Darkness Captured (15 page)

She didn’t wait for him to attack. She lunged, fangs bared, with a harsh keening cry eerie to her own ears.

Their chests slammed together, their jaws slashed at fur and flesh, until he staggered away and lay on his side, blood spraying from his mouth rhythmically with every breath that rattled from his chest.

The other wolves circled her restlessly, growling ominously.

But she was maddened, filled with bloodlust for the band of brothers. Blood surged throughout her body, aided by a heart beating fiercely with fear and fury.

Then the sounds of other wolves rushing through the forest neared.

She stood above the jerking body of the black male she’d bested, waiting for her own pack as they filled the clearing.

When they’d halted, chests quivering and breathless, she pulled on her humanskin, uncaring for the blood slipping down her legs or for the myriad of slashes to her sides, neck, and flanks. “The one who would have mated with me is dead. I have the right to rule myself.”

One by one, her pack transformed. Her father and mother stared at the carnage around her, at the blood soaking into the leaves and pine needles cushioning the forest floor. At the blood staining her pale skin.

Gabriella held her head high, but her body quivered and she knew she wouldn’t be able to maintain her proud stance much longer.

Her father’s jaw tensed. His eyebrows lowered until dark shadows deepened the sockets. “Do you know what you’ve done? That was Ulfric’s son you murdered.”

“It wasn’t murder,” she said, her voice tightening.

“You’re a breedable female. I sent out the call to the neighboring clans myself. I wanted the best, the strongest of their males to take you.”

“You did this?” her mother said softly. “Without warning me?”

“You’re a woman. My bitch. Keep your opinions to yourself. Don’t you see the damage you’ve already done? You let her think she was as strong as a man, as important. If you’d been a better mother, we wouldn’t have this wolf’s blood on our hands.”

Gabriella stared at her father, at the man who’d seemed proud of her strength and intelligence. But now she realized those qualities had only interested him because they made her more attractive when he’d offered her for mating.

“Take her back to the keep,” her father said without sparing her a glance. “We’ll have to send word to Ulfric and see what will satisfy him for the loss of his son.”

“They will want her blood! Please,” her mother said, grabbing his arm and pleading.

“Perhaps I should offer yours as well,” he said, shaking her off his arm and turning to head back to the keep.

Gabriella stayed frozen until hands gripped her upper arms to pull her after her father. She dug her heels into the dirt, jerked against their firm hold, but to no avail. She couldn’t let them take her. Ulfric would kill her. But only after he took what his son was denied.

Her mother’s gaze locked with hers, and she gave her a single slow nod.

Gabriella sank to the ground, and jerked free of their grips. They bent to pick her up, but she scooted backward, lowering her head to her chest and let the change come over her again.

As a wolf, she lunged at one pack mate, slicing at the muscle at the back of his heels, then whipping toward the other and snapping at his hands, severing two fingers. Both men howled and fell to their knees. Gabriella gave her mother one final glance and raced into the forest, knowing she’d never see her mother or her home again.

From one moment to the next, Gabriella was once again in the desert, but in her woman’s form, her body stretched on burning sand. She lifted her head and tried to will her body to change again so that her thick fur would protect her from the fierce rays. But she was too weak. Too thirsty.

She was going to die here. Still, she’d rather be here than back inside her nightmare. But if that was the best that hell could dish up, then she wondered what all the fuss had been about. So, she’d relived her worst nightmare. She’d survived and prevailed, then and now.

Then another huge, engulfing shadow crept across the sand toward her, and her eyes widened.
God, not again.

The sand beyond the fortress undulated like a lover’s curving back, dunes lifting and falling, swept from side to side by the sighing wind.

Marduk searched the ground beneath him, frantically seeking some sign of her passing, but the wind had obliterated her tracks.

Not until he saw the
lillum,
circling like vultures, did he release a deep, relieved sigh.

He flattened his wings, diving toward the ground beneath them, then pulled back to settle on the ground beside Gabriella.

Three female
lillum
landed opposite Gabriella’s writhing body, folding back their black wings. Aya, the leader of their small flock, stepped forward, her toe touching Gabriella’s buttocks. “Is she precious to you, Master?”

As always, he was careful to hide his interest.
“If I treated her well, do you think she’d flee to the desert to escape me?”
he said, sending the message with his mind.

Her face, as shiny and dark as obsidian, was split by a smile. Long black fangs slid from beneath her upper and lower lips to interlock. “Can we taste?”

“She’s weakened. Why not wait until later, in Irkalla’s chambers?”

“Our queen will likely drain her beyond use for us. It’s been so long since any of us tasted of the living.”

“Aya, take your drink, but only a sip. She must appear tonight, and I have to make her presentable.”

As the
lillum
surrounded her, bending their slender, dark forms over Gabriella, Marduk suppressed his revulsion. Lilith’s children were among the oldest demon hybrids in this realm. Their appetites and minds were primitive and rapacious.

Aya rolled Gabriella to her back. Gabriella’s eyes remained open but unfocused, no doubt still in the thrall of an escalating nightmare. He’d warned her what would happen. Yet, if he touched her now, wakened her from her dream, she’d have another nightmare to add to the one currently gripping her mind.

So he left her in that other world while the three demons bent over her neck and both wrists, their black incisors sinking deeply as they supped. Wings stiffened as their voices seemed to intertwine and become one, in a high, ululating tone that pierced his ears.

“Enough,”
he said softly.

Their disappointed sighs sounded deceptively soft and girlish, but their heads rose, blood drenching their lips. Then they spiraled straight into the air, laughing as they darted toward the fortress.

Marduk studied Gabriella, noting the quivering breaths, her widened eyes. When he pulled her from hell, she’d have little relief once she caught sight of him. Still, this was all part of the lesson she must learn. She might have continued to think of him as just another man—easily led by his desires.

