Angels of Darkness

grasp and crush. His eyes ignited with a hot, hungry fire. Poised like this, he was barely human.
    Someone’s knuckles rapped on the door.
    â€œWhat?” Lucas growled.
    â€œDo you want the sedative?” Henry’s voice asked.
    Lucas glanced at her and asked quietly, “Do you want to be drugged?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œShe said no,” he snarled.
    The footsteps retreated. Lucas eased, relaxing slowly, muscle by muscle. He glanced at her with his light green eyes and she shrank from his gaze.
    â€œHow much did they tell you?” he asked.
    â€œI know what I agreed to.” She hesitated. “Are you . . . ?”
    â€œI am.”
    She tried to reconcile the beast and the man, and couldn’t. That dark, grotesque creature was huge, twice as big as Lucas. A horrible meld of ape, dog, bear—Karina struggled for a comparison, a point of reference, and could find none. Her memory was fuzzy. She remembered fangs and baleful eyes, and massive shoulders sheathed in dark fur. How was it possible? Her mind refused to admit that thing existed. But her body felt Lucas near and knew the beast was real.
    She had to have an explanation. Anything at all. “Are you a vampire?” she asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat are you?”
    He sighed. “There’s no myth or legend or cute explanation. People here call those like me Demons. It’s just a name, nothing religious attached to it. You might also hear people call me Subspecies 30. The rest is complicated.” He took her half-empty glass and went to top it off. “I don’t actually need your blood to sustain me. I require the endocrine hormones your body will secrete in response to my bite.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œTo counteract the effects of my venom. It hurts me.”
    He handed her the full glass, rubbed his hand across the back of his neck, and held the palm to her face. The odor of hot metal hit her nostrils and she drew back.
    â€œThat smell means I’m hungry for you.”
    He was too close. The cup trembled in Karina’s fingers. God, she was scared. It took all of her will not to scream and run. “Will it hurt?”
    â€œYes. It’s not like vampire movies, where the vampire bites the woman and she moans softly and comes all over herself. There’s no rapture involved. No climax. Just me chewing on you.”
    He took her by the chin, lifting her face, and peered into her eyes. Karina pulled back. He leaned closer. She tried to scramble away, but he grasped her shoulder, keeping her still. His lips touched her forehead. “Fever.” Lucas grimaced. “Your eyes are still bloodshot.”
    His presence pressed on her like a physical burden. Karina closed her eyes. She sat there, world shut out, and pretended that everything would be okay even if every instinct assured her it wouldn’t. She had to survive and adapt. She had to do whatever was necessary to get her daughter back.
    When she opened her eyelids, he waited for her with a synthetic cord in his hands. She hadn’t heard him move.
    â€œTo keep you still.” He moved toward her, uncoiling the cord.
    No. Lying there tied up and completely helpless while he drank her blood would be too much. “That’s okay,” she said quickly. “I won’t change my mind.”
    Lucas kept coming.
    â€œI won’t change my mind.” Desperation put steel into her voice. “I’ve agreed to this to save my daughter. They’ll let me see her after you feed. I won’t run or fight.”
    He halted.
    â€œArthur said I would stay here for as long as I live. That means you have to feed frequently. Might as well start it right.”
    Lucas gripped the rope. His biceps bulged. He snapped the rope apart. Karina winced. “If you’re trying to intimidate me, it’s too late. I’m already as scared as I’m going to get.”
    â€œI’m not trying to scare you.” He rolled the section of the rope into a tight wad, wrapped the end about it several times, tied it, and dropped it in her lap. “To bite down. In case it gets too rough.”
    She picked it up.
    Lucas sat next to her. “Arthur isn’t in charge of your daughter. I am. I guaranteed her safety. Both of you belong to me.”
    Lucas leaned to look into her face. She expected rage, hunger, some violent emotion, but instead she saw only steady calm.
    â€œI promise you that no matter