As much as I hated Ragnar, I began to notice the deeply sexual allure of his scent, and it slipped around my body like a velvet caress. Like so many things about him, it didn’t seem human; the aroma was designed to seduce, to heighten pleasure. It seemed like a lure, a weapon to entice his prey. The deeply erotic scent could almost make me forget what sort of person he was, could make me do things I never meant to do.

A hot ache began building between my legs, and my thighs clenched. I hated my own body’s reaction to him.

He’d said that women flocked to him, and I now understood that he’d been serious. Maybe he lived an emotionally isolated life, but the man would never want for lovers.

I flicked my hair over my shoulder, the flirting coming more naturally now. “Can you help me dry off?”

He cocked his head, jaw clenching with some kind of tightly coiled emotion. With his cold eyes, he reminded me of a snake about to strike. “No,” he said, and he seemed to feel no need to add anything else.

Still, he couldn’t tear his eyes off me, and they swooped down to my breasts. His jaw dropped open slightly at the sight of the sheer material.

I reached across the table, taking his hand. “I want to know what happened before. I want to remember more. I want to remember us.”

He tore his gaze away from my breasts to stare down at my hand, as if the contact shocked him. And as I touched him, a power thrummed between us, a deep, instinctive drive compelling me to move closer to him.

What the heck was wrong with me? Considering what he’d done to me—to Holly—I could only explain this through magic.

He pulled his hand away from mine abruptly. “I don’t trust you.”

He didn’t trust me?

Not good enough. I needed to get closer to him, and I needed to get the damn key off his belt.

“I know you’re angry at me for something I did in a past life. Possibly for killing you, like I killed Sebastos. But I have no idea what I did to you, and it’s not exactly fair to punish me for something I can’t remember, is it? All I’ve done is work shitty jobs in coffee shops. I don’t deserve to be a prisoner in—where are we, exactly? Are we still in Massachusetts?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Anyway, I don’t deserve this. The worst thing I’ve ever done in this life is run out on a restaurant bill, but in my defense, I was only two dollars short, and I’d miscalculated, and I did come back—”

“Please stop talking.”

Charm him, for the love of all that’s holy. You are failing at this. I refilled my wine glass, chugging it down until the nerves had left my body.

If I wanted to manipulate Ragnar, I needed to find out what the blazes had happened between us. I had to work smarter.

I glanced down at my dress, sheer from the water. I brushed my hair back with my fingers, and I let one of the straps of my gown fall down my shoulder so he could see the swell of my breast. “I was hoping you would talk to me more. Tell me more about yourself. It’s just that I feel like I remember you. I remember your smell. The smell of icy mountain winds over rocks.”

“Dawn.” His voice was husky, a rasp in his throat.

I felt his body luring me closer, as if with a magnetic pull. Instinctively, I knew I couldn’t scare him off. I needed him to come to me.

I arched my back, drawing his eyes to my breasts until he was unable to look away. He was obviously emotionally warped, but for some reason, I didn’t mind his eyes on my body. And more importantly, his rapt attention allowed me to steal another glance at the key hanging by his belt.

Then I crossed my legs, letting the slit in my dress expose my skin all the way up to my thigh.

Ragnar prowled forward, a low growl escaping his throat, and I had the sense that he was about to loose whatever leash he’d been keeping on himself.

He lunged for me, grabbing me around the ribs, lifting me up. His fingers around me felt strong, but also like he was restraining himself so he wouldn’t hurt me. He eyed me with a repressed intensity that threatened to drive me completely crazy.

Until recently, I hadn’t known what it was like to be wanted this badly, so badly that men would make horrible decisions, push all other things aside just for the chance to touch me, to be alone with me.

Ragnar wasted no time. He leaned in, raking his teeth over my throat. I felt a hint of something sharp—fangs? In any case, I knew he had complete control over me. Despite myself, my neck arched.

“Is this what you really want, Dawn?” he asked, his voice husky.

I let out a quiet and completely real moan. “Yes.” Hating myself for my desperation, I arched my back into him. I was falling prey to some sort of magical seduction, and I hardly had control over myself anymore.

