by J. N. Baker
“The king is the only one who can save you, pet,” Roland continued. “He is the only one who can end all of this pain—no matter how much you deserve it,” he added. “All you have to do is ask for him. Is that so hard? Or, perhaps you just like spendin’ all your time with me.”
Maybe Lindsay was right. Maybe Baldric really didn’t know what was happening to me. Maybe he would save me. If I just said his name, would it really end? Would he save me from Roland if I just asked for him? Was a life with him really going to be that bad? He’d said he wouldn’t touch me if I didn’t want him to. Maybe he meant it.
Nothing could be worse than hanging in that dungeon with Roland beating the living shit out of me for the rest of eternity.
A dagger manifested in Roland’s hand and plunged into my side, eliciting a cry from me.
“The king is eager for you to return to him,” he said, twisting the blade between my ribs until I cried out again. “He don’t want you down here. He wants you by his side, right where he thinks you belong.” It was clear Roland didn’t agree with his precious “king” on that matter. He’d much prefer me to stay down in his twisted little house of horrors. There was no doubt in my mind, he could do this for years, decades even, and never get sick of it.
The sadistic vampire knelt in front of me and grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his eye. He flashed me a menacing grin that held all sorts of dark promises.
“The king wants you, Roland,” a familiar female voice called from down the passageway.
Roland growled, releasing me and storming out of the dungeon, leaving Josh behind with me. I wasn’t sure if Baldric really wanted him or if Lindsay had simply lied. Either way, I was grateful. I would have been more grateful to find out she’d told Baldric what Roland was doing to me down here but I wasn’t holding my breath on that one.
“Josh…” Using every ounce of strength I had left, I lifted my head to meet his eyes. “You have to help me. Please. You have to get me out of here before he comes back.”
After an agonizing minute, he finally said, “I can’t.” Was everyone afraid of this one-eyed piece of bloodsucking shit?
“You said you had a desire to protect me,” I rushed to say. I didn’t know how long we had before Roland returned. Or how long I’d stay conscious. “It’s true. You’ve always had that innate need to keep me safe. Don’t you remember?”
“No.” He whispered the word like an apology.
Lindsay said Josh hadn’t chosen this life. Maybe Cody was right, maybe there was still hope. I had to try. What did I have left to lose?
“You know, the night of the accident, I was mad at you. But not for failing to protect me like you thought. I was mad because you finally made me accept how I felt for you and then you bailed on me. I’d hoped we’d have more time to figure it out when William took me. I thought I’d never see you again. When you showed up on my doorstep a year later it was like my world clicked back together. Despite the lies and half-truths to hide what I was from you, I was whole again. You brought me back to life.
“And how did I repay you? By dragging you through hell with me. I put your life in danger repeatedly just to keep you close. Hell, you’re probably standing where you are because of me—because Baldric knew how much you meant to me. But I won’t apologize for it. My time with you through this whole goddamned apocalypse—escaping tsunamis, outrunning earthquakes, skinning dipping in lakes, kissing in ancient stone formations, even thinking I’d lost you—it’s all opened my eyes to what I want: you. It’s always been you, Josh.”
He shifted on his feet, his eyes sliding to the door and then back to me.
“I love you, Josh. I always have. No matter what happens, I need you to know that.”
Sadness flashed across his features before Roland stomped back into the dungeon.
The vampire glared down at me, a fire in his eyes that wasn’t there before. He watched me for a long moment, eyeballing each rip and tear in my dress. He licked his lips and my blackened heart sank.
Roland shot a quick glance over his shoulder to where Josh stood in his usual spot by the wall.
“Out,” he demanded.
“What?” Josh stepped forward.
“Get out,” Roland snapped. He didn’t wait for Josh to respond. He grabbed him by the throat and shoved him out of the room. Before Josh had a chance to push back, Roland slammed the door in his face and swung down the large metal barricade to trap us in.
“What are you doing?” Josh growled. He grabbed the bars on the heavy door and shook them until they bent under his grip.
“You keep quiet,” Roland warned. “Or I’ll have your tongue—and hers.” He added the last part and my skin crawled. I almost begged him to beat me instead of whatever sinister thing he was planning.
