~ INTRODUCTION ~

Though it would not be fatal, Adam Vlacic knew the explosion would do enough damage to his body to ruin his mood for the day. Weighing the importance of the human female trapped in the bathroom upstairs versus a fellow demon’s mate, he decided to leave and search as many of the neighboring homes as possible before the bomb went off. He didn’t want the woman to die any more than he wanted her to survive. She was nothing to him. He didn’t know her. Of course, if not for the possibility of the other demon’s mate being in a home close enough to be destroyed by the bomb, he would’ve sacrificed his well-being to save the woman.

Choosing to start with the house to the left he decided to shift inside, but a sudden burning sensation in his eyes, nose, and throat caused him to pause. It was quite painful, but it was not as alarming as the gripping sensation of being suffocated. Then, confusing the hell out of him, since it was utterly unfathomable, he felt panicky. It only took a few seconds to make sense of what was happening.

The symptoms belonged to someone else. He looked up at a window on the third floor of the shelter. It was her. The woman he had decided to abandon was suffering from smoke inhalation. Staying merged with her after deciding to leave her to die was not a purposeful act, but neither was failing to end it. To stop the ordeal, he merely cut the link to begin his search for the other demon’s mate next door.

Just as he had expected, the symptoms of her emotional and physical distress left him immediately. But he wasn’t free. Far from it. An unanticipated surge of fear caused the beating of his heart to accelerate and generate crushing pain that brought his hands to his chest.

Before he had a chance to attempt to make sense of what was happening, rage erupted in him and devoured the fear. All at once, he placed a hedge of protection around the woman and aggressively took hold of her mind to monitor her. He wouldn’t allow her to die. Not yet. Not until he figured out how she’d managed to make him experience her fear as if it belonged to him.

Entering the home, he made his way toward her. He made sure she felt him, the real him, a dark and dangerous demon coming for her. He smiled at her startled gasp. That’s right. Feel me and know I’m coming for you.

He listened to her thoughts as she explored her options. She could stay in the bathroom and face the monstrous creature coming for her or she could open the door and let the fire take her. Either way, she died.

He refused to feel any amount of guilt. She started it. He had intended to walk away from her. You have one option. The one I have decided to give you. You will meet the monstrous creature you summoned.

Her decision and follow through were so instant, he failed to prevent her from taking hold of the doorknob and severely burning her hand. Her scream of pain and of realizing she did not have an option ripped through him as he prevented the door from opening and shoved her away from it. In all his life, he had never felt the intensity of anger burning in him. The stupidity of you entertaining the thought of choosing to die in a fire rather than find yourself face to face with me was forgivable. Actually, doing it was…it was…the reason he had vowed to end his existence if this ever happened again. Damn you.

His true self, a powerful warrior, led by the fierce and savage instincts of a dragon, had risen to the surface to take whatever it wanted. He’d managed to prevent it from happening for centuries. At that moment, he would have eradicated anything or anyone unlucky enough to make any attempt to prevent him from reaching her. He indeed had become a monster. There was no excuse for the way he’d purposely frightened her. Returning to her had nothing to do with rescuing her from a terrible death. He wanted to know what power she possessed to wake him up by making him experience fear as if it were his own.

With a wave of his hand, he opened the bedroom door. A burst of flames shot out at him and engulfed him as he walked into the room. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was on fire. His gaze fixed on the bathroom door that she had tried to open to escape his cruelty. The thought of her deciding that burning to death would be more merciful than what he had in store for her made him sick. He’d even made her wait for him to walk through the house rather than shift to her immediately. Knowing he had encouraged her to believe he was a threat to her, made him wish the fire could devour him.

My behavior has been appalling in too many ways to list them all. Encouraging you to be afraid of me was an unforgivable offense. I know right now, hearing my voice in your head, only adds to your fear of me, but if I suddenly show up in there with you unannounced, I think that would be even more alarming to you. Feeling her anxiety grow with each passing second, he decided to shift into the bathroom to get it over with as fast as possible. I am coming in now.

He took his physical form in front of her. In an apparent attempt to hide from him, she had tightly wedged her body between the toilet and the tub. He was an ass for losing his temper with her. Purposely scaring her was the most terrible thing he’d done in a long time.

