Bound By Darkness (4 page)

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Authors: Alexandra Ivy

BOOK: Bound By Darkness
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“Damn.” She'd missed her deadline. It didn't matter that she'd been jerked onto an island wrapped in mystical mists that altered time. Or that there was a looming apocalypse. She'd been given three months by the Addonexus to track down Ariyal. And the head honchos of vampire hunters didn't accept excuses. “I have failed to fulfill our contract.”
“The Sylvermyst is proving to be surprisingly resourceful,” Siljar agreed.
Resourceful?
“He's a pain in the ass,” she muttered.
“A male is allowed to be a pain in the ass when he is so wondrously gorgeous,” Siljar murmured, shocking Jaelyn. “It's a pity I'm not a few millennia younger.”
Jaelyn wisely kept her thoughts to herself. She had all the troubles she needed, thank you very much.
“Do you want me to return to the Addonexus?”
Siljar paused, as if puzzled by the question. “Why would I want such a thing?”
“The Ruah will send another Hunter to complete the contract,” she explained, referring to the traditional leader of the council.
“So you can be executed?”
Jaelyn shrugged. “My fate is irrelevant.”
“I must disagree.” Pressing her palms together, Siljar stepped forward, her unrelenting stare starting to make Jaelyn twitch with unease. “Your fate has become of utmost importance. As has Ariyal's.”
Jaelyn knew she should be grateful that Siljar wasn't in a hurry to have her executed. No matter what her training, she wasn't anxious to take one for the team. But her spidey senses were tingling, warning her that she wasn't going to like where this conversation was going.
“I don't understand.”
“Neither do I,” the Oracle bluntly admitted. “The threads are shifting.”
Jaelyn wasn't sure what bothered her the most.
The fact that the Oracle was baffled, or that she seemed to be implying that Jaelyn was a part of her confusion.
“Threads?”
Siljar gave a wave of her hand. “I am not a true seer, but I am capable of occasional visions, and more importantly I can detect those individuals who are to be woven into destiny to fulfill those visions.”
Jaelyn took a hasty step backward. “You can't mean ...”
“You, Jaelyn.” She paused.
Dramatic effect, anyone?
“And Ariyal.”
Shit, shit, shit.
“That's impossible.”
“Ah, the cold logic of a vampire.” Siljar smiled, but there was no missing the warning in the dark eyes. She didn't like Jaelyn arguing. “But denying your fate will not alter it.”
“You can see my future?”
“No, as I said, I am not a seer,” Siljar reminded her, “but I do know that you are a thread.”
Jaelyn clenched her hands at her sides. “Is that why the Commission hired me to track down Ariyal?”
“No, when you were requested to bring the Sylvermyst before the Commission it was to question his intentions in remaining in this dimension rather than joining his brethren with their master.” A punishing energy swirled through the air as the demon's eyes glowed with a sudden silver light before returning to black pools of mystery. “But the fabric of the future is changing and your destiny has been irrevocably entwined with Ariyal.”
Shaken by the glimpse of power contained within the tiny demon, Jaelyn chose her words with care.
“How can the future change?”
There was a long silence. As if the Oracle was debating the wisdom of sharing insider info. Then she gave a small shrug.
“There is always a certain measure of fluidity in matters of time, but it is more chaotic than usual.”
“Do I want to know why, or is that one of those ‘curiosity kills the cat' things?”
“It indicates that there will soon be a powerful flux in the universe.”
Jaelyn grimaced, wishing that she hadn't asked. Or that the demon hadn't answered.
Or...
Hell. She scrubbed a hand over her weary face. She was tired, hungry, and wishing she could get a hold of Ariyal and kick his ass. This might not be entirely his responsibility, but she was willing to blame him.
“The return of the Dark Lord?” she hazarded.
Siljar considered before giving a shrug. “It is impossible to say.”
Yeah, sooooo not helping.
She shifted her concern from the looming end of the world to her own looming end.
“Well, if the future is in flux then maybe my elevation to being some mystical thread is nothing more than a cosmic glitch that will soon be forgotten.”
Siljar cocked her head to the side, her expression curious. “I thought Hunters were fearless?”
Jaelyn snorted. “Facing death is one thing; knowing I'm a part of destiny is quite another.”
“Is it destiny that troubles you?” She flashed her pointed teeth. “Or Ariyal?”
Was the woman
trying
to piss her off?
“It would seem they're one and the same,” she muttered.
“Very true,” the demon agreed with a shrug of indifference. Then she gave a lift of her tiny hands. “Well, I must go.”
“Go?” Jaelyn took a hasty step forward. “Wait.”
“Yes?”
“Do you intend to leave me here?”
Siljar slowly blinked, like a lizard.
“Oh, did I not say?”
“Say what?”
“The terms of our contract have been altered.”
Oh ... crap.
Why did she suspect that the alteration didn't include a one-way ticket to Maui to hunt fire pixies?
“You no longer want me to capture the Sylvermyst?” she asked, ever the optimist.
Or maybe it was sheer desperation.
“No.”
“Oh.” She didn't bother to hide her relief. “Thank the gods.”
“I want you to remain with him and keep the Commission informed of his movements.”
Remain with him? Her brief moment of hope was crushed beneath a tidal wave of horrified disbelief.
It was bad enough to hunt down the damned Sylvermyst and haul him to the Commission. But to become Hutch to his Starsky?
Oh hell, no.
“Why?”
