by Zandria West
I close my eyes and spread my fingers and a moment later there’s a loud crack and a sudden, agonizing pain in my little finger. I cry out but an instant later the pain is gone. He’s taken it from me. I sob from shock.
Grayson releases my arm from the strap then steps back. He gives no sign of what he’s done. His face shows nothing. He acts the part perfectly; if I didn’t sense the burning pain humming through the bond, I’d have no idea that he felt anything at all.
Darian smiles brightly. ‘Right. Good. Let’s continue then, shall we? I’ll try again. Please, Lana, tell me about this lovely necklace you’re wearing. A most interesting design, isn’t it?’
I bite my lip and wipe away the tears that are running down my cheeks. ‘My… my father gave it to me. I think he found it in a temple complex in Bolivia. I don’t know much about it, but he told me to wear it for protection. It… gets warm sometimes when I’m in danger.’
‘Does it? How interesting…’ Darian reaches forward and takes hold of the amulet, stroking it almost tenderly. I tense up. It feels like a violation to see him touching it like that. ‘That’s funny, it’s quite cool now. Not even slightly warm. I would have thought being trapped in an interrogation cell with the demon prison’s chief torturer would give it something to generate heat about...’
Damn – of course it isn’t warm. Because right now, I’m not in any danger. Grayson is protecting me. My heart races. Whatever happens, I can’t give Grayson away.
‘It hasn’t worked properly since I crossed the Barrier,’ I say.
‘Unfortunate for you, then, isn’t it? I’m sure you’ve been in all sorts of danger since you entered our world.’
I don’t say anything.
‘Garenda, for instance, had a good go at you, didn’t she? She was close to the truth. So close. She just failed to take the required leap of intuition.’ He chuckles.
I swallow and still don’t say anything. How does he know all this? And what more does he know? Does he know about Gabriel and Alex and Reuben? A sudden terror grips me. Have they been captured? I wouldn’t put it past my men to come and try and rescue me, and lord knows their schemes haven’t all gone to plan in the short time I’ve known them. If my protectors have been captured, then there really is no hope for any of us…
‘So, they say you’re the Key. Is it true, Lana?’
‘I don’t know,’ I say, keeping my voice as even as I’m able.
He looks me up and down and something in his gaze makes my skin crawl. ‘Some of my colleagues have suggested that we simply kill you and have done with it. The problem is, until we know how the spell works, we don’t know that killing you isn’t exactly what the Great Witch would have wanted us to do. So unfortunately, we’ll have to keep you alive until we’re able to learn more. But I have some… other ideas in mind for you, Lana.’
I swallow the bile that rises in my throat. Okay. They’re not going to kill me. Not yet anyway. But I don’t like the sound of these other ideas of his.
The demon looks at his watch, which is a chunky gold piece, obviously very valuable, probably Swiss. There’s a big neutral zone in Geneva where demons can shop for luxury human goods; my father took me there once when I was young. ‘Well, it’s been lovely meeting you, but I’m afraid our time is up for today. I’m sure we’ll talk again soon. Arfak, can you take her back to her cell?’
I stand on shaky legs and follow the guard back out the door. As I do, I feel a terrible tearing. Each step I take away from Grayson hurts. Each breath without him is harder to take. I cradle my broken hand in my good hand. The finger is weak and unstable, but I don’t feel any pain.
Grayson has taken it from me. Again.
2
ALEX
‘Wake up –’
Something is digging into my ribs. I groan and roll away from the pressure. I open my eyes for a second but then realise that’s a fucking bad idea. The sun is way too bright. I have no idea where I am. My entire body hurts, and my head hurts twice as much as anything else.
‘Alexander. Wake up. There’s no time to waste.’
It’s Gabriel. Of course it fucking is. I roll onto my back and shade my eyes with the back of my hand. Then I remember.
‘I couldn’t reach her in time,’ I say, the guilt a crushing weight on my chest making it hard to breathe.
The past day is a blur. I ran faster than I’ve ever run in my life. I burned up everything I had and more. I got so close, close enough for our minds to touch, and then – she was gone. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t save Lana.
