Page 74 of After Darkness Falls

"There's no escaping the hill now," he said, hand still on her throat, another one around her waist.

His grip was the only thing keeping her upright.

"We're surrounded. And lower down the hill, the masters who unleashed the ferals on us are waiting for us. If I tried to get you out of here, I'd fail. They'd fight, and the moment you're out of my reach, they would destroy you. Rip out your heart. Behead you. Nod if you heard me."

So many words, all meaning one thing.

She was going to be killed. Someone would manage to get to her. There was no hope of getting out of this.

She sniffed. "Why? Why do they—"

Her voice broke. Did it matter why?

“We don’t have time, Chloe. Not now. Remember everything I’ve said. Focus on it. Can you do that?”

It didn’t sound like he was trying to hurt her after all. She swallowed with difficulty and nodded.

“Good girl. I’ll see you on the other side.”

She wanted to ask what he meant.

But he’d snapped her neck, and she was already dead.

33

Control

Three months ago

“You’ve tamed a magnificent beast, Leviathan,”the goddess had said, so long ago.“And a clever one. Do as you please but heed my warning. If the creature inside you stirs, you would do well to listen to it.”

Levi had been a wild thing in his youth. Passionate about right and wrong, ready to right wrongs and fight for those who couldn't stand up for themselves.

Then, he'd grown up. Realized that fangs, claws, and the monsters of the deep sea couldn't solve a thing. And he'd used his skills another way. His mind was superior to most immortals, and he bent it toward finding cures to the most devastating illnesses, inventing devices that saved lives. He was a scientist, and proud of it.

Fifteen hundred years had passed since Ariadne had said those words to him, and not once had he needed to listen to her advice.

Until that night.

The beast was rushing to the surface, desperate to be freed.

Levi let it run. All night and most of the morning, as fast as he could, without rest. Run, run, run. He didn’t understand it; he just knew he had to get there.

His steps took him to a familiar gray city awakening in the rain.

London.

His clothes were torn and his shoes had holes. Levi headed to the home he kept in Kensington to change as fast as possible, and he followed the call pulling him forward, like a passenger along for the drive.

That’s when he saw her for the first time, and he knew right then.

She would have died if he hadn’t made it.

He knew her name. He’d seen a picture of her before, attached to a file. A prospective student at the Institute.

Chloe.

When she’d just been a name and a picture, he hadn’t understood. Now that she was in front of him, now that he smelled and felt her, he got it.

---