Page 142 of Dark Lover

He laughed. “No, the clock’s not ticking. In fact, even if you don’t come back to HCU, you can have the file.”

Sam was rarely surprised twice. She was stunned anew.

He crooked his finger at her. Sam decided not to bother asking. She followed him down to the ground floor and to the vault. The beautiful landscape painting was propped against one wall. The inscription she’d seen earlier was above it, where the painting had been hanging. The hieroglyphics glowed.

“Okay. You’ve got me. What is that, anyway? What does it mean?”

Nick walked over to it and Sam had the oddest feeling that he was uneasy. “In all the years I’ve been at war—before anyone even called it a war—I’ve seen that inscription exactly three times. Here, at 2145 Elm and in the first century.”

Sam shivered. “Give me the bad news.”

He glanced at her, his face uncharacteristically serious. “It’s Satan’s stamp of approval, Sam. If you think the greatest evil of all doesn’t exist in one single and powerful entity, think again. It’s said that no more than a dozen demons throughout time have ever gotten his seal.” He was thoughtful. “Others have seen this, through the centuries. The Russian saw this in one of Stalin’s palaces.” He hesitated. “Jan saw it.”

She could barely comprehend what he was telling her. “Are you frigging telling me that Hemmer, who is as mortal as we are, has Satan’s ear?”

“His DNA might be no different from the grocer’s on the corner, but I’m not sure he’s mortal. Not anymore. So where is our resident billionaire, anyway?”

“That’s a really good question.”

“Especially since he has the page. But how come I don’t think you’re here for the power? You know, there’s this wild rumor that Moray’s back from the vanquished.” Nick stared. “We both know old Rupert didn’t do in his wife. Sure you don’t want my help, kiddo?”

Sam was about to reply when she saw Ian.

He shimmered behind Nick, dressed exactly as she’d last seen him. She could see right through him, and she knew that his image was visual telepathy. There was urgency in his eyes. Something was terribly wrong. “Ian, where are you?” she cried. “What is it?”

Nick whirled and his eyes widened. He saw Ian, too.

THE CAGE TWIRLED. He clung to the bars, which were cold beneath his small hands. “Please let me out.” It was his first time in the cage, his punishment for attempting to escape. His heart beat so hard and so fast he thought it would explode.

His grandfather smiled and walked away. And he kicked frantically at the rats…

No. This was not really happening…

Those words were in the back of his mind, distant, vague. They were going to leave him there to be eaten alive, and then they’d heal him. If he tried to escape again, they’d put him back in the cage. Panic choked him. He felt their sharp teeth and he cried out. How could this be happening all over again?

He closed his eyes and prayed for his father. This was not really happening…But he kicked the rodents away, again and again, whimpering now. Why didn’t the great Aidan of Awe rescue him?

He saw his father so clearly, standing before the hearth in the great hall, surrounded by so much evil.

Please help me!

His father’s face was startled. “Ian?”

Help me! I’m in the new city of York. Help me!

Aidan shouted, his face becoming a mask of rage. And then he was gone…

He rattled the bars desperately. He had to get out, because he was bleeding and he didn’t have the will to try to kick the rats away.

But he wasn’t a boy now. This was a trick, a cruel, evil trick.

And as he clung to the bars, he was confused, because he saw a beautiful, fierce woman. He gripped the bars harder, no longer fighting the pack of rats. The woman’s face shimmered in his mind and he knew this was more important than the punishment of the cage. Suddenly he saw her even more clearly and her eyes blazed with urgency.

Ian, where are you? What’s wrong?

Clasping the bars, he started. Sam.

In the back of his mind, knowledge grew, even as he began to faint from the pain. He could not pass out now. If he did, he’d die. This was not happening. He wasn’t a boy. He’d been through so much with Sam. They’d fought the terror of evil together.