Jonas (Darkness #7) (3 page)

She dipped the sponge into the murky red water and gently applied it to his torso. “I will win, you know. I see that you are pitting yourself against me. Will versus will. I will win because I have to.”

She glanced up to find his eyes studying her still. His intelligence and strength shone through. Made the brown of his eyes vivid and entrancing.

She’d once found Nathanial’s eyes beautiful, too. What a mistake that had been. A mistake that, once made, could never be unmade.

She went back to her cleaning in silence. When she was done, she put the sponge back in the bowl and lifted her gaze to his. Determination and compassion looked out at her. Also, if she wasn’t mistaken, confusion.

Being honest befuddled him, did it?

She smirked and stood, hardening her features so the pain in her body didn’t show. She stowed the bowl and prepared to leave. She needed to think about how to open him up. How to get him to talk. She had today. If she didn’t get something by the end of today, she’d take her chances on the run. She had to. There were no other options.

“Why the outfit?”

Emmy jerked to a stop with her hand on the door handle. It took her a second to place the deep, gruff voice as coming from the subject. She couldn’t help the look of shock as she turned to him.

He didn’t repeat himself. He waited patiently while staring straight ahead.

This was on his terms. He was asking a question, not giving an answer. He was trying to assume control.

She should ask his name and, when she didn’t get it, walk out. Then she should resume her next cycle later in the day after she came up with a plan. That’s what she
should
do.

Nathanial’s threat sounded in her ears. His smug, sneering face swam in her vision.

Taking a deep breath, she walked around to the front of him. His gaze lifted until it found hers. He glanced at her outfit poignantly before resettling on her gaze.

“Do you not like women?” she countered, bracing her hands on her hips and bending enough to pronounce her cleavage.

The man huffed and minutely shook his head. He looked back at the wall.

A thrill of fear washed through Emmy. She couldn’t lose him!

Her mind raced before she settled, once again, on honesty. What else did she have? “Men are aroused by this outfit. It sets them up for failure.”

His gaze once again rose to hers. “How?”

“When men see a sexual object, they assume the woman is presenting herself to be taken. By him, of course. They delude themselves into thinking they are her master. That they are in control because their penis says they should be. Then I hurt them. My violence against them is seen as a violation of their desires—a traitorous act. Rage takes over. But they are bound. They aren’t in control. They spiral into a form of madness, thus breaking themselves down for me. I just help the process.”

The man snorted. “Then you only come in contact with weak men.”

“That formula doesn’t work on everyone, but it works on most. It cuts down my labor.”

“And pain works on the rest.”

“Usually.”

He paused for a moment before asking, “Were you punished because I didn’t speak?”

Tension tightened up Emmy’s body. She glanced at the door; she should go. She was breaking the rules of a torturer. She’d given him power, and now she was letting down her guard. Letting him into her life.

Slippery slope, Emmy. You are walking a very slippery slope with this one.

She glanced at the door again.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” the man said in a low growl. “Did you fight back?”

Without meaning to, and unable to help the defensiveness, she answered, “Do you fight back when your boss punishes you? Your leader?”

“No. Because usually I fucked up and knew it was coming.”

“I see. And if you didn’t mess up? If you didn’t know it was coming?”

His jaw clenched and unclenched. “I’ve never had violence pushed on me from a superior without due cause. If I did, I would fight back.”

“And you would probably be killed.”

“Probably.”

“I would be killed. Without question. Or subjected to something worse. I’d rather take the punishment.” Emmy snapped her mouth shut when she’d realized what she’d said. How much she’d said.

“Anyway,” she said in a brusque tone. “You’ll see more of me, now. Things need to progress. I will no longer stop when you’ve had your epiphany. I’ll continue on until you can’t hold your head up. We’ll see if prolonged pain will loosen your lips.”

“It won’t.” His gaze was on her again. “I’m not afraid of pain. I’m used to it. What questions do you need answers to?”

Emmy’s eyebrows furled. In response, he smirked and said, “I don’t have any great secrets. I’m sure Sasha, my mage, is trying to find me right now. She’s probably getting with her white mage teacher and coming up with some nasty spells that will tear this place apart. All they have to do is find this place. And she will, eventually. Or the Boss will. Or those mongrels will. Or all those strange humans will. It’s only a matter of time. As long as you have me, dead or alive, they’ll come for me. You’re on the wrong side, sweet cheeks. You sound American, mostly, and you almost look human with your stature—you don’t need to be hanging around with no group of Europeans. They haven’t gotten with the times.”

“Sasha is the human?” Emmy asked with a firm voice. “She’s allowed to be mage?”

The man’s eyes burned into hers. “They don’t treat you great here, huh? You’re human, then?”

She raised her chin, not quite sure how he could read her so easily. “Half. My father. I was mostly raised in America. That’s why I have this accent.”

