“I’m feeling a little peevish at my unfortunate death. I was, after all, destined to rule the world,” she complained. “Let’s hope a few centuries of punishing you will help ease my disappointment.”
Her churning fear was briefly forgotten as a flare of pure relief raced through her. She didn’t know what the hell was going on, but at least Marika believed she had died.
It gave her hope.
“Tell me, Marika, was it Laylah who struck the killing blow?” she asked sweetly.
The dark eyes flashed with fury. “The bitch got lucky.”
Kata smiled. “Do you believe in karma?”
“I believe that the sins of the daughter must be paid by the mother.” Marika lifted her hand, her fingers curled to slice her claws through Kata’s tender flesh. “Starting now.”
Braced for the blow, Kata was unprepared for the flash of movement from directly behind Marika. Thankfully, her crazy-ass sister was equally oblivious and, even as she swung her hand toward Kata’s face, Uriel was slamming into her with bone-breaking force.
Kata stumbled to the side, struggling to keep her balance as the two predators hit the ground with enough force to split the earth. Uriel managed to land on top, his fist slamming into the back of his opponent’s head with a sickening crunch.
It wasn’t a fatal blow, but it should have been enough to put the female vamp out of commission for a few minutes. Instead Marika turned with a fluid motion and sank her fang’s into Uriel’s throat.
Kata’s heart faltered as Uriel grabbed Marika’s hair and ripped her from his flesh, his blood gushing from the wound. His roar of pain echoed through the glade, sending animals fleeing in terror.
Barely aware she was moving, Kata had snatched up a large branch that was nearly hidden in the grass and was charging forward. At the same time, Uriel was lifting his sword and with one sharp motion he was plunging it into Marika’s heart.
Kata halted, shuddering at the sight of her sister sprawled on the ground with a massive blade sticking out of her chest.
She hated the miserable, sadistic creature with every fiber of her being, but it was still disturbing to see the image of her sister pinned to the ground like something from a horror film.
Waiting for Uriel to finish the kill by cutting out the vampire’s heart, Kata sucked in a shocked breath as Marika grasped the blade with both hands and yanked it from her flesh.
It shouldn’t have been possible. Such a wound should have paralyzed her at the very least. Not even the most powerful demon could shrug off a huge, gaping hole in the center of their chest.
Caught off guard, Uriel was barely able to yank his sword from her grasp and hastily rise to his feet before she was launching her attack.
He swung the sword, cursing as Marika dodged the blow and struck him across the face. She wasn’t as strong as Uriel, but she still packed a hell of a punch. And worse, it seemed as if nothing could hurt her.
Uriel’s head snapped back, and Marika was once again at his throat, almost as if she intended to gnaw through his neck.
And maybe she did.
Evil bitch.
Tightening her grip on the branch, Kata grimly marched forward. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe she could hurt a vampire with a stick, not unless she managed to stab it through the cold-blooded leech’s heart, and with her luck she was more likely to stick it through her own. But she was feeling like the last gazelle at the watering hole and the weight of the branch in her hand gave the impression she wasn’t completely helpless.
Stupid, but necessary if she was going to be able to concentrate enough to conjure a curse.
Fiercely she blocked out Uriel’s terrible wounds and his losing effort to hold off Marika, who was not only weirdly immune to her injuries, but clearly in the throes of a crazed bout of bloodlust.
Instead she turned her mind inward, focusing on the small spark of power that smoldered in her soul.
It was the same power that she used to heal, but instead of allowing the energy to flow from her in a soothing, fixed stream, she instead twisted it with the dark impulses that lurked in every creature, and held it in a tight knot until she unleashed it with a savage burst.
Muttering the words her grandmother had taught her as they had sat beside the campfire, Kata pointed her hand in Marika’s direction, releasing her power in a torrential blast.
The air sizzled with the force of her curse and for a moment Marika faltered, her crazed gaze shifting toward Kata with an expression of blatant panic.
“That’s right, you vicious whore, die,” Kata hissed.
There was a gurgling sound as a disgusting foam began to spew from Marika’s mouth. The curse was a particularly nasty one that Kata had never used before. Then, obviously the sort of vampire who was swift to take advantage, Uriel rushed forward to swing his sword directly at her exposed neck.
That should have been the end of it.
Shut-the-door-turn-out-the-lights-fat-lady-singing end.
Marika, however, was already shrugging off the potent curse and with a shocking display of power she was springing in the air and vaulting over the swinging blade.
Holy . . . shit.
Kata gripped her stick, her mouth dry and her heart lodged somewhere near her tonsils.
Trapped in a sense of nightmarish disbelief, Kata watched Uriel deliberately place himself between her and the gruesome freak that had once been her sister.
“Kata, find a way out of here,” he growled.
“No.” She shook her head. “I won’t leave you.”
With a low growl, Uriel turned to stab her with a savage glare, his T-shirt drenched in blood and throat still mangled from Marika’s attacks.
“Then we both die.”
She bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t stupid. She knew their only hope of survival was to somehow find the means to escape from the bubble of illusion.
But every fiber of her being rebelled at the thought of abandoning Uriel.
