Into the Darkness (Darkness #1)(24)

He leaned forward, studying me, his gaze turning hard. “Your blade glowed red.”

“Oh, thank God you saw it—I thought I was hallucinating!”

“But you’re human…”

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself? Because I just want you to know I’m on board with those findings.”

He shook his head. “Humans can’t harness their power unless extensively trained. That’s assuming we’re able to find a human as open as you are. And yet…”

“I’m just as stumped as you are. Starting with that strange bull-headed creature talking to me. What were those? We haven’t even—“

“What did you say?” the Boss stood in a rush, now towering over me. His eyes blazed, his face perfectly blank. “Did you say it spoke to you? Did you understand it?”

“Is that…bad?”

He was just about to take two steps toward me when the room froze over.

Speaking of strange…

Chapter Eleven

“Hey, bro, where you goin’?” Charles asked as Jonas burst through the door like his ass was on fire.

Jonas rounded on him, stabbing a finger back the way he’d come. “Fucking Boss has lost his mind! That stupid bitch-human attacked me! What the f**k was I supposed to do, let her continue to stab me?”

Charles reeled for a moment, trying to get his bearings. “The…bitch-human? You mean Sasha? She’s here?”

Jonas stared at him. It looked like he was deciding if he should answer, or hurt Charles in some way. Charles kept talking to forestall a terrible decision.

“Well, what’s she doing here? You didn’t go get her, did you?”

“No I didn’t go f**king get her! I don’t know how the hell she found us, but she’s got some tricks up her sleeve, I’ll say that much. She can make her blade glow red—though her choice of blade is strange. Still, that’s not normal for a human bitch. And her skin…she’s not what she f**king seems—I’d bet she’s working for the enemy, that’s what I’d bet… Already been trained and trying to get in close to the Boss.”

“She can…” Charles was having a hard time focusing within Jonas’s hard stare. “But she’s just a human.”

“Exactly. She’s just a f**king human. But yet, she’s got magic. So now you tell me, is that f**king normal?”

Now Charles was having a hard time navigating the landmine of F-bombs, mostly because they were emphasizing Jonas’s rage. Nothing good ever came from Jonas being in a rage. “Uh…”

“No! That is not f**king normal!” Jonas shouted into Charles’s face. “But if f**king Boss thinks I am going to go slinkin’ into the woods, hiding my face, then he’s a f**king fool! I don’t need this outfit! I got my own shit in the works!”

Confusion settled over Charles like a fog. “What’s that suppo—“

Charles cut off as a prickling sensation tickled his scalp. “Can’t be…”

Jonas swung his body toward the front of the house, disbelief masking his face. “Get the weapons!”

*****

The Boss burst into action, movements so fast I could barely make them out. He rushed to the far end of the room, touching and then swinging a lamp to open a hidden door in the wall’s paneling. Next, he dashed inside a closet, coming back with leather, swords, and knives. He bee-lined straight for me, all humor dried up. He was the man I’d always seen before tonight.

“Here,” he said, thrusting a wicked looking dagger at me.

“What do I do with this?”

“Hopefully nothing. Otherwise, use it like that letter opener. Only this will work better.”

As I gingerly held the shining hilt, curved like serpents at the end, the Boss shrugged out of his plain, long-sleeved tee-shirt, revealing his upper body. I stared, drool forming at the corners of my mouth. His body was perfection; toned and cut, meaty pecs and a chiseled six-pack. My brain shuddered to a stop as my body started to tingle. In addition to the tattoos on his arms, ancient runes cut down the side of his stomach, scrolling curled over his shoulder like smoke, or draped across a pec like a muscle accessory.

It was so. Damn. Hawt!

“You’re distracting me,” he said, shaking his head and taking a few steps back. He shrugged into a tight leather vest, then fastened his knives into holsters around his body. Next, he strapped on that wicked looking sword before shrugging on his large, leather duster.

“Why not a gun?” I asked, watching the ebb and flow of his body.

“Swords are cooler.” He threw me a grin as he finished securing heavy boots, his hands blurring they moved so fast.

“But seriously…”

He straightened and grabbed my arm, narrowly missing my reflex to poke him in the arm with my knife.

“You’re good with blades. What a surprising human you’re turning out to be.” He hustled me to the hidden doorway. “I’ll explain about weapons at a later date. For now, make your way to the secret room.”

He bent down and got right in my face, his commanding presence shocking into me when his beautiful dark eyes connected with mine. “Stay in that room, and stay safe! I will come for you when the danger has passed.”