Styx slammed his sword back into its sheath. “He’s mine.”

Kostas’s lair

Once again fully dressed, Gaius easily found the opening to Kostas’s lair, and with an impatient knock on the heavy metal door, he waited for the surly vampire to lead him down the stairs and through a series of cement tunnels. Eventually, they entered an eight-by-eight box of a room with a chair in one corner that was surrounded by a pile of sharp weapons. Nearer at hand was a shelf of tattered books that were focused on the histories of various demon species. No doubt they revealed all the strengths and weaknesses that a Hunter would need to know.

“All the better to kill you with, my dear . . .”

He grimaced. Not so much at the barren lack of comfort. He’d lived as sparsely as a monk beyond the Veil. But rather at the heavy sense of impending death that filled the room.

Was it because Kostas had devoted his existence to killing? Or a premonition?

“This is your lair?” he demanded.

Kostas glanced around the cement box. “Why?”

“It’s . ..”

“It’s functional.”

“I suppose.” Gaius shook his head, dismissing his strange imaginings. He had enough troubles without inventing new ones. “Where’s the child?”

Kostas planted his hands on his hips, his bulky body consuming a large chunk of the room. “What about my reward?”

Gaius made a sound of impatience. “I told you, that’s between you and the Dark Lord.”

“Not good enough,” the Hunter snapped. “No reward, no child.”

Gaius clenched his hands. It wasn’t that he didn’t sympathize with the man’s need to get his payment up front. Merda, he was desperate to be given his own rewards. But he wasn’t in the mood to play the role of diplomat.

Not only had he seen up close and in person just what happened to a servant who questioned the Dark Lord’s ability to fulfill her promises. But, he was still raw from his encounter with the King of Vampires and the reminder of his duty to Santiago.

He never allowed himself to think of the son he’d been forced to abandon.

Never.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he warned his companion. “The last creature to challenge the Dark Lord was eaten alive by a black mist. Do you think you’ll fare any better?”

“I won’t be denied my revenge.”

Gaius rolled his eyes, wondering how a man could sell his soul for mere revenge. “Once the Dark Lord has returned, you will be able to torture and torment whoever you want,” he promised dryly.

“And if he doesn’t return?”

“Then we’re both screwed.”

The blunt words hung in the air as they both considered the heinous consequences of failure. Then, with an angry shake of his head, Kostas turned to kick aside the chair, revealing a small lever built in the floor.

Gaius watched as the vampire tripped the lever and stood back while the hidden door slid open to reveal a small room beyond. Instantly, the sound of a crying baby filled the air.

“In there.” Kostas waved a beefy hand toward the dark room. “How do you intend to get it to the Dark Lord?”

Gaius pointed for the Hunter to enter the room ahead of him. Not only because he feared a hidden spell, but because he didn’t want the powerful demon at his back.

“I’m a vampire of many talents.”

Kostas glanced over his shoulder, a sudden cunning in his dark eyes. “I’ve heard the Immortal Ones have weird powers.”

“Weird?”

“Shape-shifting, mist-walking,” he named them off. “Enthralling other vampires.”

Gaius would never have answered if Kostas was still the leader of the Hunters. Whatever Styx’s accusation, he wasn’t indifferent to the debt he owed Nefri and her clan for taking him in.

But Kostas had been tossed out of the Addonexus. And more importantly, it was highly unlikely the brash idiot would survive his current tenure with the Dark Lord. Why not give him the answers he wanted?

“Shape-shifting is a talent that only a rare few vampires possess,” he admitted. “Although it’s impossible to fully develop the skill without traveling beyond the Veil.”

“And the others?” the man pressed.

“Nefri, the clan chief, has a medallion like mine that allows her to mist-walk and also to part the Veil so vampires can travel back and forth. And as far as enthralling other vampires . . .” Gaius shrugged. “There are those who can seize control of lesser minds.”

The dark eyes narrowed. “Are you one of them?”

