Aris Reigns Read Free Page A

Catacombs, but they spoke so softly she was only able to catch a few words. Knowing any information she could glean would help the Immortals, she leaned forward in her chair as if to adjust her shoe. Their words were more clear, yet still she could only hear scattered phrases. After a hurried exchange, the vampire called Esteban hurried from the room as the King and Queen approached her.
    The Queen was the first to speak. “You, human, will die a slow and tortuous death.” The shadows the firelight cast on Mariska made her face appear to be an eyeless skull. When she spoke, the words came from the mouth of a death’s head. “And then the true carnage begins. We march on the Catacombs. We will slaughter their King and Queen. Our army will eliminate every underground citizen.” She spoke as an afterthought. “Ah, yes, and DeMarco and I will personally take care of those who mean the most to you. One by one we will slowly eliminate your loved ones. I want you to ponder that as you wait for your own death. And I assure you, human, we will take the greatest care with your precious love, Aris.” Sarah’s heart raced. She knew she had to escape, to find a way to warn her Immortal friends.
    Mariska drew DeMarco to her side. “We will rule in the Catacombs. We will own the Infinity Diaries and know the secret workings of the universe. With the power of the knowledge of life and death in ourhands and hate in our non-beating hearts, we will rule the human world and feed on them openly like the sheep they are. We will use the knowledge of the Immortals to find any evil humans who will rally to our cause, who will help us enslave the human race. We will be the most powerful beings on the earth. All will bow down to us. We will begin the next evolution of the human species and we will be its King and Queen.” Mariska stared silently at Sarah for a moment more, then shouted toward the door. “Guard.”
    As the soldiers entered the room, DeMarco turned to stare out the window at the star-studded sky. Without looking toward Sarah, he lifted his arm to wave her away, condemning her to her chamber to await her death. She heard the muffled tapping of stilettoes on the stone floor behind her as the soldiers took her into the hallway and closed the door after them.

    â€œ Escape. Escape. Escape.” Her mind ran in circles as they marched her through the vast hallway. “ But how? How? I only know I’m somewhere in the mountains in Spain. If I can get away, where do I go? I’ve got to get away. How can I get away? And where the hell do I get away to?” Her mind ran like a hamster on a wheel, continuously moving, going in circles and reaching no conclusions. “The bars. I’ve got to get the bars loose. I’ll figure out where to go once I get out of here.” At least she had the beginning of a plan as the door to her prison loomed in front of her. It crashed against the wall as the soldiers slammed it open and shoved her inside. Stumbling and falling, she hit her head on the cold stone floor. She lay unconscious, a trickle of blood pooling beneath her forehead.

    The three Immortal comrades, Aris, Richard and Gabriela, quicklyconcealed the car they had rented at the Barcelona airport with loose brush, then raced through the forest effortlessly leaping over huge fallen branches and trees. They were determined to reach Sarah before it was too late. At last they could see the top of the castle tower in the pale light of a crescent moon. Richard touched Aris on the shoulder signaling him to stop. At the same moment a tall dark figure stepped from behind a tree.
    â€œSimon.” Gabriela embraced their comrade, a spy from the Catacombs. It had been years since she last saw him, his most recent life spent in subterfuge in the evil coven. He held her for a brief moment before turning to embrace the males. “Aris. Richard.”
    Frantic to secure Sarah’s safety,