Page 65 of Dark Lover

A shiver went through her. “So you plan to subdue both of us?”

“I certainly do. Now, what do you prefer? You strike me as the dirty martini type.”

“A virgin Mary,” she said.

He smiled. “You are delightful, Samantha. Have you ever bored a man?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“I’ve decided to forgive you for standing me up last night. In fact, I’ve decided to be the one providing this evening’s entertainment—if I haven’t done so already.”

Sam tensed. This was it—his big move. His king to her queen.

An entire wall housed a built-in wet bar and a media center. He turned and the oversize cherrywood doors opened, revealing a movie-size screen. “I do like modern technology,” he said.

Just then, Sam did not like surprises. “So what’s on the Free Per View?” Did he have more videos of her in the sack? With Maclean? With her past lovers? Sam told herself she didn’t care, but somehow, she knew that she was not going to like whatever came up on that screen.

He sent her a dark smile and inserted a DVD. It was night and there was a full moon. She waited for a wolf to howl. Instead, there was a city skyline. The rooftops seemed old-fashioned.

She heard a horn blaring and then there were odd, rasping sounds, clawlike, maybe the sounds of rodents.

There was sharp, frightened panting.

It was human.

It was time to walk away.

He seized her wrist. “Not so fast.”

Sam was about to shake him off but two demons appeared and closed in on her instead. Before Sam could move to take the two guards out, Hemmer said, “But you are so concerned for your dark lover.”

Sam went still, returning her gaze to the screen.

A cage was swinging slowly in the air. And something was in it…no, not something. Someone.

The camera zoomed in.

And she saw the boy’s pale face, his glazed eyes. He gripped the bars, clearly wanting to get out. But there was no expression on his face. He was so still, he could have been carved from wax. He might have only been eight or nine years old, but she knew who it was without being told.

Sam breathed hard.

A hand moved into the frame. The camera zoomed in. It was a man’s hand and he wore a very large, gold antique signet ring. As it began unlocking the door to the cage, the boy seized that hand. Sam’s heart lurched. The boy began kissing it…

“He’s not so sexy now, is he?” Hemmer laughed.

She was sick enough to vomit. They’d really broken him. Sam felt surging anger. It consumed her and she didn’t even try to control it. She whirled, impaling one demonic guard with her dagger. His eyes widened and he began to collapse. Before the other guard reached for her, she summoned the tiny, razor-edged disk into her hand. She flung it at his throat. It went through skin, cartilage, flesh and bone, severing his head from his shoulders. Then she whirled to take care of Hemmer with her bare hands.

“You really should choose your liaisons with more care. Do you really want to become involved with that pathetic bastard?” Before he finished speaking, he vanished.

Sam cried out in frustration. Then she strode to the video system and hit the power button, stopping the tape. She stood there, trembling in rage.

Hemmer was allied with an evil entity that had given him demonic power.

And that video…she wished she hadn’t seen it.

She reminded herself it had only been a boy in a cage, but the reminder didn’t work. Because that boy had been broken…

When they’d taken that video, had he been their prisoner for months? A few years? Or had it already been decades?