Assassin: Fall of the Golden Valefar (A Paranormal Romance—Book #6 in the Demon Kissed Series) (4 page)

As Eric slid the key into the lock, a moment of foreboding
passed over him. He didn’t want to do this. He never wanted to do this, but it
was the only thing that helped anymore. And the girl on the other side of the
door signed up to be here. He didn’t want to think of the reasons why. It would
make his justification for what he was about to do disappear. He pressed his
eyes closed and leaned his head on the door.

A voice cut through the hall. Carina said, “Blood is mercy,
Eric. It’s your vice. So what? There are worse things.” When he lifted his head
to look at her, he knew she didn’t understand. She was Valefar, and soulless. Of
course she thought tormenting someone was harmless. But he felt it, every time,
destroying his soul piece by piece. It was like he was trading pain for peace,
but in the end, he’d lose both. Carina was coldhearted, and didn’t understand. This
flash of reluctance made her think he was mortal, and helped hide his true
nature, but it made him feel weak. When he was a Valefar, he would have done
this without a second thought. He’d wanted to do it to Ivy—he’d threatened her
so many times.

He nodded at Carina, his hand on the knob, “Yes, there
are,” he agreed. Her blood red lips pulled into a smile as he turned his back
and disappeared into the room.

CHAPTER SIX

Her breathing increased when he walked in. He stood at the
door with his back to her, his hands gently pushing the door closed and
lowering the bar. Sliding the golden key in place, he sealed them in, and
extracted the key. Shirtless and feeling overly exposed, he turned to face the
room to see what Carina had given him.

The girls weren’t real, he couldn’t think of them that way
or he couldn’t do this. They were things, possessions. They belonged to Carina
and chose this willingly. The thoughts ran though his mind several times. As he
moved slowly across the room, he heard the chains rattle in the corner. It was
pitch black, but he could make out her corseted figure, chained to the wall,
facing away from him. Long waves of dark hair trailed down her back. Two smooth
round mounds of ass could be seen through the robe. The girl didn’t move, but
he could sense her heart beating rapidly. He wondered how many times she did
this, and what she had to go through to be able to endure him.

Eric stopped at the massive bed in the middle of the room. It
had a black iron headboard with more chains and cuffs attached to it. The
bedroom walls were black, flocked velvet. Ornate moldings lined the room. Combined
with the dark furniture, it
look
like he was in
another time. Eric wonder briefly if that was where Carina was when she was
turned Valefar. The styles, the things of the age when one becomes immortal are
remembered most vividly, while the memory of other things—important things—fade
away.

Eric didn’t speak. His senses were in hyper-drive, wavering
between doing what he wanted and what he needed. The girl faced the wall, not
moving, not peering over her shoulder to see him. Her arms were chained above
her head and he knew the muscles were burning. She’d been there too long,
waiting for someone less ruthless than he was. Jocelyn seemed to realize it was
Eric when he showed up. The moment he walked through the door, she knew to be
more afraid than with the others. She knew how twisted he was, the level of
pain he needed to feel sated—at least for the moment. This girl didn’t know
him. She remained still, the sound of her heart beating steadily without fear.

Moving past the nightstand, Eric left his jeans on and
walked slowly toward his victim. Without a sound, he stood behind her. An
involuntary shiver raked her body. A small sound, the rush of air, came out
when his hand cupped her bare ass. He liked the G-string on her. It gave him
access to her flesh, without making her strip, yet. This teasing, making her
wait, should increase her apprehension, but the girl’s heart pounded the same. Eric
slid his hand over her smooth skin, withdrew it, and then hit her hard.

The sting nearly made her cry out, but she bit her tongue. The
girl pressed her head to the wall, trying to ignore the disturbing sensations
that were crawling out of her stomach and tightening in her throat.
Breathe
, she thought to herself,
Don’t
speak.

Eric leaned his toned body against her, pressing her to the
wall. She was holding her breath, trying to remain silent. Eric pressed his
finger to her face, trailing it down her neck before breathing in her ear, “I
want you to cry, Sasha. I want to feel your body shake as you scream when I’m
with you.” For Eric, it was part of the game and a part that he couldn’t do
without. When he was here, this girl would do what he said.

