“Protect me?” She couldn’t keep the disbelief out of her voice. “Marriage was to protect me?” Bonding with a male was dangerous and brutal, not designed to protect the female. “From what?”
“Your parents. The man they betrothed you to.” He grimaced. “And, apparently, demons, but I figured that one out a little late.”
“My parents?” Her grip on the dagger faltered, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. “You knew my parents? What were they like? I have only flashes of memories of them, bits and pieces.” Memories that always slipped out of her reach just when she was almost there, almost able to recover them. She didn’t trust Vlad, but at the same time, the thought of learning about her past, her parents, and who she used to be was overwhelming. She wanted to cry, and at the same time, she wanted to leap over to him, grab him, and merge her mind with his so she could see all that he knew. “My mom? Was she nice? I think she was. I have memories of her reading to me….”
Her voice trailed off when she saw Vlad tense.
She paused. “What is it?”
He hesitated. “You don’t remember?”
She shook her head once, fear tightening around her heart. “What don’t I remember?” Suddenly, she knew. It was bad. Whatever it was that had happened before she’d arrived in the demon world was so bad that she’d blocked it. Her legs seemed to go numb, and she sank down on a nearby rock. “Tell me,” she whispered, even as a part of her screamed that she didn’t want to know.
Vlad walked over and crouched in front of her. His dark eyes were full of empathy, so kind that she wanted to fall to her knees in front of him and surrender to the raw strength of his being. “Your mom was a good person,” he said quietly. “She loved you. She used to take you to the meadows around your palace and weave primroses in your hair.”
Sophie touched her hair, just above her ear. “Primroses?” She whispered. “Were they purple?”
He nodded. “With yellow centers. You remember?”
She shook her head. “I remember flowers, but not my mom—” She cut herself off when she saw Vlad’s grim expression. “What else? Tell me the rest.”
“They were very…dedicated to their kingdom. They felt, as did my parents, that preserving the well-being of their kingdoms as a whole was their primary obligation.” His voice hardened with bitterness, and he abruptly cut himself off. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go.” He turned around in the small cavern. “Which wall is adjacent to the earth realm?”
She pointed to the north wall. “What happened, Vlad? I want to know.”
He walked across the room and pressed his hands against the rock. “Sometimes we forget things because we need to forget them. You forgot your parents for a reason.”
“And you? What reason did I forget you?”
He braced his palms on the wall and bowed his head. “Because I was there when you died, and I didn’t save you. I was the only one you trusted, and I failed you.”
She stared at his muscular back, her heart turning over at the bitter self-hate in his voice. Despite her fear and distrust of him, she was beginning to believe he was who he claimed to be, if not her husband, at least a man from her past. This man, this strong, powerful, angry man was someone she’d depended on once. She didn’t quite understand the concept. The only males she knew were demons, and she didn’t trust them for anything, except pain, betrayal, and abuse. “And my parents? Why did I forget them?”
He didn’t answer for the longest time.
“Vlad?”
Finally, he turned to face her. “Your parents and mine were threatened by demons. To ensure the safety of their kingdoms, they made a deal with the demons. They both agreed to trade their children to the demons in exchange for enough wealth to feed the kingdom for three generations.”
A cold shock slammed into her, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. “My parents sent me here?”
“Yes.”
For a split second, a memory flashed through her mind. Of a man and a woman staring down at her, their faces impassive. She remembered screaming, reaching for them… “No.” She turned away, trying to thrust aside the images.
She felt nauseous at all the information pouring into her. For her entire life in the demon kingdom, she’d held onto memories of a beautiful life she’d left behind, of people looking for her. She’d believed in the goodness she’d left behind, because she’d had to believe in something, and it was all a lie? “I don’t—” She didn’t what? She didn’t even know what she’d been planning to say.
“I’m sorry, Sophie. I never would have let you go home after our wedding to get your things if I’d realized the threat was that imminent. We were going to leave in the morning…” Guilt flashed across his face, a soul-deep anguish that tore at her heart. “But it was too late.”
The anguish in his voice tore at her, crumbling the steel walls she carefully maintained inside her. Betrayal ricocheted through her, pain unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Images started flashing through her mind. Of a woman with eyes like hers. Of fields of purple flowers. Of a boy with dark eyes like Vlad’s, showing her how to shoot a bow and arrow. Of a bedroom with white flowing curtains drifting in the breeze. Of brilliant blue sky and puffy white clouds. Of nights that closed down on her, terrifying her. Of a boy sitting on the foot of her bed, promising to stay awake all night to protect her.
The images assaulted her with relentless speed, flitting through her mind before she could identify them, before she could hold onto them, before she could understand them. She stumbled back, holding her head, unable to breathe—
“Sophie.” Vlad was suddenly beside her, his head bent beside hers so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck.
His breath sent shivers down her spine, and she froze, shocked by the sensation, by how her entire body seemed to go utterly still, reaching for his touch, for his warmth, for his strength. He raised his hand, as if to touch her, and she felt herself tingle, preparing to dissolve. “No!” She stopped him with a desperate cry. “Don’t touch me.”
