Book One: The Girl (The Sanctum) Read Online Free Page B

I was made? The extent of my powers?
    “Max, Max, Max,” Dev shook her head at him as if he was a misbehaving child, “I didn’t grow up in The Sanctum, in a world full of dark secrets and unfounded hatreds. I grew up with two parents who loved me desperately and equipped me with all the tools I would need should the day ever arrive that you fools with your petty grievances came calling.
    “Despite what you have been taught, I am one thousand percent a girl. A most powerful, awesome, brilliant girl who can destroy you with a thought. I can creep into your mind and persuade you to kill yourself. I am immune to your silly, little Raven blades and Shields of the Gods. I am smarter than your most intelligent officers.
    “I am half angel, half demon and all power. You have never seen anything like me, nor will you ever again. I am unique and wonderful,” Dev smiled, giving Max a glimpse of her extraordinary beauty, “and I am going to kill you."
    With that statement, Dev jumped from her seat, rejuvenated, grabbed Max by the feet and yanked him towards her. The sudden, surprise movement caught the boy off-guard and his head met the floor with a loud, painful thunk. As he tried to gain some leverage, thrashing this side and that, Dev continued dragging him across the floor, ignoring his cries of pain, determined to get him as far away as possible from her loved ones before ending his life. Max Breslin was not worthy of dying in the company of such people. He was going to die alone, with her blade at his throat, begging for his life, his cries falling on her deaf ears.
    Dev was so deep in her own thoughts, she paid little attention to where she was going. She never saw the shimmer. One second she was headed across the living room, the next she was sucked into nothingness, Max was stripped from her arms and everything went black.

CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
     
    A couple of hours later, the trio exited the bar into a perfectly balmy, New York City summer evening. The setting sun reflecting off the buildings gave everything, including the pavement, a warm, pinkish tint. It hinted at the terribly hot and humid weather that inevitably engulfed the city every summer, but tonight it was like a small slice of heaven.
    Jools tilted her face up to catch the last rays of sun and the scent of the city before nightfall. The play of light and shadow on her face was stunning, especially to Darby, the slight girl standing down the block, hidden in the darkened alley of the parking garage. Darby was a lover of all things beautiful and Jools never failed to take her breath away. Jools’ dark beauty coupled with her deadly grace and utter confidence made her even more captivating than her male companions, and few were prettier than Wyatt and Ryker.
    Darby smiled to herself as she watched the boys, opposites in every sense of the word and yet so similar to one another, it was eerie. She closed her eyes and could see them in her mind’s eye, fighting as one, a deadly beautiful killing machine. Flashes of dark skin, corded muscles, playful eyes. Ryker. Furrowed brow, sharp angles, sensuous mouth. Wyatt. One completely aware of his physicality and how to use it to his advantage; the other, totally oblivious of the effect his beauty had on those around him. She feared she would forever desire to ravage one and protect the other. And knew she would do neither.
    Wyatt stretched his arms high over his head, wove his fingers together, cracked his knuckles and then slowly brought his arms back down to his sides, resting one hand on the hilt of the knife in his waistband. He felt calm, almost quiet inside as his eyes swept up and down the block. He cocked his head slightly to the side, feeling Darby watching him. He sensed her as soon as he walked out of the bar and her presence brought a slight smile to his lips. This was not the first time Wyatt had caught her watching them, but it mattered little since he never minded her voyeurism.
    “Darby,” Wyatt