Devoured By Darkness (26 page)

Laylah glared at the fey, wishing she had enough strength left to break his perfect nose.

What would it solve? Nothing. But it damned well would feel fantastic.

Instead she reached down to grab the sword she was too weary to lift and pretended that she wasn’t about to fall flat on her face.

“Don’t be looking to me for support, fey,” Tane growled at her side. “You try to hurt my children and I’ll cut your fucking head off.”

Ariyal hissed in frustration. “You will sacrifice the world for them?”

“The world is already damned if it demands the blood of innocents,” Laylah said. “You can’t fight evil with evil.”

“Are you bloody kidding me?” The Sylvermyst studied her as if she’d grown a second head. “No one is that naïve.”

There was a low cry from one of the babies as Sergei stepped forward, sweat coating his forehead despite the brutal chill in the air.

“If you want the brats I’ll give them to you.” He looked directly at the fey. “Once I’m out of here.”

Tane swung his sword in Sergei’s direction, his low growl stopping the mage in his tracks.

“Take one more step and you’re dead, mage.”

Licking his lips, Sergei briefly glanced toward the lethal vampire before grimly turning his attention back to Ariyal.

“I’m not without power. If you’ll join with me we can escape.” He shook the babies dangling in his hands and it was only Tane’s hand landing on her shoulder that kept Laylah from launching herself at the bastard. “Once we’re away from here you can do whatever the hell you want with the babes.”

“You wouldn’t,” Jaelyn muttered, studying Ariyal with an odd mixture of fury and … confusion. As if unable to accept the Sylvermyst could truly harm an innocent child.

The fey’s beautiful features tightened, his gaze refusing to stray toward the female vampire.

“Someone has to stop the looming apocalypse. And if this Scooby-Doo gang doesn’t have the stomach to make the tough choices then I’ll do it for them.”

“Don’t pretend you have some altruistic motive for slaughtering children,” Laylah snapped. “All you care about is saving your own worthless hide.”

“Are you deaf?” The Sylvermyst pointed a finger toward the squirming babies. “They are not children, they’re the spawn of the Dark Lord.”

“He’s right,” Sergei parroted.

Laylah managed to force a small rock to drop onto his head. “Shut up, mage.”

Sergei hissed, stabbing her with a furious glare. “They’re creatures of dark magic, created by evil.”

Laylah ignored the thick tension that blanketed the tunnel.

She wasn’t stupid. She knew that the others suspected her overwhelming maternal instincts were blinding her to the truth of the babies. And in one sense they were right.

She refused to consider who or what had created the babies. Or what they intended to do with them. So far as she was concerned, they had been born the moment she’d taken them from the mist.

But it wasn’t just blind hope.

To the very depths of her soul she believed the children were innocent.

After all, she was a creation of evil.

What else could you call the brutal rape of a helpless woman that had been orchestrated by her own sister?

She had to believe that it was possible for good to come out of such wickedness.

“It doesn’t matter how they were created,” she said, her voice thick.

Ariyal swore, the aroma of herbs so strong it overwhelmed every other scent. Not entirely a bad thing considering Marika had left behind the stench of burning flesh.

Nasty.

“Don’t be a fool.” The fey stabbed a finger toward the babies. “They are destined to open the path to the Dark Lord and his minions.”

“Cousins of yours?” Jaelyn abruptly mocked.

“Yes.” The furious bronze gaze swung toward the female vampire. “And trust me, they don’t have my exquisite charm.”

Jaelyn snorted. “Hard to believe they could be worse.”

“You have no idea.” Ariyal turned back to Laylah. “And they wouldn’t even be the worst of what would crawl out of hell.”

She believed him.

She truly did.

Whatever his selfish motive in wanting to prevent the return of the Dark Lord, he wasn’t lying when he spoke of the horrors that would engulf the world if the veil between worlds was ripped open.

That didn’t mean, however, he wasn’t a big fat liar when it came to the supposed fate of her beautiful children.

“Where did you hear this prophecy?” she demanded between clenched teeth.

He waved a slender hand. “It’s taught to all Sylvermyst before they ever leave the cradle.”

“Convenient.” Ariyal intended to commit murder because of a vague bedtime story? She stuck out her chin. “Did you ever think it might have been a lie that was invented by the Dark Lord?”

