Sweet Ruin (14 page)

Thaddie!

Brother!

He appeared older than the last clipping she’d taped into her scrapbook, but it was him!

All grown up. No longer the little boy who’d ridden around in the Thadpack and worshipped Spidey.

She clutched her chest at the sharp ache.

Why was he in New Orleans? Maybe a sports playoff had brought him to the city. Or maybe he was a tourist, visiting with his high school friends.

So what was he doing with a nonhuman?
Associating with freaks is
not
acceptable, Thaddeus.

If he was going to just . . .
hang out
with them, then had Jo sacrificed a life with him for nothing?

No, she’d get him away from that woman. And out of this town. An enemy might discover Jo’s connection to Thad. An enemy like—

Movement out of the corner of her eye.

Rune. On the roof of the neighboring building.

His towering, lean frame was crouched like a predator’s, his body seeming to thrum with readiness. For what? Black forked out across his eyes.

She glanced from Thad back to Rune.
Threat.
She needed to lure the dark fey away from her brother.

She was about to trace to Rune when his hand dropped to his quiver. He fingered the flights of his arrows, as if choosing among them. With blinding speed, he slipped his bow off his back and into place, nocking a black arrow.

Her eyes shot wide. He was aiming at Thaddie!

She focused on a spot in the sky above Rune, tracing to it. She rotated in the air, diving headfirst for him, materializing on her way.

She’d take the dark fey from the roof down to the goddamned basement—and bury him there.

SIXTEEN

A
bout to end thousands of years of life, Rune locked on his target and drew his bowstring.

He’d chosen his favorite arrow. Sian laughingly called it “one-and-done.” Shot into the neck of a target, the arrow would sever the head cleanly.

Rune took an even breath. He was on the verge of relaxing his string fingers when he caught Josephine’s scent.

From
above
him?

A split second later, he heard her incensed scream.

She was coming at him like a rocket, her eyes black with rage. An ally of Nïx’s? A protective one! Out of habit, he shifted his bow toward the new threat.

Damn it!

He only had time to pop his arrow off the string—

Josephine slammed into him.

The force was like a meteor, shoving him back.
BOOM.
In an explosion of shingles and wood, the roof cracked open beneath him.

She clawed his throat, holding him in place as she pummeled his face. He took the furious hits, scrambling to secure his bow in his fist.

They plummeted into an attic. She kept hitting. They crashed through the attic floor into an apartment below.

Nothing could pry Rune’s bow from his grip. Which left him with only one hand to defend himself, much less reach the cuffs. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to coldcock her.

As the next floor ruptured, he caught sight of a stunned family at a dinner table, forks hovering over plates.

CRASH.
Down he and Josephine plunged to a lower story. In that apartment, a guy was pile-driving a girl, the stereo blaring. Never looked up.

Enviable. Rune was getting his ass kicked by a female he couldn’t seem to hurt.

BOOM.
Another story breached. Their momentum should be slowing, but with a wild look in her eyes, she traced them, accelerating the velocity. She meant to put him into the ground?

“Stop this, vampire! If I trace against you, you’ll go flying—”

She popped him in the mouth.

They tore through a last story, rupturing a web of water lines. Rune’s back slammed into the basement floor, cracking the foundation wide open. She landed atop him.

The impact punched the air from his lungs. He sucked in a breath of cement dust and mist, coughing beneath her.

She eased upright, sitting astride him, seeming to gauge how much she’d injured him.

The building groaned and wobbled. They both froze. A second passed. Then another. It stood fast.

“What the hells, female?” Josephine had surely spooked his target with her scream, much less when the entire building had shimmied. He strained to detect the Valkyrie’s scent. Nothing. “Gods damn it!” Though Nïx couldn’t foresee her own destiny, she might have the ability to start clocking
his
future. Had she gotten a look at his face?

If so, she could predict where he would strike every time.

But this situation was salvageable. Josephine was in league with Nïx, which meant he could use his new prisoner to get to the Valkyrie. Perhaps Nïx would bargain for Josephine’s release.

Not to mention the information he could squeeze from the vampire. Yet another excuse to capture her. Those cuffs in his back pocket awaited.

Once he’d secured her, he’d force her to return his talisman, then utilize one of his particular talents.

Interrogation. “You’re going to pay for this move, vampire.”

She drew back for another punch. With his speed, he caught her fist. As he squeezed, he registered her appearance. Mist from the water lines had dampened her porcelain skin—her short dress revealed a lot of it. The scarlet sheath barely contained her plump breasts and rode high on her thighs.

She wore jewelry, makeup, and fuck-me heels, dressing like a man-eater.
Dressing like?
Josephine the vampire was the very definition of a man-eater.

Blood rushed to his cock at the thought:
She made a meal of me last night.

When he hardened beneath her, she squirmed with outrage, and that micro hem exposed a fruitful view.

His man-eater had left her panties at home, revealing her smooth pussy.

Fuck. Me.

At the sight, a haze covered his vision. Burning for her kiss, he grasped her nape, pulling her in—

Wham!
Another jab to the mouth. “Naturally you’re thinking about sex!”

“After all this foreplay? Of course I am!”

“Foreplay? In your dreams!”

His gaze dipped between her thighs and back up. “Only the sweetest reveries.”

