Demon Hunters 1: Blood Sacrifice (Stand Alone Series) (Demon Hunters.) Read Online Free Page B

opened and her hand pressed against her mouth. Saliva filled it at the thought of the food sitting there, taunting her. She forced her eyes away from the tray. They fell on the scattered contents of her bag. In amongst everything, she spotted a chocolate bar and pounced on it. She quickly tore off the wrapper and took a large bite. It was gone within seconds and she was searching through the rest of her things. She found a small packet of chips and a nearly empty bottle of water. She drank the last mouthful of tepid water before starting on the chips.
    Her stomach still felt hollow. She put everything back in her bag, one item at a time, hoping she’d missed spotting some food. All she managed to find was a brightly wrapped butterscotch. She popped the sweet in her mouth and tried not to think of the food on the floor. She could manage. Hadn’t she held in the scream that echoed in the back of her head? Not touching food should be simple.
    But it wasn’t. It called to her. Mocked her. Determined, she stood up and pushed the tray away from the bed with the toe of her boot. She sat on the floor and lay down. She stretched out as far as possible, her arm high over her head and the handcuffs cutting into her wrist. She pushed the tray across the room with her foot. Now it’d be impossible to reach. She crawled on the bed. She couldn’t give in and eat it. Satisfied, she stared sightlessly at the ceiling. In a minute she’d have a look at the handcuff. There had to be some way of getting out of it. How many movies had she seen where they’d picked the lock and escaped? How hard could it be?
    A wave of despair washed over her and she closed her eyes. She fought back the tears that threatened to fall. Instead she focused on her breathing. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. She focused so hard on her breathing she fell asleep.

Chapter Four
    Alyssa turned her head into the caress that trailed across her cheek, her jaw and then along her throat. She went to reach out with her left hand, but couldn’t move it. The metal of the handcuffs dug into her wrist.
    Handcuffs! Alyssa’s eyes flew open. Everything rushed back. She looked up at Nathan who sat beside her on the bed and saw amusement again filled his eyes. She tried to move away from him and he tightened his fingers around her throat. She froze. A bare light bulb in the ceiling above him shone in her eyes, but she couldn’t look away.
    His lips twisted into a sardonic smile. “I expected you to be screaming the place down by now. Instead I find you fast asleep. Odd.” He stroked the pulse at her throat. “But you are scared. So why aren’t you screaming?”
    Alyssa knew if she started to scream she’d be swamped by blind panic. It didn’t help that every time he smiled more fear rushed through her. She needed to stay as rational as possible. There had to be a way out of this nightmare. But she couldn’t say that. No way was she going to warn him. “Would it help?” The words were a whisper, but at least she managed them without letting free the scream that echoed inside her head.
    “So… no little rabbit to run frantically back and forth in front of the headlights. What are you then? No lion either to strike out no matter how futile. What do you think you are?”
    Alyssa surprised herself by saying, “How about an ostrich? Head buried in the sand.”
    Nathan threw back his head and laughed. He still smiled as he met her eyes. “It’ll be a pity to use you. If I could get a replacement this close I would. I think you’d be worth keeping for a bit. There’s so little in life that’s amusing anymore.”
    “Aren’t you too young to think that?”
    “Now that’s where you’re wrong. I’m nearly thirty, little ostrich.”
    Alyssa wished he’d move his hand from her throat. He no longer pressed against it, but she knew how easy it’d be for him to tighten his grip. “Why me?”
    He lifted the lock of purple hair and twined it around his