by LJ Swallow
“Yes, you are,” he says and smirks at Nikolai.
“No. I’m not,” I snap.
Dorian snorts and Ivan’s eyes darken. “You don’t have any choice,” says Ivan.
“I’m sorry? Are you expecting me to do what you tell me to?” I retort. “Fuck you, arsehole.”
“Oh, dear, Ivan,” says Nikolai as my mother gasps. “You don’t know how to control the women in your life, do you? You really must change that.”
Ivan’s growing anger spreads pink across his cheeks.
“I can assist if you need help moulding Eloise a little.” Nikolai shows perfect white teeth as he smiles at me, and suddenly the bright room is more suffocating than the fog around Ravenhold.
Dorian ignores the conversation and inspects the table for more food.
I’m stunned into silence at how they’re talking about me—like I’m a possession. But I always was, to my parents and then Ivan. Now they’re passing me to the Blackwoods like a gift.
I dip my head and leave the rest of my meal untouched as chatter continues around me. Eventually, I lift my eyes to meet Dorian’s as he looks at me over the edge of the teacup he’s drinking from.
Any thought that he could help me evaporates at how predatory that look is.
I hope for his sake that he’s more powerful than I am right now, because I don’t believe the witches will allow Dorian to leave.
How involved is Dorian with Ivan’s plan? Well, I hope Ivan and his new best friend Nikolai realise they’re wasting their time trying to indoctrinate him. Dorian only cares about himself. A lump forms in my throat. He could’ve stopped Ivan and taken us both from here.
He didn’t.
Chapter Thirty-One
ELOISE
I’m amused by Nikolai Blackwood choosing to drive away in a sleek Porsche rather than via blood-fuelled temporal magic. Perhaps he doesn’t like getting his hands messy? I look at the cut in my palm and my stomach turns over again. What do I do? I can’t stay here, but I can’t go to the Blackwood estate with Ivan this afternoon—I might never leave.
I’d cry about my parents selling me out again, but I don’t have the energy. What do I expect? Ivan’s family ‘secured’ me for their son and now he’s enmeshed with the Blackwoods. I can resist, but a family as formidable will have techniques to pull people into line.
My mouth dries. However powerful I become, there’s one of me and a family of them. The psychological and physical torture the Blackwoods famously use is one step above Ivan’s.
I’m due to leave with Ivan in a couple of hours and am told to pack, as if heading for a weekend away. I toy with the idea of looking for Dorian but I’m furious that he’s brought me to this position. He doesn’t care, although I’m sure Dorian has a clever plan that involves me on some level. Is it time to offer my help and hope I’m strong enough against everybody, including him?
Ethan and Zeke play on my mind too. More than ever, I want them both here with me. We built a strength and unity the opposite to what was planned by whoever sent us all to Ravenhold.
Each of the four of us is a pawn.
I stare at the half-filled suitcase on my bed. The day the authorities dragged me to Ravenhold, I packed a small bag with minimal items. I don’t feel like taking more today and half-heartedly shove a blue cardigan inside.
My bedroom door hinges creak as somebody walks into the room and I look up.
Ivan.
He stands in front of the door with his hands in pockets as he silently watches me. Each time I see this guy’s face, I waver between wanting to break his nose and mar his good looks, or flee.
“Are you here to make sure I don’t run away?” I ask.
He smiles and says nothing and my scalp prickles. Huffing, I turn away and pretend to look for more items to pack so he can’t see my hands shaking. The door clicks closed. Seconds later, I’m aware of Ivan close by, not touching but near enough for his warped aura on me like clammy fingers on my skin.
“Why are you ungrateful?” he asks quietly, and his warm breath brushes my neck. “I came to Ravenhold and helped you escape.”
“Well, aren’t you just my knight in shining armour,” I snark without turning.
I tense as Ivan grips my neck from behind and forces me to face him. “I will continue to protect you, if you behave.”
My heart bangs against my ribs as his eyes darken. “I don’t need your protection. I know how strong I am now, and that strength will return as Ravenhold’s influence fades.”
“Do you know who put you in Ravenhold?” he whispers as I attempt to pull my head away.
