by a nasty group of corrupt vampires back home that sank my favorite ship a few months ago.
You plan on sending it all the way to Russia?
Oh damn. This is not good.
What?
How the hell did they get all these barrels down here? When did they do it?
Barrels of?
Gasoline. And there are barrels of some other chemical. I have no idea what it is. No human or team
of humans managed this with so many people living here. We’re dealing with immortals. Make sure you
get everyone away from the house. You might want to clear the block.
You can’t get it out of there?
No. As a whole it’s too damn much for me to safely shift it out of here. I cannot break it up to send it
off in sections because there are hundreds of wires going everywhere. I am serious. They are all over the
place. This is the most insane attempt to build a bomb I have ever seen.
I’ll be heading in your direction. I have to make sure the neighboring homes are searched in case
Brianna is in one of them. Hold on. Carl’s cousin just sent a partial address for the mom. She could not
track down anyone who knew the house number but it is on Kent Avenue.
So is the shelter.
I know. I am sending everyone your way right now.
Keep me posted. And you had better hurry your ass it up. We have hot wires.
Though it would not be fatal Adam knew the explosion would do enough damage to ruin his mood
for the day. Weighing the overall importance of the human female trapped upstairs verses Nikolas’ mate,
he made the decision to leave and search as many of the neighboring homes as possible before the bomb
went off. He did not want the woman to die any more than he wanted her to survive. She was nothing to
him since he did not know her. If not for the possibility of Brianna being in a home close enough to be
destroyed by the bomb he would have done all that he could to save the woman’s life.
The moment he stepped outside it was obvious that Joseph had managed to get word out about the
bomb while they were talking. The bus had left with the residents of the shelter and the authorities had
moved back a good distance. They’d just started to create a barrier with their cars and yellow crime scene
tape. Choosing to start with the house to the left he planned to shift inside, but then a burning sensation in
his eyes, nose and throat caused him to pause. It was quite painful, but it was not as alarming as the
sudden sensation of suffocating that gripped him. Then, confusing the hell out of him since it was
completely unfathomable, he felt panicky.
It only took a few seconds to make sense of what happening. The symptoms belonged to someone
else. He looked up at a window on the third floor of the shelter. The woman he had decided to leave
behind was being suffocated by smoke. Staying merged with her after he left her was not a purposeful act,
but neither was failing to end it. To stop the ordeal so he could get on with his plan to search for Brianna
next door he cut the link. Just as he had expected her emotional distress as well as her physical symptoms
caused by breathing in smoke immediately left him. What he had not anticipated was the colossal surge of
fear that caused the beating of his heart to accelerate to the extent that the crushing pain it generated
brought his hands to his chest.
Before he had a chance to attempt make sense of what was happening rage erupted and devoured the
fear. All at once, without giving it any thought at all, he placed a hedge of protection around the woman
and aggressively took hold of her mind in order to monitor her. Knowing that it was caused by her
awareness of his presence in her mind, he smiled at the sound of her startled gasp. Entering the home, he
began to make his way toward her. Using his mind he made sure she could feel him, the real him not the
civilized gentleman he had pretended to be, getting closer with each step he took. In response her heart
began to race. That’s right. I’m coming for you.
Able to easily monitor her thoughts he knew that she was shocked by the clear sound of his voice in
her head. Since alarming her was his intention he felt no remorse. He continued to listen to her thoughts.
Hearing his cruel voice and feeling the enormous power and darkness of his presence moving purposely
through the house to get to her she began to explore her options. She could stay in the bathroom and face
the monstrous creature that was coming for her or she could open the door and let the fire take her. Either
way she died. It was a matter of figuring out which way was the most merciful death.
The thought of her choosing to burn to death rather than face him did not exactly make him proud of
the way he was treating her, but he refused to feel any amount of guilt over it. She started it. He had
intended to walk away from her. He would have left her to her fate. She stopped him. She made him turn
back around. She stirred and provoked the beast to come to her. She did not have any right to suddenly
decide that she would rather burn to death rather than face him. He made sure she heard his laughter
mocking her. You have one option. The one I have decided to give you. You will face this monstrous
creature.
Some small part of him tried to reason with him to be gentler and kinder with her, but there was no
possible way he could do that even if he wanted to. The woman had let loose the callous predator that he
had fought long and hard to lock away to prevent its merciless darkness from completely overtaking his
soul again. He could never subdue it before he reached her. He did not even want to try. When reasoning
failed, a voice from his past reminded him of the vow he made to end it if this were to ever happen again.
