“What the hell are you talking about?” I snapped, trying to ignore the heat emanating from Redeye’s palm. But the orangey-blue flame dancing in his hand was intense, and my right cheek was getting hot enough to fry an egg on. My eyes watered, and a tear began to trickle down my overheated skin. The flame seemed awfully real for a hallucination.
“Hey, knock that shit off,” the blond snapped, raising his hand. A jet of water spewed from his palm, dousing his partner’s flame and splashing me in the face. “She doesn’t remember anything, so there’s no point in interrogating her. Our orders are to wait for the Master.” He pinched the bridge of his nose in what looked like irritation. “You know how he is about her.” He shook his head. “Besides, you get all antsy when you get aggravated in that body. It’s not very becoming.”
“That’s bullshit,” Redeye growled, conjuring another flame in his hand. I swallowed as I watched the exchange—it was getting more difficult by the second to convince myself that this shit wasn’t real. “She might know something about the Infinity Key. If we can get to it before the Master does—”
Blondie blasted Redeye in the face, who went stumbling back into a cloth-draped machine. “That sounds a lot like disloyalty,” Blondie growled, his red eyes flaring as he stared the other man down. “The Master brought us here, gave us the chance to taste sweet air unlaced by hellfire. We should not be so hasty to betray him.”
Redeye slowly wiped the water off with the sleeve of his jacket, the lines of his face taut with suppressed rage. “Funny how we’re talking about loyalty,” he snarled. “Considering that we’re working for a man who has hunted our kind in the past. Who even the Demonkin won’t accept. Why should we assume he won’t turn on us?”
“Because he needs us too much,” Blondie snapped. “Besides, we should be grateful for the opportunity, not try to backstab him by attempting to get to the Infinity Key first.”? He glanced briefly in my direction. “He’ll tear us both in half if there’s so much as a bruise on her face. I’m not going to let you put our lives in danger just because you can’t control your bloodlust.” His nostrils flared.
“Excuse me,” I interrupted before Redeye could fire back. “But what the hell are you two talking about?” The Master? Infinity Key? Had I landed in some kind of fucked-up comic book?
“None of your business,” Redeye hissed, his eyes flashing. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid this time. Maybe I’d been pushed so far that I’d maxed out on my fear level. Or maybe the pain made me loopy and brave, because instead of lapsing into terrified silence, I just grinned at him.
“Actually, I thought it was my business, since you seem to think I know something about all this,” I taunted.
“So you?do?remember!” Redeye glared at his partner. “The Master has been lying to us about her condition.?If we can just get the location out of her…” He lifted his hand, lighting another ball of flame.
“I’m not so sure she does,” Blondie warned. “Don’t give her any information. If the Master finds out—”
“He won’t,” Redeye insisted, drawing closer, and the ball of panic rose in my throat again. He could easily sear the flesh off my bones with that thing, and I liked my skin where it was, thank you very much. “By the time he gets here, we’ll be long—”
The double doors burst open with a loud crash, sending mid-afternoon light spilling into the chamber. I squinted against the harsh glare, and managed to make out the silhouette of a tall, broad-shouldered man. My gut tightened instinctively as a tingle of recognition spread through me—there was something familiar about him.
He stepped out of the light, allowing me to see him better. He was dressed in a tailored suit, visible beneath the long, black coat he wore open. Platinum hair, slicked back from a face that was all sharp planes and edges—handsome, but harsh. His eyes were a pale blue that seemed to stab through my defenses and straight into my soul. As I met his eyes with my own, a cocktail of emotions punched me so hard that I let out a strangled cry. Fear, hurt, anger, adoration—they ripped through me like a savage wind, leaving me raw and aching, sending me tumbling into an abyss, and then—
“Arabella! Arabella, come back, damn you!”
Powerful fingers dug into my shoulders, shaking me hard. Those blue eyes were now mere inches from my face. Daggers of pain stabbed hard into my side, and I cried out.
“Stop it! You’re hurting me!”
“Hurting you?” He stepped back, confusion in the hard lines of his face. Blood trickled from the cut on my head, which must have opened again, and his skin turned white, eyes snapping with cold fire.
“What is the meaning of this?” He rounded on Redeye and Blondie, who suddenly looked like they were about to shit their pants. “I told you to bring her to me unharmed. Yet here she is, bleeding! What have you done to her?” He stalked toward them, his long black coat whipping out behind him.
“W-we didn’t do anything to her,” Redeye stammered as he and Blondie backed toward the nearest wall. “She was already injured from the car accident—”
The man didn’t even let him finish. He only flung out his right hand. My mouth dropped open as a harsh, golden glow burst from his palm. The light rippled and lengthened, stretching itself out into a golden mace, with spikes jutting from a glowing ball at the end of the staff. Horror spilled through me as he swung the weapon, slamming the spiked ball straight into Redeye’s gut.
I fully expected blood to gush from what had to be a nasty wound, but none came. Instead of tearing into his flesh, the mace emitted a shockwave that rippled through my kidnapper. Redeye fell to his knees, a scream unlike any I’d ever heard ripping from his throat. It sounded like a thousand agonized souls crying out for deliverance, instead of the scream of a single man. Golden light began to emanate from his body as Redeye shrieked, the glow dancing and flickering around him like some kind of strange flame.
As though it were burning him alive.
The golden light finally subsided, and Redeye slumped forward on his hands, breathing hard. His skin had turned paper white, and his dark hair clung to his temples as sweat rolled down his cheeks, dripping from his chin onto the cement floor. His limbs shook, and I was amazed he didn’t collapse altogether.
“You know I’m not interested in excuses,” the blue-eyed man said in a clipped voice. “I expect you both to use your heads when carrying out my orders. You two should have healed her—you had plenty of time for it.” His gaze snapped to Blondie, who stood at attention. The kidnapper was utterly still despite the fear in his eyes and the sweat beading on his upper lip. “Next time I won’t spare you. Now go fix him up, and then come back here.”
“Yes, Master,” Blondie said quickly. He hauled the nearly unconscious Redeye to his feet, then draped the man’s arm over his shoulder and dragged him outside.
The one they called ‘Master’ turned back to me, a puzzled frown on his handsome face. My heart clenched, still full of the writhing mass of emotions that had hit me earlier. I sucked on my teeth, trying to understand what it was about this man that inspired such a visceral reaction. It was almost as if I’d met him before…but I knew I hadn’t. There’s no way I’d forget a man like this. An aura of power crackled around him, making him seem larger than life, and that stunner of a face would make any woman sit up and take notice, even if there was a darkness lurking beneath. Maybe even because of that darkness. Lots of women found that sort of thing mysterious and alluring. I didn’t think I was one of those women, and yet…
“Did you hear anything that I said when I walked in here?”
“Huh?” I blinked, thinking back to the moment he appeared. “What are you talking about? You didn’t say anything to me.”
“Yes, I did.” He pressed his lips together. “I greeted you, then asked you if you remembered me, but you didn’t say anything.”
