Vein of Love (Blackest Gold Book 1) (28 page)

TENSLEY MANEUVERED SKILLFULLY
through the ballroom, scanning it for the small blonde. Even if he found
her
, he wasn’t sure what he would say—not sorry; he wasn’t sorry. Demons were never sorry for their natural actions.

But then why did his chest feel so goddamn heavy?

The live band was loud, along with the constant chattering of the Upper East Siders’ nonsensical, materialistic conversations. A few women giggled and a busty woman even approached him, but with a glare and a good dose of aggressive pheromones she was soon scurrying away.

He shouldered some rich, loud-talking bastard out of his path, and his eyes landed on Stella and the other girl—the black-haired girl.

“Have you seen Molly?”

Stella’s mouth hung open at first. Then she scowled and appeared more demonic than the ones he’d actually grown up with. “You’re going nowhere near my friend,
dick.
I don’t know what you did to make Molly Darling—one of the nicest, most genuine people in New York—so upset, but you’re not getting
any
fucking help from me.”

He clenched his teeth and leaned in. “Where is she?”

Stella leaned in also, copying his stance and expression. “Go die.”

He wanted to knock her into the wall, but he managed to hold on to his emotions for a bit longer. “If you don’t tell me where she is, your life will consist of
maybe
five more breaths.”

“I’m shaking in my Guccis.”

“Oh, well
hello
hot man,” the black-haired girl interjected, stumbling into Stella and then reaching out to touch Tensley’s stomach.

“Shit, Tina.” Stella pulled her away and let Tina rest her body against hers. Stella glowered at him again. “You better leave.”

“Or what? You’ll stab me with your Gucci stiletto?”

“Right between the eyes—or maybe in a
lower
domain,” she snapped, eyes flickering down to his crotch. “Now fuck off. If you dare go near Molly again, I will rip you to shreds the Manhattan way.” She bared her pearly whites and closed the gap between them.

Several ways to murder the little redhead at that moment flashed through his mind. “Molly’s mine.”

Stella’s face flared crimson and she tightened her grip on her glass. “She doesn’t belong to anyone,
Alpha.
”

“Is this douche bothering you, Stella?” September appeared beside her, arm crossed.

“Oh don’t worry. I had this covered.”

Both girls glared him down.

Tensley had enough. “Where’s Molly?”

September shrugged. “Nowhere you need to know.”

Tensley unhinged his mouth to talk, but someone was shouting his name. His eyes darted to a disheveled Illya rushing through the crowd.

Illya gripped Tensley’s shoulders, and he was shocked to see that his eyes were bloodshot and misty. “Tensley.”

His throat tightened. “What?”

“Familiars showed up,” Illya said. “We ran into the park and––and then they got us.”

“You’re bleeding!” Stella whisper-shrieked, clutching her own neck.

Illya shrugged it off. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not fucking nothing,” Tensley snapped. He rolled up his jacket and tore a piece of his shirtsleeve off. He secured the material around Illya’s neck, putting pressure on the wounds. “Where’s Molly?”

Illya choked on his rapid breathing, eyes darting around. “He took her and I couldn’t fucking do anything to stop him. I tried to tell her to run, but she was stubborn.”

“Are you serious?” September glared at Illya. 

Tensley gritted his teeth. “Who did?

“Abaddon––he took her,” he said. “Molly went with him because he was going to rip my fucking heart out, and she tried to fight back––”

“What do you mean
Abaddon
took her? Who the hell is he?” Stella yelled. Tensley forgot the human girl was standing in their half-circle, clinging to every last word.

“She’s gone?” September choked. “Oh god. We have to get her!”

“Fuck!” Tensley cursed, glancing at Illya. “I had two men on her tonight. What the fuck were they doing?”

He hadn’t marked her.

And now Abaddon would do it; he would force himself on Molly, and once she was the duke’s, Tensley couldn’t do anything about it. Abaddon would rape her until she died, just like the dozens of other women over the centuries.

