Devil Mine (Walk Through Shadows Book Two)

Chapter 13

Em tilted her head forward and looked down at Davros. He was old cold. She leaned close to his face and whispered his name. He didn't respond. All the anger she'd been stuffing into the far corners of her mind since she'd opened the storage room door and found Balthazar raged up. Her hands shook with it. She sucked in a few deep breaths, trying to gain some sort of control, as her hand snapped back, then sped forward. She slowed its momentum at the last second.

Don't push your luck.

Her eyes closed for a second. She flicked his earlobe, hard. Still nothing. "I don't belong to anyone, you fucking monster," she hissed, then pulled herself off of him. She landed on her hip and rolled off the bed to stand next to it on wobbly legs. She took another deep breath. Her body felt frozen, the weight of what she was about to do holding her firmly in place. "You. Need. To. Move." After a second, she turned to the en suite.

It was time for her to go.

Three days prior.

They had left Balthazar in the darkness, and Davros escorted Em back to her room. He didn't say anything as they walked; he didn't need to. The sense of betrayal coming through their connection was clear. Inwardly, he smiled.

She'd done exactly as he'd been expecting and then played herself right into his hands. By keeping Balthazar under lock and key, in a house they'd rented in the little town in the next valley, and unfed, he had become too weak to defend himself against Davros' accusations. It hadn't mattered that the younger was telling the truth. He'd gone to Nathanial for help with finding Em. All it took was a few well-timed words for her to believe the worst of him. And Davros was right there with a strong shoulder for her to find comfort.

Davros had left her at her door with a gentle entreaty to not blame herself. Vampires were inherently selfish creatures. Hadn't Balthazar left her right after their first night together? And Crimson had used her for his own pleasure, hadn't he? When she'd pointed out that he was a vampire too, he reminded her he was in fact different and was pleased to see a softening in her eyes.

The next day, when she didn't appear for breakfast, Crimson suggested, with a smarmy laugh, that the beast had worn her out. When she didn't come down for lunch, Davros sent Crimson off to the media room to entertain himself while he had James make up a tray for her. Davros took it upstairs himself.

He let himself into her room and found her curled up against the headboard. She'd piled the pillows there and was staring out the window, watching puffy clouds march across the sky.

"Please go away," she said without looking away from the window.

"You have to eat," he said as he walked around the bed to stand in her line of vision.

"I'm not hungry." She lifted her gaze to stare over his shoulder.

"I know he hurt you—"

Her gaze slid to his face. "Why would I be hurt? It's not like we had a relationship."

"Tell yourself whatever you need to," he murmured as he set the tray on the bed. "There's no shame in being upset after what he did."

Her eyes closed. "It's not just that."

"What else is there?"

"He was my ammunition." Her face tightened into a frown. "Now I have nothing." Davros sat down on the edge of the bed and reached for her hand. She didn't pull away, just let him hold her limp hand.