Chapter 5 #3
Meandering to the cart, he grabbed one of the apples from the bowl of fruit. He bit into it, nodding his head before devouring it. He made a game of me watching and waiting. My patience pulled taut to the point of snapping.
“It would be good for you to consider Kara’s offer,” William said in a tight voice, diplomatically making the suggestion I intended but managing to leave out the coarse language that definitely would have accompanied it if I had spoken. The shadow god was undeserving of my civility.
“I am considering many things,” he said. His eyes flicked in my direction, cold and steely as they homed in on me. “Which are you, Kara, na?ve or arrogant?”
Before I could answer, he grabbed a mango from the basket. “Vampire, you are no longer needed at this meeting.”
My mind tried to make sense of the events that happened in a flash.
Lights burst from sigils surrounding Cirrian as he launched the fruit at William with the speed of a bullet.
William caught it within inches of it smashing into his face.
Before he could react, Cirrian had William by the collar of his shirt. Then they vanished.
While I was grasping the turn of events, Cirrian returned to the spot where he’d grabbed William and was charging in my direction.
His eyes landed on the baton on top of the console.
A baton would be ineffective against him.
Cirrian focusing on the baton gave me the needed distraction.
I exploded in a run toward the console where I stored a 9mm and a collection of knives.
Among them was a Jagdkommando Tri-dagger, a blade of destruction that was about to get its first use.
If I couldn’t get to the drawer, I had a nine iron in the closet.
Liquid quick movements placed Cirrian directly in my path.
Rage for what he’d done to William and my dwindling options to save Amelia propelled me forward.
I drove a left jab toward his jaw. Moving with a blur of precision movement, he blocked the strike with ease.
Cirrian’s iron grip trapped my right fist, making a follow-up strike impossible.
Adrenaline pumped through me, and my eyes flicked to the clock on the wall.
The coven would arrive any moment. What would they find?
My and Amelia’s dead bodies sprawled on the floor?
Cirrian evaded the knee aimed at his groin, but it managed to drive into his thigh instead. He grunted, which seemed to be more from shock than pain. His grip on me remained.
“Stop,” he demanded, his body oddly twisted to prevent me targeting his crotch again.
“Please,” he added softly. His gentle plea caught me off guard. When he let go of me, instinctively I took several steps back.
“Where is William?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t place much thought into where I took him.
I just wanted him gone. It will take some time for him to get his bearings and return.
And we’ll have enough time to chat. Isn’t that what you wanted, Kara?
” I didn’t like the way he said my name.
It landed somewhere between dark amusement and a derisive taunt. “Now it’s just me and you.”
In a few steps Cirrian had eaten up the space between us.
My heart pounded and my mouth was sand dry. I could barely form words. The ease with which he’d breached the containment made it impossible to relax. His quick fluid movements kept me on high alert. If the mango had hit William, it wouldn’t have killed him, but it would have caused immense damage.
“Relax, Kara. If I wanted to hurt you, don’t you think I would have?” he said.
I gave the impression of relaxing but was prepared to zip past him, grab my baton, and do whatever damage I could with the inadequate weapon. At the right angle, I could inflict enough pain to serve as a distraction, allowing me to obtain a better weapon.
“Before we delve into our conversation, you must satisfy my curiosity,” he said, inching closer.
I maintained my position despite how he made me feel.
I refused to give him the satisfaction of my fear.
He leaned forward, putting us eye to eye.
“Tell me, Kara, are you incredibly na?ve or arrogant?” he whispered.
I shoved him back. His solid muscled body made it feel like I was trying to move a boulder.
Retreating, I put some distance between us. Which he quickly removed.
“Move away from me.”
He considered the demand but didn’t move immediately. Responding to my glare with a smirk, he took several slow dramatic steps back. His eyes traveled in the direction of the console, which I’d been discreetly eyeing.
With a bark of laughter, he muttered a command.
The drawer opened and one of the knives pulled from its sheath and soared across the room into his palm.
I angled my body in preparation for another kick to his crotch.
I’d follow it up by jamming the heel of my hand into his throat, and end with a jab into his eyes.
Seconds from my planned attack, his eyes locked with mine. Taking hold of my hand, he placed the knife in it.