“My parents. You. I was set up. Did you expect the hybrids to kill each other?”
“Nobody wanted you and Dorian to kill each other, apart from the Confederacy, who wanted to recruit you and the others. Francesca helped interfere with that.”
“She worked for Dominion, yes, I figured that out.”
He squeezes my neck tighter. “Francesca worked for the Blackwoods.”
My mouth drops open. “The Blackwoods orchestrated all this?”
“Yes. The Blackwoods couldn’t take you at full strength, so we needed you all weakened.” We. “As the family is ostracised to the fringes, they’ve had time to watch everybody else’s actions. We’re taking advantage of the corruption at Ravenhold. You won’t be the last powerful students the family take from there.”
“Let go of my neck,” I say through clenched teeth.
He ignores me. “Hey, at least you weren’t taken by Confederacy. We both have a bright future in the centre of the Blackwoods' leadership. Dorian too.”
“Dorian? Good luck,” I say with a laugh.
“Oh, come on, Eloise. Why would the Blackwoods help create something as unique and lethal as Dorian if not to help their plans? Why would they pay for the Trinity witch?”
Pay. I’m right—my parents literally sold me out.
I manage to peel Ivan’s fingers from me and step back. “I’m not coming with you.”
He gives a harsh laugh. “Do you think you have a choice?”
I hold his look. Yes. I’ll make a pact with Dorian—the guy you taught Blackwood magic. He knows a spell to rip into reality and can take us elsewhere. Instead of the words, I smile, the way Ivan did when he walked into the room.
“Do you understand that my power grew too?” he says quietly. “How the Blackwoods coached me into my role at Ravenhold? It’s time you listened to me and accepted your future.”
I ignore him and eye the door. Where’s Dorian located right now?
Sharp pain assaults my scalp as Ivan grabs my hair. He pulls tight and looks down at me. “Pay attention. I’m not happy with how you spoke to me in front of Nikolai. That isn’t acceptable.”
“Do you honestly think you’ll match the Trinity witch once I’m back at full strength?” I retort and pull at his fingers. “Get your hands off me.”
Ivan yanks my hair harder and I lean backwards in an attempt to stop the pain. “I’m out of patience with you, my weak little witch.”
Summoning up the most energy I can, I lash out at Ivan with my mind. He doesn’t put up a barrier in time to stop the pain spiking into his head and drops his grip as he stumbles.
“You stupid bitch!” he snarls, and I reel as he slaps me across the face.
I remain still, blinking, as I ignore the stinging, partly relieved it wasn’t his fist this time. Ivan steps forward and I attempt to dodge him, but he grabs my arm and twists me around so my back faces his chest. The position painfully pulls at my muscles, but I refuse to show he’s hurting me.
“You smell good, Eloise. I like that you showered for me.” Ivan’s other hand slides beneath my shirt and he attempts to push his hand into my jeans. Every muscle freezes as I become the frightened girl who was paralysed the last time he attempted this.
“You don’t have the magic to stop me finishing what we started,” he says, his hot breath against my ear.
“Get the fuck off
me,” I say with more bravado than I feel as I dig my nails into his hand to stop him unfastening my jeans.
“Try to use your magic,” he says and nips my ear, with a laugh. “Oh, you don’t have much, that’s right. Did you waste a little on me just then?”
Releasing my arm and pushing me forward, Ivan then lifts his knee and slams it into the back of mine, sending me sprawling forward onto the floor. He bears down and flips me over before sitting on my legs so I can’t move. Heart now thumping in terror, I lash out at him again and he catches my wrists in one hand.
“You need to learn your place, Eloise. You are not permitted to humiliate or disobey me.” A hand goes around my neck and he presses until I start to choke. “Do you understand?”
I stare back at him with watering eyes as the pressure grows—he’ll choke me unconscious. Would that be better than experiencing every moment of his assault, or worse because he’d take greater pleasure and do more harm?
Only when I close my eyes does his grip loosen enough for me to suck in a breath, and when I open them again the world is further away. Ivan’s magic slams at my mind in an attempt to coerce me into unbuttoning my shirt.
