Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity #10)

“Come into the parlor, said the spider to the fly. . . .”

Sipping her tea, she’d been in the middle of telling him precisely why Gaius had to be captured when she’d felt her tongue go thick and her eyes drift shut.

Drugged.

The coldhearted, treacherous jackasses.

She’d woken only a few minutes ago, her tongue coated in fuzz and her magic muted by the hexes scrawled on the silver walls.

She did have her secret weapon, but it was a talent that only worked on humans, never demons. Or at least it hadn’t until a few weeks ago when she’d accidentally used it on a hellhound who had strayed too close to the house.

She didn’t know if her connection to the Dark Lord had muted her natural talents, or if she’d reached some critical age where it finally blossomed. More likely the hellhound had been weak and she’d been pumped up on adrenaline when it had suddenly appeared on her porch.

In any case, she’d have to be an idiot to try it on a vampire or even a pure-blooded Were.

If she failed and they realized what she’d tried to do . . . Well, being tossed in a cell would be the least of her worries.

Damn Styx and his leech squad. She hated this feeling of helplessness. She’d promised in the past that she would never again allow herself to be at the mercy of others.

Why else would she have agreed to worship the Dark Lord? Or partnered with Gaius?

Now she was back to the beginning.

Prey.

No. With a fierce effort she shook off the rising tide of panic. She wasn’t prey. Never again.

Turning toward the camera hidden in the corner of the cell, she waved her arms. “Heeeellllooo. Can anyone hear me?” she screamed, knowing the vampire monitoring the cameras would be flinching at her shrill voice. Super hearing could be a bitch. “What’s wrong with you freaks? I came here to help you.” She stepped closer to the camera, her voice raising another painful octave. “I risked everything to just try to warn you about Gaius. And what do I get? A reward? An ‘atta girl’? Hell, no. I get locked up like a rat in a cage. Thankless bastards.”

A second later she heard the sound of a distant door opening and closing, then the soft whisper of approaching footsteps. Instinctively she turned toward the bars of her cell, denying the urge to back into the distant corner as a cold, sharp-edged power filled the air.

Vampires thrived on fear. It was an aphrodisiac to the bloodsuckers. She wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction.

The brave thought had barely passed through her mind when it tumbled into an abyss of shock at the sight of the male who stepped into view.

And despite being a dreaded leech, he was a male with a capital M.

Wearing jeans, a leather jacket over his T-shirt, and moccasin boots that reached his knees, he had the hard, lean body of a predator. His skin was bronzed and his dark hair brushed his broad shoulders. His features were lean with the high cheekbones of his Native American bloodlines and a proud nose. His brow was wide and his lips cut on sensual lines.

But it was his eyes that made her forget how to breathe.

They were . . . astonishing.

In the overhead light they glinted with a silver sheen, but they were so pale they appeared almost white, the shocking paleness emphasized by the rim of pure black that circled them.

She shivered, feeling as if he could see through every layer of defense she’d wrapped around her vulnerable heart.

Halting close to the bars of her cell, the stranger folded his arms over his chest and regarded her with a mocking smile. “Did you learn such language from your mother?”

The edge of disdain in his voice effectively squashed her unwelcome fascination. Jerk. What right did he have to look at her as if she were something he scraped off the bottom of his moccasin?

“My mother was too busy trying to kill me to teach me anything beyond how to run. Really, really fast,” she mocked in return, moving forward to grasp the bars. As if her knees weren’t trembling and her heart wasn’t slamming against her ribs. “And, oh yeah, never to trust anyone. Something I was stupid enough to forget.”

The astonishing eyes widened, as if she’d truly managed to surprise him.

“Your mother tried to kill you?”

She shrugged. Families. What’cha gonna do?

“Why was I drugged and thrown in the dungeons?” she demanded. “I came here in good faith.”

“We have only your word on that.” He planted his hands on his hips, his jacket shifting to reveal the dagger attached to his belt and the gun holstered at his side.

Holy crap. He had enough firepower to bring down a rabid troll. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or horrified. In the end she was just pissed off.

“And a witch’s word can’t be trusted?” she snapped.

“You admitted you worshipped the Dark Lord,” he said without apology. “That hardly encourages faith in your moral compass.”

“Moral compass? Are you kidding me?” She gave a disbelieving shake of her head. “You’re a vampire.”

“So?”

“You’re the last one who should be judging my morals.” A slow smile curved his lips and Sally’s fingers tightened on the bars. If he’d been handsome when all haughty and disdainful, he was outrageously gorgeous when he smiled.

“Fair enough.”

Concentrate, Sally. This beast is the enemy. No matter how beautiful a beast he might be.

“Then let me out,” she challenged him.

“It’s not my call.”

“This is bullshit.” She glared between the bars. “Complete and utter bullshit.”

“Are you hungry?”

She blinked, taken off guard by the abrupt question. “What?”

“You’ve been out for forty-eight hours; do you need food?”

“Forty-eight hours?” she breathed in shock. Dammit. She’d thought she’d been out an hour, maybe two. “What did you give me?”

“A drug to make you sleep.” He shrugged. “It’s harmless to humans.”

Fury raced through her at the risk the leeches had taken with her life. The drug might very well have been safe for humans, but she wasn’t entirely human.

Not that she was going to admit as much. It was a secret she intended to take to her grave.

“Have you ever heard of allergic reactions?” she instead growled. “You could have killed me.”

His bored expression revealed his supreme indifference to whether she lived or died.

Yeah. Über-jerk.

“Do you want food or not?”

She wanted to tell him to shove his offer up his ass. Thankfully she wasn’t stubborn enough to cut off her nose to spite her face. She needed to keep up her energy if she was going to find a way out of the dungeons.

And fuel if she was going to risk using her secret mojo.

“I’m starving.”

“I suppose you nibble lettuce like most females?”

“A double bacon cheeseburger with loaded potato skins and a chocolate shake,” she ordered. “Oh, and one of those deep-fried apple pies.”

He snorted. “Is that all?”

“You can throw in a few Buffalo wings with blue cheese dipping sauce.”

His gaze briefly lowered to her tiny frame, which barely weighed a hundred pounds soaking wet. For a fleeting second his gaze lingered and his eyes flared, as if he’d just been hit by an unpleasant sensation. Then, with an obvious effort, he was shaking off his strange reaction.

“Your funeral,” he muttered.

Sally rolled her eyes. “I hang around with deranged curs and megalomaniac vampires, not to mention evil deities; I doubt it’s cholesterol that’s going to put me in my grave.”

Again that glorious indifference to her expected life span. “It will be at least half an hour. The chef here only cooks vegetarian, so they’ll have to order out.”

“Vegetarian?” She blinked, wondering if it was some sort of inside joke. “I thought the Anasso’s mate was a pure-blooded Were?”

“She is.”

“And she . . .” Sally gave a shake of her head. “Never mind. I’ve clearly stumbled into a madhouse.”

“That about sums it up,” he said, so low that she barely caught the words.

She frowned. “If that’s how you feel, then why are you here?” “Because my king commands it.”

Hmmm. A stewing mutiny?

“And you’re always an obedient little soldier?”

Easily seeing through her attempt at “divide and conquer,” the vampire turned to leave. “I’ll return with the food.”

“Wait.”

He muttered a low curse, glancing over his shoulder. “What now?”

“How long am I going to be held a prisoner?”

“That’s up to Styx.”

“You can’t just leave me trapped down here.”

“Watch me.”

He walked away, exposing the most delectable butt she’d ever seen encased in denims. She swallowed a groan at the desire that flared through her, pretending she was leaning her head through the bars to yell at the bastard and not to admire his fine backside.