“Would you like to get out of here?” Moving slowly to avoid her viewing his movement as aggressive, he knelt in front of her. Just then, he heard and felt an explosion. Placing a protective hedge around her in record time, he managed to lift her up and get her into his arms just as the floor blew out from beneath them. Using a cloaking spell to avoid being seen, he brought them up through the roof and landed outside a safe distance from the home. 

The moment her feet hit the ground he felt her get ready to run the instant an opportunity presented itself. “You won’t have any reason to run. I won’t make any attempt to stop you, but before you go, I need to look at your hand.”

Her eyes narrowed a bit as she held his gaze. She appeared to be mulling over his request until her expression started ever so slowly to change. Judging the fury in her eyes, it was downright obvious she was pissed off. “You have two hands. Pick one and look at it. I’m leaving.”

He held his hands up. “They didn’t get burned.”

The way she glared right into his eyes caused him to feel a bit awe-struck. To be entirely honest, he had to admit it also scared him. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do if she attacked him to prevent her from being injured. He deserved a good beating, but in doing so she would likely hurt herself. “Why do you want to see it?”

“It will be easier to show you than to explain. May I see your hand?”

She held her hand out to him. “Are you trying to convince me you are a nice person?”

“No. After being so unpleasant, I would like to do one kind thing for you.” He immediately started to impart healing energy into her hand.

****

Hanna Kinsley wasn’t going to let any demon get away with believing he could lie to her. “Cut the crap. I know damn well why you want to make sure you don’t leave my hand with any sign of the burn.”

His gaze moved from her hand to her face. “Why?”

“You think wiping my memory clean will be more effective if you get rid of anything able to trigger a flashback. Healing my hand will save you from having to go to the trouble of tracking me down later to kill me.”

He tilted his head to the side slightly and lifted an eyebrow. “That’s an interesting theory.”

“I suppose. But I don’t think it’s as interesting as the method you use to weigh the importance of one life versus another.”

“It was nothing…”

“I know.” She smiled, wanting him to know his decision to leave her to die didn’t matter to her. She wanted him to know he meant nothing to her. “It was nothing personal. I would never expect a being as awesome and all-powerful as a demon to have any reason to care whether some lowly human lives or dies.”

“You know I am a demon?”

“Wow.” She laughed. “I’m impressed. You aren’t just remarkable and mighty. You’re also pretty damn smart. To be entirely honest, I can’t say that’s a quality very many of you possess.”

“How are you familiar with my kind?”

“It has been a long day.” Lifting her hand to her mouth, she faked an exaggerated yawn. “How about you ask me after you erase my memory?”

“Why?”

“I was just hoping once you finished doing it you would leave me alone as long as I pretend it worked.”

“I can easily take your memory away.”

She rolled her eyes. “Sure, you can.”

“You are not a pleasant person.”

“Luckily your opinion doesn’t matter to me.”

“You don’t appear even the slightest bit intimidated. You knew what I was back at the house. You were so frightened of me that you were willing to burn to death to avoid facing me. What has changed?”

“When you entered the bathroom and didn’t kill me or torture me until I begged you to kill me, I knew you didn’t belong to Evolved.”

“Is it a group?”

“Are you serious?”

“It’s not?”

“It’s a bunch of idiotic demons determined to take over the world. If you are a demon and you are not with them, you are considered their enemy. They believe other demons are the only beings that possess the power and strength to stop them.” She pulled her hand away from his and turned her back to him. She lifted her shirt and looked over her shoulder to watch him. She wanted to see his reaction to the barcode tattoo given to her the night of her abduction. “They scan it to access whatever information they consider vital. I suppose it’s also meant to mark me as their property.”

He tilted his head as he stared down at it. Then, as if to get a better look at it, he crouched all the way down to his knees. “I don’t like Evolved.” He was so close to her that she felt the warmth of his breath on her lower back.

“You don’t know them.”

“I know they marked you.” Zapped by a burst of what felt like electricity, she flinched when he touched the tattoo. “It’s more than a barcode. It contains a tracking spell.”

“That explains how their watchers keep finding me.”

“Would you like me to remove the tattoo and the spell?”

