Dark Redemption (20 page)

Kate’s
heart ached for Dominic. Did all that pain change him?
No,
impossible.
He’d suffered much before they met and he’d always been gentle and kind with
her.

Though
she found it difficult to reconcile the romantic man she knew and loved with the
deadly assassin her family feared and loathed, Kate prayed Dominic was every
inch the hardened assassin he was reputed to be. He’d have to be to survive the
torture Kate had seen in Alex’s mind.

As she neared the next door on
her left.
She froze in place.

“I
knew you couldn’t go a night without torturing me.” The ragged voice belonged
to Dominic. Kate rushed through the opening to find her husband chained to the
stone floor, his arms pinned above his head and his legs held apart by heavy
silver shackles.

Kate
didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath, until she at last let it out,
expelling a relieved sob as her eyes focused on his prostrate form. Joy,
relief, and sorrow vied for prevalence in the blender of her heart. True, he
was filthy, lying on his back in a sludge-like pond of blood and excrement.
True, he’d surely suffered unbearable pain and indignities.

But
he was alive.
That
was all that mattered. Kate rushed to Dominic’s side, falling to her knees
beside him.

Dominic
blinked in the dim torchlight and looked at her as if she was a ghost. “Have I
finally died and gone to heaven?” The pained hope in his voice clawed at Kate’s
heart.

“No,
my love,” Kate whispered, fighting back tears. “You’re still very much alive.”

“Damn
it,” Dominic groaned. “I don’t want to live anymore.”

Kate
pressed her palm to his cheek. “But I need you to. I’ve already lost you to
death once. I refuse to do it again.”

“You’re
just a figment of my imagination, an illusion I’ve conjured up to help me cope
with the pain,” Dominic argued, blowing off her presence like it was the sort
of thing that happened to him all the time. For all she knew, it did.

Kate
bit her lip and shook her head.
“No, my love.
I’m
really here and I’m going to get you out of here.”

He
studied her in silence, unmoving as his mind processed her words and presence.
Kate rejoiced as his eyes slowly regained focus, his typical sharp intelligence
emerging from the ashes of destroyed man.

“There
is a God,” Dominic muttered. “Let’s get out of this hell hole.”

“You
read my mind,” Kate said with a sad smile. She touched the silver shackles at
his wrists.
“Any idea where Alexander keeps the keys?”

“I’m
afraid he was too busy torturing me to share that useful bit of information.”
          “Then what are we going to
do?” Crossing the room, Kate attacked the box of tools in the far corner. A
sick feeling uncurled in her belly as she rifled through the bloodstained
objects of torture. With each item she crossed, her mind drummed up a million
ways Alexander could’ve used it to cause Dominic pain.

“Is
there still a mallet in there?”

Kate’s
eyes settled on the massive hammer. Too horrified to speak, she glanced at
Dominic and nodded.

“Good.
That’s all we need,” Dominic said grimly. “Bring it here.”

“You
think I can break your shackles with this?” Kate asked in disbelief.

Dominic
shook his head. “No,
cara
, I don’t. But I know you can break my hands
with it.”

His
quiet instructions sent chills racing through her. “No. There has to be another
way.”

“I
guess you could cut them off, if you’d rather. It’d be messier and take longer
for me to heal.” His warm brown eyes focused on her face, so full of love and
trust. “It’ll be okay, I promise. If you shatter the bones in my hands, I
should be able to squeeze them through the cuffs before they heal. Trust me,
cara
. I’ve been through much worse.”

Kate
swallowed at the lump in her throat. “I know.”

“Then
do it,” Dominic pled.

Biting
her lip, Kate nodded. “Okay.”

Hoisting
the heavy hammer onto her shoulder, she held it mid-air as she prepared to
bring it down on Dominic’s hand, hesitating.

“If
it helps, think of it as payback for all the times I’ve pissed you off,”
Dominic suggested with a soft chuckle.

“Not
funny,” Kate growled
,
her hands trembling as she held
the handle.

“Right,
sorry,” Dominic said, grinning unapologetically as though oblivious to the fact
he was about to have every bone in his hand crushed. “Think of it as a really
large nail.
Oh, or one of those mole things at a carnival.”

“Whack-a-mole?”
Kate asked, giving a weak
chuckle in spite of
herself
.

Dominic
nodded. “Yeah, whack that mole and win me a big prize. Hubby wants a giant
teddy bear.”

Kate
shook her head at him. Only her husband could make jokes while asking her to
maim him. “You’re insane, you know that?”

With
a grin, Dominic shrugged against his restraints. “Yeah, but I’m not the one
holding the hammer.”

“No,
you’re just the one begging to be bludgeoned with it,” Kate retorted in
exasperation.

“Details.”

“Enough.
Let’s get this over with,” Kate said, setting her jaw with determination.
Sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and swung. The mallet crashed
into the stone floor with a
crack
.

Dominic
didn’t make a sound. Kate didn’t dare open her eyes.

“Let’s
try it with your eyes open this time,
cara
,” Dominic teased with a low
chuckle. “You’ll find your aim improves immensely.”

Kate
ignored the gentle jibe and raised the hammer again with trembling hands. Only
this time, she used every ounce of self-control she could muster to keep her
eyes wide open. The mallet smashed into Dominic’s left hand with a sickening
thud
and he expelled his breath in a sharp gasp.

“Oh,
Dominic,” Kate cried. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“Let’s
just get my hand out before it heals and we have to break it again,” he said
through gritted teeth, his face drawn tight with pain.

Kate
grasped the shackle and pulled with all her might. Dominic’s shattered hand
squeezed through the tight metal ring, sending Kate flying backward with the
cuff in hand. Flopping on his back, Dominic gasped for breath as though he’d
just
sprinted
a marathon. Kate watched him in
silence,
sorry she’d been the one to cause him pain.

