Snippet from "Wicked Sinners"

A line of blood appeared across Jacques’ throat, and a drop ran down the side of his neck.  He was immortal, but the wound didn’t heal, and Jacques gasped loudly against the pain.  He scrambled and fought to escape the blade, but it continued to press against him. “Do you think to harm her?  I will see you dead first.”

“I did not recognize her, as belonging to you,” Jacques gasped out, through clenched teeth.

“Please, Julien,” Adriana whispered.

Jacques slid to the floor landing in a heap, and Julien focused on her for the first time.  She realized then, that not all his anger was directed at Jacques.

“You may leave us,” Julien’s words were for Jacques, but his eyes never left hers.  With a snap of Julien’s fingers, Jacques disappeared.

“You left me,” he said calmly, but she could feel that he was anything but. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I am so very stupid,” Adriana cried. “I thought that if I gave you everything that I possessed.  If I gave you the pages, you were searching for all these years.  If I gave you my heart you would walk away from all that anger and hatred,” pausing she swallowed past her tears. “I guess that sounds vain doesn’t it?  How could I ever be enough for someone like you?”

His voice came out sounding deadly, and she almost took a step away, as the power crackled around him, making the hair stand up on her arms. “What do you mean someone like me?”

Even knowing all the things that he had done over the years, she had never feared him before that moment.

“You are this powerful man, who has lived thousands of years, and has been worshiped by people all around the world, but look at me.  I’m just this small town girl, who has never done a thing, and is loved by no one.”

The room filled with a bright glow, and she was surrounded by an intense heat.  The room was on fire, but not a single flame burned her skin and no smoke filled the room.  Adriana turned in a slow circle looking at the flames in awe.  They were real, but they weren’t, and it was unlike anything she had ever seen.  It was his fury come to life.  She met his eyes once more.

His voice shook with the power of it and his eyes glowed with the same flames. “You are loved by me.” He

took a step towards her, and she had nowhere to go with the fire raging at her back.  Grabbing the front of 

her shirt, he towed her against his body. “You are loved by me,” he repeated.