Into the Darkness (Darkness #1)(20)

Plus, how the hell was I going to save him? I wouldn’t come out on top in a fist fight, my sword only scared envelopes, and I had no combat experience.

That’s when a muffled scream pushed through the wall and pierced my gut.

Jared was absolutely not okay!

I stepped through the door.

Chapter Nine

Jared lay on his back, tears running down his face, his expression one of abject terror. A na**d woman bounced on his hips, a foul smile curling her lips as she took pleasure in Jared’s fear. Crouched by Jared’s head was Aggressive Shadow—I’d never caught his name—holding a knife. A circle of spectators watched the scene, most naked, almost all touching themselves or each other, getting off on what was happening in front of them.

If my vengeance had a smell in contrast to my arousal, these people would’ve been covering their noses and retching!

I lunged across the room with letter opener in hand before Jared could issue another scream. Without thought, all action, I had the woman’s hair clutched tightly in a fist, her neck taxed from pulling her head back, and the “blade” at her throat, for all the world pretending it was a knife.

Everyone froze.

Aggressive Shadow looked up at me in complete surprise.

“What the hell is this, Jonas?” the woman seethed, her body going a worrying type of fluid.

Aggressive Shadow—Jonas—sat back on his haunches, a quizzical smile playing across his face as he analyzed me. “Well, well, how did you get in here?”

“Walked. Which is exactly how I’ll be getting out. Get off she-bitch!” I yanked the woman’s hair, dragging her off of Jared.

“Why is she not responding to my fear pheromones?” a man with a buzz cut against the wall asked, mystified. “This has never happened before.”

“Seriously, can everyone stop stroking their penises? It is rude, strange, and distracting all at the same time! Social etiquette, people,” I shouted, staring at Jonas, the “knife” still at the woman’s throat.

I had a sinking feeling the woman was humoring me, based on the bored glaze to her eyes.

“Sasha?” Jared struggled to sit up, bleeding from at least twelve shallow gashes on his chest—some looked like nail scratches.

“Oh God, Jared!” I whispered hoarsely.

White hot rage vibrated my body and clouded my vision. Something shook loose in my chest, removing a blockage I hadn’t known existed. That same sixth sense I’d been using got a surge of power, sizzling my limbs as it traveled my length, my skin no longer feeling stretched, but now electrified and translucent.

“Did you feel that?” someone asked in a hushed voice.

I didn’t pay attention. I could only focus on Jonas as he rose slowly, uncoiling from the ground in a smooth, graceful lengthening of muscles. His face wore a malicious smile, his eyes lit with a manic fire.

“It was not wise, coming here,” Jonas said as he took a step closer.

A burst of sweat coated my body as adrenaline surged through my blood.

I flung the woman to the side, stepping away into a crouch, something primal taking over. Letter opener held in my right hand like a knife, I took my whistle out and put it to my lips. I had no idea why.

“Is that a whistle?” someone asked, dumbfounded.

Obviously, no one else knew why, either.

A smile slid up Jonas’s face like an oil slick on wet cement. “I wasn’t supposed to seek you out, but since you’ve come to me, I think I might just have a little fun with you.”

“Nothing you do with me will be fun.” I stepped toward Jared as Jonas circled me, intending that last line to be threatening, and missing the mark somewhat.

“For you,” I clarified.

“You are impervious to our pheromones, which means your screams will be heartfelt, and my c**k pounding into you won’t be welcomed. I wonder if you’ll like it anyway.”

Bile rose in my throat.

Skin swished as the crowd shifted position, sounding similar to fabric rustling, only much grosser. But at least what Jonas said made them uncomfortable, too.

I did not harbor false illusions that it would matter in the least.

“You’ll have to do it bleeding and deaf because you won’t get me—“

He rushed me. One minute he was stalking me like a cat stalks a beetle, and the next he was upon me, his movements so fast and powerful, they’d gotten lost in my vision. Heat pulsed within my chest, sending a throb of electricity down my arms, sizzling my skin as I tried to wrestle my wrist away from his tree-trunk arm. He flinched back with a hiss, giving me enough room to stab the strangely crimson glowing blade downward, sticking into his chest. It didn’t go far; I wasn’t strong and it wasn’t sharp.

They didn’t take good care of office supplies in this place.

His hand rose to strike me or choke me, but I didn’t wait to find out which. I blew for all I was worth, the whistle hollering in his face and echoing into his ears. He flinched again, his head swinging back, his hearing apparently more acute than mine because he acted like I blared a blow horn at the side of his head.

I dodged around his giant body, still blowing the whistle, and launched at Jared. He was sitting up distractedly, fear still on his face, erection amazingly going strong.

“C’mon, Jared, hurry!” I yelled, tugging at his arm and trying to turn my body to face the attack I knew would come shortly.