by Adria Wade
I slammed my fist on the table, and his eyes widened slightly in surprise. “You had sex with me twice. You fed off my strength… no, let me rephrase that; you were sucking pieces of my soul out of me, and you knew that could kill me.”
“Eventually, it would, but you’re not dead, are you?”
“How could you say that so casually as if you weren’t jeopardizing my life by doing that?”
He shook his head and mumbled something under his breath before sighing and leaning forward to rest his arms on the table. “The first time I visited you was the very first night I met you, and I didn’t really know you, so there wasn’t an attachment. I was curious, though. I wanted to see if you were...” He paused, daring not to say what I thought he wanted to say.
“Good in the sack?”
He nodded, regret pouring into his eyes before he looked away, still nibbling on his bottom lip.
My heart twisted with hurt, and I casted my eyes down. He didn’t think that highly of me at first.
“Well, how was I?”
He placed his hand on mine, and my eyes instantly shot up to meet his gaze. His eyes burned with passion and sincerity. “You were one of the best.”
I had to look away. I took in a breath and tried so hard to break the effect he had on me. Though he wasn’t using his allure, it all came naturally.
“You’re not using your powers on me?”
“I will if you want me to.”
“I’m really confused by you. You save me numerous times. You earn my trust. You made me fall for you. It was all a part of your masterplan to seduce me and claim my soul, only I’ve been told that I should be dead by now.”
He nodded. “You should be. I visited you plenty of times.”
“But you didn’t sleep with me all those times. I’m not convinced that that was your ultimate goal. There is something funny going on with you.”
“Well, what do you want me to say? I’m dealing with a lot right now.”
I glared at him. “That’s not a good enough answer.”
He ran his hand down his face, frustration brewing within. “I didn’t sleep with you all those times, because I realized that I was actually starting to love you. I didn’t think I was going to like you as much as I did, though. It changed things, Paige, and now I’m completely stuck. When you told me you wanted to be friends, I wanted one last night with you. I regretted it afterward, because I knew after I was done, you would suffer, and that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t mean you any harm.”
I searched his eyes, looking for any traces of deceit, yet I found none. Still, how could I take him for his word?
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?”
“That’s the funny thing about broken trust; you’re not sure if what I’m saying is actually true. You really don’t know how lucky you are.”
My brows furrowed. “How am I lucky?”
“I never opened up to the others like I do you. I don’t tell them anything. They were always under my allure so that they wouldn’t ask questions. I made sure that I stayed a mystery to them, and it was for a damn good reason, too.”
“What did you mean when you said ‘there is light to every darkness’?”
“I am filled with light, yet consumed with the curse of darkness. I am good, but I have a side to me that isn’t so pleasant, and you always seem to bring out the good. You make me feel things that an incubus shouldn’t feel, doesn’t want to feel, even. You made me love you. Even if you did choose me over Eli, we could never be, or it just wouldn’t be the type of relationship you would want.” He exhaled, then went on. “I can’t have love, and I can’t give love, because it would kill you. I am the taker of souls.”
A sad, tortured look crossed his face. I placed my hand over his. I felt sorry for him, even after the suffering I had to endure because of him. Silas was a monster, who, like no one of his kind, had a heart. He needed to be loved, therefore, he felt tortured with what he could never have with any woman. He was cursed, forever trapped in a body that would only ever be destructive to the woman he desired.
“I’m sorry it has to be this way.”
He scowled down at the table, letting out a sharp breath before speaking. “I’m sorry, too, for everything that happened…and everything that is about to happen.”
I took my hand back, and my muscles tensed as his words made my stomach turn. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He wouldn’t look at me.
I stood. “Silas!”
“I know you brought Eli. You shouldn’t have.”
He tricked me. He wanted me here so that he could hurt Eli. I realized then that Eli was supposed to be listening in. He should’ve came running in after hearing Silas, yet he didn’t. My heart slammed against my chest as panic took over. I turned to run out of the café when Silas gripped my wrist.
“No; stay with me. I can protect you if you just listen.”
I twisted my hand and tried to break free of his hold, and the witch’s ladder that I had tucked safely in my hand slipped from my hold and fell on the table.
Silas grabbed it. “It only works if I want to cause harm to you. I told you I didn’t.”
“Silas, let go of me,” I said through clenched teeth.
I had to get to Eli. I smacked him in the face, feeling the sting on my palm. Even though my slap did nothing to hurt him, he let go of me from the shock of my sudden assault. I ran out of the café and found that Eli was gone. He was supposed to be right at the beginning of the ally across the street, listening in.
I ran across the street to the ally, coming to a stop as my heart slammed into my gut and the sight of Eli lying on the ground bleeding from his head, took my breath away. I kneeled on the ground and pressed my hand to the back of his head where his wound was. My tears fell on his cheek as he stirred and groaned. Relief washed over me. He was alive.
“Eli,” I choked out.
I gasped as a shooting, crippling pain suddenly spread throughout the back of my head, and as the darkness overtook my eyesight, I fell forward.
