Dark Spirits (28 page)

His voice was deep and rough. “Oh, Paige, I’m sorry.” Carefully, he took my arm and guided me to a wooden bench. “Sit here.” He took off his sweatshirt and handed it to me, leaving him wearing only a white T-shirt. “Your wounds should be sealed shut in a few minutes, but until then, cover the front of yourself with this.” I nodded and held it to my chest, smelling his scent on it and immediately felt a familiar comfort. He knelt in front of me and touched the side of my face. “I want you to close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you to. Can you do that for me?”

I nodded and leaned back, then yelped again when my sores touched the back of the bench. I glanced at Nathan. His eyes had iced over, ears flamed red, and his face became like solid stone. His gaze darted to the dried blood on my face. I noticed his chest rising and falling much faster, and his white T-shirt seemed to be getting tighter as his muscles bulked. I realized then he was becoming like The Hulk. I dropped my face into his sweatshirt. A gust of air stirred the hair around my face, and I heard Roeick’s horrific screams and a loud ripping noise.

“Please. Let us go. We’ll never bother Paige again. Stop.
Please,”
Roeick begged in a panic, fearful voice. “I’m sorry for hurting her.”

A growl rumbled through the chamber and something heavy was being dragged across the room. The chains rattled, sounding like they were being shoved aside.

Roeick moaned and cried, droning repeatedly about his broken legs. But then a shrill whine bellowed out of him after four loud clicks. I knew what Nathan was going to do, and so did Roeick. Again he begged Nathan to let him go.

Then I heard the whooshing noise and cringed. In a deep, powerful, furious voice, Nathan said an incantation in Latin about pain and repayment. Roeick would suffer ten folds for the suffering he had caused me. The snaps came out thick and fast, raining down upon him as Nathan methodically repeated the incantation.

Roeick shrieked in agony, bawling and pleading for Nathan to stop. After a few minutes, I couldn’t take the sound of flesh being brutally smacked or Roeick’s trumpeting shrills.

“Stop, Nathan.” My face and mouth were still buried in his sweatshirt, but I knew he could hear me; however, he didn’t stop. “Stop, Nathan,” I said louder between Roeick’s screams. But he didn’t even hesitated. I lifted my face and gasped when I saw Roeick’s bare back drenched in blood. There were half a dozen gaping lesions, the edges serrated with flaps of loose skin. Nathan stood behind him with his legs spread apart, whip in hand. He looked over his shoulder when he heard me, and his face fell. He tossed the whip and crossed the room.

Dropping to his knees, he cradled my face in his warm hands. “I didn’t want you to see that.” I didn’t respond. I just wanted to get out of here, and I couldn’t take Roeick’s screams anymore. I could feel the tears welling. “Do you think you can put my sweatshirt on now?” He rose when I nodded and examined my back. “It looks raw, but I think it’ll be manageable.” His voice sounded tight when he spoke. He was still pissed but was trying to control his anger because he knew I needed to get out of here.

I slipped his sweatshirt on and carefully pulled it over my back. Nathan helped me to my feet, and when I glanced around the round room, I spotted Aosoth. She was in a corner, bound like a mummy in black, nylon straps with duct tape over her mouth. Her brown eyes were wide with fear.

Nathan followed my gaze and glared at her. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll never bother Paige again.”

“Are you going to leave them here?” I asked when Aosoth defiantly looked away, and we climbed a flight of stairs cut from the same stone as the walls, leaving Roeick’s wails behind. Above us was a large square opening, cloaked in darkness. Another trapdoor, I guessed. Nathan followed close behind, our footfalls echoing in the narrow stairwell.

His voice came out cold and angry. “Their bodies can rot down there for all I care.”

My lips were trembling, and I sucked in a sob as everything came crushing down on me. My life felt condemned, every piece of it falling away, leaving me vulnerable and alone. I knew, despite how deeply I loved Nathan, I had to tell him good-bye. But when I crawled out of the square opening, preparing a farewell speech inside my head, I stopped short when my gaze fell on a figure standing at the door.

