Home > Darkness Betrayed(9)

Darkness Betrayed(9)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

   “I have a portal waiting for us,” he assured her.

   She snorted. “Handy.”

   Xi continued through the labyrinth of tunnels, at last pausing as they reached the blank cement wall. There was nothing there to indicate a portal. At least not to him. Vampires had no ability to detect magic. But he’d made a precise mental note when he’d stepped out. He had no intention of fumbling to find his escape route. Not when he was in enemy territory.

   Xi reached to grab Brigette’s hand, despite the fact that she could no doubt see the opening. He didn’t care. He wanted to touch her. It was that simple.

   And that complicated.

   Stepping forward, they were encased in darkness. Usually, traveling through the portal made Xi itchy. He hated magic. Any kind of magic. This time, he barely noticed the darkness or the weird prickle that crawled over his skin. The petty irritations were utterly overwhelmed by the explosive heat that seared through his skin and raced through his body.

   He told himself that the intoxicating warmth was the result of touching a Were. They ran hotter than any other creature, including humans and fey. But that wasn’t it. He could have shoved his hand in an oven and it wouldn’t have caused such an intense reaction.

   In the blink of an eye, they were stepping out of the darkness and onto the empty street in front of Styx’s lair. Brigette tugged her hand free, but the motion was slow, almost reluctant. Had she been enjoying the contact as much as he had?

   He thought he detected a faint shiver race through her body, but she hastily turned away from him, inspecting their surroundings.

   “Where are we?” she asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

   Xi didn’t blame her. The elegant neighborhood, with ginormous homes and yards that looked like football fields, wasn’t what most demons expected for the King of the Vampires.

   Xi nodded toward the largest mansion, which rose from the surrounding gardens like a brick-and-mortar behemoth.

   “That’s the Anasso’s lair.”

   She sent him a startled glance. “It must be nice to be the king.”

   “Not really. It’s usually a pain in the ass.”

   Xi spent most evenings dealing with potential threats. Not only to Styx, but to the vampires in general. He’d recently returned from a remote island where a rare breed of sylphs were capturing vampires and sacrificing them to their god of fertility. It’d taken time, but he’d at last convinced them that the future of their small tribe depended on finding another way to have more children. But he’d been around Styx enough to know that his evenings were usually filled with tedious complaints from vampires who acted more like petulant children than masters of the night. Along with demands that he perform miracles.

   Brigette shrugged. “Why are we out here? Why not open the portal inside his lair?”

   “Styx doesn’t allow magic in his house.”

   “Is he afraid?

   “You can ask him yourself.” Xi headed toward the mansion. “Although I wouldn’t suggest it.”

   * * * *

   Brigette stupidly assumed nothing could shock her. Not after the savage destruction of her pack, the bleak years as a servant to the evil Beast, and then being captured and thrown into the mer-folk dungeons. That didn’t even include her last adventure traveling through various dimensions in search of a magical means to ease her guilt. But Xi had proven her wrong.

   Wrong on an epic scale.

   The second the tall vampire had stepped into her private space she’d been…rattled. She’d thought it was because she hadn’t been able to sense him. No scent, no icy power, not even the sound of a footstep. He’d simply appeared as if by magic.

   But it wasn’t confusion or surprise that thundered through her as she’d taken in the stark perfection of his face and the fascinating tattoos on the sides of his skull. It wasn’t even lust. She’d felt her first stirring of desire when she’d encountered the male Jinn a few months ago. Kgosi had managed to remind her that she was still a young female in her prime.

   Nope, it was pure stupefaction.

   There’d been something about the dark eyes. There were like deep pools of mystery. Yeah, it was hokey. But they really were deep pools. The sort that made female hearts flutter. Including her own. And the way he studied her, as if he was seeing the parts of herself she kept fiercely hidden. She was being stripped bare, and yet she hadn’t felt exposed. Instead, she’d been…comforted. As if he’d seen her tainted soul and accepted her without judgment.

   Then they’d stepped through the portal, and she’d been blasted by his icy power. It was like flipping a switch. One minute, there’d been nothing, and the next…bam. His energy had vibrated through her, sending shock waves of awareness detonating through her.

   Suddenly, her breath had lodged in her lungs, and the most ridiculous certainty settled in her heart. It whispered that something fundamentally important had just occurred. As if her life could be divided in two. Pre-Xi and post-Xi.

   Which was stupid, of course.

   Nothing had happened, she sternly chided herself. The King of the Vampires had finally condescended to meet with her and sent one of his flunkies to collect her.

   End. Of. Story.

   She fiercely held on to that thought even as she trailed far behind Xi as he led her across the manicured lawn and through a side door into the house. No use being distracted by the searing sensation of his icy touch. Or the evocative scent of cedarwood. Right?

   They moved through wide corridors with sparkling chandeliers and priceless works of art nailed to the walls. And by the time they reached the private study, Brigette was wondering if there was any marble left in Italy. There had to be acres of the stuff zigzagging through the endless hallways. Like a marble maze studded with gold.

   No doubt, most creatures would find the place beautiful. And it was. But to Brigette it felt like a monstrous trap.

   Life had taught her that nothing came for free. The cost this place must demand on a soul wasn’t worth paying. At least not for her.

   At last, she was standing in front of the male she’d been trying to reach for the past two days.

   “So you’re the King of the Vampires?” Brigette allowed her gaze to trail over the Anasso.

   He was an impressive sight. His six-foot-five frame was incased in black leather, and his black hair was woven into a braid that fell to his lower back. His face was lean and bluntly carved, with eyes that held an ancient wisdom. At the moment, that face was lined with a weariness she assumed had something to do with Maryam and Roban’s constant attacks.

   “I am,” he admitted in a deep voice.

   She tilted back her head. At six foot, she rarely had to look up at anyone. Still, she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her.

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