“I’ll go with you to find her,” Illya said, stepping forward.

“Me too,” September said.

“No, you won’t,” Tensley shot back, vibrating with anger at himself.

“I want to help too,” Stella said with a pout.

Tensley growled and turned to face them. “Illya and I will go down. You guys can wait at the house if you’re that concerned.”

“Sexist,” September hissed, folding her arms.

Tensley sized her up, and she wasn’t a weakling. She
had
stood up to him and that familiar who attacked her and Molly in the bar, or so Illya had told him. Plus, she loved Molly, which meant more than anything else at that point. “Fine, but don’t get in my way.”

September grinned smugly.

“What?” Stella threw her hands up and Tina giggled behind her. “Why does she get to go?”

“We still need someone to wait at the house to make sure the Darlings are fine,” Illya explained, gently touching Stella’s shoulder. “Do you think you can do that?”

Stella nodded, her frustrations quelled by Illya’s attractiveness. “I can do that.”

Tensley turned without speaking, and the others followed. When he went down to Babylon, he was taking Molly back up with him—no matter what.

He would rescue his fiancée from Duke Abaddon even if the Princes sentenced him to an agonizing death.

MOLLY PEELED HER
sore eyes open and scanned the dimly lit area. Sweat dribbled down her scorchingly hot limbs, and when she breathed in greedily, the thick, acrid air caused her to cough. The smell of smoky incense prickled her nose and she looked up. A series of white, long-stemmed candles stood nearby.

Molly squinted, straining to make out her surroundings. She appeared to be in a bedroom. She tried to move but her limbs were weighed down; they were
so heavy,
and her brain felt like it’d been anesthetized.

Molly looked down and saw that she was only wearing a white lacy bra and underwear. Her stomach plummeted.

She worked to sit up, leaning her back against the bed frame. The corners of the room were hooded in shadow, and she clutched at the silky sheets entwined around her legs. Molly studied the room, noting books and documents strewn across a desk, discarded bits of clothing piled on the floor. She rubbed at her face, disoriented; although a heat devoured her insides, her hands were icy cold.

“Glad to see you’re up,” a voice said.

Molly flinched and saw a large, solid form framing the doorway. It didn’t surprise her to see Abaddon, red hair in complete disarray and a wine glass in hand. He swirled it and inhaled the bouquet, grinning at her.

She clung to the white sheets. “What are you going to do?”

Abaddon smirked, and his teeth were stained red so that he looked truly hellish. “With
you
?” He bowed his head and walked over, heeled boots clicking on the floor. “I’m going to mark you.”

Her lips trembled and she tried to roll away from him to the other side of the bed, finally standing. Her legs shook under her weight and the room spun in circles.

“You can’t just run away,
daemon
,” Abaddon sneered.

Her nails dug into the mattress as she held herself up, shooting him an angry look. “What—what did you do to me?”

He placed the wine glass on his desk and shrugged. “Just a small dose of belladonna; causes lethargy. Nothing permanent. Might experience a cool sensation on the inside, but feels like your skin is burning.”

She gaped.
He drugged me.

“I’m going back home.”

“To Mr. Knight?”

She stiffened.

“You think he won’t force himself on you?” His gravelly words sounded distorted. “We’re demons, Molly. We kill humans, we kill each other; we even kill the ones who love us. We’re selfish creatures; nothing is good in us. We lost that many centuries ago.”

She pulled the covers farther up to her neck. “When you fell?”

He nodded. “Tensley Knight is one of us. He’s nothing different. If I don’t have my way with you now, he will very shortly.”

Her heart thundered in her throat. “That’s not true.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve
fallen
for him. Oh, how sweet. How utterly
stupid
, to love someone who could never, ever truly return the affection you desire. His brother may have strayed, but your sweet Tensley
won’t. He’s been trained as an emotionless soldier,” he went on, strolling around the huge bed. “He’s the monster you fear.”

