Her gaze roamed my face, and something akin to wonder or curiosity replaced the hate.
I squeezed her neck tighter. “Stop looking at me like that.”
Why was she not dying and her soul floating the few inches between our bodies and into my mark?
Her chest rose and fell, pulling my attention to her neck, then down to her collarbone. A golden necklace shone, reflecting the light into my eyes. An infinity pendant, with a tiny cross hanging from the middle, dangled from the chain.
Shock coursed through me. “God will not save you, foolish woman.” I fought a rising tide of anger. For a moment, I wanted to jerk the necklace from her neck, force her to her knees, and make her worship me.Hedid not deserve her devotion.
Black anger vibrated through me. I’d killed countless people through the eons, and seeing their worthless trinkets declaring who they served made me laugh with scorn. This necklace, however, drove unharnessed hatred into my heart. She should belong tome, not Him.
Get it together, Cain.I jerked my gaze to hers. Dread cut through the fury. Something about her seemed off, and it made me leery.
And to make it worse, being this close made me second-guess myself.
Her skin, satiny smooth and warm under my fingertips, begged me to stroke instead of squeezing, to tear the necklace into tiny, invisible pieces in front of her and watch her reaction.
A tear pooled at the corner of her eye. Just one, though. I could feel her mentally strengthening herself as if preparing for a horrible death.
I don’t have to kill her. She’s not even my assignment.
What in damnation was wrong with me? Even though I quite literally held her life in my hands, something about her put me under a weird kind of spell, and I became the victim instead of the victor.
Her mouth moved, but no sound escaped.
I loosened my hold, curiosity overriding my common sense.
“You might be pretty on the outside”—a harsh cough escaped—“but you’re an ass-load of ugly on the inside.” She spit, and the saliva landed on my bottom lip. “Go to hell, bastard.”
She spit on me. She. Fucking. Spit on me.
“If you had any real idea who I am—” I couldn’t finish my sentence. Grabbing the back of her head, I wrapped my fingers into her soft hair and tilted her jaw upward.
Her spit on my mouth cooled. Using the tip of my tongue, I very deliberately licked it away.
Those angry brown eyes followed my movements, and her eyebrows climbed upwards.
Her sweetness lingered on my tongue, and an overpowering urge took ahold of me, demanding more. I wanted to claim her soul. I wanted to steal a kiss, steal her ridiculous necklace, stealeverythingfrom this woman named Phoebe Blutengel.
Oh, you will pay my darling, with your body, your mind,thenyour soul.
“Not a very wise thing to do.” I pushed the tip of my nose against hers, using my power to stop the trickle of blood from my nostrils, then brushed my lips against hers. Not quite a full kiss, but a definite promise.
She gasped, her eyelids dropped, then she leaned closer.
That’s it.I grinned.She doesn’t even realize I’ve released her.As her shoulders relaxed, another thought struck me.She’s enjoying this as much as I am.
Knowing she wanted to be near me without me using energy to force her will created a burning need to wrap her in my arms and offer up my powers for protection.
Which was the dumbest idea I’d probably ever had in the history of the world.
I didn’t protect people. They needed protection from me. Because after I’d become the ward of Lucian, I created chaos and destruction in his name as payment for my powers. One lone girl, brave or not, would never deter me from my true purpose and path of vengeance.
But I could have fun. How long since I’d had any true enjoyment from stealing a soul?
Too long, and I wanted hers so badly I couldn’t keep my concentration. Plus, something about her was special and precious, and I needed to learn why.
I won’t take her soul today.
