A sizzling whip of electricity surged over her as she climaxed. The air pushed out of her lungs with the intensity of it. Squeezing her eyes tight, she let it pull her under, helpless to do anything else.
She really hoped no guards found them. Because as it was, she was certain neither of them could move. By the way she felt, she wouldn’t really care less either.
O
nce again Baruch was enraged at the summons to Satarah’s chamber. And to be disturbed while he was feeding was inexcusable. It didn’t matter to him that the lovely servant girl he’d chosen to drink from had suffered dreadfully when he’d slipped and torn open her neck. It was the guard’s fault for surprising him like that. The guards in the city needed to learn. If he was to rule them soon, they needed to learn very quickly.
A guard opened the door to Satarah’s room when he neared. Striding through, his functioning hand clenched into a tight fist, he was not expecting the scene spread out before him. He came to an abrupt stop and stared, his blood boiling like lava.
“Where is Kat?”
Satarah waved her hand at the empty wall. “Gone, as you can see.”
He took another step toward the bed where Satarah was lying. There was a gash on her leg, and a healer was stitching it up with a needle and thread. He also noticed a long slice on her cheek.
Taking another step forward, he demanded, “How did this happen? She was restrained on the wall.” His whole body was vibrating with fury. He almost felt sick to his stomach from the violence of it.
“I took her down so she could relieve herself in the proper facilities.” She frowned. “I won’t allow anyone to soil my beautiful marble floors. You have to remember I only keep my men up there for three to four hours at a time. That poor girl had been hanging there for ten hours at least.”
When Baruch moved to the bed, so swiftly he could hardly be seen, the healer jabbed the needle into Satarah’s thigh.
“Ow!” she squealed. “Be careful, Lars.”
Lars, the healer, nodded, but Baruch could tell he was not very comfortable having Baruch so near. His hands shook while he finished putting the stitches in.
It took every ounce of restraint Baruch possessed not to rip apart every single person in the room.
“That poor girl,” he said, his voice quivering with anger, “stabbed you in the leg and escaped.”
“Yes, well, I can understand her motives, can’t you?”
Pushing the healer to the floor, Baruch glowered over Satarah. “You really don’t want to play games with me, woman.” He ripped out the thread still hanging, untied, from her wound. “I’m not a very good sport.”
Pursing her lips, Satarah glared right back, the pale luminance of her eyes glowing like a comet.
But Baruch saw a flicker of fear cross her face. Soon the woman would be cowering before him.
“Does it look like I’m playing?” She lifted her hand to her face to indicate her disfiguring wound.
It was an ugly cut, one any vain person would sob over. But Baruch had a feeling that Satarah’s powers included advanced healing. She was not as injured as she wanted him to believe. If he had been escaping, he wouldn’t have left her with any breath in her lungs. And he didn’t believe Kat would either.
As a seasoned, ruthless warrior, Kat would know the mistake of leaving an enemy alive. She had learned that the day she escaped the Vanquished City, leaving Baruch without a hand but still breathing. He was sure he haunted her every waking and dreaming thought. At least, he hoped he did.
Baruch sat on the bed next to Satarah’s legs and set his hand on her thigh, stroking it softly. “If you truly had been in Kat’s way, she would’ve killed you.” His hand stilled next to the slash. “So what I think is you let her go, and you have just made it look like she escaped.”
Bristling, Satarah tried to sit up. “I—”
“Do not bother denying it, my dear. You are a rotten liar.” With that, he dug his thumb into her wound.
She screamed and attacked him, beating her fists against his chest and face. Still he pressed into her flesh. Gathering power into her hands, she tried to burn him with her white flames each time she landed a blow to his body.
Pain ripped through him, but still he tore into her leg. Her power was nothing compared to his fury. She could burn him alive, and he wouldn’t relinquish his hold on her.
Eventually her punches subsided, and she lay back on the mattress, her head twisting back in forth, mewling like an injured animal. She looked very close to passing out.
Baruch released his hold on her leg and stood, wiping the blood and gore on the silk sheets of her bed. “Now you will tell me the truth. Won’t you, darling?”
She murmured something he couldn’t hear. Moving up alongside the bed, he leaned over, giving her his ear. “What was that?”