The vow meant nothing to him now. Nothing other than satisfying his wants and needs while he was in
his true state of being. No reminder of what he had once become, or what he had done could ever triumph
over him now.
Her decision and follow through were so instant, that he failed to prevent her from taking hold of the
doorknob and severely burning her hand. Her scream of pain and of realizing that she truly did not have
an option ripped through him as he prevented the door from opening and shoved her away from it. In all
his life he had never felt the intensity of anger burning in him. The stupidity of you entertaining the
thought of choosing to die in a fire rather than come face to face with me was forgivable. Actually doing
it was…it was… the reason he had vowed to end it if this ever happened again.
The facade of having a human like nature that allowed him to live among mortals without drawing
unwanted attention to himself vanished. His true identity, a powerful and ferocious warrior led by the
merciless and savage instincts of a dragon, had risen to the surface to take whatever it wanted. He would
have eradicated anything or anyone unlucky enough to make any attempt to prevent him from reaching
her. He truly had become a monster. There was no excuse for the way he’d purposely frightened her while
knowing that keeping her alive had nothing to do with rescuing her from a terrible death. Whether she
lived or died had not matter to him. He had wanted to know what power she possessed that enabled her
wake him up by making him experience fear as if it were his own. That was all he wanted.
With a wave of his hand he opened the bedroom door. A burst of flames shot out at him and engulfed
him as he walked into the room. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was set ablaze. His gaze fixed on
the bathroom door that she had resorted to using as her last greatest defense against suffering more of his
cruelty. The thought of her deciding that the fierce heat of fire and smoke was a more merciful death than
what he had in store for her made him sick. He’d even make her walk through the house rather than shift,
to quickly end the ordeal. Knowing that he had encouraged her to believe it, made him feel so much
shame that he wished the fire had the ability to devour him.
My behavior has been appalling in too many ways to list them all. Encouraging you to be afraid of
me is an unforgivable offense. I know right now, hearing me in your head, only adds to your fear of me,
but if I show up in there with you I think that would be even more alarming to you. Feeling her anxiety
grow with each second that went by he decided to get it over with. I am going to come in now.
Her body was tightly wedged between the toilet and the tub. Her eyes went wide as he took form a
few feet in front of her. He realized she was holding her burned hand in her other hand. The fact that he
was the only reason she was suffering from it was something he would never forget or forgive himself for
doing. The ability to heal another’s wound had never been an easy task for him. For some it was simple
and for others it was a challenge. He would not be able to ease her pain and heal it unless he could
convince her to allow him to touch her. Why would she? The only kindness he had given to her was the
barrier that kept the air around her cooler and free of smoke.
“Would you like to get out of here?” Moving slowly to avoid her viewing his movement as
aggressive he knelt down in front of her.
Her eyes no longer rounded as if she were in a state of shock or just plain afraid had narrowed and
focused on his as if she were preparing to attack him. He had about two seconds to think of ways to coax
her into trusting him to take her out of the house when he heard and felt the explosion. Placing a
protective hedge around her in record time he managed to lift her up and get her into his arms just as the
floor blew out from beneath them. One thing was certain he was going to have to remove her memories
and replace them with something a little more believable for humans.
Using a cloaking spell to avoid being seen he brought them to the ground just behind the police line.
The moment her feet hit the ground he felt her get ready to run the instant an opportunity presented
itself.
“You won’t have any reason to run. I won’t make any attempt to stop you, but before you go I need
to take a look at your hand.”
Her eyes narrowed a bit as she held his gaze. She appeared to be mulling over his request until her
expression started to ever so slowly change. It was downright obvious that she was pissed off. “Look at
your own hand.”
He held his hands up. “They didn’t get burned.”
The way she glared right into his eyes caused him to feel a bit awe-struck. To be entirely honest he
had to admit that it also scared him. She longed to do some serious bodily harm to him. “Why do you
want to see it?”
“It will be easier to show you than to explain.”
“I’m betting that’s a sentence you say often.”
“Not really. I am usually much more discreet. May I see your hand?”
She held her hand out for him. “Are you trying to convince me that you are a nice person?”
“No. After being so unkind I would like to do one nice thing for you.” He immediately started to
impart healing energy into her hand.
***
Hanna decided she wasn’t going to let him get away thinking he could lie to her. “Cut the crap. I know
why you want to make sure there is no sign of it.”
“Why?”
