by Nina Croft
A shiver ran through her at his words. That so many wanted her dead.
Maybe she should let them have her—offer herself up as a virgin sacrifice. That way, the Council would gain the great victory prophesied at her birth, and she would at least do a little bit of good in the world. How many people got that option?
And the Council were supposed to be the good guys, after all. Out of the two—the Council and the fire-demons—she hated the former just a little bit less. She wanted Sorien defeated so badly it was like a pain at the very core of her being. But she also wanted to see him die. She wouldn’t be around to do that if she was sacrificed.
So it looked like Kael was right. She knew it, but while she was ready to acknowledge that she felt the pull of desire, she wasn’t sure she was ready to allow anybody that intimacy. When she closed her eyes, she could see again the fates of the humans brought here so she could feed. Raped, tortured, and abused by Sorien and his men, their bodies torn apart for their pleasure. Kael must have seen the revulsion reflected in her face, because his voice was harsh when he spoke again.
“Would you rather the prophecy came to pass, that Sorien gains supremacy over the human race for a thousand years?”
The words broke into her thoughts. She stared up at him, not attempting to hide her disdain. What did he know? A warrior? He had probably never faced defeat, despair. This was just one more thing over which she had no control. And he was so arrogant; he no doubt presumed that she would jump at the opportunity to lie with him. Asshole.
No, she did not want Sorien to win. But if she was dead, then that wasn’t going to happen. But would she really prefer to die than to have sex with Kael?
She forced herself to really think about escaping from this place, being reunited with her father, and a tremor of apprehension ran through her. She’d sunk too far to ever belong in the world of light. She’d been weak, given in to the hunger.
What would her father think of the monster she had become?
He’d always told, drilled into her, that a vampire doesn’t have to kill, and that she should never feed on the blood of the unwilling. How could she face him with the blood of so many innocents on her hands? Have him look at her with revulsion? She smoothed her features into blankness.
“I’d rather you killed me.”
***
Pain wrenched through him at her words. She would prefer death to lying with him.
He stared at her and slowly took in the tenseness of her muscles. Strain showed in every line of her body as she held herself rigid. Her posture reminded him of how she had stood before Sorien, how she had taunted him, tempted him to kill her. What had life shown her that she should choose to live? What could she know of love?
The thought brought him up short. Love? His people had always found love within their own kind, and when they had been wiped out by the fire-demons he had put aside all thoughts of ever finding a true mate. Now he looked at Raven and experienced again that curious stirring in his heart. She was meant to be his.
But he owed her. If he’d offered her the protection of the Council all those years ago, rather than a sentence of death, then she might never have been taken by the fire-demons. And, if the life she had led now made her crave the peace of death, could he deny her that? His mind went back to his sister. She had spent a year imprisoned by the fire-demons, and she had begged for death. Could he do less for Raven?
“Do you really want to die?” He had to force the words out.
“I’ve longed for death many times.”
“I won’t kill you.”
She sneered. “Will you rape me instead, then?”
He turned from her, his fists clenched. He had no clue what to do. He’d seen her fear, her pain. But he couldn’t just kill her, couldn’t just put her out of her misery like a damaged dog. His whole being fought against it. Besides, he’d also seen glimpses of what she could be.
He forced himself to concentrate; there was something else here. Raven was a fighter, he’d seen that. She wasn’t afraid of pain. So why was she so willing to die? He took a deep breath and turned back to her.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “Allow me to do what I must. Don’t fight me and afterwards, if you still wish to die, I will see to it that you get your desire.”
She hesitated, and his hands fisted at his side.
“Raven, I promise you, however distasteful you find sharing your body with me, it will cause you no pain.” He took a deep, calming breath. He knew there was something between them, some bond. Instinct told him that what they would have together would be special, magical. He needed the chance to show Raven that, to prove to her that life was worth living. “I have to go,” he said. “But I will return tomorrow before sunset. Think about what I’ve said. The choice will be yours. To live or to die. I don’t think you’re a coward, Raven. But if you wish to prove me wrong, then it’s your right,”
She stared at him her eyes narrowing. “You’re leaving?”
“I have things to arrange. But I’ll be back.”
He could see the doubt in her eyes. The lack of trust, but why should she trust him? Maybe with a little time, she would come to see this was the only way.
He stepped closer, and her muscles tensed with the need to run. He ignored the guilt that twisted his insides into knots and lowered his head and slowly kissed her. She tasted sweet. He’d never kissed a vampire before. For a moment, her lips softened, then tension ran through her and she stiffened and stepped away.
He didn’t try to hold her. Instead, he glanced around the cell, picked up his T-shirt, and willed the change over himself.
***
He was gone.
Just vanished.
A faint glow of light remained, and a tiny blue moth hovered in the center of the room. She watched as it fluttered its wings and then disappeared through the bars in the cell door. She ran across the room, was brought up short by the chains, and stood, staring at the last glimmer of light. Then that too was gone, and she was left in darkness.