Now, she’d think twice about defying him again. He reached out and touched one taloned claw against her hip.

Gabriella sucked in a deep breath, her eyes blinking as she returned. Her face turned toward him. Then her mouth opened around a long, shrill scream.

She rolled from under his talon, then froze.

He knew she was sunk again in the dark time. He touched her again. “Only when you are with me, when I touch you, are you free of hell.”

She remained rigid beneath him, her face turning to peer at him over her shoulder. “Marduk?”

“I will take you back.”

Her eyes filled slowly, and fat tears rolled down her cheeks. “I can’t stay here. With you. I want to go home.”

“You accepted my invitation.”

“You compelled me to touch that glass.”

“If you hadn’t been ready to leave, ready to be seduced, you would never have succumbed to my lure. Come, you are tired and thirsty. Let me care for you.”

She broke with his gaze and stared ahead of her. “I’m afraid of this place. Of the terrors it holds. I don’t know how to go about making a life for myself.”

“So long as you obey me, you have nothing to fear. I will protect you. Provide for you.”

“I’m afraid of needing you,” she said in a soft, broken voice.

Heady satisfaction filled him. If she feared it, then she was tempted to surrender.
“Climb onto my back, darling, but never let your touch leave my skin.”

She swiped at her tears, leaving streaks of dirt staining her cheeks. Her lips curved downward, but her hand lifted to the top of his leathery claw while he pulled it up to help her rise. She came shakily to her feet, her eyes wide as her gaze swept his dragon form. “I saw your aura before, when I looked into the mirror. I knew what you must be in truth, but … you’re more beautiful than I could have imagined.”

Marduk’s mouth opened, stretching back. He was pleased she wasn’t frightened of him in this form. That she found him “beautiful.”
“Climb onto me. We must head back and prepare for Irkalla’s feast. Another day I will fly with you here if you like.”

Her head lowered, not responding to his suggestion, but she smoothed her hands over his shoulders and stepped on the edge of his wing, which he held rigid until she was seated on his shoulders.

Then he lifted his wings and flapped downward, ignoring her gasp and the way her hands found purchase on the ridged scales at the back of his neck. He lifted into the air, soaring, and turning slowly back toward the fortress.

He felt her lean forward, scanning the ground they flew past and heard more gasps.

Beneath them lay bleached bones of creatures large and small, half buried in the sand that hid, then revealed, them as the wind surged. The desert was a graveyard for demons, and she might have remained among them if he hadn’t found her in time.

As the setting sun burned brightly at the horizon, they rushed toward the fortress walls. He tilted his wings, aligning his body with the narrow street outside his tower door and set down.

She climbed down without encouragement. When she turned back, he was once again in his human form. As naked as she was. Her glance slid over his body, snagging on his growing erection.

Her body reacted to the sight, her posture easing into a feminine stance, with thighs clamped closed and breasts lifted. Her nipples tightened, peaking instantly.

He hid a smile and held out his hand.

She slipped hers inside his and turned toward the door. But she stumbled and stared straight ahead at the people who’d climbed down from their stoops to catch a glimpse of the dragon and his woman.

Her gaze clung to two men in particular, who seemed equally frozen until one of them grabbed the arm of the taller individual and pushed him toward an alleyway.

Marduk wondered at Gabriella’s fascination, but she shook herself, turned to give him a tight smile, and entered his tower without saying a word.

Fierce elation swept through Guntram as Simon hustled him through Ninshubur’s front door. Gabriella was alive and apparently unharmed. Dwelling purposely only on that one fact for the moment, he drew in a deep, relieved breath.

As soon as the door closed behind them, he whirled. “We’ve found her.” He felt like embracing Simon and dancing, so great was his relief. Thankfully, he remembered himself, and the fact he didn’t particularly like the mage, and managed to restrain his joy.

The arrival of the enormous red dragon had sent people into the streets to gape. His skin, covered in bright red scales rimmed in black, glistened in the bright sun. The large wings, cloaked only in a fine reddish brown down, spread so wide they touched the buildings on both sides of the street until they folded inward. His head, as broad as an elephant’s, was long and bluntly shaped, the nostrils large and flaring. The eyes, a deep gold with elliptical pupils, stared unblinking at the crowd that milled before him.

The tail itself was long, tensile and bordered along the end with raised, spiked scales that looked sharp enough to cut a man in two when snapped like a whip, which it did until he settled.

As fearsome as the dragon looked, the sight of the woman, naked and disheveled but riding fearlessly astride the dragon, had caused even more of a stir.

Guntram’s own mouth had gaped for all of a second. When she’d slid to the ground and the dragon shifted into a tall, dark man, his body had tightened in denial. Her trust as she’d placed her hand inside the man’s had been telling.

His stomach had churned, noting the way her expression and demeanor softened toward the demon. He’d wondered if he was already too late to save her.

Only when her gaze had collided with his had he felt relief.

She’d started, her eyes rounding, but before he could signal her, Simon had shoved him toward the door.

“Who was she with?” Guntram asked, his body tightening again, ready for action, ready to pound the man who’d dared touch her into a bloody pulp.

“The Master of the Demons.” Simon turned away.

“But she seemed safe,” Guntram continued. “Is he her captor?”

“I was afraid this would happen again,” Simon said, ripping his filthy robe over his head. “Guntram, his involvement makes this tricky.”

“Why? Who is he?”

“He’s an ally. Of sorts. But if he’s claimed her, if he feels affection for her, he won’t release her easily.”

“An ally?
A demon?
”

Simon hurried through the rough apartment at the front into Ninshubur’s secret room. “His name’s Marduk. Long ago, he was given rule over the demons in the Land of the Dead.”