Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy, Book One) (12 page)

The robed man returned and spoke in the harsh
tongue. A look of satisfaction spread over the face of the creature
before her. He gripped her wrist hard, lowering his head. She
wrenched away. His reflexes were like Kris’s, too fast to follow.
He snatched her neck and rose, jerking her off the chair. Her air
supply cut off, she tore at the hand holding her until the skin on
his arm fell away to reveal smooth, black skin more akin to a
reptile’s than a human’s. When the world narrowed, he released her.
She fell, gasping for air.

"I want you alive, but I don’t care how much
you suffer. You will find I’m a reasonable…man. I offered you the
easy way, you refused. Now that choice is forever gone. You are
stuck with a way less comfortable for you. You’re in complete
control of how much I hurt you."

His calm words terrified her. She rubbed her
neck, sensing the evil and determination in his tone. He paused a
moment for the words to sink in. She caught her breath and waited.
When he reached for her, she flinched but didn’t fight him. He
pulled her up and gripped her neck, pushing her head aside to
expose the vulnerable skin.

She closed her eyes, telling herself she’d
survive this and figure out how to get the hell out of there, even
if it meant bartering with the monsters on her cell block. Her
resolve to grit her teeth and bear it lasted until the pain.

He tore into her neck, and agony seared
straight through her.

* * *

Rhyn's impotent frustration subsided some
when they returned the human. He didn't know if Sasha would
recognize her for what she was, or if only the immortal meant to
mate with her would see.

She came back in the same shape as when she
arrived: bloodied beyond recognition. He was surprised she came
back at all --Sasha had no mercy and rarely left his victims
alive.

Unless he wanted her for something else. What
would Sasha want with her? What was her gift?

He slapped the wall of his cell, cursing
Death again for not freeing him. He couldn't protect anyone from
Sasha in Hell, and he itched to taste the woman meant to be his
mate.

The robed man dropped her body on the bed,
sealed the cage, and turned to Rhyn.

"Your master will see you now," he said.

Rhyn growled at the robed man, who hurried
away. Sasha's servants wouldn't get within a foot of Rhyn; instead,
they shaped the magic of Sasha's realm around him and gave him only
one direction to go, that which Sasha wanted.

"Ooh, come out as something different!" Jared
exclaimed.

He'd amused them and himself by emerging each
time in some other shape. Today, however, he was more interested in
seeing Sasha and hearing about the human than amusing the zoo
creatures. He waited for the barrier before him to lift and then
strode out.

"A half-breed! Worst one yet!" Jared
exclaimed, hanging his hands through the bars in his cell.

"Fuck off, demon," Rhyn growled.

He made his way through the castle with the
black stones as he had many times during his long stay. The twin
moons of the outer banks of Hell were bright. It was always dark
here, and the moons rose and set each day. The fresh air was
welcome after the musty scents of prison. He found some of his
wired energy dissipating at the long walk and change of scenery
despite knowing nothing good had ever come from a meeting with
Sasha.

Sasha was waiting for him in his study,
sitting beside a fireplace that burned with black flames. Blood had
dripped down his face to speckle his shirt. His silver-blue eyes
glowed with no warmth as he smiled.

"Time for our periodic chat, little brother,"
he said, and motioned to the other chair before the hearth.

Rhyn refused it and threw himself onto the
comfy couch farther away from Hell's flames.

"How are all my pets?" Sasha asked.

"You know how they are, fuckhead."

"Another month and you're still defiant."

Normally, it was as far as they got before
Sasha flew off the handle, had him tortured, and threw him back
into his cell. Rhyn waited for it, determined to put up the same
fight he always did.

It didn't come. Sasha was calm.

In fact, Sasha was
happy
!

Rhyn sat up, eyeing his brother warily. Sasha
sipped blood from a goblet, content.

"I've decided to take a mate."

Rhyn laughed, thoughts flying to the spunky
human in the zoo. Sasha glared at him.

"You, brother, will take a mate?" Rhyn
goaded. "It's the human you threw in the cell across from me, isn't
it?"

"She's beautiful and she's an immortal's
mate."

