Princess of Darkness (The Dark Prince #3)

by Autumn Winchester

  It didn’t matter who the man had killed. He’d be joining them all soon enough.

  “Yes, Marcel,” John spat, trailing his eyes from the girl with a gun to the Prince. He didn’t fear either of them. He was the ruler, and both of these people in this room would die. Today.

  Streams of light fell through the broken windows, the dust particles floating along as the dirt of the place was disturbed.

  “I see,” Chase said, still walking towards him, but leaving more than enough room between the two.

  “So, where has the dear girl been hiding anyway,” John asked. He was buying time. Plus, he was always a curious being.

  “Right here,” Summer answered, still keeping the gun steady. All her practice was paying off, and about time. “Right under your nose.” It had been so easy to bypass this man that stood indifferently. Summer had been right there close by all along.

  John blinked, knowing that was a lie. He’d wait her out. What else did he have to lose? She’d bow to him before he put a bullet into her head. He’d force her to do so. John wouldn’t let Chase have that pleasure. His death would be a bit more drawn out, of course.

  So many ways to drag them down to the pits of hell first. He may just have pleasure from killing them.

  “Does it really matter where she was?” Gabriel asked, coming out of one of the many shadows, and causing John to quickly bulk, shooting his eyes at his brother. One of the few men John ever feared. “All that matters is that the Prince and Princess are safe, and they live on. Happily, ever after.”

  “They won’t be leaving here alive,” John seethed. His hand twitched, wanting to take his own gun out to shoot. But knew he couldn’t. Not yet. He had to be careful of when he took action.

  “Someone will die today, dear brother. But it won’t be a Marcel,” Gabriel said, beginning to walk circles around John, making him uncomfortable. Gabriel had been waiting far too long to bring his eldest brother such fear. He was the one that took all those beatings from the monster of a father because of his brother's bratty attitude.

  “A better question,” Gabriel said, moving his coat jacket out the way, showing John that he had a gun and was not afraid to use it. “Why did you come? All your men you brought are dead. Way too easy.” He shook his head. He was raring for a fight, craving it. But alas, John’s men were nothing against his own skills.

  The men inside were all on Marcel’s side. Gabriel didn’t fear for anything. There was nothing to fear here. Not even John.

  “No,” John said, his heart falling to his feet. It wasn’t meant to happen like this. “You didn’t.” his voice trailed off, his eyes filled with a fury beyond anything he had ever felt before. Now, he truly did fear for his life. He never thought his brother would turn against him. Didn't he want to be a part of his life? His huge plans?

  “You never did cover your tracks well, brother,” Gabriel went on, watching him out of the corner of his eye. “I was the one that tracked you down. I knew right where you were. Summer was the brains in all this.”

  “I was,” Summer said with a deadly smirk. She couldn’t help but be proud of that fact. She wanted this to end, wanted this man to come out. “I’m tired of hiding. Tired of living in fear from you. Yet, here we are. You should be the one that is filled with fear.”

  Summer had refined the idea of Gabriel’s just that morning. She wasn’t a fan of being in a building on her own, even knowing that with only four men on their side, she would have been fine for the most part. She had a gut feeling that something else would happen, demanding to be close enough to an exit that would be cleared.

  She had considered being there, having her wrists wrapped with rope, but bypassed that thought. She had to have her hands free if she were to kill John. She planned to do just that.

  This way, it would protect Gabriel somewhat. She knew that John wouldn’t hesitate to kill his brothers, or anyone really. Chase couldn’t help but smile at his wife. He forgot how much in love he was with her. She was brilliant! He wanted to kiss her senseless, and he would as soon as this . . . . thing was dealt with.

  “What do you think you will achieve here, sweetie?” John asked coldly, his tone instantly hardening. He couldn’t be sure on who was the brains of this little thing, but one thing he was certain of. Everyone would die here today.

  “To see you bow to me,” Summer said with a tilt of her head. “It’s a shame, though. You never seem like the type that could ever be on your knees. But you are.” Her eyes widened dramatically.

  “You are so very wrong!” John seethed. One gun pointed at him hardly frightened him. He’d been such positions before. Nothing new in this one. “I’m not here willingly, you filth!”

  Gabriel was quick, taking John by surprise as he drawled his own gun as John went to stand, ignoring the knife to his throat.

  “Don’t you fucking move,” Gabriel seethed, walking until the barrel of the gun was right at John’s temple, pressing hard enough to leave a bruise.

  John stilled, eyes wide, breaths coming out in short pants. Beneath his frozen frame, his brain took action. He planned to move. He had to time it all just right for him to get the upper hand.

  “As you were saying, Princess?” Gabriel said, his eyes alight with humor and fury at the same time. He could pull the trigger right that second, ending this once and for all. But they needed answers.

