Sin of Fury (10 page)

Talon’s eyes darkened as he forced the
shadows to cover him, wanting any source of light to vanish. By
just being there, the woman was in danger. Not only from Auro — but
from him as well.

He wrapped his hand around his arm,
chest tight as a sense of familiarity came over him. The form lay
still, curled defensively. She hadn’t moved since she had been
thrown in, something for which Talon was grateful.

His body tensed. The woman
stirred.

It felt like forever since
Talon had been in the presence of a woman, had even looked at one
from a distance. Not many people walked by, wary of the foreboding
mansion, and even if they
did
, none paid him or the prison any
heed. The forest around them was Auro’s fence, his grand force of
protection. Crows were his daily visitors, squawking at his treats
of food.

He was disgusted.

The small form lay silently on the
ground before him, only moving in jerky movements. Soon enough, he
realized that she was shivering. She made no sound, made no move to
look at him. For a millennium, he felt as if she didn’t know he was
there.

Talon was perfectly fine with
that.

She knew he was there, could actually
feel his gaze on her back. Although the lighting was dim, Jamie
knew he could not see anything of her but her hair. She refused to
move, refused to equate herself with him. Already she loathed the
supposed “monster”, had no wish to “copulate” with him, as Auro had
informed her.

The act of sex had become repugnant to
her, as disgusting as the men above, and the one she was trapped
with. What was supposed to be a beautiful coupling of two people
had turned into a horrific act that made her cringe every time
Chris had entered the room.

A ray of light beamed from the small
window, bright enough to give her a sense of her surroundings, but
not bright enough to show her the face of the man that lay in the
shadows. She curled tighter, shudders wracking her body. She could
have gasped at how cold she was, but clenched her teeth hard enough
that their chattering stopped.

If I ever see them
again...
Jamie’s hands curled into fists.
If she was ever given the chance, she was going to kill them.
Forget that she hated violence, what they had forced her into, what
they
were
, was
enough to make her want to rip them apart.

Jamie knew she should be
more worried about them being otherworldly, not human in any way.
But something inside her, from the day she had been old enough to
write and read, had shouted at her that there was something more to
the world. Something that she had been missing, something that
was
waiting
for
her. Whatever it was, she guessed that her father had hated her and
her mother solely for that reason.

Ages ago, when she had been in fifth
grade, feeling all big and tough, Jamie had been taken by her
mother. It had been an adventure, her mother had whispered
fearfully, picking her up that day from the school. Teachers had
let her mother rush her out. Jamie had been following behind
quickly, scared of her mother’s tears. Something similar had only
happened one other time. The third time...had been the
last.

The events after that would
always be in her mind. Would always set her against her father. And
would always make her believe that there were things
other
than humans. As a
child, she had figured that everyone knew, that this could happen
to anyone. Until she had seen something that had changed her life
forever.

She remembered with regret, knowing
that the innocence of her childhood had been stripped from her that
day. Chris...Chris had been an outlet, the one thing in her life
besides her mother that she had believed she could rely
on.

A sound, something close to a whimper,
escaped her throat. She flung a stiff hand over her mouth, averting
her mind from thoughts of the past. She had found ways to suppress
them, and didn’t plan on recalling them any time soon.

The stir of air. A sound of rustling.
Jamie jerked, scrambling to the other side of the room. She was
just pressing herself against the wall, closer to the door than she
would like to be, when she felt something sticky under her
fingers...

She lifted her hand slowly, eyes
widening in horror as she realized what it was... Jamie screamed,
trying to wipe the blood on anything but herself. The harsh sound
echoed through the room, and didn’t end for several minutes. She
panted, drawing her knees to her chest, back carefully away from
the wall.

Jamie heard a groan come from the
corner, and then, in the dim light, saw large arms move, lifting.
She swallowed largely. Was he going to attack her, as Auro had said
he would? Was he going to force himself on her, beat her, use her
for his pleasures? Bile rose in her throat.

Another scream came quickly as the
figure rose to its feet. The keening pitch bounced along the walls,
had his giant form flinching. The sound of a snarl mixed with her
scream.

Talon almost lashed out at the crying
female. Did she even realize the tears trailing down her cheeks? A
breath of air left his chest as the screams faded, replaced by the
scrape of a plate is it formed before him. He bent down, directly
into the light, letting the woman take her fill. He knew that scars
covered his form, blood smeared his back, chest and arms. Knew that
the gashes were sickening, repulsive, terrifying for a weak female
like she was. Instead of the scream he expected, when he took the
plate into his hand, there was nothing but a soft gasp. The sobs
cut off.

The smell of her salty tears in the
air almost had him throwing the plate at her. The familiar smell,
the soft scent of the weak woman, sent his mind whirling. Just
because of that, he hated her. He hated her because she was ruining
everything, because she was a pawn for Auro. Did the man honestly
expect a woman like her to accept a bastard like Talon, with blood
and wounds covering every part of his body?

He hadn’t had a bath in what seemed
like years, only a small damp rag to wash up every week or so. He
smelled as bad as the room did, and probably worse. How had she not
noticed?

He looked at her through
hooded eyes. The light was not bright enough to show him the
repulsion he was sure she felt. Her legs were drawn to her chest,
and he could make out the faint outline of her arms wrapped around
them. Folds and layers of delicate, flowing cloth spilled into the
one spot of light. Talon’s lip curled.
Twisted bastards
.

Talon straightened his
shoulders, turning his back on her. The view that she got had
another gasp coming from behind him. Against his will, the
terrified sound had his lips tightening, hating Auro and Lyne for
sending her in here, hating
her
for even being there, involved with
them.

