Uriel glanced toward the swirling mist that was forming near the lead-lined wall.

"Christ. I told Victor this was a trap," he muttered, whirling to point the tip of his sword in the center of Kata's chest. "Close the gateway, witch, or I'll carve out your heart."

She didn't so much as flinch, her eyes flashing with a proud fury.

"I'm a gypsy, not a witch, you dolt."

Uriel ground his teeth, refusing to admit his fascination with the woman's pa.s.sionate courage. Dammit. The gates of h.e.l.l were parting. Now wasn't the time for distractions.

"You can call yourself the queen of England if you want, just close the d.a.m.ned gateway."

"I didn't open it."

"Gateways to the underworld don't just open on their own." He pointed the sword toward the tiny Yannah. "You."

"Not me." Yannah wrinkled her nose. "Sergei."

Uriel's hand tightened on his sword, his gaze searching the small cell.

"The mage?"

"He cast a spell binding Kata to her twin," the demon explained.

"And your point?" he prompted.

"Marika has been destroyed."

"Good," he said. "Someone should have chopped off the b.i.t.c.h's head centuries ago."

Kata slapped her hands on her hips. "Did you miss the part where I'm bound to my sister?"

He shrugged. "Can't you . . . unbind yourself?"

"No."

His gaze shifted toward Yannah who gave a sharp shake of her head.

"Don't look at me."

"Brilliant," he growled, grabbing Kata's upper arm and hauling her toward the broken door. A timely evac was obviously in order. "Let's go."

"Too late," Yannah said, then with a small smile she simply disappeared.

s.h.i.t.

Uriel yanked Kata off her feet, holding her against his chest as he darted through the door, but even as he entered the tunnel leading out of the prison he knew Yannah had been right.

It was too late.

There was an unnerving sensation of electricity dancing over his skin and then the world abruptly melted around him.

Yep, there was no other way to describe it.

From one step to another the hard rock beneath his feet disappeared, along with the dirt walls of the tunnel, sending him tumbling through a choking darkness.

Uriel swore, wrapping his arms protectively around Kata as he twisted to fall backward. He didn't know where they were going to land, but he was fairly certain it was going to hurt.

Two seconds later his worst fears were confirmed.

Not only did they hit the ground with enough force to crack several bones, but the rocks that were scattered across the stone floor were sharp enough to slice through his flesh.

Momentarily stunned, Uriel couldn't stop Kata from scrambling out of his arms. She had a small smear of blood on her cheek, but otherwise she appeared unhurt. Thanks to him. Not that he was expecting a profusion of grat.i.tude. Christ, she didn't even make a token show of concern at the sight of his broken and bleeding body, instead she was rising to her feet and studying their surroundings with a barely restrained terror.

He understood her terror.

h.e.l.l lived up to its nasty reputation.

Tentatively rising to his feet, Uriel clutched his sword as his gaze scanned the vast cavern that took "bleak" to a whole new level.

Pools of red-hot lava flowed between the black, jagged rocks, the glow shimmering off the towering stalact.i.tes and stalagmites giving them the image of the teeth of some gruesome monster.

Worse, the superior senses he depended on were muted by the strange atmosphere.

He couldn't smell a d.a.m.ned thing beyond the acrid stench of brimstone, his sight was limited to the cavern spread before him, and he couldn't detect if they were alone or if there were a thousand demonic souls preparing to attack.

He had spent the last four hundred years being the predator, not the prey.

He didn't like feeling vulnerable.

In fact, it made him downright p.i.s.sy.

Just like Kata's supreme indifference to him made him p.i.s.sy.

What was wrong with the female?

He was the one forced to come rushing to her rescue despite her intimate past with a Jinn. And yet she was treating him as if he were an unwelcomed intruder, while he . . .

He what?

Uriel grimaced.

Why deny it? He was plagued with a brutal urge to protect the luscious gypsy. An urge that was nearly as powerful as his unwanted desire. Such instincts were dangerous in a vampire. It indicated a bond with the female he wasn't prepared to accept.

He wanted to believe it was a spell. Or maybe an insidious Jinn trick.

A pity it felt so painfully real.

Frustration spilled through him. Wasn't it bad enough he'd waltzed right into a trap that had sucked him straight into h.e.l.l? Now he had to be obsessed with the woman entirely responsible for his current troubles?

