Page 80 of Death Bringer

Treacherous hope stirred in him. But if she wasn’t dead, she was being held captive, her survival subject to his good behavior. If Adam expected him to fight, he obviously had to offer him an incentive to do so. Vadim took a deep steadying breath. If Ella was in Otherworld, he would find her, and be damned to anyone’s expectations of him playing nice.

He reached out a shaking hand, grabbed the backpack and brought it to his face, inhaling Ella’s scent. Beneath his tightening grip, the fabric started to tear, and he forced himself to relax. She felt close, but was that an illusion created by his need or was it reality?

Dammit, he wastouchingthe backpack. His hands were free of the chains… His rage had fueled his power to new heights and he was recovering far more quickly than Adam might have anticipated. Vadim smiled into the darkness. Luckily, the attempt to undermine him had simply made him stronger. If Ella was near, he was going to find her and then let loose hell…

* * *

Ella sat uprightas a burst of magical power shook through the building, and more importantly, right through her. That had to be Vadim, but what was up with him, and where was she? Her head pounded and she was thirsty. Dammit, she was tired of waking up and not knowing what the hell was going on…

Her leg hurt.

Looking down, she couldn’t see the damage the dragon had inflicted on her ankle, because someone or something had bandaged it up. Were dragon bites infectious? Would she need a shot? Where the hell would she get that?

She was in a small room with just a bed and a sink, rather like a monk’s cell. There was a window, but it was set high in the wall. She didn’t think it faced the outside, because the light was wrong. Tentatively, she searched for Rossa in her mind, but he wasn’t there. All she could feel was Vadim, and even he feltdifferent.

Her backpack had gone, which meant she had no food. Her stomach rumbled in protest. Maybe they knew that after twenty-four hours without coffee and donuts, she’d be willing to tell them anything they wanted. She couldn’t sit here and wait for that to happen. With as much care as she could manage, she lowered her injured foot to the floor and immediately winced.

Would the cleanup spell work on wounds? It had certainly worked on clothes. She had to suspect that the words Vadim had given her were rather more complex than he’d let on. Or was it the power of Otherworld that enhanced them? She didn’t know, and as long as it kept working, she wasn’t going to second-guess herself. She felt her left shoulder, which was still throbbing like a bad tooth. Would it work on that too? Sounds beyond the door made her lie back down on the bed and close her eyes.

The door opened a scant inch, and a troll looked in on her.

“She’s still unconscious, sir.”

“Good. Leave her, then. The master wants to see her when she awakens.”

Themaster?Ella wanted to snort. Adam obviously thought a lot of himself, but then power-crazed individuals usually did. The door shut, and she was alone again. She counted to five hundred and then cautiously got up and went over to the door. There was no sound from outside, but that didn’t mean much. One of those stupid dragons might be curled up right on the threshold.

She turned back to the window. Surely that was the better option? Vadim had been a whiz at opening locked doors and getting through stuff, so she assumed she would be too. Unfortunately, she was pretty sure her ass wouldn’t fit through the space. Maybe she could be like Alice and minimize herself a bit? She’d managed to do that at the front door without even thinking about it. Or could she walk through the wall?

She tried that first and ended up with a bump on her head and a bruised right knee. So the wall was out. How about the window? What would happen if she got stuck halfway? She sat back on the bed and considered her options. Another wave of raw power shook the building. Her heart rate sped up in response. Vadim was seriously pissed about something. Did she dare try and contact him? Did she want to? She took off her boot and threw it toward the open window. It bounced back off some invisible barrier.

She shoved her foot back into the boot and stood up. There was no time for finesse.Fuck it.She had to get out right now. From her position by the bed, she raised her hands and blasted power at the door. It blew outward and crashed against the door opposite with a horrendous crash. She didn’t wait to see the reaction from her captors, but tried to magic herself back outside the complex. Nothing happened. In desperation, she started to run along the corridor in the hope of finding her way to the exit.

Her mind seemed to know where she was heading, so she followed her instincts, aware of pursuit but more than willing to kill to reach her goal. She reached an inner covered courtyard with a Japanese-style koi pond, miniature temple and a covered glass ceiling, her breath loud in her ears. The only other sound was the tranquil stir of the fountain.

“Ella!”

She clapped her hands over her ears as a possessive roar crashed over her senses.

“Keep it down, Morosov!”

“ELLA!”

Something huge and dark appeared on the other side of the space, and she forgot how to breathe. The creature was massive, with black wings, clawed fingers and sharp, wicked-looking teeth.

“Um,Morosov?”

The thing glared at her and then spoke, its bellowing voice beating against the walls like a drum.

“Who are you?”

“It’s me, you big feathered dummy!”

She didn’t have time to say more as the creature leaped forward, picked her up and shot upward, shattering the glass ceiling as they soared above the complex. Wind rushed through her hair, and she clung onto his massive shoulders as they climbed higher and higher. Had she ever mentioned to him how much she hated heights? She buried her face in his feathered chest as they plummeted back to earth, and kept it there until her feet touched something solid.

“Morosov, what the hell?—?”

His mouth was on hers, his fangs grazing her lip until she opened to him. He backed her up until she was braced against a wall, or a tree, or something. She didn’t care as long as it held her up and he continued to kiss her. His mouth devoured hers, and her hand tightened in the feathery softness of his long black hair. It was Vadim, but it wasn’t. She probably should’ve been afraid.

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