Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk

But had it come from her, or the twelve demons she’d apparently slain?
    Her eyes were… silver, glowing in the shadows. Which meant Valkyrie. Somehow she was no longer a mere human.
    A Valkyrie at Gibson Hall. Holly was indeed the Vessel.
    She had her knees drawn up to her chest and was trying to cover her breasts while baring her little claws at him to ward him off. She was trembling with fear and shock, and tears coursed down her blood-splattered face.
    It was killing him.
    “Easy,” he murmured. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
    Her eyes darted from his horns to those on one of the heads lolling on the stone floor.
    “Yeah, I’m a demon, too,” he said. “But not at all like them. My name’s Cadeon Woede.”
    How far had they gotten with her before she’d turned and attacked? Though the carnage looked to have been done some time ago, Holly still had gashes on her arm from the claws of one of these demons.
    She might have been turned to a Valkyrie, but she hadn’t yet been granted the accelerated healing and immortality of one. Which meant that she was still incredibly vulnerable to harm. Like a human.
    Humans die so easily .
    “Did they injure more than your arm?”
    She finally shook her head.
    “Hurt you anywhere? Do I need to get you to a hospital?” he asked, even as he knew that wouldn’t work.
    Other factions were searching for her. He would be surprised if they hadn’t already scried the lightning he’d seen from a distance. Power still sizzled from her and throughout the chamber. New power was easily traceable.
    She whispered, “They d-didn’t hurt me.”
    “Good. I want to help you, Holly.”
    She frowned at his use of her name, studying his face.
    “We’ve met before,” Cade said, but she was in no way calmed—lightning continued to strike in constant streams. Lightning gave Valkyrie strength, but it also mirrored their emotions.
    When he began unbuttoning his shirt to cover her, she gave a cry, and bloody claws swiped out at him. Then she stared in horror at her fingertips.
    Just hours ago, she’d been living as a normal human—or near normal with some eccentricities. Now she had become something he never could have predicted. A Valkyrie. Or half one. He hadn’t known she’d possessed this latent potential. The shock of the ritual must have triggered the transformation.
    If not for this power, she would have been brutalized, her womb offered to the dark god this order of demons worshipped.
    When he removed his shirt, she bared her small fangs and hissed, then looked aghast at her reaction.
    “There, now, a good hiss never hurt anyone.” He crouched beside her, fighting the urge to clasp her to his chest. “I’m going to put this on you. Easy… ”
    She gazed up at him with eyes wavering between silver and the intense violet he recognized. “Wh-what’s happening to me?”
    “You know all those creatures you thought were myths?” When she shakily nodded, he said, “Well, they’re not. And you’re changing from a human to an immortal.”
    Which meant it had become possible for Cade to claim her for his own.
    And you’ve just become my target—the Vessel. The means to pay for a sword to kill our enemy.
    She equaled the crown he’d worked for nine hundred years to reclaim—the unyielding pursuit that had given him a reason to go on living.
    Never had it been so close….
    All he had to do was use and betray the woman he’d waited just as long to possess.

3
    H olly turned and hunched to button the shirt, peering over her shoulder to keep this Cadeon in sight.
    She remembered meeting him before. As if she could ever forget those stunning green eyes. She recalled his accent as well—it sounded like some type of British colonial, and he spoke with an unusual intonation.
    Months ago, he’d approached her on campus. Initially he’d been cocky, then grew tongue-tied, stammering, even as he’d boldly studied her figure.
    She’d found him weird. And that was before she’d known what had been hidden beneath the hat he’d worn.
    Now she could see what had been covered by his shirt as well. His bared chest was rippling with muscles, and he wore a wide gold band just above his bulging bicep.
    He was as massive as the others, admittedly one of them . She shuddered, trying to block out the sight of the corpses all around her.
    But he looked different as well, his facial features appearing more human. His horns ran back along his head through his tawny hair, instead of