“If I were, we wouldn’t be having this ridiculous conversation.”

Kostas stiffly moved to stand beside the narrow bed where the baby continued to cry, its tiny body wrapped in a blanket and his face scrunched and red with distress. “I don’t like this,” Kostas growled, scooping the baby off the mattress.

“You don’t have to like it, you just have to obey.”

With a warning glare, Kostas shoved the squalling baby into Gaius’s arms. Astonishingly, the child abruptly halted its crying, regarding Gaius with a pair of wide blue eyes that held an innocence that pierced him straight in his dead heart.

“You stiff me and there’s nowhere you can hide that I won’t track you down,” Kostas muttered.

Wrenching his gaze away from the sweet purity that was bundled in his arms, Gaius instead glared at his companion as he grasped the medallion.

“Stand back, you buffoon.”

The Dark Lord’s prison

Cassie was lost in a choking darkness. There were no sounds, no smells, no sense of touch. Just a vast emptiness that defied even the passage of time.

It was almost a relief when she distantly felt a sharp slap on her cheek.

“Wakey, wakey,” a female said in her ear.

Cassie struggled to wade out of the clinging fog, flinching as the slaps became more painful.

“Caine,” she breathed, slowly opening her eyes to discover a pretty young face hovering directly over her. “You.”

A pair of dimples flashed. “Yes, me.”

With a hiss of fear, Cassie scooted away from the evil deity.

And the bitch was evil.

Only a truly black heart would have taken such pleasure in torturing a helpless Caine while Cassie pleaded on her knees for mercy.

She had tried, over and over, to conjure the visions the Dark Lord wanted, but she wasn’t a sideshow freak. She couldn’t force the visions to appear.

At last she’d been sucked into the black hole of unconsciousness, her mind forced to relive every agonizing moment of Caine’s torture for what had seemed to be an eternity.

Now she could only imagine what new hell was awaiting her.

“Where’s Caine?” she managed to demand, her voice a mere croak.

The female straightened, smoothing her hands down the pretty white sundress she’d somehow managed to create to cover her naked body. “Don’t worry. Your devoted dog is nearby.”

The Dark Lord gave a wave of her hand and the swirling fog parted to reveal Caine, who was still trapped between wolf and human, lying motionless.

Cassie warily rose to her feet, her hands pressed to her aching heart. “What have you done to him?”

“He’s in stasis.” The blue eyes flickered with a sinister crimson. “At least for now.”

Cassie understood the warning. The temporary reprieve was over. “What do you want?”

The female reached to grasp Cassie by the hair, pulling hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. “You know what I want.”

Cassie didn’t try to fight. What was the point? The creature would simply break her neck. Or worse, she’d continue her torture of Caine.

Instead, she sent her captor a pleading gaze. “Please, I can’t give it to you.”

The Dark Lord gave her an infuriated shake, rattling Cassie’s teeth. “You’re just not trying hard enough.”

“I am,” Cassie cried out. “I swear.”

The female pointed her finger toward the unconscious Caine. “Do you need a reminder of the cost of failure?”

“No, I beg you . . .”

No big shocker—the evil bitch ignored Cassie’s pleas. With a small gesture the Dark Lord sent her invisible power slamming into Caine with enough force to wrench him from the spell and make him howl in brutal agony.

“I need to know the future, seer.” She glared at Cassie, frustration making crimson fire nearly consume the blue of her eyes. “You will give it to me.”

Cassie cried out, feeling Caine’s pain as if it was her own. “You’re killing him.”

The female gave Cassie another violent shake. “It’s up to you to save him.”

“Stop . . .”

Cassie’s words were lost as a familiar sensation seized her mind, driving out all thoughts of the Dark Lord and even Caine.

This power was bigger than all of them.

With violent force, the prophecy raced through her, searing a path from the great unknown to leave her shaken and disoriented. Like she’d been run over by a cement truck.