“We just got a halvsie. More useful, straddling that line. Didn’t much like him at first, and I used to hate humans. But they grow on you when you get to know ‘em. Kind of a gentler species until they get riled up. Humans, that is. Not the halvsie. He’s a nut.”

Emmy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She turned away to hide it. “What’s your name?”

“Jonas. I guard the mage. Don’t bother asking me any questions about her. I won’t answer. But you can know whatever you like about me.”

“All on your terms, huh?” she asked, facing him again once her features were schooled.

He shrugged his large shoulders. “You’re trying. This is out of your hands. Like I said—I’m used to pain. I’ll take it right to the grave. Almost have many times. And you’re great with that whip. Too bad you’re so stuck up or I—“

His mouth snapped shut before he finished his thought. His gaze once again hit that back wall.

Unable to help her curiosity, she said, “Finish.”

He smirked. “That’s just it. I’d like to finish. With you. But that shit makes you uncomfortable.”

Anxiety rolled through Emmy’s insides. Before she’d made the conscious thought, she was walking toward the door. Before she’d left, she heard, “See?”

He was right. It did. Her only experience had been years and years of being forced. There’d been nothing she could do. No one she could appeal to for help. No rights, and no way to fight back. She’d just as soon never be touched by a man ever again.

But she had the stranger talking. Jonas, his name was. She had him talking, and she had some information for Nathanial. Nothing too substantial yet, but as long as something was coming, they’d think she was doing her job.

Now she just had to figure out how to build him up in her image. To make him want to give her everything. About the mage and whatever else Nathanial wanted to know. She had to appeal to Jonas’ soft side—because she knew he had one. Helping her, studying her, inquiring about her wounds—yes, he had one. He was a hard man with a soft core. She had to appeal to that softness. But how?

And then she knew. There was one woman who would charm any man. She’d worked her way into this compound by batting her eyes and swinging her hips. She’d taken blood from all the top members—men and women who rarely gave anyone a taste. She was now one of Nathanial’s favorites and often shared his bed.

Emmy walked to the back of the first floor and took the stairs up two flights. There she turned right and walked until the end. She knocked softly at the door. A moment later it opened with a swirl of air and perfume. The beautiful woman stood framed by the door, one hip jutted to the side and her perfect breasts pushed forward. Her flowing red dress was shimmery and see-through.

“Oh, it’s you. What do you want?” the woman asked.

“Hi Darla. I wondered if you had a moment?”

J
onas heard
the door open slowly behind him. His stomach filled with butterflies. Something about that beautiful little female had him anticipating seeing her again. There was something in her eyes. A strange sort of vulnerability that had him wanting to protect her. He’d never experienced this before and he had no idea what to make of it.

Maybe it was because she held him captive. This room, his numb legs, the treatment—that was probably it. He was most likely responding to her as a captive would.

Whatever. He kind of liked this. He just wished she wasn’t so shy of males.

A flash of anger had him balling his fists remembering the scared and disgusted look in her eyes when he’d mentioned sex. Someone had screwed her up. That was pretty clear. Someone in this place. Probably the same asshole who punished her instead of worked with her. Hell, when they were trying to get information out of that shifter, the Boss never held Toa responsible for his failed attempts. Instead, he’d worked with the blond-headed idiot. Tried to come up with something that could bring the captive around.

“Jonas.”

The word was like honey poured across his body. She came around him slowly dressed in a shimmery red dress that was all but see-through. The usual graceful sway of her hips and assurance in her step was absent, though. Instead, her hands were held rigidly at her sides. Jarring movements and uncomfortable shifting dried up all the sex in the room.

“If you’re trying to seduce me to make me an idiot, I’d prefer the whip,” Jonas said.

She glanced down at her body in confusion before slowly walking toward him. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. She lowered herself to kneel directly in front of him. Her sweet breath fell across his face. Her baby-blue eyes held his. A small crease formed between her eyebrows, giving her away.

“You got to this part too soon,” Jonas helped. “You’re supposed to wander around and show off your wares. Then, when I’m salivating, you’re supposed to slink forward. Maybe put your groin in my face or something. Then kneel. Then tease me. When I beg, that’s when you ask questions or whatever it is you want. You got here too quick.”

Anger flashed in her eyes.

“Plus, you still look uncomfortable,” Jonas continued. “If you can’t pull off a cleavage show, how are you gonna pull off near-nakedness? What are you going for, anyway? Love via my dick, or something? I said I’d answer your questions.”

Her mouth turned into a hard line before she abruptly stood. “Fine. How about this.” She stalked back to the corner and came back with a wooden paddle. “Want pain? No problem.”

With only a small grimace from what must’ve been the pain in her side, she leaned down, swung her paddle back, and delivered him one hell of a blow. The slap hit off his wounds from earlier and spread the pain across his chest. Aching bites tore into him as the wounds, barely knitting together, all broke open. He sucked a breath in through his teeth.

