“Okay,” she answered tentatively. Maybe he anchored her from worry. Marcus leaned casually against the dark paneling, as if deliberately not touching her. Nothing happened. No terror. She was fine.
A thought popped into her mind. “How far down are we going?”
“We’ll get there soon. There’s enough time for this.” Marcus stalked forward. Carina automatically retreated until her butt hit the opposite wall. Marcus grabbed her hands and yanked them over her head. He held them in one hand secured against dark wood and leaned in to take her lips in a kiss sizzling with pent-up need.
“You’re going to pay for that teasing, Little girl,” he whispered against her lips several long seconds later.
She shivered, straining close to him. That hadn’t been a warning. It was a promise she couldn’t wait to happen. “Yes, Daddy.”
A deep thudding beat filled the elevator. Carina peeked around Marcus’s massive form to see the doors stood wide open. Two rows of thick, pillar candles on ornate rough metal stands formed a passage through the darkness that waited outside.
“We don’t have to go out there, do we?” she asked, hugging herself to his bulk as he turned to face the lighted path.
“Come, Carina. You will be fine.”
A small voice in the back of her head told her he hadn’t said she wouldn’t be hurt. Suddenly, she hated the word fine. Stiffening her spine, she forced herself to walk out of the elevator. A whisper of sound behind her made her spin. The doors shut, trapping her wherever this was.
He grabbed a black cloak from a series of hooks on the wall. All were empty except for two. Well, now one as he held out the garment for her. Marcus draped the material around her and lifted the hood into place, smoothing her hair back from her face. Quickly, he wrapped the final cloak around his bulk.
“Follow the path, Carina. I will be right beside you.” Marcus deliberately placed her at his left side. He took her hand and set it on top of his thickly muscled forearm.
Didn’t knights always keep their right hands free to grab their swords?
That thought scurried away as a shadow appeared out of the dim recesses. She jumped and squeezed Marcus’s arm as the dark figure fell in behind them. Marcus patted her hand reassuringly without reacting, and Carina knew she was safe. Turning to check over her shoulder, she spotted Titus’s amused grin barely visible in the gloom. What was going on?
A whisper of movement from beside her preceded another figure joining the procession. And another. Each time she and Marcus passed a candle pillar, another vampire joined the growing line behind them. As she relaxed, Carina could feel the crowd behind her growing with each addition. The footsteps of an incredible number of vampires now whispered behind them.
A groaning, grinding sound rumbled before them. She stared ahead, trying to see what awaited them. In the middle of a vast room, a lone, hooded shape stood behind an elaborate table.Two pillars held a candle on each side. The flickering light made the chiseled decorations come alive on the…. Her mind seized on the suggestion that came from Marcus ofaltar.
On the carved altar rested a huge, open tome. Marcus escorted her to stand in front of the waiting vampire. The others who had accompanied them formed rings around the center of the room. As Carina watched, what seemed like a hundred or more others filled the space around them.
Flashes of red ignited above her head, drawing Carina’s attention. As darkness filling the room dissipated, she could detect the ceiling was a high, curved dome over their heads. A metallic ring brought her attention back to the one who stood before them. He struck a large, silver chalice twice again on the altar. The observers dropped to their knees on the floor around her.
When Carina hurried to follow suit, Marcus’s hands wrapped around her waist, holding her erect. Everyone’s gazes centered on her and the hooded figure before her. The room pulsed with excitement and.… She struggled for the right word to describe it and settled on longing.
What is going on?she hurriedly thought to Marcus. His hands tightened around her, but he didn’t answer. Confident he would keep her safe at the cost of his own life, she forced herself to relax as much as possible. She’d have to find out what was happening as this played out.
“Who brings this addition to our clan?” the standing vampire demanded. His voice was deep and compelling. Power resonated from every syllable and the spaces between his words.
Somehow, the sound was familiar. An image of the reception area of Nightfall rebounded into her mind from the first night there, when the alluringly handsome man had appeared on video before those wishing to enter. Alaric. This was the clanleader. She bent her knees, trying to kneel in front of him, but Marcus prevented her movement once again.
“It is I, Marcus, who bring my mate, Carina, to meet the clan.”
Her Daddy’s voice filled the eerily silent space as he answered the question. Even tense, Carina smiled at the love she could hear in his voice. She forced herself to relax and pay attention.
Alaric lifted the chalice and drew a silver-tipped finger across his wrist. Dark blood welled from the slash. The clan leader extended his arm over the goblet and caught a single drop of the precious fluid inside. He held it aloft, and a red, glowing symbol appeared on the ceiling.
How it moved she couldn’t tell, but the chalice appeared in the hands of a cloaked figure in the ring around them. She couldn’t see the vampire’s face, but he repeated the motion. A new symbol lit above them. Repeatedly, the vessel moved from observer to observer throughout the clan. From each vampire came one droplet of their life essence. The scent of blood and power swirled around the room as Carina struggled for control.
The red luminance in the room grew until she could clearly see the ceiling curved in a tall dome over their heads. Symbols overlapped and seemed to move, creating a crimson ocean overhead. When Marcus finally held the silver cup, he rose to stand by her side. He slashed his wrist deep and added his blood to the brimming mixture inside.
Marcus extended a hand for hers. Even knowing what would come, the quick slice threatened to evoke a gasp from her. Carina bit her bottom lip, smothering the protest. Marcus’s approval flooded her mind.
He raised the cup to her lips.Drink.
As the flavor burst over her tongue, a bright flash caught her attention. She pointed to the ceiling as the letters in her nameappeared and twisted together with another. Marcus filled her mind with his love as quiet chanting swirled around the space.
We are the children of the Night.
