Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
The doors split apart as the glowing pad turned cold and black. Carina checked with Marcus. When he nodded, she pulled her palm away.
“Good girl. Well done.”
He pressed a hand to her lower back and escorted her through the portal into a room lined with dark wood. When the doors closed, trapping them in a small square space, she scanned the walls in desperation. Surely, he wouldn’t have brought her inside the one thing that terrified her. “Is this an elevator?”
Her stomach dropped as the car descended smoothly. She grabbed his hand, squeezing it hard as she tried to keep herself together.
“Marcus! I’m petrified of elevators! Let me out of this awful thing!”
“Carina, take a deep breath. Listen to your heart beating.”
“No. I can’t do any calming tricks. They don’t work. I need out of here.”
Marcus wrapped his arms around her, dragging her against him. He easily controlled her flailing arms. “Listen to your heart. It’s not racing.”
“What?”
Shocked, Carina stood still. She took stock of how she felt. She inhaled easily. Her breath didn’t come in panting gasps. The usual rush of adrenaline that flooded her body hadn’t attacked her. Her pulse was steady and strong.
“How are you doing this?” she demanded, looking up into Marcus’s concerned face.
“I’m not doing anything but holding you.”
“You’re not in my mind, calming my fear? Keeping the panic from overwhelming me?”
“Not at all,” Marcus said, calmly. “Can I let go?”
“Okay,” she answered tentatively. Maybe he anchored her from worry. Marcus leaned casually against the dark paneling, as if deliberately not touching her. Nothing happened. No terror. She was fine.
A thought popped into her mind. “How far down are we going?”
“We’ll get there soon. There’s enough time for this.” Marcus stalked forward. Carina automatically retreated until her butt hit the opposite wall. Marcus grabbed her hands and yanked them over her head. He held them in one hand secured against dark wood and leaned in to take her lips in a kiss sizzling with pent-up need.
“You’re going to pay for that teasing, Little girl,” he whispered against her lips several long seconds later.
She shivered, straining close to him. That hadn’t been a warning. It was a promise she couldn’t wait to happen. “Yes, Daddy.”
A deep thudding beat filled the elevator. Carina peeked around Marcus’s massive form to see the doors stood wide open. Two rows of thick, pillar candles on ornate rough metal stands formed a passage through the darkness that waited outside.
“We don’t have to go out there, do we?” she asked, hugging herself to his bulk as he turned to face the lighted path.
“Come, Carina. You will be fine.”
A small voice in the back of her head told her he hadn’t said she wouldn’t be hurt. Suddenly, she hated the word fine. Stiffening her spine, she forced herself to walk out of the elevator. A whisper of sound behind her made her spin. The doors shut, trapping her wherever this was.
He grabbed a black cloak from a series of hooks on the wall. All were empty except for two. Well, now one as he held out the garment for her. Marcus draped the material around her and lifted the hood into place, smoothing her hair back from her face. Quickly, he wrapped the final cloak around his bulk.
“Follow the path, Carina. I will be right beside you.” Marcus deliberately placed her at his left side. He took her hand and set it on top of his thickly muscled forearm.
Didn’t knights always keep their right hands free to grab their swords?
That thought scurried away as a shadow appeared out of the dim recesses. She jumped and squeezed Marcus’s arm as the dark figure fell in behind them. Marcus patted her hand reassuringly without reacting, and Carina knew she was safe. Turning to check over her shoulder, she spotted Titus’s amused grin barely visible in the gloom. What was going on?
A whisper of movement from beside her preceded another figure joining the procession. And another. Each time she and Marcus passed a candle pillar, another vampire joined the growing line behind them. As she relaxed, Carina could feel the crowd behind her growing with each addition. The footsteps of an incredible number of vampires now whispered behind them.
A groaning, grinding sound rumbled before them. She stared ahead, trying to see what awaited them. In the middle of a vast room, a lone, hooded shape stood behind an elaborate table. Two pillars held a candle on each side. The flickering light made the chiseled decorations come alive on the…. Her mind seized on the suggestion that came from Marcus of altar.
On the carved altar rested a huge, open tome. Marcus escorted her to stand in front of the waiting vampire. The others who had accompanied them formed rings around the center of the room. As Carina watched, what seemed like a hundred or more others filled the space around them.