Read Online The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter - Free Book Online

ignoring her.
    As if Maddox could decide anything now.
    Her chin trembled. And then her eyes widened as each of his killers stalked forward, determination in their every step.
     
    D ON’T HURT ME . Please, don’t hurt me.
    A pause. A snap.
    An anguished cry.
    My arm! Huge, gut-wrenching sobs. You broke my fucking arm! Ashlyn’s own arm throbbed in sympathy. I didn’t…do anything…wrong.
    The voices had returned in full force.
    She huddled on the floor of a dark, dank cell, shivering and scared. “I just wanted to find someone who could help me,” she whispered. Instead, she’d fallen straight into a Grimm’s folk tale, but with no happy ending in sight.
    I will. I will. Just…need…a…moment.
    The one-sided conversation had been rolling through her mind for an eternity, it seemed, now a discordant concerto of anger, desperation and pain. Above it, however, a single voice rose: Maddox’s. Not a voice of the past, but a memory. A burst of screams.
    “You left the Institute for this. ” She shook her head in grief and disgust, wanting to convince herself this day had been nothing more than a nightmare. That a man had not been slain right in front of her. Stabbed. Repeatedly. But she knew the truth. His shouts…God, his shouts. His rage at being chained and beaten, his torment…worse than anything she’d ever heard from another human being.
    Tears rained down her face. She couldn’t get his image out of her head—not his image before he died and not his image after. Harshly handsome face almost savage in its intensity. Facial bones blurred and sunken. Violet eyes bright. Violet eyes closed. Tall, tanned and muscled body. Broken, bloody, lifeless body.
    She whimpered.
    After shoving her into this cell, Maddox’s killers had promised to bring her blankets and food. The vow had beendelivered ages ago, but no one had returned. She was glad. She didn’t want to see them again. Didn’t want to hear them, didn’t want to talk to them. She’d rather endure the cold and the hunger.
    Shivering, she tugged her jacket tight at the collar. She was thankful she still had it, that the men, those barbaric monsters, hadn’t taken it from her during the seemingly endless trek from topside to underground.
    Just then, something scampered across her fingertips, squeaking happily, and she jerked. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. She scooted into the nearest corner. Mouse. A hairy little rodent that would eat anything, and where there was one…
    Stomach churning, she swept her gaze through the cell. Not that it did any good. The room was too dark, and she wouldn’t have been able to see a hand—or a monster—if it were right in front of her face.
    “Stay still.” Deep breath in. “Stay calm.” Deep breath out.
    I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but please don’t hurt me again, Broken Arm said, sobbing his way back into her thoughts. I didn’t mean to sneak inside. There was a long pause. Okay, yes, yes. I did. I meant to, but I only wanted to see who had taken residence here. I’m not a hunter, I swear I’m not.
    Ashlyn’s ears twitched, and she pressed deeper into the rocky wall. Hunter, the man had said. Maddox’s killers had called her a hunter. What did they mean? Bounty hunter? She frowned and rubbed her swollen, aching ankle. Who could ever think that of five-foot-five, average Ashlyn?
    “Doesn’t matter. You have to find a way out of here, Darrow.” She had to tell the authorities what had happened to Maddox. Would they believe her? Would they even care? Or had the men here somehow bewitchedthem as they’d done the rest of the townspeople—angels, indeed—allowing them to do anything they wanted, whenever they wanted?
    A sob gushed from her lips; a tremor raked her. No one should have to die that slowly, that painfully. Dignity gone. Cries unheeded.
    One way or another, Maddox would be avenged.
     
    M ADDOX SCREAMED .
    Flames licked him from head to toe. Blistering, melting away his flesh, reducing