“Fuck you!” she shrieked.
In a last act of defiance, she bolted up and splayed her hand across his face.
Searing pain sliced through him as the glowing power in her palm burned his flesh. Gripping her wrist, he tried to pull her hand off his face. Determined to hurt him, she held on, wrapping her other hand in his hair and pushing.
Smoke plumed from his face as his skin bubbled and burned. A few more minutes and he wouldn’t have any flesh left on his cheek. It would leave a matching wound to the cheek Kat had bitten.
Releasing his hold on her wrist, Baruch backhanded Satarah across the face. Still, she held on.
He hit her again. Then again. Finally her hand slid away, and she slumped back onto the mattress.
The pain in his face was already starting to recede. It wouldn’t be long before his skin grew back pink and new. If not for his incredible rejuvenating power, he would be without half his face.
Glowering over Satarah’s whimpering form, he spat, “Enough of your feeble attempts. If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I will rip your body apart inch by inch.” His long, sharp nails hovered over her wounded leg.
She nodded, sweat dripping from her battered face. “Yes, yes, I’ll tell you everything.”
“A
re you sure you have it?” Kat asked while Onyx packed another duffel bag.
After they could finally move from their lovemaking, Kat and Hades had dressed and crawled through the vent system to Onyx’s lab. They had popped through the floor just as Onyx seemed to be inspecting Leucothea’s face just a little too closely.
Kat had told him as much with a grunt and a growl.
Now he was busy packing the rest of his supplies into two large duffel bags. Bags, she informed him, that he was going to have to carry.
“I have it.” He reached into the pack and came away with a vial full of a white, cloudy mixture.
“Here it is, don’t worry.”
“Maybe you should give it to me now. I can take it here.” She reached for it, eager to finally have the cure in her hands. She’d been wishing for so long, and here it was within her grasp.
“It’s not that easy. You can’t just drink it. It has to be injected into your bloodstream.”
Shrugging off her cloak, she stuck out her arm. “Let’s do it then. I’m tired of carrying this disease around.”
Onyx hesitated, rolling the vial back and forth in his palm.
Hades pushed off the counter on which he was sitting, patiently watching. “What’s the problem?
Do what the lady asked.”
“Listen,” Onyx took a deep breath. “I understand why you want me to do that now, but think about it for a moment. Look at you, Kat,” he gestured toward her, “you can barely stand, barely move. A normal human wouldn’t be functioning. With the beating you’ve sustained, an average person would be comatose or worse.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “The virus is the only thing keeping you alive right now.”
Swallowing hard, Kat glanced at Hades. The way he was looking at her, it seemed he agreed with Onyx’s statement. She lowered her arm and shrugged back into her cloak. She had to admit that she, too, agreed with him. Just hearing it out loud like that pissed her off.
If she thought about it and gauged her wounds, she was likely walking around with a broken wrist, a couple broken ribs, a few lacerations that definitely needed stitches, and, by the way every muscle and bone ached when she moved, most likely some internal injuries she didn’t even want to name. If it weren’t for the DD virus giving her inhuman strength and healing capabilities, she’d be as injured as…
Kat turned her gaze to Hades. He smiled and winked at her, but she could see the pain darken his face with every movement he made. Although their lovemaking had been spectacular, it probably hadn’t been the healthiest thing to do in his condition. But Hades would be the last person to complain.
Nodding, she returned his smile and reached toward Hades, grabbing his hand. They linked fingers. “Then let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Oh-oh,” Onyx said.
“What’s ‘oh-oh’?” Leucothea asked from her seat on the only chair in the room.
Kat stared at Onyx. He was midway with his hand inside one of his bags. His eyes were wide and directed toward the corner. She swung her gaze there and noticed a small monitor perched on a counter. She couldn’t see the screen because it had been knocked sideways. Her heart sank.
She didn’t need to see the screen to know they had a huge problem.
Before anyone could move, the metal door to Onyx’s lab burst open, and a troop of guards rushed in, weapons raised.
“Don’t anyone move,” the lead beefcake guard barked.
Kat squeezed Hades’ hand and then let it go. They were going to need both their hands very soon.