"Beautiful? No. Not ugly, yeah. Our family
has no luck with immortal mates. Traitorous bitches, all of
them."

"Sounds like
brotherly
concern," Sasha
mocked. "You know, if you hadn't joined our family, I wouldn't be
here, and Father would still be alive. You think I want to be in
Hell at the side of the Dark One?" Sasha flung his arm around.

Rhyn rolled his eyes and got up, grabbing an
orange off the fruit basket on Sasha's desk. Sasha's moods were
varied and fickle, never lasting too long. Of all the brothers,
he'd always been the one to begrudge Andre's role as their
leader.

"As long as I keep her out of your reach, so
you don't kill this one, too," Sasha added.

"If she's yours, I'll kill her faster."

Even as Rhyn spoke, he was disturbed by the
thought of the frazzled but sweet woman across the hall from him
falling to his brother. She was a smartass worthy of any of his
brothers, and yet, no human deserved
this.

Especially not the immortal mate meant for
him.

His gaze took in Sasha before sliding to the
black flames. He'd forgotten what color real fire was, but he found
himself thinking it was orange, like the fruit in the basket on
Sasha's desk. Sasha was staring into the fire, pensive.

"She's different," Sasha muttered. "Easy to
break. Still human."

"What's her gift?"

"Fuck off, Rhyn. Who would you rather see her
with, Kris or me? Kris must be livid I've stolen her from him."

"She's better off dead."

He wanted to keep Sasha talking, to find out
what it was about this woman that was so special that both Sasha
and Kris wanted her. And to spend more time outside his cell. He'd
long since stopped trying to escape, knowing the magic of Hell and
the Dark One was too old for him to break. He'd still rather be
humoring Sasha and eating his oranges than sitting in the damned
cell!

"You don't seem too thrilled yourself," he
added.

"The timing is bad," Sasha said with a
glance. "I may need something of you soon."

"You know I'll refuse."

"We'll see," was the growled response. "I do
have news for you."

"I don't give two --"

"Andre is dead-dead."

Rhyn fell silent. The only brother who'd
accepted him and treated him half decently was gone?

"Thought that might mean something to you,"
Sasha said, searching his face. "I guess not. Maybe I've succeeded
in breaking you after all."

"Never, fuckhead."

"Without your protector, you'll never be
welcomed at the Council."

"I never was," Rhyn growled. "One of you was
always trying to kill me."

"And now you've got no one to protect you.
You've got nothing, Rhyn, but a place by my side. Think about
it."

"Done. No," Rhyn said without hesitation.

"Get the fuck back to your cell."

Sasha left, pissed this time. Rhyn watched
him, even more curious after the odd interaction. Sasha had told
him many things before to try to break him, but this time, he
sensed the truth behind the words.

Andre was gone. He felt heaviness sink to the
pit of his stomach, and regret trickled through him.

Of all the brothers, Andre had been the only
who believed in him. The eldest and wisest had found him when he
was a child, wandering the immortal world, alone. Andre had raised
him as much as anyone, sponsored his petition to be recognized by
the immortals, cleaned up all the messes he'd never meant to
make.

Regret turned to sorrow, and Rhyn gazed
around him. Whatever killed Andre would never have succeeded if he
weren’t trapped here!

He snatched two more oranges before the magic
constrained his movement. He took his time going back to the cell
block.

Sasha was not a hard creature to understand.
This time, Rhyn couldn't figure out why the creature wanted a human
so badly he'd bring her here yet didn't seem eager about her
becoming his mate.

He retreated to his cell and sat against the
wall again, troubled by a familiar feeling of helplessness.

He could've saved Andre. He had the magic,
the strength.

He simply didn't have the control. His
brothers didn't hate him just because of his lineage. They hated
him because he couldn't focus his magic. It came out when it wanted
in what form it wanted.

They'd always said he was a danger to the
human world because of this. In the darkness of his cell, he
admitted this was true, but he also knew no one could've saved his
brother but him.

He hated Kris even more. Fury and sadness
made him loosen control of his magic. He didn't care that Hell
would suck him dry.

