DOFAB#3

Chapter Ten

"You didn't answer my question. Who released you early?" she demands, the clock ticking.

"I'll answer if you tell me why you were researching me in the library?"

"I wanted to make sure you never had the chance to be freed."

Brutal honesty, I'd say ouch if it didn't slightly turn me on how impassioned she said it.

This eevie really doesn't know her Mother Egret is the one who signed my release papers. Why would the hag release me and keep that from her garden? What game are you playing at, egret?

"I'll make you a deal, eevie. You find a way to give me back the sword your kind stole, and I'll spare them from my wrath."

"Why would I make a deal with the deviled beast of hell when you didn't answer my question?"

Smart flower.

"A deal is a deal. Devils can't break them as easily as we lie."

My smile seems to be making Kinley uncomfortable, or it's my closeness.

"I don't know where it is and if I did, I'd never hand it over."

There's that word again—never.

"I'm only going to offer this once. My sword in exchange for all the lives of the flowers Rien has left. I'll build a greenhouse sanctuary for you and your blossom sisters, a paradise free from the monsoon of red I will unleash that will make my imprisonment in the hellmouth seem like sunshine and celestial glitter bombs."

Playing a domesticated wolf doesn't suit me. I'll have to work on that.

"Ninety-Nine years. That's how long I have to figure out how to lock you up. Your bloodshed may have made our ancestors start this new era at year HD 222 instead of HD 1 because of the level of destruction you forged, but long as I'm alive, I will do my part to keep that from happening again."

Cheeks smush beneath my grip. I have no doubt my eyes have gone complete blackout as anger wicks hot into my muscles, begging me to crush this flower with a sharp tongue. She doesn't need to know I have one strike left, but that doesn't mean I can't make her believe I'll end her life all the same.

"You're right about one thing. I am inside you, my blood pumping through your veins. And the quicker I make your heartbeat, the faster you'll ingest me."

"Rien's mercy," she whimpers.

"Rien's not the god whose mercy you should be seeking." The menacing growl of my threat faulters to her warmth and the maddening way she trembles before me yet still has the stem to stand up to me. If this eevie had been born as one of her thorne sisters, she'd be a sight to see on the battlefield.

"Gods don't walk on the earth." Her lashing tone comes to a softer canter, her focus on my mouth but a few inches from hers.

My life force is finally having some effect. The worst side effect of my blood running through her veins is it's removed her fear, leaving me looking down at an eevie whose captivating eyes, curled tresses, and pouty bottom lip are testing my resolve to make it rain something other than blood.

"Are you going to kiss me?" She asks, timid, unsure, and a straight shot to this vampire's loins.

"Do we have a deal?"

Nadora's rules are clear. If I want to stay close to this eevie, control is what it's going to take. A massive amount of I'll-stake-myself-control.

"A deal...I don't know where your sword is." Her eyelashes kiss her skin as she closes her eyes. Her chin tilts up so my breath dances on her feverish lips.