Onyx slid his hand the rest of the way out of the bag and lifted both of them in the air. “Take it easy, boys, everything’s cool.”
As his fingers fidgeted in the air, Kat noticed the vial enclosed in one palm. What was he up to?
Kat had a feeling things were going to get crazy very quickly. She turned her head slowly, locking eyes with Leucothea. With a tip of her head, she nodded toward Onyx. The girl’s brow furrowed, but she got the message and swiveled toward the dark man.
That was all the warning they were going to get.
Onyx swung his arm down and smashed the vial on the floor in front of him, near the guards. A small explosion erupted from the door. Sizzling liquid and glass exploded everywhere. One of the guards scrambled backward, screaming, his hands on his face. Thick, choking smoke quickly filled the room. It gave them just enough time to get moving toward the grate in the floor.
The guards opened fire into the thickening, cloying fog. Kat had no idea what Onyx had tossed onto the ground, but the smell was enough to give her a headache. Putting her hand over her mouth, she ran toward the grate. Before she got there, she pushed over one of the metal cabinets to protect them. Skidding onto the ground, she crouched and slid open the grill. Hades was right behind her. Onyx and Leucothea right behind him. Stepping aside, she grabbed the Neried’s hand and pulled her forward, urging her into the vent.
Once the girl was in, Onyx followed her. When he slid down, Kat noticed that he was without his bags.
She grabbed his arm before he could disappear. “Where are your bags?”
“Shit!” He glanced behind him toward the door, but the air was so thick with smoke, the bags were invisible. As Onyx attempted to scramble out of the hole, a bullet whizzed by his head.
Kat pushed him back into the opening. “Go! I’ll get them.”
Without watching him disappear, Kat turned and searched the room for a way to get to the bags without being shot. She wasn’t leaving without the cure.
Hades grabbed her arm and pulled her down to where he crouched behind the metal cabinet, to whisper in her ear, “Why aren’t you going?”
“Onyx left the bags. The cure’s in one of them.”
More bullets zipped by them, crashing into the counter behind them. Wood splintered everywhere. Hades yanked her to the side before another one could pop a coin-sized hole in her head.
“It’s too dangerous.”
“I’m going, so you better cover me.” Kat stood and chambered a round into her shotgun. She aimed into the smoke in the direction of the door and fired.
Shaking his head, Hades was up and shooting in the same direction. Kat had the satisfaction of hearing a few cries and grunts of pain before she made a dash toward the door. At least they’d gotten a couple of them.
Before she reached where she thought the bags might be, Kat dove for the floor. She’d go on her hands and knees. They wouldn’t expect her to be so low. As she crept closer, Hades continued to lay down, suppressing fire. She loved him for that.
As she moved through the room, the smoke cleared a little near the floor. She could make out the beige of one canvas bag. When she crept closer to it, her hands slipped in something slick on the ground. Looking down, she noticed the floor was covered in various liquids with varying colors.
Reaching out, she grabbed the bag and slid it closer. When she had it in her hands, she nearly screamed when she noticed that the bag had a huge hole in it, and almost all the vials inside were broken.
She looked at the last of the vials and tried to remember what color the cure had been. She’d only seen the tube for a moment as Onyx took it out of one bag. Scrunching her face, she tried to think of the hue. Was it red?
She held up a vial to her face. Thick crimson liquid swirled around inside. No. It wasn’t red.
Think, Kat, think!
What was the opposite of the virus poisoning her? Lifting her arm, she glanced down at her black veins. White. The cure was white.
Excited, she searched the remaining few vials in the ruined bag. There were five left, and two were white. Damnit! She’d take them all. Sliding the five tubes into her cloak pocket, Kat started to crawl back to where Hades waited.
As she moved, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and strained her eyes. The other bag. It was sitting jammed up underneath one of the other counters. More bullets whizzed by her face. It was getting close in here. She suspected more guards had shown up, and they weren’t going to wait much longer before charging into the room.
Taking a deep breath, Kat got to her feet and ran toward the counter. Crouching, she snatched the bag and sprinted toward where she hoped Hades still waited. As she neared the hole in the floor, he was there waiting, a sexy grin on his face.