Darkmore Penitentiary (Supernatural Prison for Dark Fae Book 1)

by Caroline Peckham

  “Fuck, it’s been so long since I heard a girl laugh like that,” he groaned.

  “I’m going to get you out of there,” I repeated firmly to drive the message home because it didn’t seem like he was taking in the important parts of this conversation at all.

  “Kiss me,” Sin demanded, his eyes alight with need.

  “Aren’t you going to buy me dinner first?” I teased.

  Sin growled, pushing himself away from the hatch suddenly so that I couldn’t see him anymore. His footsteps pounded across the hard floor of his cell and I tilted my head to try and get a look at what he was doing.

  He strode back and forth a few times, clawing his fingers over his messy hair then dropped to the floor right beneath the hatch with his back pressed to the door.

  I bit down on my lip as I lost sight of him, but the sound of his low voice drew me closer again as I tried to make out what he was saying. But he wasn’t talking; he was singing.

  “Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, the mouse ran up the clock-”

  “What are you doing?” I asked, inching nearer to the hatch as I tried to catch sight of him.

  “The mouse fell down-” Sin slammed his hands against the metal door and it banged loudly, making me flinch in surprise.

  “Sin?” I pressed, stepping right up to the door and wrapping my fingers around the edge of the hatch as I angled my head to try and see him.

  He just kept singing, ignoring me entirely and a low growl sounded in the base of my throat.

  “Sin?”

  He finished his song then fell silent. My heart fluttered nervously as I tried to figure out what the hell he was doing. I’d done my research on him before getting myself locked up in here, but it was hard to get much concrete information on someone who hid in the shadows, slipping from skin to skin and wearing so many masks that it was impossible to say who the real Sin was.

  But my employer had given me a file with a bit of background information on him. Not much. But maybe enough to force a response from him. Because if he didn’t want to answer to his chosen name then I knew another one which belonged to him.

  “Whitney?” I asked, hoping to get a rise out of him.

  A low snarl sounded from his cell and Sin appeared so suddenly that I didn’t have time to leap back before his hand shot out of the hatch and he snatched my throat into his grip.

  I tried to gasp but his hold was tight enough to cut off my air supply and as he glared out at me from within his cage, the only thing I could see in his eyes was the monster who had earned his place in this cell.

  His gaze was cold, hard and full of rage. He had me completely at his mercy and in that moment, I felt certain he was going to kill me.

  “Call me that name again and I’ll crush you into sawdust, kitten. Now tell me who sent you,” I snarled, clutching her delicate throat tighter in my grasp as she clawed at my hand.

  Beautiful as she was, it didn’t matter to me whether I snapped the neck of a swan or a crow. If she was my enemy, her death was already written.

  “Was it Thanos?” I demanded. That fucker had it in for me, but so did a thousand other assholes. “Higgs? Amelie Falls? Godfrey?” Fucking Godfrey. I bet it was him.

  She tried to rasp out something in answer and I was forced to release her. Her eyes flared furiously and that only made her look more tempting to me. Damn, why does she look so hot when she’s dying?

  “Jerome sent me,” she panted. “And he doesn’t want you dead, he wants you free, idiota. Just like I said before you tried to fucking kill me.”

  “Oh get over yourself, kitten. If I’d been trying to kill you, you wouldn’t still be breathing.” I turned my back on her, starting to pace.

  Her words sank into my brain like seeds, sprouting little shoots that set off a bunch of emotions. Excitement, hope, concern, distrust.

  If Jerome had really sent her, then maybe I could believe her. He was the only person in the entire world who I had ever called a friend. A guy who’d gone through the system with me when we were teens. He was like a brother to me. We’d been the unwanted kids of Hollow Rise foster home. Upstanding members of society didn’t take in troublesome boys who were on first name terms with the local cops. They took in the sweet, innocent girls and the gentle boys who offered hugs and smiles in exchange for love.

