So, I didn’t.
I took a seat on the edge of the tub and extended my wrist to him. “Don’t take too much, unless you plan on carrying me out of here tonight.”
“As you wish, angel.” He walked over to me and then bent down on one knee. Picking up my hand, he brushed his cool fingers along my wrist and surveyed the spot with faraway eyes. All of his previous markings had long-since healed, but he stroked my skin as though he could still see them.
His fangs clicked out, sending a wave of familiar anticipation rushing through me. It was the only thing that could quell my nerves these days, and I was at peace with that.
Without another word uttered between us, he brought my wrist to his mouth and pierced through the skin. Though, this time, his eyes never left mine as he drank from me. Something about it made the moment intimate, personal, like we were connecting in a way we never had before. The venom quickly over took me, and I wanted so bad to close my eyes and fall into it, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. I couldn’t even blink.
He pulled back suddenly, stopping himself with ease.
Cleaning the corner of his mouth, he continued gazing into my eyes as though he were having as hard of a time looking away as I was. “Was that too much?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“How do you feel?”
“Wonderful,” I answered mindlessly. Okay, I was so not wonderful. I mean, sure, I was content and subdued, but that was hardly the kind of temperament needed to kick some Rev ass.
“I did my best, angel.”
“And I thank you for it,” I said dreamily.
A soft chuckle bubbled out of him.
Still holding my hand, he waited a few minutes for my wits to come back together.
When they finally did, I felt overcome by curiosity and had to ask him, “How are you able to stop so easily now?”
This wasn’t the first time he managed to stop himself from draining me. From what I’d heard, it was nearly impossible for a Revenant to stop feeding from a Slayer once they’d started. We had this sort of special, unicorn-type-blood vampires couldn’t resist. And yet he did.
His gaze cut away from me, looking everywhere else but my eyes. “I don’t like the feeling I get when you start to slip away, so I stop. It’s as simple as that.”
“The feeling you get?” I asked, leaning towards him. “What feeling is that?”
His head titled to the side as though he were thinking about it. “Like the light is being pulled away from me.”
That sobered me right up.
I couldn’t remember Dominic ever talking that way with me. And definitely never about me. I looked down at him again, taking in all of his features as if to burn his face into memory.
“Do you really mean that?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Don’t make a mountain out of this, angel.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“And what if I did?” His eyes were darkly unsettled. “What difference would that make with anything?”
“I…” I wasn’t sure what to say; how to answer that. Probably because I didn’t know the answer myself.
“A word to the wise, angel. Don’t open doors to places you don’t want to go.”
“Well, maybe I want to go.”
His eyes flicked back up to mine. “You don’t know what you want,” he said, though his steadfast tone from earlier had wavered.
I wanted to deny it, but the words never surfaced and the resulting silence perturbed me.
Dominic was quiet—too quiet, and his brows were creased with thought. The wheels in his head were turning and that was almost always a bad thing.
“Do you think it’s been long enough?” I asked, gesturing to my wrist in an effort to get our heads back in the game. “Or should I give it a few more minutes?”
His eyes narrowed, studying me. “Your pupils are still dilated, and you’re swaying.”
Shit. “How much longer then?” I was anxious to get this thing started and finally get the hell out of this place.
He didn’t answer right away, though there was an intensity in his eyes that made me sit back. “I think it’s best if you take some of my blood, angel. You’re not going to be of any use to anyone in this state. Certainly not to yourself.”
“Dominic, I already told you I don’t want—”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist,” he said and then bit down into his wrist. “Drink,” he ordered in that strange voice I knew was meant to compel me.
He was so going to pay for this.
Despite my insides screaming at me not to, I picked up his wrist and brought it to my mouth. With my lips pressed against his skin, I drew his blood into my mouth and then swallowed. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste salty or metallic or any of the other words I’d use to describe the gross taste of blood. It was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. It was invigorating and otherworldly and it tasted like…magic.
My nails dug into his wrist as I sucked down harder, trying to pull out as much as the small wounds would allow.
“That’s enough, angel,” he said and tried to pull his hand away.
But I squeezed harder. Drank faster.
“Angel,” he scolded. There was a hint of nervousness in his tone. Almost as though he were afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop me. “Let go,” he ordered in that hypnotizing voice, and I did. Totally against my will.
“Wowers.” My blood was electrified, swimming with a power surge I’d never experienced before.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and looked at him in astonishment. “Where have you been all my life?”
Dominic’s signature lopsided grin made an appearance. “Right here waiting for you, angel. How do you feel now?”
“Alive.” More alive than I’d ever felt in my entire life. My head was buzzing, my skin tingling. It was as though I had magic running through my veins, lighting me up from the inside out. “I want more.”
“I’m sure you do, angel, and it will be my pleasure to do that for you, but now is not the time.” His eyes darkened as his expression turned serious. “We’ve got some slaying to do.”
We most certainly did.
