Page 3 of Blood Vows
“Argh!” I was sure I remembered the way to the kitchen. Maybe I could find that tin of his, the one he’d used to wrap my bandages. There had to be something inside it, maybe painkillers, or anything that could dull the throbbing. I hesitated, wondering what would happen if he found me there.
The thought sent a shiver through me.
Still, pain and thirst were winning over fear. My mouth felt like ash. I needed water, though I didn’t even know if the tap water here was safe. I’d heard there were places where it wasn’t, and this place, with its old pipes and older secrets, didn’t exactly scream trustworthy.
I did remember seeing a large fridge freezer downstairs. Surely, he had bottled water…Surely.
And if not, well, I’d deal with that when I got there. Painkillers first. That was non-negotiable. My head felt like it was splitting open.
Finally, I threw the covers back, the soft fabric whispering against my skin. I walked to the door, my bare feet silent on the Persian rug, and paused with my hand on the handle. The cool metal pressed into my palm, grounding me for a moment.
I drew in a deep breath and turned it, stepping quietly into the corridor beyond.
Venturing into the unknown home of my enemy.
My dreams’ tormentor.
My kidnapper…
My savior.
2
DAMNED TEMPTATION
VASILEIOS
Silence.
That was all that was left once the storm inside me had quietened.
I sat in the chair before the fire, watching the flames twist and claw their way upward, shadows licking the walls like restless ghosts. My hands were still stained, faint traces of her blood hidden in the cracks of my skin, and the scent of it lingered in the air like a memory that refused to die.
I had washed, yet I still felt her on me.
In me.
Her voice. Her fear. The way her heartbeat had raced beneath my touch. All of it echoed, looping through my mind like a curse I had willingly accepted. I had told myself it was necessary, that she was a means to an end, but that lie was beginning to rot.
The darkness within me purred in the quiet, its presence restless and hungry. It was never truly silent, only waiting, whispering thoughts I didn’t want to hear when it came to her. I tried to remind it of the bargain, of the dagger, of the brotherswho would come for her. That she was nothing more than the bait, the key, the weapon we needed, and nothing more.
But then there was another voice, faint but persistent, one I hadn’t heard in centuries. It asked why she had to suffer for my revenge. Why I cared if she breathed. Why I had touched her the way I did, careful, reverent, as though I feared she might break.
Because she had already broken.
And still she had looked at me in those fleeting moments without fear. Whispers of something more in her gaze than distrust or terror.
She was certainly brave; I would give her that.
Why not give her our world…my darkness taunted, for once wanting to feed on something far more precious than power and our greed for it.
“Fuck!”I snarled tossing my glass into the fire in anger and frustration, knowing she was a fucking complication I didn’t need!
Everything I had sacrificed had led to this point, and I couldn’t risk losing it now. Not when I was so close…so fucking close to achieving my revenge.
No, I couldn’t let her get under my skin any more than she already had. Which meant I would have to keep her at a distance.
Yes, that’s what I would do, my darkness be damned. It could howl in its pain and whine in its need for her all it wanted, but for once, I would not listen. I would not let it dominate me.