I yell out at him as I fight his mind control and push back with my own magic. This barely touches him, and I’m pinioned, unable to move as he leans forward and pulls my lip into his mouth.
I’m horrified by the sharp pain as he bites me, and I wrench my head away to do the only thing I have left.
I scream as blood fills my mouth.
Last time Ivan assaulted me, nobody paid attention to my screams, or interfered. They didn’t care about my bruised face afterwards—I remember my father’s anger that I’d upset Ivan. They might ignore me, but my screams unleash a frenzied attempt to get Ivan off me and I thrash from side to side. Ivan laughs and his mouth hovers close to mine. “Shut up or I’ll take longer.” He shoves his hand beneath my shirt. His disgusting fingers close around my breast and he digs his fingernails into my nipple until I can’t hide whimpering at the pain.
Tears build in my eyes at how weakened I am; at how I should’ve taken Dorian’s offer the night in Ravenhold. With our unity, I would have the strength to tear this guy apart.
Ivan sits back again and smiles down at me, running his tongue around his lips as he slowly unbuttons my shirt. I’m not strong enough to look into his mind, but I easily remember the horrors Ivan projected into mine on my first day at Ravenhold.
He opens his mouth to speak and his malevolent eyes widen as something rips into him. I’m stunned, as one moment he’s leering at me, and the next he has his hand over a massive wound from a chunk of his neck missing.
With Dorian knelt beside him.
I once saw a hemia vampire attacking another—their faces become angular, eyes unnaturally large as all their features transform into something inhuman. Dorian’s perfect but blood-covered face hasn’t changed, apart from the dark fury in his eyes and the visibly sharp teeth that he usually hides.
Dorian Blackwood, the beautiful boy whose true self is as hidden as his namesake’s portrait in an attic.
He stands and pulls Ivan from me, then drags him upwards until they’re nose to nose. Blood spurts from Ivan’s neck and I clamp a hand over my mouth as Dorian slashes Ivan’s throat with his teeth again. Skin tears and Ivan’s blood splatters Dorian’s face and shirt as he tosses the witch against the wall. Ivan slides to the floor gasping out, hand at his neck as his life flows away with the blood pumping from an artery.
“Should I pulverise your skull or yank your heart out?” snarls Dorian as he stands over him. “Or both?”
Omigod. I’ve heard stories over the years about Dorian Blackwood, the charming savage whose frenzied attacks leave victims maimed or torn to shreds like an animal attacked them.
“Dorian!” I yell out as he grabs the front of Ivan’s hair and pulls it forwards with such strength, I’m scared he’ll pull it off. “Stop.”
He hesitates and stares down at the dying Ivan, whose eyes glaze and arm weakens.
“I don’t want to see—"
Dorian crouches down and holds Ivan by the hair. He slams his head back into the wall three times and the next sight will sicken me for the rest of my life. Ivan’s body crumples forward, and blood matts his hair over the broken skull.
I shake with shock and attempt to stand, but I’m forced to support myself on the bed to stop my legs buckling. The blood-soaked Dorian stands again and turns to me, his smooth features stained by red which he wipes from his face with a sleeve.
“It’s time, Eloise,” he says in a low voice. “Give me your blood. We need to get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
ELOISE
I stare at the blood-covered monster in front of me—at both of them. One wanted to hurt me, and the other killed him. Although I shrink against the wall, Dorian doesn’t approach.
If he were a normal hemia vampire and his features distorted, would I accept his brutality as part of his being? Or be as horrified at how the charming, beautiful creature could tear apart a man in front of me with such calm, collected nonchalance?
“Eloise. We need to leave. I just killed a fucking witch.” He drags a hand through his hair, leaving red streaks in the blond.
I swallow down the bile and avoid looking at Ivan’s crumpled body, but can’t speak.
“Stop stressing about what I’ll do to you. Would I kill Ivan to help, if I wanted to hurt you?” he demands and cocks his head, listening to muffled voices inside the house. “I won’t kill you, Eloise.”
My shaking intensifies and I wrap my arms around myself. Dorian’s eyes go to my unbuttoned shirt and his blue eyes blaze with anger. “What you do to people—” I begin.
