a breath and straightening to my full height. I give the other men a haughty look. A dare to try it again. A man can only be pushed so far and they keep on pushing that same button.
“Where’s my bed?”
I’m pretending to sleep with my arms under my head and eyes closed where I lie on the ground. Apparently a mad bastard like me, a traitor, doesn’t get a bed. I get a square of flooring, but at least I don’t have to make it military neat like the others.
I’ve been here almost a day now and I’m feeling the itch, the one that’s always telling me to kill people, but now it’s telling me to find my mate, so with a sigh I get up and approach the head nephilim, who is sharpening his blade on his bed near the door. All of the ones here are waiting for orders while some are on patrol, some on other duties, and some are out on missions.
I stop near him and he pretends to ignore me, but his eyes flicker up to assess the threat before going back to watch the rhythmic movement of the stone against the metal.
“Give me something to do,” I snap.
He carries on ignoring me, so I narrow my eyes and grab his sword, cutting my hand on it. We both watch the blood mar the steel. “You want to punish me, fine, put me on a shit detail but use me. I’m fucking bored of watching you dicks wank each other off over who’s the furthest up the council’s arse.”
He jumps to his feet, his sword going to my throat as his nostrils flare. Oh, angel boy didn’t like that one bit. But then a strange smile melts onto his face. “You want a job? Fine.” He jerks his head to the left. “Follow me.” He doesn’t take me out the front door, but the one at the end, which opens to reveal stairs that lead down. Without bothering to grab a light he descends the stone steps, and I follow after him, my eyes adjusting to let me see.
It leads down to an underground corridor with cobwebs and old, melted candles on the wall. He strides away from me and I trail after him, taking my time just to piss him off so when he gets to the other end, he has to wait for me, his face crinkling in annoyance.
“Your face might freeze like that if you’re lucky,” I drawl, and with a snarl he turns, yanks open the metal gate behind him, and storms through. Laughing, I follow him and find another set of stairs, which open up into what I’m guessing are the dungeons. That gets my attention, and the thread that pulls me to Dawn seems to be tighter. She’s down here somewhere.
The nephilim stops in a long corridor filled with cells. “Behind you to the left is a janitor cupboard, you are on clean up duty. You can play bitch to the prisoners, make sure they don’t kill themselves and they get fed.” With that he walks away, leaving me here, but it’s the perfect job.
It means I can search for Dawn without being caught. I start straightaway, but over six hours later I realise just how big the dungeons are. The series of corridors make up a maze with thousands of cells. Other than the other poor bastards working down here, I can’t find her. I’m exhausted after all the fighting and healing, so I head back. I’ll get an early start tomorrow and find her.
I spend the next two days on meal and clean up duty, my eyes searching every cell for my mate until on the third day, I find her. I wrench open the cell door, ready to clean up the bodies they ordered me to. It chafes at me, so I’m annoyed when I storm inside only to freeze.
My heart slams in my chest, my eyes wide as hope flows through me. My mind settles instantly, the irritation melting away to something darker, something so much stronger. “Vasculo,” I whisper.
She lifts her head, blinking open her eyes, and when she sees me a smile curves her lips, like she had no doubt I would find her. Those blue depths lock onto me as she gracefully leaps to her feet and struts towards me. My eyes drop to her body, not just to satisfy my lust, but to see if she’s okay. There is blood here