He stuck out his own chin. “It couldn’t have been.”

Tane brushed a comforting hand up and down her back. “How do you know?” he challenged the Sylvermyst.

Ariyal muttered words in a harsh, foreign language, looking at them as if they were too stupid to endure.

“After the Dark Lord heard the prophecy he realized that he would eventually be banished from the world,” he said, his tone indicating he was repeating something that should be obvious to the most dense creature. Jackass. “Everyone knows that it drove him crazy and he commanded that all prophets be slaughtered.”

Tane and Laylah shared a brief glance. It was common knowledge that the Dark Lord had commanded that true prophets be destroyed. Still, Laylah had never heard that it was because he’d learned of a foretelling he didn’t like.

Frowning, Tane swiftly came to the same conclusion. “He could have twisted it to make sure you remained faithful even during his banishment.” He continued to stroke Laylah’s back, his steady touch keeping her volatile temper in check. A good thing considering she was too weak to do more than get herself killed. “So long as there was hope he would eventually return to this world, he could be certain you would continue to search for a means to open the veil.”

The heat of Ariyal’s anger swirled around them, only to be swiftly countered by Tane’s blast of frigid power. The combination made the ground shift beneath them. Laylah grimaced. The mountain was unstable enough without adding the stress of two alpha demons flexing their muscles.

“The prophecy hasn’t been altered by the Dark Lord or anyone else,” the Sylvermyst said between clenched teeth.

Laylah shook her head at his stubborn refusal to accept he could be wrong. “How can you be so certain?” “Because it came from the lips of an Oracle.” Tane stiffened at her side. “What Oracle?” “Siljar.”

“Shit.” Tane’s hand gripped Laylah’s shoulder and she turned to study his grim expression. “She’s a prophet?”

Ariyal slowly nodded, easily reading Tane’s shock. “The rumors are that it was her one and only foretelling and that when she spoke the words it unleashed such fury in the world that whole civilizations tumbled into dust.”

Tane snorted, his hand shifting from Laylah to rub the tattoo marring the skin of his chest.

“Yeah, she does have a way of making her point,” he muttered.

Laylah sent him a frown of astonishment. “Was she the one …?” “She was.”

“Dammit.” Ariyal moved forward until the silent Jaelyn stepped directly in his path. With a hiss of frustration, he stabbed Laylah with a fierce frown. “Then you understand this isn’t a joke. You can save the world or destroy it.” His hands clenched at his side. “Your choice.”

“No.” Laylah didn’t even hesitate. “There is no choice.”

The Sylvermyst turned his frown toward Tane. “Can’t you control your female?” The words barely left his lips before he jerked in response to Laylah’s infuriated bolt of electricity. “Shit.”

Tane smirked in pleasure. “You want to try?”

Laylah ignored the byplay, just as she ignored the ball of dread in the pit of her stomach.

Okay, the prophecy hadn’t been concocted by the Dark Lord, but that didn’t mean it had anything to do with the children.

Dammit. She’d held Maluhia in her arms for years. She would know if he was evil.

Just as she’d known there was a second child? A ruthless voice whispered in the back of her mind. A child she still couldn’t sense despite being only a few feet apart.

With a shake of her head she dismissed the troubling suspicions.

“You’re taking an obscure prophecy and twisting it to suit your purpose,” she accused. “The words could mean anything. Or nothing.”

“You’re being willfully blind, and you know it.”

“You’ll say anything to get what you want.”

“I don’t need your help to get what I want, Jinn.” For some reason the Sylvermyst’s attention turned toward the female vampire. “I can take care of that all on my own.”

Jaelyn growled low in her throat. “Bring it on.”

Laylah lifted her brows. Odd. But then, what wasn’t odd about the entire encounter?

As if to add to the confusion, Sergei took a wary step forward.

“Dammit, why are you arguing with them?” he rasped. “Let’s go.”

Ariyal’s expression hardened, his eyes remaining trained on the female who blocked his path.

“Stand aside,” he commanded.

Jaelyn folded her arms over her chest. “No.”

“Jaelyn,” Tane warned softly, pointing a warning finger toward the mage who was chanting beneath his breath.

Laylah grasped Tane’s arm as she felt the stirring of black magic in the air.

“Tane, please,” she pleaded. “We can’t let him escape.”

