When Darkness Comes (Guardians of Eternity #1)(52)

"It's dangerous—"

"No," he interrupted. 'You know I'm immortal. There's something else. You're frightened."

She shifted. He was probing into memories and emotions she had kept locked away for years.

Memories she would have seared out of her brain if she could have.

"Of course I'm frightened," she muttered. "I have this thing inside that's changing everything, and I can't do a damn thing to stop it."

His hand stroked a soothing path through her hair. "Understandable, but I think there's more here. Tell me what you fear."

She swallowed heavily before forcing herself to meet his probing gaze.

"Losing control."

"Control of what?"

"Of myself." She sucked in a deep breath. "What if I hurt someone?"

There was a brief silence as he brooded upon her words. Then with care he shifted to touch the ugly scar that marred her shoulder.

"Like someone hurt you?"

Abby flinched. Not from his touch, but from the pain of dredging up her violent past.

"Compliments of my father in one of his drunken furies," she said in clipped tones.

Dante's expression remained stoic, but there was no mistaking the lethal fury that flashed through his eyes.

"What did he do to you?"

"He took exception to my attempts to keep him from beating my mother and stabbed me with a broken beer bottle."

His fangs abruptly shimmered in the faint candlelight. He moved his hand to touch the tiny round scar on her upper arm.

"And here?"

Abby shuddered, her blood running cold.

The monster that walked in the night.

A child's fear.

For her it had never been the bogeyman.

It had been her father.

"A cigarette burn when I tried to hide his whiskey."

His features tightened, forcibly reminding her of the predator who had stalked through the wizard's cavern to rescue her.

"Where is he?" he growled, making the hairs on the back of her neck prickle.

"Dead."

His eyes were flat. 'There are means to reach him even dead. Viper—"

"God, no," she breathed in genuine horror. "I don't even want to think he might be anywhere but rotting in his grave."

Easily sensing her distress, he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"Shh… It's okay, Abby. He can't hurt you anymore."

She pressed her eyes closed. He didn't understand.

But then, no one did.

No one who hadn't lived through her childhood.

"It's not that." She lifted her gaze. "I don't want to be like him."

He gave a jolt of surprise. "Bloody hell, Abby, you could never be like him."

She barely noticed the manner in which his accent thickened when his emotions were roused.

"How do you know?" she demanded starkly. 'We don't know what this Phoenix might do to me."

He cupped his fingers beneath her chin, forcing her to meet his fierce gaze.

"I know that it will only strike out to protect itself. Selena was incapable of hurting anyone. A fact that annoyed the hell out of her. She came from a time when no one would blink if she wanted to beat a servant. Even if she beat him to death." He grimaced in reluctant memory. "There wasn't a day that went by she didn't long to have me tied to a post and have me properly whipped."

She regarded him warily, desperately wanting to believe his soft words.

"What about the water…"

He took her hand and firmly placed it against the smooth silk of his chest.

"It was no warmer than most spas. I just happen to possess a sensitivity to heat." He gave a shake of his head, "lou are not your father, Abby. You could never be cruel. It's simply not in your nature."

She smiled wryly at his arrogant assurance. 'You sound very certain for a vampire who has only known me a few months."

He arched a raven brow. "It's because I'm a vampire that I know. I can read your soul, Abby, and it is as pure and beautiful as any I have ever seen."

She became lost in his gaze. She had never had anyone tell her such amazing things. Not her worthless parents. Not her brothers.

Not even those rare handful of men who wanted to lift her skirt.

It made her feel warm and gooey and remarkably cherished.

It also eased the last of her lingering self-disgust.

She was not her father. She was pure and beautiful.

Well, that's what Dante believed.

And that was all that truly mattered.

Reaching up, she cupped his breathtaking face in her hands and pulled him down to her waiting lips.

Soon enough they would be battling the forces of evil. Damn the luck.

She would be a fool not to enjoy this rare moment of peace.

Dante's lips landed upon her mouth with a searing kiss, and her body reacted with its usual zing of excitement.

His fingers found her already-hard nipple, and the zings became zooms.

Arching toward his ready erection, Abby gave herself to the dark desire.

Chapter 15

Abby awoke naked and disoriented.

Not always a bad thing. Especially when she was still warm and tingly from Dante's touch. But she discovered that she didn't care for being naked, disoriented, and alone.