Would she ever see him again?
Chapter Five
By the time Kael made it back to the Council’s headquarters in London, there was still an hour until dawn. He drove down into the underground carpark and sat for a moment.
Darius would still be awake, no doubt impatiently waiting for him. Kael wanted to talk to Raven’s father face to face before he met with the rest of the Council. There were important things to decide.
As he approached his office, a tall figure appeared from one of the rooms close by. Lukas. The second-in-command at the Council—the position that had once belonged to Darius.
“Did you find her?”
When they had first received news of Raven’s whereabouts, Lukas had put forward a proposal that they should free her from the fire-demons and then sacrifice her themselves. Gain the victory; defeat the fire-demons once and for all. Kael wouldn’t countenance that course of action—murdering an innocent woman would make them as bad as their enemies. He’d taken a step down that route when Raven’s aunt, the witch, had first brought her to them. And he’d regretted it immediately.
Lukas had appeared to go along with the decision to free her and return her to her father, but Kael didn’t trust him totally. Lukas was fae. He hated the fire-demons, but he was also ambitious. He believed the Council should take a more dominant role in world politics. Kael had an idea that Lukas was splitting the Council’s loyalties, speaking in secret, gaining allies.
For a moment, he considered lying—saying that he hadn’t found her. But he was going to need the help of the Council to make an attack on the fire-demons’ fortress, to provide a distraction that would allow them to free Raven.
“I’ve found her. We’ll meet after I’ve spoken to Darius.”
“Maybe you should keep it from the vampire for the moment.”
“He already knows.” That was why he had risked the text message from Raven’s cell. He wanted Darius to know. Kael had an ide
a Lukas might suggest they keep the knowledge of Raven from him. This way that wasn’t an option.
Lukas’ nostrils flared, a sure sign the fae was not happy. Hard luck. “That was perhaps a little precipitous.”
“Perhaps,” Kael replied. “But he has a right to know.”
Lukas didn’t get the chance to answer, because at that moment Kael’s office door opened and Darius stood there. His black hair was pulled into a ponytail, clearly showing the scar that ran down his right cheek. A souvenir of Sorien’s blade, the night they had taken Raven.
The vampire’s glance flicked between the Kael and Lukas, eyes narrowing. “I thought I heard voices.”
Lukas nodded briefly, then turned to Kael. “I’ll gather the Council.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you in an hour.”
The other man whirled around and strode away.
“Asshole,” Darius muttered.
“Maybe. But we need his help.”
He gestured to his office, then followed Darius inside, shutting the door behind him.
“So you found her?” Darius asked, turning to face him.
Kael nodded, and Darius collapsed back into the chair behind him as though the strength was drained from his limbs. For a minute he sat, his head in his hands, then he slowly straightened. “Tell me.”
“She was where we were told.”
Since Raven had been taken, Darius had searched the world for any sign or word of her whereabouts. Periodically, he would return to the Council to discover if they had any new information. And that was a measure of his desperation—he had once sworn he would have nothing to do with the Council for the rest of eternity.
Then three days ago, Kael had received an anonymous message. The location of the fire-demons’ fortress. And that Raven was imprisoned there. He’d contacted Darius and the vampire had come immediately.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Council had also learned of the message. And Lukas had put forward his proposal to sacrifice Raven themselves.
“How is she?” Darius asked, a tremor in his voice.
“She’s…alive. And basically unharmed.” If you ignored the mental and emotional damage she had clearly suffered. She wanted death rather than freedom. On the journey back, he’d gone over and over what her reasons could be.
Had he expected her to jump at the chance of having sex with him?
If he was honest—yes?
It had seemed such a simple way out of the problem of the Council demanding her death and the fulfillment of the prophecy in their favor. Once she was no longer a virgin, then there would be no point in sacrificing her. And the sooner the better. He didn’t trust Lukas.
But he clearly hadn’t taken into account what Raven had been though in the last few years. And he suspected that she had some major guilt in her mind. Had blamed herself for some of the things she had been forced to do.
He’d seen a flash of shame in her face.
Likely, it wasn’t so much having sex with him she was against—or was that just wishful thinking on his part?—but, rather, she didn’t feel she deserved to be free and maybe she was afraid and ashamed to face the world outside, especially her father.
How could he convince her that she had nothing to be ashamed of?
“What aren’t you telling me?” Darius knew him so well. They’d once been friends. Before that friendship had been torn apart. Kael blamed the witches. As he blamed them for so much else. Though if he was totally honest, so much could have been avoided if only he’d kept his temper that day, had behaved differently. Or if Darius hadn’t stolen the witch in the first place and then gotten her with child. There was blame enough to spread around.
He took a deep breath, trying to decide what to tell the vampire. How much to reveal. There were some things a man should not hear about his daughter. Like his ex-best friend had offered to relieve her of her virginity. But it must have occurred to Darius, even if he had never spoken the words out loud.
