Page 15 of Devil's Night

I offered her a wolfish grin, pointed canines glinting in the low light. “It’ll take more than that to stop me, little one.”

Nicole swallowed hard, gaze dropping briefly to the sluggishly bleeding wound on my shoulder before snapping back to my face. An array of emotions flickered across her features – awe, fear, something darker that made my pulse race.

Perhaps she sensed the predator lurking just beneath my surface, the feral beast kept tightly leashed. The thrill of battle still sang in my veins, leaving me keyed up and ravenous in a different way entirely.

Slowly, never breaking eye contact, I sheathed my blades and moved to her side. Nicole’s breath caught in her throat as I reached out, calloused fingertips ghosting along the curve of her jaw.

“You’re safe,” I rumbled, allowing the barest hint of a purr to bleed into my tone. “I’ll always keep you safe, Nicole.”

She shivered at my words, at the intimate caress, but didn’t pull away. Her pupils were blown wide, her breath a trembling exhale. So responsive, so beautifully vulnerable in that moment.

It would be so easy to simply take what I craved, to claim her as mine here and now. She wouldn’t fight me, not really. Part of her wanted it too, wanted to surrender to the raw hunger that licked at both of us.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Nicole deserved more than to be rutted against like a mere conquest.

She deserved reverence, worship, her pleasures put before my own baser needs.

With a monumental force of will, I gentled my touch and made myself take a step back, getting some much-needed distance. Nicole blinked, the spell broken, and drew in a shuddering breath.

“Let’s go,” I said gruffly, jamming the release card into one of the pouches on my belt. “Now that we have this, our way out is that much closer.”

Nicole could only nod mutely, still looking somewhat dazed. Without another word, I turned on my heel and strode from the sitting room, trusting she would follow.

She always did, drawn to me in ways I didn’t fully understand. But one thing I was certain of– I would see her free of this place, no matter what dark temptations lurked along the path.

My honor, my code, demanded nothing less.

NICOLE

Another flicker, another opening from the maze. I tightened my grip on the rusty doorknob, the metal biting into my palm. “Ready?”

Sargon’s low rumble came from behind me. “As I’ll ever be.”

We’d tried retracing our path, but it was as if the house had turned into one of those origami fortune-tellers that I played with back in grade school. Space folded around us, shuffling the rooms of the mansion, changing the floors.

And the deeper into the maze we went, the more the horrors around us seeped into my mind.

But there wasn’t any choice. The only way out was through.

I twisted the knob and pushed. The door creaked open, revealing a dimly lit hallway lined with dusty picture frames. A musty smell wafted out, tickling my nose.

We stepped inside, the floorboards groaning beneath our feet. Sargon moved with a predator’s fluid grace despite his size, while I tried not to trip over my own boots.

Streaks of mold crept across cracked plaster like grasping tendrils. An involuntary shudder ran through me. What other nightmares awaited us?

We reached the end of the hall. A curving staircase loomed before us, the steps worn and uneven. Sargon went first, testing each tread before motioning me to follow.

Halfway up, a faint noise made me freeze. “Did you hear that?”

Sargon stopped, his pointed ears twitching. After a moment, he shook his head. “Hear what?”

“I’m not sure. It sounded like scratching? Scrabbling?” I strained to catch the sound again, but the staircase was tomb-silent once more.

We continued our ascent, the steps groaning in protest. At the top, a narrow corridor branched off to our left and right.

Sargon inhaled deeply through his flared nostrils. “This way.” He turned right without hesitation.

Trailing after the hulking Vinduthi, shadows flickered in the corners of my vision. I blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the unnerving tricks of light and darkness.

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