Darkness Avenged (Guardians of Eternity) Page 0,67

there?

Her gaze skimmed over the brick walls and the windows that had been boarded over. The floor was cement and the lofted ceiling lined with steel beams.

A warehouse? A closed factory?

Taking a hesitant step forward, she desperately tried to remember what had happened. She’d been traveling through the tunnel with Roke, right? And then they’d come to the end of the tunnel even as her powers were running on empty.

What then? Vaguely she recalled Roke leaving to search the building overhead.

Had he abandoned her? Or had something happened to him? Was he hurt?

Or worse . . . ?

Before the disturbing thoughts could fully form, she was shaking her aching head. No. He’d come back. Yes. That was right. He’d come back and . . .

Her heart slammed painfully against her breastbone. Oh, crap.

He’d come back ready to murder her.

So had he succeeded? Was this her version of hell? An eternity alone in an empty, dusty warehouse?

It could be worse, she decided, heading toward the steel door across the barren room. She could be stuck with an arrogant bully of a vampire who had gone from loathing to downright hatred.

Almost as if the thought of Roke stirred some primitive connection to him, Sally came to a slow halt.

She sensed him. Not just physically, although she would swear she could feel the icy prickles of his power brushing over her skin.

But somewhere deep inside her.

Her mouth went dry as she glanced around the shadowed room. “Hello?” Her voice echoed eerily through the darkness, bouncing off the walls. “Is anyone there?”

There was the faintest swish of sound before a dark shape was falling from the rafters. She instinctively leaped backward as the shadow revealed itself as Roke.

Holy crap.

Had he been hanging up there like a bat?

With a chilling smile, he folded his arms over his chest. He was still wearing the black jeans and leather jacket from earlier, but his dark hair lay as smooth as polished silk framing his stark, disgustingly handsome face.

“Going somewhere, witch?” he mocked, the pale eyes glowing white in the dim light.

“Roke,” she breathed.

“Yes, Roke.” His power bit into her skin like tiny shards of ice. “Your devoted love-slave.”

She winced, rubbing her hands over her arms. “I’m sorry.”

“Not yet, but I promise you’re going to be.”

She believed him. The threat of violence was a tangible force. She shivered, hoping he would at least make her death quick.

“I . . . it wasn’t my fault.”

He curled back his lips to reveal a set of fangs that looked massive to Sally.

And deadly.

And . . . painful. Really, really painful.

“Tell me exactly what you did to me,” he snarled.

“I don’t know.”

He stepped forward, leaning down until they were nose to nose. “Try again.”

“Stop.” She stumbled back, her heart racing with a fear that threatened to consume her. “I can’t think when you’re looming over me like some avenging angel.”

“Angel?” He gave a derisive snort. “That’s a first.”

She held up a pleading hand. “Just back off and I’ll tell whatever you want to know.”

“Fine.” With a glare he took a deliberate step backward, his expression carved in granite. “Talk fast.”

She cleared the lump from her throat, struggling to think through the panic clouding her mind. “Unless it was a part of my nightmare, you already know I’m not entirely human,” she managed to rasp.

“You refused to tell me what blood runs in your veins.”

“Because I truly don’t know.”

The pale, unnerving eyes narrowed. “Convenient.”

“Convenient. Yeah, real convenient.” Her short burst of laughter echoed eerily through the room. “My mother was a witch, and before you ask, yes, she practiced black magic,” she bitterly admitted. She’d devoted a lot of energy to burying the memories of her mother. The last thing she wanted was to dig them up and relive them. “She was, in fact, everything that people fear most in witches. She was vain, selfish, and willing to sacrifice everything for power.”

“A black witch.” He shuddered in disgust.

“Yes,” she hissed, absently rubbing her inner arm. The dang thing still itched. “I knew you would be suitably horrified.”

“And your father?”

“A mystery.”

He growled in warning. “Sally.”

“I’m not done,” she snapped, her terror not enough to halt her burst of anger. Did the damned vampire want her story or not?

“Then finish,” he commanded in icy tones.

Why hadn’t she slugged him in the nose when she had him in her power?

“After decades of making enemies my mother decided she needed to expand her power base,” she said through clenched teeth. “Or at least that’s what she always