Runes (13 page)

Daylight faded, and the chickens had long since gone to roost in the surrounding tall grass. Sean missed their quiet clucking from beyond the window. He watched the shadows climb Evangeline’s flesh. No electric lights warmed their prison, but he was content for the moment with her in his arms. After the initial heat of their reunion died down, he’d made love to her again tenderly and thoroughly.

She left his arms and went to that window to stare out into the night. He saw her forefinger rub her temple and knew she was communicating with Will.

A shiver of dread filled him, and he tore his gaze away. He stared at the dark lines of his own tattoo. He could barely make it out through the faint light of the moon. In the other room, he heard Marcus, speaking low and urgently into his cell.

Sean had to get Evangeline the hell out of here. After he’d last made love with her, he’d talked with her in whispers about Marcus and his plans to keep them here and torture them. Sean had tried the door and found it locked. The single window was too small to fit through, even for Evangeline’s delicate frame.

He scuffed a hand along the plank walls. The shack was ill-constructed, the wood no longer solid if it had ever been, and he had visions of smashing through it as he did a stack of boards in Tae Kwan Do. But the first crash of his fist would bring Marcus running with a gun.

He snorted in disgust, and Evangeline pivoted.

“What is it?” she whispered.

Sean looked at her nude silhouette. Her round breasts jiggled with uncontrollable tremors, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, forcing his tears to recede. While he’d lain within her still, he’d asked about her shaking, and she’d told him her separation from Will caused it.

“Sean?” In a flurry, she knelt between his thighs and clasped his face. “What’s wrong?”

The feel of her warm torso against his naked flesh made his cock stir once more. But her shaking distracted him. Did Will watch them through her mind?

“I gotta get you the hell out of here,” he said. “Does Marcus sleep at night?”

“I have no idea,” she said. “The first night I was unconscious, and ever since, I’ve been locked in that cage.”

“While he was away fetching me,” he said angrily. She started at his sharp tone, and he clutched her tenderly, then rolled her onto the bed beneath him. His body was taut and ready for release. He ground himself against her wet pussy, urging her to open her legs for him.

Her breath was coming fast and he crushed his mouth against hers, probing passionately with his tongue. Her muscles relaxed beneath him, and he trailed an even gentler hand down the column of her throat to the straining nipple, careful not touch where he had branded her.

Tearing away from the kiss, he said, “There’s no anger between us, ever, Evangeline. But I’m more possessive of you now than ever. When you next speak with Will, tell him that.” Again his tongue dove between her sweet lips, tasting the need that he inspired.

Her hips rocked against his, begging, seeking his invasion, but he held off.

His arms flexed around her, drawing her closer still. “I swear I’ll get us out, baby, even if it means giving you back to Cochran. But for now I’ve got you, and I will have you.” He plunged down between her thighs and inhaled the soft musk of their lovemaking. His mouth opened on her slick clitoris, stroking the hard little nub. She arched and he grasped her hips and encouraged her to fuck his tongue. Her cries drove him wild and the taste of her juices made his cock rock hard. He imagined her tight sheath swallowing it, imagined ramming it inside her and possessing her as completely as Cochran ever had.

And when he felt the first shudders of her release, he swelled with triumph at the pleasure he could give her. Her cunt slammed against his mouth again and again, driving her to the highest peak. Her hips fell and her body loosened. But before she could emit the final gasp, he had slid inside her.

“I love you, Evangeline. You’re as much mine as his,” he said, moving within her. A moonbeam dusted her pale skin, giving it the luster of fine marble. Her eyes were fathomless, her mouth whispering his name, telling him everything he needed to hear.

Through the night he loved her, bringing her to orgasm after orgasm. And when dawn kissed the sky, they dressed. Sean prepared to meet the new day, ready to see what Marcus had in store.

Within minutes, heavy footsteps thudded toward the door. At Sean’s side, Evangeline cowered. He held her protectively and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.” Yet when the door exploded open and cracked off the wall, she shrieked in fear, and Marcus sneered. His nostrils flared as he drew a deep breath.

“Ahh. Smells like sex. So you’ve gone against your immortal bond and fucked your ex-lover. How’s Will feeling now?”

“Shut up,” Evangeline screamed. She lunged at him, but Sean snagged her waist and dragged her back before her nails raked Marcus’s face. Marcus gave a trickling laugh like blood down a slaughterhouse drain.

“You know how I love your feistiness, my pet. Now let’s show both of your boys a good time by playing a little game,” he said, gripping her upper arms.

“No. Let her go,” Sean roared. His hand locked about Marcus’s wrist, and he stood to glare into his face.

Marcus released one of her arms, fumbled in the back pocket of his army fatigues, and pulled out his pistol. He yanked Evangeline to her feet, whirled her behind him, and shoved the gun into Sean’s face. Her struggles ceased, but her sobs resounded in the tight space.

“Now walk through that door under your own steam if you know what’s good for you,” Marcus ordered her with a wicked gleam in his eye.

Sean stood frozen, staring down the barrel of the gun while the love of his life stumbled across the room out of his reach. Fear curled inside his gut, a hot tight ball. What if he couldn’t protect her? How would he find her once separated?