  I’d never bribed anyone to love me. I had too much pride and too little shits to give. But from those dark years had come one good thing. Jerome and me had formed an unbreakable bond. He’d always been the more likable one of us. The sort of guy who could sell water to a fish. I’d always known he’d go into business, but he just so happened to end up as one of the most powerful mob bosses in our hometown, Iperia. He’d given me work for years, using my particular, ruthless talents to take out his enemies. It suited me perfectly. I could live the lone life I wanted whilst getting paid for being the murderous bastard I was always destined to be.

  So if Jerome was trying to get me out of here, I had to trust his judgement on the calvary he’d sent. But was this girl really capable of breaking me out of the most secure facility in the whole of Solaria? She probably weighed a hundred pounds and looked exactly like my last wet dream. But as much as my dick wanted to get to know her better, that didn’t mean I could trust her. For all I knew, she could actually have been working for one of my enemies. But who would go to that much of a fucking bother to break me out of here just to slit my throat? It was a pretty pointless exercise considering the magnitude of the task at hand.

  I twisted around again, looking through the hatch and she stared in at me evenly. The red finger marks on her neck brought on an ounce of longing in me to lick them away.

  “What makes you good enough to get me out of here? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen monsters in smaller packages than you, though maybe not prettier ones. I’m guessing there’s an inferno of cunning living in those perky tits of yours, so how about you let me in on it?”

  Her fist slammed through the hatch and connected with my nose. I stumbled backwards with a stream of curses pouring from my lips as pain flared up the bone. It wasn’t broken, but a punch like that said she knew how to break a nose. So I guess I’d gotten off lightly.

  “That’s what you get for throttling me,” she hissed and a manic laugh tumbled from my throat.

  Wild, that was what she was. But I was wilder. By name and by nature.

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose, swaggering back toward her as a crooked smile pulled up my lips.

  “Tell me you fuck as rough as you fight,” I purred and her gaze darkened. Oh please stars, let it be true.

  She tip-toed up to stare straight through the hatch; if she had any fear of me she didn’t show it. Which made her an idiot or an equal and my bet was on the latter.

  “I’ve been hired to get you out of here. Any part of my plans that concern you, I’ll tell you about when I’m good and ready. It’s just a courtesy that I’m telling you about them at all right now. So you can either embrace the good fate the stars are delivering you or you can ignore it and I’ll still get you out of here and collect my pay.”

  “Hmmm,” the noise rumbled through my chest. “No, it’s more than money you’re looking for.”

  I could see something in her eyes that mirrored my own soul. A need to be seen. She didn’t just wanna do this for the money, she was doing it for the glory. And oh baby did I know the feeling. I’d killed like an artist, left walls painted red like Picasso, strung my victims up and cut off pieces of them like Van Gogh, drowned a man in a bathtub of coca cola – alright that last one was all me. But the point was, I liked to leave my mark, I wanted people talking about the greatest killer alive. Sin Wilder was a villain who reminded bad Fae to lock their windows and doors before they went to bed. And this pretty little thing wanted her name in flashing lights too.

  “Don’t presume to know what I’m looking for,” she said darkly.

  “I’ll reserve judgement then,” I replied thoughtfully, but I was pretty cer
tain I had her pegged.

  “I’ve got something that can sweeten this for you. We don’t have to be enemies.” She reached down her jumpsuit and my brows lifted in hope as I wondered if I was going to get a boob flash in exchange for my time. She produced something from the stars-knew-where that was arguably better. And I didn’t say that lightly. A sealed white pot with a plastic lid.

  “What’s in that?” I demanded in a low voice, suddenly as serious as a fucking heart attack.

  “Pudding,” she said simply like it didn’t mean anything. But it meant everything. Eveeeeerything.

  “What. Kind. Of. Pudding?” I ground out between my teeth, losing my mind. I lived on dry bread and no butter – not even a lick of it, not even a taste. That pudding was an orgasm in a pot. But only if it was chocolate. By the moon, let it be chocolate.

  “Chocolate,” she supplied and I lunged for it, jamming my whole arm through the hatch.

  She stepped out of reach and I retracted my arm with a noise like a kicked dog.

  “Tease,” I hissed.

  “I’ll give it to you after you tell me one thing,” she said lightly, waving the pot to taunt me.