“That’s a no-brainer. Of course, I do.”

He laughed. “I didn’t want to assume. I’ve learned that making assumptions about a woman is reckless.”

“Very funny. You’re immortal. I doubt you ever consider safety before you decide to do anything.” She felt him press his entire palm against the middle of her back.

“Would you believe I asked out of respect?”

“Nope, not even a tiny bit.” Startled by the heat his hand started to generate, she paused. “I am sure you hoped to make yourself appear respectful to me.”

“Don’t be troubled. You are going to feel my power in the form of heat coming from my hand. The temperature will significantly increase before the process is complete. It will reach the point of being uncomfortable, but it will not hurt you.” He paused for a few seconds. “How do you know I am so awful? You have just met me.”

“You just threw a tantrum over not feeling free to leave me to die. Besides, I know your species and your gender.” Her muscles tensed and started to twitch uncontrollably. “I’ve never been impressed by either one.” At first, it didn’t hurt, but then all at once, every muscle in her body cramped. The pain was excruciating all over, but the worst seemed centered where his palm was pressed against her lower back. She opened her mouth to scream, but she couldn’t make a sound.

He reacted to her distress instantly. “Damn it.” Keeping his hand flat on her back, he managed to stand up, turn her around, and wrap his other arm around her to prevent her from falling. “I am sorry. It will be over in a few seconds. We can’t stop until we’ve removed it. I wasn’t expecting the spell to be able to put up such a fight.”

Her entire body pressed against his, she experienced the strangest sensation of him reaching into her soul and pulling out whatever was attacking her. Just as his hand radiated heat on her back, his entire body pushed it into hers. All at once he released his breath with a hiss as his muscles bunched and his arms tightened around her. Almost instantly, the brunt of her pain disappeared.

She lifted her head to look up at him, but since she was so close to him, she ended up staring at the underside of his chin. “You forced the pain to leave my body and enter yours.”

“It’s the best and fastest way to get it done.”

“Stop it. I don’t like it.”

“Too bad. I am not giving it back to you. Besides,” he released her slowly, “we are done. It’s gone.” She took a step back and stumbled a bit. He caught her arms to steady her.

“I’m fine.” She yanked her arms from his hands and stepped away from him. “I just lost my balance for a second.”

“Turn around. I want to have a look.”

She turned and lifted her shirt. “Is it gone?”

“Yes.” His fingers gently grazed her back. “Tell me more about the group.”

She dropped her shirt and faced him. “They believe they have altered their DNA by pumping blood from various beings into their systems to make themselves superior. They plan to eradicate any demon that refuses to evolve with them. They want to avoid being forced into a war with other demons because they might not survive. Once they reach a certain point of evolving, they need a constant supply of human blood to prevent them from going insane. They keep a stockpile of human females to supply their blood and to rape whenever the urge arises. Since they get off on torturing and inflicting as much pain as possible, a woman’s greatest hope is to be killed by the first demon who rapes her. It seldom happens. They enjoy taking a woman to the edge of death, but they rarely push her over it. They can’t afford to lose the women they’ve gathered. They have such a desperate need for blood.”

“I am truly sorry you were held captive and subjected to the abuse and madness of such a terrible group of demons. In the near future, they will no longer exist.”

“Who’s going to get rid of them?  You?” She laughed. “You can’t do anything to stop them. They are too powerful, and their numbers keep growing.”

His expression immediately hardened. Clenching his jaw, he narrowed his gaze as he appeared to search her face for something. His mood had changed. She felt anger radiating from him. He was pissed. She expected him to lash out at her for laughing at him. She knew better than to take a jab at a demon’s pride. She should’ve kept her mouth shut. Provoking him wouldn’t end well. 

“Everyone from the shelter has been taken to stay in rooms at a hotel nearby. Can I offer you a ride?”

She stared at him for a few seconds, waiting for him to lash out at her, but he didn’t. “I don’t know you. Normally, I don’t take rides from strangers.”

“My name is Adam Vlacic. I swear to refrain from doing anything strange while you are in my car.”

It was against her better judgment, but she didn’t have any choice. “I’m Hanna Kinsley.” Besides, despite her prior experiences with demons, she felt safe with him. “I would appreciate a ride.”