Page 39 of Cry of Blood and Joy
He took a step closer to Steve. My brother narrowed his eyes and jutted out his chin with the same defiant stance I remembered from his street fighting days.
I knew that look. The look he had when he was going to protect me, no matter the odds, no matter the consequences.
Blood and saliva slid down his chin as he gathered what moisture he could, and then he spit directly onto Ari’s perfect, aristocratic face with all the contempt and fury a brother could muster.
“Fuck you,” he rasped, each word dripping with hatred. “She’ll never do what you want. Joy’s stronger than you’ll ever be, you sick bastard.”
For a heartbeat, the church fell into deadly silence. Ari’s beautiful features went perfectly still, the spit sliding down his cheek like a tear of bravado. Then, with movements so controlled they were more terrifying than any explosion of rage, he reached up and wiped the saliva away with the back of his hand, studying the moisture with the detached interest of a scientist examining a specimen.
“I guess you need a demonstration then, vampire.” His look was absolutely lethal. His tight, toothy smile was like a child about to pull the wings off a butterfly. I glanced between him and Steve, and fear pooled in my gut.
Ari swept his talons through the air in a vicious arc. They carved through Steve’s torn shirt and into the flesh beneath with a sound like fabric tearing, only wetter, more obscene. Four deep, parallel gashes opened across my brother’s chest, crimson blood welling up immediately before something far worse began to happen.
I pulled frantically on my silver bindings, the metal burning deeper into my wrists as I struggled against the magical restraints. Desperate sobs tore from my throat as I tried to call upon the shadows that were my sanctuary, my weapon, my birthright. I reached for that familiar darkness with every fiber of my being again, willing the shadows to rise up and protect my brother, to strike down this monster who dared to hurt the only family I had left.
But it was as if I was a child playing make-believe, grasping at invisible friends that existed only in my imagination. The shadows remained stubbornly absent, deaf to my pleas, leaving me as powerless as any mortal woman watching her brother be tortured.
Bitterness pulsed through me, turning my blood sour. I couldn’t save him, couldn’t even ease his pain. Steve was barely weeks into his vampire existence—still vulnerable, still breakable. What if he got Enzo? An ancient vampire like him could survive endless torture, trapped in an immortal nightmare.
Then black ooze, thick as tar and gleaming with malevolent life, seemed to sink into the wounds like acid eating through metal. The substance moved with purpose, burrowing deeper into Steve’s flesh with tiny tendrils that spread like infection through his vampire system. The acrid scent of burning flesh filled the air—not the clean smell of fire, but something far more nauseating, like acid pouring onto living tissue, like sulfur and rotting meat and the metallic tang of supernatural poison all coiling together.
Steve went rigid against his chains, every muscle locking as the demon blood invaded his system. His back arched impossibly, spine bending like a bow drawn to its breaking point, and then the scream that tore from his throat was unlike anything I’d ever heard from a human or vampire. It was raw, primal, the sound of agony so complete it transcended physical pain and became something that touched the very essence of his soul.
The cry echoed through the desecrated church, bouncing off the moldy walls and broken pews until it seemed like the building itself was screaming. Steve’s hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles went white; veins stood out like cords along his neck as his body fought against torment that was beyond bearing.
“Ah, the sweet symphony of agony...” Ari breathed, his eyes rolling back slightly. It was as if he was experiencing sexual pleasure, a perverse satisfaction that made my stomach turnwith revulsion. I wanted to rip his eyes out, break every single one of his fingers.
He raised one finger and it moved through the air like a maestro conducting a symphony of suffering. “Can you hear how the demon blood sings as it works, little Unseelie? How it finds every nerve ending and sets them ablaze with exquisite pain?”
Sobs tore through me as I watched my brother writhe in supernatural torment. I had to do something to make this stop.
“Please,” I choked out on the word. “Stop. I’ll do whatever you want. Just stop hurting him. Please, I’m begging you.”
Steve panted through gritted teeth. “No, Joy. I can take it. Don’t give in.”
I stared at Ari, my lower lip trembling, hating myself for showing weakness.
Ari bowed slightly. “As you wish, little one.” He sliced Steve’s arm. “But if you lie to me…”
“No,” I screamed. “I won’t. I won’t. Please stop.” I hung my head, my tears splashing onto the floor, not able to look at Ari or Steve.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Enzo
The thought of hell hit me like a sucker punch to the gut, and panic clawed its way up my throat until I thought I might lose it right there in Keir’s fancy car. What Serenity had endured down there—the things that had broken her, twisted her—I’d be damned if I’d let Joy suffer the same fate. A cold, sick feeling washed over me, sending every murderous vampire instinct I had screaming that we were out of time.
“Let me out. Now.” My voice came out flat, deadly calm in the way that made smart people step back and stupid ones reach for weapons.
Keir studied me with those calculating eyes. “You want to go see Joy?”
I stared at the door handle on Nyx’s side of the limousine. “I said let me out. I won’t ask again.” Every threat I’d ever made, every promise I’d kept in blood and violence echoed in those words. This wasn’t a request anymore.
I turned away from the door handle and back at Keir.
“We can take you wherever you want,” Keir glanced briefly at the door handle as if he knew what I was thinking. “I believe we need to form an alliance against?—“
But I wasn’t listening anymore. His words faded into meaningless background noise as violence roared inside me. The limousine lurched to a stop at a red light, and that split second of stillness was all I needed.
