Page 20 of Raijin

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A few minuteslater Raijin slammed the guest room door open, only to find the woman who’d been unconscious laying in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes staring unseeing at the ceiling, and her body limp. It was clear she was dead.

“Sabina.”Lanias cried out in alarm.

He turned his gaze from the dead stranger to Sabina who laid on the floor. Her arms curled to her chest, her body trembling. He felt something inside of him panic. But with his man standing so close to him, he couldn’t give in.

Instead, Raijin took control of the situation turning to Castian, “Create a transport circle to the hospital.”

Castian faded into the shadows immediately.

Raijin moved to Sabina’s side, kneeling. “Malcolm, call Gregors and tell him we have a body we are sending to him.”

“On it,” Malcolm said, pulling his cell from his pocket.

“Alek, once Malcolm gets in contact with Gregor you’ll take him and the body there.”

“Yes, Raijin.” The vampire joined Malcolm near the door.

Raijin met Madame’s Lanias grief-stricken expression, she’d been muttering something the entire time. Her hand trembling over her friends’ body. He reached out, taking her hand only to fight having to flinch when her eyes flared in hatred at his touch. Forcing himself to ignore it, he spoke slowly. “We need to get her to the hospital; you’ll need to take a step back so that I can pick her up.”

She stared at him and in her eyes he saw her distrust, grief and anger, before her expression became unreadable. Lanias took a deep breath and gave him short nod. “Yes, yes let’s do that.”

Lanias stood and took a step back.

Raijin leaned forward only to smell the alluring scent of Sabina under the taint of blood. His body stiffened, as he gritted his teeth. He narrowed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his mouth. This reaction to Sabina was troubling. He needed to get this over with as soon as possible, with that in mind he easily scooped her up. His larger stature, a gift from his ogre side made it easy for him to rise with her in his arms. Glancing down at her still soft features he felt his chest grow heavy.

Desire?

Or hunger?

Shaking his head, he turned around to find Castian in the now empty doorway. “It’s set. Let’s go.”

Hearing this, Raijin nodded as he continued carrying the unconscious Sabina. His arms tightening on instinct, when she whimpered. He wanted to growl but swallowed it. It felt like he’d done nothing but hold back his natural instincts since he met her, and he’d only met her a few minutes ago. He didn’t like it, the reason he was respected and accepted by the Council and Tiller. Were because of his control and ability to commit fully to the cause of keeping order in the Veil. As he walked through the long halls of the brothel, he inwardly prayed that this would be his last run in with the woman he held.

He’d been tested before but never like this. Raijin had lived his life behind his mask for a reason, there were simply not too many in the world who could accept the existence of an ogre in their presence. Especially one as hideous as him. Even his own mother had rejected him—. “Stop.”He mentally shouted at himself.

They soon arrived at the exit to the open parking lot behind the club.

“Is everything okay?”

Raijin was pulled back to the present by Castian who observed him with a probing stare. Reluctant to show his vulnerability he gave a nod, “Yes, let’s hurry this along. So that we can move on to our next suspect.”

Castian nodded, turning his gaze to the 10 ft wide magic circle that glowed a sickly green color. The rim of the circle slowly turned, a loud clicking sound echoing from it. “The sooner the better, that clickity click always rubs me the wrong way.”

Without another word, they; including Lanias, entered the magic circle and disappeared, drowning the area in pitch black night once more.

Chapter9

The Secret

SAME NIGHT

SABINA

Sabina’s body felt heavy. She could hear the steady beep of the machine near her. In this state of unconsciousness, she felt an odd sort of peace she’d not been able to come near over the last few months. Sabina wanted to stay in the dark a little bit longer. Her limbs were heavy, and warm, the only movement she wanted to make was to snuggle deeper under the covers.

“She’s been sleeping since we brought her here, are you sure there isn’t anything wrong?”