Deadlands (The Healer Series, #2) (18 page)

“Is it possible that you smell even sweeter when you’re scared?” the sultry voice of Milosh purred in the dark. The soft tones of the Vampire were meant to calm and soothe, comforting their prey before putting them in a trance, turning them into a sex induced slave, feeding off them at will. It was rumored to be the greatest sensual delight that a woman (or man) could experience. It wasn’t termed “rape,” for the victim was just as willing as the criminal.

Willow’s heart stuttered when
a pale face slowly poked through the bars. Milosh was alone, and his eyes were burning red, a clear indication of his hunger. Licking his lips, his tongue ran smoothly over the tips of his fangs.

He unlocked
the cell door and came inside sliding easily into the small cell. Willow pushed up on her feet and backed up until she couldn’t anymore, and still Milosh continued to advance on her, stalking her like a cat would a bird in a cage. He stopped inches in front of her, invading her personal space. He smelled pleasant, a woodsy scent. Willow dipped her head and looked at the floor. Reaching out, Milosh grabbed a lock of Willow’s spiraled auburn hair and took a big whiff. He made a guttural, almost cat-like rumble deep in his throat. Willow stiffened and fisted her hands by her sides. She
must
resist this. She
must
not let him control her. If Selene had a plethora of Vampires here in the Deadlands, they were the most lethal kind. Not just in the enchanting way, but in the fierce, wild, warrior way as well. The Vampire before her was probably so strong that he could simply flick his wrist around her neck and she’d die instantly.

“Look at me,” he purred. Willow locked her eyes on the ground. She would not let this
Vampire enchant her. She refused to let him influence her. She refused it! “No?” He teased when she continued to avert her eyes. “Well, well, my beautiful kitten, we can do this the hard way,” his voice dropped low, “or…we can do this the fun way.” Milosh pressed up against Willow’s body locking her in place. He grabbed the back of her hair and pulled, forcing her head up. Willow whimpered, and no matter how hard she tried to control her breathing, her heart rate picked up. Vampires had attuned hearing to the electrical signals and beatings of the heart. It only got him more excited. He knew it wouldn’t be long before Willow gave into him completely.

“Come on, beautiful,” he hissed, his lips were so close to hers she felt the softness of them when he
spoke. “Look at me.” He pulled back slightly to see if Willow would. Opening her eyes and meeting his briefly, she spit in his face.

“BITCH!” He screamed and
immediately ducked his head and bit down forcefully into her neck. Willow screamed feeling the puncture go straight into her jugular vein. A direct and perfect hit. She felt the pull of her blood being drawn out of her as the Vampire sucked on her neck, moving his lips slowly with each draw of blood he took. Both his bottom and top fangs stabbed into her as he indulged on her blood. The slurping noise was disgusting, and was all that she could hear. Willow felt her shirt get soaked in blood as it pooled out of her. It was all wrong. It felt good! It shouldn’t feel good! The Vampire was feeding off her!

A burning sensation rushed through her and her breathing increased
, her heart spiked and pulsed excitedly at the endorphins the Vampire released into her bloodstream. A moan escaped her lips and her body trembled with unwanted anticipation of the Vampires’ takeover of her body. Her head spun with desire, and if she didn’t do something quick, they’d both explode with pleasure. She screamed until Milosh’s hand whipped out to cover her mouth, blocking her screams.

“MILOSH! GET OFF HER!” A deep voice
bellowed in front of her. She saw two pale strong hands clamp down on Milosh’s shoulders and pull him off her. Willow immediately cupped her wound with her hand to stop the flow of blood. Tears fell down her face as she instantly felt the healing power ignite inside of her again to close the puncture marks. Her head spun momentarily from the loss of blood to her brain. She gripped the bar behind her with her other hand to steady herself and gain control of her body. She was terrified realizing that instead of getting Milosh to stop, she didn’t want it to end. She had been mere seconds away from turning into a sex craved Vampire’s bitch.