Roland was on me in a heartbeat, clawing at my clothes like a wild animal. His filthy fingers grasped the top of my dress and he ripped it down, feasting his one good eye on my bare breasts. With one more tug, I was completely naked outside the lace underwear Lindsay had laid out for me.
Maybe it was because I was one of the Chosen, maybe it was because I knew what was coming, but a burst of energy surged from deep within me. I struggled against the restraints, tugging hard on the unbreakable chains. The wall behind me crumbled as I thrashed back and forth, groaning as the thick metal dug into my flesh.
“Those chains are buried ten feet into solid stone,” he said, unbuttoning his pants. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere.”
“I want to see Baldric!” I cried out. “I submit!”
“Too late now, princess.”
He stepped closer to me, pulling out his sorry excuse of a dick. Brock would have laughed at it but I was doing anything but. There was an eerily familiar look on Roland’s face, one I remembered from a past life. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me to my feet, his free hand traveling over my bare breasts and around my waist, pulling my hips closer to his.
“No!” I kicked at him, my ankles screaming as the shackles cut straight to the bone.
Roland shoved me against the stone wall and kicked my legs open, positioning himself in front of me. I could take the starvation. I could take the beatings. But not that. Not again.
“Josh!”
A loud crash rang out in the small room and something sharp pierced the surface of my skin. Roland stumbled back, the bloody tip of a sword protruding from his chest. He grabbed the blade with both hands and collapsed to the ground, Josh standing behind him.
“Zoe…” He said my name like a prayer and the whole godforsaken world stood still.
Josh snatched the keys from Roland’s hip as the vampire continued to writhe on the dungeon floor, struggling to remove the blade in his back.
Those luminous blue eyes held mine as Josh got to work on the shackles that bound me. There was something different in his eyes, like a fog had been cleared. He knew. Josh remembered.
When the last shackle was removed, I collapsed into his arms and we sank to the ground together. Josh clasped my face in his hands and brought his lips down on mine in a kiss so tender it brought real, honest-to-God tears to my eyes.
Without warning, Josh stood and took a single step away from me. His eyes never left mine, even as Baldric stormed through the broken door.
“My lord,” Roland nearly squeaked upon seeing his king standing in his little torture chamber.
Baldric’s eyes fell to Roland and then Josh, before landing on me. Something flickered across his face as he took in my naked body, caked with blood both old and new. Next thing I knew, Josh was pressed against the wall, Baldric’s one hand clamped firmly around my friend’s throat. To my surprise, Josh didn’t struggle.
“Lindsay would not stop urging me to come down to visit my bride. She was relentless,” he added—sounded like the old Lindsay I knew. “I could not figure out for the life of me why. Now I see. What is going on here?”
“He was trying to defile her,” Josh ground out.
“Is this true
?” Baldric raged, releasing Josh and taking a threatening step toward Roland.
On cue, Roland began wailing on the ground, once again reaching dramatically for the sword lodged between his shoulder blades. Maybe he should have been more concerned with buttoning up his pants. “Of course not, my liege!” Roland shouted. “It was him that was tryin’ to take advantage of her. I was tryin’ to stop him and he attacked me! He should be punished!”
“I was not speaking to you,” Baldric spat and it took me another minute to realized he’d been asking me. “Is this true?” he said again, facing me this time. “Did he put his hands on you?”
I looked from Baldric to Roland and back to Baldric again. I nodded stiffly.
The growl that slipped past Baldric’s lips was so sinister, even I scooted back.
Baldric stepped over to me. “Can you stand?” he asked and I nodded again. “I am going to help you up.”
He bent over, gently grabbing me under the arms and lifting me to my feet. He steadied me before pulling off his overcoat and sliding it onto my naked body, buttoning it shut. Baldric then turned back to his right-hand man and Roland’s one eye widened.
“He made me do it,” Roland hurried to say. Before he could spew any more lies, Baldric ripped the sword from his back and the vampire howled.
“I should let her kill you herself,” Baldric said. “In fact, I believe that is just what I will do.”
I stared, slack-jawed, as Baldric handed me the sword. “My first gift of many, my dear. He is all yours.”
My fingers flexed on the sword’s hilt. The vile creature I’d sworn to kill had just handed me a weapon while he stood within striking distance. He was extending an olive branch of trust and I found all I could think about was ending the ancient vampire lying on the ground in a pool of his own piss. The one who stuck me with a knife covered in Sythen blood; the same one who sliced me open during the Great Battle; and the one who had tortured me in this goddamned hellhole.