The plate was cool in his hand, the
sliver of steak once again caked with dried blood. He looked at it
fleetingly, and almost gagged when he saw that it was moving.
Shoving the bile down and replacing it with anger, he threw the
plate out of the window.

There was a tense silence. Besides the
gathering flock of crows, there was no sound, not even a hitch of
breath or a startled gasp. Talon barely spared her a glance before
falling back against the wall, large frame trembling. He was
furious. The small amount of exertion seemed to make him weaker
than a beating from Auro.

His body was aflame with pain. The
torture session with Auro and Lyne the night before had taken a lot
out of him. He was so close to just breaking down. Talon would try
to move, his arm would throb and he would start trembling. He would
start to gag, and his diaphragm would go into a spasmodic jerk
session. Talon would try to wrap his arms around himself, and his
shoulder would scream with fire hot pain. The sensation would
travel all through him before finally settling in the pit of his
stomach.

He wasn’t weak enough that he would
give the bastards the pleasure of vomiting. One of Lyne’s favorite
past times was to watch him struggle to hold his stomach. The first
time he had lost it... Talon shuddered, drawing his legs up to his
chest. The fact that the female had a clear view of his family
jewels didn’t bother him. He sneered into his arm, hoping it would
serve to frighten her.

A faint sound drew his eyes to her.
She was moving. The rustle of the clothes emitted a soft scent,
precious as spring air and as sacramental as a woman’s body. A
second later it was not just the movement of cloth, but the
movement of the woman of herself.

He turned his head sharply from her, a
snarl ripping from his chest. Her hand paused as it breached the
edge of the light. A curl of silky black hair spilled into the ray.
His hand clenched.

Jamie stared at the figure, hidden so
mysteriously in the darkness of the room. His large form was curled
defensively, his face turned away from her. Her heart thumped in
her chest, the image of all the blood that had covered him coming
back to her. Her eyes filled with tears as the animalistic sound
faded from the room. Pushing her fear aside, Jamie moved until she
was in the only spot of light.

Fear kept her from touching
him, from going to him. It was everything she could do to even get
that close. The things that the twins, Masters Auro and Lyne, had
told her made her trepiditious, wary to go near him. The whole time
that she had been thinking he would attack her, rape her and take
advantage of her, it had been the complete opposite. They had
commanded her to see to the beasts needs, believing that she would
actually listen. At the time, she had been thinking
nervously,
How cruelly perverted could you
get
? But she had also believed what they
said to her. The minute she stepped into the room, she had thought
they were right.

Her throat convulsed as it struggled
to swallow, nervousness making her queasy. Her hands were numb,
clenched tight in her lap. The penetrating gaze of the man in front
of her almost had her vomiting all over again. Was he like Auro and
Lyne? she asked herself, feeling bile rise in her throat at the
thought.

No, he couldn’t be, or he
wouldn’t be here. They would not have put someone of their like in
a cage as they had done with him. What did they want from him,
from
her
? She
shouldn’t be here, she thought, her panic rising. She should be
with her mother, with her family, being welcomed and
loved.

A sob chocked her throat. The man in
front of her moved, and she paled, flinching back. Was he going to
attack her now? she thought as fear rose inside of her.

She waited for the hit, for
the tear of her dress. There was none. Instead, he turned his back
on her and pressed his face into the stone corner that was probably
infested. Despite her fear, her heart went out to him. How long had
he been there? What had he done to deserve this? Millions of
questions were racing through her mind all at once. The most
frightening one of all was,
How long till
I’m free?

It was an eternity till he heard her
voice. He refused to acknowledge her, had been forcing restraint on
himself. His body was hard, the presence of a woman after so long
affecting him in ways that angered him. It was only because she was
a woman, he told himself, lips tightening as her question rang
softly in his ears. Any woman would have done, this one was no
different.

“
What did you
do?”

It was a question that he asked
himself every day, every second. Hearing it on her lips, feeling
her body move closer to his by the stir of air, was unsettling. He
stayed quiet, dropping his head. His stooped shoulders ached, but
it was helpless. If he tried to move, he would start trembling. Not
with weakness, but with rage.

Her question went unanswered. He could
hear her clear her throat uneasily, could feel the nervousness
radiating off of her in waves.

She coughed, the action itself a sign
of how timorous she was. “Can you talk?” It was a weak question,
whispered.

Talon stayed still, letting the
sweetness of her voice absorb. It was soft, almost like flower
petals. Gentle, caring. Despite her fear, her terror, her sympathy
shown brighter than the sun in the dark room, in his heart. He
almost groaned with actual pain at the sound, hating himself for
wanting to talk to her, just to hear her sweet melodic
voice.

His shoulders tensed. Talon
shoved the notion from his very mind. Auro and Lyne must have used
this seductress specifically.
How had they
known he would respond to her?
he thought
with anger, a growl bursting from his chest.

The frightened gasp of the woman
brought him pleasure as nothing had before. Everything that was
happening now was because of Auro. It was not natural attraction
that drew her to him, but an evil force that was bent on killing
him, destroying him. As much as he loathed himself for it, he
craved the warmth that she could have brought him, had it not been
Auro’s doing that she was there.

The growl built, until it was almost a
roar. Jamie flinched back, scrambling into the shadows of the room,
away from him. The door was right next to her, so surely the men
were on the other side. Jamie whimpered, rising to her feet. She
flung herself against the door, pounding. “Let me out! Please!” she
screamed, hitting the door with stiff hands. Her shout went
unanswered, her cries for help unheeded. Jamie sobbed, the heart
wrenching sounds echoing through the room, loud enough that she
couldn’t hear anything from behind her.