“What the hell is she?” she muttered.
“Invincible,” Marika taunted, her spooky laugh once again filling the glade. “Don’t be wandering too far, sister dearest. Once I’ve disposed of your lover we can start enjoying our special time together.”
Uriel stroked a hand down her cheek, his expression pleading.
“Go.”
Briefly pressing his fingers to her cheek, Kata abruptly turned and charged across the glade.
She heard her sister’s screech of fury and the answering roar of Uriel, but she kept her gaze grimly trained on the low hills that swelled before her. Without her curses she had nothing that could help Uriel defeat Marika.
All she could do now was pray for a miracle . . .
No, that wasn’t all she could do, she belatedly realized.
Kata slowed as she reached the foot of one low hill.
Why was she running as if she could find some magical doorway?
There was only one way out of the illusion.
Stepping behind a large rock, Kata shoved her hair out of her face with a shaking hand and sucked in a ragged breath.
“Yannah,” she called, her voice echoing eerily through the still air. “Yannah?”
Distantly she could hear the sounds of Uriel’s battle with Marika and closer at hand the rustle of a squirrel scurrying through the undergrowth, but from the demon who’d trapped them here . . . nothing. Nada. Jack squat.
“Yannah, dammit, where are you?”
There was no warning.
One minute she was alone, frustration boiling through her like acid, and the next Yannah was standing before her.
“No need to screech, Kata,” the tiny demon complained, smoothing her hands down her pristine white gown. “There’s nothing wrong with my hearing.”
Kata clenched her hands together. It was that or wringing Yannah’s slender neck.
“Really?” she said between gritted teeth. “Then you knew we were being attacked by Marika and you just decided to leave us trapped
here?”
“Don’t be silly, I was busy.”
Kata stabbed a finger toward the battle that continued on the far side of the glade. “Well, I’ve been a little busy myself.”
“Yes, you have.” A sly smile curved Yannah’s lips. “No need to thank me for giving you some privacy with your pretty leech.”
“You expect me to thank you?” Kata’s eyes widened with furious disbelief. Oh yes, she was going to throttle the little demon. But not until she’d gotten them out of this mess. “You locked us in here with my demented sister who has become a vampire zombie.”
Yannah’s brows pleated, as if she were giving serious thought to Kata’s accusation.
“Oh, I don’t think she’s technically a zombie.”
Kata blinked. “Are you kidding me?”
“I never kid about zombies.”
Sucking in a deep breath, Kata counted to ten. “Then technically what is she?”
Yannah lifted her hands in a vague motion. “I’m not really sure.”
Great. Just freaking perfect.
“Is she a part of the illusion?”
“No.”
“But she’s dead?” Kata pressed. “I mean . . . dead dead?”
“Yes.”
Kata frowned, sensing that Yannah was hiding something from her.
“You don’t sound particularly confident.”
“She shouldn’t be here.”
“No shit,” Kata snapped. “She’s supposed to be frying in the pits of hell, but obviously she’s not.” Turning her head, Kata’s heart stopped as she watched Uriel fending off the feral vampire, his powerful body covered in blood and his elegant movements becoming sluggish. “Yannah, you have to get us out of here before she kills us all.”
Chapter 10
Unlike many of his brothers, Uriel had never been arrogant enough to assume he was invincible.
Not after his painful encounter with the Jinn.
He understood that vampires might be at the top of the food chain, but there was always the danger of meeting a bigger, badder opponent who could kick his ass.
So even with his secret boost of power from the Jinn, he devoted hours to perfecting his fighting skills.
Which was the only reason he wasn’t already a pile of ash.
Still, it was taking every trick he’d learned over the centuries just to keep Marika from ripping out his throat. And while his strength was rapidly draining from his numerous wounds, his adversary was as fresh as a fucking daisy.
He could only hope that Kata had managed to find a means to escape.
Almost as if the mere thought of her had created her from thin air, he heard the sound of her voice calling from across the glade.
“Uriel.” She waved her arms over her head to gain his attention. “This way.”
He swallowed a sigh of frustration.
Dammit.
Couldn’t one thing go right?
He turned, accepting that even if Kata had found a way out of the illusion she wouldn’t leave without him.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Perhaps sensing that her prey might slip from her grasp, Marika flowed to stand between him and the beckoning Kata. “We’re not done playing.”
Uriel deliberately allowed his sword to dip in a weariness he didn’t have to pretend, his other hand slipping into the pocket of his jeans. He had one shot at disabling the female long enough to reach Kata. It all depended on catching her off guard.
Marika’s dark eyes flared with smug triumph.
She was confident of her impending victory.
Hell, why not?
If Uriel was a betting man he’d put his money on the insane vampire who couldn’t die.
A humorless smile twisted his lips as he deliberately stumbled over a patch of grass, seeming to lose his balance.
That was all the encouragement Marika needed.
With a cry of anticipation she launched herself forward, her hands curled into lethal claws and her fangs fully exposed.
Uriel forced himself to wait until the last possible second, then yanking his hand out of his pocket he tossed the wooden box directly at her face. The death spell activated with a tiny pop, the magic halting her in her tracks.
