Uriel was rarely caught off guard.
A complacent vampire was a dead vampire.
But distracted by the lurking promise of an escape route, he hadn’t realized the tiny demon’s intention until too late.
Swearing as he watched Kata being pushed into the portal, Uriel didn’t hesitate. Knocking aside Yannah, Uriel charged forward, managing to wrap his arms around Kata’s waist as they both plunged through the shimmering mist.
There was the sense of freefalling through a tunnel of black nothingness and Uriel instinctively tugged Kata closer to his body. At the moment, she was the only real thing in the whirling darkness.
Wrapped in her sweet scent of tiger lilies and the tantalizing warmth of her lush body, Uriel was struck by a piercing desire to keep falling. Anything just so he could keep this woman in his arms.
Insanity, of course.
He was a vampire.
They didn’t do “happily ever afters.” Or even “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
At least not until they found their mate.
And this woman couldn’t be his mate.
Could she?
Before he could actually consider the disturbing question, their freefall came to an abrupt end.
Tumbling through the other side of the portal, Uriel hurriedly turned to keep Kata protected as they emerged into a heavily-wooded forest.
His back smacked painfully onto the moss covered ground as his feet tangled in the undergrowth. Not that he noticed the rock poking into his shoulder or the overhead cry of angry birds disturbed from their nests.
Instead he hissed in fear as a light breeze stirred the thick canopy of leaves and the dappled sunlight brushed over his skin.
It had been centuries since his last glimpse of the sun. With good cause.
Vampires plus daylight equaled instant death.
Something he’d tried to avoid over the years.
Now he braced himself for the searing pain.
A pain that never came.
Astonishment slowly gave way to the recognition that this place was nothing more than an illusion. There could be no other explanation.
Yannah had somehow created this bubble of paradise in the midst of the underworld.
But how? And more importantly, why?
Distracted by the possibility of spontaneous combustion, Uriel nearly forgot the bundle of lush woman he held in his arms. At least until she squirmed out of his grasp and darted away.
“Kata.”
Forcing himself to ignore the unnerving sunlight, Uriel hurriedly followed behind her, nearly running her down when she came to an abrupt halt at the edge of a large glade.
Sensing her tension, he studied the meadow dotted with wildflowers and the shallow stream that wound a lazy path through the grass. So far as he could tell they were alone in the strange vision, but that didn’t mean there weren’t dangers lurking among the surrounding trees or the distant hills that were silhouetted against the horizon.
Even paradise had its serpent.
At his side, Kata gave a slow shake of her head, her beautiful eyes wide with disbelief.
“No. .” she breathed, “it can’t be.”
“Do you sense something?”
She shook her head, cautiously taking a step forward. “I know this place.”
Even knowing it was an illusion, Uriel had to battle his instinctive reluctance to step from the shade of the trees into the sundrenched glade.
“Careful, Kata.”
She tilted her head to meet his worried gaze, her skin brushed with golden sunlight and her dark curls spilling down her back in a glorious tangle.
“What is it?”
For a moment he was speechless. She was so. . exquisite. But it wasn’t her beauty that held him captivated. Or at least, not entirely.
He’d known some of the most stunning women in the world over the years. Imps, fairies, humans, and vampires. But none of them stirred his hunger as this woman did.
Was it her earthy curves on full display beneath the nearly transparent nightgown? Or the passionate life that smoldered in the dark eyes? Or the fierce spirit that Marika and the damned mage hadn’t been able to crush despite their best efforts?
Whatever the cause, it was all he could do not to yank her against him and take her in a storm of raw need.
He clenched his hands. Bloody hell, this place was obviously screwing with his head.
And his body, he ruefully acknowledged, his erection pressing painfully against his jeans.
“We haven’t left the underworld,” he said, grimly battling back his attack of lust. “This is all an illusion.”
“How can you know. .” Her confused expression abruptly cleared as she glanced up at the sun that was blazing from a clear blue sky. “Oh.”
“Exactly.”
She frowned, her gaze returning to the picturesque view. “It seems so real. It even smells as I remember.”
“This place has some special meaning to you?”
Her expression softened. “As a child my family traveled with our tribe through the lands that are now called Hungary. My father was an elder and my mother was a healer.”
“They had positions of power,” Uriel murmured, not surprised. Kata had been trapped in a nightmare for centuries, but she’d not only survived, she’d managed to protect her beloved daughter.
It took incredible strength that she’d obviously inherited from her parents.
“Yes, which meant they shouldered heavy duties,” she said, a wistful smile curving her lips. “When they felt the need to escape their responsibilities they would bring my sister and I here. I cherished those days. It was the only time we could be alone as a family.”
There was no mistaking her emotional connection to the image spread before them.
“I don’t like this,” he rasped.
“You don’t like what?”
“Was Yannah a part of your childhood?”
“Of course not.” She blinked in puzzlement at his abrupt question. “We knew nothing of demons before Marika came to us as a vampire.”
“Then how did she know to create this particular illusion?”
He watched Kata’s pleasure in her surroundings briefly falter at his question.
“Perhaps she can read my mind,” she at last suggested.
“Perhaps.” Uriel shrugged. It was a rare talent, but not unheard of. “Then the next question is why,” he persisted. “She must have some purpose in bringing us here.”
“You think she’s responsible for opening the gateway to hell?”
Did he?
The tiny demon certainly had the power.
And God knew she was erratic enough to offer help one minute and then trap them both in hell the next.
But he wasn’t going to leap to conclusions.
“I think we would be fools not to suspect she has her own agenda,” he compromised.
