A Deal For a Kiss

Prologue

PROLOGUE

Ivy

I t was black for only a moment. In and out of it I went. Her voice was there; I was surrounded by the strangers on the street. It was plain and normal, and I had nothing to fear. Then there was nothing.

In a single step the chill of fall was gone. The heat licked across my back as if flames were there, but it was vacant of light. Nothing but darkness.

In a blink, the light returned. People moved about me as if nothing had happened. My heart rampaged, desperate to escape, and my scream was caught in the back of my throat.

Had it happened at all? Too paralyzed to move, all I did was breathe, then I was taken again. Back to the darkness, falling this time and landing harshly on the rough carved stone beneath me.

I could see nothing, feel nothing but the unforgiving stone. Hear nothing but the violent beat of my pulse. I thought there was no one and nothing, until I felt him behind me. Turning as quickly as I could served no purpose; there was nothing but blackness surrounding me.

Surely I was somewhere I didn’t belong and then, at once, I was returned. Back to the modern world built on ancient ruins with a history so cursed and intricate not a soul could know of what would plague me. Of him. I thought I was alone in that dark place. But the two deep marks on the back of my hip would prove that to be a lie.

I wasn’t alone in that place...and I’m not alone here either.