Natalia blanched when she heard it—his voice. Eric. For half
a heartbeat, she told herself that she could do it, that he was the same as the
rest. But her mind protested the thought of Eric’s hands sliding down her skin,
feeling her in a way that made her hot all over. He was attractive, and she
wanted him—and completely hated herself for it. There was no relationship with
Eric. Everything was
fake
. Every piece was staged, an
act that went on and on. This wasn’t part of it. There was no way she could do
this to him, and this wasn’t the way she wanted revenge.

Eric slid his hand between her legs and she sighed, wanting
him there. Every bit of her being wanted him. Anger coursed through her. Why? Why
did he make her feel like this?

Eric didn’t know what changed, but he sensed it. Something
he said made her angry, but his mind was too slow. He didn’t see it coming. Before
he knew what happened, the girl bucked backward, knocking him away. Caught by
surprise, Eric staggered back a step. Natalia’s leg swung out, chains attached,
and kicked him away. Aroused, he jumped back to his feet. None of Carina’s
girls had ever fought back before. It went against the owner’s rules, but he
liked it all the same.

Eric lunged for her, grabbing her long dark hair, yanking
it back hard, exposing her neck to him. Her breasts swelled at the top of her
corset, distracting him from her face. It wasn’t until she said his name that
he stopped, that he realized who he was hurting. It felt like a cloud lifted
and he could see her. He knew her.

“Eric! Don’t!” Wide blue eyes were locked on his face,
searching for recognition, knowing his name would break the power that masked
her from him. If she remained silent, he could have been with her and not
realized it was Natalia. But she spoke. She defied Carina, because she couldn’t
stand the idea of being with Eric. Her body longed for his and she hated
herself for it. What kind of assassin does that? “Eric,” she snapped his name
again, and it was like someone hit him in the face.

Eric dropped his hold on the girl. His eyes narrowed in on
the side of her face. She was still chained to the wall, hands above her head,
ankles shackled. His heart was racing like it would explode. Was that who he
thought it was? It couldn’t be. He brushed back the curtain of dark hair that
hid her face.

“Natalia,” he breathed, shocked. Anger flashed through him
and he stepped away from her like she was poison. Why didn’t he recognize her? He
was staring at her, but he didn’t really see her until she spoke.

Natalia was livid, trying to twist around to yell at him.
Lies were rapidly forming in her mind. She broke the trance, and had to give a
reason for her presence—one he could believe. “Eric! This is going to
completely screw me! Do you know how long it took to get her to let me do this?
And you! She gives me you!” Natalia pulled on the chains, her long hair
tangling in the silver. Her body stilled. She took a deep breath through her
crimson lips. Make-up stained her face, making her nearly unrecognizable.

Eric stood there mute, watching her struggle for a moment. His
eyes lingered on her skin. He could still feel her firm bare skin in his hands.
The sheer dressing gown was translucent, revealing the tightly laced corset. The
steel boning that ran up the seams in the corset was what he planned on using
on her instead of his pin. Pictures of what almost happened ran through his
mind. Fuck. He tugged his hair, pushing it out of his face. Natalia hung her
head, her heart beating slower. He felt it—the slowing of her pulse—she thought
she was safe with him. Pressing his eyes shut, Eric turned away from her. He headed
for the door when her voice called out behind him.

Natalia saw him walking away. Panic choked her. Carina was
powerful and she needed this place. If Eric walked out she was screwed.
Thinking fast, she said, “Eric! Don’t! You can’t tell her you don’t want me!”

He stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. The
tension in his shoulders was dripping down his arms. He wanted this—he needed
this—but not with her. “Watch me.” He inserted the golden key into the barred
door, trying to fumble the lock open.

Natalia struggled, pulling at the chains, pleading, “She
won’t let me come back. Eric, don’t do this to me!”

He rounded on her, crossing the room in a flash. Suddenly
he was in front of her, hands flying, golden eyes glowing like embers about to
combust, “What the hell am I supposed to do with you?
With
this!”
He gestured to her chained body, her dark hair, the make-up that
covered her face making her something she wasn’t, something he couldn’t see. To
him, Natalia was perfect and innocent. This clashed with his version of her.

“Please, Eric. Please. If you tell her that you know me,
she’ll hurt me. If something like this happens, I’m not supposed to say
anything. I shouldn’t have said anything!” She was panicking. He could hear her
voice cracking. The panic was real.

