Page 24 of Oath of Blood and Joy

I pulled on my restraints, but they wouldn’t budge. I doubled my efforts as I turned my wrists and pulled on my arms, the rope digging deeper and deeper into my flesh. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and rolled down my temples. “I’ll get us out of here, Zoe. I promise. I won’t let anyone buy you.”

Something fluttered in my chest and I thought I saw a shadow quiver underneath her bed.

I wished Enzo would burst through the door like he had last time. But I didn’t even know if he was alive. The last I’d seen him, he had been wounded, dark blood pouring from his chest. How had Maximo wounded Enzo so badly? He wasn’t a supernatural. Marsha must have given him something that hurt vampires, even a vampire over three hundred years old.

A loud click stopped my struggling. Crap, they were back.

But neither Marsha nor Maximo entered the room. Henry did, one of Maximo’s men. He didn’t even look at me, as usual.I was just a burden in his eyes. Something that he had to guard and wasn’t worth a simple hello. His gaze was focused on poor Zoe.

He took off his jacket, revealing his gun holster, and flung it on a velvet chair. Desire flashed in his gray eyes, cold and predatory. A lump of dread clogged my throat as he stared at Zoe. “Maximo said I should sample the goods. I can’t fuck you, bitch, but I can do everything else.”

Zoe shook her head frantically and twisted the restraints, her eyes wide with terror and humiliation. She was a helpless victim sprawled out on the bed for his taking. The pressure built between my eyes as rage and fear churned through me, a violent undertow pulling me toward darkness.

“Stay away from her!”

Henry sat on the bed and slowly pulled up her gown until it was bunched up at her neck. Her breasts were exposed and she had a birth mark on her left one. He ran his hand over it with a sickening possessiveness. “Exquisite.”

Bastard! I pulled on my restraints like a wild woman, wanting to scratch his eyes out, but I couldn’t break free.

He bent over and suckled her breast. Zoe let out a startled sob that cut through me like a knife, ripping me open. Tears streamed down her face as she turned her head away, closing her eyes tight.

“No!” I screamed, thrashing against my restraints with such feral desperation that the chair legs scraped against the floor. I pulled until my shoulders threatened to dislocate, until my skin tore and blood streamed down my wrists, soaking into the rope fibers. I kept fighting even as the pain sharpened, even as my vision spotted with the effort.

But it was pointless. The ropes held firm.

Something fierce and protective rose inside me, a fury so pure it burned away every other thought. The shadows in the corners of the room began to pulse.

A tingling sensation spread from my core to my fingertips as rage and protective fury crystallized inside me. The shadows continued to writhe and dance, responding to the storm of emotions within me. I focused all my will on them.

A hand formed in my mind, massive and powerful, and to my astonishment, the shadows swirled together, forming a giant shadowy fist that pulsated with dark energy. It hovered near the ceiling, solid yet made of darkness itself, my anger and determination giving it form.

“Get him off her,” I commanded. The words seemed to vibrate through the air, echoing with authority that didn’t even sound like me. My eyes burned with intensity as I poured every ounce of protective instinct into the shadow manifestation.

Henry lifted his head, confusion flickering across his face as he sensed the sudden chill in the room. His eyes widened in terror as he caught sight of the massive shadow hand looming above him.

“What the f—” Before he could finish, the shadowy fist plunged downward with frightening speed. It slammed into him with surprising solidity, tearing him away from Zoe and hurling him across the room.

He crashed onto the floor with a crumpled thud, the impact forcing the air from his lungs in a pained whoosh. The gun holster clattered against the hardwood as he lay there stunned, his eyes glazed with shock and fear.

The shadowy hand hovered protectively over Zoe for a moment, then gradually dissolved back into wisps of darkness that retreated to the corners of the room. As my heartbeat slowed, my vision darkened at the edges and a coppery tastefilled my mouth. The exertion of what I’d just done left me dizzy and drained.

But seeing Zoe safe from his touch, even momentarily, was worth whatever toll this power took on me.

The door swung open with a loud bang against the wall.

Maximo burst in, his eyes immediately calculating as they scanned the room. He took in every detail with cold precision—Henry’s crumpled form on the floor groaning in pain, Zoe lying partially naked and trembling on the bed, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, and me, slumped in my chair with blood trickling from my nose onto my already stained shirt.

“Interesting,” he murmured as he stepped over Henry without so much as a glance of concern.

Marsha appeared in the doorway behind him, her crimson lips parting in a triumphant smile as she surveyed the chaos. She laughed—a high, brittle sound that scraped against my ears like broken glass, reminiscent of the witch in Snow White. The sound echoed off the walls, devoid of any genuine mirth.

“See, Maximo?” she purred, circling around me like a predator. “I told you. Her power is all about protection.” She reached out and lifted my chin with one sharp-nailed finger, forcing me to meet her gaze. “All we have to do is make sure she has something to protect to get her to do what we want.”

Her cold, harsh words stole the breath from my lungs. My power—the shadows I was only beginning to understand—wasn’t freedom at all. It was another chain they could use to bind me. Ice spread through my veins as the horrible truth dawned on me: the more I cared about protecting others, the more vulnerable I became to their manipulation.

“No,” I whispered, the word barely audible.

The room seemed to dim around me as despair threatened to extinguish the light I’d always carried inside. How many people would have to get hurt to satisfy their lust to manipulate mypower? How many innocent lives would they threaten just to control me?

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