Page 7 of Between Bloode and Death (Between the Shadows #5)

CHAPTER

SEVEN

Khent didn’t know why he found the situation so amusing. He’d come to take the necromancer back for some questioning. Not to waste his time watching a massive gargoyle abscond with his prize.

A screech and low chanting stole his attention, and he turned to see a rare hell-threader and cadre of dark elves shoot at anyone that moved.

What a delightful surprise. He sensed death around the giant spider and her protectors. A glance at the fleeing gargoyle and necromancer suggested she wanted no involvement with the spider or its defenders.

At the Ribald Unicorn, several patrons watched the chaos with wide eyes. Hmm. Khent didn’t spot any sign of Talon. A smart move on the shifter’s part. Khent had more questions about the eagle shifter’s “serving girl.”

No matter. Talon and the girl could run, but they couldn’t hide. Not from him.

Mila followed his prey from a distance, keeping the gargoyle in sight. Though the pretty necromancer hoped to escape, no one could avoid Mila when she narrowed in on her target.

“Yo, Khent. I’m glad you’re here,” a breathless redhead said as she dodged an arrow and joined him away from her fellow MEC agents.

“Macy.”

The clan’s Bloode Witch and her partner, the half-demon Cho, often took on the more dangerous jobs at their agency when Macy wasn’t busy working for the Night Bloode.

Personally, Khent was surprised her mate allowed it. But then, Duncan took pride in his human mate’s ability to protect herself and their kin. A Bloode Witch, she had more power than most.

Still, she was human. A definite mark against her in Khent’s book.

“Why are you here?” she asked.

“Is that your business?”

She glared, and as always, amused him. Like a tiny kitten hissing at a much larger, fiercer predator. “Did you do this?” She nodded at the spider.

“Me?” He studied the magic blanketing the hellspawn. “It’s a lovely creation. Alas, it’s not mine. Or theirs.” He nodded to the dark elves. “They’re dead as well.”

“Wait. As well? What?” She stared at the half-dozen fae shooting arrows that pierced through stone. “Cho, they’re all dead. Smoke ‘em.”

The half-demon nodded and called to several of his companions. Between them, they contained the threat while Khent turned toward the apothecary, needing a few things from the bazaar to create a spell. Once Mila found his prey, Khent would want a way to contain her.

Then he caught it. The whiff of demon he’d scented recently on the rogue upir he and Rolf had been tracking.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around. The only dark elf who hadn’t succumbed to demon flame studied his many enemies, his eyes glowing a neon green to match his sword.

Khent had long studied the many creatures that would pose a threat to his kind.

Despite their vast power, vampires weren’t indestructible.

Dark elves, in particular, had the speed and dexterity to prove admirable foes.

In addition, they fought with a similar rage to vampiric fury.

Precise and difficult to track, they typically worked at night, their black skin blending with the shadows.

This one, like most of his kind, had a warrior’s muscle and strength, his long hair white, the tips of his ears docked and bedecked with jewels. From the look of him, he’d been a commander in some phalanx back in fae lands.

Khent made note of the blue gem—not a Bloode Stone, unfortunately—in his ear. He’d have to look it up when he went home.

In the blink of an eye, the dark fae attacked, his speed nearly impossible to track for those without a vampire’s keen perception.

Macy, distracted by one of several in the crowd who’d forgotten to run for safety, would have been hit if Khent hadn’t sped to intercept, knocking her and the mage out of the way.

“Hey.” She glared at him for a moment.

He just shook his head while she watched the dark elf fight several of her companions. He saw when she realized she’d nearly died.

Blushing, she muttered, “Thanks.” To the crowd, she yelled, “Everyone, disperse.” They fled, and Macy turned back to Khent. “I’m surprised you cared enough to help.”

“There’s nothing worse than a whiny revenant.” He’d never hear the end of it from her mate if Macy was injured.

She chuckled. “I’m sure Duncan will appreciate the thought.”

“Though I’m not sure why, your mate would probably be devastated if you died. Of course, I could always bring you back.” He gave her a wide smile.

Macy blinked. “Er. Yeah. Again, thanks but no thanks.” She hurriedly left him, called by several of her companions to help contain the spider.

A blast of fire struck near him, and Khent brought his attention back to MEC’s fight with the spider.

Cho had an interesting way of moving, light on his feet yet full of strength. A decent warrior in combat. Unlike most demons, he didn’t lose himself to rage and simply try to kill everything in his way with brute strength.

An equal match for the graceful dark elf. Khent had a feeling that if the dark elf had fought under his own power, not manipulated by someone else, he might actually win. That sword of his begged to be studied.

In the distance, a mage screeched as the spider downed her in two bites. Macy lifted her hands, chanting, and magic grew thick around the hell-threader. Whatever she did made it scream and aim its attack at her.

