Sacrifice Me: The Darkness (Episode 3) Read Online Free PDF

snow felt
freezing on my skin compared to the inviting warmth of his body
against mine.
    “Italy,” he said with a slight twitch
of his eyebrow.
    I shook my head, not able to make sense of this.
Even with my feet buried in the snow, it didn’t feel like
reality.
    “That’s impossible,” I said.
“How is Italy in the basement of your club?”
    “It’s complicated.” He ran a
warm finger across my cheek, brushing away the melted snowflakes.
    I shivered at the thought of all the things I had
never known. All the things I still didn’t know.
    “You’re freezing,” he said.
“Let’s get you inside before you turn into an icicle.”
    He didn’t ask my permission. He simply
lifted me into his strong arms, carried me up the granite steps, and
into the massive mansion on the cliff.
    Rend brought me into a living room off to the
right of the grand staircase. He laid me gently across a large
leather couch facing a magnificent stone fireplace that looked big
enough to hold a family of four.
    He pulled a blanket from the back of the couch and
wrapped it around my body, his eyes lingering on the unbuttoned
shirt.
    “I see you made yourself right at home,”
he said with a small hint of a smile.
    The blanket was soft like fur and I snuggled into
it, my body shivering.
    “Oh,” I said, embarrassed. “I’ll
have it dry cleaned.”
    He shook his head and turned toward the fireplace.
“Keep it,” he said. “Seeing you in my shirt isn’t
exactly an unpleasant sight.”
    The hint of admission of his attraction to me sent
a wave of warmth between my legs and I squeezed them together under
the blanket. I bit my lip as I watched him open a large wooden box
beside the fireplace.
    He was still dressed in the same black suit he’d
been wearing last night, but he’d taken off his tie and
loosened the collar. I let my eyes travel over his body, devouring
every inch of him, my mind imagining what he’d look like
outside of those clothes.
    A contented moan escaped from my lips and he
glanced back at me, his eyes narrowed. “What are you thinking
about?”
    I hid my face behind the blanket. “Nothing,”
I said. “This blanket is gorgeous. It’s so soft.”
    My attempt at distraction didn’t seem to
work because he smiled and shook his head.
    I sank deeper into the couch, wishing I could
disappear for a moment. I needed to get a handle on my own desires. I
barely knew this guy. He was obviously part of a world I couldn’t
even begin to understand.
    I forced my eyes away from his perfect silhouette
and concentrated on the work he was doing in that wooden box. I
assumed he was getting ready to build a fire, which meant the box was
likely full of wood.
    I was learning that it was stupid to assume
anything about this new world. Instead of wood, he pulled out a
well-worn leather bag that cinched with a long cord at the top. In
his other hand, he held a vial of golden liquid.
    Intrigued, I watched as he opened the bag just
enough to put two fingers inside and grab a pinch of golden dust from
it. He uttered words under his breath that I couldn’t
understand, and then threw the dust into the fireplace. He quickly
followed this by tossing the vial of liquid against the stone. The
glass shattered and golden flames erupted from the fireplace, a wave
of heat rushing toward me and blowing my hair around my face.
    The slight smell of sulfur lingered in the air for
a moment, and then disappeared. The flames roared bright and strong,
despite the absence of logs or any actual material to burn.
    My mouth fell open as I stared into the fire.
    “How did you do that? Is that magic?”
    “It’s a special kind of magic,”
he said, placing the small leather bag back inside the wooden box.
“My magic is a type of alchemy. Instead of using the force of
magic within me to cast the spells like you did with the wind in my
office the other day, I combine natural elements of the earth in ways
that create magical effects. That way it doesn’t drain