“Hurts, huh?” she taunted. “How about this?” She hit him again. Then once more, pounding him with the blunt object with such violence he had an instant hard-on.

“Again,” he breathed, falling into it.

He felt another solid slap. And another. She was taking out her aggression on him, but doing it with an air of precision he hadn’t had before. The landing of each blow was well-placed for maximum effect. She’d chosen the paddle so she could beat the hell out of him without rendering him unconscious or killing him. And she stood over him with a mastery and dominance that set him on fire.

“Again,” he repeated.

The blows stopped. His erection throbbed. He opened his eyes to find her staring down at him with a crooked smile. “You’re on my time. You’ll get punishment when I say you get punishment. And right now, I need an answer or two before I take you higher.”

Jonas’ mouth dropped open as his dick gave a lurch. His ardor rose. His eyes traveled her beautiful face and then dropped down to her perfect body. Great gods he wanted her. This strong, dominant woman who was so full of pain and loathing for her life that she didn’t realize the strength she possessed. He could help her—bring out the wild vixen in her. And, in turn, she could quell his beasts. She could take control while he happily lost it.

She’d just figured out his weakness. His real desires. Now the test of wills began.

“Take me higher? Sexually, you mean?” Jonas countered, trying to back her down.

The shadow passed over her eyes for a moment, but a glimmer came back in immediately. “I mean to beat the living hell out of you. And you’ll like it. And you’ll beg for completion. And if you do what I ask, I’ll free one of your hands for a time so you can take care of it.”

“It will be you who takes care of it. With your body. Or your mouth.”

A crease formed in her eyebrows as she wrestled with something internal. Anger flashed again. “I don’t give a crap how you take the pain, Jonas. You want to get off on it, what is that to me? Nothing. But the only person that is going to be fucking you is yourself. In the meantime, you’ll tell me everything I want to hear. Starting now.”

He almost flinched as she rushed him in the heat of passion. Violence and aggression poured from her body. She slammed him with the paddle two more times before crossing to his back and hitting him three times there. He soaked in the pain. He let it swirl around him. He let it fire him up and then pool in the base of his cock. His past didn’t rear up, this time. The taunts didn’t come. The remembrance of lonely days or constant torture didn’t surface. All he could think was her and the moment. Her mad plight to use him to extinguish her rage.

“Touch me,” Jonas groaned as his body lit on fire from the inside out. “Please. Turn your pain into pleasure with me.”

The paddle didn’t return. She walked around to the front of him with hard eyes. “Does the human mage know Cato? Is it true he backed her?”

Jonas’ head was swirling. His cock was so hard he couldn’t think. She stepped closer, dousing him in body heat. Her breasts, barely visible, were so close. If she leaned down he could suckle them through her sheer dress. “Please.”

Her hand came up and slapped him across the face. “Does Cato back the leader of your clan?”

He opened his eyes and connected to her burning gaze. Passion boiled there. Not sexual, not yet, but something else. Wild abandon. A fighter crouched. A caged animal paced.

“I will not answer questions about the mage or the Boss.”

She kneeled in front of him slowly. Her soft hands trailed up his arms and to his shoulders. She glanced down between them. Following her gaze, he saw his dick straining out to her. He almost leaned forward to try and kiss her. To feel those full lips as she lost herself to ecstasy. But when her eyes came back up, that familiar haunt was there. That fear. That inadequacy.

It really ruined the mood she’d just created.

“Can I get a conjugal visit?” he asked as he squeezed his eyes shut to try and ignore the pounding in his erection.

“Damn. I’m no good at this charming guys thing.”

He felt the absence of body heat. The sudden cold made him shiver.

And then the paddle again. She’d figured out how to torture him after all.

E
mmy slammed
the door shut behind her, had a quick glance around to make sure she was alone in her room, and then threw herself onto her bed. She’d just left Jonas. Finally walked away when he was panting and blustering to hold her. Not touch her, not make love to her, but
hold
her. He kept saying, “Let me share your pain.” Or, “Let me help you turn your pain into pleasure.”

It should’ve been gross. It should’ve disgusted her. But her body was on fire. Her stomach was butterflies. Her core was throbbing.

She’d never felt like this before. And while she’d tortured hundreds of people, it’d never been like that. She’d felt
free
somehow. She’d put all her fear and hatred of her life into those strikes and felt released when he moaned in pleasure.

She put her hands out in front of her and stared at them. Then she hopped off her bed and stared at herself in the mirror. The same girl stared back, except for the eyes. There was a vivacity in the eyes she’d never seen before. They were now the eyes of a stranger, sparkling away.

Whose smile was that?

She kind of wanted to touch him. Just to see. With him tied up, and no way to force her, she just kind of… wanted to see if… it was still a disgusting act when she was in complete control. She wanted to see how his face changed when she gave in and gave him the touch he so ardently desired.

