We had made it about ten feet from the plane when suddenly the witch behind me spoke a short burst of Latin. I was looking back at her to see what the danger was when a puff of smoke made me look down. In horror, I saw the silver bindings on Crispin’s wrists and ankles dissolve. I looked back up at him and he grinned at me in ecstasy before wrapping an arm around my waist and flying straight up into the sky with me in his arms like a sack of potatoes. It happened so fast that looking down, I just had time to see the others darting around in confusion and pointing upward before they receded out of my sight.
“Let go of me,” I shrieked at him, beating at his chest with my fists.
“You’re kidding, right?” he responded. “If I let you go now, you’re dead.”
I looked below me and saw we had to be at least a hundred feet above the ground. I squealed and threw my arms around his neck, clutching him tightly. He laughed and increased his speed, heading toward what looked like a mountain range. I just held on and wondered what would happen next, while cursing myself. Why hadn’t I noticed him enslave the witch? A combination of reasons, I decided. I hadn’t thought she’d be stupid enough to let a vampire meet her eyes if she couldn’t protect herself. I was distracted and worrying about what Crispin had told me and, if I was honest with myself, I was jealous. Dammit. The first time I’d been distracted in years and look what happened. The Three were going to be furious. I shuddered and hoped their anger came down on the witch and not me. Not a generous thought, I know, but I was terrified of their fury and this epic fuck-up was totally not my fault.
We flew into the mountain range and over numerous peaks and valleys as well as several old ruins. After what felt like forever, we turned a corner and flew into a narrow cave. Several twists and turns later, we stopped. It was pitch black and when Crispin put me down I stood stock still, afraid I’d run into something. After a second, a light turned on and I saw we were in what looked like an underground cave done up like a bunker. I saw two heavy-duty flashlights and some other camping supplies—including cans of beans, packs of dried food and bottles of water—sitting on a table in the corner. At least I wouldn’t starve to death. Vampires weren’t particularly good about considering the necessities when they had human captives. There were thick carpets on the floor and a large futon on a frame against the far wall. The light was coming from a camping lantern.
If there was a flashlight, then I was sure I could get out of here. If there was food, then I was sure I could survive in the mountains. I sat down delicately on the futon and Crispin nodded at me approvingly. When he turned away I grabbed one of the heavy flashlights and swung it at his head as quickly as I could. He saw my shadow on the wall at the last second and darted aside with a cry. I just missed him. He snarled at me and with a quick move took my wrist and twisted it, making me drop the flashlight. I kicked him in the knee and he faltered slightly before, cursing, he smacked me hard across the face.
Dazed, I fell backward limply. He scooped me up as I fell and deposited me on the bed. Holding me down with one hand, he dug around in an old chest sitting at the foot of the bed and pulled out several ropes. Quickly and expertly he tied my wrists and ankles before sitting back on his heels and regarding me.
“Sorry about that. I really can’t have you trying to escape right now. I need to think about what to do.” With that, he stood up and started pacing.
I lay there, my head swimming, and watched him. Finally he turned to me.
“Assume that what I have told you is true. Would it be safer to retrieve the Amulet now and try to destroy it, or to run and hide until they forget and then return for it?”
I stared at him. Was he serious? He certainly looked worried. Why would he even consider trying to destroy it if what he was telling me wasn’t true? I thought about his question. If they had found him once, they’d find him again. Assuming what he told me was the truth, destroying it now had the best chance of ensuring his survival. The Three were relentless but if he no longer had what they wanted, they’d be likely to cut their losses and move on. But I kept silent. I couldn’t believe my masters were evil. I just couldn’t.
He frowned down at me as I shut my mouth and stared at him defiantly.
“Should I torture you for information, do you think?” he asked me, his voice deepening as he spoke.
I felt an answering tingle in my belly along with a thrill of apprehension. I looked at him wide eyed and he smiled slowly, his eyes smoldering.
He reached into the chest next to the bed and pulled out a riding crop. He slapped it gently against his palm and I flinched. He reached out and flipped me onto my stomach and I gasped and tensed. He slowly pulled down the zipper of my leather bustier to expose the skin of my back. My pants also zipped in the back, and he pulled them down too, tugging on the leather to work it over my hips and down my ass. He stroked me and I twitched. I couldn’t see what he was doing and I found the anticipation of where he would touch me next was intense. I was just beginning to enjoy his hands on me when the crop came down on my ass. I cried out in surprise and shock. The pain was fleeting and nowhere near as bad as I’d imagined. Crispin slid a hand under my body and found my nipple. He gripped it firmly and I gasped and writhed, pressing my hips into the bed.
“Oh, so you like that after all, do you?” he asked me before flicking the crop down on my back.
He hit me quickly several times in a row and with each impact I shuddered, taken away from myself until all I felt was the marks left by the crop and Crispin’s hand on my nipple. My bonds cut into my wrists and ankles as I squirmed but I barely noticed. Suddenly, Crispin stopped hitting me and leaned down to run his tongue up my back. The feeling of his hot, wet tongue on the tender places he’d just hit was the most amazing sensation. Every nerve felt alive, and warmth rushed through me. I moaned and he laughed.
