AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop calling me pretty,” she snapped, never allowing her gaze to leave the garbage pile.
He chuckled, unable to resist teasing her. It was the one certain means of slipping beneath her frigid composure. His amusement quickly faded, however, as he stepped away from the table.
“Let’s check it out.”
In a fluid motion, Sofie was standing next to him, clearly anxious to continue their journey. Side by side, they headed toward the edge of the village, the chill of her powers combining with his jinn magic to form a mist that danced around their feet. An unfamiliar sensation tingled through Ryshi at the sight.
Walking between two cottages, Fassie abruptly appeared beside them, her lips stretched in a smile.
“Your room is this way.” She grabbed his arm, as if intending to pull him back to the village.
“I will join you in a minute,” he promised, jerking out of her grasp.
Fassie grimly leaped ahead of them, spreading her arms. “This area is off-limits.”
Without hesitation, they stepped around the sprite’s slender form and continued forward.
“Wait!” Fassie called out. “You cannot go there. Stop!”
“We must be getting close,” Ryshi murmured, his nose curling as he caught a putrid stench.
It wasn’t just the garbage pile. The smell went deeper. As if there was a rot that crawled just beneath the pastoral beauty of the meadow. Was it the labyrinth? Impossible to know for sure. He hadn’t noticed it the last time he was in the maze.
“Do you see the opening?” Sofie demanded.
Ryshi cautiously rounded the edge of the pile, his gaze searching for the shimmers of magic that would reveal the exit.
“Not yet,” he said. “Watch my back.”
Concentrating on his search, Ryshi didn’t hesitate to trust Sofie to protect him. It wasn’t just that she would be stuck in the illusion without him. He could actually sense her resolution. She’d made a pledge to her Anasso to return to Chicago with both Ryshi and the gargoyle. She would die to fulfill that promise.
A few seconds later, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps slamming against the ground and the grunts of an angry troll.
“The natives are getting restless,” Sofie murmured.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ryshi caught sight of Sofie pulling out her dagger as two male sprites leaped over the garbage pile in a surprise attack. Grimly, Ryshi continued his search even as he monitored the battle. He wasn’t worried about Sofie. As the sprites attacked, she was whirling in a blindingly fast motion, kicking one in the chest to send him tumbling into the garbage before crouching low to avoid the sword that was being swung at her head. She struck out with the dagger, slicing through the male’s leg. The sprite screamed in pain, collapsing as if some sort of poison raced through his body. Or a curse.
Sofie didn’t watch the creature die. She was already leaping to the side as a troll tried to smash her with a heavy cudgel. Wisely, she didn’t bother to try to stab the troll. Its skin was too thick for the blade. Instead, she grabbed the wooden club he was holding and used it to jerk the lumbering creature off balance. The troll roared in frustration, stumbling forward. Not waiting for the male to regain his balance, Sofie was darting between his legs, kicking his ankle as she rolled forward and flowed upright. The troll stumbled to his knees and Sofie leaped up to kick him in the center of his back. The blow sent him face-first into the garbage heap.
Ryshi wanted to stop his search and simply enjoy the show. Sofie moved with a quicksilver grace that was mesmerizing, flowing from one movement to the next as if she was performing a dance rather than destroying the throng of attackers that were piling up at an alarming rate.
Now, however, wasn’t the time to admire Sofie’s fighting skills. That would have to wait until they’d escaped the labyrinth.
At last discovering the faint shimmer between two large trees, Ryshi turned to grab Sofie’s hand.
“Got it.” He ignored her fierce glare, maintaining his tight grip as he pulled her toward the trees. “Let’s go.”
* * * *
Styx was in his office, searching through his old scrolls to discover any weaknesses that Hades, god of the underworld, might possess when a servant arrived to inform him that Viper was waiting for him in the library.
Styx scowled as he stomped his way through the house. Not that he was mad at the interruption. His eyes were starting to cross from endless hours of trying to decipher ancient texts. But hearing the empty echo of his boots against the marble floor reminded him once again that he was alone in his lair.
Darcy hadn’t even argued when he’d suggested she travel to Kansas City to stay with her twin sister. She’d obviously decided that an oversized gargoyle and a deity from the depths of hell were more than she could bear.
They were more thanhecould bear. But there wasn’t much he could do about them until they managed to locate Levet.
Stepping into the library, Styx spotted the clan chief of Chicago staring out the window. At a glance the two vampires appeared to be complete opposites. Viper was several inches shorter than Styx with a slender body that he kept attired in velvet jackets and satin slacks. His hair was as pale as moonlight and tumbled to his waist; his eyes, in contrast, were as dark as the midnight sky. But while their appearances might be different, they both possessed the sort of thunderous power that made the demon world quake in fear.
