Darkness Unleashed (Guardians of Eternity #5)(31)

“No,” he rudely interrupted, stepping close enough so that she was forced to tilt back her head.

“What?”

“That’s not what you’re wondering. Is it?” His voice was cool, detached. “If you want to know, just ask.”

With a start of astonishment, Regan realized that Jagr had mistakenly assumed her preoccupation with his scars was crass curiosity. Not…fascination.

Two very different things.

Of course, curiosity seemed the wiser course when she was alone in a cave with a half-naked vampire she suddenly wanted to lick from head to toe.

“I didn’t know that vampires could scar,” she muttered the most obvious question.

“It’s not a natural process.” His eyes darkened with an ancient fury. “It takes savage effort and twisted perseverance to permanently mar a vampire’s skin. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart.”

“Why would…” Her hand lifted to press against her heart. “Oh, my God, you were tortured.”

“Tortured and then starved so my body could not heal.”

“How long?”

“Three centuries.”

Her gut twisted in horrified sympathy. Three hundred years of endless torture? How had he survived? And more importantly, how had he survived with his sanity intact?

Christ, she couldn’t even comprehend the strength it must have taken.

And she had bitched at him for swinging from hot to cold?

He should have been a raving lunatic.

“Was it a demon?” she rasped.

His lips twisted in a humorless smile. “A vampire.”

“Jeez.” She slowly shook her head. “So the rumors are true.”

“What rumors?”

“Culligan was twitchy as hell whenever he had to approach the local vampire clan and pay tribute for doing business in their territory.” Her gaze skimmed over the thick scars. “He claimed that vampires are vicious beasts who will slaughter anyone, even each other.”

He shrugged, and Regan wished he hadn’t. The ripple of muscles beneath that ivory skin made things twitch and tingle in the pit of her stomach.

“Any creature can be vicious, especially Weres, but vampires have a particularly exquisite talent for terror and pain.”

Her gaze was jerked upward at the implication in his cold words.

“They tortured you for fun?”

“Certainly hearing my screams provided entertainment for my captors, but I was tortured for revenge.”

“Revenge for what?”

“The truth? I don’t remember.”

Chapter 8

Jagr watched the predictable astonishment ripple over Regan’s beautiful features. Ah, if only his own emotions were so easy to analyze.

For centuries, he’d refused to speak of his endless torture. Most of his brothers sensed the violence of his past, and Viper knew that Jagr’s torturer had been a vampire, but nothing more. And none were stupid enough to ask questions.

So why had he deliberately forced this confrontation?

And it had been deliberate.

He could easily have covered his scars before she entered the back cavern. There had been no need for her to ever suspect the truth.

And even now he left them exposed, as if daring her to react to the ugly testament to his past.

So…why?

Thankfully Regan managed to recover her voice before he could consider his motives too deeply. They no doubt were something that should remain a mystery.

“You were tortured for three centuries, and you don’t remember why?” she husked, the sympathy shimmering in her beautiful eyes not nearly so repulsive as it should have been.

“When a human is turned into a vampire, they have no memory of their previous life. My sins were committed while I was still a Visigoth chief.”

“They must have been doozies.”

Jagr shuddered. It didn’t matter how many centuries passed, he would never forget the vampire who had held him captive.

Kesi had been a member of the Egyptian royalty before being turned, and she had retained all the proud beauty of her ancestors. The dark almond-shaped eyes, the smoothly burnished skin, the sleek black hair that had flowed like a curtain of satin down her slender back.

Ah, yes, she had been lovely.

And as poisonous as an asp.

She might have captured him in the name of revenge, but she had kept him out of a twisted, obsessive need to inflict pain. He hadn’t been her only victim in her private pits of hell.

“The vampire who turned me claimed that I led my clan into the local lair and slaughtered a dozen vampires, including her mate,” he explained, pleased as always by the thought that he had dealt Kesi a painful blow, even if he couldn’t remember it. “Unfortunately, I was captured during the raid.”

“I’m surprised they didn’t just kill you. Why make you a vampire?”

“Obviously you missed the Saw movies. Humans are far too fragile to survive more than the vanilla brand of torture. To be truly creative, you need a creature that can endure pain. And, of course, there’s always the bonus of making me immortal, so my punishment could last an eternity.”

“Dear God.” She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes shimmering with tears. “How did you escape?”

The memory of blood-soaked tunnels filled with vampires and demons he’d ripped apart with his bare hands was washed away by the glitter of tears trickling down her cheeks.