He slammed himself against the cell walls,
roaring.

* * *

"Still alive, Lunchmeat?"

She never thought she’d want to hear the
monster’s voice. Her world was one of agony and blurred colors.
Someone had dumped her into a heap in her cell, and she felt
Lankha’s cool, fuzzy hands.

"He took too much," the healer chided.

She smelled her own blood. It covered her by
the time he’d finished his sick games with her. Her heartbeat was
shallow and fast; her head felt like it was in a clamp. He’d forced
her to stay awake through it all despite her fainting spells,
tearing open her veins and feeding until she was too weak to fight
him.

He
wanted
her to fight him, to ratchet
up the levels of agony. He got off on it as he dry humped her and
sucked her life from her.

Rhyn made a racket in his cell. She wished,
prayed he got free and ended her.

Lankha’s cool magic worked quickly. He took
away her pain first then shoved a water cube between her lips. It
melted in her mouth and ran down her throat, soothing it after her
screams had run it raw. The healer’s soft hands took away her
headache, then the throbbing in her neck, and worked on the other
parts of her body until she felt whole again.

She was too weak to move. He gently removed
the blood-soaked jumper and cleaned her. His touch was so soothing
and cool, she vowed to give him whatever blood he wanted for taking
away such pain. He tugged on another jumper and then lifted her
onto the bed with strength that seemed at odds with his small
form.

Still, she couldn’t sleep. She relived the
bloody scene in the banquet hall, heard the creature panting her
name as he came against her thigh and then tore through the other
side of her neck. He’d spent hours on her, disabling her and then
hurting her.

Lankha shoved another cube in her mouth, then
a third. They melted and trickled down her throat. They weren’t
water cubes; they tasted of nothing she could identify. They were
metallic and sugary. He smoothed out her hair and finally rested a
feathery hand on her eyes, easing her into a restless sleep that
didn’t last long enough.

It felt like mere seconds later when she
opened her eyes but guessed it’d been much longer. Her body was
weak but working, and there were more of the odd sugar cubes beside
her pillow. Lankha was asleep above, and the clamoring of the cell
block was gone. She rubbed her head, shaking despite the rest. She
ate two more of the sugar cubes and a water cube, eyes lingering on
the bloody mess that was her jumper in the corner.

She had to get out of there. She understood
Jared’s warning about torture and being willing to bargain. But she
didn’t think any of them could escape, or they would have.

"Not so brave anymore, are you, little
girl."

Her eyes fell to the dark cell holding
Rhyn.

"If you were half as tough as you sound, you
wouldn’t be stuck in here," she retorted.

"Lunchmeat’s still kicking," Jared said. His
hands appeared through the cell bars.

Rhyn smashed himself against the cell, as if
to prove his strength. She ignored him and rubbed her forehead.

"What does the amulet do?" she asked
Jared.

"Now you want to talk."

"Keeps us here," Rhyn growled.

"Yes, that neat little trinket is a source of
constant magic that traps us. I hear you’re immune to magic. You
could get one of us out," Jared said.

"If that’s the case, why on earth would I
bother to free any of you parasites?" she asked, too tired to
stand. She sat next to the bars on her cell.

"I guess you wouldn’t if you didn’t plan on
leaving Hell. Sasha’s men would kill you twice before you reached
the front door."

He had a point, but she knew she’d be in as
much danger from the monsters as from Sasha’s men. If she had the
amulet and could bargain for protection --and one of them not
eating her in exchange for her freedom --she wondered if she
couldn’t escape. Or better yet --if the monster she rescued would
kill her once freed.

"No pain," Rhyn said with a husky
chuckle.

"Not too much pain, and I’ll raise you a
promise not to fuck you till you’re dead," Jared offered.

"Jesus," she muttered.

"He ain’t coming here," a voice down the
hallway snickered.

"But I am!" another chortled.

She touched her neck delicately, tracing the
scars. They were jagged and ugly, similar to those on her arms.
Lankha was a lifesaver, but she didn’t intend to spend the rest of
her years being torn apart by some sadistic vampire with a hard
on.