Ruby Shadows (64 page)

“
Oh my…” Taylor put a hand to her mouth. “I remember him saying
something like that when Celeste was talking about killing me—he
said he’d killed the hornless goat more times than he could count.
I didn’t get it then but now…”

“
Now we do.” Addison looked at me. “We already knew that he
practiced dark magic. And on top of that he’s a murderer—probably
many times over.”

“
Probably.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache
coming on. “Goddess, I just can’t understand why the spell would
have sent Eryn to
him.”

“
Maybe because she is in need of a very strong protector
indeed.” Laish came into the room, carrying a tray with a bottle of
expensive wine and some glasses, one of which was filled with juice
for
the pregnant
Taylor. “Forgive me,
mon ange,”
he
said as he handed around the glasses. “I hope you do not mind me
intruding on your conversation.”

“
Not at all,” Addison answered for me, taking a glass of wine
and smiling at him. “Anyone who comes bearing wine is all right in
my book.”

“
And it was so thoughtful of you to remember I can only have
juice.” Taylor smiled and took a sip of her OJ. “But what did you
mean that Eryn needs a strong protector? I thought the demon who
captured her and wanted her back—that Dru..Dri…”

“
Druaga,” I told her.

“
Right—the pig-headed one. I thought he was dead?” Taylor
asked.

Laish sighed. “He
is. Unfortunately, certain events have come to light that make it
clear he was not the only threat to the little angel’s safety.”

“
What? What do you mean?” I’d been about to take a sip of the
wonderful smelling wine but now I put down my glass, disturbed. “I
thought Eryn was safe now that she’s out of Hell.”

“
I
wish I could say that she was.” Laish shook his head. “But I have
been speaking to a contact in the Infernal Realm. Apparently,
Druaga wasn’t holding Eryn for his own purposes. He had been
contracted to capture and hold her for a much more powerful
entity—a demon called Azaezal.”

“
Azaezal?” I frowned. “I don’t remember you mentioning
him.”

“
That is because it is not wise to speak his name aloud in the
Infernal Realm lest you wish him to appear and rend you limb from
limb,” Laish said grimly. “Azaezal is the overlord of the Abyss.
His power eclipses even my own—or the power I had before I gave it
up to stay here in the Mortal Realm.”

“
That doesn’t sound good. At all.” Addison said,
frowning.

“
It is not.” Laish frowned. “Azaezal is the strongest of Hell’s
overlords, save Lucifer himself. He even has dominion over the
Ancient Ones who live in the Abyss.” He looked at me seriously. “We
were very lucky that he wasn’t there when we were closing the door
you opened into his realm,
mon ange.”

“
But what does he want with
Eryn?” I asked. “I mean, she’s gone from Hell
now—beyond his reach. Wouldn’t you think he’d just try to capture
another angel?”

“
First of all, you must not assume that because Eryn is now in
the Mortal Realm that she is beyond his reach,” Laish said, taking
a sip of his own wine. “And secondly, if he wants Eryn, there must
be something different about her—something special.”

“
But what?” Addison asked.

Laish shrugged. “As to that, who can say? But it sounds to me
as though Gwendolyn’s spell knew that the little
angel would be in grave
danger. It sent her to one of the only mortals in the world who
might possibly be able to defend her from such a demonic
threat.”

“
Will we ever find out what became of her?” I asked. “Should I
try to find Shadowlock and warn him? Do you think he’ll really
protect her?”

“
I
think,
mon
ange,
that if he
is using such a strong spell to hide her, he is already aware of
the threat and taking steps to combat it. As to protecting her, I
do not believe your magic would have sent her to him
otherwise.”

“
But he’s a murderer,” Addison protested. “He’s
evil.”

“
So was I, before Gwendolyn gave me a reason to change,” Laish
said quietly, taking my hand. “Perhaps
Eryn may do the same for
Shadowlock.”

“
I
hope so.” I said, squeezing his fingers. “I really do but poor
Eryn…I just want her to be all right.”

“
As to that, we will have to wait and see.” Laish squeezed my
fingers back and leaned down to give me a small kiss. “There is
nothing more to be done for the moment.”

Wait and see?
I didn’t like the sound of that. I still wanted to find my
angel friend and make sure the warlock was treating her right.
Treating her right and
respecting
her
boundaries
. I
couldn’t help thinking of how she’d shivered when I just touched
her shoulder, where her wings had been hidden. Then I thought of
how big and muscular he’d been when he appeared in the Mirror of
the Eye.

Would Shadowlock
treat her right? Would he protect her without hurting her? Was
there a decent human being buried somewhere inside him, behind that
mask of a spell that kept anyone from seeing his face?

I
didn’t know but I hoped for
Eryn’s sake there was. I really hoped so.

End

If
you have enjoyed this book, please take a moment to leave a review
for
Ruby
Shadows
. Read on for a taste of
Targeted
, the
next book in Evangeline's Brides of the Kindred series as well as a
sneak peek at
Cardinal Sins
, the sequel to Ruby Shadows, coming soon in the Born to
Darkness series.

Targeted, Brides of the
Kindred 15, coming Summer of 2015

A warrior sworn to kill or die trying…

A woman going through a deadly
transformation…

Can they reach safety together?

