But it didn’t stop her reaction.
With catlike reflexes she pushed me across the room, I landed perfectly in the chair, she jumped into the air and pounced, straddling me with both legs. One tilt of her head and our eyes locked.
Hers turned white.
It was eerie, watching someone else do what I’d done thousands of times, this time with me being on the receiving end.
I was completely riveted by the way she looked at me—as if I was the only being in existence.
My breath came out in a gasp as the room dropped below zero. Ice crackled across the surface of the wood floor, moisture once clinging in the air frosted the windows.
“That all you got?” I licked my nearly frozen lips.
Stephanie leaned forward, her nails digging into my arm. “I’m not exactly practiced in the art of Dark One seduction.”
“The next step…” Why was I teaching her this again? When I was so weak? Right, because if I died, it would all fall to her. If I failed she was the last.
“Yes?”
“The Marking.”
Her eyes swirled back to blue then went white again. “Yes, that sounds like a good idea. How do I… what do I…?” Her focus wavered. She was unsteady, too new, too unpracticed. I imagined she wouldn’t have the concentration to actually kill me.
“Two choices.” The human side of me was ready to bolt out of the chair and find a weapon. I stayed put, even when her nails dug deeper. Warm blood started trickling from my arms. “You mark with your mouth or your hand.”
Stephanie nodded, the room got colder. Damn, maybe I’d just freeze to death. Clearly, I hadn’t thought through all the horrible scenarios.
“You take your palm and press it against the neck, cupping the human flesh, you simply force your will upon them, whatever it is. Do you need a slave? What about a task completed? How about undying love and devotion? What you need, you think, you force it upon them so heavily that it becomes the very air they breathe. Without you, they would die, you must believe it, so they will believe it.”
Stephanie nodded and pressed her palm against my neck.
The stirring of ice flickered through my veins.
“Or…” It was freezing, yet I felt cold and clammy, like being hot and cold at the same time. “You mark with your mouth… more personal, no drawing of blood, think of it as a love bite. It’s more personal because Angel blood is in every cell of your body, including your saliva, therefore, your blood comes into contact with the human. Regardless of how strong you are—it will work because human blood yearns for it.”
“Why?” Her eyes darted back and forth, she was tiring. Good.
I slowly moved my arms, her nails released. “Because humans want power, they were born wanting more, and the minute they experience a fraction of what more feels like—they want it all.”
My gut clenched as memories of the last time humans got ahold of immortal blood assaulted me. I’d destroyed them all—well almost all of them.
Demons were allowed to live. But at what cost?
There was no warning, no hesitation on her part.
One minute I was talking.
The next, her mouth was on my neck, her tongue swirling a devastating design across my skin, her breath freezing my veins in the most delicious way.
Visions of us together flashed through my brain. Kissing, making love, holding hands, laughing, and then the vision altered and I was on my knees in front of her.
Her… shaking as blood ran down her hands.
I was still as a statue.
And then she pulled the knife from my chest and toss
ed it on the ground, her eyes wide with fear as Darkness swirled around her like a smoke, invading her nostrils.