A Dark Passion Read Online Free PDF Page A

enough for others to see into the pit but high enough that no one could reach them from it.
    Siantis had been the one to suggest she sign the assassins contract to seek her revenge on Tyroz and he’d been the one to train her up, making sure she was strong enough before she began to track Tyroz.
    “You’ve been following me?”
    Siantis laughed. “Of course I have. I had to make sure my star student did her first job well.” He stood and stepped off the side of the spectator’s floor. He landed lightly and quietly. The perfect assassin. “I watched you track him, watched as you infiltrated the safety of his protection, and watched you attack him, but not kill him. I saw how you acted, Alara, and I knew I had to act.”
    “You set those assassins on me?”
    “I did, but I clearly underestimated Tyroz’s abilities.”
    “Why? Why would you do that? Why would you betray me?”
    “Betray you?” Siantis laughed. “I did no such thing. You betrayed me. A binding contract, Alara, did you forget that when you let your emotions get to you?”
    “Siantis, it wasn’t anything I could help! We have the bond—do you know what that means?”
    “The bond? Trust you to fall in love with someone who hates the very thing he fucked. Does he know? Is that why you ran away in tears?” Siantis moved fast and pushed Alara against a post. She banged her head but he put the manacles around her wrists before she could fall. She sagged and she fought the nausea building up in her stomach. The crack of the whip made her forget about being sick.
    Siantis was well known in the guild for killing his marks with a whip.
    “Don’t do this!”
    “Rules, Alara!” He put his lips close to her ear. “I will break you, dhampir and I will make you into the very thing you fear.”
    The first sting was excruciating. Alara screamed in pain and felt blood flow freely down her back. The vampire whipped her again and she screamed again. He did this over and over and Alara didn’t stop screaming until blackness swirled around in her vision and took her.
     

Chapter Eight
     
     
    Nikalye had followed Alara’s scent for hours before he’d lost the trail. They were left wondering around, searching for clues to her whereabouts, but so far, had found nothing.
    Tyroz had begun to worry about Alara’s safety when Xiathor made everything worse. He’d screamed, arched his back and fallen to his knees.
    “He’s connected with Alara and is experiencing everything she is. We must be close,” Nikalye spoke clearly while Doxiak used his abilities to heal the injured vampire from the wounds he could only feel. The wounds Alara was currently experiencing.
    Grounding his teeth together, Tyroz grabbed Xiathor and shook him. “Where is she!”
    “So…so much p…pain,” he whispered, his eyes rolling back slightly.
    Tyroz shook him again. “Concentrate! You can feel her, follow her, Xiathor so we can stop the pain for you both!”
    “Feel…her. Yes, I can…she’s…” Xiathor closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He still shook, but when he spoke, his voice was strong. “She’s close…and injured badly.”
    “Feel free to state more of the obvious,” Saugner said while he picked his fingernails with his dagger.
    “She’s…in an arena, with the assassins around her.”
    “Arena?” Tyroz asked. He glanced at Ziahzu and raised a questioning brow.
    “The area, where all assassins train and…play with their target.”
    “Do you know the way?” Nikalye asked.
    “I don’t. The entire guild property is kept a secret, even from us assassins.”
    “But it is not hidden,” Nikalye replied with a smile. He then grasped the vampire’s face and stared him in the eye. “Ah, Siantis, my old friend. I look forward to us meeting again.”
    “Nikalye?” Tyroz asked.
    He let go of the vampires face. “Siantis was my mentor at a very young age,” he replied. “He trained me on how to use my ability in battle, how to control it when it took over.