Page 87 of Shadows of Eternity

“I don’t know.” Dammit, in three hundred years, he’d never felt this helpless.

“I’d like to lend a hand.”

Rohan snorted. “As if I’d trust you.”

“I don’t trust you, either,” Trent retorted. “But maybe we could have a temporary truce?”

“I thought you were itching to take my head?”

“Yeah, well.” Frumusanu shrugged. “I’m not doing it for you. Leia is Janae’s best friend. I’d hate to see anything happen to her.”

Rohan lifted a skeptical brow “But?”

“Janae threatened to leave me if I don’t give up hunting.”

“Isn’t that supposed to be a secret?”

“I didn’t tell her I was hunting vampires, just collecting bounties on ordinary people. She thinks it’s wrong. Now, about that truce … ”

Rohan thought it over and then said, “What the hell, it’s a deal. At least until we find Leia.”

Trent nodded and held out his hand. “Truce.”

Rohan stared at the hunter’s hand, then shook it. “Truce.”

“So, where do we start?”

Rohan shook his head. “Beats the hell out of me. Just one thing—when we find Josiah, I’ll kill him. You can collect the reward.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Leia might have thought she was in hell if she wasn’t so cold. She couldn’t see anything but blackness, hear anything but her own rapid breathing. Worst of all, she couldn’t move. Was she tied down? Paralyzed? Dead? Where was Rohan?

She froze when she heard scratches on the floor. Rats?

With a sob, she closed her eyes and tried to pray but she couldn’t speak, couldn’t think coherently.

Rohan. Rohan. Rohan.In her mind, she screamed his name. But there was no answer. Had he abandoned her?

Her eyes flew open as light flared. Afraid to look for fear of what she might see, she squeezed her eyes shut again. And heard coarse laughter.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” urged a familiar voice. “I feel like a snack.”

She shuddered at the sound of Josiah’s voice. In the faint light, she saw that she was tied to a bed in a small, dark room made of concrete. There were no windows, no furniture other than the hard cot beneath her.

Josiah stood beside her, his lips parted in a wolfish grin that revealed gleaming, white fangs. In a sudden move, he was bending over her, his fangs at her throat.

Please, she prayed.Please let me die.

Lifting his head, the vampire shook his head. “No death for you, girl, at least not the kind you want.”

Leia stared at him. “Wh … what do you mean?”

He licked her blood from his lips. “There’s death,” he said, with a wolfish grin. “And then there’s death.”

Her eyes grew wide as she grasped the meaning of his words.

“I’ll give you the same choice I gave Rohan. Life or death? It’s up to you.”

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