“Like it?” he murmured.
I groaned something and he laughed again and slid a hand around to my clit. I gasped and sighed as he rubbed it, my pleasure increasing. He removed his hand and I cried out in dismay. He laughed again and shifted over me. I felt the tip of his cock pressing against me and I begged him to take me.
“Get the Amulet now? Or later?” he asked me. “I’ll take you with me. You’ll see. It has to be destroyed. You can try to take it then, if I betray you.”
He moved his swollen member, sliding it away from my entrance and up my cleft to press against my clit. Moving slightly, he ground himself into me as he stroked my tender back. I groaned in frustration and gave up.
“Now! Get it now. They’ll find you again. The only way is to destroy it now.”
There was a momentary pause and then he spoke again. “Thank you.”
With that, he rammed himself into me and I gasped and cried out as he thrust again and again. I couldn’t think, couldn’t reason. My whole world became the feel of him pushing into me, his hand on my back as he held me down. I screamed his name as I came, shuddering, my face pressed into the mattress. He gasped and exhaled loudly, holding himself rigidly above me, and then collapsed on top of me.
When we had recovered enough to be able to move again, he rolled off me to lie on his back.
“If I release you, will you attack me again?”
I thought about it for a bit. If what he said was true, our next stop was to get the Amulet and destroy it. He’d said he’d take me with him. If he didn’t destroy it, I’d have another chance to take it off him and return to the Three. If he was telling the truth, well, then maybe it was best that I knew that. If they had stolen me as a child, if I was their slave, it was best to know. If I aided Crispin now, I was sure I could convince him to help me find out the truth.
“As long as you destroy it, like you say you’re going to, I promise.”
He nodded in acceptance and reached over to untie the knots binding me. I stretched out after he’d done so, still feeling languid and satisfied. Crispin stood smoothly, grabbed a pair of jeans out of the chest and pulled them on before sittin
g on the edge of the bed and looking at me seriously.
“The Amulet is hidden in a valley in the mountains, not too far from here. We should go as soon as it’s light out.”
“No, we need to go now. We’ve waited too long already. The tracker will be after us soon. We need to fly directly there right now.”
He looked at me questioningly before giving a slow nod. I pulled my leathers back on and stood. He joined me and turned around, offering me his back. I climbed on carefully, thinking it had been a long time indeed since I’d had a piggyback ride, and we were off.
Crispin flew as smoothly as he did on the way here and we twisted and turned through the dark tunnels. Suddenly we exited from an opening cut high into a cliff face. I gasped in shock as we flew out and the mountains spread out below me. We swung into a steep dive and I laughed in exhilaration as the wind whipped through my hair and my stomach dropped. He chuckled at my delight and came out of the dive sharply, banking to fly close to the ground. We sped along for about an hour and my limbs were starting to stiffen and ache before he swooped to a halt and entered a small fissure in a cliff face. He put me down carefully and I took a moment to stamp some feeling back into my legs and rub my arms before we headed off.
The terrain was rough and I had to pay careful attention to my footing as we went. The fissure widened as we continued down into it before making our way out into a partially sheltered valley floor. Vegetation grew here and there amid jagged rock spikes that reached into the sky. I looked around me in wonder. It was an amazing place. Crispin smiled at my reaction and picked his way carefully among the rocks, heading toward a small, high ledge cut into a vertical rock face that loomed above the rocky ground. We reached the bottom of the cliff and I stared upward. From below, the small shelf was invisible.
“It’s too fragile for two,” he told me, ruefully.
I looked into his eyes steadily. I thought about reminding him he said he would destroy it but decided not to. He looked back at me and I felt as if he were reading my thoughts for a moment. Without another word, he took off. He landed lightly on the ledge and I saw him bend down to a spot I couldn’t see. I saw his lips move, though I couldn’t hear what he said, and when he straightened again I saw a small wooden box in his hands.
I held my breath and stared up at him. If he returned to me, then I would have to believe him. My whole world would change. If he flew off…well, at least the Three wouldn’t have any cause to think I’d betrayed them. I took a second to pity the little witch and then saw Crispin looking down at me. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. If he was wondering if he could trust me after all.
He stepped off the cliff ledge and plummeted toward me, stopping just before he hit the ground. I exhaled with relief and smiled at him.
“Now, how do we destroy it?” I asked, wanting to get it over and done with before leaving this place.
“It’s as simple as smashing it,” he replied and opened the box.
The Amulet of Kain was stunning. It was a dark-red ruby set in gold and it sparkled and winked in the soft light. I gasped. I hadn’t expected it to be beautiful. Crispin raised it above his head and prepared to smash it on the hard rocks.
Suddenly an arrow blossomed out from his chest and he fell backward. I cried out in horror, but the arrow had missed his heart. He didn’t immediately dissolve into dust. I spun around and saw one of the bodyguards leaning from behind a nearby rock with another loaded arrow already pointed in our direction. I quickly pulled a throwing star out of a concealed pocket in my bustier and whipped it at him. My aim was good and it punched into his chest. He stumbled back. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a movement and I ducked. Another arrow flew, coming within a hairsbreadth of my shoulder. I tucked into a roll and landed sprawled behind one of the rock pillars. I glanced back toward where Crispin had fallen, but he was gone.