“You are such a . . .” She trailed off, her shimmering eyes locked on his bottom lip.

He daubed his tongue, tasting blood. He smirked with triumph when she dreamily licked a fang. “Does my vampire thirst for baneblood? Ah, she thinks me delicious.” Her craving made his chest bow and his cock swell even more. “No need to get violent, female. All you have to do is ask me real nice to feed you. A beauty like you could coax me to do just about anything in the name of pleasure.”

She shook her head hard, but her breaths had shallowed, those creamy breasts rising and falling before his rapt gaze.

She clearly struggled for control. Which meant he could take it. She leaned over him, gripping his shoulders, her dress slipping higher.

The scent of her arousal swept him up, blanking his mind. His target was forgotten, his mission. Liabilities, vulnerabilities, gods, wars—none of it mattered at that moment.

Her claws dug into his shoulders. The vampire was pinning her prey? This prey was going
nowhere
.

He released his bow to slip his hand between her thighs and cup her soft pussy. He groaned when his palm met hot, giving flesh. “Female, I’m going to make you come till you can’t walk.”

She blinked. “Rune?”

Just his name on her tongue made him shudder. “Give me your lips, Josephine.” Gods, he needed her kiss—

She snatched his hand away then launched a haymaker at his face. “Don’t you dare!”

“The hells, woman!” He seized her wrists. “Dare? Because I’m a dark fey?” And damn if he wasn’t leaning up to do it again, pulling on her wrists. “Any barrier between us disappeared when you drank me down.”

With her hands captured, she defended herself with her legs, squeezing her thighs around his waist, shoving her knees into his sides.

His plan to take her mouth and slip his cock inside her wasn’t happening—for now—so he snagged the cuffs. Quick as a blur, he bound one of her wrists to his own.

She gasped with realization, attempting to teleport. She even did that slow tracing thing again, but she wasn’t going anywhere. The metal would hold her. Earlier, as he’d been running down Nïx’s scent, he’d hastily etched runes into those cuffs, directing the power only to one. Josephine couldn’t trace—but he could.

As she thrashed to get free, he caught a glimpse of white between her breasts. “And there’s my treasure.” He reached for the talisman, but couldn’t resist a grope. He groaned.
A perfect handful.

She slapped at him till he reluctantly released her, collecting the talisman. Back into his pocket where it belonged.

“Take this cuff off, Ruin!”

He laughed at her. “Not a chance, dove.” He yanked on the chain, forcing her closer. “And it’s
Rune
.”

Still she fought him. “What are you doing?”

“Exactly what I said last night.”

Her eyes went wide. “Imprisoning me? Until you decide to kill me?”

He grated, “Till death us do part, Josie.”

SEVENTEEN

R
une can trace?

Jo wobbled when they appeared on the roof of the building. His teleporting was harder and sharper than hers, as if they’d been shot from a cannon.

Compared to his tracing, hers was like shifting a finely-tuned Caddie into gear. But she couldn’t manage it when stuck in these cuffs! Even her ghosting had failed.

He collected his bizarre arrow from beside the crash site. As he surveyed the empty street, sirens wailed toward their location.

He cursed under his breath. “Drawing the attention of humans?” He shook his head at her. “Reckless female.” Then he traced them again.

When she opened her eyes, they were in an echoing room with a glass floor. Beneath them was another story with a glass floor, and on and on.

Her lips parted. Each story below was populated with all manner of creatures. Freak-show central.

Some had wings, others four legs. She saw beings with glowing skin, scaly skin, pus-covered skin. She recognized centaurs from comic books and behorned demons from Rune’s memories.

Females were interspersed among the males. Most of them sported breasts and wore less clothing.

Everyone seemed inebriated, with goblets in hands, pincers, or tentacles. Peculiar music and loud partying sounded.

“What is this place?” None of her voyeurism had prepared her for scenes like these. When she saw copulation happening everywhere, her heart raced. At least, she hoped that was sex; otherwise creatures were bludgeoning each other to death.

“Ah, you’re nervous about what’s to come,” Rune murmured, mistaking her alarm. “You should be. You’re soon to discover something I’m very, very good at.”

“Where have you taken me?” And how would she get back to her brother?

Since her resurrection (or her transformation?), she’d often wondered why she’d been given all this strength and speed, all her talents.
I can safeguard him.

If she could reach him.

Why would Rune target Thaddie anyway? How had her brother gotten mixed up in so much danger? Like sister, like brother? Had he kicked his own ant mound?

She consoled herself with the knowledge that every second Rune was with her gave Thad time to get farther away. Maybe she should stall.

“We’re in Tortua, a pleasure den,” Rune said. “I maintain a residence here. This is the observatory.”

Were any of the freaks below
observing
up her dress?

Reading her mind, he said, “Each floor can view the ones below, but not the ones above.”

She craned her head up. A solid dome stretched overhead.

“I’ve got the coveted top floor. Welcome to your new home.”

Wait, Rune meant to keep her in a
pleasure den
? “In other words, you have digs in a whorehouse. If the dark fey fits . . .”

A muscle ticked in his wide jaw.

Oooh, did I jab a tender spot?

“A wiser vampire would be convincing me to spare her life. Not insulting me.”