Pinpricks of pain stabbed deep into Jaelyn's flesh, effective reminders that nasty rumors whispered about the Oracles were well earned.
“I have no need to explain.”
“Forgive me. I will, of course, do everything in my power to fulfill our contract.” She returned to her knees, bowing her head as she waited for the brutal pain to dissipate. “How much of a head start does he have on me?”
“Three days.”
Jaelyn grimaced. For her it had only been two hours since Ariyal had disappeared.
Damned mists.
“Do you know ...” She swallowed her question, and almost her tongue, as there was a loud
pop
and a small demon who looked nearly identical to Siljar made a sudden appearance, standing at the side of the older woman. “Holy crap!”
Siljar motioned to the familiar woman with the heart-shaped face and long gold hair that was pulled into a braid.
“This is Yannah, my daughter.”
“Yeah, we've met.” Jaelyn returned to her feet, her gaze never leaving the tiny demon who had helped Ariyal hold Jaelyn captive while they were in the Russian caves. “But at the time I thought she was a spirit that Ariyal conjured.”
“Such a yummy fairy.” Yannah heaved a dreamy sigh. “How could I resist?”
Jaelyn blinked.
Good ... God.
Did Ariyal have this sort of effect on every female he met?
No wonder he was such an arrogant SOB.
“Yes, she can be quite naughty,” Siljar gently chided. “But she will be able to assist you.”
Naughty?
That wasn't the word Jaelyn would have used. But then again, she'd already pissed off Siljar more than was healthy. She wasn't about to insult her daughter.
“I welcome any assistance she can offer,” she instead muttered.
Yep. Just call her Queen of Diplomats.
“She will take you to Ariyal,” Siljar informed her. “She will also be the one who will be responsible for contacting you to retrieve the information you have gathered.”
Jaelyn made one last bid for escape. “There are others who are trained in the arts of espionage... .”
“You have been chosen, Jaelyn,” Siljar pronounced, her expression unyielding.
If Jaelyn could have sighed, she would have. Instead she gave a grudging nod.
“So, I'm to spy on Ariyal and report my findings to Yannah?”
“It is more than keeping track of his movements,” Siljar corrected.
“More?”
“We must know the contents of his heart.”
Jaelyn frowned. “I can sense the souls of humans, but I'm not an empath who is capable of reading demons.”
Siljar shrugged. “Remain close enough and you'll be capable of detecting the taint of the Dark Lord.”
For no logical reason, Jaelyn found herself annoyed by the Oracle's words.
“I don't like the bastard, but I can assure you that he hasn't been infected,” she growled. “He's determined to sacrifice the missing child rather than allow his evil master to be reborn.”
“That is his plan for the moment,” Siljar agreed. “It is vital that he is not swayed into ...”
“Switching teams,” Yannah finished for her.
Siljar smiled and patted her daughter on the head. As if she'd just performed a remarkable trick.
“Yes. Switching teams.”
Jaelyn understood their concern. Ariyal had admitted that he feared the Sylvermyst might be susceptible to the Dark Lord's influence. And obviously Tearloch had already fallen victim to the madness.
But that didn't make her the best choice to fulfill the contract.
In fact, she was fairly certain she was the last person who should be taking on the delicate task.
She wasn't subtle, or sneaky, and she sure the hell wasn't tactful.
She was a Hunter who knew how to track and kill.
End of story.
“There's no guarantee that he'll let me stay with him,” she warned.
For some reason her muttered words made Siljar chuckle. “I'm confident in your ability to convince him, my dear,” she assured her, turning her attention to the tiny demon at her side. “Are you ready, Yannah?”
The younger demon appeared far from happy. “If I must.”
Siljar folded her arms over her chest, her expression one of universal parental warning.
“And do try to behave yourself, child.”
“Fine.”
Yannah wrinkled her nose, giving a wave of her small hand. Instantly the air shimmered next to Jaelyn. As a vampire she couldn't sense magic, but she knew a portal when she saw one.
“Wait,” she hissed, attempting to back away. She had feet for a reason. There was no need to be zapping from one place to another.
She had barely taken a step, however, when Yannah was behind her, planting her hands on Jaelyn's ass and giving her a rough shove forward.
“In you go.”
It shouldn't be possible for the tiny female to manhandle a vampire, but Jaelyn found herself tumbling into the shimmering air before she could regain her balance.
“No ... dammit.”
Blackness surrounded her and Jaelyn knew that she was being magically transported to another location, but she could sense nothing. And that was worse than if she was being tortured by a horde of Copaka demons.
At last she was jerked from the strange nothingness and, falling forward, she barely got her hands stretched out before she did a face-plant.
She felt the skin being ripped off her palms as she hit the damp pavement, but as she rose to her feet she was far more concerned with the knowledge that she'd just been dumped into the middle of London. And that she wasn't alone.
Baring her fangs she whirled to study the narrow street that was shrouded in shadows.
It was just past midnight, she easily determined, and most of the humans were safely tucked in the expensive townhouses that lined the road. In the distance she could sense a park with dew fairies dancing among the trees, and a handful of hellhounds sniffing along the Thames River, but it was the thick scent of herbs that had her bracing herself for the slender male form that barreled from behind a hedge to knock her back to the ground.

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