She didn’t want to dissolve. She didn’t want to lose the feel of his breath on her skin. She didn’t want to move away from his physical presence.
Vlad dropped his hand, but he didn’t move away from her. “When you were eleven, one of the boys in the village tried to kiss you,” he said softly. “You snuck in my window and cried for hours. When you fell asleep, I snuck out, found him, and…” He hesitated. “I made him promise not to ever bother you again. He didn’t.”
She couldn’t prevent her tiny smile at the image he’d presented. “Did you beat him up?”
“It’s entirely possible,” he acknowledged. He still hadn’t moved away, and his voice was soft, almost caressing. “I give you my blood oath that I will protect you from anything and anyone who tries to cause you harm, including your memories. I’m here for you, Soph. You owe me nothing, not even kindness, but know that no matter how bad things get, you don’t have to fight alone anymore. Got it?”
Her throat tightened, and she opened her eyes, staring at his hands where they hung by his side. God, how she wanted to reach out and slide her hand into one of his strong ones, to feel that power emanating from him, to accept the help she so desperately needed. “I don’t even know you,” she whispered. “How come I want to trust you?”
“Because you do know me.” He moved his hand over her heart, not touching her. Just hovering. She could feel the heat from his palm warming her, permeating through her chest. “Listen to your heart, Sophie. I know I broke your heart, but I’ll do whatever it takes to help you trust me again, so you can remember.”
Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked several times. The yearning to fall into his strength was so strong it almost hurt, so powerful that it made her heart ache with longing. When he’d said they were married, his words had reverberated through her with absolute rightness. She’d known he spoke the truth….and at the same time, she wanted it to be the truth. She’d wanted to
be bound to this dangerous, muscular man who could bring down demons. She wanted him to be the one to teach her how to stay corporeal when touched by a male. She wanted him to belong to her.
And that terrified her beyond words. She’d seen what women did for the men who they were attracted to. Maria had been right when she’d said that not all the women would want to leave. Some of them liked an eternity of great sex and hot guys. They’d fallen for the demon who had chosen them, willing to die for him. The women weren’t deterred by the fact that sex with their partners would eventually kill them, sooner rather than later if Maria didn’t help them. They were lost to the males on every level of their being…exactly how Sophie had responded to Vlad.
It was terrifying, the power that a male could have over a woman, and there was no chance she was giving Vlad any kind of power over her. “I can’t do this.” She stepped back, putting distance between them, even though her heart seemed to shatter into a million fragments when she did so, as if she’d just severed a part of her own soul from her body.
“Do what?”
“Like you. Trust you. Respond to you.” Want you. She held up her hands, trying to push away his influence. “Just…I just need space.”
“Whatever you need,” Vlad said, his fingers flexing restlessly. “But I’m not abandoning you again.”
The movement of his finger caught her attention, and she suddenly remembered how he’d had his index finger pointed at Damon when he’d had the demon pinned against the wall by some invisible force. “Your magic is in your fingers.”
He looked down at his hand. “Yeah.”
She needed to neutralize him. “Make a fist.”
He obediently did so, watching her face with astute observation. “I’m not going to hurt you. I would never use my magic against you, but I do need it to protect you.”
“And I’m not naive enough to put any stock in promises like that.” She dissolved into mist, streaming through the walls to retrieve two stones, blue ones with a trace of gold. When she found them, she fled back to the room, wrapped herself around his hands, and then brought the stone back to life.
By the time he realized what she was doing and jerked his hands away, it was too late. She’d encased his hands in stone. Very pretty blue stone, but stone, nonetheless.
Vlad gaped at her as she reformed. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” She walked up to him, feeling much more confident. “I’ve been living with demons my entire life. I see what men do to women, and how they trap them. If you really think that by showing up here saying that you’re my husband, you’re going to get me to pull up a chair and a glass of wine and bask in your glory, then you’re just wrong.” She pointed at his hands. “I saw what you did to Damon, and I know I’m not as powerful as he is, so yeah, you get stones, or else I’ll have to kill you. Which do you want?”
Something flickered in his eyes. Not the anger she was prepared for, but something softer. Guilt, maybe? “I’m sorry,” he said. “It was my job to protect you, and I completely fucked up. I’m sorry as hell that you had to learn those lessons, and yeah, I get it.”
She glared at him, unsettled by the sudden compassion that flowed through her. “Don’t be nice,” she snapped. “Nice makes me itchy—” She felt a push of energy from the stones that were guarding the door, and she whirled around. “Oh, God.” She ran over to the stones she’d set up in the doorway and laid her hands over them. Instantly, she received messages from them, which they’d received from the other stones in the walls, in sort of a rustic game of telephone.
Her heart dropped, and she whirled around. “They’re coming,” she said. “We have to leave.”
“Who’s coming?”
“Demons. They’re hunting me. Or Maria. Or any of us.” She looked around, frantically, but Maria, Damon, and Vlad’s friend were all still unconscious. “I can’t carry them all. Oh, God.”
Vlad sprinted over to Gabe and swung him over one shoulder. He slid his stone-encased hands beneath Damon’s arms, and then, in some absurd show of strength, somehow managed to get him over the other shoulder as well.
