Inferno-Kat 2 Read Free

house with me.”
    “I need you to get me someplace.”
    “Uh-huh, I’m still listening.”
    “Inferno City.”
    Hades didn’t need to think about it. “Nope. You broke into the wrong house this morning, sweetheart. Inferno is a one-way ticket to hell.”
    Kat rose from the chair, rounded the table, and sat on it in front of him. “Hey, we’ve been to hell, remember?”
    “Shit, the Vanquished City was purgatory compared to Inferno.”
    “I need to go, Hades. It’s my only chance.”
    “Only chance at what?”
    “To find a cure.”
    He wanted to cross the distance between them and touch her. Grab her and cradle her in the security of his arms. He wanted to tell her it was OK, that he would do anything for her to help her. But he couldn’t make himself move.
    “What if there isn’t one, Kat?”
    “There has to be, because I refuse to become one of them. I refuse to become a vampyre.”
    Her gaze was piercing, and he had the unsettling urge to turn and run. He could see in her eyes the rage and violence of the alien blood racing through her system, contorted in her beautiful, haunted face.

    He didn’t know how long it took for the virus to possess a person, but he knew Kat had been fighting it fiercely since being bitten seven months ago. He wondered if she had taken blood lately. If she had finally succumbed to the insatiable lust for it.
    “What’s your plan?”
    “To find a man named Onyx, a scientist who I hear has an antidote to the DD virus.”
    “Okay, let’s say you find this man. Then what? What are you planning to do with him?”
    “Take him out of the city, and help him distribute the antidote, starting with me.”
    Hades laughed. “No one walks out of Inferno. Not without paying Satarah first.”
    “I’ve got money.” She motioned to the pack sitting under the table.
    “You can’t bargain with Satarah. You think Baruch was bad…Satarah makes him look like a spoiled indignant boy in need of a spanking.” Shaking his head, he continued. “She’s ruthless, sadistic, and has…” He paused.
    “Has what?”
    He shook his head. “Nothing.”
    “No, go ahead. Say what you were going to say.”
    “It’s said she has magical powers.”
    Kat laughed. It was a hoarse barking sound and not her usual deep, sexy giggle. “Magic? Please, don’t tell me you believe that.”
    He rubbed a hand over his face. “Hey, a year ago I would’ve said ‘bullshit.’ But with what I’ve seen Baruch do…” His voice trailed off. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
    “Mutations, Hades. Mutations and diseases. That is all it is. The fucking war fucked us up for a long time.” She lifted her arms and turned them over, revealing black lines on her wrists and forearms in which the DD virus flowed rampantly. “I should know.”
    Hades didn’t want to see what had happened to her, what was still happening. Her pain reminded him of his failure. Failure to protect her.
    He sighed. “What you’re planning is impossible, Kat.”
    “Well, then, it’s a good thing I came to you. If there’s anyone who can get around impossible, it’s you.” She pursed her full lips into a sexy pout, one he was sure she knew could unravel the tightest knot.

    Hades couldn’t resist any longer.
    Closing the distance between them, he gathered her in his arms and crushed his mouth to hers.
    With his tongue and teeth, he took her. She tasted as he remembered. Like a cool breeze on a hot day. Something he longed for on a daily basis.
    She responded in kind and wrapped her arms around his waist, digging her fingers into his back as she met and matched every nip and tug of his teeth and tongue. She moaned into him as he deepened the kiss and ran his hands through the silky spikes of her hair.
    She was everything he remembered. Strong, rough, sexy, and infuriating. She made every single emotion he had respond, and almost at the same time. Damn, the woman made him weak with desire. Weak . Something he vowed never