Cassondra.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Paige

Cassondra stood with her arms crossed, staring at me, smirking. Why was she even here? How did she know where we were? Unless Nathan had called her beforehand.

We were standing in a large, high ceiling foyer. Above the mahogany front door was a half-moon stained glass window. A pale ray of light poured through it onto the white marble floor. I moved aside when Nathan knelt to slide a loose slab of stone over the gaping square hole.

Yeah, that was the most logical and reasonable explanation. But why? Why would he tell her? He had to have known how hurtful this would be for me. Something hard and forceful rose in my stomach straight to my chest where panic and a strong urge to leave settled.

My heart pounded.

I needed to get away from them.

Like now.

But then she spoke, halting my immediate reaction to bail, jolting me into realizing my heightened emotions needed to be tamed. My thoughts shifted like the hour hand on a clock, leaving behind the minutes, announcing a new time. My mind became much clearer and sharper–a pliable immortal’s mind I obviously wasn’t used to molding or having.

“You look like hell, Paige.” Her stark tone did a poor job of veiling her enjoyment. The smirk was still on her face, and the laughter in her eyes said it all–she relished this moment.

I mimicked her–from her posture to the tone of her voice. I made a face. “What’s your problem?”

Cassondra looked down, smoothing her tan leather jacket over her leopard print shirt. “I don’t have a problem,” she said, sounding bored. “Other than I don’t like you.”

I straightened my back and squared my shoulders. “Well, I do.” I stuck a hand on my hip. “I don’t appreciate you kissing my boyfriend.” Then I pointed at Nathan who was standing off to the side glaring at Cassondra. “And you lied to me by conjuring up some bullshit story about getting me a surprise when really you were hooking up with
her
. . . I thought we--”

“I didn’t lie,” Nathan said, his voice calm, matching his heart rate I could clearly hear. His eyes poured into mine, serious and honest. “I called Cassondra to come here, not to hurt you, but so you can find out the truth.” He turned, sweeping his gaze onto her. Something silent passed between them because her hands began to shake. “Tell Paige.”

Her hand flitted to her forehead, damp with sweat. She hastily wiped her fingers across it and cleared her throat. “I set him up. He didn’t want to see me, but I told him I had information about you, and it was detrimental. So he dropped what he was doing and hightailed it to Candy’s Tavern.”

“Why?” I imagined Nathan receiving a call from her in the middle of his errand. What she said sounded like something he would do, especially if he thought she had information about me. His overprotective nature would have kicked in, and he would have dropped what he was doing to obtain any knowledge regarding my situation. But I refused to be easily swayed. I needed more information before I could make up my mind on what to believe.

“Because,” she answered, “once upon a time he didn’t love me. He left. So I wanted to pay him back. The end.”

I turned my attention to Nathan. “But
you
kissed her. You be--”

Nathan opened his mouth at the same time Cassondra piped,
“I
kissed him.” Her heart was racing, and she threw fervent glances at Nathan. She was scared. Maybe she was being truthful after all. “He wasn’t expecting it. And if you paid attention to anyone other than yourself, I had my arms around him. His hands never even touched me . . . unfortunately.”

That was true. Nathan didn’t embrace her; his arms were by his side. And if I were to be completely honest with myself–erratic emotions set aside–he appeared more stunned at her bold move than anything else. Then a thought occurred to me. “But I smelled your perfume on him the other night,” I said, recalling Nathan smelling like a whore. I could smell that cheap ass scent on her now. “So what am I supposed to think?”

She made a derisive sound. “I ran into him at a gas station. It was dumb luck. I was happy to see him and hugged him. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my friend Luke who happened to be with me that night.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared, speechless.

Nathan looked at me. “Paige--”

Cassondra sighed, annoyed. “I can call him right now if you would like.”

