Intended Series Collection: Books 1-6, Abigail Grant [best thriller books to read txt] 📗

The bathroom door opens and Thrane enters with a smile on his disturbingly handsome face. His black hair is slicked back, not at all nice-looking as it would be on a different man. "Good, I'm glad to see that you're awake," he says, not sounding the least bit apologetic for drugging me in the first place.

I back away from him with both of my hands out in front of me. "Get away from me, you psychotic freak."

Thrane just steps closer to me, unfazed by my anger and name-calling. "But I've been waiting so long for you to wake up. I was worried you were down for good," he says, obviously faking worry.

I scoff at him. "You hit me, drugged me, and then left me on a cold bathroom floor. Don't act like you care at all about my well-being."

Thrane just continues to invade my personal space. His suit buttons come up against my hands and I cringe as he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me hard against his muscular chest. The feel causes me to shiver worse from the cold skin beneath his shirt. I am afraid to move as his black eyes roll around, roaming over my face. "Looks like I hit you harder than I planned.” His finger traces my bruised face and I flinch from the pain.

"You actually kind of hit like a girl for someone who is supposed to be pretty scary." I lie, trying to keep my features schooled. I have a feeling that he's the type that enjoys watching a helpless girl cry in pain.

Thrane's features become hard. "Don't play games with me, darling. You won't like the outcome." The words slither from his rancid mouth.

I fear that if he keeps breathing on me, I will puke again from the stench of his breath. I wrinkle my nose. "You know, for a guy who obviously cares about his looks, you clearly don't own a toothbrush."

Before I can blink, Thrane has one of his cold hands around my throat, squeezing just enough to make it difficult to breathe. I claw at his hand but the other one pulls my wrists together behind my back so that I am helpless. "Not so tough now, are you, little girl?" he says with a grin.

It gets harder to breathe with each second that passes as his hand continues to tighten on my throat. I can feel the burning in my veins that reminds me I'm not totally helpless. I drag it within me to the surface. When my whole body fills with the heat, I swing my right leg forward and connect my knee with his groin, while releasing all of my strength.

Thrane lets go of me and doubles over in pain. He lets out a deep growl and takes a knee to steady himself.

I allow myself a small smile at my little victory, but I can tell right away that my body must already be affected by being away from Gavin. My kick doesn’t keep Thrane down long and he recovers quicker than I hoped.

He stands tall and comes within an inch of me, almost touching his nose to mine. It's hard to tell what he's thinking through the black in his eyes, but his other features show deep anger. "This can continue on as long as you'd like but you will never win. I am the superior being here, so you better get that quick or I will kill you before Barron even lays his eyes on you."

He grabs me by the wrist and pulls me behind him into a beautifully decorated bedroom. The whole room looks Victorian with a large bed in the center that has an intricately ingrained wooden frame wrapped around it. There is antique furniture lining the walls and a high ceiling that peaks at the very center.

Thrane proceeds to pull me toward the bed and my heart rate picks up out of fear. I try to pull away from him but there is no use. He is a thousand times stronger than I am and the epitome of evil. I stop fighting and instead try to distract him with conversation, hoping that he might want to brag about himself more.

"Thrane, where are we and who is Barron?" I ask, trying to sound pleasant but failing, I’m sure.

He sets me roughly on the bed and walks to a cabinet against the far wall to pull out a bottle of some kind of dark liquor and a small glass. "We are in the middle of nowhere, almost, so don't even bother trying to leave. You’ll die of thirst or hunger before you find other humans. And, as for Barron, he is a very powerful demon that wants you, much the same as me." He pours the liquid in his glass and then makes his way back over to me.

"Why does he want me? How does he even know who I am?" I ask.

Thrane sips on his drink. "I was interested in your friend when I could see how sweet and pure her little soul is, but when you started getting in the way, I noticed that you weren't quite like the others. I mentioned you to some of my acquaintances and your name set off some red flags in my community." He sits uncomfortably close to me on the large bed and I keep my eyes trained on the rug under my feet. "I guess Barron has some history with your family and wants you dead." He places one of his hands on my thigh. "I made a deal with him, though. I bring you somewhere that he can get to you easily, but you and I have our fun first."

I shiver from the chill coming off of him and from the disturbing insinuation in his tone. I try to remain calm but my voice shakes. "Do demons even like human women? I thought you guys just enjoyed killing and stealing souls."

"We take human form when we visit