Page 101 of White Raven
“Please,” she begged. “Please don’t be angry. Every copper I save to get us out of here is worth it. One day, my darling…one day we’ll want for nothing.”
“A real man shouldn’t pay for the most intimate parts of you.”
She palmed his face, her eyes lining with tears as she smiled. “These men aren’t half the man you’ve grown to be, love. But I do not regret it. I cannot. You were the greatest gift of whatever sacrifice I’ve made. I would do it all again.”
It tore him apart every time she left this run-down shack to lie with ambitious men who had no true regard for the precious soul that embodied her. The simple truth that none of them would ever have the pleasure of knowing how amazing she really was…it slaughtered him.
“Please don’t go tonight. I’m staying late at the distillery for the next three days. I’ll see so little of you,” he pleaded. It seemed as if she considered it, but as he returned to the house after bathing, she’d readied herself in her scandalous gown and painted her face to look like the woman he never recognized as his mother.
“Forgive me, darling.”
It would be a moment he would regret for the rest of his life. His decision to remain silent as she left to go meet her clients for the evening. He was too angry to even tell her goodbye. It was the last time he’d ever see her alive.
“No!” Athan screamed, jolting awake, and smashing his head against—against… “Mother?” he called out, an agonizing pain shooting down his neck…his shoulder. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
Athan reached around the confines of wherever he was, finding very little space, and just as little air. It only took a split-second to realize…
Fuck…fuck…
He wasn’t back in that house. She was still gone. This wasn’t a second chance at saving her life. This was modern day hell on Earth. He could faintly hear the sound of traffic. His head felt as if it were trapped in a thick, damp fog.
What happened?
Sarah…he had fought with Sarah. She told him she wasn’t coming home. Nell had given him an envelope. He had gone to the apartment and—
“Sorry, handsome. This might hurt.”
That’s all he could remember as the world went dark. As dark as where he was now. That voice. It was…
“Sykes,” he whispered, realizing exactly what sort of situation he’d found himself in as panic began to take over, and his breathing kicked up. His throat burned. A familiar burn that seeped through his veins and demanded to be satisfied. But why? Sarah’s attack had been mere months ago.
She’d killed him.
“She killed…” he huffed, erratically. “Fuckingbitch!” He struggled against whatever held him prisoner, but to no avail. He was weak. His immortal body was compensating for the energy it had taken to bring him back. And now it was starving for what it’d lost.
“Hello!”
His fists rammed against the coffin; limbs spongy…air depleting. How long had he been buried? He started to sweat, and his hunger set in. It was in that moment he realized two things:
One…he’d lose his battle with the monster inside in a short time.
Two…his oxygen would run out…and he’d die again.
Neither of those would help him break out. And if he did, someone innocent would likely die. Someone innocent would become prey to that monster. That part of him that he couldn’tcontrol. How many times could a vampire die before the body began to prepare for what most called ‘the idle sleep’?
Tony had spoken about it before. How some elders chose to sleep off a few centuries and wake to a different age. Dahlia forbade it. There would be no recompense of the services the coven provided for her. No dreamless vacation from the life she forced them to live. Waking someone in idle sleep required tremendous amounts of fresh blood. Centuries ago, some covens hosted grand celebrations to awaken members, offering high numbers of human hosts for the cause. He wanted to vomit. If he couldn’t claw his way out of here, he may never recover from what could come after. Never forgive himself for ending up in this nightmare. His breaths became short…choppy…
Useless.
He frantically beat against the coffin in rage.
“Hellooooooo!”
CHAPTER 19
DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
“How in the hell did this happen?”