And now, because of Dominic, I wasn’t afraid anymore. There wasn’t an iota of nerves left in my system. No worry, no hesitation, no feeling of inadequacy. I felt strong and able and ready to do this thing. I was vibrating on a different frequency now, and it felt wonderful.
I only hoped there was more to it than just a bunch of good vibrations.
12. ARMING THE GIRL
There was something crackling in the air around us as we left the safe confines of the bathroom and headed down the darkened corridor, opposite of where Maz was stationed. I could feel the electricity in the air, the pressure buzzing around me as it hissed its song of the dead. If we had any chance of taking out Engel, we needed the element of surprise on our side. We couldn’t let him see us coming.
We made our way down the back staircase, towards the south side of the estate. Dominic had been stashing our weapons in the library, a little bit at a time, every free moment he had.
Stopping at the landing, he put out his hand to halt me and listened for any distant voices.
All clear, he said to my mind.
We moved further down the corridor, passing the kitchen and then the dining room, until we cleared the south hall. The library was within our view.
We relaxed our shoulders and walked casually down the last stretch of hallway. If anyone caught us roaming about, we had to make sure we didn’t look suspicious or out of place. Dominic stopped in front of the door and placed his hand on the small of my back, ushering me in ahead of him.
Once inside he quickly locked the door and rushed to the back of the library where he’d hidden his stash.
He pulled a burlap bag out from behind a row of books and dropped it to the ground. Kneeling down, he opened the bag and began distributing the weapons.
“A da
gger and stake for my lady,” he said, handing them over to me one at a time.
I took one in each hand and quickly slipped the stake down the front of my dress, pushing it as far down against my cleavage as I could without stabbing myself. I had to make sure it didn’t look like I’d sprouted a third breast overnight.
A pointy wooden one at that.
“My, my.” His sultry eyes immediately told me his mind had dived into the gutter again. “If I could trade places with that—”
“Concentrate, Dominic! Save the sexual innuendo for when our lives are NOT at stake!”
“I’m quite capable of doing both, but as you please, angel.”
“Where am I supposed to put this exactly?” I asked, raising the dagger in the air. I wasn’t about to slip that down any of my private areas.
He dug his arm back into the bag and pulled out a leather garter.
Like, an actual garter. “Seriously?”
“It was the best I could do, love.” I could hear the humor in his tone and it only irritated me more.
“I’m sure it was.” I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed the stupid lingerie accessory. Bending over, I grabbed the hem of my dress and began bringing it up.
Dominic watched with complete interest.
“Do you mind?”
“Not one bit.” He smiled, still staring crudely.
I turned slightly to the right, shifting away from his view and then slid the garter up my leg, stopping a few inches above my knee. Then, with my other hand, I slipped the dagger through, using the handle as a stopper. As soon as I let go, the dagger tumbled to the ground, nearly stabbing my pinky toe in the process.
“Well, that was a waste of time,” I said, ripping the garter off my leg and tossing it down the aisle.
“Best thirty seconds of my life, angel.” Clearly, he didn’t have an off switch.
“What else you got in there?” I ticked my chin at his bag. “I need something lighter.”
He shook his head. “That was the lightest weapon I had.”
“Great! Now what?” I shrilled, my pitch higher than I intended. My nerves were starting to fizz beneath the surface. “We’re off to a really good start. Maybe we should just announce our attack before we get there, that way we can really screw up any chance we have.”
“No need to spiral, love. I’ll simply carry the artillery and toss you the dagger once we reach Engel.” Dominic lifted the back of his shirt and slipped two daggers into the back of his pants. “See?”
“What about Cinderdust?” I asked, the thought having just occurred to me as I openly ogled his peeking flesh.
“Not a chance. The very last thing you’ll ever find in a Revenants home, my love, is Cinderdust.”
“So how the hell are we supposed to vanquish them if we don’t have any freakin’ Cinderdust?” My pitch was steadily climbing with every syllable I uttered. I was damn near hysterics.
“We’ll just have to improvise.”
“Improvise how?” I needed all the details before I moved a single muscle. I wasn’t about to go into this all halfcocked.
“Once we kill Engel, the rest of his men will scatter like rats. That’ll give us ample time to decapitate him. We’ll burn the heart and head and bury the body.”
My stomach twisted at his gruesome words. It sounded like the climax to some slasher movie. Only it was worse than a horror movie. It was my life.
My head snapped up at the sound of the door knob giggling. Then a hard knock.
“Shit. Someone’s here!”
Dominic closed the bag and shoved it back behind the books. He pushed a book to my chest and then rushed off to unlock the door.
“Where’s the girl?” asked Baldy, Engel’s right hand man. I’d come to recognize his voice even without seeing his face.
“Picking out her reading material for the night.” Dominic pulled the door open further and ticked his head sideways.
Baldy peered in and then nodded to someone behind him, but I couldn’t see who it was.
I glanced up innocently and then turned my attention back to the book I was fake-flipping through.
“Why is the door locked?” he asked. “And where’s Maz?”
“Getting a snack,” lied Dominic, easy as breathing. “I thought it best to lock the door until he returned.”
