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“What?” Her eyes rounded. “No way. What about the guard?”

Lying on the metal stage was a naked demon with a thick ivy wreath set over his horns. Liam strode up to the drunk, snatched his half-empty bottle, stole his wreath, and smashed it on his own head.

“For all the guard knows, we’re just two drunken guests.”

“This will never work,” she groused.

“Figure someone who’s been in show business would be a bit more supportive.” He’d seen a number of sloppy drunks in his day. Shouldn’t be too hard to imitate one.

As they approached the entrance, he slung his arm over Vivian’s shoulder, leaning heavily on her. Then he started singing, slurring the lyrics. “Oh, Johnny Rebeck, Oh, Johnny Rebeck. How could you be so mean?” He went on singing about the machine that Johnny built and how the neighbor’s cats and dogs were ground into sausage meat.

The bemused guard straightened at his post, a smirk pulling across his weary face.

Liam bowed to him, then stumbled past, dragging Vivian along, bellowing, “One day, the darn thing busted. The darn thing wouldn’t go.” On he sang, describing how Johnny climbed inside the machine to fix it. His wife went sleepwalking, yanked the crank, and Johnny Rebeck was meat.

He sang until they rounded a towering cluster of rock and plastered their backs against the stone.

“Where did you learn that awful song?” Vivian grumbled.

He tipped his nose to hers and narrowed his eyes. “Low-born barkeep, remember. Hope I didn’t give you any ideas,Bride.”

She stiffened and threw his arm off her shoulder.

“Come on. Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand, and they hustled up the path that would lead them to his bike.

“Go where?” she snapped, keeping pace at his side.

“Good question.”

“What do you mean, good question?”

Infernal woman. Couldn’t she tell he was making this up as he went along? Hell, he was still stunned his last plan worked. Female needed to loosen the reins. For once, Vivian had zero control over the situation, and it was absolutely killing her. If her life weren’t in danger, he might have enjoyed seeing her feathers ruffled.

Squawk, squawk,she continued, clucking in his ear. “Half the underworld is hunting us. Now that we’ve made an enemy of Dante, that number just doubled.” Liam winced at her math, yet—as any mated male would—said nothing. “Hellhounds attacked us, my house was invaded, and your trusted manager led us into an ambush. The Oracle, who was supposed to help us, just drugged and captured us.” Seriously, did the female ever breathe? “At this juncture, I’m fairly certain every person we’ve associated with is compromised. We can’t trust anyone. There’s no point in driving around aimlessly. What we need is to disappear while we figure out what the hell we’re going to do with this cursed dagger.”

Tired of her prattling, Liam skidded to a stop and grasped her arm so hard he damn near gave her whiplash. Then, before she could regain her senses, he planted one on her. He kept his lips locked on her mouth just long enough to silence her, then let her up for air.

While she wobbled, gasping for breath, he grated, “You want to disappear? I can make that happen.”

* * *

Vivian tuckeda strand ofblonde hairbehind her shoulder, staring out the front passenger window. Snowflakes dusted the glass, and white-capped mountains shimmered in the distance. Several inches of deep snow blanketed the ground.

“Twenty-four hours ago, when you told me you knew of a place where no one would find us, I never imaginedthiswas what you had in mind.”

“You can take that wig off now. Doubt we’ll cross paths with anyone this far out.”

“I suppose you’re right. Only a fool would venture this deep into the wilderness.” She pulled the wig from her head and shoved it into the bag by her feet. Her nose tickled, and she fought the urge to sneeze.Curse these synthetic fibers.Undoubtedly the genuine fur trim on her hood was made of the same genuine nylon as her wig.

The tires of their borrowed truck growled beneath them, chewing their way up the steep mountain road. Calling it a road was a stretch. Essentially, they traveled on an eight-foot swath of mud and ice. If you didn’t want to be found, this was the way to go. If their vehicle plunged off the side of this cliff, not a soul would find their broken corpses.

Since leaving Pyrrhos, they’d constantly been on the move. First, they’d met one of Liam’s contacts for a set of new identities, and next, they detoured to a hideous discount store that reeked of tires and motor oil. There, she’d purchase winter clothing and a Halloween wig off the—gasp—clearance rack.My dearest Armond, if only you could see how far I’ve fallen.She’d worn the disguise on their flight and during the quick stop they’d made in the almost nonexistent town. Outside the airport, there’d been a welcome sign with a large X scratched over the “54,” striking one miserable native from the population.

Til’ death do us part.

Both she and Liam had an unspoken agreement not to discuss thatthingthat had joined their souls for all of eternity. In her mind, it wasn’t cowardice that kept her lips sealed but an impending sense of doom. There was no point in discussing thatthingwhenthere was an excellent chance they’d both wind up dead if her enemies found them. Once their lives were no longer in danger and the dagger destroyed, then they’d figure out what they were going to do about thatthing.

“You’re certain these friends of yours can be trusted?” The more she’d criticized this plan of his, the more tight-lipped he’d become, to the point he refused to answer any more of her questions. It was because of his juvenile attitude she had no idea who they were meeting.