Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

faster!” Had to be a caiman—but one as big as a freaking submarine. She couldn’t see it through the muddy water and pouring rain. Though she shot it over and over, its rugged hide and the water buffer shielded it. She could do little to slow its advance.
    And MacRieve kept pointing
at her
! Taking precious moments to yell.
    “Just swim, Scot! There’s something on your tail!” Why wasn’t he swimming faster? The thing was right—
    “Behind you!” he roared. Their eyes briefly met; his were filled with dread.
    She whirled around just as lightning flashed. Damiãno had a machete raised above her head.

THIRTY-FIVE

    Garreth watched as Lucia ducked from Damiãno with uncanny speed, kicking out at the man’s knee. She’d bought a heartbeat’s time, scrambling away to another deck as Damiãno limped after her.
    Knowing she was safe for a moment, Garreth dug in, swimming even harder. Yet he could eke out no lead on whatever was pursuing him. Had to be a caiman, but his mind struggled to wrap around the size of it.
    He felt the motion of water behind him as it propelled itself forward, gaining. And without Lucia’s arrows whizzing past him in the air, more of the caimans were circling.
    Almost to the boat!
So close…
Just then, the caiman began rising, sending a sharp wave of water fanning out, briefly lifting Garreth. How big was the fucking thing? When it breached the surface, Garreth felt its foul breath spraying water over his head and nape like a sprinkler.
    Doona look back… doona look back.
He could hear its ancient bones grinding and clicking as its jaws opened wide.
    Garreth dove, dropping like a stone. When hereached the river bottom, he kicked against it with all his might and went hurtling to the surface, leaping for the boat. He landed on the platform, then sprang for the main deck just as teeth slammed down on the platform, biting out the middle.
    With angry, almost
sentient
eyes, the caiman sank, disappearing into the black once more.
    At once, Garreth lunged to his feet. “Lousha!” The storm boiled, lightning streaking the sky, thunder so loud it pained his ears.
    “MacRieve?”
She ran for him on the stern deck.
    “Where’s Damiãno?”
    “I don’t know—I lost him for a second.” Twisting around, eyes wary, she strapped her bow across her body. “What is going on? And why did you get
in
the water?”
    “Lousha, the
Barão
. It’s a ghost ship.”
    “What?”
    “Everyone on board has been killed. Hacked to pieces. I thought it was Charlie at first, until I saw Damiãno.” Garreth grabbed her forearms. “I want you out of here!” The ship hurled up once more. “Goddamnit, why are those caimans attacking?”
    “Schecter’s lure. It worked! But I can’t get to the front—”
    “The creatures protect the Labyrinto,” Damiãno intoned from where he’d crouched directly above them. “As will I.”
    The shifter leapt down with the machete, snagging Lucia by her neck, pressing the blade against her throat. “You’re not to enter the Labyrinth.”
    Lucia dared a glance up at the male. His green eyes glowed with menace.
    “Let her go!”
MacRieve yelled. “Fight me!”
    “You were never supposed to get this close. The tomb is forbidden to outsiders.”
    “You’re the
guardião
?” Lucia demanded. The guardian Nïx had warned of.
    Damiãno seemed unhearing. “You don’t know what evil sleeps in the Labyrinth. The Gilded One will rise.”
    Her mind raced. The Gilded One? El Dorado
was
a man! An evil man?
    “We’re no’ here to wake any evil!” MacRieve snapped.
    Damiãno shook his head hard. “No one trespasses.”
    In as calm a tone as Lucia could manage, she said, “Listen, Damiãno, we’re actually here to
stop
an evil from rising. Let’s just talk about this. We’re really on the same team.”
    Easing nearer, MacRieve added, “If we doona go to Rio Labyrinto, there’s a god who’ll take over the earth.”
    “There’s no evil greater than the Gilded One!”
    “Bullshite!”
    Lucia made a sound of frustration. “You two are going to argue about this? My evil’s bigger than your evil?”
    “Damiãno, we’re speakin’ about a bluidy apocalypse!”
    “As am I!” The male tightened his grip on her neck, pressing the blade into her skin.
    MacRieve swallowed, still slipping closer. “Is that why you killed everyone on the other boat?”
    Damiãno’s gaze darted. “What are you saying?”
    “They’re all dead. All butchered. Likely
with a