Eric turned from her, looking for something to smash, and
finding nothing. He growled
,
his hands clenched into
fists, “Did you think I wouldn’t see you? That I wouldn’t notice that it was
you? I know you’re name’s not Sasha! I know you! What the fuck were you
thinking?”

“No,” she
cried,
her crystal blue
eyes wide and pleading, “you shouldn’t have noticed it was me. She did
something, but saying your name messed it up. Carina said no one would
recognize me.
That there was more to it than make-up and
lights.
Please, Eric. Don’t leave this room. Not with me like this.” Her
heart was racing, blood surging through her body like she was afraid.

Was that enough?
she
wondered. It wasn’t like she could admit to knowing there was a spell on her,
on him, and she broke it—on purpose. Her breathing was shallow, as blood rushed
through her veins faster and faster. The roar echoed through her ears,
deafeningly loud. She’d worked so hard to get close to him, now all that work
was gone. How did she not realize he came here! They’d both been here for years
and never seen each other. The possibility wasn’t mind-blowing. If he only came
in a few times a year, like her, then it was unlikely that their paths would
cross. But they had, and now she risked losing everything. And being chained to
the wall and having Carina pissed at her was a bad place to be. She had a soul
and she knew that soul-sucker would take it if she could.

Eric’s golden eyes locked with hers. “Why are you so
frightened?” He felt it, the sudden surge of fear that should have been there
the moment he walked into the room, but it had been glaringly absent. “You
signed up for this messed-up shit, so what’s the worst that could happen if I
leave you hanging on the wall like a slut?” This wasn’t her. Why was she here? He
didn’t understand. He wanted to unchain her and take her with him. He wanted to
feel the sting of his hand on her skin again and make her remember not to come
back. If she needed this, he could have given it to her. Delusions of control
swam in front of his eyes, but he still didn’t understand.

Her chest heaved as she tried to breath, but between the
corset and the chains holding her arms up, she couldn’t. Natalia sucked in air
like she was going to pass out. Her head felt heavy. Natalia was talking, not
really thinking about what she was saying. “The screams,” she staggered, her
body leaning to the side like she was going to go down. “The screams that come
out of Carina’s room when a girl fails… Eric. She’ll do that to me…” the room
started to spin. Natalia felt like her ribs were being crushed. There wasn’t
enough air. Her neck felt so weak and her head couldn’t remain upright.

Eric growled. Crossing the room with the golden key in
hand, he unchained her. Forcefully, he ripped off the shackles one by one. Natalia
was leaning hard against him as he released her ankles. When he rose and stood
eye to eye with her, she was still gasping like she’d run a few miles. Eric
muttered things she couldn’t hear, grabbed her tiny waist and spun her around. If
he had a knife, he would have cut the damn thing off of her. Instead, he pulled
the strings on the back of her corset, loosening them so she could inhale.

It pained him to realize that she was working here, what it
must mean. Natalia was a good girl—at least he thought she was. When he got
over the shock of seeing her, of what he nearly did to her, he asked, “Why are
you here?”

Natalia looked at him, a lost expression on her face. Dark
hair hung in long waves making her look perfect, like a porcelain doll. She
shrugged, “Same reason you are, I suppose.” That was the god-awful truth, but
she knew he wouldn’t listen to her. He never did.

Rage surged through him. Shaking his head, he grabbed her
shoulders, “No, it’s not. There’s no way in hell that you’re here for the same
reason as me! Tell me why.” When she didn’t answer, his fingers dug into her
flesh harder. She didn’t wince, Natalia kept her gaze locked on Eric like she
was a defiant brat. With one shake he released her.

“Fine,” she said rubbing her arms, crafting another lie. She’d
already told him so many. “I needed a job and I’m good at this, okay? The only
down side is that Carina’s a freak—she scares the hell out of me.” It was the
truth, and she knew Eric would sense it. There was more to it than that, but
that was the core reason she worked for Carina. Dread pooled in her stomach. He
had to believe her. It would destroy everything she worked for if he didn’t. Natalia
turned her gaze toward Eric. Her cold blue eyes met Eric’s for a moment before
she sat on the bed. She pressed her lips together, asking, “Are you going to
tell her?”

Eric shook his head and sat down next to her on the bed. It
was soft and gave way, slumping beneath him. Eric leaned forward and put his
head in his hands. “No, I won’t tell her.” His voice was so faint that she
shouldn’t have heard it, but Eric knew she did.