gaze shifting to Tane. “I swear.”
“It’s too late, Anasso,” a voice said from behind him. “Concede defeat and bow to the Dark Lord.”
With a snarl, Styx spun on his heel and prowled toward the forgotten Gaius, delighted as hell to have something to stab with his big-ass sword. It was obvious the vampire had deliberately distracted them to give Kostas the opportunity to steal the child.
Now he would pay the price.
“Never.”
Gaius smiled with unmistakable bitterness. “Then die.”
His words were still hanging in the air when he abruptly vanished from the cell.
“Shit.” Coming to a halt, Styx lifted his eyes toward the ceiling. “Could this day get any worse?”
“Don’t tempt fate,” Tane muttered.
Leashing his fury, Styx forced himself to concentrate on the best means of tracking Maluhia. Then, turning back to his companions, he took command.
“Jaelyn, see if you can pick up the bastard’s track.”
The Hunter gave a swift nod. “Of course.”
“I’m going with her,” Laylah abruptly announced.
Styx frowned. The half-Jinn was powerful, but no one was certain if she was truly immortal.
“Laylah.”
The hint of lightning prickled through the air. “I’m going.”
“Fine.” He glanced toward the silent vampire at her side. “I suppose you intend to go as well?”
There was no compromise in the eyes the precise shade of honey. “Yes.”
“Take Jagr,” Styx said, reluctantly realizing his place was here, organizing additional search parties to look for the babe. “He’s the best tracker we have.”
“We’ll also need the gargoyle,” Jaelyn startled them all by announcing.
“Levet?” Styx scowled. The tiny demon was a walking disaster.
“He can see through illusions,” Jaelyn said.
Tane’s growl trickled through the room. “Then why didn’t he sense Kostas when he entered the lair?”
The Hunter shrugged. “I think he has to be searching for the illusion to actually see it.”
Styx rolled his eyes. It was a sad day when the damned gargoyle was their best hope for halting the end of the world. “Fine, take him.”
“What about Gaius?” Jagr demanded from the doorway.
Styx slammed his sword back into its sheath. “He’s mine.”
Kostas’s lair
Once again fully dressed, Gaius easily found the opening to Kostas’s lair, and with an impatient knock on the heavy metal door, he waited for the surly vampire to lead him down the stairs and through a series of cement tunnels. Eventually, they entered an eight-by-eight box of a room with a chair in one corner that was surrounded by a pile of sharp weapons. Nearer at hand was a shelf of tattered books that were focused on the histories of various demon species. No doubt they revealed all the strengths and weaknesses that a Hunter would need to know.
“All the better to kill you with, my dear . . .”
He grimaced. Not so much at the barren lack of comfort. He’d lived as sparsely as a monk beyond the Veil. But rather at the heavy sense of impending death that filled the room.
Was it because Kostas had devoted his existence to killing? Or a premonition?
“This is your lair?” he demanded.
Kostas glanced around the cement box. “Why?”
“It’s . ..”
“It’s functional.”
“I suppose.” Gaius shook his head, dismissing his strange imaginings. He had enough troubles without inventing new ones. “Where’s the child?”
Kostas planted his hands on his hips, his bulky body consuming a large chunk of the room. “What about my reward?”
Gaius made a sound of impatience. “I told you, that’s between you and the Dark Lord.”
“Not good enough,” the Hunter snapped. “No reward, no child.”
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.