Eternal Demon: Mark of the Vampire Read Online Free Page B

struggling like a feral cat at his side.

2
    H emoved through the city like the ghost he’d once been called—like the ghost he could’ve been if the ruddy gods had been merciful instead of perpetually cruel. The cover of night did little to shield him from the eyes of the millions who lived and worked in Manhattan, and so he took to the airways, flashing in and out of the crowds until he reached the quieter, less-populated parts of town.
    SoHo, and particularly the street on which the Roman brothers lived, was devoid of pedestrian traffic, almost suburban in its cleanliness and drawn-curtained windows exposing the warm lamplight from inside.
The brothers have done brilliantly well in choosing this location for their compound,
he thought, abandoning all flash progression and heading toward his destination at an easy jog. Though the building they lived within wasn’t difficult to find, if one was looking.
    And he was definitely looking.
    He rounded the corner of the warehouse, dropped to the ground just before the fence line, and planted five of his strongest military-grade magic deflectors. Minutes ticked by as he let the deflectors do their job, pulling in and defusing the magic. Then he gingerly stepped across the line and leaped over the fence.
    They didn’t know he was coming. Well, he’d never given them a bloody save-the-date card, had he? But the Roman brothers had offered him their allegiance that night in Cruen’s laboratory nearly seven months ago, when the world had gone to rubbish—when his first love had been murdered by Cruen. He’d gone there to find Cruen, but had found his love in a cage, nude, starving for sex. Believing her a Breeding Female, Cruen had abducted her, kept her until he could bring Lucian Roman, the Breeding Male to her. Cruen had wished to force them to breed.
    The thought, the memory, of her in that cage, in sexual pain, made his blood churn and heat in his veins. He was ready to call in his marker. For months he’d been trying to find Cruen, take him down, but that ancient bastard had managed to block him at every turn, using deeply powerful magic that both repelled him and destroyed his mind and body.
    He didn’t like having to ask for help, but it was becoming dire. He needed backup before Cruen’s repelling magic killed him.
    He beat his fist hard upon the wood, and in moments, the door opened. Lucian Roman stood there, framed in the wide entryway. The tall, near-albino Pureblood gave him a curious, fascinated, and annoyingly familiar assholelike glare.
    “Been a while, Brit Boy?” Lucian said. “You look like hell.”
    “’Course I do, Frosty. I’ve been living in it for the past seven months.” Synjon Wise nodded at the white-haired
paven
who had mated his good friend, Bronwyn, and was his chuffed equal at imparting insulting pet names. “Seven months and I’ve yet to capture the devil.” He moved past the Roman brother and stepped inside without being asked. “Don’t like asking for help, but it seems I have no other choice.”
    •   •   •
    Hellen landed with a jolt, her feet smacking against hard earth, her teeth knocking together, and her hand automatically reaching back for her bow. But it wasn’t there.
    ’Course it wasn’t there.
    She wasn’t home. She wasn’t in the carriage. And she wasn’t in the arms of the bloodsucker she was promised to.
    Her heart pounded hard and fast in her chest, but she forced herself to calm. Think. Assess.
    Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness surrounding her. She was still outside, but the landscape had changed. Beneath the cool moon, she saw rolling hills dotted with trees, and beyond, miles and miles of what appeared to be brown, spindly vines. Where was she? Flowing up through her nostrils, the scent of earth was strange and lovely and begged her system to calm, but that wasn’t about to happen. She’d been stolen, ripped away from her destiny. And the thing, the tank with arms, who had done