Page 199 of Immortal Bastard

“If I aim for his heart, I can blow it clean out of his body.”

“Have you ever shot a gun before?”

“No.”

They were going to die. “You’re more likely to hit a rib. You’re only going to piss him off. What if he gets out?”

“That’s where you come in.”

“What the hell am I going to do?”

He glanced at the unlit torch on the wall. “You’re more powerful when you’re afraid.”

“That’s not true.” She’d been terrified and unable to protect herself for two years. “Don’t do this, Dane. This place…it’s evil. We should both run.”

“I have nowhere to go.”

“Me neither.” She thought about how he took care of her that horrible day when they burned her feet. “We could run together.”

He hesitated and, for a moment, she remembered what hope felt like. Then he took it away.

“I need to do this. If I die, I die. All I want you to do is keep him away from my sister.”

“How?”

“However you can.” He left the cell, leaving the door open wide. “Then you can do whatever you want. I won’t tell anyone you escaped.” He grabbed the rifle. “Make the blanket and pillow look like you’re still asleep.”

She quickly did as he asked, afraid he would change his mind and lock her inside. As soon as she had the threadbare quilt and pillow molded in the shape of a body with the bridle peeking out the top, she rushed out of the cell.

Her feet hit the floor on the other side of the bars and another ripple of hope teased through her. Freedom.

She almost abandoned him and his foolish plan, but then she looked in his trusting eyes and cursed under her breath. He freed her. She couldn’t betray him.

“I brought you this.” He unloaded his pockets, revealing bullets, a feather, matches, a bottle of water, a pouch of salt, and a rock. “Did I forget anything?”

He found her the elements. “Aether.” There was no spirit in this place. She’d tried countless times to reach Her.

Dane grinned. “I’ve been reading. Aether is the primordial god of light, born of chaos. I think we can channel Her.”

Hesitantly, Juniper looked down at his hands again only to flinch when a malicious growl curdled from the end of the hall. “He knows you’re here.” Whatever that thing in the last cell was, it hated when other males were around.

“All I need is a little protection spell. Anything to keep me and my sister safe.”

She could just run. But if she ran, he’d likely go ahead with this stupid plan and wind up dead. She shouldn’t care, but she also couldn’t forget how he took care of her when she was in agony.

“Fine. But you have to move quickly, and if things get bad, I’m gone. You should leave too. This place is cursed.”

He nodded. “I’ll do my best to keep them from following you. Go as far as you can and don’t stop until you absolutely have to. They can’t track you for long without your blood.”

She shivered, and cold dread settled like poison in the pit of her stomach. “They have my blood.”

He frowned. “How?”

Her head lowered. She could feel him when her eyes closed. She knew his touch and scent, but not what he looked like. “I don’t know his name, but he bites me when he visits.”

“Jesus,” he hissed. “Okay, then you have to be extra careful.”

She looked back at the door to her cell, the sight of her home for the past two years filling her with rage. If she ever did find her powers, she planned on seeking revenge on every single one that trapped her here.

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