Her mate lifted his sword, his beautiful face set in lethal lines.

“He won’t.”

Ariyal sidestepped toward Sergei, his arm held out as he clenched and unclenched his hand. Laylah braced herself, assuming he was conjuring a spell. Which just proved it was true about the whole “assume makes an ass out of you and me” thing.

Instead, a slender ash bow appeared in his hand, complete with a wooden arrow that she would bet her last nickel would be magically replaced the moment it was shot.

Hell of a trick.

And one he was swift to use to his advantage.

With one smooth motion the bastard had his weapon pointed at Tane.

“Stay back,” he warned, his gaze narrowing as Laylah stepped in front of her mate.

A wooden arrow would hurt like a bitch, but it wouldn’t be fatal. At least not to her.

“Laylah, be careful,” Tane muttered.

“He’s not leaving with my babies.”

“I agree, but let’s not provoke him into something stupid.”

She shot a frustrated glance over her shoulder, meeting Tane’s resolute gaze.

“If he takes the babies through a portal we’ll never catch him.”

“He’s not going anywhere,” Tane assured her.

“Arrogant leech,” Ariyal mocked and Laylah turned back in time to see him reach for the mage.

Her heart came to an agonizing halt, but before he could create a portal there was a blast of icy power and Jaelyn was slamming into the Sylvermyst at full speed.

Although Tane had obviously been expecting the attack, Laylah was caught off guard. Unfortunate since the damned mage chose that moment to launch a spell in their direction.

A scream was wrenched from her throat as Tane grasped her arms and shoved her to the side, saving her and taking the full brunt of the spell.

She cursed, her knees making painful contact with the hard ground. Swiftly she scrambled to her feet, her heart in her throat as she caught sight of Tane flying through the air to land with a bone-rattling force against the side of the tunnel.

Muttering her opinion of vampires who always had to play the hero, Laylah stumbled to where he leaned heavily against the wall.

Distantly she was aware of Jaelyn battling with the Sylvermyst and the mage trying to edge toward escape, but Laylah couldn’t concentrate on anything but her wounded mate. “How badly are you hurt?”

He caught her hand that she was skimming down his chest in search of injuries, lifting it to his lips.

“Nothing that won’t heal,” he assured her, his voice thick with pain.

She gave a twist of her hand, pressing her inner wrist against his lips.

“Drink,” she commanded.

He hissed, his head abruptly lifting. “No time, my sweet.” “What do you …”

Her words came to an abrupt end as she caught the scent of herbs. Not Ariyal, but another Sylvermyst. And close.

She reached to pull the handgun from Tane’s pocket, sensing that Jaelyn and Ariyal had brought a sudden end to their battle as they too caught the scent of the approaching intruder.

Lifting the gun, she pointed it at the tall, copper-haired Sylvermyst that stepped into view, praying that Tane had loaded it with silver bullets.

“Tearloch,” Ariyal growled, the shock in his voice genuine. “I thought you left.”

The fey moved with liquid grace to wrap an arm around Sergei’s neck, pressing a dagger to the mage’s temple.

“I returned to right the wrongs of the past,” the Sylvermyst said, his voice harsh and his gaze locked on Ariyal. “We were led astray by those who lost the faith, but we have paid our debt and it is not too late to return to the fold. Come with me, brother and we will free our kin.”

Laylah’s brows snapped together.

Tearloch sounded like a bad actor out of a B-rated movie, but she wasn’t stupid enough to dismiss him. There was a fanatic glint in the sterling silver eyes and a savage expression on his slender face.

“You’re not going anywhere,” she informed the fey, giving a wave of her gun on the off chance he’d missed seeing it aimed at his head.

At the same time Ariyal stepped forward, his face a mask of arrogant command.

“There is no erasing the past, Tearloch. If you release the Dark Lord he will destroy us all.”

The younger fey shook his head, obviously lost in his dangerous delusions.

“We will be his saviors,” he breathed.

“No.” Ariyal’s voice held the authority of a natural leader. “We will be nothing more than traitors that he crushes beneath his heel. The Dark Lord never forgives or forgets.”

Tearloch briefly wavered, his metallic eyes shifting from Ariyal to the others gathered in the tunnel. Then, with a sharp shake of his head, he was dragging the terrified mage down the tunnel.