“She tastes so good, Brother!” Milosh exclaimed and whipped his head
around to stare at Willow. Pure excitement was in his eyes and Willow cringed.

“She is not to be touched,” Oden growled and pushed Milosh out of the cell.
“The King’s orders!”

“
The King wants to test her limits,” Milosh said coolly. “Consider that test number one.” They both turned to Willow, who had dropped her hand from her neck, her skin was completely closed. “She failed miserably. She is so easy to control. It would only be too easy…”

“That’s not what he meant and you know it,” Oden said.

“What are you going to do, Oden? Tell him?”

“
Maybe I will…”

“You’re such a pansy, Oden, you wouldn’t tell him,” Milosh mocked. “
Besides, you wouldn’t break the Vampire Code.”

“Just bring the Healer,” Oden growled. “It’s time.”

Milosh wiped his lips on the back of his hand and smiled as he approached Willow once more. Even though she knew he wouldn’t try anything again, she still trembled as he roughly grabbed her arm and yanked her harshly out of the cell where Oden took hold of her other arm.  

Once again, they ushered her
to the great hall. The great blue demon was still slumping in his throne of flames. Willow now knew that the throne was hexed under Selene’s spell. When Willow met the demon’s glassy eyes that looked like black holes in a dark sky, she saw a slow smirk run up the demon’s face. Willow knew her secret. Willow knew that the demon on the throne was nothing more than a deception, a false, counterfeited image that all the creatures in the Deadlands bowed down to. She wondered how the Deadland creatures would respond if they knew what she really was.

Set up in the middle of the hall
, on the slick marbled flooring, was a long pole that extended nearly as high as the pillars. Declan stood with his bare back to her with his arms locked in chains above his head that tied to the pole. He was only wearing his jeans and what little light there was in the room illuminated the tight muscles underneath his flawless skin. Willow gulped. This didn’t look good. Declan was unharmed and hadn’t been tortured since she healed him last. His body looked good as new, no visible cuts or bruises. But she knew that it would change very soon.

“We meet again, Healer,” the blue demon bellowed from his throne, his minions laughed around him. Some were rubbing their hands together and
shifting their weight impatiently waiting for the activities to start. There were more creatures here than last time. Evil sprites fluttered around the room along with the Wakwak birds. Willow saw a chimera in the corner messing with hobgoblins and dunters. Selene had a freaking chimera working for her? Not only that, but several Cù-Sìth wolves were here as well. She had landed in the middle of Hell.

“The
fun has just begun,” the Demon said to the room. There was a palpable silence whenever the Demon spoke up. The creatures that had no respect for other races respected the evilest of them all-the Deadland King. They all turned their focus to him. If he were to command them to kill themselves, they’d gladly do it, asking which weapon he preferred. It was sick. “Does anybody here know if the Healer’s power is unlimited? Does anybody here know of any laceration she cannot cure?”

The trolls scratched their heads dumbfounded, trying to comprehend what the Deadland King was asking them, while others s
hifted uncomfortably and shook their heads. “WELL?” he bellowed when nobody answered him.

A large goblin steppe
d in front of the throne. “No, Your Majesty,” he bowed, his yellowish ears twitched.

“And why, Haygriff, is that?”

“Because it has not been tested, my King,” the goblin named Haygriff responded and stepped back nodding his head and bowing.

“Indeed!” the King said. “Shall we test the Healer’s worth? Shall we see how deep the wound can become
before she cannot heal anymore?”

“YES!” the room erupted in unison
and malicious laughter.

“
Then we shall proceed with the first test!” the Deadland King waved at a troll. The Vampires turned Willow around harshly to take in the horrific event. The troll was now walking towards Declan holding a long leather whip. At least a dozen leather strips were hanging from the handle of the whip. Attached to the end of these strips were sharpened glass shards of varying length. Silent tears fell down her cheeks. Selene was a cruel, sadistic Witch! Her love! Declan! NO!

