Page 91 of Kiss the Dawn
The chamber beyond is pitch black.
“We’re under the church,” Holly whispers.
“Why are we whispering?” Merry whispers back, and then… “Oh, what is that?”
I’m not sure, but I feel it. The sense of otherness, or impending doom, like a fist squeezing my lungs.
Holly backs up a step. “We can’t go inside there.” Her eyes are wide and dark.
“We don’t have a choice. There is no way out.”
She shakes her head and breathes heavily in and out. “You’re right. Okay. We need light.”
She switches her phone to flashlight to join Merry’s phone flashlight, and they walk forward, but it’s as if the darkness is alive. It eats the light and shows us nothing.
Holly stops, shoulders tense. “It’s a barrier,” she says. “We’re going to have to walk through it.”
“Might be an exit,” Merry says hopefully.
“Or one of those port doors like at Midsommer.” I tuck my sword away and hold out my hands to the two ladies. “We stay connected.”
We link hands and step into the darkness together.
Chapter 33
ORINA
Ezekiel slept like the dead. His pulse was so faint, each beat so far apart, that someone who didn’t know what he was might mistake him for a dead body. His skin was ice cold also, his body in a preternatural stasis that only sunset would wake him from.
I left him and wandered into the kitchen for coffee, only to find we were out of sugar. And bagels too. Today was my last day off before I went back to work, and I wanted to make the most of it.
I wasn’t much of a cook, but I could put together a decent meal when I wanted to, and I wanted to do it for Ezekiel. I tiptoed into the bedroom and grabbed some clothes, then dressed in the sitting room, realized I’dforgotten my phone, and found it dead on the bedside table.
I was usually good about keeping it charged, but Ezekiel was here, and my mind had been on other things. Delicious, distracting things.
Ezekiel had always been attractive to me, even when I’d found him abhorrent for the things he did. But now that I loved him, the attraction, the desire, everything between us was heightened tenfold.
I was insatiable for him and he for me. I ached in places I didn’t know were possible, but it was a sweet ache that begged for more.
I couldn’t wait for him to open his eyes and smile up at me.
I plugged my phone in to charge and popped it back on the bedside table.
“I’ll be right back.” I blew him a kiss and left the apartment, grabbing my coat on the way.
I loved the security on this place. Lifts that required a code to operate, and a sturdy outer door, also accessed via code. I stepped out into the gray dawn and paused.
Would the stores even be open at this hour?
The bakery was two blocks away, and yet the aroma of fresh bread teased my nose. Fresh bread and coffee sounded so good right now.
I took a left and strolled down the empty street. The pizza restaurant was up ahead just after the alley.Ezekiel had decided he loved pepperoni. He’d eaten with abandon, with his hands. I’d wiped sauce from the corner of his mouth, and his golden eyes had darkened and?—
I was yanked into the alley, where gray shadows tried to swallow me. I lashed out, twisting to get away, but something rough and dark fell over my head, and an acrid scent scathed my nostrils.
Darkness.
“Ah,there she is. Wake up, little princess.”