  “You have made my life horrible,” Summer started out, taking a step forward and lowering the gun slightly. “And now, I will make yours the same.” That was a promise.

  “I can give you whatever you want,” John said, begging as his eyes stayed wide with shock. He wasn’t one to beg, but he had to buy time.

  “I have everything I possibly could want,” Summer said, standing tall. She had her husband. “All I ever wanted was a family, John.”

  “Which I gave her,” Chase said, watching John. “I gave her a reason to live, to try. Because of you, Summer would have died a number of times. With me saving her, she gained a family she always wanted.”

  “I can give her a mom and dad,” John said with glee that was masked in fear. “I can give her whatever her heart desires.”

  “I have all that,” Summer said with a huff. “Your words mean absolutely nothing to me.”

  John took that moment to pull out his gun from his waist without being noticed, or so he thought. Sebastian took that moment, shooting John in the leg, causing him to collapse to the dirty floor in pain. His pained screams echoed around the building.

  Summer didn’t flinch as Gabriel kicked the gun as far away as he could.

  “Fucker,” Sebastian spat, letting his arm with the knife fall to his side. “Told you dear old brother, I’d get my chance to shoot you. Lucky for you, my daughter wants to be the one to end your life. Or maybe it’s not so lucky.” He shrugged, not really sure how to look at it. Summer could be deadly if she wanted to be.

  “Why?” John asked, confused. “How?” his pain was momentarily forgotten, as it wasn’t entirely life threatening.

  “Once again, not your concern,” Sebastian said with a wave of his hand that held his gun. “Gabriel?”

  Gabriel nodded before grasping John’s hair, forcing him to stay put, but kneeling once more.

  It was a sight to behold.

  John, the man that had made so many lives hellish, now kneeled before the Prince and Princess. A gun pointed at his head.

  “Told you,” Summer sang out, lowering her gun to her side. “I have amazing teachers, and my want, other than seeing Jason dead, was seeing you bowing before me.” Summer never saw herself in this position, holding someone’s life in her hands.

  She wasn’t sure if she was more disgusted, or thrilled about that fact. She understood why Sebastian took such pleasure in taking men down, that was for sure. Holding the power of a life at the tip of her fingertips was such a buzz.

  John was out of options. He was alone. Truly alone now. No men to come save him. No weapon. His hurt leg wouldn’t allow h
im to move or kick out. And there was a gun pointed at the back of his head.

  “Kill me then,” John spat out.

  “That would be too easy,” Summer said, cocking her head to the side. She talked to him as if he were a small child. “Plus, I’m not a killer, well unless provoked”

  “Summer?” Sebastian asked, stepping up next to her and laying a fatherly hand on her shoulder, never once looking at John. “I can take care of him, here and now.”

  “No, Sebastian,” Summer said, her shoulders relaxing. Yes, she wanted to see this man dead, but that would be too easy for him. “I think the FEDS would love to get their hands on him. He can feel what it’s like to be locked in a room. He can feel what it’s like to feel caged in. He can feel how it is to be tied up, bound without no escape.”

  “No!” John shouted. He’d take death over prison any day. He knew what would happen there. He was weak.

  “Oh, yes,” Summer said with a smile. Her smile was filled with mirth, evil, and promises. “I know exactly what will happen to you. You’ll find out how it felt for me for years. I was forced to do things no child ever should. It all started because of you, John.”

  “I can give you more,” John begged. He was actually begging!

  “Yeah?” Summer said, knowing that was a lie. “You had your chance. Too many, actually. But really, you are the demon of hell, and you’ll return there. I hope you rot in prison.”

  With that, Summer lifted her gun, shooting John in the shoulder with her perfect aim. The blast of the gun echoed around the room as the man crumpled over in pain.

  “Summer?” Chase asked, not sure if she’d go through with her entire plan. He didn’t agree one bit about John going to prison, knowing he’d get out and come back after them without warning.

  Summer gave Chase a sweet smiled filled with promises. She would do this.

  “Did you know,” she started out, taking another step towards John as Gabriel pulled on his hair, making him look at her. “That Sebastian and Gabriel taught me how to handle this little thing here?”

  She paused as John gritted his teeth. He wanted to say so many things to her but wisely kept his mouth shut.

  “I have the best aim possible for such a short amount of time,” she went on looking at the gun almost with a loving look. “I could kill you; end you now. Or I can make you beg for death. I can cause you so much pain, and let you bleed out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Just end it!” John said through his teeth. He didn’t even try to stop the blood from flowing out of his wounds. He knew there was no point.

  “That would be too easy, don’t you think?” Summer asked sweetly like this was nothing of her own planning. Then, her voice turned cold and dark, and Chase was glad it wasn’t towards him. “I hate you. I hate that I was forced to live the way I did, all because of your stupid fucking desires. Maybe I should let someone rape you, and see how you feel. Maybe I should have my family here tie you up, and keep you until you rot to death while vile sick men have their way with you.”

