Dawn Treadway - Dark Dreams - HarperImpulse Paranormal Romance

He didn’t realize Hamartia had witnessed his bloodlust and emotion until he stood with the unconscious girl in his arms and she appeared suddenly before them.

“Hello, my delicious pet.” Her voice scraped through the darkness like nails on a chalkboard, giving him chills penetrating to his very spine.

He growled, “Hamartia, I so do not miss your hideous whine. What could possibly draw you out of Sheol? I can’t imagine anything worth you missing even a minute of your enjoyment of the suffering and torture of the damned.” He watched her tall shadow approach him in the dimness of the room. She had long black, dreadlocked hair, which fell around an ugly scarred face. Her body was diseased from her conception and had continued to slowly rot for millennia. Wetness from her open sores shone through the encrusted dark fabric of her ancient, worn, floor-length gown.

Iblis had once taken her as a lover simply to amuse himself with something vile. It had been during a time when he had a sick fetish for fucking things that disgusted him. After centuries of finding pleasure in those who didn’t consent to his advances, he sought a distraction with a different kind of depravity.

When he was through with using Hamartia for his lasciviousness he took immense pleasure in telling her all about his experiment with the filthy and nauseating, letting her know she actually managed to make even the most depraved beast ever in creation, himself, sick. Some believed she had developed affection for him, if she could even conjure such a feeling. Spurned, she fell into a blood-hungry rage that continued to consume her existence. She had never left Sheol before, to Nias’s knowledge. Head Mistress of Pain; dominance and humiliation were all that gave her pleasure now. But, yet, here she was.

Unfortunately, she had also always had a lust for Nias. His physical beauty, strength, and power were an attraction she had been fixated on even before the humiliation Iblis caused her.

“Maybe it is just that I missed gazing at you. Why do you hold the human that way, Nias?” The she-beast drew out his name like she was playing with it on her tongue, and tilted her head in query. “She is beautiful, but have her quickly and discard her, like the other women you take to your bed. It looked to me from watching you end Rin that you almost felt something for her, but she will never hold your attentions like I could.”

He could hear her jealousy and it made him fear for Jade’s wellbeing. He knew Jade could no longer leave his side, at least until this conflict was resolved. If she lived, they would have to find a way to remove her from the attention of the Shaitan.

“No, Hamartia, she never could. The disgust I feel for you will never be the kind of attention I would give Jade.”

“You use her given name?” She pulled a hiss in though her teeth. “Why did you transcend her to your residence, Nias? We saw you converse with her and block her exit. It looked to be more than bedding.”

“She is nothing to me, Hamartia. You have no reason to concern yourself with this girl.” He did not want to give her any hint that Jade could be the key to his saving Joss.

“Your reaction to her miniscule injuries was extreme; I would very much like to take her home with me.” She took another step towards him as if to relieve him of his burden.

He bristled at Hamartia’s description of what her compatriots had done to her. Jade made a tiny moaning sound, and Nias realized both her clothing and his had become more saturated with blood as he held her. He needed to get her somewhere safe and tend to her wounds now.

He glared at the monstrosity before him, disgusted with both her inner and outer self. “This one will be discarded quickly; your perception of the events is obviously skewed. I hope our next encounter will not be soon, if ever.” And he transcended himself and the girl out before Hamartia could get in another word.

Jade abruptly found herself in a dark room, once again being held by her beautiful kidnapper. Although the room was only lit by the glow the moon and stars sent through the large windows, the fullness of the moon allowed her to see the essence of it. The furnishings were extremely nice, but different from the flat she had been in earlier. This was a huge bedroom, well appointed, even more moneyed. The change in the time of day implied she was in yet another time zone.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and she was still trembling and bleeding badly through what was left of her shredded clothing. She couldn’t feel animosity right now; hell, she couldn’t feel much of anything except pain mixed with some level of gratitude. The pain was worst from the front of her body and her arm, where the grotesque fiend had ripped her open. But Nias’s firm grip on her was calming and soothing and in his arms she got the sense she would be all right, which was completely insane since he was the one who had got her into this mess in the first place.

Nias walked over to a dark wooden four-poster bed with a dark-blue duvet and a pile of brighter-blue pillows. He turned his head toward the fireplace and under his glare the fire suddenly ignited and rose to warm the room. When he bent down to place her on the bed, she didn’t want to let go. She felt so confused, shaken, and hurt she wasn’t sure whether she needed his strength around her for a little while longer, or whether she should demand to be taken to a hospital. The latter seemed the right thing to do, but that wasn’t what her body, as badly injured as it was, wanted to do.

He looked into her eyes and she felt a pang of fear coupled with a need for him. He lowered her gently onto the bed and sat down next to her. She heard a thump and then another, which must have been his boots hitting the floor, because the next thing she knew he was stretching his expansive chest and long legs, clad in faded jeans and an old black t-shirt, out next to her. He leaned on one elbow, his long, shiny black and dark-brown hair falling and folding on to the bed.

Damn, he was something to see; she almost forgot about the pain. Then it shot back at her and he put one of his hands flat on her stomach, as if to comfort her. Even with the pain, she noticed his heavily muscled bicep shift when he moved.

She couldn’t help but read him; she was freaked, badly injured and in a strange place. She wanted to trust him, but the darkness in him she felt earlier was prevalent, like a pervasive hum, an unholy deadly enigma. Right alongside the darkness was his concern. She decided he was most likely her best bet right now. She certainly wasn’t going to try to run off and get taken by more of those things, even if she were capable of that kind of movement.

“Where am I?” she managed to croak out. He put one finger on her lips to quiet her.

“Be still, Jade. As I told you before, you are safe with me.” The matter-of-fact manner in which he said it, the gentle way in which he was now touching her after the rough manner of their initial meeting, it felt almost surreal how soothing it was. She reached up to take his hand. It was warm and she gripped it with both of hers. She looked toward his beautiful face. His bright gold eyes were looking into hers and they didn’t look cocky or sarcastic. For the moment, he seemed to be actively trying to calm her. She would even say he looked kind.

“I know you’re in pain. I can make the pain and the wounds go away, but you will have to trust me.”

“Honestly, that worries me, but I really want the pain to stop.” She gave him a half-hearted attempt at a smile, trying in vain not to cry. “Okay, what can you do?”

“Just close your eyes, Jade. You’re safe with me.”

“I heard you the first time, but, before I trust you, which I can’t promise I’ll be able to do, how about you tell me your name. Your full name.” Her voice was hoarse, but she was trying her hardest not to sound defenseless.