Their eyes aligned then, and she allowed her body to relax. His aggressive movements halted.

Her eyes…they’d maintained their power even with the belladonna.

She released a slow breath. “You’re going to let me go now, or you’re going to regret it, Abaddon.”

He didn’t frown or protest, only staring mindlessly back at her. She didn’t blink, edging around him with the blanket clutched to her chest, their eyes still fixated on each other. The air was so hot, and tears streamed down her face from the strain. Her eyelids finally closed involuntarily. Abaddon gained control and roared, slamming his hefty hand against her ear and shoving her against the wall.

His breathing grew rapid, heavy, and low on the base of her neck. When she tried to turn her head he pressed it harder into the hard surface, avoiding her eyes.

“I like a bit of a challenge. It would be too easy if I hid your most valuable asset—those rare eyes.” His fingers dug into her cheekbone, and she thrashed weakly.

She bared her teeth. “Don’t
touch
me.”

She didn’t need to see his expression to sense the smirk there, to know what he would do next. He ripped the blanket away, exposing her. She pushed against him but he just held her down, grasping her thighs and lifting her around his waist.

“I can’t mark you without touching.” He chuckled, hurling her onto the bed. She scrambled away as soon as she landed, but Abaddon sat on top of her, turning her to look up at him. She hit him hard on the right side of his jaw with her fist and his cheek immediately swelled.

Relax. Relax, Molly.

Her powers only ever seemed to work when she was relaxed, but this was different—she was sluggish and feeble. She wanted her powers to work, she wanted strength, but she couldn’t focus.

When he reacted with another snicker, she hit him until her hands were numb and red. He waved her fingers off like little flies, growling and holding her down when he’d had enough.

“Let me go!” she shrieked.

He reached up somewhere and pulled chains down from the bedpost, tying them in an intricate knot around her wrists and the bedframe. He yanked her arms up.

“Don’t.
Don’t.
”

Abaddon rose off the bed, removing his black dress shirt and pants. She desperately tried to catch his eyes with hers again, choking on her tears.

God. God. Oh god
.

Abaddon grabbed a black scarf from his desk and tied it around her face. He grabbed a handful of her tangled locks and lifted her head up, pressing a cold metal object to her lips.

“Pain is a part of life, Molly.”

He pricked her bottom lip with the knife, and she tasted blood. Her lungs ached, a scream quivering within them. As he moved across the bed again, she wiggled, attempting to get free.

At the ache in her wrist, an awful idea began in her head.

If I just…

He lifted her whole torso up, seeming to wrap her in some sort of silky material. “No, no,
no!
” She kicked wildly, hoping to land on a body part that might incapacitate him.

He breathed heavily, concentrating on tying up the corset he’d just fitted around her middle and tightening its strings. She gasped and gurgled, feeling her ribs shift and bend nearly to the point of breaking in the unnatural position.

“The more you panic, the tighter it gets,” he warned, licking the blood off her lips.

“
Bastard,
” she hissed, wincing at his vile touch.

His hand rubbed her hip, sliding down to her pelvis. “I won’t be gentle. It’s not in my nature.”

When she went to yell at him, the corset tightened and she shuddered, her torso pulsing in pain. “He’ll come for me.”

Even Molly knew it was a lie.

“He won’t,” he asserted, laughter in his voice. “You’re all bark and no bite, aren’t you, honey?” He slid his hand along her neck, pushing her down. “I think I could grow some affection for you.” His other hand pried her legs apart even as she struggled to keep them shut. He trailed kisses over her exposed skin, biting hard until she cried out.

Molly pushed her head farther into the pillow and felt something hard pressing into her scalp.

The hairpin!

She twisted her left wrist, ignoring the agony of the unnatural angle, and with one final
snap
, she freed her left hand.

“
Ow!”
She screamed and the corset cut her off. Abaddon didn’t bother stopping, only egged on by her screams.

A horrifying thought crept into her fading mind.

Tensley isn’t coming.