Page 93 of Bloodhunter

“He didn’t rape her.” Miriam was calm, but a bit gleeful.“He saved her sanity.”

“He enthralled her,” Angus shouted. He pointed at me butkept his stare on Miriam. “No way would she fuck that murderous piece ofgarbage otherwise.”

“It was the incubus,” Miriam said. “She’d have done anythingto wipe out his dark influence.”

“Anyone would,” Rhys agreed. He leaned against Angus’s bigdesk, his body loose and relaxed, but his dark stare never leaving my face.

“Can we not talk about that?” I crossed my arms and lookedat no one. “We have an hour before dark. Will you guys help us out or not?”

“Of course we will, darling.” Miriam clapped her hands, hersmile wide. “I love the adventures we’re having. So much fun!”

Everyone looked at her, but only Rhys laughed.

“You bet your little ass we’re going with you.” Anguscracked his knuckles, then shoved his chair away from his desk and stood. “Ifwe’re lucky, Amias Sato will make an appearance. Gear up. We’re heading out intwenty minutes.”

Clayton followed Miriam from the room, glancing my way as hewent. “We won’t let the incubus near you again, Trinity.”

He seemed to be the only one of them who truly understoodwhat my fear was. It wasn’t Amias showing up and potentially seducing me, itwasn’t the infecteds, and it wasn’t being unable to capture Gray.

It was Seth Damon, the incubus.

Amias had been right. The memories, the intenseness ofvampire sex was fading. But what the incubus had done to me, what he’d createdinside me, or left behind, or sucked out of me…what he’d made mefeel.

Whatever that was, I would never forget what that had beenlike. Miriam said I’d have done anything to fix that. She wasn’t lying.

Angus frowned at me. “Are you okay, honey?”

I swallowed hard, my heartbeat rapid and light, and nodded.

But the truth was…no.

I would never be okay again. Not really.

I knew too much. I had no blissful ignorance. And I knewwhat lay beyond the shiny.

I’d live with it, but unmentionable things had happened in thewoods two nights ago.

Powerful things, altering things, terrible things.

And I was not the same.

When I strode out of the room, Miriam and Clayton were atthe end of the shadowy hallway. Clayton was on his knees before his darkmistress, his head bowed, his hands cupping his groin.

“I should have cut it off already.” Her voice was a lowmurmur, but I heard her anyway. “But if I did, I couldn’t torment you in quitethe same ways, could I?” She laughed, a gentle, teasing laugh, but that laughcaused Clayton to shudder.

What the hell had she done to him?

I stood still and closed my eyes, making myself rememberwhathe’ddone to her. And then I walked toward them and right on by,and I minded my own business.

That was hard to do. Damn hard to do.

But I did it.

And as I walked away, I imagined I could feel his stare onmy back, even though he wouldn’t have dared look at me, not with Miriam intorture mode.

“Miriam,” I barked, over my shoulder. “Let’s go. We don’thave all night.” Then I sighed at my weakness.

And finally, at dusk, when the sky was gentling into apearly gray and the day began to prepare for the invasion of night, we stood onRaeven’s Road in a little group of hunters and protectors and readied ourselvesfor the search ahead.