Dance With the Devil

 

One of the Daimons laughed. "A Dark-Hunter with a girlfriend. I didn't think such a thing existed."

 

 

 

 

 

"Oh, yeah. Paybacks will be hell. Imagine how he'll feel when he finds her drained, naked body lying in her bed waiting for him."

 

Zarek started to attack them right then, but paused as a group of humans stumbled out of a bar, into the street. Intent on their target, the Daimons didn't even look at them.

 

 

 

The tourists stayed on the street, laughing and joking, never knowing that if not for a previous engagement, the Daimons would be headed straight for them.

 

 

 

Life was a very fragile thing.

 

Grinding his teeth, Zarek knew he'd have to wait until he could corner the Daimons in an alley where they wouldn't be seen.

 

 

 

 

He dropped back into the shadows where he could still watch and hear them, and followed them toward Sunshine's loft…

 

Astrid's head ached as she followed Zarek through his dreams and let his anger and pain infiltrate her.

 

She was with him in the alley where he'd fought the Daimons and was then assaulted by the cops.

 

 

 

 

And she was with him on the rooftop when he called Talon to warn him to watch after Sunshine. She felt Zarek's rage. His desire to help people who could only scorn and berate him.

 

Wrongfully judge him.

 

He didn't understand how to reach out to them.

 

 

 

 

So he attacked them instead. Lashed out at them before they could lash out at him.

 

In the end, it was too much for her to handle. She had to pull herself away from him or she might find herself driven insane by the raw intensity of his emotions.

 

 

 

Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) It was a struggle to separate herself from him. The binding serum was strong and it wanted to keep them united, but as a nymph, she was stronger.

 

Summoning all her powers, she ripped her geist from his until she was no longer part of Zarek and his memories.

 

 

 

 

Now she was only a dream observer, so she could watch, yet not feel his emotions.

 

But she could feel her own and she ached for this man in a way she had never thought possible. The rawness of her recovered emotions overwhelmed her. His past and his scars tore through her, blasting away the numb cocoon that had encased her for so long.

 

For the first time in centuries, she felt someone else's agony. More than that, she wanted to soothe it. To hold this man who couldn't escape from what he was.

 

As she watched, Zarek's dream darkened. She saw him struggle through a fierce blizzard. He was dressed only in a pair of black leather pants with no shirt or shoes. His arms wrapped around him, he shook from the cold and trudged forward, cursing at the howling winds as he stumbled and fell in the ice-cold waist-deep snow.

 

Every time he fell, he pushed himself up and kept going. His strength amazed her.

 

The winds whipped at his broad, tawny shoulders, blowing his long black hair around his clean-shaven face. He squinted as if trying to see through the storm.

 

But there was nothing around them. Nothing but white, barren landscape.

 

Numb to the cold that plagued him, Astrid followed him.

 

"I won't die," Zarek snarled, gaining speed as he walked. He looked up at the starless, black sky. "Do you hear me, Artemis? Acheron? I won't give either of you the satisfaction.

 

"

 

He started running then, trudging through the crunching snow like a child running after a toy. His feet were red from the cold, his bare skin mottled.

 

Astrid struggled to keep up.

 

Until he fell.

 

Zarek lay quietly in the snow, facedown with one arm above his head and one out before him, panting from his run. She stared at the tattoo at the base of his spine that moved with his breaths.

 

Rolling over onto his back, he looked up at the black sky as the snowflakes fell on his naked upper body and leather pants. His wet black hair was plastered to his head. He continued to breathe heavily while his teeth chattered from the cold.

 

Still he didn't move.

 

"I just want to be warm," he whispered. "Just once let me be warm. Is there no star capable of sharing

 

 

 

 

Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) its fire with me?

 

"

 

She frowned at his odd question, but then, in dreams bizarre phrases and events were commonplace.

 

Zarek rolled over again and pushed himself up, then continued through the blizzard.

 

He led her toward a small, isolated cabin in the middle of the woods. There was only one window, but the light inside was a bright beacon in the cold desolation of the arctic storm.

 

It looked so inviting.

 

Astrid heard laughter and conversations coming from inside.

 

Zarek stumbled toward the solitary side window. Breathing heavily, he splayed his hand against the frosty glass pane as he stared inside like a small, hungry child standing outside a fancy restaurant where he knew he would never be welcomed.

 

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