“For fuck’s sake, don’t start a philosophical argument over the morals of giving Dorian Blackwood power.”
“His blood,” I rasp out.
“Huh?” He frowns for a moment, then looks down at Ivan. “Oh. I won’t risk taking his. The Blackwoods probably made Ivan poisonous.”
I remain standing as he cautiously steps towards me. “Everything you did with Ivan at Ravenhold—" I begin.
“For me. For you. To get us the fuck out.” Dorian’s hand cradles my head as he stares down. “Don’t you understand why I want to protect you?”
“My blood.”
“No. I lost control and killed Ivan because he was hurting you. If I only wanted your blood, I would stand outside the door and wait for him to break you. Then, when he’d finished, I could come in and take my share.”
I stare back into the eyes of a creature who can commit atrocities this casually, and he terrifies me. Not because I’m scared of what he’ll do, but because I can see the person I could be if I gave into the darker, hidden desire to kill and control people. What would I have done to Ivan if I’d had my magic?
The dark energy flows between us again and my need to reach out to him is intensified by the shock and terror still trembling through my body. Dorian is correct—I’m weak—he could easily take what he wants from me.
Dorian smooths his thumb across my lips. “I’ve never given a shit about anybody but myself. Now, I give a shit about you.” I choke a laugh and he gives a half smile. “I care what happens to you and I want you. Therefore, I won’t kill you.”
Voices grow louder as people walk along the hallway, and I tense. “Your lip is bleeding. Do you know how much that’s screaming out to me to taste you? To take more?” he asks.
I shrink back and hold my hand over my mouth, unsure if I should protect my neck too.
The voices fade as they pass, and it hurts that people ignored my screams again.
“We need to leave.” Dorian tugs his bottom lip into his mouth and runs an index finger down my chin to my pulse point, his eyes fixed on mine. “Eloise.”
I need to know the truth. I have to feel again what I denied when we kissed the day Marcus threw me onto the island. Dorian continues to look at me with a plea in his eyes as I
reach out and rub Ivan’s blood from his lips.
I hold his face with both hands and push my mouth against his. Immediately, Dorian holds me hard against him, one hand in the small of my back and the other cradling my head. He engulfs me in a deep, hard kiss as if he’s held all this inside since the last time our mouths met. Dorian’s indescribable mix takes over again as whatever is within us both craves to meet too.
The same passion pours from him, his grip on me hard to stop me letting go; we can taste my blood and I try not to think that Ivan’s may be on Dorian’s mouth still. I cling to him as my body screams with need and a desire to never stop. Dorian pauses and cups my face, then gently moves his lips on mine before taking a ragged breath and moving back. His tender kiss shocks me more than anything he’s ever done to me.
“Fuck, I can taste your blood on your mouth...” he says hoarsely, and I moisten my lips. “You know that’s nowhere near enough?” Dorian lays gentle kisses across my cheeks and forehead, smoothing hair from my face as he does. “And you know this has to happen.”
This. I push my mouth against Dorian’s and grip his shoulders in an attempt to take over, as each kiss and touch weakens my resolve. The more control Dorian has, the more my defences drop.
But I want this as much as he does. I want him and our unity.
His lips move slowly along my jaw and to my neck, and I move from holding his shoulders to his head, tense with apprehension even though the desire roars through me. He pauses for a moment and my heart skips out of rhythm.
Dorian inhales a shuddery breath before his teeth break my skin. He places his lips on the spot for a moment before closing his mouth around the small wound. As my blood flows to him, a lust unlike anything I’ve felt before surges through me. I swear my whole body is covered in goosebumps as I clutch him to me, aware of nothing but the place our bodies connect and how the blood he’s taking flows with sexual as well as magic energy.
My head tips back and he makes a low growl in his throat, gripping me harder, hand sliding to my ass to hold me against him. I’m aching as wet heat builds between my legs with each second, magnified when Dorian’s cock presses against my stomach through his jeans. Sliding my hands beneath his shirt, I drag my fingernails along Dorian’s back and around to his taut abs. My hands shake as I touch his waistband. I’m on the edge of awareness and seconds away from dragging Dorian onto the bed and fucking him to unleash what’s building inside.
