Tempted by Elisabeth Naughton Read Free Book Online Page A

once at Gryphon, then jumped up to the steps and went after the first witch. She was agile and turned on him like a wraith. Her scream echoed through the chill air, but he struck out and around with his blade and caught her in the chest. Her face contorted and morphed into her ugly image, her neon yellow eyes flying wide just before she fell at his feet.
    Demetrius looked up in time to see the blade in the other witch’s hand catch Gryphon at the chest. Gryphon roared as metal sliced into flesh, went down to one knee. The second witch screeched and lifted her sword for the kill blow.
    Demetrius charged with his shoulder and plowed into her abdomen before she could make contact. The witch sailed through the open door and smacked into a pillar on the far side of the hall. Her eyes went glassy; her head lolled on her shoulders. As her glamour faded, the snakes that made up her hair hissed and twisted around her face. She slumped to a heap against the floor.
    Demetrius righted himself, reached for Gryphon.
    “I’m fine,” Gryphon grumbled, pushing up to stand. “Shit, that burns.” He shook off Demetrius’s help. “I said I’m fine.”
    Outside, shouts resounded and footsteps drew closer. The cackles and screams were clear indications that what was coming their way wasn’t Argolean.
    “ Skata. ” Gryphon pointed toward a circular staircase with his blade. “There. Go!”
    They made it halfway up the stairs before they were overrun by five more witches rushing down from the second level.
    They swung, battled, chopped, and kicked. For every witch that went down, another seemed to come out of the woodwork and join the fight.
    “Holy Hera,” Gryphon shouted over the battle. “They’re reproducing like rabbits!”
    Just about the time Demetrius thought they were losing ground, Orpheus appeared on the landing above, his own sword raised as he drove the remaining witches down. Metal clanked against metal. Shouts resounded. Cries and screams of effort and agony echoed in the vast stone space.
    “I leave you boys to do one simple thing.” Orpheus sliced through one witch’s leg. When she howled, he kicked her in the stomach. She tumbled down the staircase to land on a pile of dead and mutilated bodies.
    Demetrius wiped a hand across his sweaty brow and peered down at the ruin below. “No way there’s only fifty witches in this freakin’ castle.”
    “The witches are the least of our problems right now, boys.” Orpheus’s eyes flared in that strange way of his. “I found her.”
    Orpheus turned and skipped steps to get to the top. Blades drawn, Demetrius and Gryphon followed. When they reached the third floor, Orpheus held up a hand, stopping them. Down the long arched corridor, an open doorway at the end glowed with a surreal blue light. Dark magick hovered all around, and a vile evilness coated every inch of space.
    Demetrius stared at the blue light, transfixed by the glow, his chest rising and falling as he worked to regulate his breathing. That darkness inside him leaped with excitement.
    He swallowed hard, gripped his blade. At his side, Gryphon did the same.
    “This is where we separate the men from the boys.” Orpheus’s eyes flicked to his brother. “You wanna run home?”
    Gryphon shot him a glare. “And let you have all the fun? I think not.”
    Orpheus smirked, looked to Demetrius. “How about you, cowboy? Did you ever wonder what Pandora let out of her box?”
    Demetrius tensed. There was no way Orpheus could know who and what Demetrius really was, but the intense expression, coupled with the look in the ándras ’s eyes when he tipped his head toward the door, gave Demetrius a strange hitch in his gut, as if Orpheus knew way more than he should.
    Orpheus took one step toward Demetrius. “Some things are better left unseen. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you, Guardian ?”
    Knowledge and secrets lingered in Orpheus’s words, drifted in his empty eyes. The black mist pounded at