The Den of Shadows Quartet - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [93]
“Is this a ritual thing, or are you just a sadist?” she returned, impatient. Though he was enjoying his busy-work, he wasn’t focused enough for Sarah to act.
“Both,” he answered, laughing, as he turned to the other arm. “You can ask me to stop any time now.” She understood what he really meant — You can break down and beg. “Or must I continue?”
“Hurry up, would you?” She yawned. “I have to get to the drugstore before it closes. We’re out of Band-Aids at my house.”
Nikolas laughed. “Don’t worry about that — you won’t need them.”
The rose petals were more difficult, and Nikolas did not say anything as he worked on them. When he moved to the ivy she took a deep breath, preparing herself. The ivy’s stem twined around the wrist; in order to cut the full design, Nikolas would need to shift his grip.
Her arms had gone numb from the abuse and from being held above her head so long, which was actually a good thing. The pain was dulling.
“I hope that blade is clean. I would hate for this to get infected.” She spoke to break the silence and keep hold of her bravado.
As she had predicted, Nikolas loosened his grip for a split second, and Sarah seized her moment, wrenching her arms down and drawing her knife at the same time. Nikolas only barely managed to avoid the silver blade as she swung it in his direction.
“You’re not as quick as some of your kin, Sarah,” he informed her, from just outside striking distance.
She laughed slightly “Quick enough.”
“Quicker than Elisabeth?” he inquired, and her eyes narrowed as she remembered the long hours of history. Nikolas was one of very few vampires who had killed a Vida and survived to speak of it.
“How much of a fight did she put up?” Sarah snapped. “Did she at least get a knife in you before she died?”
“Not in me.” The words were almost a growl. “Get out of my house, Sarah. I will see you shortly.”
He disappeared before she could react.
As she relaxed, the knife fell from her numb fingertips. She picked it up with her left hand, which wasn’t much better.
She leaned back against the wall and stretched out her awareness. While she had been occupied with Nikolas, the humans in the house had fled — even the ones she had knocked out were gone.
Her stomach churned with the unpleasant nausea that comes with blood loss. After bandaging her arms as well as she could with the scant supplies she kept in the car, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Adianna.
CHAPTER 14
ADIANNA TOOK SARAH to Caryn Smoke’s house, to be patched up for the second time in less than a month. Sarah had managed to fend off her sister’s questions only with stoic silence so far.
“We’re going to have to wash the blood off before I can see the cuts,” Caryn explained as she unwrapped the crude bandages Sarah had made with the rough first-aid supplies she kept in her car.
She had cleaned most of the blood from the ivy before she could see enough to tell what the full design was.
“Oh, Goddess …” The healer looked up, her pale blue eyes wide with shock and full of question.
“What?” Adianna stepped forward to see what the healer had seen.
“Give me some room,” Caryn ordered, her voice steady.
Adianna nodded, and leaned back against the opposite wall.
Caryn turned to the rose. When she got to the other shoulder she cleaned around the wound, revealing more of the damage.
Nikolas. Caryn whispered the name, and Sarah saw Adianna’s gaze whip toward them as she heard it.
The hunter was on her feet instantly. “That’s who you were after today?” Sarah nodded once, and saw Adianna’s eyes racing over the careful designs. Finally she asked Caryn the question Sarah had been avoiding. “Will those scar?”
Caryn’s face was grim as she said, “I’m afraid so. I can heal the deeper damage so there won’t be any permanent injury to the muscles, but the wounds are bad enough that I can’t do much more.”
“My little sister went after Nikolas,” Adianna stated with some surprise in her voice. “He got away, didn’t he?” Again Sarah had to nod.
“He’s had hunters on his tail for more than a hundred