With as much force as the troll had,
which was two times that of an average man, he flicked out the whip across Declan’s back.
CRACK!
Declan screamed as the glass dug into his back and pulled, slicing open his sensitive skin. Blood gushed everywhere, falling to the ground and pumping blood out of his body.

“STOP!” Willow cried.
CRACK!
The whip tore into his back again. Declan screamed and pulled on the chain that bound his hands together, trying to break free.
CRACK!
Declan’s head hung as he cried out. His screams were devastating. He cried and it broke Willow’s heart to see him endure such a heinous, reckless malice.

“ENOUGH!” Willow cried and twisted her head around as far as it would go to look at
Selene. “BITCH!” she yelled at him, and both Vampires turned their heads to her, looking at her with funny expressions, like why would she call a male demon a bitch?

The blue demon stood up
faster than possible and gripped his staff in obvious rage. “MORE!” he yelled to the troll.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The whip lashed out three more times and Declan screamed in agonizing pain.

“DECLAN I’M SORRY!” Willow’s voice broke out through the chaos of the excited creatures and the loud striking of the whip.

Suddenly, Declan’s body trembled and the chains binding him rattled and shook violently. The chains turned bright orange as if they were being forged in a blazing furnace. The chain couldn’t handle the heat and snapped off, freeing Declan! He turned and Willow’s mouth gaped open. This wasn’t Declan. This was the Destroyer. His eyes were orange fire, his hair had darkened to black, and his face was contorted in such fury and rage it came off of him in waves. The creatures around him cowered and backed away scared. Declan averted his eyes on the troll who damaged him and flung his cuffed hands at him. Fire exploded from his palms igniting the troll into flame. The troll screamed and dropped the whip and his great pale green hands flew in the air wildly. He hit himself trying to put out the fire.

“CONTAIN HIM!” The Deadland King
roared. But it was no use. Every time a creature approached Declan, he lit them with fire sending them running wildly screaming and attempting to douse the flames. Wakwak birds dove on him from above, but they were easily fried and landed sporadically across the marble floor. Declan was like an explosive bomb, and he always hit his target.

“LET ME GO!” Willow
jerked in the arms of the two Vampires that were watching with total bewilderment. At the sound of her voice, Declan zeroed in on the Vampires holding Willow. He walked up to them from across the room, and Willow’s heart swelled in fear. She knew Declan wouldn’t hurt her, but she had never seen him this furious before. What if he couldn’t distinguish her from the others? Would he hurt her? Could he tell it was her? In that moment, seeing him in this state, she couldn’t answer those questions. She wasn’t confident that Declan would know her. The darkness inside of him was controlling him now and had come out freely and effortlessly in his pain and was showing its full power.

It felt like a lifetime as she
watched Declan approaching the Vampires, no other creature made a move to fight him now knowing what he could do. The Vampires watched in horror and as soon as Declan was within a few feet, they instantly dropped Willow’s arms and backed up. Declan took the opportunity to fling his hands out and burn the guards. They screeched and ran out of the great hall. It would take more than fire to kill a Vampire, but at least it got them away from Willow.

Not caring if Declan knew her or not, she
rushed into his body and wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing him with all her might. Healing energy burst out of her and into him, flowing quickly and effortlessly, seeping into his skin and soothing his pain. She didn’t know what was going on around her. She couldn’t think about anything else but his wounds.

Tears cascaded down her face as she ran her hands up and down Declan’s bare back. His skin was closed and she by god would make him good as new, without any scars.
He took a brutal beating, and she was desperate to heal him now, regardless of what was going on around her. She felt Declan’s arm wrap around her and hold her firmly. She didn’t think she could get any closer to him, but Declan stepped into her even more, sheltering her with his presence. She felt safe. She felt calm. All her fears evaporated like water in a hot desert. Declan was her rock.