He walked back across to the table where she was strapped down and laid his hands on her breast and squeezed. They were a decent size. He liked big-breasted woman. Heath growled behind him but obviously didn’t move, as there were no more sounds of agony. Charles needed to push him further. He grabbed Evie’s chin and kissed her, forcing his tongue into her mouth, but before he could enjoy its moist interior she bit him. He pulled away and slapped her face. He would enjoy putting her in her place later. It frustrated him that now she was choosing to regain her consciousness. He ran his hand across his mouth, wiping away the blood from his tongue. It would heal quickly, but the bitch would pay for it later with bruises he would inflict.
The guttural groan of Heath behind him made him consider that maybe he had succeeded. He turned back to see Heath standing rigid as he tried to stop the contact. “So are you ready to tell me what happened when you went to Pergor? I assume everything didn’t go as planned, or you would have brought her back with an Angelic instead of bonding with her.”
“Don’t tell the bastard anything,” Evie shouted.
Charles turned back to her and waved his finger. “Now behave, or I’ll hurt your newfound partner even more.”
“It’s all right, Evie. It won’t make any difference. He can’t do anything now we’re bonded and he knows it. We didn’t make it to Pergor, because there’s something in the link that stopped me making a connection.”
“One of my men has just come back and found the link was working perfectly. That would indicate it is something to do with one of you. It’s most inconvenient because he has given me a message that someone is interested in meeting her. This particular Elevated doesn’t care if she’s bonded.”
“You can’t touch her,” Heath said.
“Why, because you’ll kill me? In your present situation I don’t think that’s about to happen. Or perhaps because you’re bonded to her? I’ve never cared for obeying the rules−up there nor down here. In fact, I find this whole situation rather exciting. It breaks up the monotony of dealing with this ignorant race.”
Charles strolled over to the large French doors that opened onto the roof. Pulling them wide, he took a deep breath and enjoyed the cool evening air as it washed over him. He turned back to his men.
“Untie her and bring her here. With three of us, whatever attacked them should be defeated. Corman, I’ll leave you and the others to watch over our visitor here. You have my permission to play, but not to kill. I think I’ve taught you well enough.”
Evie struggled and kicked his men as they all walked out onto the flat roof of the building. Heath’s screams filled the night air, and Charles smiled as the doors were shut behind them. Closing his eyes, he felt the slight stinging sensation as his wings erupted from his back. He wanted to get on with this before any other enclave got wind of his actions. He had no doubt others would want to be connected to an Elevated brought to Earth. He needed to make sure it would be his group, with him at the head, that would lead. In seconds, they had risen into the sky and even Evie had stopped struggling. He assumed she was afraid of falling. By the time they were finished with her it would be the least of her problems.
His men’s minds connected with his and they made the link. It was always a sharp pain in the temple, which lasted only a few moments, and then the conduit would open in all its glory. Beautiful lights would shine hypnotically, tempting you to stay in their oblivion. He had thought about it once or twice when he was bored, but always sensed there was some other reason to continue. With this woman Evie, he believed he had it.
The lights of the conduit did not appear as usual. This time, the stars of the sky over Bristol had been replaced by gray swirling mists. Charles closed his eyes and sent out a signal to Pergor again. One of his men started to scream as if his body were being ripped apart. Charles stopped his connection with the conduit and flew back to his man. One of his men was holding Evie, but she looked like she had fainted or collapsed again. The other man was curled up in a ball. Charles could smell burning and could see the glow of fire on the man’s wingtips.
“Are you still in control?” Charles asked his other man.
“Yes, but it feels as if there’s something in here with us. It’s like a shadow flowing around us.” The man barely got the words out when he started to wheeze. “It’s choking me.”
Charles looked down at Evie, who appeared to be sleeping soundly. Was she doing this? There was only one way to find out. He reached out and touched her temple. The darkness that he had seen in her before was reacting on its own. It was clear that in the conduit, its power was much stronger. He could sense it didn’t want to go to Pergor but couldn’t figure out why. Before he could delve deeper, the darkness reached out like a black cloud and encircled his arm. It was reaching up toward his neck, and he had no doubt it wanted to strangle the life out of him.
It was time to get out of here. Who would have guessed that Heath had not lied after all? “Men, remake the connection with Earth. We can try again later when we work out what this bitch is up to.”
The minute they were back in Earth’s atmosphere, whatever was trying to hurt them was gone. He could only assume it had hidden itself away inside Evie again. If he was going to use her for his own ends, he needed to find out what it was. The darkness had been powerful, and he liked power, but only if he could control it.
The lights of Bristol came into sight below him as they made their way unseen through the night back to the warehouse. He could see the roof of his building below him, and he could also see his people had a battle on their hands. Damn Heath and his enclave.
“Take this bitch to my bedroom. If my men get hurt, she’ll pay for it later.”
Chapter 4
Back with Heath
Evie came back to consciousness and heard Charles’ words. He could call her all the names under the sun, as long as he wasn’t winning. Her heart soared at the fact Heath’s people were here, and she hoped they kicked butt. She wanted Charles to get down on his knees and beg and cry like a baby.
At this moment, she considered the best option was to pretend to be out for the count for now. Trying to take on Charles and his two henchmen might be a bit too much, and anger would only get her so far. She peeped through lidded eyes. The guy carried her around the roof to another set of doors. He pushed them open and turned on the light.
She hated Charles, and if there was one place she didn’t want to be it was in his bedroom. The man unceremoniously dumped her on the bed. She could hear the noises of the fight coming from the other room and wanted to help.
The man stood by the door, his wings now gone, but he looked ready to fight whatever came his way. She tried to clear her mind and work out what had happened when they tried to go over to that other place, called Pergor. There was no memory at all beyond them flying into the sky. All she could guess was it must be something similar to what went on when Heath tried to take her there the first time.
One thing she was sure about now was that it was definitely her. The darkness within her was no longer just in her mind; it was something real. Fuck. All these weird guys around her and she was the strangest of them all. Why did that not surprise her? She should go back out on the roof and jump off. Then they all wouldn’t have to hurt each other fighting over her. It wouldn’t be the first time she had considered ending it all.
“Don’t you dare.”
Shit, what the hell was that? She could have sworn it sounded like Heath’s voice. Did the bonding thing mean he could talk inside her head? Last time she saw him he was hanging on a wall with electricity pulsing through him. When Charles had taken her into the sky, she heard the screams and thought Heath would be dead by the time she got back.
She didn’t like the idea that he could read her mind and know the shit she had going on in there. It was bad, but it was her shit. Opening one eye, she peeked about the room to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon against the creepy guy by the door. She spied an ornate lamp on the bedside table with a base covered in pictures that came straight out of the Kama Sutra. She had no intention of hanging around for Charles to recreate any of those pictures with her. She would chop his dick off if he even tried. The lamp looked heavy and hopefully would knock the guy out. She didn’t have any time to think about it because the door to the bedroom suddenly burst open.
She didn’t recognize the woman who came in, but she grinned when the woman thumped the guy on the cheek and caused him to fall backward across the edge of the bed. This was no longer the time to play dead. Evie sat up, but her head thumped, and the room spun as if she had participated in the world’s biggest pillow-fight. She grabbed the lamp and brought it down on the guy’s head. She closed her eyes as she did so, dreading to think of the damage she may have done. Opening her eyes, she saw he had a big lump forming but looked like he was out cold. The woman wasn’t tall but looked as if she had just gotten off a motorbike with her long black hair pulled back, black bike leathers and big boots that would kick ass.