Blood of the Demon Read Free Page A

masculine scent emanating from his body and the heat of his rigid flesh beneath her palms. Seriously, the man must be running a fever. He was scorching hot.
    Squeezing her eyes shut, she once again concentrated on summoning her energy. Again, she felt it flow, but he stood still in front of her. He didn’t even flinch.
    She staggered back. “Oh, crap.”
    It didn’t work on him.
    For the first time in a very long time, there was a strange stirring in the pit of Brynn’s stomach.
    Fear.
    She was stuck in a room with a psychopath who’d knocked her out and kidnapped her, and she had no way to defend herself. No way to fight back.
    Oh, God, she was totally screwed.
    §
    Brynn stumbled away from Keegan, appearing scared for the first time since he’d entered the room. An uncomfortable twinge tightened his gut. He didn’t want her to be scared of him. Which was ridiculous. After all, why should he care?
    He held his hands in the air, moved forward far enough to kick the door shut, then leaned against it, trying to look as non-menacing as possible. “Listen, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to talk to you, okay? My name is Keegan.”
    She backed up until she was on the far side of the room, by the large set of windows. She seemed to notice she was wringing her hands and dropped them to her sides. “What do you want with me? If—if it’s money, I don’t have that much, but I’ll give you whatever I have—”
    “I don’t want your money, Brynn,” he interrupted, keeping his tone soft and calm. “Right now, I only want to talk to you.”
    “You’re not going to—?”
    “I’m not going to hurt you.” Keegan tried not to wince at that lie. He might very well have to hurt her. But if he did, it wouldn’t be because he wanted to.
    She nodded, but she seemed to doubt the sincerity of his tone because her gaze darted about the room as if checking for possible weapons. It settled for a moment on the bulky lamp by the bed. The lamp probably was heavy enough to bash in a human’s head. But she’d be unpleasantly surprised if she tried using it on him.
    “If you’re not going to hurt me, why did you kidnap me?”
    Keegan sighed and closed his eyes. The question he’d dreaded. He probably should have allowed Taeg to simply charm her into telling them what they needed to know. She wouldn’t have been afraid that way. And he wouldn’t be stuck coming up with a story she would believe. But as stupid as it might be, the least he owed her was her free will. He didn’t want to take that from her. No, he knew all too well what that felt like.
    Finally, he settled on a perverted version of the truth. “It’s sort of a long story. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll tell you?”
    Brynn cast a pointed glance around the room and then at the bed, which was the only piece of furniture she could sit on. “I don’t think so,” she said in an icy tone.
    Keegan chuckled at her bravado. She was tougher than she looked. “Sorry, I guess not.” Slowly, so as not to alarm her, he drew away from the door. “What do you know about your ancestry?”
    She appeared startled, as if that was the last question she’d been expecting. And who could blame her? “My—my what?”
    “Your ancestry. Where you come from. Who your ancestors are.”
    “I... not much. My parents weren’t exactly into the whole family tree thing. I can only go as far back as my grandparents.”
    Keegan scoffed. “I figured. You humans are so focused on yourselves that you forget about the past.”
    “Us... humans ?”
    Shit. He needed to watch what he said.
    He cleared his throat. “I meant humankind in general.”
    Confusion gradually replaced the fear on her face. “Listen, uh... Keegan, right? I’m not really sure what you’re getting at here, but—”
    “Did you know that your ancestry can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians?”
    “What? No.” A hint of interest colored her tone. “Really, that far back? I mean, that’s kind of