Voltar. Where was he? What if he’d doubled back? She jumped up and went to the door, reenergized. She ran through the woods, not so quiet this time. If Voltar was still here, she would use her talisman. She was weak, but if he was assigned to her, she might have a chance. She couldn’t let him find Tavis. She had just reached the graveyard when she felt something behind her. She turned and saw something tall. Not Michael. This was dark. A black mist materialized in front of her. “What have you done?” The voice was cold, deadly, and oddly beautiful. Almost as beautiful as his face. Tristol.
Anna was too frightened to speak. Then a surge of adrenaline jerked her into action. She sprang from the balls of her feet with a quick lunge, leapt over the graveyard gate. She gave Tristol a forced look of defiance and felt the pull of something so strong she quickly looked away.
“Anna. Do you think a fence and some rotted bones can stop me?” She looked at him again. His eyes flashed, and he put a hand on the gate. Anna felt her heart sink. Tristol put an elegantly booted foot inside the graveyard, and he smiled, but there was anger seething underneath. Anna took a step backward. Tristol took a step forward.
What the hell? What was he? Demons couldn’t step on holy ground. That was one of the things warriors had relied on since time began. And she couldn’t use her talisman on an unassigned ancient demon. That would kill her. Tristol was the most powerful demon in this dimension. She had to lead him away from here, or he would find Tavis, kill him, or take him back to the fortress and torture him again. My God, she thought. First Voltar, and now Tristol.
He moved toward her so fast she could hardly see him. He stood in front of her, his face so beautiful she felt as if she were melting.
Anna looked down at the pale hand holding her talisman. A demon couldn’t touch a warrior’s talisman without being burned. “What are you?”
He smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. Still, she felt as if she were melting again. “Not what you think. What have you done with my fortress?”
“Your fortress?”
“My fortress. It’s gone.”
“I didn’t take it.” Take it? What was he saying? What was she saying? No one could take a fortress. “It’s cloaked. Maybe you’re looking in the wrong place.”
He leaned closer until only a few inches separated them. “I’m not looking in the wrong place.”
“I swear. I didn’t take it.” This can’t be happening. “How can someone move a fortress? Fortresses don’t move.”
Tristol frowned at her. “This one does.”
“That’s imposs—” Before she’d finished the word, Tristol grabbed her, and she was moving through the woods at warp speed.
She screamed and held on to the only thing she could. Tristol. After what seemed like seconds, they came to a sudden stop. She and Tristol were close as lovers, his arms around her waist and hers locked around him like chains. They were in the woods. She recognized the fence. The one she’d climbed to get inside the fortress. “Oh my God. How did you do that?”
Tristol grabbed her again, and they moved over the fence. Over. Without jumping. The fortress wasn’t there. “You see. No fortress.”
“Oh my God.”
“Please stop saying that.” Tristol turned to Anna, a thoughtful look on his face. “Though he would have that kind of power.”
“You think God stole your fortress?” This must be a dream, and she was still in the dungeon in some drug-induced state.
“Unless you did it. Or Faelan.”
“I haven’t seen Faelan for days, but I can assure you I didn’t do it. Neither did Tavis. He could barely move after you tortured him.”
Tristol went so still it seemed as if time stopped. “Tavis?”
“Tavis, the prisoner you were torturing.”
Tristol’s eyes started to redden. Anna tried to step back, but Tristol grabbed her talisman again. Why wasn’t it burning him?
“You mean Faelan?”
Anna swallowed, remembering what the blond vampire had said about not telling Tristol the truth, but then she thought that if she wasn’t hallucinating or dreaming, she would probably be dead any minute. She was in the presence of the most powerful demon on earth. A demon who wasn’t affected by her talisman. “Your vampire didn’t tell you? The blond one?”
Tristol’s eyes were fiery red now, making him terrifying, and yet still beautiful. “Faelan’s brother is dead. He’s been dead for generations.”
Anna was afraid to speak or move. She’d already said too much by giving Tavis’s name.
Tristol’s eyes returned to normal, and he continued to study her until she felt as if all her insides had mushed together. “I had Tavis, not Faelan. And Joquard knew.”
A sound came from Tristol then. Anna couldn’t explain it. A simmering, tinkling, seething sound, like a million pieces of glass breaking as hot metal poured over them.
“Where is Tavis, then?” Tristol asked. His body seemed to be moving, as if he wasn’t solid.
“I don’t know.”
“I can make you tell me.”
“Maybe Voltar has him,” she said, trying to deflect. “He said he’d been waiting for him for a long time.”
“You saw Voltar? Where?”
“In your fortress. He was the one who killed all the vampires.”
Tristol’s eyes started turning red again. “My vampires are dead.”
Anna did back up then. Anger and heat rose from Tristol like an oven. He made a hissing sound, and she closed her eyes, waiting to die.
“Where is he?”
Anna cracked one eye, surprised she was still alive. “Tavis?”
“No! Where is Voltar?”
“He was chasing me. I think I lost him. I don’t know where he is. If I did, I would kill him.”
“That’s intriguing. I had other plans for you, but like you, I want Voltar removed. I have an idea.” He darted at her again, and then they were flying. She passed out when they streaked past an airplane.
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Tavis asked.
Lance flipped something through the air. Tavis’s hand snaked out to catch it, his heart thudding even before he felt the metal in his hand. Anna’s hairpin. “You really know where she is?”
“I do, but I’m not telling until you’ve helped me. It’s my insurance policy.”
“And the demon who killed Liam?”
“I’ll tell you that after Voltar is dead. What do you say? Can we strike a bargain?”
What Tavis would like to strike was Lance’s skull. “How do I know this isn’t a trap laid by Voltar? Or Tristol?” And his damned breeding plan.
“That’s a risk you’ll have to take.”
“You’re an arrogant little bastard.”
“An arrogant little bastard who knows where to find what you’re looking for. You’ll have to come alone.”
A trap, likely, but what choice did he have? He had to find Anna, and he would give his arm to know who killed Liam. “I have to do something first.” The least he could do was leave a message so Faelan would know Tavis had left of his own accord.
“I’ll be waiting on the other side of the woods,” Lance said, pointing in the direction where Tavis and Ian had found Faelan’s time vault buried. “I have a car there. But hurry. Voltar is getting restless. I’m afraid he’ll kill her soon.”
Tavis hurried across the yard into the house. Ronan was in the kitchen standing in front of a large white box with food inside. He removed a blue cylinder and pulled the top. It hissed.
“Pepsi?” he asked, taking a large drink.