Page 87 of Embrace Me Darkly

“Well…”

He met her eyes, looked deep…and let his will be done.

“No harm,” she said, easing closer, the seductive smile ridiculous on her pixie face and brightly colored hair.

“No harm,” he agreed. “Come closer.”

She did, pressing herself to him, one hand closing around his shaft. She stroked him in a slow, practiced motion that had him groaning, fighting the urge to let her finish. But no. He had other plans for her, and in a low voice, he told her.

She looked at him, and for a moment he thought the hold would snap. Thought he would have to change into mist, transform to chase her down. He didn’t want to. The shackles, though illusory, kept the serpent at bay. A reminder, he supposed, that he’d once won. Once upon a time, he’d beaten the serpent back fiercely.

Besides, he got off on it. On being exposed to them. Vulnerable to them.

Because hesowasn’t vulnerable.

This one, though. This one wasn’t cooperating. Instead, she was squirming against him, fear in her eyes. The fear that came with understanding. In finally realizing what he meant to do.

He’d told her, of course. But until this moment, she hadn’t believed.

Concede.

She sighed, long and languid, as the suggestion filled her mind. Then she tilted her head to the side, exposing her neck for him. So white, so smooth. Like marble, and yet not. Pliant and delicious and living. Pumping with life. Pumping with blood.

He breathed deep, letting her scent envelop him, letting the pressure build within until he was certain he would come when the first drop of her blood touched his tongue. And then, when he could stand it no longer, he sank his fangs deep into her throat, his entire body convulsing with pleasure as the blood began to flow.

Ecstasy.

This was it. What he needed. What he’d been craving.

But it still wasn’t enough.

He needed to taste the tang of fear in her blood. Needed it to bring him out, to pull him through.

Had to have it.

Now.

The bond between them snapped, and the instant it did, she screamed. And inside Serge, the wakening serpent stretched and uncoiled and slithered that much closer to freedom.

* * *

Sara flipped through the pages of one of her father’s journals that she’d brought with her to work that day. The entries were cryptic, but now that she was looking at them with the perspective of someone inside Division 6, she was able to make some things out.Tiber & D, for example. Dragos, maybe? And the notes about the Shadow creatures walking among the humans—he didn’t mean as they did now. He meant with full knowledge of everyone in the world.

It was a terrible idea.

Even from her perspective of only a few days in this world, she knew that it would overwhelm. The Shadow world would be too tempted by the possibility of power. The human world would lose its shit and fight back even without an actionable threat. There would be violence and chaos, and war between the Shadow factions. A war in which the humans would become casualties.

Her father was an idealist, but he was not practical. And as much as she hated to admit it, she agreed with the decision to silence him.

But no one would ever convince her that the method had been just.

With a deep breath, she sighed as she wiped away tears before continuing to flip pages, looking for familiar words and names. The one she saw the most was Dragos.

Luke.

The entries were cryptic, but it was clear her father knew something about him. Loyal to the vampiric leader. A warrior. An honorable man.

All terms that described the man she knew.

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