  She looked him up and down, seeing him paling further and further. Both from her words and the blood loss.

  “No one would dare to touch you that way,” she said with a roll of her eyes, a sneer on her perfect face.

  “Please,” John begged. “I only wanted my daughter back. Jason threatened me.”

  “Lies!” Gabriel barked out, pulling on his hair sharply.

  “Who cares?” John laughed out through his pain.

  “Right, who will care if we just left you here to rot. Or if we set this place on fire with you tied up,” Summer said with a death glare.

  “Nah,” Fayth drawled out, stepping up towards Summer’s side. “Too messy to clean up.”

  Luckily, John didn’t say anything about Fayth getting untied. Instead, he thrashed out, spinning around and using his good leg to try to knock Gabriel off balance.

  Gabriel simply moved back a step, causing John to miss entirely. He then laughed, amused John had it in him.

  “You really shouldn’t have done that,” Summer said with a small shake of her head with a sigh.

  She then lifted the gun, pointing it at John’s head. He never saw it coming as he tried to push his body up. Before he even got half way, his body fell, lifeless.

  Chapter 34

  Slowly, Summer dropped her hands, staring at the man, almost in shock. Chase was quick to seize the gun from her limp grip, tucking it into his pants. He then wrapped his arms around her, bringing Summer in against his chest.

  Chase had no idea what was going through her mind. He sure hoped that she wouldn’t respond in the same fashion as she had the last time he saw her shoot a gun. Seeing her break down like that once was more than enough. He’d do just about anything to make sure it didn’t happen ever again.

  “I killed him,” she whispered, not sure if she was impressed that she did it, or upset that she was able to pull the trigger, taking a life. She wasn’t even sure why she was doubting herself. She was the one that wanted to kill him, and everyone let her do it without trying to talk her out of doing so.

  “You did,” Chase said, seeing Sebastian and Gabriel, along with Jackson and a few other men, begin the cleanup process. They would leave the bodies here, right where they lay. It would look as if it was a murder-suicide. Easy to do as the dead bodies were actually in the right positions to do that. It rarely happened that the bodies fell in the right places, so they certainly were going to take advantage of it this time.

  “I’m so proud of you,” he went on, rubbing his hands along the end of her hair. “If you hadn’t, I sure would have.” There was no way he’d allow John to keep breathing after today. There was no reason to. John only caused more problems on top of problems. He was one sick bastard.

  “You’re not mad?” Summer asked, fearing he was. She knew that Chase was protective of her, and he wasn’t too happy about the change of events that morning. She looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest, blue eyes wide open.

  “How could I be?” Chase asked, appalled she’d even think that. “I could never be mad at you for doing something you wanted to do. He’d have been shot and killed here either way.”

  He was anything but upset at her. He was filled with so much awe at his wife, it wasn’t even measurable. Nothing could measure to how impressed he was. He was impressed with her, being braver than anyone ever expected from her. She had grown by leaps and bounds. In doing so, everyone was amazed at how she had just now started to blow the world away.

  “You are remarkably strong, stronger than I ever was, or could be. You proved to him that you weren’t going to put up with his actions. That you weren’t still that meek abused girl I found just eight months ago. That alone spoke volumes.

  “Of course, no one will know who really killed whom here, and they don’t need to know,” he went on. He knew there would be rumors, but those they could deal with easily. Maybe he’d let it slip that his Princess was the one to pull the trigger, making everyone fear both of them equally. He didn’t want to be feared, only respected. Hopefully, by taking down two of the major threats, he and Summer would be able to live peacefully now.

  As she looked up at him, blue eyes swimming with relief, he couldn’t help but press his lips against hers gently. She met him, letting her shoulders relax. The kiss was way too short for either of their liking, but they knew it would get out of hand, as that was what had happened the last few times they had kissed since the day before.

  Summer’s stomach swam with butterflies at just the thought of Chase taking her, anywhere, everywhere. Her sex drive was now up through the roof once again, and having her husband at her side made it all the better.

  “I love you, no matter what, Summer,” Chase said, pulling back and giving her a sexy smile. “I will never stop loving you. I just can’t.”

  “Awe, how cute,” Fayth said in a high pitch voice, making Summer blush and lean her forehead against Chase’s chest. His chest vibrated with a
silent laugh. “Come help clean up, chica.”

  “Do I have to?” Summer whined out, giving Fayth a glare.

  “Yes,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “We need to make sure there is no trace that we were here.”

  “She is right,” Chase said regrettably. “Not that I want to either, but the faster we can get this mess taken care of, the sooner we can get back home.”

  “Oh, you aren’t leaving without me,” Fayth demanded, giving Chase a hard look as she placed her hands on her hips, one jutted out to the side. “I’m not staying here, and you damn well won’t leave me, either.”