AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sofie floated in a sea of darkness, desperate to avoid the beckoning light. She wasn’t afraid it would lead her to death. She’d already died and been resurrected as a vampire. The next time she was destroyed it would be in a puff of ash. But the light meant a return to consciousness and the pain she could sense hovering just on the horizon.
Distantly she could hear waterdrops falling from over her head to plop against the floor. As if the roof was leaking. Odd. Her lair was deep enough in the mountain to avoid the rain. And even when the snow melted, the stone was thick and hard enough to prevent any leaks.
Where was she?
Careful not to twitch a muscle, Sofie reviewed her last memories. She’d been in her lair, carving her latest fresco into the wall when the Anasso had rudely interrupted her. Yes, that was right. And he’d demanded that she leave her home and travel to…
Chicago. And Ryshi.
The darkness began to recede as the memory of entering the labyrinth formed in her mind. They’d been searching for a gargoyle, but they’d been trapped as a silver net had fallen on them. Or at least she’d been trapped, she silently conceded. Ryshi had disappeared.
Cautiously she reached out with her powers, searching for any hint of the jinn. Nothing. The nearest creature was a minotaur who reeked of damp fur and sour ale.
Trying not to gag, Sofie finally forced open her eyes. She couldn’t pretend to be unconscious forever. And the longer she waited, the more likely the word of her arrival in the private lands of the minotaurs would spread and the greater the danger. Besides, the hard stone floor wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest.
The first thing she noticed as her gaze cleared was the damp rock above her. As if she was in a cave. Then she turned her head, discovering the heavy bars that blocked her exit. Not a cave. A prison.
Were these the dungeons beneath the colosseum that Ryshi had mentioned? If they were, then the gargoyle she was searching for wasn’t here. There was no scent of granite. Or any other demon beyond minotaur.
A worry for later, she told herself, reaching for the dagger that had been strapped on her hip. No surprise to discover it’d been taken. Muttering a curse, she lifted her hand to her neck. The net was gone, but there was a burning pain that blistered her throat.
Sofie winced as her fingers touched the thin band of silver that circled her neck. It wasn’t large enough to kill her, but it was draining her strength at an alarming rate.
And it hurt like a bitch.
“It’s about time,” a voice growled.
Still lying on the ground, Sofie watched a male minotaur approach the bars of her cell. He was large, but not much bigger than a vampire, with horns that stuck out of the sides of his head and curved upward. The hair between his horns was buzzed to his skull, but he had a shaggy beard that hung down to his impressive potbelly. He hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt, but thankfully he had on leather pants and boots. In one large hand he carried a spear with a wooden shaft and a metal tip.
Sofie wasn’t impressed.
“Where am I?” she asked.
“I’ll ask the questions, leech,” the male chided, reaching the spear through the bars to jab the tip into her leg.
The metal wasn’t silver and the damage it caused was minimal, but it was enough to spark her anger.
“Don’t poke me,” she warned.
“Ha.” The male stabbed her again, grinning in pleasure at tormenting her. Jerk. “How are you going to stop me?”
Ice coated the floor of the cell. “Last warning,” she hissed.
“I’ll do what I want—”
The male’s boast was cut short as Sofie grabbed the spear just below the tip and yanked it out of his hand. Smoothly rising to her feet, she snapped the shaft in half and dropped it on the ground.
“Where am I?” she asked again.
The male managed to look like a petulant child as he stared at his broken weapon, but he at least answered her question.
“The homeland of the minotaurs.” His gaze lifted to glare at Sofie. “Theprivatehomeland where intruders are not welcome.”
Sofie didn’t have to fake her disgust as she glanced around. The dungeons looked just as filthy and ill tended as the city above. There was a slimy coating of mold on the damp rock and the stench of rotting food wafted from the cell next door.
“This place is your homeland?”
The guard scowled, obviously offended by her revulsion. “These are the dungeons, not a palace.”