‘You tried,’ Gabriel says, like that means anything.
‘Of course I fucking tried,’ I groan, the pounding of my head all I can focus on for a moment. Then gradually it releases a little. I look around. I’m on the side of the road, under a tree and it’s the middle of the day. Which day, I have no idea. A day without Lana. That’s the only thing I need to know about this day to hate it the way it deserves to be hated.
‘Where’s our wolf?’ I ask, squinting at Gabe.
‘He’ll have changed back by now. I don’t know how far he travelled. But I don’t think he was harmed, or I’d have sensed it through the bond.’
I nod, glad at least of that small mercy. Running outside your territory is always dangerous for a werewolf, though nothing unusual for Reuben since he left the Grey Pack. Running in wolf-form this close to the edge of the city, though – that’s basically suicidal.
‘And Lana?’
Gabriel sighs. ‘I sense nothing. No, not nothing. There’s the faintest connection still. I think there must be some magic surrounding the prison that deadens my ability to reach her through the bond.’
‘But she’s alive?’
‘She’s alive.’
Despair seeps through me like a poison. ‘They know what she is. They know she’s the Key.’
I can’t let myself think about what this means, about what they might be doing to her right this moment. I’ll go crazy if I think about it, and that won’t help anyone.
‘Come, Alex, we must move. We’ll at least see how close to the prison we can get. There may be some way…’
I restrain the bitter laugh that rises at his words. There is no way. I know it. He knows it. The whole fucking world knows it. Once you’re in the demon prison, you don’t get out of the demon prison until they let you out. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a single successful escape. There’ve been attempts, sure, and those who have tried to escape have succeeded in getting themselves executed: publicly, brutally, and with more imaginative flair on the part of their executioners than you’d ever think possible.
I shiver and sit up. All my muscles hurt. My mouth is dry. I’m thirsty. So fucking thirsty. I look across at Gabriel. I can still see the marks on his neck from where he fed me before I ran. As I remember the powerful richness of his blood on my tongue, I feel the sharp rise of hunger within me.
‘Would it be stretching our friendship to ask for a top-up?’ I say, attempting a smile.
Gabriel reaches a hand out and hauls me up to standing. ‘How far do you think you can make it without feeding?’ He’s surprisingly matter-of-fact about my request. He’s actually considering it, I realise.
I limp forward a step or two. ‘I can probably go a day or so, but it won’t be pretty. I burned a lot running...’
‘I’m exhausted, Alex. I tried to use magic to reach Lana, to call on the power of the forest to take her from her captors. It was a difficult and complicated spell and it failed. I’m drained…’
I raise a hand. ‘It’s okay, I understand. Your blood’s for emergency use only.’
As we begin to make our way slowly down the road, I close my eyes, reach with my mind and try to find Lana. Since the bond between us formed there’s always been something – at the very least it’s felt like a fine, silvery thread joining us, allowing energy to flow between us. Now, there’s nothing. Zip. And it fucking breaks me. I keep going for a little while, keep
reaching for her and finding nothing, then I just can’t take another step. I stop and clench my fists and roar to the sky, to the trees, to the whole world. She can’t be gone. She just can’t.
Then I feel Gabriel’s steadying hand on my shoulder. ‘We will get her back,’ he says, his voice low and hard. ‘If it kills us, we will get her back.’
I take a breath and then another. I’m ready to die for her. That’s not a problem. The thing I’m not ready for is having to live even another day without her. I’m not ready to face a single moment knowing that she’s in danger and there’s nothing that I can do to help.
‘Conserve your energy. For her sake. You’re going to need it,’ Gabriel says, watching me closely. I’m sure he knows exactly how I feel. I steady myself. Force my feelings to deaden, my thoughts to slow.
‘Ready?’ he says cautiously, and I nod.
We start walking again.