I held Nathan’s gaze. “But you didn’t pull back right away when she kissed you.” I had to say it, even though I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from him.

“He is a
great
kisser. But you already know that. Does he make you weak in the knees?” she asked, framing the question like Carrie would in an excited, curious voice.

Dumbfounded at her behavior, I fell silent. I knew if I focused my energy on the ache her statement created in my heart, my emotions would shift to those feelings, enabling them, which would cloud all reason from my mind. I was starting to understand how to rein in my crazy, sky-rocketing immortal feelings. Although, I wasn’t disillusioned enough to disregard that it may be an ongoing battle I might never win.

“Let me explain,” Nathan pleaded. He wanted me to hear him out. His side of the story. I could hear his heart pounding and caught the flicker of fear in his eyes.

 I didn’t say anything because I realized this was what I should have done from the start. So I listened. At first, though, his words fell out in a rush, propelled by his anxiousness to get me to believe him. But as he went on to explain the time in his life when he had reached his lowest point, I his heart rate dropped to a normal pace, and the tightness in my chest loosened.

Cassondra confirmed everything he told me, but her validation didn’t mean crap to me. However, I knew Nathan well enough to know he was telling the truth. When he explained what had happened with the kiss, my stomach twisted when the vision of them locking lips entered my mind. I looked down, staving off the tears. It was ridiculous. I know. Because I knew the truth now, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what Brayden had told me:
Sometimes a person’s sexual appetite will cause him to do things he normally wouldn’t do, especially when he knows a person who shares the same appetite.

“Oh, God, Paige,” Nathan’s voice cracked. “I swear it meant nothing. You’ve got to believe me. You’re all I care about in this world. Nothing else matters to me.”

“But . . . doesn’t she satisfy you more than I do?” I wasn’t sure if he would understand what I was talking about without me being blunt, but by the quick spark of surprised acknowledgment in his eyes, I knew right away he did.

He blinked and sounded appalled. “What? No, Paige.” He shook his head, and despite the sadness in his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifted, making my heart skip a beat. “You satisfy me more than anybody has ever done. Don’t ever worry about that. Okay?”

I bit my lip, feeling a trillion times better knowing Nathan was loyal, and Cassondra had nothing on me.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Cassondra said, making gagging noises.

In a flash, Nathan had her in a head lock with his knife blade against her neck. A startled squeak piped out of Cassondra at his rough gesture. He looked at me. “Show her your back.”

I shot him a weird look. “Why? My back is already healed.”

“Does it hurt?”

Actually, it still felt raw and sore. “Yeah. Why is that?”

“You’re a young immortal. Therefore, it’s going to take days for you to completely heal.” He jerked his head toward the front of Cassondra. “Now, please, humor me, and show her your back.”

I didn’t know what the big deal was. It wasn’t like Cassondra gave a crap what Roeick had done to me, but for some reason it seemed important to Nathan. I turned my backside to them, wincing more than I thought I would when I slowly raised his sweatshirt. Cassondra gasped, making me wonder how trashed my back was. I could hear Nathan’s breaths coming out thick and fast.

“Take a good, hard look.” His voice dropped to a dark, vengeful tone. “I blame you for this and everything else endured by Paige last night.”

“What happened to Paige wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know Roeick would capture her.” Her words came out in a floundering rush. “How was I supposed to know? You can’t blame Roeick’s actions on me. It wasn’t like I had conspired with him.”

“No. But you did with Anwar, and you manipulated Brayden’s feelings for Paige in order to get him to bring her to Candy’s Tavern. Not only that, you tricked me into meeting you there. You devised the whole scheme, knowing hurting Paige and breaking us up would hurt me worse than anything.” Nathan paused and the room fell silent except for his heavy breaths and Cassondra’s racing heart. There was nothing she could say to defend her actions. I glanced over my shoulder at the same time Nathan jerked Cassondra’s head forward, still in a headlock. “You see this!” His blazing eyes were on my back. “You were the catalyst in Paige’s suffering, and it makes you guilty.”

