Read Online Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) by Candice Stauffer - Free Book Online Page B

on it. It was her heart. She
knew she was having a heart attack. She was dying.    
    Joseph’s voice, so calm and so gentle,
whispered in her ear. “Your heart feels strange because you were shot and lost
a lot of blood. But your heart is strong. You won’t die.” His voice seemed to
penetrate her heart and strengthen it. The weight was lifted up off her chest.
Once again it seemed he’d heard her thoughts, but she didn’t have time to dwell
on it. Another contraction gripped her hard. She knew this was it. She pushed
with all she had. “That’s it, Kara. Keep breathing. You’re doing great.”
    Putting all she had into it, she pushed
as hard as she could. It felt as if her body was being ripped apart. She cried
out,” Oh God! I can’t! It hurts!”
    “Yes, you can. You’re already doing it.
I know it hurts like hell, but you’re almost done.”
    The contraction subsided, but almost
instantly another one started. “You’re so close now. Just one more time. I know
you can do it. Use me. Push against me.” Gripping his hands, she pushed with
all she had as she screamed. “That’s it. You did it. Now sleep.” Her first
instinct was to fight the command to sleep. She panicked when she realized he’d
used a compulsion on her and she wasn’t strong enough to fight it. “You will
rest for a little bit. We will be here watching over you. No one will harm
you.”
    ~Four~
     
    ELI
KNELT DOWN and picked up the silver crucifix from the dirt floor. It was the
perfect thing to take Kara from his thoughts. The emotional and physical agony
linked with the hatred emanating from it was simply too intense to ignore. It
created a dark force as tangible and cold as the dusty brick walls surrounding
him. He took a moment to study the cross in the center of his palm. “I’ll never
understand why humans choose to destroy each other and other life forms in the
name of one form of organized religion or another, for no other reason than
their diversities.
    “What’s so hard to understand? It has
nothing to do with diversity. Not really. Yes. They use religious diversity as
an excuse but fear, hatred and greed are the true culprits. Take your pick.
Some humans are terrified of power unless they own it. Some despise it. Some
covet it.” Without slowing his pace, Nikolas Drake continued to make his way
further into the tunnel.
    “You’ve forgotten the ones who believe
their method of achieving perfect righteousness is the only way.” Clenching his
fist around the cross, Eli started to follow Nikolas again.
    “I haven’t forgotten. They’re also
driven by fear, hatred or greed. Mostly fear. They don’t want to be damned for
eternity.”
    Like it or not the demon was right. Eli
hated being in the tunnels, but he didn’t have a choice. He needed to help
Nikolas search for Zack in the network of catacombs called The Shanghai Tunnels
beneath Portland, Oregon. Hundreds of years ago the place had been used by a
group of religious fanatics hell-bent on ridding the world of all that they
perceived to be evil. They happened to believe Eli’s kind, Lycans, were the
wickedest of all beings. “It will never make sense to me. After all this time
why do you continue to protect them? You know humans cause more trouble than
they are worth.”
    Nikolas stopped and turned. “Is that not
the reason they turned on your kind? Didn’t they say your kind caused more
trouble than good?” Demons had a preposterous drive to protect humans whether
they were right or wrong. Demons were fierce protectors. They were physically
built to conquer any enemy but their hearts were weak. “Tell that to your
ancestors who united with human mates. They obviously found something good
about humans. How many of you will never find your mate because you’re new laws
forbidding you to mingle with humans? And you know damn well it wasn’t all
humans. Fear, greed and hatred aren’t plagues that only taint the morals of
mankind. We are all susceptible. We