“Tell me what you know about Gaius.”
Predictably she heaved a sigh of resignation. “For god’s sake, how many times do we have to go through this?”
“Until I’m convinced you’re telling me everything you know.”
She threw her hands in the air. “I already have.”
“Has he always been able to infect humans with his bite?” Roke closely watched the shock that rippled over her pretty face.
“What did you say?”
He frowned. Her astonishment seemed genuine enough. Of course, she might have prepared herself for the question.
“You heard me.”
“He infects humans?” She gave a shake of her head. “I’ve never heard of a vampire being able to do that.”
“Because it’s not natural.”
“I . . .” She gave another shake of her head. “What does he infect them with? A disease?”
He stepped close enough to tower over her, trying to intimidate her at the same time he was futilely pretending her warmth wasn’t seeping into his skin and heating his blood. “You would know better than I.”
Waving away his accusation, Sally jerkily turned to pace the small cell, chewing her bottom lip. “Why haven’t you caught him?”
Roke grimaced. She wasn’t acting. There was no mistaking the fear that was spiking the air. She didn’t know about Gaius’s newest trick.
Of course, he was still certain she was hiding something from him.
What better opportunity to discover just what it was?
“A little nervous, are you, witch?” he murmured. “Afraid that Gaius might suspect you came to Styx to tattle on him? Maybe wondering if he’ll come hunting for you?”
He’d expected her to be worried by his soft words. That’s why he’d chosen them, after all. But he didn’t expect her to freak out.
“Do you think he will?” she breathed, the pulse at the base of her throat fluttering in terror. Then, with a panicked sob, she was darting toward the cell door, grasping the bars as if she could pull them apart. “Dammit, you have to let me out of here.”
“Calm down,” he commanded, taken off guard by her violent response. “Even if he did manage to track you here, there’s no way he could get past Styx’s security.”
“Is that a joke?” She tried to shake the locked door. “He already got past Styx’s supposed security.”
Roke grimaced. It was true. At least in part. “Fine. Then there’s no way he’ll get past me.”
“Like you would give a shit if he decided to have a little witch snack,” she hissed. “You would probably cheer him on.”
“He’s not going to get you. You’re—” He swallowed the word “mine,” which had ridiculously formed on the tip of his tongue.
Holy hell, he was obviously losing his mind. This female was a pain in the ass who would make a man miserable even if she weren’t a witch. He felt nothing but sympathy for the schmuck who would be stuck with her.
Didn’t he?
She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m what?”
With a low growl Roke moved forward, grasping her by her upper arms and shifting her away from the door. “I’ll come back for the tray later.”
“Are you kidding me?” She desperately grasped his T-shirt, her eyes wide with horror. “You can’t keep me locked up. I’m a sitting duck.”
He glanced down at her pale face, his hands unconsciously skimming down her arms to lightly encircle her wrists.
Why was she suddenly so frightened of Gaius?
“Think, Sally,” he urged in stern tones. “Where would you go where you’d be any safer?”
“I won’t stay trapped here,” she snarled. “I won’t.”
Roke parted his lips, but before he could demand to know just what was making her act like a crazed woman, he felt a sudden heat explode inside him, scorching through his veins with an incandescent force.
Oh . . . hell.
He’d known the witch was going to be trouble.
He’d known it on a cellular level.
And now she was killing him.
Nothing else could explain the sensation of his body being shattered into a thousand pieces as a light as fierce as the midday sun burst in the center of his being, transforming him even as it catapulted him toward the eternal sleep.
Magic.
A sweet, drugging magic that allowed him to smile with delight as a tidal wave of darkness crashed over him.
Sally watched in astonishment as Roke dropped to the floor with enough force to make his head bounce against the cement.
“Crap on toast, what have I done?” She fell to her knees at his side, her hand reaching to lightly touch his face.
It had been sheer panic that had released her secret magic. Certainly she hadn’t deliberately tried to enchant this vampire, not when she was convinced that he was too strong to be swayed by her meager powers.
That was why she was so angry that he’d replaced the fairy. She’d had high hopes of swaying Lysander into setting her free.
But the fear of being trapped here while Gaius, and whatever strange creature was controlling him, came hunting for her, had tipped her over some mysterious edge.