Sacrifice of Darkness: A Guardians of Eternity Novella

am Levet.” He performed a dashing bow, spreading his wings so she could admire the brilliant colors. “Knight in shining armor and savior of the world. More than once.”
She tilted her head to the side. “That is quite a title for such a small creature.”
Levet straightened. “Size is all relative.”
“True.” She drifted closer. “I am Sparkle.”
Levet nodded. It was a name that suited the tiny creature. “What are you?”
“A frost fairy.”
“Frost?” Ah. That explained the shimmer that coated her pale skin, and her dry, crisp scent. But as far as Levet knew, they never left their lairs in the Arctic. Had she wandered into the caverns? “Are you lost?”
She shook her head. “I was kidnapped from my home. Now I am trapped here.”
“Oh.” That made more sense. “Who trapped you?”
“Vynom.”
Levet wrinkled his snout. He had never met Javad’s sire, but he already disliked the leech. Any creatures who ran fighting pits or slave markets were… What did his friend Shay call them? Bottom breeders? Non. Bottom feeders.
“Why did he trap you?” he asked.
Her sparkly wings drooped. “He uses me as bait.”
“Bait for what?”
“To excite the crowds,” she said, her voice trembling. “He has a maze he created at the other end of the caverns. Before the main battles begin, he places me in the maze and releases a pack of hellhounds. The crowd can wager on whether I’ll reach the end before the hellhounds eat me.”
It wasn’t often that Levet was speechless.
He’d started his life with his dear mother trying to kill him, followed by being sold into the slave pens. And just a few years ago, he’d confronted the ultimate evil trying to destroy the world.
Hard to be shocked after that.
But the mere thought of this fragile creature being used to incite the bloodlust of a pack of savage demons made his tummy feel icky.
“That is horrid,” he muttered.
Her wings drooped another inch. “Yes.”
Levet glanced around the cave. He couldn’t sense any guards. Or any spells that might keep the female trapped.
“Why do you not escape?”
“These caverns are surrounded by magic,” she told him. “You can easily enter, but you can’t leave. Not without the permission of Vynom.”
Levet frowned. He hadn’t considered the possibility that he might be stuck down here.
“That is not good. I have business elsewhere. I cannot wait around for some nasty leech to open a doorway.”
Sparkle glanced around as if making sure they were alone, then she leaned toward Levet to speak in a soft voice.
“There might be a way.”
“A way to what?”
“Escape.”
Levet’s spidey senses started to tingle. “If you had the means to escape, why are you not already gone?”
She did another of those look-arounds. Then she stepped closer to Levet. “There is a collapsed tunnel at the end of the maze. The magic is weakest there,” she told him. “If we could dig through the rocks, I believe we could escape. I don’t have the strength by myself.”
Levet remained skeptical. A beautiful fairy suddenly appearing to offer him the opportunity to escape seemed like a plot twist from one of those cheesy late-night movies he adored. He’d learned the hard way that if something seemed too good to be true, it was always a trick. Usually, a nasty one.
“Hmm,” he murmured.
“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked, a hint of impatience in her gray eyes.
Levet hesitated. Of course, he wanted out. He did not like dark, dusty holes in the ground. More importantly, he had a number of tasks on his to-do list.
A dinner date with Shay while she was visiting Vegas.
A standing poker game with a pack of curs who had more money than brains.
And an appointment for a seaweed facial scrub along with a Brazilian wax.
He wanted to look his best when he returned to the merfolk castle.
But he wasn’t in the mood to waltz into a trap. And a niggling voice in the back of his head kept telling him that he should go and look for Javad. Not that it was his duty to rescue the leech, but he was a knight in shining armor. It was his duty to help others.
Heaving a resigned sigh, he at last decided that he had no choice but to follow the frost fairy and discover if she was telling the truth. If she was right and there was a way to get out of the caverns, then he would search for Javad. They might need the male’s brute strength to clear the passage.
“Lead the way.”

Chapter 4
Terra blinked away the darkness that clogged her mind. What had happened? One minute she’d been stepping through a portal. And the next, she’d been knocked out.
Cautiously, she took in her surroundings. She was lying on a hard floor that felt like stone. Heavy darkness pressed against her and indicated that she was in some sort of underground space. But a cool power also brushed over her like a breeze.
Terra stiffened, and the familiar scent of saffron and raw male desire teased her nose. She turned her head to discover the vampire kneeling over her.
“Javad,” she breathed, tingles of pleasure exploding through her.
She hadn’t forgotten her physical reaction whenever she caught sight of the lean, perfect face. Of how those dark, smoldering eyes made her blood heat and her stomach twist with anticipation. But she’d told herself that it had more to do with the emotional trauma of being held hostage in the fighting pits. Everything was more intense when she was in a constant state of terror.
Now, she realized she’d only been fooling herself.
The sparks and flutters and breathless excitement were just as acute as ever. No, even more so, she realized as she forced herself into a sitting position.
She didn’t know where she was, or if they were in danger, or even if Javad was injured. But every instinct she had screamed at her to wrap her arms around him and never let go.
Instead, she contented herself with devouring him with her gaze, taking in every delicious inch of