I cursed and scanned the area behind me. I didn’t see him. I hoped he’d dragged himself off until he could recover. I hoped he hadn’t been captured. I also didn’t see the Amulet or the wooden box anywhere and I growled in frustration. Concentrating, I could hear a low chanting. I cursed softly to myself. I’d forgotten the witch.
I pulled another star out from my bustier and crept around to my left. An arrow skidded off the rock in front of me and I jerked backward.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” called a mocking voice.
I was surprised the tracker had managed to find us so quickly. The Three must have gotten someone very good. From the pleasure in his voice, I assumed he was also very, very bad. Much like my current situation. I had three enemies out there, one armed with a bow, one with magic and a third more dangerous than the first two put together—and I had a sum total of one throwing star and one possibly dead ally. Not good. Not good at all.
I was contemplating making a break for it to the next pillar when I heard a sort of strangled gurgle and the second bodyguard, minus his head, flew past me. I jerked back in surprise and then smiled. It seemed Crispin had recovered. Sure enough, an instant later he landed next to me.
“Hey, baby,” he told me, cheeks rosily flushed with what I’m sure used to be the bodyguard’s blood. “Just the witch and the tracker left?”
“I think so. Be careful, he’s good.”
“Not to worry,” he told me.
I was about to give that a try when silver chains materialized around his legs and wrists and he toppled to the ground. The witch! Without pausing to think it through, I raced out from behind the rock and toward the direction I’d last heard her voice coming from.
Luck was with me, because I came on her as I rounded another rock. She’d been moving away from her last position and I caught her with a solid right hook before she could do more than jump in surprise. She fell backward and her head slammed off a spiked rock with an audible crack. I winced and leaned forward to check her pulse. Nothing. I sighed and gently closed her eyes. I wouldn’t have killed her if I didn’t have to. Oh well. One more down. Only the tracker left.
A shout to my left made me spin around and I saw Crispin leap into the air to pounce on a shadowy figure. A second later, he jumped back, shaking his head and coughing. A cloud rose up around him and I hissed. I had no idea what it was, but it had Crispin on his knees, hands clutching his throat. If I didn’t do something soon, it would be too late. I lifted the remaining star as the tracker moved toward Crispin, an evil smile twisting the tracker’s features. I took a deep breath and prayed for the best throw of my life, before releasing the missile. The star flew straight and almost on target. Rather than burying itself in his heart, the star bit deep into his shoulder and he staggered backward, momentarily off balance.
Crispin looked up and with a great effort lunged forward and sank his teeth into the tracker’s neck. They fell to the ground and I ran toward them. The tracker’s struggles grew weaker. His movements stopped and Crispin pushed himself back off the tracker to sit limply on the ground. Crispin coughed weakly and turned his head at the sound of my approach.
I sank to the ground next to him and put my arms around him. He hugged me back and then started laughing. I leaned against him, too tired to feel more than a stunned relief. He stroked my back gently and I shivered and pressed against him.
“Come,” he told me, “we have work to do. But first…” He pulled the Amulet of Kain from his pocket and in one swift motion brought it down on the rock. It shattered easily with a flash of light and he grinned. “I should have broken it long ago. Gather the bodies. I’ll be back.”
He took off and I grumbled after him and then began the distasteful work of dragging the bodies into a stack. Just as I was finishing, he returned, arms full of dry wood and brush. He stacked it on the pile and grabbed a couple small twigs. Twirling them so quickly I couldn’t see them, he had a fire started in a moment. The pyre flamed up and I backed away as the heat hit me. Crispin came back toward me and stooped to pick up the biggest ruby shard from the Amulet. He put i
t on the ground and slowly and deliberately crushed it to dust. He gathered the dust and flung it out over the fire, leaving the remaining shards lying on the ground before coming back to me and putting an arm around my waist.
“We’ll leave the rest of it sitting there. I want the Three to find the pieces and know it is pointless to trouble me further. I also want them to think you’re dead. Give me your arm.”
Hesitantly, I held up my arm. He took it in his hand, leaning down to kiss my wrist lightly. A shiver ran through me and I gasped as he bit down. He took a quick sip, smiling up at me with a bloody mouth, and then shook my wrist around over the ground until he’d left a fair amount of blood around us. Satisfied, he licked my wrist and his healing saliva closed the wound in an instant.
We stood there for a moment, watching the fire burn, and then I turned to him uncertainly.
“So…what now? I can’t go back.”
“No, of course not.” He hugged me tightly. “Come. We’ll head out of the mountains. I have a safe house in the jungle. From there, we can make arrangements, charter a plane. When we’re far from here, then we can think about what’s next.”
I hugged him back, just as tightly. Whatever we decided, it looked as if I’d be with Crispin, and for the moment at least, I was happy.
About Ashley Shayne
Ashley was born and raised in Canada. She loves to travel and enjoys photography. She lives happily with her cats and indulges a rather dirty mind with her writing. Ashley is a new author and is very excited to be working with Ellora's Cave.
Ashley welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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