“You think that wiping my memory clean will be more effective if you get rid of anything that could
trigger a flashback. It saves you from having to go to the trouble of tracking me down later and killing
me.”
“It’s an interesting theory.”
“Not as interesting as the method you use to weigh the importance of one life verses another.”
“It was nothing…”
“I know it was nothing personal. I would never expect a being as awesome and powerful as a demon
to have any reason to care whether a lowly human lives or dies.”
“You know I am a demon?”
“Wow. You aren’t just awesome and powerful. You’re also pretty dang intelligent. I can’t say that’s
a quality very many of you possess.”
“How are you familiar with my kind?”
“How about you ask me after you erase my memory?”
“Why?”
“I was just hoping that once you finished doing it you would leave me alone as long as I pretend it
worked.”
“I can easily take your memory away.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you can.”
“You are not a pleasant person.”
“Luckily your opinion doesn’t matter to me.”
“You don’t appear even the slightest bit intimidated right now. You knew what I was back at the
house. You were so frightened of me that you were willing to burn to death to avoid facing me. What has
changed?”
“When you entered the bathroom and didn’t kill me or torture me until I begged you to kill me, I
knew you were not one of the Evolved.”
“Is it a group?”
“Are you serious?”
“It’s an extremely large group of idiotic demons that are determined to take over the world. If you
are a demon and you are not with them you are considered their greatest enemy. They believe other
demons are the only beings that possess the power and strength to stop them.” She pulled her hand away
from his and turned her back to him. She lifted her shirt and looked over her shoulder to watch him. She
wanted to see his reaction to the barcode tattoo given to her the night of her abduction. “They scan it to
access whatever information they’ve gathered or considered important about me. I suppose it’s also meant
to mark me as their property.”
He tilted his head as he stared down at it. Then, as if to get a better look at it, he crouched all the way
down to his knees. “I don’t like the Evolved.” He was so close that she felt the warmth of his breath on
her lower back.
“You don’t know them.”
“I know they marked you.” She flinched when he touched the tattoo and she was zapped by a burst
of what felt like electricity. “It’s more than a barcode. It contains a tracking spell.”
“That explains how they keep finding me.”
“Would you like me to remove the tattoo and the spell?”
“That’s a no brainer. Of course I do.”
He laughed. “I didn’t want to assume. Making assumptions about a woman is reckless.”
“Very funny. I doubt you ever consider safety before you decide to do anything.” She felt him press
his entire palm against the middle of her back.
“Would you believe I asked out of respect?”
“Nope, not even a tiny bit.” Startled by the heat his hand started to generate, she paused. “I am sure
you hoped to make yourself appear respectful to me.”
“Don’t be troubled. You are going to feel power in the form of
heat coming from my hand. The
temperature will significantly increase before the process is completed. It will reach the point of being
uncomfortable, but it will not hurt you. How do you know I am so awful? You have just met me.”
“I know your gender.” Her muscles went ridged and started to twitch uncontrollably. At first it didn’t
hurt, but then all at once every muscle in her body cramped. The pain was excruciating all over, but the
worst was centered where his palm was pressed to her lower back. She opened her mouth to scream, but
she wasn’t able to make a sound.
He reacted to her distress instantly. “Damn it.” Keeping his hand flat on her back he managed to
stand up, turn her around and wrap his other arm around her to prevent her from falling. “It will be over in
a few seconds. We can’t stop. I wasn’t expecting the spell to be able put up such a fight.”
Keeping her entire body compressed against his as she experienced the strangest sensation of him
reaching into her soul and pulling whatever was attacking her out of her. Just as his hand radiated heat on
her back his entire body pushed it into hers. All at once he released his breath with a hiss as his muscles
bunched and his arms tightened around her and the brunt of her pain disappeared.
She lifted her head to look up at him, but since she was so close she ended up staring at the underside
of his chin. “You forced the pain to leave me and enter you.”
“It’s the best and fastest way to get it done.”
“Stop it. I don’t like it.”
“Too bad. I am not giving it back to you. Besides,” he released her, “we are done.” She took at step
back. “Turn around. I want to have a look.”
She showed her back to him. “Is it gone?”
“Yes. Tell me more about the group.”
She dropped her shirt and faced him. “They believe that they have altered their DNA by pumping
blood from various beings into their systems to make themselves superior. They plan to eradicate any
demon that refuses to evolve with them. My personal belief is that they want to do away with the ones
that refuse because they want to avoid being forced into a war they might not survive. Once they reach a
certain point of evolving they need a constant and readily available supply of human blood to prevent