Page 9 (1/2)

Prologue

Sometimes the fire that licks the skin from his bones dies down

It is his fire In a recess of his ht, he believes this His fire because he's fed it for centuries with his destroyed body and decaying mind

Long ago - and who kno much time has toiled past - the Vampire Horde trapped hiainst a rock, pinned at two places on each li into hell that spews fire

Here he waits and suffers, offered to a colu, just like his life His existence is to burn to death repeatedly, only to have his dogged iain

Detailed fantasies of retribution have gotten hie in his heart is all he has

Until her

Over the centuries, he has sos in the streets above, occasionally s seasons But now he has scented her, his mate, the one woman made for him alone

The one woman he'd searched for without cease for a thousand years - up until the day of his capture

The flaers soainst its bonds until the thick metal cuts into his skin Blood drips, then pours Everyto do what he's never been able to for an eternity before For her, he can do this He h as he rips two bonds free

He doesn't have time to disbelieve what he's accomplished She is so close, he can almost feel her Need her Another arm wrenches free

With both hands he clenches thethe day the thick, long pin was hammered into place He knows its two ends are e, but nothing will stop him when she's so close In a rush of rock and dust, theit across the cavernous space

He yanks at the bond wrapped tight around his thigh He wrests it and the one at his ankle free, then begins on the last two holding his other leg Already envisioning his escape, not even glancing down, he pulls Nothing Brows drawn in confusion, he tries again Straining, groaning with desperation Nothing

Her scent is fading - there is no ti how he can bury hiet the pain, he reaches above his knee with shaking hands Yearning for that oblivion within her, he attempts to crack the bone His weakness ensures that this takes half a dozen tries

His claws slice his skin and th of his feinable pain stabs up its length and explodes in his upper body, o black

Too weak Bleeding too freely The fire will build again soon The vampires return periodically Will he lose her just when he's found her?

"Never," he grates He surrenders himself to the beast inside him, the beast that will take its freedoe refuse to survive He sees the frenzied a a misery from a distance

Crawling froh the shadows of the dank catacoeway Ever watchful for his ene the floor to reach it He has no idea how far it is to escape, but he finds his way - and the strength - by following her scent He regrets the pain he will give her She will be so connected to hi and horror as her own