A sudden flash of insane jealousy gripped him. If only he could speak into her mind like Cochran. He would tell her to hit the floor and wrest the weapon from their captor. He heard her soft footfalls, and crushing pain struck his chest as her reluctant strides carried her away from him. At the door she paused, seeking his eyes, but Marcus barked, “Onward, girl. I have a special room prepared where you can sit and shake alone, without the arms of your mortal lover to comfort you.”

Marcus’s eyes shifted from Sean to Evangeline, giving Sean the instant he needed. His fist lashed out, striking the gun from Marcus’s hand and sending it skidding across the floorboards. It spun crazily and stopped at Evangeline’s feet.

Shock rippled across her face and she bent to scoop it up, but Marcus was too quick. He hit her full force, sending her reeling backward through the door, arms flailing to stay upright. She crashed into the wall of the small, smelly hallway, and Sean heard the sickening thump of her head smacking the wall and then the floor. The hot scent of fresh blood filled the air. Outside a rooster crowed.

In a black rage, Sean pushed Marcus to the floor, struggling to grab the weapon from him. His fist struck Marcus’s thick, sinewy throat, pinning him to the filthy floorboards. But Marcus had been trained as a soldier and twisted from his grasp.

Sean used all his strength and training in the martial arts as they grappled for the gun. Evangeline lay limp and injured, blood coursing down her temple, reminding him how fragile she was, immortal or not. He wondered what Cochran saw in her mind now. He rolled near her and touched the underside of one pale wrist, checking her pulse. It throbbed faintly against his index finger, sending shocks of relief through him. But, he’d let down his guard and given Marcus the upper hand.

Marcus’s lace-up leather boot caught him in the gut, half-lifting him into the air. Sean slammed down again, gasping for breath but angrier than ever.

“You’re—not—getting her,” he ground out, his teeth clenched against the pain.

Evangeline stirred. The shallow rise and fall of her breasts grew deeper, then she coughed. She rolled to the side and vomited. The smell of bile hit the air, and Marcus laughed.

“Come now, you’re stronger than that,” he chided in a strangely soothing way. He squatted next to her with the gun still trained on Sean’s head. “Little immortal girl made it through the bonding process without dying. You can certainly withstand a head injury, even if it’s delivered by the hand of an immortal. Now get those sexy little legs beneath you and wander outside for me.”

“No,” Sean yelled. He gained his knees, but the cold steel pressed directly between his eyes. What good would he be to Evangeline if he was dead? Will might never find her.

He dropped to the floor, prepared to play out his hand. He stared into Marcus’s eyes for five heartbeats while he registered Evangeline’s sobbing in the back of his mind. For one beatific moment he felt as if their souls were connected just as hers and Will’s were.

And then she disappeared through the door at the end of the hall. The torn screen door slammed shut. Marcus kept Sean in his gun’s sights as he backed down the hall after her and into the breaking day.

* * * *

Sean hadn’t prayed in years, but now a hot stream of The Lord's Prayer ran through his head. Hating his weakness, he staggered to his feet and ran after Evangeline and Marcus. Outside in the yard, he looked frantically around. They had vanished.

Chickens ran past him, clucking madly, wings flapping as if pursued, and Sean sprinted in the direction they’d come from.

Please don’t hurt her. Please give me the strength to defeat him
, he pled.

The air on the mountain was thin and brisk. He ran around the shack and came up against a view of the sun gliding above the rim of the earth, sparking off the surrounding mountains and plunging valleys into purple shadows, mocking him with its beauty. He should be enjoying this with Evangeline in a villa somewhere, and a ring should be on her finger.

The backyard was empty, and so Sean ran around the far corner just in time to see Evangeline drop down and disappear. Her curdling scream filled the sky. Panicking, he lurched into action, his heart pounding against his ribs.

“Evangeline,” he yelled, running to the edge of a cavernous hole some twelve feet deep and black as hell. Marcus stood there, staring downward. Sean knelt and saw her white limbs glowing from the darkened depths.

She lay still as death.

“Evangeline, Evangeline,” he yelled, flattening himself on the ground and looking over the edge. Marcus laughed maniacally beside him. The chickens looped around the property, crowing and cackling. Sean shifted closer, reaching down hopelessly with his arms. A shower of earth cascaded onto Evangeline at the bottom of the pit. The pale oval of her face tilted upward.

“Will?” she asked in a faraway voice.

Marcus’s gun waved away from Sean as he bent over with insane laughter. Sean calculated how fast he could leap to his feet and turn that gun on its owner.

“Get her out of there,” he roared.

“Not on your life. This is too precious. She believes you’re Will. Oh lovely, lovely pain for you. Who knew when I was wandering the streets of Chicago I’d find this delightful gem and her love triangle to torture?”

“Why the hell are you doing this to us?”

Marcus snapped from mad half-wit to serious foe. He squatted, jaw hard with anger. His bright blue eyes locked on Sean’s. “Because I think all immortals should suffer for the loss I bear. Why should Evangeline and Will have their wonderful little lives together when
I
can’t have my Cora?
” His shriek dislodged rocks and chunks of dirt from the walls of the pit. Evangeline choked and coughed.

“And you, my precious mortal man, only add to my pleasure with your fear for her. Your fear of
losing
her. In the end, you must know that your connection means nothing in the face of the immortal bond. There’s no ‘Calling’ for you, my son.”

If Evangeline hadn’t been in that hole, Sean would have shoved the fucker in and buried him alive.