“Don’t underestimate me. I’m very efficient with this,” I warned, securing the knife.
His lips furled. “I’m sure you are,” he said, his voice lowering into an inviting and hauntingly deep rasp.
Tilting his head, he bared the vulnerable curve of his neck to me.
The gesture startled me into stillness. His warm hands closed over mine with ease.
His eyes glazed over for a fraction of a second, and I saw something in them that could be considered intrigue.
A cool mist curled around my skin. His expression morphed into cruel delight and there was an ominous twist to his lips as he guided the knife to his neck.
He pressed the blade into his skin; blood welled and trailed down it.
What the fuck. I wasn’t prepared to deal with a masochistic shadow god. How the hell does one prepare for that?
“Do you want to go deeper?” His voice was a husky thread of sound.
When I attempted to move my hand away, his hold tightened. His hard searching eyes probed mine.
“Kara,” he said in a manner that was too gentle and banal for the morbid situation. “You can’t kill me.”
“Does it hurt?” My voice was soft with horror. His jaw had clenched several times as if he was adjusting to the pain.
He nodded. “Pain doesn’t bother me. Over the years, I’ve developed an appreciation for it.”
A masochist and a psycho. Great. Can my day get worse?
“So, which one is it?” he asked in a rough whisper, releasing my hand. “Are you arrogant or na?ve?”
“Desperate.” I shocked myself with the hasty response. It was an honest admission with all my emotions clinging to it.
“Desperate,” he repeated, a dark glint in his eyes and malice seeping into his expression. After giving me a long appraisal, his lips twisted in a mockery of a grin. “I can work with desperate. Before we get into details, will you entertain another question?”
My grip on the knife tightened, and I wasn’t surprised that the cut was quickly meshing, closing the wound. Even the traces of blood were gone.
I nodded.
“This isn’t your first time seeing me, is it?”
I shook my head. “I saw you earlier at Cloak and Dagger.”
A worried expression briefly settled before fading. His cold calculating expression returned, but the hints of unsatisfied curiosity remained.
“What bargains are you willing to make out of your desperation, Kara?”
His gaze dropped to the knife then traveled over my body in a considering look.
“I will not bargain with that,” I spat out. “You’re despicable for even suggesting it.” I was desperate enough to do anything to save my friend. Even that. He’d be aware of how vile and disgusting he was for making the request.
His brows drew together. He scoffed. “Ah, so there is a bit of arrogance. The arrogance is warranted. You are beautiful. But I can assure you that I am not impressed by it, nor have I ever made a decision with a woman’s beauty in mind.
I’m consistently surrounded by gorgeous women, and it is never a temptation for me.
Any invitation to fuck is made by them. I make sure to reward them for the invitation.
Make it my utmost priority to give them pleasure they’re unlikely to forget.
But we aren’t here to discuss how desirable women find me or how well I fuck—”
“Then you could have kept that monologue down to ‘I don’t want your body as the bargain.’”
He leaned forward, placing his lips close to my ear. “Kara, I don’t want your body as the bargain,” he whispered then took several steps back. “But what I do want, my little ashinwa, is your help in exchange for the time needed to save your friend.”
What the hell’s an ashinwa? It better not be another way of him calling me darling. I didn’t particularly like it in English.
His eyes darkened, offering me a glimpse of the person who took magic and souls. Despite appearing to be in his mid-thirties, his magical aura seemed older.
I kept my composure as he presented something that even the kinborn witches couldn’t. Time.
I’d make a bargain with death, to save my friend.
He closed his eyes for a moment. “I need an answer, ashinwa,” he prompted. “She’ll go through inter soon. I suspect by tomorrow, but I can give you three days to save her.”
“Five,” I countered.
He studied me for a long time. “You don’t have a plan to save her?”
“I do. I hope for the best but prepare for the worst. I want safeguards in case the worst happens. What do you want in exchange for the five days?”
He winced at the subject change. It wouldn’t have been so jarring for him if he was aware of the rapid fire of thoughts and plans running through my mind.
“I didn’t agree to five days.”
Then in a flash he was out of sight and moving swiftly up the stairs.