“She’s…damaged. She been there for seven years; it would be surprising if it hadn’t affected her. They brought her humans. Forced her to drink. Then killed them in front of her.”
“Jesus.”
“She blames herself for their deaths.”
“I once told her that she should never take the blood of innocents,” Darius murmured. He turned away, pressed his fingers to his scalp.
“She had no choice,” Kael said.
Darius swung around, fury on his face. He snarled, revealing the tip of one sharp white fang, and his eyes bled to crimson. “You think I don’t fucking know that?”
“Control yourself.” Kael could hold his own against the vampire, but it would hardly help things if they came to blows.
Darius breathed slowly, and the rage left his face. “Can we get her out?”
“Yes. If we go in after darkness. We’ll stage an attack as soon as night falls. In the chaos, I’ll free her. Just be ready to get her away. I don’t trust some of the Council.”
“Thank you.”
“We all hold some of the blame for this. I just hope she agrees to come with me. She has no love of the Council.”
Darius moved toward him, rested a hand on his shoulder. “Just do what you have to. Get my daughter out, and we’ll worry about the rest afterward. Death is the only real finality. As long as she’s alive, somehow I’ll make things right.”
Chapter Six
Raven had spent the night and the following day going over the meeting. Maybe it had all been a figment of her imagination.
Did she want that to be true? Did she want Kael Hunter with his offer of freedom to be nothing more than something conjured up from a damaged mind?
And could her father really be alive? All these years believing he was dead. Would her life have been different if she’d known he lived? Would the hope have remained with her longer? Helped her through the long years.
But convinced of his death, she had given up hope a long time ago. Now it scratched at her insides, clawed at her mind. Told her maybe she didn’t have to die. That there could be a future for her.
All she had to do was believe in Kael Hunter.
And let him have sex with her.
Then somehow find a way to live with the guilt and the shame. She couldn’t do it.
Be strong, Raven.
There was that voice again. Another figment of her deranged mind?
Probably.
She got to her feet and paced the few steps her chain would allow her. Then back. Over and over, trying to fight the frustration, until she sank to her knees again.
Would he return? The time dragged even more than usual, the darkness a solid thing. She just wanted it over with now. An end to her existence.
Didn’t she?
She had no idea how long it had been before she sensed a faint movement in the room, and then the light appeared. And there he was.
For long moments she just stared. He was dressed the same as his last visit, though unlike hers, his clothes appeared clean. Had he been back to the Council? Had he seen her father? Her mind filled with questions, but she bit her lip to keep them inside until she tasted the sharp, metallic tang of her own blood.
“Are you here to finish this?” she asked. One way or another.
“No. We’re still waiting for word from the Council that the attacking force is in place. I just wanted to see you again, so you’d know what’s happening.” He took a step closer and held something out to her. “And I brought you a present. From your father.” A small, black box tied with a red ribbon.
“Oh.” Reaching out a hand, she took the box, her fingers fumbling as she pulled at the ribbon. She sat back on her heels, then slowly raised the lid. Inside was a silver locket on a black velvet ribbon. Her eyes pricked as she stared at it for long moments, then picked it up, turned it in her hands. It was circular and engraved with an intricate design. She ran her fingers over the surface, then found the latch at the side, pressed, and it sprang open. Inside was the picture of a wo
man. A stranger.
“Your mother,” Kael said.
“I didn’t know he had a picture. He never showed it to me before…”
“He didn’t. He asked your aunt.”
“My aunt?” Her father had rarely spoken of her mother’s sisters. She knew there had been bad feelings between them.
“He also says to please come back to him. Whatever you’ve done—it’s not your fault, and there is nothing to forgive.”
The words made her chest ache. She wanted to believe them. She just wasn’t sure they were true.
She studied the picture; the woman was beautiful, with blond hair, a pointed chin, and high cheekbones. There was nothing of Raven in there. Except for the eyes, silver and rimmed with black.
“You have her eyes,” Kael murmured.
“Witch’s eyes? That’s what my father always said.” She smiled. “It never sounded like a compliment.”
“No, your father has no reason to love the witches, but he wanted you to have a picture. To show you what she was like.”
“Thank you.”
They were silent for a few minutes. Raven gave the locket a last look and then shoved it in her jeans pocket. She wouldn’t risk wearing it and catching the attention of Sorien’s men. She handed the box back to Kael.
“So have you changed your mind?” he asked.
She knew straightaway to what he was referring. Probably because it was at the forefront of her mind. “About having sex with you?”
He winced a little at her words. She shook her head.
“Why not?” he asked. He took a step closer. “You’ve known only darkness and pain for so long; let me show you a little of the pleasures of life, and afterwards, if you still want to die, then the decision is yours.”
Raven looked at him, tried to imagine what it would be like, his hands on her body, more than just his hands. A queer, unexpected jolt of heat sparked at her core. Could she do it knowing that at the end he would grant her the peace she craved?