Something pulsed inside her, an awareness of the sheer strength of this man, a shiver that went deep into her lower belly. If this man truly was her protector, could he keep her safe from Lucien? Did Vlad give her a chance to survive, a chance she wouldn’t have without him?
The moment she thought it, desperate yearning coursed through her. She didn’t want to be Lucien’s concubine, and she didn’t want to sacrifice herself for Maria. She would if she had to, but heaven help her, she didn’t want to ever have Lucien’s skin against hers. Ever. If there was another way, if Vlad could somehow be the factor that switched the balance of power to the women… God, it was worth everything to her.
She didn’t trust him completely, but it was worth the risk. What was the worst that could happen? If she were wrong to trust him and he ended up being like Lucien, then what did she lose? It was trading one terrible fate for another, but at least with Vlad, there was a chance, no matter how slim, that he could be on her side. With Lucien, there was no possibility of a good outcome.
She was going with Vlad. “Okay.”
Decision made, she raced over to Maria and hauled her to her feet. She managed to get Maria slung over her shoulder, staggering slightly under the weight of her friend. “There’s one place that we could go,” she said. “But it’s deep underground. It’s far, and we might not make it.”
He glanced at the wall that she knew Damon pulled his women through from the earth realm. She assumed that’s where he had come across as well. “Can we get through to the earth realm?” Vlad asked.
“No, there are barriers to prevent anything from going out.” The stones guarding the doorway began to reverberate more emphatically. “We have to go!” She ran toward the door, waving her hand to take down the safeguards.
She saw Vlad take one last glance at the wall that led to the realm he was from. She felt his reluctance to leave his safety net, and disappointment surged through her. He’d come across to save her, but he didn’t want to get too far from the earth realm he belonged to. She realized she’d already begun to count on him, that she’d already begun to trust that he would be there for her. Was he really going to stay behind?
It didn’t matter. She’d made the decision to evade Lucien for now. She was taking Maria down below, with or without Vlad’s help—
He suddenly caught up to her, and pulled Maria out of her arms. He cradled her friend against his chest, supporting her head with a gentleness that made Sophie’s heart tighten. The man still had rocks wrapped around his hands, but that wasn’t slowing him down, and he wasn’t asking her to release his hands either.
That totally got him points.
He jerked his head at her. “You lead. I’m right behind you. Go.”
She hesitated for a second. Was she really going to lead two men who were complete strangers into the only place in the demon hell that she could hide? The place she’d kept secret her whole life, waiting and waiting to use it, praying she’d never have to?
Her ring finger burned and she looked down at the band wrapped around her finger. It was even darker and more turbulent than before. She jerked her gaze to Vlad.
His face darkened. “I’m back, Sophie, and I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure your safety.”
His words settled deep in her heart, and they felt good. Once again, she was hit with an almost unstoppable urge to reach out and touch him. Her soul responded to him, and she was going to have to trust her instincts. “Let’s go.”
She broke into a run, racing through the halls, using the stones on the walls to guide her as she fled to the sanctuary that she’d always planned to use to escape from a male, not invite one in.
Chapter 12
The stench was the first thing Vlad noticed as they emerged from a tunnel into a vast wasteland of lava, gravestones, and burned out vegetation. The upper crust of the rock had hardened into a blackened
stone, but beneath it he could see melted rock glistening with fire as it moved slowly beneath it. “What is this place?”
“The Graveyard of the Damned. Step only where I step.” She moved swiftly across the rocks, her boots landing with confidence as she leapt from rock to rock.
Vlad watched her closely, putting his feet where hers had been as soon as she’d moved on. They moved in silence, traversing the land quickly. He couldn’t believe how agile she was, almost like a wild animal as she leapt across divides. In his mind, she’d been the defenseless teenager, but she’d become a bold and courageous woman who didn’t need rescuing by him at all.
Pride pulsed through him, and he couldn’t suppress his grin as he easily kept pace with her. She’d somehow managed to thrive down here, and now he understood why his ring had faded to gray all these years. She hadn’t been in danger. She’d been surviving just fine.
Even as he had that thought, however, his ring burned. He couldn’t see his hand through the rock that encased it (and he had to admit, that had been impressive as hell also), but it was a reminder that his ring had changed color to indicate she was in great, great danger.
His adrenaline jacked up, and he looked around, scanning for threats as they moved deeper into the Graveyard of the Damned. Whatever it was that Sophie had been evading for all these years was finally coming for her, and she needed him, whether she knew it or not.
Was she right that nothing could leave the demon realm? If so, he was there for eternity, which, quite frankly, didn’t really bother him. It was as good a place to be as any, and at least as long as he was here, he could protect her—
“Watch below.” She pointed toward her feet, and he glanced down. The rock was ebony black, flowing like a silent river. Embedded in the rock were faces, their hands pressed to the rock as if they were looking through a window, or trying to break free. All of their expressions were as empty of life and emotion as the rocks they were traversing. A haunted chill ran down his spine. “Who are they?”
Hunt the Darkness (Order of the Blade Book 11) Page 10
