Bloodspell (The Cruentus Curse, #1)(90)

"Stop, please," she said.

"Make her beg, Gabe!" Charla said, her voice echoing in the room. She crouched down to whisper viciously in Victoria's ear. "You should have seen what he did to your cat." Malice glittered in her eyes.

Some demons were human.

Victoria bit her lip as she forced herself to stand, looking Gabriel in the face and seeing the terrible truth reflected there. He had known exactly what Leto was, even if Charla had not. She felt a rage like she had never known boiling inside of her and she gritted her teeth, pushing against the wards. She was rewarded with another magical knife twist that sent her gasping to the floor. She concentrated on healing and discovered with relief that the magic within her worked just fine; it looked like Gabriel hadn't counted on that! The pain subsided but she made sure that she didn't show it, remaining stooped on the floor.

"What did you do to Holly?" she gasped. "What drugs? She could die."

"Relax, it's just a mild sedative. She'll be fine," Gabriel said.

"If anything happens—"

"Oh, watch out Gabe, she's getting upset!" Charla taunted.

Charla didn't have time to react when Victoria vaulted to her feet, propelled by instinctive rage, and punched her in the mouth with all the force she could muster. Charla went sprawling backwards. Victoria felt a curious satisfaction as she saw blood spurt from the corner of Charla's lip, and she could have sworn she saw the beginnings of a smile on Gabriel's lips. He was enjoying this. She started to turn toward him and saw him shake his head, smiling slightly and moving his index finger back and forth in warning.

"Evincio," he said, and her arms fell obediently to her side, the magical binding charm holding them securely in place.

Victoria couldn't move, not even when Charla got up, her bleeding face murderous, and slapped her several times. She tried to keep her expression blank in spite of the sting of the blows. Her blood helped unbidden, assuaging the painful areas almost immediately. Charla moved in again.

"Enough!" Gabriel said, and Charla backed away. "Get her phone. I don't want her getting any other ideas," he told Charla, who removed the cell phone from Victoria's pocket roughly.

"Don't think you're going to need this, sweetie," she snarled, as she smashed the phone on the floor. "Gabe, wrap this up. I'm bored."

"Give me one minute," he said. Charla walked away sourly, and Gabriel moved to stand in front of Victoria. "Aren't you sad you didn't choose me after all? What a marvelous couple we could have made, witch and warlock hand in hand."

Victoria noticed the flash of naked pain on Charla's face as she turned back at his words. Still second best, she noted—that would explain the fleeting look of envy she had seen on Charla's face earlier. Charla was human. Gabriel was a warlock. Now she knew who really held the cards.

"I would have made the same choice even knowing what you are," Victoria said. She saw his eyes harden.

"Even knowing what you are?"

"Especially knowing what I am." And then as if she couldn't help herself, she asked the question. "How did you know?" Gabriel laughed.

"Angie!" he shouted, and one of the doors in the back of the room opened. Angie skulked in and refused to look at Victoria. Gabriel slapped her on the back roughly, and she flinched from the pain. "Did you know that my sister can see who people really are?" he said. "Her gift!" He looked at her with undisguised loathing. "Born without magic, but somehow given this incredible ability ... what a waste. She should die, but she's proved herself useful." Angie didn't raise her eyes but Victoria could see her shoulders trembling.

Gabriel turned to Victoria. "Don't you want to know why your magic doesn't work?" he asked.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me," she said, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she wanted anything at all from him.

"My little sister here can identify your magic, but I'm sure you knew that already." He smiled. "We can do so much more than just control your power, you know," he said. "She knows it all, the information of its entire makeup."

"I'm still not sure I know what you want from me, Gabriel."

"Come now, let's not play games, Tori. I want the Cruentus Curse."

Victoria faked derision. "Please, don't tell me you believe in superstitions now, Gabriel," she said. He smiled again.

"Angie told me who you are Tori, those black lines are pretty distinctive. So you can stop pretending, because it is trying my patience!"

His cold words sent a shiver of alarm down her spine but she knew she had to pretend she wasn't afraid. "So what now?"

"The million dollar question," he said. "You know what I want, Tori."

"I will never give myself to you."

"And I will kill everyone you ever knew, ever loved. Holly will be the first. Then I'll finish off your familiar. It was my pleasure to toy with him," he said. "But her end will be worse, far worse. And Devereux will die an excruciating death."

"It's too bad I'm not with him." Victoria almost smiled as Gabriel looked into her eyes and read the plain truth in their depths. The slow pleasure that dawned across his face made her feel almost sick, but some small part of her still felt comfort that at least Christian would be safe. She would find a way to protect Holly too. Charla and Angie were on their own if they were with Gabriel. Victoria noticed that Angie had looked up at her briefly as if she'd said her name aloud.