Chapter Twenty-One
I groaned and held my throbbing head as I sat up and opened my eyes. My sight was blurry, and all I could make out was a dark figure not that far away from where I was. I rubbed away the blurriness, and my breath hitched as the sight of Silas sitting in a chair, twisting the point of the dagger against his palm and staring down at me with darkness in his cold eyes, made my insides twist with trepidation. Blood dripped from his palm and onto the floor below, yet it didn’t bother him one bit. It was as if he couldn’t even feel the pain. I didn’t even recognize the person who stared back at me.
A smile so sinister and creepy that a cold chill slid down my spine, spread across his face. “Look who’s awake…now the fun begins.”
I looked around at the unfamiliar scenery that surrounded me and found Eli on the other side of the spacious, empty room of a cabin. With his head bowed, he took in heavy breaths and his body glistened with sweat. His arms were bound behind his back and his feet were chained together, preventing him from escaping. There was something wrong with him. I had to get to him. I stood on my feet the same time Silas jumped up from the chair.
“No! Stay!” he said in a stern voice.
I came to a stop. I didn’t want to disobey in fear of what he would do if I provoked him. My eyes shifted to Eli, and an ache spread within my heart. He was struggling, and all I wanted was to go to him.
“What’s wrong with him, Silas? What did you do?”
“I did what needed to be done in order to keep the control in the situation.”
He reached behind him and pulled out a syringe with a green liquid inside. “This is what’s wrong with him. This baby is laced with leaves from an ash tree. Wolves and vampires are repellant to it because it weakens them…and weak is how I want him.”
I shook my head as my eyes welled with tears. I should have listened to Eli. I shouldn’t have given Silas the benefit of the doubt. Here I
was, looking foolish again as I fed right into his lies, and now, not only was I going to suffer, Eli was going to suffer as well.
“Don’t hurt him, okay? I’m the one that hurt you, not him. I deserve your wrath. Just let him go and you can do whatever you want with me.”
“And why would I let him go? That would ruin my plan to make him pay for what he did.”
“But it’s my fault.”
Silas’ mouth set in a hard line as he shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Paige.” Eli’s tired voice filled the room and I almost ran to him.
“Eli, I’m here.”
He lifted his head, and his tired eyes found mine before shutting them. “Don’t you dare hurt her.”
Silas chuckled. “Oh, and what are you going to do about it?”
Eli grunted and pushed at his restraints, yet he was too weak to break the hold the chains had over him. He let out a growl. “Come on,” he said through clenched teeth.
Silas grinned as he watched Eli, amused yet satisfied with his struggle. “Temper, temper.” He then observed the syringe. “It’s amazing what a simple ash leaf can do to an immortal when it’s so incredibly harmless to a human.”
Eli stopped fighting and relaxed. He panted, and his tired eyes rolled in the back of his head before he shut them.
Silas’ eyes drifted back to me before he put the syringe in his back pocket. “Do you know what the greatest torture there is to do to someone you despise?”
He took his time walking toward me. My muscles tensed with every step he took as he grew closer and closer to where I stood. His hand wrapped around my throat, and his breath brushed against my face as his dead eyes poured fear into me.
“Well, do you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I’m pretty sure you’ll tell me.”
“Helplessly watching while someone you love slowly dies is the greatest torture…after I’m finished with you, then I’ll turn my attention to your lover.”
I shook my head as tears touched my face.
“Oh no, don’t cry,” he said in a gentle tone.
The tips of his thumbs brushed against my face, wiping away my tears.
“Silas, please don’t do this,” I begged.
“Silas, please don’t do this. Please. Please. Please,” he said in a mocking tone.
He slammed his fist against the wall beside my head, and I flinched. He then cupped my chin and kissed me. His warm tongue slid over my mouth, and I squeezed my lips together.
“Sweet, sweet revenge will be mine.” He opened his eyes. “I think you should know that I’m not Silas.”
Confused, my brows pinched together and I shook my head. “What?”
He grinned and backed away as the door to the room opened. My mouth fell open in shock as the actual Silas came walking in. I knew, because he was wearing the same beanie hat and clothes that I saw him in at the café.
With a look of worry on his face, he met my gaze.
There were two of them. Twins. So many questions ran through my mind. Who was I seeing this whole time? Was it both?
“Twins?” I said in surprise.
“Well, yeah, but I find my facial features are a tad bit different than my brother’s.”
The real Silas snorted. “A tad bit?”
The looks of the Silas who stood in front of me, began to slowly change. His eyes darkened to a hazel instead of green, a light dusting of freckles appeared on his cheeks and nose, and his build had changed. He was much more muscular than Silas was. Besides his height, mouth, and hair, he looked nothing like Silas.
“Ambrose!” Eli yelled as all of the color drained from his face and he stared in shock at him.
“You mean the one that killed Alyssa?” I said.
“Killed, yes, left satisfied, absolutely not.” Ambrose’s cold glare rested on Eli. “Thanks to you.”
“What could you possibly want revenge for? You killed his sister.”
