Hold Their Peace (Vampire Assassin League) by Jackie Ivie Read Free Book Online

all. There were hammer-things, axes, all kinds of swords, and more than one alcove thing had a spear in it as well.
    She finally reached the large, man-cave area: the place with the couches and lamps, and all kinds of fur rugs. And absolutely nothing looked out of place. She could’ve sworn they’d toppled one of his tables with their second round of lovemaking. And she was not blushing here!
    Wait. Shouldn’t her bra be hanging from a lamp or something? And wouldn’t discarded clothing that included ripped panties be tossed about? There must be something to show that wild sex had happened with a man conjured from her fantasies.
    Nope. Nothing looked out of place at all. Was any of this real?
    Darcy crossed to the cabinet where he’d shoved all his magazines. Time to do a little sleuthing; check out Mister ‘Looks-Good-in-a-Skirt’ Thanos. Maybe he was a world-class playboy with all kinds of girlie mags. Or maybe a geek with computer skills. Or a true crime aficionado with a ton of whodunits. Or a survivalist. Or...
    What the hell?
    She’d opened the cabinet and got bombarded with the stacks of catalogs and magazines he’d shoved in. She let them fall to the floor, where they all settled, pages falling open from use. He’d also done a bit of marking on his pages. Hmm . Looks like her host was into mechanics. Metallurgy. With a dash of alchemy on the side. Gears. Shafts. And there it was...all sorts of articles on shield design and weaponry through the ages. He’d checked through stuff like alloy comparison. Forge temperatures. Quenching procedures. Looks like she’d dreamed up a guy that was into all kinds of guy stuff.
    Figures.
    No wonder he’d kept calling her an Amazon.
    Darcy spent the next few minutes checking the room for any exit other than the way she’d come, ignoring how loud her breathing was in her own ears. She failed on both accounts. There was only the one corridor in and out of here. And nothing anywhere that looked like a kitchen. Another bit of oddity. She should be hungry by now. And she should be nearly demonic from lack of coffee. She checked her watch. Five. But was that AM or PM? Saturday? Or Sunday? And why hadn’t she gotten one of those watches like Liz wore? The ones that kept all kinds of info – like temperature. Date. Time zone.
    Alternate universe data.
    Oh, enough nonsense, Woman .
    She’d go with five AM. So...if that was true, it was too soon for a caffeine withdrawal fit. She might be feeling a bit of hunger pangs though. She hadn’t eaten much last night before Lizbeth decided a night excursion into the forbidden area of the dig site was warranted. And Darcy had spent a lot of energy in the interim making love with Thanos. If – of course – it had even happened.
    Stop it, Darcy . No more nonsense. There was reality in here somewhere, and she really needed to find it. And that meant she had to check out the dark side now. Great. She was going into Hades. Perhaps she should take a shield with her. Or a blade.
    And this direction wasn’t as obvious as the other. The corridor kept branching into more of them. There was the oddest thudding sound coming from the depths of the place, too, while the humming only occasionally bothered her. At every juncture, she took the hall that seemed warmer, as well as lighter. A bit lighter. And...okay. It didn’t take long to get lost.
    The air was now a bit hazy with smoke, too. But it was getting light enough to see it. Excellent work, Darcy . She was having the dream from hell and nothing seemed to change it. She even tried pinching herself. Yep. It hurt. And it didn’t awaken her. So, now what? She was in the midst of the labyrinth, and with her luck a Minotaur was going to be somewhere in here, too. A Minotaur? Where did that come from? Oh no. Was it possible she’d ingested ridiculous myths and useless facts from watching Lizbeth’s videos and reading her books? Maybe through osmosis? Oh. Great.
    Just frickin’ great .
    The