In the next moment, he pressed me against the wall, the cold stone biting into my back. He crushed his mouth against mine, letting out another growl, and pushed against me. His strong hands moved down my body, over my hips, his tongue sweeping in. The kiss deepened, my hips grinding hungrily against him.

And in that second, it was like a floodgate had been opened. A vision burst into my mind—

I gasped as the vision left my mind, and I stared up into Ragnar’s eyes. His arms were still wrapped around me, his body pressed in close. I could hardly speak, but I was beginning to understand now.

Once, long ago, I’d broken the rules. When it had been my time to die, I’d convinced Ragnar not to kill me. And for that, we’d all been cursed, one iteration after another.

“So… I guess you’re a little mad at me,” I said in a throaty whisper. “I remember the Judge. I remember the curse.”

He pulled away from me, searching my eyes. “Dawn. You made me what I am.” He opened his mouth, fangs glinting in in the candlelight, and my stomach dropped. “You’re the reason I’m cursed to drink blood, to watch everyone I love die before me. And I will destroy the creature who put this all into motion.”

My pulse raced. “You’re a vampire,” I breathed.

“The first vampire. And I want to break my curse. I don’t know how yet, but I want to break it. I will find the Judge.”

My breath was coming fast. “Why did you kidnap Holly? Why me?”

“I didn’t kidnap Holly. I found her today, wandering the fields, looking for you. You are both in danger. The shadow angels cannot get you here.”

I gritted my teeth. I was supposed to believe that he’d locked me up to protect me, and that he’d just found Holly? “Is Holly okay?”

He stared into my eyes. “She’s safe, yes. Outside, she is in danger. Just like you.”

That’s nice. Wonderful. I’m still getting her the heck out of here.

Heat from his body warmed mine, making my skin tingle, and I arched my back into him. Some insane, terrible part of me was desperate for more of his touch—but that wasn’t why I was luring him in. I’d come here to break Holly out of here, and that’s what I intended to do.

I let my breasts brush against his chest, and I ran my fingers over his waist, his hip.

His eyes were locked on mine, entranced, but shadows whirled in them. “Dawn,” he said, his voice husky.

I slid the keychain from his belt so slowly, so subtly, that he didn’t seem to notice.

“You betrayed me once,” he rasped, already pulling away from me. “Now I must remain focused. I will not let you seduce me away from my goal.”

I palmed the skeleton key so he couldn’t see it. “Fine. You don’t trust me yet. We can work on that.”

“You don’t remember, Dawn, but you are devious still.”

Maybe a little devious right now, but he could hardly blame me, considering he’d locked me in a room against my will. I crossed my arms behind my back, all innocence, and cocked my head. The sigh I let out sounded mostly genuine. “I guess I’ll just go back to my room alone, then.”

He reached for my arm, touching it lightly, then leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I’ll just need the key.” His warm breath sent tingles over my neck. “Perhaps you’re not as sly as you once were.”

A jolt of frustration shot through me. Guess I wasn’t as subtle as I’d hoped.

He stared down at me. I was clearly no match for him physically.

My lip curled in an angry snarl, and I clutched the key tighter. Rage roiled in my chest. “You can’t keep me here against my will. Whoever Dawn was in a past life, whatever she did—I’m a new person now. And I know one thing, Ragnar. We’re supposed to work as a team. You think I want to take part in some apocalyptic war overseen by shadow angels? Like hell I do.” I was losing control of my anger a little bit. “I don’t want to kill you, or Sebastos, or anyone else, and I don’t give a crap what the shadow angels think. So how about you don’t alienate one of your allies?” Energy ignited between us. “Whatever we are, we’re supposed to be on the same side, Ragnar.”

He planted his hands on the wall on either side of my head, boxing me in, and excited fear licked over my skin. “And what do you propose that I do to lift my curse?”

“I don’t know exactly! But how about you let me go?”

I could tell by the rigid set of his jaw that he intended to do nothing of the kind.

Maybe my light powers were worth a shot, after all. Sure, they hadn’t worked on Sam, but perhaps Ragnar was different. Ragnar was, after all, a creature of darkness.

I summoned the light within my chest, a warm, crackling feeling that sparked through my ribs, thrumming over my skin until it burst from my chest in an explosion of light.

The blast threw Ragnar’s powerful body backward, slamming him into the table.

I took off at a sprint without looking back.