“I didn’t mean to. Just let me go. You’ll never see me again. I promise.” Her choked pleas gurgled as she fought to get more air into her lungs, the blade pressed to her jugular. “I did what you said. I told Paige the truth about us.”

“What you did to Paige is unforgivable,” Nathan said between clenched teeth. And then he leaned next to her ear and lowered his voice. “When you recover, I want you to leave here, and I don’t want to see you again. I’m sparing your life because you told Paige your cunning plan to destroy us. However, if you cross us again, I won’t be so generous. You have been forewarned.” He removed the knife from her neck, and with one quick jerk of his left hand, he snapped her neck. He released his arms in disgust, hanging them in the air as if he got something repulsive on them. Cassondra dropped, her body thudding against the floor in a heap.

I slapped a hand over my mouth and turned around. I couldn’t take my eyes off Cassondra’s head, twisted away from her neck in a ghastly manner. Her brown eyes were glazed over, but I could see life still in them.

“Can she hear us?” I looked up to Nathan watching me, measuring my reaction with wary eyes.

He nodded.

“How long will it take for her to recover?” Silently, I hoped it would take a very long time because, honestly, she deserved what Nathan had done to her. And even though I could hear Roeick’s whimpers–if I focused my attention on it–I was glad what Nathan had done to Roeick and Aosoth as well. I didn’t know if that made me a monster or not, but the way I saw it was what comes around goes around.

“Six to eight hours.”

My eyes shifted back on Cassondra. She looked like a broken doll with glass eyes. “Do you think she’ll leave us alone now?”

 The sun must have been rising because a golden, orange hue poured through the half-moon window. It hung behind Nathan, illuminating him as if he were an angelic warrior sent to earth to protect me against the evil that had encroached upon my life.

 My warrior, standing with his legs spread apart, his back straight, appearing taller than six-one. His white T-shirt clung to his muscular chest and arms. I continued to stare at him, waiting for his response and could feel a magnetic energy between us. I think he did too because he took a step toward me.

“I don’t know,” he finally said, his eyes locked onto mine. He took another step, and the energy grew stronger between us. My stomach flipped. “I have half a mind to stick her in a wall and bury her, brick by brick.” He stepped over Cassondra’s body and stopped in front of me.

I had the sudden urge to fall into his arms. I didn’t. I looked down instead, feeling a disappointment in myself for being quick in believing he’d be disloyal to me. I should have at least given him a chance to explain. Then again, I was too shocked and hurt to have hung around for the details. But I could have waited for him at home, though.

He reached out and cupped his hand around the side of my face. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, and when his eyebrows pulled together in confusion, I explained. “I should have waited for you at home and allowed you to at least explain yourself. But–but, I was . . .”

He placed a finger on my lips. “Shhhhh. Your actions are understandable. What matters is you know the truth now.”

He was being so sweet and kind about the whole thing I couldn’t help but throw my arms around him. He held me close, careful not to touch my sore back.

“I want you to know I’ve never stopped loving you.” I pulled back to look at him and added, “Even though I thought you’d betrayed me, I was still in love with you.”

He smiled and slowly ran a finger across my lips, then frowned. He pulled his finger away and looked at it. Flecks of dried blood were on his fingertip and nail. I had totally forgotten about the blood on my face. My cheeks flamed when I thought how frightening I must look. Cassondra had said I looked like hell, but I hadn’t given it much thought until now. I turned away so he didn’t have to look at me.

“I’m going to find a bathroom.” I headed to a circular room off the foyer, covered in windows draped in white curtains, yellowing with age. A worn brown couch was in the center of the room with my parka and shirt draped over the armrest. I carefully took Nathan’s sweatshirt off and slipped on my shirt and parka, shoving my hands in the pockets. All my stuff was still there.