Bound by Darkness - Alexandra Ivy [126]
Not that far-fetched a fear considering the past few days.
Only after she had counted to a hundred did she cautiously sit up, her body aching from head to toe. She groaned, but didn’t protest when Ariyal wrapped an arm around her waist and assisted her to her feet.
The mage remained on the floor, passed out cold and still bleeding from a wound to his arm. Beyond him stood the King of Weres and a handful of vampires. Farther back the Sylvermysts hurried to get closer to their prince. But her attention was commanded by the six-foot-five vampire who stood with his hands on his hips.
“What the hell was that?” he demanded, his dark eyes revealing a rare disquiet.
Very few things scared the Anasso.
“The Dark Lord,” she said, leaning heavily against Ariyal.
Salvatore made a sound of choked disbelief. “That ... girl?”
“He was resurrected in the child.” She grimaced at the memory. “One minute he was a babe and the next he stepped out of the mist looking like a young girl. It was creepy as hell.”
“Yeah, understatement of the century,” the Were muttered.
Ariyal tugged her even closer, his cheek resting on the top of her head.
“Can we do this later?” he growled. “Jaelyn’s been through enough.”
“In a minute.” Styx pointed a finger toward the spot where the Dark Lord had appeared. “If he was resurrected then why didn’t he ... or she ... come through the barrier?”
Jaelyn parted her lips to admit she didn’t have a clue when Ariyal beat her to the punch.
“Because Jaelyn took her blood.”
“Blood?” Styx regarded her as with a hint of wonder. “From the Dark Lord?”
Jaelyn shuddered, only now realizing that she could still feel the echoes of power from the blood.
“Trust me, it was an act of desperation.”
“An act of incredible courage,” the Anasso corrected with a faint dip of his head.
“So why would taking her blood keep the Dark Lord from passing into this world?” Salvatore asked the question on everyone’s lips.
Including Jaelyn’s.
“The child was created to hold the soul of the Dark Lord, but to have a unique enough essence so that the Phoenix wouldn’t recognize it when it moved through the barrier.” He shrugged. “After all, that’s what keeps the Dark Lord on the other side. So long as the Chalice holds the goddess of light, the darkness remains banished.”
Styx furrowed his brow. “So when Jaelyn drained her of blood?” he prompted.
“She stole the life of the symbiont.”
“No.” Salvatore shook his head. “From what I could see it was very much alive and very pissed off.”
“The Dark Lord survives,” Ariyal agreed, “but now he has no more than an empty shell that is incapable of travel from world to world.”
Styx studied Ariyal with a searching gaze. “So that’s the end?”
Ariyal shrugged. “For now.”
Jaelyn studied him in amazement.
Gorgeous, lethal, and now brilliant.
Suddenly her aching desire for a hot bath and a soft bed evaporated.
All she wanted was to get this Sylvermyst alone so she could ravish him in private.
“We’ll finish this later,” she announced, sending her mate a smile that had him scooping her off her feet and heading toward the nearest exit.
Styx growled in annoyance. .“But ...”
“Later,” Ariyal snapped. “Much, much later.”
A week later
In a lair south of Chicago
The two-story brick farmhouse with white shutters and a wraparound porch was as picturesque as it was isolated.
Perched on a bluff that overlooked the Mississippi River, it was surrounded by acres of meadows filled with wildflowers and patches of woods that were as necessary to fey as plenty of fresh air to breathe. And far enough from the main road to prevent all but the most determined trespassers.
Inside, the house had been modified to please the most demanding vampire. The tinted windows allowed the sun-challenged to move around the house no matter what time of day or night. The rooms were large and the furniture a charming mixture of antiques and modern that was chosen for comfort rather than fashion. And of course reinforced to withstand the love play between a newly mated vampire and Sylvermyst.