A Dangerous Fury (The Sentinel Demons Book 3) (13 page)

BOOK: A Dangerous Fury (The Sentinel Demons Book 3)

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K
ristoff Agares could bear the physical pain the Evils dished out in the demon realm. They could tear the flesh from his body piece by piece, set his body on fire, and beat him until he lost consciousness.

The Evils had already given torturing him with physical brutality their best shot. If making him cry like a child had been their objective, they’d failed. Not a sound had left his lips; not a word or scream had escaped his mouth. He bore the physical torture stoically, willing his brain away from the pain and thinking about the fact that his daughter, Talia, was still alive and well with his loyal Sentinel and friend, Drew.

He visualized the love Drew and Talia had for each other, and how happy they’d be, withdrawing himself from the demon realm altogether as he focused his attention on the daughter he’d never knew he had until recently. He would have liked to really know her, spend time with her, but it had to be enough for him to know she was safe.

The technique of removing himself mentally from his body had worked for a while. Unfortunately, the Evils—Goran in particular—wasn’t satisfied with a Sentinel demon king who didn’t cower at his feet, or beg for mercy.

That’s when the mental torture had begun.

Kristoff started to drift off to sleep on the filthy mattress in his prison cell, his hands and legs chained to the stone wall. He’d been stripped of his clothing long ago, when the Evils had been dedicated to only inflicting physical pain. Periodically, he was drained of power so he always felt listless.

He was tired, so damn tired, but he wouldn’t let himself sleep. He went somewhere in between, in a twilight world where only his will kept him from succumbing to the torturous nightmares that Goran was orchestrating himself.

Occasionally, Kristoff couldn’t fight his exhaustion anymore and he’d enter the dream world, only to relive the hell of seeing his daughter raped and murdered by Evils and his friends torn to pieces right in front of him while he was helpless to save them. Another of Goran’s favorites was a scene where Athena, his virgin goddess creator and friend, was also brutally assaulted and then beheaded by the Evils.

Image after image had been run through his head like a never-ending horror movie while he slept, and he’d jolt back awake again, sweating and delirious, not certain what was truth and what was simply illusion.

“I’m not sleeping,” he told himself fiercely, refusing to give into real sleep. The physical torture was relatively easy to deal with, but the nightmares where he wasn’t able to separate reality from dreams were terrifying.

He shifted on the putrid mattress he was lying on, trying to stay awake. If he tried to put himself into a twilight sleep right now, he’d go over the edge into the dream realm. It had been too long since he’d really slept.

The clanging of the shackles on his limbs kept him from tipping over the edge for a few minutes, and he continued to shift position and make some noise.

I can’t go to sleep. I can’t.

With every incident of the mind fuck the Evils were doing on him, he knew he lost a little more of his sanity. He was headed down a slippery slope to complete madness. If he couldn’t stay rooted to reality, he’d be nothing except a shell of a man, living in terror inside himself.

Not. Happening.

There was nothing Kristoff wanted more than to deny Goran the satisfaction of taking over his mind.

Stay. Awake.

His submission was inevitable. He’d reach the point where he couldn’t stay awake anymore. But dammit, not yet.

Kristoff?

The lyrical female voice called to him only in his mind. He didn’t know her, didn’t recognize the voice, but it beckoned him.

Kristoff, come to me. I know who you are and I promise to keep you safe. Sleep now.

“No,” he rasped to the seductive voice in his head luring him to sleep, suspecting it was another mind trap.

Sleep now. Come with me and I’ll keep you safe.

She sounded so sweet, so comforting that Kristoff had a hard time fighting the urge to join her in slumber. He fought the instinct, but eventually he couldn’t resist the dream world any longer.

Having no choice, he put his trust in the soothing female voice and slept.