He didn’t hesitate. With a fierce roar, he lifted his sword and swung it in a tremendous arch.
The blade whistled through air, offering a belated warning, but Marika was too lost in her bloodlust to notice. With lips pulled into a snarl and her icy power pulsing through the glade she launched herself at Uriel, managing to rake her claws down the side of his face even as his sword connected with her neck.
“Wrong, bitch,” he hissed. “Game over.”
Her dark eyes widened in shock as she at last realized the danger, trying to move to the side as the sword slid smoothly through her neck. It was all too little, too late and despite her frantic efforts she was helpless to halt the inevitable.
Uriel put his entire body behind the blow, slicing the sword cleanly through the vampire’s neck. He watched as Marika’s head flew through the air, landing on a patch of wildflowers, her eyes still wide with shock and her body dropping with a lifeless thud at his feet.
Not that he was deceived.
Not this time.
He grimaced at the lack of blood flowing from her lethal wound and the twitch of her limbs. She should be turning to dust, not laying there flopping like a fish out of water.
He didn’t know what the hell Marika had been transformed into, but he was fairly certain that she wasn’t going to allow a little thing like the lack of a head to stop her.
Almost as if to prove his point, a slender hand jerked outward, the fingers barely missing his foot as they dug into the ground and began to tug the body toward the missing head.
For a second, he was transfixed, unable to accept what he was seeing. Then, shaking off the paralyzing horror, Uriel turned to race toward the waiting Kata.
Flowing with a speed only a vampire could match, he was swiftly at Kata’s side, his senses on full alert at the familiar scent of demon.
“Yannah was here,” he said in flat tones.
Kata nodded, her face pale with weariness and her lovely eyes dark with fear. Still, there was a gritty courage in her expression and a determination in the angle of her shoulders that filled Uriel’s heart with pride.
This woman was a survivor.
“Yes.” She pointed toward the shimmering mist that swirled in midair. “She created a gateway.”
Uriel narrowed his gaze. “Where is she?”
“She disappeared.”
“Again?”
Kata shrugged. “Are you surprised?”
Uriel muttered a curse.
He’d spent the past two centuries making sure he was in command of every situation. After his encounter with the Jinn he’d been obsessive in his need for control.
Now he was blundering from one miserable, insane situation to another. And in the center of the mess was Yannah, popping in and out like a damned cuckoo bird.
“I’m tired of her jerking us around,” he muttered. “What does she want?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.” Kata glanced over his shoulder, shuddering at the sight of the headless monster that had once been her sister. “I would rather burn in the pits of hell than give Marika the satisfaction of killing me.”
“Damn.” Reaching out, he grasped her hand, sourly confident they were fleeing the frying pan directly into the fire. “Don’t let go.”
Together they stepped through the mist, the sensation of electricity dancing over his skin making Uriel shiver. Dammit, he hated magic. Then, they were shrouded in blackness, falling forward to tumble through a sense of emptiness.
Uriel struggled vainly to pull Kata into his arms, already knowing they were going to have a hard landing. The sudden entrance into the gateway on the other side, however, ripped her away from him and before he could react, they were being slammed onto a hard floor with enough force to rattle his fangs.
With a groan, he lifted his head to discover the latest disaster awaiting them, not at all surprised by the seemingly endless expanse of black, volcanic rock that ran between rivers of fire or the poisonous clouds that floated in the distance. Overhead the sky was a sickly shade of crimson with bolts of lightning that streaked toward the ground without warning.
The only surprise would be if they weren’t back in the underworld.
Shifting his gaze, he swore at the sight of Kata lying sprawled a few feet away, her tiny body perilously near the liquid fire.
“Kata.”
He surged to his feet, keeping his sword in one hand while he moved to her side.
“I’m okay.” With an obvious effort, Kata slowly stood, grimacing at the hellish vista spread before her. “Or at least as okay as I’m going to get.”
Uriel desperately wanted to pull her into his arms and offer her comfort, but a swift glance over his shoulder revealed that the gateway was still open.
As soon as Marika healed she was going to be on their trail.
“We need to move.”
Despite her obvious weariness, she gave a swift nod. “Do you sense Yannah?”
“That way.” He grudgingly tilted his head toward a path leading through the black rock.
Kata didn’t hesitate. With that impulsiveness he was beginning to learn was a part of her passionate nature, she was headed through the red-tinted shadows. Uriel hastily reached out to grasp her arm and spin her back to face him.
“Wait,” he commanded.
She met his frown with a heavy sigh. “I know you don’t trust her.”
Trust her?
Not even if she grew wings and put on a halo.
“Do you?” he growled.
Kata bit her bottom lip, visibly considering her words. “She makes me nuts,” she said slowly, “but I think she’s our only hope of getting out of here.”
“And that says it all, doesn’t it?” Uriel gave a shake of his head, conceding defeat. Kata was right. What were the odds of running into another demon who not only had the ability to open gateways, but was willing to help them? “Let’s go.”
In silence they moved along the pathway, the air growing progressively more oppressive and the lightning increasing in intensity.