  “What?” I snarled, wondering if I could Hulk down this door and go after that pudding. But in all honesty, if I got out there, the pudding was going to be second on the list of things I wanted to devour.

  “Why did you get put into isolation? I need a way to get you out of here.”

  I barked a laugh. “Good luck with that, kitten. I gutted a guy good to earn my place in here then some little fucker of a snitch sold me out to the guards.” I turned and spat on the ground behind me, because if I ever found out who that snitch was, their innards were gonna become their outtards faster than a Vampire could take a piss.

  “Hmm.” She tapped the pot against her mouth and my dick twitched longingly. Did she have any idea what she was doing to me right now? “So none of the guards actually saw you do it? No CCTV?”

  “I’m not a fucking idiot, kitten. I don’t kill on camera. I mean, I would if I didn’t get the jail time for it. I could have my own show actually-”

  “You’re getting distracted,” she cut me off and my grin widened.

  “Trust me, my attention is entirely undivided.” I let my gaze roam down her curves and by the time I got back to her face, she was rolling her eyes. Fuck my useless body. If I had access to my Order gifts, she’d be falling at my feet by now.

  “So there was no other evidence that you did it apart from the snitch giving you up?” she asked.

  “Nothing. I hid the weapon like a pro. It’s probably still in my old cell inside the back leg of the bottom bunk. I hollowed it out with nothing but a coin and my own fingernails. By the way, which fucker took my cell? Was it Randal? Fucking Randall…”

  “Well I don’t know what room you had,” she said with an amused smile.

  “It’s easy to remember. Number one,” I said in a purr. “Cell Block A. Top floor, obviously.”

  “So if I can just get the murder weapon and plant it on someone else…” She shrugged innocently but something told me this dandelion wasn’t innocent at all. It was the kind of dandelion which fucked thistles and partied hard with poison ivy.

  “Are you in that cell block?” I asked.

  “No.” She shrugged again and I released a gravelly laugh.

  “Good luck with that mission then, honey pie. You only get in other cell blocks if you transfer. And you only transfer if you appeal to the Warden and the Warden will only-”

  “You’ve got to think outside the box, Sin,” she cut me off again, shifting closer. “But I guess that must be hard for you when you’re locked in the box.” She tapped on the door and I cocked my head, my eyes falling to the pudding.

  “I gave you what you want. Now give me my reward.” I lunged for the pudding again and she gave it up willingly this time.

  I snatched it away, hugging it to my chest, going full Golem on its ass. Mine.

  A sexy smile took hold of Miss Answer-To-All-My-Dreams’ lips and I started to like her a whole lot more. Holy shit, there was one thing I needed more than this cheesecake. One thing I’d cut off a limb for. But my snatchy pudding hands hadn’t bought me much leverage. So I was just going to be a full-on dick about it.

  She moved closer to the hatch to peer in and I straightened, schooling my expression as I tucked the pudding into the pocket of my sweatpants and folded my arms, tensing them up real good. “I’ll agree to cooperate and make this whole thing much easier on you, but only if you give me one thing in return.”

  “What else? I just gave you a pudding!” She frowned and I tapped my mouth.

  “Kiss me, kitten. Set me free for a few seconds with those apple red lips of yours.” My throat thickened as her gaze fell to my mouth and I wished I could use my Order form more than anything right then. What did this pussy cat desire? I’d give her the brand of catnip she needed. But right here I could only be one thing. Myself. And that wasn’t good enough.

  “Promise you’ll cooperate?” she arched a brow, slinking even closer.

  Jupiter must have been in my chart today, because I was one lucky son of a bitch.

  I nodded keenly, pressing my body flat to the door, raising my hands above my head and clawing at the freezing cold iron. I needed body heat and lust and passion. I was going to die if I didn’t get it soon.

  She leaned forward, her eyelashes casting a shadow across her cheeks, her gaze hooded, her breath fluttering over my mouth. She tasted like sugar and hope and her mouth wasn’t even on mine yet. I bet she tasted sinful on the inside. And if she didn’t, I knew one good way to put sin in her.