Ambrose sighed. “Well, after Eli, here, found out exactly who Alyssa was spending her night’s with, he tried to break us apart. My hold on her was too strong, and by that time, she was already dying and there wasn’t much he could do after that. I mean, breaking the bond between an incubus and its victim takes a lot of work and familiarity with their kind; something poor Eli didn’t have. She was at her last hour, I could feel her distress coursing through my veins, telling me that it was time to collect her soul, so when I went to her, who did I find standing in between me and my prey? None other than the brother himself. He fought me to the death. He refused to let me go near her. When her heart stopped beating, I lost her soul, and that angered me a great deal. I admired his determination, but no one stands in my way from getting what I want. He did what no man ever did before, and I despised him for it. Years went by and my bitterness grew. I became obsessed with revenge, and I vowed that one day I would return.”
I glared at Silas, who stood behind his brother with his arms folded and worry on his face. “And what’s your excuse?”
His eyes met mine, but as the guilt showed on his face, he quickly looked away. “I wasn’t supposed to fall for you. I was only supposed to help my brother carry out his revenge.”
“I didn’t realize how soft he was until now. He hides it well with me, but when you’re around, he can’t quite keep it from showing,” Ambrose said.
“I handed some poor, innocent girl over to you to feed off in exchange for the women in my life. I gave you a soul to make up for my sister, and you said you would leave,” Eli said.
“And I was, until Silas smelled your scent on Paige at the club. Your scent was even left on her lips, and that’s when I realized that she was your love interest and the perfect plan was hatched.”
“You bastard! We had a deal!”
“No. I agreed to not harm Athena, Chelsea, and Violet. Not once did you mention any Paige. Technically, I’m sticking by my word.”
My mind flashed back to the day Silas brought me a Starbucks. I didn’t expect to ever see him again. What he told me that day had suddenly stuck out in my head.
“You told me that you saw something in me.”
Silas nodded. “It was Eli.”
I shook my head and scowled at him, tears drenching my face.
Ambrose sat in the chair and sighed. A smug smile showed on his face. “Since Silas was already bonded with you, I figured, as a reward for finding you, I would share you with him. When Silas did his part in making you fall for him, I was waiting on the perfect time to come in. It wasn’t until the party at your cabin did I get my first taste of you. What a sweet taste that was, too. After Silas took the note Eli left for you, I tried to drive you away from him that night, because I feared his influence on you, but that failed miserably and so did my plans to feed off you when he decided to show up. My brother, here, realized that he loved you, and after you rejected him and broke the bond, he lost it. He came to me, demanding that I put an end to our little game and to do it soon.”
I closed my eyes and sighed as my stomach turned. “I’m bonded with you.”
Ambrose grinned as his eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh yes; you are, and we’re going to have so much fun together…until your heart stops beating.”
“No. I’ll do anything you want. Please, spare her life. Torture the hell out of me, I don’t care. Just don’t touch her. She doesn’t deserve this,” Eli pleaded.
“Sorry. No can do,” Ambrose said.
Eli looked to Silas, his eyes begging him to see reason. “If you love her then help her. Don’t let your brother take her away from you because his pride was damaged.”
As pain reached his face, he shut his eyes and exhaled. “I have no other choice, Eli.”
The hurt that Silas was burdened with was beginning to wear him down. There wasn’t much fight left in him. His eyes fell to the floor as he walked away, not able to bring himself to look at me.
Ambrose stood and walked to me.
I could hear Eli’s struggl
e to break free of the chains, but doing that only seemed to wear him out even more.
“And now the fun really begins.”
With my hand balled, I went to strike him, but he caught my fist and slammed his head into mine. I gasped as pain shot through my head, my knees gave out, and I fell to the floor as the darkness consumed my sight.
****
The smell of vanilla filled the air from the many burning candles that surrounded the dimly lit room. I covered my naked body with the sheet, feeling the silky satin rub against my skin as I searched for Ambrose. I felt his eyes on me, watching me and stalking as I tried to place him. I tensed as his finger ran across my back, and I instantly moved away from his touch.
He stood behind the iron, four-poster bed, leaning on it as he watched me with lust in his eyes.
“Welcome to my fantasy.”
My lips parted ever so slightly as he sucked my eyes in and held my focus. I instantly felt a strong, intense pull to him, and it took hold of me as an ache for his touch grew within me. I breathed in his musky scent, and I could feel it warm my insides as my body swelled with a raging desire to fill my need of satisfaction.
I felt the heat creep up on my skin as my heart sped up, and the desperation to have him made the distance between us unbearable. With want in my eyes, I bit down on my lip and slowly crawled my way to him with seduction on my mind. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him to me, my lips brushing against his before he pulled back.
“Tell me you want me.” His voice was like silk, soothing to the ear as it pulled me in deeper than I already was.
“I want you.”
I nipped his bottom lip. Caught off guard, his breath hitched and his eyes flew open. His eyes lit up with excitement before he gripped my hair in the back and tilted my head back.
“Now I can see why Silas likes you so much.”
His lips came down on mine, raw and hard, and I could taste the desperation that poured out of him. He broke the kiss almost too sudden, and I brought my hand up to my mouth where the feel of his lips still remained. He quickly undressed before yanking the sheet from my body. I grabbed his hand, letting myself fall back, taking him with me.