         
“May as well do the other one while this one still hurts,” Dominic said between
labored breaths.

         
With a nod, Kate circled around to his other side. Raising the hammer, she
brought its full weight crashing down on his right hand. This time, Dominic
didn’t make a sound. He held his breath and closed his eyes. Wrapping her
fingers around the rough, silver shackle, Kate yanked the thick ring free from
Dominic’s broken hand.

         
Elbowing his way up into a sitting position, Dominic looked at Kate as though
she was an angel of mercy, instead of a vampire who’d just crushed both of his
hands. “Thank you,
cara
,” he said, his voice thick with pain.

         
Kate gave him a wry smile.
“Anytime.”

         
Dominic gave a pained chuckle. “Well, let’s maybe not make a habit out of
bludgeoning me with a hammer every time I upset you, okay?”

         
Fighting back a smile, Kate nodded.
“Deal.”

         
“Now do my feet.”

         
With reluctance, Kate obeyed, stepping round to stand at his feet.
Crack.
Crack.
She shattered each foot in quick succession. Taking the chains of
his ankle restraints in her hands, Kate dragged the silver leg shackles over
Dominic’s broken feet.

         
Though he didn’t make a sound, Kate knew Dominic was in agony. She could see it
in the tightness of his lips, the shadows in his dark eyes. He remained on the
dungeon floor, unmoving, propped up on his elbows with his legs out in front of
him as he sucked in slow, even breaths.

         
Kate watched in awe as his hands resumed shape, the bones knitting themselves back
together as his body healed itself. Though Kate had witnessed the rapid healing
of the immortals as a vampire, never had she seen it happen at this magnitude.
It was like watching an inflatable bouncy castle take shape as it filled with
air. It was a medical marvel in itself.

         
Dominic gave her a pained smile as he repeatedly flexed and extended his
healing fingers. “See?
A little achy, but good as new.”

         
His other hand followed suit, then his feet. At last, Dominic was free and
whole again. He rose to stand on unsteady feet and Kate threw her arms around
him. “I thought I’d never see you again,” Kate whispered against his chest as
tears streaked down her face.

         
Dominic stroked her hair and pressed gentle kisses to her tear-stained face. “I
knew I would see you,
cara
, whether in this
life or the next.” His lips brushed lightly against hers. “That said
,
we need to get out of here if we don’t want to move on to
the next life quite yet. Ambrogio sleeps nearby and I have no idea how long
before he comes for me.”

         
“Isn’t that sweet?” a familiar voice purred from the doorway. “He misses me
when I sleep.”

         
Kate slowly turned to face Alexander. Rage built like an inferno in her chest.
“Let us go, Alex. You’ve done enough.”

         
With his typical leonine grace, Alexander stalked toward them, like a lion on
the hunt. “Ah, but my dear, sweet Katerina, that is where you are so very
wrong. It will never be enough.”

         
Dominic lunged for the golden vampire, tackling him and pinning him to the
stone wall by his shoulders. Alexander narrowed his eyes, glaring at Dominic as
though he was the only reason vampires burned in the sun. With a low growl,
Dominic slammed Alexander against the stone wall again and again.

         
“I’m torn between the desire to spend the rest of my life making you regret
every last second of torture you exacted from me and the instant gratification
of snapping your neck right here, right now,” Dominic growled, his dark eyes
full of barely bridled fury.

         
Alexander scanned the room, his golden eyes bright and calculating. His gaze
drifted to Kate. The affront of looking at her was enough to drive Dominic over
the edge.

         
“Instant gratification it is,” Dominic snarled, his hands moving to Alexander’s
throat. Alexander’s bulging eyes looked ready to pop out of his head as
Dominic’s grasp tightened.

         
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Ridolfi,” a familiar masculine voice boomed
from behind them.

         
Kate turned to see Massimo standing in the cell doorway, his gun trained on
Dominic. Her heart sank.
Was he working with Alex the whole time?
“What
are you doing here, Massimo?”

         
 “I would ask you the same, but I think it’s pretty clear now why you
developed a sudden interest in the dungeons,
cuz
,”
Massimo said with a smirk, his eyes and weapon never leaving Dominic. “Now let
him go, Ridolfi.”

         
Dominic’s grip didn’t loosen. His eyes never left Alexander. “And why would I
do that?” He
asked,
his voice low and dangerous.

         
“Because, I have a chamber full of silver bullets with your name on them,”
Massimo retorted as though Dominic had asked the stupidest question in the
world.

         
When Dominic still didn’t loosen his grip on Alexander, Massimo added, “Trust
me, I’m dying to blow your fucking head off, but I don’t think Katerina would
forgive me if I did. So, do us both a favor and let Ambrogio go. He might be an
asshole, but he’s still my friend.”

         
Dominic picked Alexander up by the throat, holding him suspended in the air.
Their eyes locked. “This isn’t over, leech. I’ll not rest until retribution is
mine. I’ll kill you so slowly, so painfully, the torture you enacted on me will
seem like child’s play,” Dominic whispered, his voice low and hard. He tossed
Alexander to the ground at his feet and spit on him.

         
“There, Cacciatori. You may have Ambrogio for now, but I’m taking Kate with
me.”

         
“Like hell you are,” Alexander roared, snatching the mallet from the floor and
swinging it at Dominic’s knee.

         
Dominic jumped back, but not quite far enough to avoid the impact altogether.
The heavy hammer struck his leg with a sharp
crack
. Without the support
of his knee, his leg crumbled beneath his weight and Dominic fell.

         
“Shoot him, Massimo, shoot him now!” Alexander shouted.