Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) Emma Hamm (popular novels txt) 📖

cold wave rushing over her. There wasn’t much she could do against a drug running through her system.

Mace would work. She had it in her purse, she could use it now that her fingers were working. If she could convince him to hand her the tiny canvas bag, then she could…

“Where is my purse?” She asked as she looked down her body.

“Your what?”

“My purse!”

He met her gaze with the faintest of frowns furrowing his brow. “We must have left it at the club.”

“Why would I leave my purse at the club? That has all my money, my personal identification! I wouldn’t leave it!”

“Then I must have. You weren’t in any state of mind to remind me.”

Of course not. Because he had kidnapped her. Lydia tried to swallow with a mouth dry from fear. The Mace was out. There was nothing else on her person she could fight with, and she doubted her fists would do the job.

And he was slowing down. Which could only mean that the solid oak door before her lead to his dungeon. She corrected herself. As they were on the third floor, it was impossible for this to be a dungeon. Kill room was more likely the correct way to think of it.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to steady her breathing as the door opened on its own. He was obviously a powerful creature if he could do that. He could probably kill her with a thought too.

She wouldn’t know. There were too many new magical creatures for any human to get a handle on. Her friends knew about them because they had another voice in their head explaining this new world.

In contrast, Lydia was floundering. She tried very hard to be kind to everyone and not think ill of them simply because magical creatures were inside them. But right now, she was frightened just being in the same room with them. In the same way she was frightened of the man who carefully maneuvered them through the door.

“Oh god,” she whispered and squeezed her eyes shut.

“That is an appropriate term for me, yes.”

The reply didn’t ease her mind. When she didn’t respond, he took that as an invitation to speak.

“Do you have any family?”

“Not alive,” she replied.

“Your friends, will they try to find you?”

Lydia couldn’t handle the personal questions. “Just do it quick, okay?”

“What am I doing quick?” They were moving again. His steps were even quieter here. He was either purposefully trying to not kick the chains that were surely on the floor, or it was a thicker carpet.

Lydia tried to tell herself that it was the latter. But the kidnapping and fear made her body seize even tighter than before.

“You know what I’m talking about,” she attempted to growl at him. Although the words were far too faint to be intimidating. “If you’re going to kill me, just do it quick. That’s all I ask. I don’t want to hang around too long. I know it’s probably less fun for you to do it that way, but I’m really not equipped for this sort of thing.”

He lifted her higher in his arms, away from his chest, and she held her breath. He was going to put her on the cold ground. Or worse, some kind of serial killer contraption that would tear at her flesh and rip at her bones.

Instead, a soft bed cushioned her back. The cloudlike mattress wrapped around her body with warm folds. As her eyes snapped open, he pulled a blanket that felt like rabbit fur over her.

She blinked up at him in confusion.

Black eyes stared at her and she swore she could see amusement in them. “I’m not going to kill you.”

“Kidnappers always tell their victims that.”

She had been wrong, Lydia realized, as his eyes darkened with an unnamed emotion. His eyes were not the universe. They reflected the space between stars and showed only the absence of light.

“It was necessary,” he growled.

“You shouldn't say that. Kidnapping isn't a joke.”

“I didn’t kidnap you.”

He turned away. Lydia hadn’t realized how captivated she was by his angry gaze until it flicked away from her.

Breathing hard, she flexed her fingers against the furs. “I fail to see how this is different. You asked me if anyone will come after me. You drugged me so I cannot move-”

“I did not drug you,” he interrupted her. With his back turned to her, she could see his posture stiffen, his hands clench into fists. “You have a magical creature inside you.”

Lydia scoffed. “Right. Like that’s possible.”

“It is possible, and it is the truth. The effects upon your body are from the immense power that is trying to settle. Humans weren’t made to hold that much magic, especially tiny things like you.”

A soft part of her wanted to believe him. Truth hummed in his voice, dancing upon her nerve endings and tingling along her spine. A more practical part of herself rebelled. He couldn’t be telling the truth. Otherwise, she would be with her friends and he would just be talking to her.

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

“You don’t have to believe me. But you have to accept that this is happening and not fight her.”

“Her?”

“The creature inside you is important to me. You will not give her any reason to find difficulty as she settles in your body.”

There was something in the tone of his voice that made her ache. He believed every word he was saying, and that in itself made her sad.

Everyone told her that if there was a creature inside of her, it would make itself known. She bit her lip, closed her eyes, and listened with every part of her being. Maybe if she was quiet long enough, there would be a soft sound inside her head. She'd settle for a gasp, a shuffle, a squeak, anything that proved someone else resided in her head.

Even in the silence, there was nothing but the sound of her own breathing and the steady thump of her heart.

She opened her eyes