Macy held the spider while the others tried to stab through its chitinous exterior. She yelled at her partner, “Quit screwing around, Cho. I need you over here!”

“Screwing around?” Cho yelled back as he dodged another strike aimed at his neck.

Unlike the fae, he didn’t have a weapon.

He used his flames and his powerful fists and feet instead.

“Are you insane? This thing is trying to kill me!” He glanced around and spotted Khent. “Hey, reaper! A little help here.”

Khent looked all around before pointing to himself. “Are you talking to me, demon?”

Cho swore as he managed a punch to the dark elf’s face, breaking the creature’s nose and sending him tumbling ass over elbows several feet.

“Yes, vampire. I am. The sooner you help me get rid of this guy, the sooner I can assist Macy. Because you can bet your ass Duncan will fillet you if anything happens to his mate when you could have helped.”

Annoyed because the demon had the right of it, Khent sighed. Yet another obstacle keeping him from his ultimate prey. But at least his pet had tracked her for him.

“Fine. But only because I have better things to do than listen to my kin complain I didn’t help his weak, human mate.”

Cho didn’t take umbrage over the insult. The bastard grinned. “Great, thanks.” When the dark elf flew at him once more, he flattened himself and kicked up, tossing the fae Khent’s way. Then the demon raced to the rest of MEC to contain the spider.

Khent had to admit it had been a nice toss. Deprived of his earlier battle with his necromancer, he planned to enjoy this fight with the dark elf. “Who commands you?”

The skilled fae didn’t answer, though his eyes glowed brighter.

Khent pulled his favorite blade—a khopesh made from a shard of Set’s finger bone, wrapped in iron, and hardened with phoenix fire—out of the small pocket of reality he normally kept with him for such emergencies.

The khopesh, a curved, sickle-like blade nearly two feet in length, had a familiar weight. It had been a gift from his father when he’d reached maturity. The blade had been with him for centuries and particularly liked to drink the blood of magic users.

Khent blocked the dark elf’s strikes and studied his movements. Khent’s weapon was made for slashing, not stabbing. Though he could have hurried the battle, he wanted to draw it out to learn more about this enemy.

After another few strikes he easily deflected, he sighed. “Sadly, you cannot give me the battle I deserve.”

“As much as I would like to, I fear you are correct,” the elf said, his words garbled by broken fangs and a struggle to push through the master holding him.

“No necromancer commands you. I scent a demon’s touch.”

The color in the dark elf’s eyes brightened, and the fae laughed in the multi-toned pitch of someone much more powerful. In a deeper voice, he replied, “Smart you are, reaper. This one is a toy. Easily breakable.”

“Why toss him away?” Khent slashed through the hand holding the magical blade and caught the weapon, quickly tucking it away into his mini pocket portal.

“He served his purpose well.”

Sensing a great rush of magic, Khent leaped back.

Flames blasted from the dark elf’s feet and crept their way up his body. The dark elf screamed, his pain real though the dead shouldn’t be able to feel it.

Khent could only watch as the pathetic creature burned up and died.

Words lingered where the ash blew away in a sudden wind. “See you again soon, Khent of the Night Bloode.”

The wind died. Nothing remained of the dark elf.

Behind him, MEC worked to destroy the spider. Macy’s power, Cho’s fire, and a host of weapons tore into the creature before it too burned away, the smell of sulfur strong in the air.

Demonic interference at the bazaar. Hecate would want to know about this.

Khent turned once more to gather the ingredients for his spell and heard screaming and crying coming from the apothecary.

“It’s gone. Gone! They stole it. Gods and heavens. What will we do?”

He approached the crying woman. She appeared human. Some type of witch, no doubt.

“What’s missing?”

She saw him and paled, taking a step back. “The-the staff, my lord. It’s gone.”

“Staff?”

“Of Blight. It’s the closest we have to the original and always drew a crowd when we had it on display. I don’t know why anyone would want it. It’s not that powerful.” She broke down in tears again. “Without it, we’re just another shop in the bazaar.”

Khent thought about an imitation Staff of Blight, a creation in honor of its owner, the Mesopotamian god of war, pestilence, and chaos. A fun fellow. What was his name again?

Ah, yes. Nergal, Lord of Pestilence and King of the Ghosts.

A coincidence that yet another god of chaos appeared right when Khent and his kin, under Hecate’s guidance, continued to search for the weapon capable of fighting a great chaotic Darkness growing ever closer?

As much as he wanted to forget about all this and narrow in on his necromancer, Khent realized his priority should be to get this information back to his patriarch.

He mentally warned his pet, Mila, keep watch, but don’t let yourself be spotted.

An impression of agreement returned to him.

Satisfied by that at least, Khent left the bazaar and made haste back to the house.

Where hopefully, Duncan would see fit to reward him for helping their Bloode Witch live to fight another day.

And Khent could dream of new ways to punish the clever little necromancer still out of his reach.

But not for long.