by Marie Dry
“If I had the choice again, I would do exactly the same thing.”
“Because you are not emotional enough about me to risk everything just to get me to safety.” She knew she was being unreasonable, but she just wanted some kind of reassurance that he loved her more than anything else in this world.
“An emotional decision in that situation would’ve gotten us all killed.”
Chapter 18
At least tell me that you doubted yourself, that you were tempted to just get me out, no matter what.” She knew she was being unreasonable. She couldn’t expect him to rescue her at the expense of the whole world. It was just that it reminded her of the way her father left her and her mother to start his new perfect white family.
”If I had thought about you, worried only about getting you out, Kratos would’ve killed us both.”
“You’re right.” She didn’t know why she felt so dissatisfied, as if the fear she’d lived with these last few days wouldn’t leave her. “It’s just that--”
Simon walked in.
“Ever heard of knocking, hunter?” Mark snarled at him.
“Christopher cleared the house in the Bo-Kaap,” Simon said, not in the least fazed by Mark’s pointed words. “It’s safe for you to return.”
“Consider us gone.”
Sabrina closed her eyes, sending up a prayer of thanks. She wanted to be home, maybe when she was there she’d feel safe. As much as she wanted to be back in her home, seeing those women in the drogge basement, the horrific way they’d died, had changed her perspective. She’d gladly give up her home if it meant those women could go home to their families.
“I won’t keep you long, half pint. I contacted the others and they are in favor of a coalition.”
Mark’s eyes narrowed. “You are not in control here, hunter.”
Simon crossed his arms over his massive chest, widened his stance. “We need to do this while the danger is still fresh in everyone’s mind. Soon, they’ll forget about being hunted and used for batteries and convince themselves that the threat has passed. That there is no Kratos or evil siblings to worry about.”
“The vampires lost a lot of men, they’ll come on board. Herman will join because he still doesn’t feel he avenged the death of his forefather’s woman,” Mark said.
Simon shook his head. “They truly are like dogs with a bone.”
“We’re agreed, everyone is on board and I am in charge,” Mark said.
“What about the gargoyles?”
“They won’t join us. They lost a few men, but not enough to get off their arrogant asses and fight the good fight,” Mark said.
“Don’t be so sure, we found a young gargoyle girl in a cellar in one of the drogge houses.”
Mark stiffened and swore.
“One of the Drogge houses, I thought there was just one?” Sabrina said. She remembered the girl who’d chained her in the cellar. She didn’t want that vibrant young girl, or any of her friends, to have fallen victim to the drogge. To look like the bodies Mark had shown her in that horrific basement.
“When Kratos was killed the glamor lifted over a few other houses. All the basements had dead bodies, but we found her under a pile of human bodies,” Simon said.
“It must have happened recently. When we were there, he didn’t know about it yet,” Mark said. He rubbed his brow. “It doesn’t make sense for the drogge to take her. They can’t drain a gargoyle for energy.”
“Believe me, you would’ve known if he’d known about it yet. That gargoyle threatened to go and dig up the bodies of the drogge so he can kill them again,” Simon said. “And I agree, it’s strange that the drogge took her. We need to find out why they took her, since it wasn’t to drain her for energy.”
“You kill a child of any of the nations and you are dead,” Mark said. “You kill the child of the gargoyles and you’ll wish you were dead for the rest of your long and miserable life. The next time the drogge surface they’ll have a dangerous enemy to content with. The gargoyles don’t stir easily, but when they do, beware.”
“Well, it means that they are onboard,” Simon said.
“I can’t decide if that makes us lucky or royally screwed,” Mark said.
“Probably a little of both. They give new meaning to the words stone headed.”
“You crack me up, hunter,” Mark fairly snarled.
Ignoring him, Simon continued. “So let’s agree to meet as a coalition and then elect a leader.”
“You think they’ll elect a human?” Mark taunted.
“Do you think they’ll elect a half pint?” Simon fired back.
Sabrina knew they were both right. No one was going to vote for either one of them, even though Mark was obviously the correct choice. He’d make the hard decisions a leader had to make. Like leaving his pretend wife in the middle of enemy territory, scared out of her mind, and not bothering to reassure her for the good of the cause.
“When is the meeting?”
“Tomorrow, we’re all meeting here. This place worked well as a headquarters and will do while we meet and decide the way forward,” Simon said.
Something else occurred to Sabrina. “Mark, the drogge said they had someone inside, someone who took money to help them. Was that you pretending to help them?”
Both men turned to her, similar looks of unholy fury on their faces. Simon glared at Mark.
Mark shook his head. “The gargoyles are too proud and stubborn to become traitors.”
“I don’t trust the vamp--” Simon’s eyes narrowed. “Did you say the traitor took their money?” he asked Sabrina. She nodded. He turned toward the door, seeming suddenly determined. “If you will excuse me, I have to deal with a hunter who recently came into a suspicious amount of money.”
He stalked out and Sabrina doubted the traitor would live to see another day. Before she’d been held captive in the drogge’s house, she would’ve felt pity. Now she couldn’t find it in herself to want the traitor to keep living.
