Chapter Eleven
Yelling and screaming at her captor would do no good, and Evangeline knew that, so once he’d taken her out of Calidum’s portal, she reined herself in and shut her mouth. She was already drained from healing humans at the pier. Wasting any further energy would only have served to make the situation worse. And Arach had always scared her anyway.
That was when he’d only been the Dragon King. Now it was clear he was something a good deal scarier.
He’d moved them so fast through some sort of sideways, and dark portal, she literally hadn’t had a chance to react in any intelligent manner. It came to an end with unbearable speed, and he was stepping them out of it as if he were stepping off a sidewalk. She, however, stumbled a little. Arach caught her easily and righted her.
He laughed softly as he finally released her, and she wasted no time putting distance between them. It wasn’t a lot of distance, however. Their surroundings were dark. It was not an unnatural darkness; wherever they’d gone, the sun had already set. They’d traveled far. But it was dark enough that she didn’t want to trip over anything or bruise her shin running into something low-lying.
Eva was standing in a very large room, and most of what was in the room, she couldn’t make out just yet. Her dragon vision needed to adjust. But on the other side of the room, vast windows scaled one entire wall, affording a view of a brilliant and fairly famous skyline beyond. It was Tokyo.
Far, indeed.
Eva could hear her breathing, ragged and uneven. She was scared, and she hated that it showed in any manner. But she was too frightened to hate it that much.
“No need for such terror, my love,” said the former Dragon King. She whirled to face him, or at least face the direction from which is voice had come.
“I’ve no plans to cause you any permanent harm.” His voice had changed. It was deeper somehow, more resonant. There was a different scent to him, too, as if something like sandalwood or… night… had been infused in his blood. For some reason, she had the feeling he could hear her heart hammering away. She just had the sudden impression that he was that powerful.
He flicked a switch, and soft lighting flooded the area. Eva blinked a few times. She hugged herself as she slowly turned in place, taking in the details of her surroundings. It was a well appointed home, modern with clean lines. The floor was smooth white marble, and the ceiling literally seemed to be the same, with recessed lighting in long rows, perfectly parallel, shedding just the right amount of light. The living room led directly to the kitchen, open and spacious, and beyond the all-glass walls, Evangeline saw that a courtyard of sorts sported an Olympic-sized infinity pool that seemed to drop off into what must have been hundreds of feet below.
An apartment like this would have cost a fortune anywhere. But in Tokyo, it must have been over-the-top. She had no idea what to think.
Was this his? Another gift from the Entity? Or from Amunet? And most importantly, was Eva expected to stay there now?
“Is this to be my prison?” she asked softly, loathing the way her voice shook ever so slightly. She finished turning her circle and faced him, her eyes locking on his. Arach’s were even greener than they’d been before. And when she squinted, she could see that something ringed them now, something darker, a brown of some kind, or perhaps a red. They were striking… and wrong.
“That depends,” he said calmly, gracefully taking a seat in one of several equally modern and expensive leather seats across from the gray suede sofa and coffee table that completed the living room set. He raised his right hand, and a glass of scotch appeared in it. He swirled the few pieces of ice in the glass a few times, never taking his eyes from hers.
Then he smiled and took a drink, just as casual as can be.
“On what?” she asked, her gaze narrowing.
He lowered the glass, now half empty. “Please, Eva.”
“Evangeline,” she corrected him, not at all ready to allow him the luxury of shortening her name.
His smile was back. “Eva,” he continued, undaunted, “You must be starving. I can sense your hunger from here. And I know how hungry dragons can get.”
“There’s absolutely nothing you can offer me that I would want.”
He laughed now. Against all odds, it was a pleasant laugh. She would have expected everything Arach did to be grating, but it honestly seemed like he was tickled by her statement. “I have no doubt you feel that way, at least presently,” he admitted, his too-green eyes sparkling. “But I can guarantee the sentiment will change.”
He set down his glass on the side table that she hadn’t even noticed was beside the expensive chair. Then he gracefully stood, again displaying a fluidity that was rare even for dragons.
“Now I must insist you eat something,” he told her frankly, moving in long strides to the kitchen, where he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a platter. It was topped with numerous fine foods from chocolate covered strawberries to mini cakes. Loads of sugar…. Eva’s stomach growled again.
Arach turned to her with the platter in one hand and a knowing smile on his handsome face. “It isn’t poisoned, if that’s what you’re afraid of. So, what have you got to lose?”
Everything I have left of myself, she thought hopelessly. She needed to get out of there. She needed to escape – obviously. But he was right. She was weak. Eating could only help her. Right?
Yeah, her inner voice said sarcastically. If you don’t mind eating crow.
As if he could hear her thoughts and knew better than to waste time arguing with her, Arach picked up a chocolate strawberry, took a big bite, and chewed casually, leaving the remainder of it on the platter, which he then set down on the marble counter top. He moved around the counter as he licked his thumb and forefinger, his leather soled shoes sounding crisply on the marble floor. Eva watched him make his way to an ornately decorated and extremely well appointed bar on the other end of the overly spacious room.
He stepped behind the bar, which also sported a marble counter top, this one darker and veined with gold, and proceeded to pull several bottles out from their places, mixing up a drink as if he had all the time in the world.
Eva stayed where she was, hugging herself.
“What do you think of the place?” he asked without looking at her.
“It’s gold gilded,” she said, referring to the term gold gilded prison. She knew he would make the reference. “But it won’t hold me, Arach.”
He smiled to himself as he finished mixing the drink. “Oh, I think you’ll find it will.”
He replaced the crystal decanters and bottles he’d been pouring from and moved around the bar to make his way to where she stood, at the center of the grand space. He came within a foot of her, and she felt his newfound power wash over her, dark, twisted, dangerous. He held the drink out to her. “This will make things easier on you, Eva. I highly recommend you take it.”
Instinct dictated her reaction before she had a chance to quell it, and her hand was moving lightning-fast to knock the drink from his grasp. But it never happened. His free hand wrapped firmly around her wrist long before it would have made impact, and not even a hair on his perfect head was out of place. He’d fully known she was going to do that. And he’d completely stopped her.
She clenched her teeth together and glared at him.
“Not thirsty, I take it,” he said, his green eyes glittering. “Very well.” He turned slightly to set the drink down on yet another side table that she hadn’t seen there before, and then he turned back to her. “I am.”
With that, he shoved the sleeve of her jacket far up her arm in one fluid movement – and sank his fangs into her wrist.