Page 6 of Eternal Ruin

Samson’s eyes flashed in triumph as if he could hear her wild heartbeat.

Focus.

“I’ll find GK,” Kidan breathed, hoped. “AfterI send you to hell and get you away from June.”

He tried to laugh but groaned. “June chose me.”

The words made Kidan hesitate for a second, made his form fade in and out. Samson lunged before she could orient herself. He kicked out her legs, and her face raced to the floor. Pain rang down her temple. She struggled to get up. Samson’s metal arm sank into her shoulder, making her yell. Kidan twisted and shot him again, near the shoulder, and he roared backward. She straddled him, adrenaline pumping through her, gun to his chest.

“She’s my sister.” Kidan’s vision grew blurry, voice shaking with rage. “You took her from me.”

Nothing would stop her from killing him. She traced the gun to the left side of his chest. Right where his heart would be. Began to squeeze. For a second, Samson’s black eyes betrayed fear. It seemed to flicker in and out without his control, just like hers earlier. As if he too had something to live for, which meant only one thing. He loved someone or someone loved him.

Kidan got even closer, trying to see into the complete blackness of his gaze. Which poor soul was a victim of his attention? Maybe she should torture him, take away whoever he loved like he’d done to her.

Samson’s fearful expression broke too quickly, cutting her off from seeing any more. Kidan frowned when he gave a weak smile. “Perfect timing, wendem.”

Kidan snapped her head up as a tall figure appeared at the entry. She hadn’t heard the door open. For all the immortal stealth he’d lost, her vampire companion still moved without sound. Her mouth remained open. It felt odd to finally see him in this house. Her heart beat wilder and wilder.

He’d come back.

“Little bird,” Susenyos said, taking in her ashen face and loose braids. Something close to a smile lingered in his tone. “I’m almost jealous. You used to hold me at gunpoint.”

3.

KIDAN

Susenyos Sagad stood silently before Kidan, the side of his face lit by the monstrous window. Her breath caught at his sudden appearance.

He flicked a glance at Samson and back toward her, and the house came to life, fueled by their joined minds. Fire wrapped around Kidan like a second skin, comforting instead of searing. Her lips lifted at one corner, raw relief coursing through her.

Light reflected in Susenyos’s dark eyes, and he gave her a small smile in return. He was fearsome without his smile, cloaked in the stolen beauty of an eclipse. But there were rare moments, like these, when he radiated warmth. It made her feel a little proud, knowing she drew out a different side of him.

Without her active hatred toward him… toward herself, Kidan didn’t know what remained between them. But it was a force of its own, a concentrated ball of magnetic energy that threatened to explode whenever they were in close proximity. But other times, it was gentler, a hand extended over a cliff, dragging her away from the abyss like now.

The creature between her legs tried to move, breaking the haze she was in.

Kidan glanced down and dug the bullet in Samson’s shoulder deeper, making him howl.

The twisted agony on his face was fascinating. As if his physical pain could ever amount to what he’d put her through. Kidan was torn between drawing out her torture or killing him instantly.

She fed her gun into his wound, the act no different than puncturing a too-ripe fruit. A desperate cry tore from him and his blood drenched her fingers, smelling of salt and metal. Susenyos’s intense gaze was distracting, and she could feel it lingering on different parts of her body, trailing down to her parted thighs. A flush crept up her neck.

“Are you going to just stand there?” She flicked a quick glance up.

“I wouldn’t dare interrupt a genius at work.” His voice was a murmur, with something dark lurking in it that she couldn’t identify. “Show me how you end a life, yené Roana.”

Once, those words would have horrified her, but now they only flooded her with delicious energy.

“If you kill me,” Samson snarled through his panting breath, “the blade artifact will belost.”

Kidan smiled at his attempt to live. “We don’t care.”

The Sage’s artifacts could fade into a black hole and Kidan truly wouldn’t care.

But Susenyos stepped forward. “Three people must know the location of an artifact in case something happens. That’s the Nefrasi way.”

“That wasyourway,” Samson spat, dark blood in the corner of his mouth. “You kill me here today and you will never find the blade artifact.”