Chapter 19
“Let’s go home,” Mark said and gently took her arm. She’d never been so grateful for his ability to move them from one place to another within the blink of an eye.
Sabrina nodded and huddled into the jacket Mark had wrapped around her. One moment they were in the safe house and the next she stood in the living room of her home. A growl greeted their arrival and she turned to see Wolf baring his teeth at her. Then he came to her and pushed his head under her hand. She carefully petted him, keeping a wary eye on his teeth.
“Go away, wolf,” Mark said.
The wolf glared at him, but left.
“He’s not a dog is he? He’s some kind of shifter?”
“I will tell you about him another time.” He drew her into his arms. “I want to talk about us.”
Sabrina scratched at her skin until Mark took her hand in his. She’d scrubbed her skin raw, but still it felt as if the evil of the drogge clung to her. The sight of those women in the basement haunted her. Ever since she went to that basement it felt as if something evil attached to her skin and she just couldn’t scrub it off.
“Why did you show me those poor women in the basement?” She battled the urge to throw up. “Surely it wasn’t necessary for me to see that.”
“I had to scare you into staying awake, make you realize how bad our situation was.” He touched her shoulder. “You didn’t realize it, but you’d started to slur your words.”
“Do you think he’s dead for good, or will he regrow?”
He shrugged. “Who knows?”
She plucked at the hem of the jacket. “It’s just that I kept remembering I’m not your real wife. I wondered if maybe you didn’t really love me.” She shivered so much she could barely speak. “I kept hoping maybe you fell in love with me, in spite of yourself.”
“We will make it legal, be assured of that, but to me you are my wife. I married you according to gargoyle custom.”
“And where was I during this ceremony.”
He looked pained. “When I healed your knee, we were considered married according to Gargoyle custom.”
“That’s why you didn’t heal me before, you didn’t want to be married to me for real?”
“Why do you doubt me this much, Sabrina? I love you, I tried to show you how much every time I touched you, every moment I was with you.”
She stared up at him. “I don’t know. It just feels as if there should be more, some assurance that you will always love me.”
Something moved in his eyes, as if he looked deep into her soul. “Everyone you loved died. Your Ouma, your parents, and your cousin. Even Christopher disappeared on you.”
“So.” She stared at his chest, resisting the urge to touch him, to stroke the firm skin she’d find there.
He lifted her chin with an insistent finger. “You have me. It frightens you, but you can’t resist it. Even when you realized I’d manipulated your mind, you couldn’t resist me. You’ll never be able to resist me.”
“Why, you--”
“Listen to me, Sabrina, we are meant to be together. If you betrayed me to the drogge tomorrow, I’d be angry and probably hate you, but I wouldn’t be able to let you go. I couldn’t resist you either. No matter what you did, I’d want you.”
“Would you really? It’s easy to say that to me when you don’t have to act upon it.”
“I think you’re scared that, if you accept that you love me, I will die as well. Or that I will control your mid again. You can resist me, Sabrina, you know it. With your Klingon trick, you could keep anyone out of your mind.”
She winced. “Please, if I never hear the word Klingon again, I’d be very happy.”
“It saved your life.”
“I know. Mark, tell me about your past, about your mother. You know everything about me, but I just know bits and pieces about you.”
“After Kratos killed my mother, I lived in America for a few years, managing my business, but mostly trying to find any sign that the drogge had surfaced. There were some signs, women disappearing, vampires dying, but nothing panned out. Then Christopher disappeared and I heard he’d been seen with a woman with long black hair. It was rumored she led him into a trap and killed him. I only had your description and your surname to go on.”
“I bet you planned to kill me if I’d hurt Christopher.” Would he have hesitated at all?
“I came to your house and, the moment you opened the door, I seized your mind. I knew you didn’t kill Christopher, but I also realized you were the woman the drogge were searching for. Like me, you are descended from royalty. That and your supernatural abilities made you the perfect sacrifice Kratos was waiting for.”
“I don’t have supernatural abilities.” If she had, everyone and his brother wouldn’t have been able to kidnap her.
“You can keep anyone from the nations out of your mind. That is an ability many would kill for.”
“Oh.” She never thought of it as a supernatural ability. She’d rather be able to become invisible or maybe fly or something. “So what happened after you seized my mind.” It was strange to hear him tell her about events she didn’t remember.
I implanted the idea that we knew each other a while. You wouldn’t accept that. For a few minutes I feared not being able to take hold of your mind at all. I had to seize your mind at a deeper level than I planned. I told you we’ve known each other two weeks and that we were so in love we couldn’t wait to get married.”
“And I was so desperate to belong, to have a family again, I fell for it.”
He rubbed his hand over his hair, an almost nervous gesture. “Nothing went the way I planned. From the moment I saw you, I wanted you. I looked into your beautiful eyes and I saw a gentle soul. I despised myself for using you to catch Kratos, but I had promised my father that I would avenge the death of my mother.”
“And I settled in, happily married, until your eyes started to glow and sometimes I saw wings appear on our back.”
