Page 99 of As Darkness Fall
I couldn’t blame Vir for his fury, either. A thousand-year betrayal. Funneling souls from the Underworld into the Direen to destroy everything Vir knew, killing his family. Yes, a great-reckoning was right.
“Come on, Johnathan,” I called softly as I heard a rustling of bushes nearby. “Let’sgo. We have to get out of here before Lars–”
A form stepped out of the bushes. A too tall, too broad-shouldered form.
“Before Lars realizeswhat?” Lars asked, smiling wickedly at the pair of us.
Chapter Forty-Eight
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I said, standing stock still.
Around us, there was more noise. Staring into the long grass, I saw the whispered shapes of wolves gliding through the blades, making barely a noise as their furred forms slid past. I stopped counting at four and decided just to assume there were a lot more.
We were surrounded.
From behind Lars, the grasses parted to reveal two more enforcers, still in human form. Between them, they dragged a limp form.
“Johnathan,” I hissed, horrified at the sight of him.
Two sets of silver manacles bound his wrists and ankles. He hung, unmoving, from where the shifters held him by his upper arms. Along his forehead, a wicked gash had dripped blood down the left side of his face. It was dried but not fully healed.
I couldn’t tell if he was alive or not at. The way he slumped between his captors wasn’t telling. I didn’tthinkLars would kill his son, but then again, I wouldn’t put anything past him. Not anymore.
“I think you misplaced this,” Lars said, snapping his fingers at his thugs.
The shifters tossed the body at us with casual disdain. Vir and I caught him as gently as possible, easing him to the ground. I put my fingers to his throat, breathing in a sigh of relief when I felt the faint pulse of life.
“He’s still alive,” I told Vir. “Weak, but he’s there.”
“Of course, he’s alive,” Lars spat. “How else am I going to teach him that he should know where his loyalties lie?”
“Oh, I think he knows that just fine, Lars. He chose a side. You just don’t like that it wasn’t yours.”
The Alpha laughed. “The boy knows no respect for his elders. For the man who raised him.”
“You don’t get respect just for being old, Lars,” I said, standing up, facing the Alpha. “You get it byearningit. By being someone deserving of respect. Just because you lived and fucked someone until they popped out a child doesn’t mean you’re a good father or a good person.”
“Take him with you,” Lars said, waving a hand at me. “I never want to see him again.”
“I think it’s probably safe to assume he feels the same,” I snapped. “Given the way you’ve treated him.”
“Ha!” Lars barked. “That traitor got what he deserved. After all, I caught him trying to steal this.”
Lars reached behind his back and withdrew a long, wickedly sharp-looking dagger. He held it casually in one hand, admiring the blade, his lips twisting upward in a caricature of a smile.
There was a mild crossguard at the blade base, the burnished-gold color unlike any metal I’d seen before. The handle itself was wrapped in dark brown leather that looked like it had recently been oiled. The blade portion was perhaps six to eight inches long, tapering to a narrow point. It was made of some slate-gray steel, far darker than most metals.
I nervously swallowed as Lars slipped his wrist through the loop of leather at the base, designed to ensure he didn’t lose grip. Then, he weaved the blade through the air in several casual strokes.
The last thing I wanted to do was fight him. I’d gone up against Lars once before when he wielded that dagger, and somehow I’d escaped with my life. Doing so a second time didn’t seem like a recipe for success.
“Yes, it’s pretty, isn’t it?” Lars said, chuckling softly to himself as he admired the blade. “That’s why I had a replica made, you see. I keep this one on me at all times. While the other sits out. Waiting for someone to show me their true colors. Like him.”
“That’s your son,” I said, trying one last time to evoke some compassion in Lars.
“I have no son,” Lars growled, leveling the blade at me.
My throat went dry. At my feet, Johnathan stirred, saying something, but his words were too slurred to be understandable.
