Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Methodically, one by one, Silke faced each demon separately. It didn’t seem to matter that the last two were larger and more powerful than the first two. Something in the origins had clued her in on how to slay them. Just as she had done with the serpent, she took her time, using sacred water and the crystal sword that was wrapped in the dragon lily petals. How she was able to use it to spew fire and the gel that was all too reminiscent of magma, Benedek had no idea.
Having watched slayers before, he had expected to understand her methods, but this was all new to him. When she destroyed the last of the demons, she sank onto the floor, pushing with her heels until her back was to the wall. Immediately, Tora opened her protective weave and rushed to her. The fisherman didn’t move, remaining under Tora’s command while she attended to Silke.
Chapter
9
Silke tried not to stare at the Carpathian she was certain was her lifemate. He was intimidating. Terrifying. The scariest man she’d ever seen. She was exhausted, her body feeling like a limp dishrag. She knew these men, ancients, all five of them, had been programmed to kill her. They had come unseen into her community and spied on her. Had their original intention been to kill her? To use the villagers for their food and then devastate the population when the five turned vampire?
She wanted to be away from them until she was at full strength. At least she had managed to leave the Bootsma home and lead the men away from the village. She had no recourse but to use her own home for the confrontation. She’d sent Tora ahead to remove Fenja from the house, but Fenja had refused to go. Her mother sat quietly in the most comfortable chair in the sitting room. A shotgun leaned against the coffee table within easy reach, and a multitude of weapons were hidden in the chair.
“I am Benedek Kovak,” the scariest-looking man introduced himself. “This is Nicu Dalca and Tomas, Lojos and Mataias Smolnycki.”
Silke briefly closed her eyes against the sudden drop of her heart. She had known all along he was the stranger coming to claim her. There was a pull between them. A strong one. She hadn’t expected that. She found him physically attractive. She hadn’t expected that, either. Still, for all the attraction, she was distrustful of him and the others.
“I’m Silke Reinders, and this is my mother, Fenja. Tora is my friend.” She indicated both women. Tora, like Silke, was suspicious of the ancients. Silke had immediately shared with her what she’d found in the demons’ origins.
Silke kept her tone noncommittal. She wasn’t about to start a war in her own home with her mother right there. Annoyed that she could go into battle and keep her heart from elevating, but she couldn’t sit in the room with her potential husband without her pulse racing. That made no sense. She feared all of them could hear her heart accelerating. She knew from experience that a heart beating too fast made her prey. She shifted in her chair, her weapons at her fingertips.
“You must be wondering why we didn’t come to you the moment we arrived,” Mataias said.
“Thank you, slayer, for removing the demons from us,” Nicu added. “We had to fight the compulsion and were unable to feed on our own for fear of giving in to it. It’s been difficult.”
Lojos nodded in agreement. “We’re ancients, and in our world, we no longer even hear whispers of temptation, yet these parasites managed to infect us. We kept ourselves away from anyone we could harm. I add my thanks to Nicu’s.”
“And mine,” Tomas said. “We were attacked numerous times on the way here. As you must be aware, we hunt vampires and have throughout the centuries. We push parasites from our bodies all the time. This time, one remained, but none of us could locate it.”
“Because it was demon, not parasite,” Silke said. The demons had seemed very much at home in the four men chosen as hosts. She didn’t add that, but Benedek’s cool obsidian eyes jumped to her face, drifted over her almost possessively and then came back to look her straight in the eye.
More so in me than the others. Benedek pushed the words into her brain, confirming he was merged with her.
Silke shivered and rubbed her hands up and down her arms, uncaring if she gave away the fact that she was afraid of him. She lifted her chin, forcing her gaze to remain on his. Yes, it isn’t the same as the demons from the underworld. There is no taint, but there is something in you that is more than Carpathian.
She wasn’t judgmental. Fenja had made certain of that. There was no room for ego or judgment as a slayer. But she was fearful, not trusting any of them, especially the man who would claim her if she allowed it. She had no intention of allowing it. He was in her mind, just as she was in his. He could see that she had made up her mind they weren’t a good match.