“My eyes don’t glow.”
She shrugged. If he didn’t know his eyes glowed in a really creepy way, that became beautiful to her, she wouldn’t inform him differently. She touched her knee. “You were going to sacrifice me as bait anyway, so why bother healing me? Especially since that would mean you’d be married to me gargoyle style.”
His hand covered hers. “Not healing you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. By the time we met Christopher, I had decided to heal your knee and to marry you.”
“Were you going to rape my mind again, convince me we had a long relationship and were getting married.”
He flinched. “No, I was going to tell you everything and ask you to marry me.”
“Only the bad guys kept kidnapping me and then the drogge had me and you decided, what the hell, lie to Sabrina some more.”
“I didn’t dare tell you the truth, it could’ve cost us both our lives, if you realized I’m not Simon and relaxed in my presence.”
“Starting our life together as a lie has damaged us. I don’t want to, but I keep second guessing everything you say to me.”
“Our real life together starts now. You’ll learn to trust me, Sabrina.”
Sabrina looked out the window, afraid she’d give in if she looked at him. He’d hurt her with his lies, hurt their relationship, and she had to make him realize that she wouldn’t accept that ever again. “When the drogge captured me, you made this rational decision based on information you weren’t even sure of. You decided to infiltrate the drogge instead of rescuing me. I can understand that decision, I know how terrible it would be if Kratos Lamashtu had managed to bring his goddess back and create more monsters. They would’ve consumed this city before anyone knew the nature of the threat.”
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “I just don’t understand how you can make such cold and rational decision about me when you say you care for me. I don’t think if the situation was reversed that I could’ve done that to you. I would’ve gotten you out, no matter what.”
“I had to be careful. If you knew it wasn’t Simon working for the drogge, and Kratos got into your mind, we would both die.”
“I never dreamed of meeting a man who would be rational when it came to my safety. I know it’s unrealistic, but I want a man who wouldn’t tolerate any threat against me. Who would never put me at risk.”
“I know, Sabrina, you deserve all that, but the world I inhabit is a dangerous place. I had to defeat Kratos or you would’ve died. I was between two impossible choices. If I got you out and Kratos got away and if he had another sacrifice ready, we all would’ve died. If I didn’t get you out, you were in danger.”
“I believe a small part of you might love me. But don’t you see? I need more. After the way we began, I cannot settle for less. I want a man who loves me above everything else. A man who puts me first. Who would give his life, his people, even his honor to protect me and keep me happy.” She held up a hand. “I know what you’re going to say. Such a man doesn’t exist. And probably a man willing to give up his honor is not worth having. But my emotions are not logical. They simply are.”
A long silence reigned and she knew he was searching for words. Her heart ached for them. She didn’t know what to do to get past this strange feeling. “I don’t know what to do,” she said quietly.
“After everything we’ve been through together, why are you hesitating now?” Mark said, obviously trying to contain his impatience.
They stood in the middle of her living room in the house in the Bo-Kaap, but they may as well have been on Mars. They’d only been gone from it a few weeks and already her home seemed cold and not quite real.
“It just all happened so fast. And we aren’t even married, remember?”
“We may not be married in the eyes of man, but, to me, you are my wife.”
“Those are just pretty words. We’ve defeated the enemy. You’re free to move on.”
He stalked her, held her close. “I don’t want to be free to move on
, and our enemy is only defeated for now.”
“I don’t feel like it’s over, that it’s real.” If he hadn’t manipulate her mind, if he’d kidnapped her and tortured her instead, she’d have been able to get past it easier. Now she doubted every memory, every word he ever spoke to her.
He pinched her, hard.
She jumped and stumbled away from him, clutching her upper arm where he’d pinched her. “Ouch, what did you do that for?”
“Just checking. Are you convinced this is real?”
She shrugged. “I suppose,” she mumbled, feeling like a stubborn four-year-old.
“Want me to pinch you again, just to make sure,” he asked.
Sabrina could’ve told him if he was trying to convince her of his love or that they should stay together, pinching her was not the way to go. “Yes, I’m convinced it’s real,” she said, just in case he decided to do it again.
He stepped back and then sank down on his knee, muttering something in a strange language. It sounded like a prayer. He searched his pockets and, for a moment, she thought he looked panicked. Then he patted the inside pocket of his jacket and withdrew a small jewelers box, held it open in his big hand. She looked down at the ring that hovered between them and realization dawned. Her heartbeat sped up and she had trouble breathing.
“Sabrina.”
“Yes.”
“I love you. You knocked my feet out from under me the first time we met. I want to spend an eternity with you. Will you marry me?”
She looked down at him and everything fell into place. Her world was all right. This man was hers, and even if they never had children or had to live in another country so he could hunt the drogge, he would still be hers. Home would be where he was.
“I love you, Mark, I want to be your wife more than anything in the world.”
He slid the ring over her finger and then jumped up and kissed her, his passionate bitter chocolate and wine kisses, and this time there was more chocolate than bitter.
His smile was almost bashful. “I’ve been carrying it around waiting for the right opportunity since Thailog grabbed you.”