  I groaned needily, my cock swelling to press against the door and fucking ache when I gave it no room at all, refusing to budge a single inch. I had to have this kiss. To be refused her lips now would be my damnation. I couldn’t think of one thing in that moment I desired more than just my tongue against hers, my stubble grazing her skin raw, the heat of her flesh on mine.

  “Twelve!” Officer Cain’s voice split the air apart and she was yanked away from me by the hair with a yelp.

  “No!” I cried, throwing my arm through the hatch as I tried to reach for her.

  Cain’s baton smashed down across my forearm and I yanked it back with a roar of rage. His snarling face came into view as he reached for the hatch and I lost sight of her.

  “Wait!” I dove forward just as the hatch snapped shut. I slammed my palm on the door again and again, pure fury coursing through my body and seizing me in its grasp. “GIVE HER BACK!”

  Footsteps pounded away from me and panic lit my heart on fire. “Wait – what’s your name?! Tell me your name!”

  “Rosalie Os- ah!” She was cut off as Cain punished her and the sound of the door slamming down the corridor rang through the whole of the isolation block and reverberated through my skull.

  Rosalie Rosalie Rosalie. Os…Osmund? Ostrich? O-Sin-you-make-me-so-wet? Didn’t matter. The first name was all I needed as I rolled it across my tongue, saying it over and over. Then I dropped down to kneel on the floor, taking the pudding from my pocket and placing it in front of me.

  “You little temptation you,” I purred, slowly drawing the lid off of it. And there she stood, in all her glory. Brown chocolate goo coating her fluffy middle all the way down to her milky sweet depths. I dug my teeth into my lower lip as I slid a finger into the pot, dipping it into the chocolate and groaning as the scent of it carried up to me.

  “Will you taste as good as this pudding, Rosalie?” I mused aloud, lifting my finger to my lips. I sucked off the chocolate and moaned lustfully, dropping forward so I peered down into its soul.

  “You were a goner the second you walked in here, pud. Come to daddy.” I dropped over the pot and drove my tongue inside it, devouring it all at once like the greedy bastard I was. Every bite was a miracle, every lick a fucking Divine Moment. I would happily be mated to this pudding for all of time. Except I ate her good. She was gone
before she knew what had happened.

  I rolled onto my back, lifting the pot to my mouth and licking it clean. “Sorry baby, I don’t play nice. R.I.P.” I tossed the pot aside and it clattered against the wall.

  Cain was going to come down on Rosalie like a ton of bricks when he watched the CCTV and realised she’d given me that pudding. I was going to be due a beat down in the morning too because of it. He’d probably get the newbie, Hastings, to shove his finger up my ass to check that nothing had been hidden in that pot.

  Worth.

  It.

  And frankly I needed the Fae on Fae contact. So if Officer Hastings needed to go to town on my ass, then I’d spread ‘em and bend over like a hooker with a pocketful of cash. It wasn’t always pretty being an Incubus, but when you were the most notorious assassin in Solaria, people tended not to judge.

  I stood outside a locked door with Officer Hastings watching me from the opposite side of the corridor with suspicion in his eyes and a frown furrowing his brow.

  Cain was currently reviewing the security footage of my interaction with Sin while I waited to find out my punishment. Although, being dragged from the isolation block by my hair seemed like punishment enough to me, especially with how raw my scalp felt.

  The corridor we were waiting in was cold. In fact this whole damn prison was cold. All the damn time. And with my jumpsuit still soaking wet from the waist down thanks to Officer Dipshit, I was damn near to shivering.

  I cut a glance at Hastings and wondered if my little choir boy might be ready to progress to the next level.

  Only one way to find out…

  I wrapped my arms around my chest and looked down at my feet as my hair fell forward to curtain my face.

  After a few more moments, I let myself shiver. Hell, for authenticity’s sake, I even decided to throw in the hint of a teeth chatter.

  And for the cherry on top of the cake, I raised my fingers to my cheek and swiped at it while inhaling on a sniff that could have most definitely signalled the start of tears.