Love Begins in Hell (The Moon Journals: Part 1) Read Free Page A

faded blue jeans, and bulky leather boots.  None of that should have registered with me as I continued to watch him, but it did.  His facial expression said it all.  It was a familiar fondness as if he had known me all his life, unashamed and comforting as if I were a friend who had popped in for a visit.  Despite myself, I wanted to run and jump in his arms, smothering his handsome, rugged face with kisses.  He sealed my fate with his eyes.  No one had ever looked at me with such desire.  It overwhelmed, and I knew my life would never be the same from that day forward.
    Before I realized it, he crossed the room.  In my disoriented mood, I let him pick me up and set me on his bed in front of him.  To my astonishment, he knelt before me, brushing away the remaining knives to the center of the bed behind me.  He let his hands linger on the ruffles of my dress, just about at my knees.  Immediately rushes of warmth radiated in every direction along my upper thighs and lower legs.  I swallowed hard, trying to dispose of my immediate attraction for him.  Wolf, what has happened to me?
    The curse of true love.
    “I know we just met, and this is the worst way to meet someone…”  The rich timbre of Dante’s voice surprised me.  “But you seem like a nice, pleasant person, and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.  Elana, I’ll get you out of here.  That I can promise you, but this is a strange and dangerous place.  At all times, I want you to promise; you will stay by my side.  No matter what you see or hear.  Do you understand?”
    I nodded, swallowing again as I attempted to not roll my eyes at the polite command in his instructions.  “I’ve been around,” I challenged.  “Where am I exactly?” I asked, knowing already what the answer may be.
    “I doubt you have been to a place like this.  You are in Hell, the land of the demons.  You probably guessed that.”
    I nodded.
    “Our land is controlled by six demons, one who is Lord Lucifer.  He kidnapped you, and he’ll put you in the games where you will be hunted and killed, preferably by him or one of his brothers.  He has a wall of trophies in his study featuring many of your species.”
    “What?” I screamed.  My younger sister.  My aunt.  My blood instantly went cold.
    “Shhh.  Someone will hear you.”  He clamped his hand over my mouth.  We fell onto the bed in each other’s arms.  He shifted his weight, and probed his body next to mine.  I could see the knives out of the corner of my vision.  It wouldn’t be difficult to kill him from this vantage point.  Did silver affect demons the way it did werewolves?
    “If you want to use those knives, I suggest you go for my heart.  But it won’t do any good.  In a place like this, I lost my heart long ago.  You can’t kill me.  I can’t die.”
    How far could I get if I tried to kill this demon?  Was that what he really was?  I couldn’t stand the thought of killing him, even if it didn’t work.  My heart and soul raged at me.  Maybe he could be an ally instead.
    “Do you promise to help me escape?” I asked the question with as much innocent I could muster for a young lady, a daughter of a Werewolf King surely going mad.  My world was turning into one of kill or be killed.  Should I kill this demon and be done with it?  Could I kill him despite his proclamations against the latter?
    His hands rested on my waist.  I felt his fingertips delicately brush past the curve in my back.  It sent shivers racing up my spine.
    “I will help you, Elana,” he whispered.  “I must at least try.”
    “What will they do to us if we are caught?”
    “Don’t worry about me.  I can handle it, but you.  I’d rather not think about what they’d do to you.”  His voice drifted off, and his light green eyes glazed over.  He turned his attention to my disarrayed dress and gently smoothed the wrinkles away.
    “I can fight any demon who gets in my way,” I