Indifferent to his annoyance, Kata wound her way through the lava that could so easily destroy her fragile flesh.

"Yannah," she called, her tone frantic. "Yannah."

"Dammit." Shoving his sword back into its sheath, he moved to stand at her side, barely resisting the need to s.n.a.t.c.h her into his arms. "Are you trying to attract the attention of every nasty beast in the underworld?"

"Is that where we are?" She shot him a glare, as if this was entirely his fault.

"How would I know?" Uriel cast a disgusted gaze around their noxious surroundings. "Despite popular opinion I didn't crawl out of the pits of h.e.l.l."

She wrapped her arms around her waist, her chin stuck to a defensive angle.

"Hard to believe."

"Since you're entirely to blame for our presence here, I wouldn't be tossing around insults, luv."

"I didn't ask you to come barging into my private cell."

"No," he swiftly countered, "your daughter did."

Without warning her features softened. "Laylah," she breathed.

"Yes."

"I'm sorry," she lowered her head, hiding her beautiful face behind the thick curtain of her dark hair. "I only wanted to warn her. I didn't intend for her to endanger herself or anyone else to find me."

He lifted his hand to brush back the glossy curls, only to yank it back.

"It no longer matters," he gritted. "We need to find a way out."

"Out?"

"Unless you want to stay?" he drawled. "Maybe see if they have a bus tour?"

She abruptly tilted back her head to meet his chiding gaze, appearing unbearably young. Whatever spell the mage had used to keep her alive had ensured she hadn't aged beyond her early twenties in human years.

"Do you have to be an a.s.s?"

"I . . ." His words choked in his throat as he noted the damp shimmer in her magnificent eyes. "Are you crying?"

"No," she ridiculously denied, spinning toward the swirling lava. "Leave me alone."

He should.

Victor had requested that he go in search of the captured gypsy, he hadn't said a d.a.m.ned thing about protecting the female from the hordes of beasts rumored to fill the underworld.

No one would blame him if he abandoned her to her fate.

Unfortunately, he hadn't become Victor's right hand man by tossing aside his duty when things got tough. When he started a job, he finished it.

And that's the reason he reached out to tug her gently into his arms, his thumbs brushing away the tears that stained her cheeks.

"Kata. Shush," he murmured. "I will find us a way out of here." He glanced toward the distant opening across the cavern. "Or die trying."

Her dark gaze held an unmistakable fear. "Are you sure we aren't already dead?"

"What?"

"How can we be in the underworld if we didn't die?"

A faint smile touched his lips as he allowed his hands to skim down the slender length of her throat.

"Warm skin, a steady pulse . . ." Barely aware he was moving, Uriel lowered his head to touch his lips to the hollow behind her ear, nuzzling the satin softness of her skin. "The scent of tiger lilies," he husked. "I can a.s.sure you that you're very much alive."

"Oh." She shuddered, the scent of her arousal perfuming the air while Uriel planted a trail of kisses to the revealing pulse at the base of her neck. "What are you doing?"

"I think I should double check," he said, the driving pleasure in touching her overcoming his small claim to intelligence. "We can't be too careful."

"I warned you, vamp . . ." Kata breathed, her hands lifting to his chest. She no doubt intended to push him away, or maybe something even worse, but instead her fingers splayed over his rigid muscles, the heat of her touch searing through the thin material.

"Uriel," he rasped.

"What?"

"My name is Uriel."

She shivered. "Uriel."

Chapter 5.

During the long years of her imprisonment, Kata more than once skirted the edge of madness. Not only from the endless days of being trapped on the narrow cot, but from sheer loneliness.

Even with her ability to view the world through Marika and Laylah, as well as Yannah's occasional visits, she'd been tortured by her isolation. She was a human who'd been raised by loving parents who'd been openly affectionate. To be suddenly denied the comfort of her family and loving tribe was worse than death.

She craved companionship with an aching need.

Which was the only reason she was tilting back her head to encourage his seeking lips, and why her hands were lifting to tangle in his thick curls. It was why she arched closer to the growing promise of his erection . . .

Blessed mother. Ruthless desire blazed through her, belatedly jerking her out of her self-delusion.

Mere comfort didn't make a woman's heart race with a wild excitement or her stomach clench in antic.i.p.ation.

This was l.u.s.t.