Deliver Me from Darkness: A Novel of the Paladin Warriors by Tes Hilaire Read Free Book Online

not actually be attracted to that thing. Just like he couldn’t be good.
    She stretched her legs out in front of her. They were tingly and numb from being curled to her body, just as her arms were tired and sore.
    Not to mention my backside. She shifted from hip to hip. The floor was hard and her flight in the darkness hadn’t been graceful either. She’d bumped into more than one object before she’d found a corner to curl up in. Bastard hadn’t left any lights on for her. Probably found it amusing to think of her blindly stumbling around out here.
    There had to be a way to get the lights on. If nothing else there was the fireplace in the study. She should be able to get that going—unless he’d cut the gas to it.
    She crawled through the great room toward the study, where she encountered the corner of the sectional with her head, bumped an end table with her shoulder, then finally rubbed up against the archway. From here she knew her way a bit better, the imprint of the love seat, coffee table, and leather chair burned in her mind. She circled around them, crawling around the far side of the area rug, until her searching hands encountered the change from drywall to metal that suggested she’d found the fireplace.
    The fact that there was no dim light from the pilot told her he’d at least turned it off. She found the knob and through pure guesswork twisted it until it started clicking.
    Ignite, ignite, ignite.
    Nothing.
    Had to be a valve for the gas here somewhere. But try as she might, she couldn’t find it. Five frustrating minutes later she still hadn’t gotten any flame.
    “Argh!” She stood, drew her leg back, and let loose a vicious kick. The metal edging on the bottom banged and gave a fraction where her heel struck— hope I dented it —she only wished it had been his face.
    With nothing to do but wait, she made her way to the leather chair and plopped down. The stuffing from the damage she’d done padded the back of her head, making her smile slightly. She may not be able to get out of here, but she could certainly make her displeasure known.
    ***
     
    “Why are you sitting in the dark? Not to hide from me I hope.” Logan’s smooth voice slipped around Karissa, waking her from a half doze. She blinked, her eyes stinging against the glowing ball of light that bounced over the palm of his hand.
    Cool trick. She wished she could do that. Beyond Logan’s glowing orb, the room, like the rest of the apartment, was indeed pitch-black, a fact that continued to irk her to no end and had lent to the violence of her fury during the last few hours. She’d searched every stinking inch of the place—other than the bedroom—looking for some sort of controls. Nothing. In fact, other than some basic furniture, the apartment didn’t have much of anything in it. Decidedly annoying, since it had made expressing her displeasure difficult, but she’d done her best.
    She stretched her legs out in front of her—good, at least they hadn’t fallen asleep—and shifted into a more ready position perched on the edge of the leather chair.
    “No. I’m sitting in the damn dark because I can’t figure out how to turn on any lights.”
    And just like that the room was bathed in light.
    “What did you do?” She glared at Logan.
    Logan was too busy taking in the disaster to answer. The damage was minimal in here, really. If he thought a few strewn cushions and a torn up book was bad, wait until he saw the bathroom.
    “How did you get the lights on?” she demanded again.
    The corners of both his eyes and mouth were crinkled, as if he were fighting a smile. He quickly banked the expression, lifting and dropping his shoulder. “Nothing,” he said, twisting his hand and extinguishing the light orb. “Roland must have tweaked the command codes to allow you to turn them on and off.”
    And didn’t that sting the pride. She hadn’t even bothered to try and turn them on via voice commands.
    He took a step into the room.