Baldy thought it over and then nodded. “Engel wants to see you both.”
Shit! My stomach dropped like a ton of bricks.
“Of course.” Dominic bounced a sidelong glance my way and then returned his attention to Baldy. “I’ll just let her return her books to her quarters and then meet you in the great hall.”
No,” answered Baldy, pushing the door wide open. “He said now.”
13. THE SISTERS OF RODERICK
Dominic and I followed quietly behind Baldy and some other Rev I’d never seen before. My heart was racing in my chest as we neared the great hall. I had no idea why Engel wanted to see us, and worse, I had absolutely no idea what was going on or what exactly I was walking into. For all I knew, our plan had already been foiled and this was an ambush.
Baldy pushed open the door and then held it open for us. Obviously, he wanted to be the last one in the room so that he can stand guard in front of it.
This was so not good.
Relax, angel, said Dominic to my mind. I’ll handle this.
Engel was seated in his usual seat, surrounded by his men and a sprinkle of underdressed donors around them. Apparently, they’d started the party early. As disturbing as the whole thing was, it wasn’t nearly as terrifying as the moment my eyes fell on the three women standing calmly offside.
The witchy sisters.
I knew it was them even before any introductions were made.
They were standing in a row, shoulder to shoulder—a red-head, a blond and a brunette—staring at me as if they already knew every one of my secrets…and even those I didn’t know myself.
My gaze fell to their hands. Their palms were covered in Runes, similar to the Mark of The Anakim, except theirs were black as night instead of white, and they ran from their palms to the back of their hands and all the way up their arms.
I’d studied well enough with Gabriel to know those marks.
Dark Casters.
“Come in, come in,” smiled Engel, sweeping his arm out as if to showcase the dire circumstances. “Join us.”
Dominic placed his hand on the small of my back and pushed me further into the room. My feet felt like two blocks of concrete. Concrete that I wanted to throw at Dominic’s head.
“I’d like for you to meet three very special friends of mine. The Enchanted Sisters of Roderick. This here is Arianna,” he said, pointing to the first sister, the brunette. “That’s Annabelle. And last, but certainly not least, Anita.”
Anita, the fiery red-head, was the only one to step forward and break formation. It wasn’t to shake my hand or speak to me though. She was summing me up. Obviously, there weren’t going to be any niceties or small talk with these ones. They were here for a reason, and that reason had everything to do with me.
My pulse quickened as she began circling around me, looking me up and down as though inspecting me.
“Can I help you with something?” I asked, glaring at her from the corner of my eye.
“I doubt it,” she answered without meeting my eyes.
Annabelle, the blond with the pin-straight bangs, snorted under her breath.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working for the Dark Legion?”
“We work for ourselves, sweetheart.” Anita’s blood-red lips pulled into a grin. “That or the highest bidder,” she drawled, her voice low and even.
There was something different about these three that disturbed me. They weren’t just witches—Dark Casters. There was something special about them. I could almost feel their power, the unearthly darkness radiating out from them.
It gave me the chills.
“How long?” she asked Engel.
“Nearly a fortnight.” Engel stood up and walked over to me. He cupped my right cheek, forcing me to look him in the eye. “Give me the Amulet, child,” he ordered, his pupils dilating unnaturally. I could tell he was attempting to compel me again, but it didn’t have the same effect as when Dominic did it.
“Sorry. Not today, pal.”
He tapped my cheek lightly with his palm, almost affectionately, and then returned to his seat.
Anita continued to move around me, sizing me up. She was really starting to get on my nerves.
“Can you stop that? You’re making me dizzy.”
Ignoring me, she ticked her chin to one of her sisters. Arianna, the brunette with the amber eyes, stepped forward this time and walked over to me without saying anything. Her eyes nervously paused on Dominic, almost as though she didn’t trust her proximity to him. I guess she didn’t enjoy his company as much as I did.
She stopped mere inches from where I stood.
“Do you mind?” I said, taking a step back from her. “I’d rather not smell what you had for lunch.”
She glanced back at her sister, and with a responding nod from Anita, she grabbed a hold of my wrist. Her eyes immediately rolled back in her head.
“What the hell!” I screeched as I tried to pull my hand away, but her grip was like a vise clamp.
My skin burned under her touch which only made me pull back harder. She moved right along with me, bouncing back and forth with me like a human leech. As hard as I tried to shake her, her grip never loosened.
I was about to pull my stake out from my chest and drive it through her hand when she suddenly let go. Her lids fluttered for a few beats and then her eyes returned to normal as though she’d just re-joined us from some distant Realm.
“She’s already bonded,” she said simply.
My eyes rounded out.
“Then why is the Amulet not in my hand,” asked Engel.
Her brown eyes shifted to Dominic. “Because she’s bonded to him.”
Holy shit on a hell-stick!
Engel’s men immediately jumped in behind us, grabbing Dominic’s arms and pinning them behind his back as Baldy pulled out his silver machete and pointed it to Dominic’s jugular.
Iniquitous: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 3) Page 9
