Demonstorm: Heart of a Vampire #6 by Amber Kallyn Read Free Book Online Page B

wavered between bravado and a hint of fear that he was about to pounce, tie her up and drag her off to a dungeon.
    He stared her down, but she didn’t look away. “You just said you don’t even know where this place is located. How do you expect to find it?”
    “May I see my box?” Her tone of voice was pleasant, but her eyes were wary. As if her question was a test of some sort.
    He slipped the small gold box from the bag, turning it over in his hands. Only now, looking closer, did he see carvings in the ivory inlay. If he wasn’t mistaken, they were couples in various sexual positions.
    Clearing his throat, he handed it to her. He’d never actually intended to force her cooperation with it, only buy some time to talk. She currently seemed amicable to trying to find a compromise with him, but something about her sudden agreeableness struck him wrong. Still, he’d take what he could get until earning her trust. He didn’t figure that would happen any time soon.
    Opening the box, she gently pulled out a shiny necklace made of thin strands of gold wrapped around a dozen or so white crystals of different sizes. “Like my gloves, this was a gift from my father. As I told you, it helps me concentrate and direct my visions a little.”
    “A little?” He raised a brow.
    “Enough.”
    Sean snorted. “So you’re going to try to see where this brother of yours is. You don’t think Brüs will be waiting?”
    “I know he will be.” Her eyes dimmed, voice filling with a deep, sorrowful pain. “But if it was your family, could you just sit back and do nothing?”
    He couldn’t. Hadn’t he been forced to watch his mother be beaten and abused for centuries before they’d managed to escape? Then countless more years, always on the run, for fear of being caught and locked back up by the demon sorcerer?
    His mother had done everything in her power to keep him safe, and he’d done the same for her.
    So, yeah, he knew exactly what Mayah must be feeling. “It will be dangerous. Most likely futile. But I’ll help you.” His family probably wouldn’t like the delay, but they would understand the reason.
    Her eyes flashed, something unreadable mixed with surprise at his agreement. She frowned, as if regretting receiving his help. A long moment passed, and he could practically hear her thoughts running in circles.
    Then she sighed. “Then I guess I better figure out where Cyrus is being kept.”
    Sean ordered a few more meals to go and they returned to the motel.
    She stared around the room. “I’m going to take a shower and get cleaned up. I must be able to relax in order to direct my visions.”
    Keeping her bag clutched tight to her chest, she disappeared into the bathroom. She returned, grabbed a chair. Back in the bathroom, locks clicked. The chair thumped against the door, scraping the floor, as she wedged it beneath the knob as a barricade.
    She had to know as well as he that such a thing wouldn’t stop anyone who wanted to force their way inside the small room. But it would make a decent alarm system, he guessed.
    Soon the water started running.
    Something clattered to the door and Mayah cursed. Then the shower curtain rattled. Against his will, and hitting him from out of nowhere, Sean’s mind conjured a picture of her standing beneath the stream of water. Naked.
    Tension filled him at his overactive imagination—unbidden, unwelcome.
    He hurried to leave the room and sat outside, ignoring his previous thoughts. Concentrate on enjoying the evening’s warmth. The colorful sunset. Not the woman inside the room who was becoming a strange distraction.
    And he wondered abouther, full of contradictions. After her initial shock that he was a half-breed, she’d seemed to take it in stride even if she’d showed her uneasiness time and again. He rubbed the backs of his knuckles together, feeling at a great disadvantage. He knew damn near nothing about demons, other than the bastard sorcerer who’d held him and his