Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,83

sure how long I had stayed idle in the parking lot behind Temple, staring out the windshield in a daze, but by the time I put the car in drive, the late fall sun had already disappeared below the cloudy horizon.

Unfortunately for me, my semi-catatonic daze had done nothing to unscramble my mess of thoughts or push me forward on the whole processing front. I was just as shocked and disturbed as when I’d left the meeting.

How could William even ask something like this of me? He couldn’t actually think that I would agree to sign up for this insanity, could he? I didn’t even want to be involved in the whole Lucifer’s-baby-killing mission in the first place, and I certainly wasn’t more inclined to do it while being anointed as the Fourth Horseman. Horsewoman? Whatever.

Oncoming headlights flashed through my car sporadically as I made my way up the winding hills. What did becoming the Fourth Horseperson even entail, anyway? Would I be bound to the other three? Would I lose my soul? Would I regain my autonomy once the mission was completed? In my rush to get as far away from William and the trio as possible, I’d failed to ask him any of these important questions.

And what exactly was the mission here in the first place? It was clear Nikki wasn’t going to terminate her pregnancy willingly, so was the end-goal to do it for her?

The thought alone sickened me.

High-beam headlights flooded into my rearview mirror, distracting me as the speeding car quickly caught up to me and then tailed me for a beat.

What an asshole, I thought, irritated as hell as I watched the car close in on my bumper before swerving to the left to pass me. Throwing my middle finger up, I tried to catch a look at the driver as he flew by me, but the dark car and blacked out windows moved like an inky blur on the lightless road.

Suddenly, red brake lights spilled into my cabin as the asshole in front of me came to a dead stop. Slamming on the breaks, my tires screeched as I veered the steering wheel to the right to avoid smashing into the back of his car.

My own car jolted to a stop inches away from his rear-end bumper, giving me a serious case of whiplash and road rage.

This was the wrong fucking day, and the wrong girl to mess with.

Throwing the car in park, I flung my driver side door open and climbed out, ready to tear the maniac who’d just ran me off the side of the road a new one.

With my jaw clamped down hard, I glanced up at the car in front of me to get a good look at it, wanting to make a mental note of the information in case the moron decided to drive away. My lungs immediately locked, and my body froze mid-step as I gaped at the familiar make and model in horror.

The black Audi’s driver side door popped open as Dominic stepped out of the seat and then turned to face me, his dark eyes as cold and boundless as an undiscovered cave. Without so much as a smile or even a warning scowl, he kicked off the ground and bolted straight for me.

Panic fired through my blood and I launched myself back into my car, slamming the door shut as I struggled to pull air into lungs. Whirling thoughts muddled my brain as I threw the car in drive and slammed on the gas pedal, finding myself horrified when nothing happened. My eyes snapped to the dashboard, frantically searching for the problem only to realize that in my rush to get away, I had accidently put the car in neutral.

It was a mistake I knew I was going to pay for in blood aplenty.

Bile crept up the back of my throat as Dominic threw my driver side door open and yanked me out of the car and into his arms. My feet dangled weightlessly above the paved road as he locked my arms to my side and hauled me around the back of my car, past the shoulder lane and into the shadowed woodlands that lined the winding road.

It felt like forever before I even found my voice again.

“Get your hands off me!” I screamed, bucking and kicking against his vice-like hold as he raced deeper into the woods.

“What’s the matter, angel? Aren’t you happy to see me?” he asked, his honeyed drawl punctuated by