3
LANA
The worst part of being locked in a small, dark cell for hours and hours and hours is the monotony. The only thing to look at is the tiny square of pale light high in one corner. The only sounds come from the cells around me – it’s the soundtrack to hell, basically. After a while I stop paying attention, and the screams and groans and sobs just fade into the background, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Memories of events from years ago are suddenly so real it’s like I’m living them again. Then, when I try to recall Gabriel, Alex and Reuben’s faces, I can’t. A minute later some awful goddamn advertising jingle that I haven’t even heard in a decade gets stuck in my head. And then I find myself flashing back to the latest session with Grayson and I feel sick with fear and horror.
I’m going to go crazy. If I don’t do something, I’m going to go crazy stuck here in the dark waiting for the next fun instalment of Lana Gets Tortured By Demons.
Some light would really help about now.
I remember how Gabriel made that little bobbing ball of light for us when we were in the tunnel together. There was something so friendly and comforting about it, just the memory makes me smile for a moment. If I can’t have daylight, that’s the light I want. I run my fingers over where I know Gabriel’s Bondmark is – the beautiful crow with wings outstretched, each feather glossy black and distinct. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I think the crow on my arm is growing warmer, a tingling energy building up under my skin. I close my eyes and concentrate. I imagine the little glowing ball of light, I try as hard as I can to visualise it. I wish with all my heart for it to be real. It’s not such a big thing to wish for, is it, in the scheme of things?
When I finally open my eyes, my whole body aches I’ve run a marathon. The room is still dark. I try not to cry, but I can’t help it. I shake with silent sobs and the tears run down my face and into my ears and drip onto my collar bones.
Suddenly, I hear the distant clang of a door opening and closing, then heavy footsteps making their way down the corridor. No, I’m not ready to face them again. My stomach churns with fear. All the hair on my arms rises. I back up against the wall, away from the door, and curl up into the smallest ball I can manage. Like that will make any difference. I hear the rattle of keys. The sound of a key clicking into the lock on my door. I hate feeling like this – powerless, terrified and completely out of control.
There’s a slow creak as the door opens.
A shadowy figure stands in a doorway. It doesn’t look like the last guard who escorted me to the torture room. Whoever it is takes a step into my cell and suddenly the sign on my chest explodes with agony. It’s like a thousand thousand needles are pricking my skin. I gasp from the pain. An instant later I understand.
It’s Grayson. He’s here.
My mouth goes dry and my heart races. He shuts the door behind himself with a heavy clank; a moment later he lights a lamp. Huh. So maybe my magic did work after all? I wanted light and I got light, just not how I expected. He turns the lamp down low, and places a finger over his lips, indicating that I should be silent. I nod.
His face is shadowed by the low light, but from what I can see he’s as shatteringly beautiful and completely expressionless now as he was when he was torturing me. He crosses the room in a few long strides and I take in his impressive height and intimidating physique. The man is built. Arms like steel girders, a chest so broad I’m surprised he even fits through the doorway. I push myself up to standing on shaky legs. I don’t want to meet him cowering in the corner on the floor like a beaten puppy.
We are bound.
‘Lana,’ he whispers urgently. He stands so close to me. I force myself to take a breath just to prove to myself that I can still breathe.
‘We have to get out of here,’ I whisper. ‘The others won’t be far away. They’ll be waiting.’
He shakes his head. ‘Gabriel should never have chosen me. I felt his magic weeks ago and when I saw you, and heard how you’d been captured, I understood what it meant… But there’s no way out of here for either of us. I’m sorry Lana.’
Disappointment is like a sickening kick to my stomach. ‘What do you mean? Isn’t that why you’re here, now, in my cell? To rescue me?’
Then a sound I never imagined I’d hear. He laughs. It’s the bleakest laugh I’ve ever heard.
‘That’s what you thought I came to your cell for? To rescue you? I need you Lana. I’m going crazy, being so close to you and only being able to cause you pain when I want to do so much more…’
Taking a step closer, he places a hand either side of me on the wall. The heat of his body radiates onto my skin. Most of the time he’s so cold he makes me think of ice; but when he’s this close, I melt.
My mind goes blank. He takes a handful of my hair and pulls it roughly enough that tears sting my eyes, then he leans in and bites the exposed length of my neck. Hard.
Fuck.
I think something just exploded inside my head.
He has a hand over my mouth before I let out an involuntary moan.