Shivers erupted across her body. Which was a decided improvement over her usually roiling stomach with the disgust of thinking about sex.

One thing was for sure, though—she had to get out of here. Jonas was a bit crazy, but he was not like the men in this compound. Or in their compound in England. He didn’t hate humans, for one. Their clan—as he called it—accepted them. Lived among them. Human women were having their babies, and that was not considered an abomination. She wouldn’t be considered an abomination!

She crossed to her desk and opened a drawer. As she reached in for a map, her door swung open. Nathanial entered the room, followed by Luc, an unwashed piece of trash that constantly sneered at her in disgust. Except when Nathanial was handing out her blood, that was. Then he was first in line.

Her heart sank.

“I got answers,” Emmy said in a rush. “Cato has backed the leaders—the mage is the mate and co-leader of Stefan. Stefan is the one they call the Boss.”

Nathanial stared at her with ice in his gaze. “I see. And how did you manage to get this information?”

“I’ve worked my way in. He’s hard to pry information out of, but I am cracking him.”

“Yes. I can see the triumph in your eyes.” Nathanial glanced down her front. She couldn’t help the flinch when she remembered what she was wearing, but she didn’t cover up. He’d exploit that weakness just for fun. “I had heard you asked Darla how to charm a man. And that worked, it seems.”

“To a point. I haven’t touched him, but he would like me to.”

“I see.” Nathanial glanced at Luc. “Get out. She will get no punishment today.”

Emmy couldn’t help the sigh. Nor the uncontrollable shaking under the glare of Luc as he trudged from the room.

“I will be allowing Darla an attempt with him later tonight. It appears she knows this man, who is called Jonas. She was in his compound with him. She had to flee when attempts to get rid of the human mage were thwarted by the human-animals. Commendable, however, that she tried. Anyway, she says she has some affinity with this Jonas. And, of course, she is… persuasive.”

Something within Emmy tightened up. “Give me another try. I am confident I can get something out of him.”

A small smile graced Nathanial’s bloodless lips. “Yes, you do have pride in your work. That is one of your commendable qualities, of course. But we will allow her a session, I think. Since she already knows him, and he seems to respond to sexual advances over pain, I think she is a better bet.”

A tightness formed in her chest she didn’t understand. Within Nathanial’s stare, though, she didn’t have time to dissect. “Yes, sir.”

C
lose to dawn
Emmy couldn’t help pacing through her small quarters. She’d heard Darla made alterations to the room where they kept Jonas. She’d put in a wide but comfortable chair, and a long cot. Obviously she was going to try and have sex with him. That horrible creature would have sex with anything—Jonas was just her next target.

It shouldn’t matter. If she got him hard, and then finished the deed, it shouldn’t matter.

Darla had had an hour so far. And with her track record, she’d surely been with Jonas before. She knew his desires. And his kinks. She most likely knew what got him off and what made him crazy—Emmy had figured it out in a couple days, so after growing up together, Darla would probably have a blueprint. She’d get information out of him easily.

Would she make him as hard as I did earlier? Would he beg to help take her pain?

“Doesn’t matter,” Emmy said to the empty room.

Something irritated her about the whole thing, though. Regardless if she wanted to admit it or not, she’d shown Jonas her vulnerability, and then she’d shared her suffering. She’d given him a glimpse into her so she could have a larger glimpse into him. And that had left a mark. It had connected them in intimacy.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said again. Her voice sounded dead in the silent room.

Emmy started to pace again. Jonas’ eyes filtered into her memory. Focused and entrancing, he always looked at her with equal parts respect and knowing. Like he could read her. Like he cared about her suffering in this place. Like he understood her trials.

“It does matter.”

She was striding out of her room a moment later.

No one had ever offered to help shoulder her burden. No one had tried to back off when they saw she was uncomfortable. And she didn’t share intimacy with anyone.

Not anyone.

That connection she had with a perfect stranger, forged in a high-stakes situation, was more real than any she had in her life. She’d had a conversation with him—something she didn’t even do in her day-to-day life since she had no friends. And he didn’t care about her half-half status. He didn’t care that part of her was human.

Men like him were worth protecting. She just had no idea how she was going to do that and live another day.

“
S
o
, the fates have led you right back to me, huh?” Darla paced across the stone floor in her red high heels and see-through gown. She’d always had a great body—toned but curvy—and an even better face. She’d also always been a raging bitch. Jonas hated her. He had no idea how the Boss had always dealt with her.

“And now Nathanial knows I have
all
sorts of insider information about the Boss and his stupid human mage. All
sorts.
What the interior of the mansion looks like, how he operates, how the Watch goes about their business—even the connection you have with the shifters. Pretty soon, you won’t be needed at all.”