Or have both of them been Targeted for
death?

Excerpt…

Tragar’s vehicle
skidded to a halt in front of the little domicile shielded by the
lush tropical vegetation. He’d been held up on a one way street by
a slow, elderly driver he couldn’t get around which seemed to be a
very common problem here in Emily’s part of Earth. Normally the
delay wouldn’t have bothered him but by the time he finally got
around the slow driver, he was nearly frantic with worry.

She’s just a target—it doesn’t matter what happens to
her,
he tried to
tell himself. But he didn’t believe the lie for a moment. The knot
of tension in his gut just kept growing every time he remembered
the tears in her eyes and the way she had rushed away from her
school. Not to mention the blond male who had been following her.
Who was he, anyway? Tragar had been casing her school for days and
had thought he knew all the instructors and support staff. But who
was this bastard and why had he affected Emily so
deeply?

Could it be another hunter? Another assassin out for her
blood?
The thought
made him even more uneasy. When he had taken the job, the Dark
Kindred named Two had hinted that he might not be the only one
hunting Emily. Though Tragar had assured him he could take out one
lone female—no matter how dangerous—with ease, he seemed the type
to leave nothing to chance.

“
I
will give you ten solar days from the time you take the
contract,”
he’d
told Tragar, those metal teeth of his gleaming.
“No more. After that, others will be
dispatched with the same goal as yours—to kill the girl. “I mean to
see her dead, Verrak, and it must happen soon…”

Tragar tried to push
back the disturbing memory. When he finally parked his vehicle and
made his way quickly but silently up the lawn, staying well hidden
in the large leafed plants, he saw what was clearly a bad situation
happening right in front of Emily’s front doorway.

The male with the blond hair and pale eyes was advancing on
Emily, speaking to her in a low, threatening tone. Tragar’s first
instinct was to jump out of the bushes and knock the bastard flat
with one punch or maybe even kill him outright with a single shot
of his sonic rifle. Eliminating people other than the target during
an operation wasn’t exactly forbidden by the
Verrak
but it was certainly strongly frowned upon. In
this case, however, Tragar was more than willing to take whatever
chastisement might come his way for killing the son of a
bitch.

But something
stopped him. It was a scent—a scent in the air he’d never smelled
before and yet one he instinctively knew. One he would recognize
anywhere though he would never have expected to smell it here on
Earth, so far away from his home world of Rageron.

What in the Seven
Hells?

He had to be
wrong—there was no way. It couldn’t be. He sniffed the air and
scented it again—was it really coming from Emily?

Hidden by the screen
of vegetation, he breathed deeply and watched the scene in front of
him unfold.

“
It’s just…I’ve never forgotten that night we spent together,”
the blond male said, taking a step towards Emily. Tragar could only
see him from the side but he didn’t like the look on what he could
see of the male’s face. It was greedy and lustful. “I’ve been with
so many women since then but none of them could compare to you, my
dear Emily.” His eyes gleamed. “You were so
tight.”

Tragar felt a low
growl rising in his throat but Emily’s reply left him mute.

“
That’s because I was a virgin and you
raped
me you bastard!” she cried, glaring at the blond
male. “I asked you to stop—I
begged
you to stop. But you wouldn’t!”

Every fiber of Tragar’s being howled in protest. Raped her?
This fucking scum had dared to take her against her will? If she
was what Tragar’s nose told him she was—what her scent proclaimed
her to be—there could be no worse crime. To take any unwilling
female was shameful and disgusting—the act of a coward who deserved
nothing but death. But to take a
Khalla—

Things were happening rapidly now. The male had her by the
wrist and was squeezing hard. Tragar lifted his rifle to shoot—not
to kill—that was too good for this bastard. He just wanted to wound
him and he would finish the job later.
Slowly
. But then something else happened—something that
confirmed his suspicions.

Emily ripped her
wrist from the male’s grip and her eyes began to glow. They changed
from the no-color blue they had been to a pure, fiery gold. And
then she pounced.

Seven Hells!
Tragar rushed forward but he wasn’t sure what to do. On one
hand, it was her right to exact justice for the wrong which had
been done her. Taking the maidenhood of a
Khalla
against her will was a sin punishable by torture and
the most painful and prolonged death possible. But if he allowed
her to kill this slimy male it would surely throw her body into
complete
Tenrah
and
shortly after that, the breeding heat would be upon her. At that
point it would be either breed or die. He couldn’t allow that to
happen.

“
Stop!” Grabbing her by the back of her garment, he pulled her
off the male as carefully as he could. He didn’t give a damn if it
hurt her rapist but he didn’t want to damage her.

At first she fought
him, trying to reach the male who had scrambled away, holding a
hand to his bleeding throat and moaning.

“
Emily!” Tragar took her by the shoulders and shook her as
gently as he could but she kept struggling. He wished he knew
her
Kit’tara’s
name—that would have gotten her attention—but the name of
a
Khalla’s
hidden or second self was
a secret known only to herself. He put his face into hers and tried
to catch her eyes. “Emily,” he demanded. “Emily Barnes, see
me!”

Finally she focused
on him. Her eyes were still fiery gold and her ripe scent filled
the air. When she spoke, her voice had a strange double echo.