‘Do. Not. Make. A. Sound…’ he whispers fiercely into my ear. ‘If they find us together like this, they will kill both of us.’
I nod. I’m not just agreeing to be silent. I’m agreeing to anything and everything – whatever he wants, whatever he’s planning to do. I need him, desperately, urgently.
The Binding is so close to completion, the power of the magic almost overwhelming me.
Then his hands are everywhere. Pressing my shoulders against the wall, running down the length of my arms, cupping my breasts and squeezing. He doesn’t kiss me though. I hear the rough rasping of his breath in my ear as he runs his fingertips over the Bondmark on my chest: his sign. The image is of an angel, cold and beautiful, wings outstretched. It reminds me of the stone angel that I sheltered under in the graveyard when I was being chased by the Griearg. I guess his sign is an angel because he’s my protector here. The demons have named him that as a horrible joke, but it’s not far from the truth – whatever he says, Grayson has already saved me. He’s the light in my uttermost darkness. I feel a shiver of electricity spreading over my skin, purring through my blood to be so close to him now. He groans low into my ear and presses himself against me. I’m dwarfed by his height and bulk and frankly intimidated by the size and hardness of what is now pressing insistently through his pants against my stomach.
I run my fingertips over his chest, down the rippling granite of his abs and to his hips.
This is wrong. We’re in a filthy cell. I’m trapped and frightened and desperate. This feels nothing like my connection with any of the others. My first time with Gabriel was gentle and comforting. This is raw and frightening.
And I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything.
What the hell is wrong with me?
He pulls my top off in one easy movement and tosses it onto the ground. The wave of cold air over my skin pebbles my nipples in an instant and increases the intensity of the sparks of energy I feel moving through my body. He strips off my pants with the next move
. I step out of them and kick them away. I’m naked. Last time I was naked with him I was strapped to a torture table and he was about to start work on me. Before I can think about what we’re doing, he’s lifted me up and pinned me against the wall. He’s holding me with one hand and fumbling with his pants with the other. His cock jerks free of the material. I’m dripping wet and out of my mind with desire; more foreplay isn’t really on the list of things I’m wishing for. I need him inside me. Now.
He doesn’t make me wait.
In one smooth movement, he angles himself to find my entrance then lowers me down onto himself. My legs wrap instinctively around his waist. There’s a sudden fierce pressure as he enters me. I stifle a moan by biting his shoulder, sinking my teeth in as hard as I can. In response, he surges into me, filling me so completely I scrabble my fingernails across his back with desperate, incoherent need.
Then he holds me there. For a moment all I feel is this throbbing, glowing, infinite connection between us. I can’t tell where he ends and where I start, and I can’t get close enough; even now, it’s not enough. And then, slowly, he begins to move. Every tiny shift of his cock sends bursts of delicious pain through me. I need him harder, deeper… He drops his head and sucks my breast, then bites my nipple so hard I almost come in an instant. I jerk my head back, banging it against the wall behind me and he starts to move faster. The rhythmic friction deep inside me is the only real thing in the world. Nothing else matters. Not the prison. Not the others. Not my destiny. I move with him, jerking my hips to try to capture him deeper. I’ve never felt so full; no man has ever taken me so completely. I close my eyes, letting the feelings possess me. He’s thrusting harder now, each movement slamming me back against the stone wall. He grasps my buttocks and squeezes them as he sinks into me. I feel a crackling in the air around us like a storm approaching. I taste blood in my mouth. I have no idea whether it’s his or mine.
‘Oh god, Lana, come for me…’ he moans into my ear and my body responds without hesitation. A sudden surge of exquisite pleasure begins in my centre and spreads through my belly and along my spine, finally releasing like a bomb in my brain. There’s nothing I can do in the face of its power. My eyes roll back and I cling to him, whimpering. And then in an instant I sense them – they’re out there somewhere. They’re searching for me even now. I feel the thread of connection restored, glowing and humming. Gabriel. Alex. Reuben. And Grayson joins that web, though what connects us is not the silvery light that I feel with the others, it’s something dark and heavy and dangerous. But it’s there. It’s real.