I moved forward with Roland in my sights as he scrambled to get away from me.
“I told you I’d kill you,” I said, backing him into a corner. “I warned you what would happen when I got free. I would take that eye of yours first, but I want my face to be the last thing you see as your miserable life ends.”
Roland’s scream was cut short by the sword slicing through his neck. It was followed by the sickening wet thud of his head hitting the ground. Baldric promptly took the sword from my hand—likely before I got any ideas of trying to kill him again—and tossed it to Josh who caught it without looking.
Baldric put his hand on my cheek, his black eyes boring into mine. “I have failed you and for that I am truly sorry.”
No shit, I wanted to say. Instead, I settled for a glare that took far less energy than words.
“I should have come to check on you far sooner,” he continued, his voice surprisingly soft. “If I had only done that then maybe…” He trailed off. Was that pain in his eyes? Impossible.
“You must know that this,” Baldric gestured at the puddles of my blood on the floor, “was not my intention by sending you down here. I foolishly believed what Roland told me; I knew the man for centuries. I thought I could trust him. I was wrong—I can admit that. But I swear to you, I will never let anything like this happen to you ever again. I will protect you, whether you see that yet or not.” He brushed his knuckles over my cheek. “I will take her back to her room to rest,” he told Josh. “Tell Lindsay to draw her a hot bath and bring her a plate of food.”
Josh nodded as Baldric lifted me into his arms. I didn’t have the strength to fight him. He carried me from the wretched dungeon and all the fresh horrors it held, Josh following silently behind. From over Baldric’s shoulder, Josh’s eyes met mine and I could see the memories flickering through them. He was back.
In that moment, I thought everything would be okay.
But I’d been wrong before.
Coming Soon
The adventure continues in Pitch Black, the fourth book in the Until Dawn series.
Coming July 2021
Pre-order on Amazon now!
Acknowledgments
Thank you, thank you, thank you to my BRILLIANT and AMAZING readers! I’m so lucky to have you. Your support and outpouring of love means the world to me. It is only because of you that I am able to do what I love. You guys have made my dreams come true and I value each and every one of you. I can’t wait to take you all on more wild and crazy adventures.
As always, a huge thank you goes out to my wonderful husband who tolerates my crazy ass and my nonstop blabbering about stories that make his brain hurt. I love you baby, even if you are a complete and total NON-bookworm who doesn’t understand any of my ramblings.
To my rockstar editing team, Tina and Shannon, thank you as always for your help in polishing and perfecting Into the Dark and making sure I didn’t make a complete fool of myself for leaving out any periods and misspelling any names. Y’all are the real MVPs.
All the air high fives for the talented and creative Daqri at Covers by Combs for her always beautiful cover art. You never cease to amazing me, girl.
My alpha readers Sevan and Nico for reading my roughest of drafts and yelling at me to write more. If it weren’t for you ladies, I probably wouldn’t have finished Into the Dark as soon as I did. I trust you both to continue harassing me.
To my beta readers and ARC Crew, you gals are amazing! You all are truly the best cheerleading squad an author girl could hope for. Thank you for your continued support and love. I am so glad to have each of you on the journey with me.
And last but certainly not least, another big shoutout to my buddy Shannon for letting me pick her genius brain about all things writing and marketing. Love talking shop with someone with a mind as twisted as mine.
Thank you all so damn much!
About the Author
Teacher by day and writer by night, J.N. Baker has been telling stories since she was old enough to read them. With a passion for both urban fantasy and paranormal romance, J.N. Baker loves to write post-apocalyptic stories with complicated, badass female leads that have no filters. She believes that a sign of a good book is the sudden urge to throw it across the room and run to pick it back up. A healthy dash of steamy romance doesn’t hurt either.
J.N. Baker lives with her husband and new daughter on their farm in California. When she isn’t writing or teaching, she enjoys curling up with a good book, a glass of wine, and one of her many furry critters.
For more shenanigans, follow J.N. Baker on Facebook and be sure to join her reader group, Baker’s Brilliant Bookworms, for release updates, cover reveals, sneak peeks, giveaways, and more!