Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (13 page)

Constance

Chapter
Sixteen

I’d sat silently, just staring at Jared
and trying to figure out how in the hell a bartender with tattoo sleeves and numerous piercings had fallen into the ranks of passing government security, seemingly assigned to find an international criminal – because from the way that military man with the Mercedes had talked about Gavin, he was in some major trouble.

Granted, I had only known Jared for a few weeks, but from what he’d told me he was twenty
-seven, had dropped out of college, and lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment. Not exactly the image I had of some secret service agent, or whatever the hell he was. I analyzed the tattoos on his arms, trying to see if there were some clues as to who he really was inked on his flesh. Most of the tattoos looked tribal. There was the typical gothic crucifix tattooed on his wrist. He had a black star tattooed on his elbow. Several birds that looked like ravens were flying up his forearm. Ivy twisted its way up his arm, fading up into his neck, and a huge serpent was inked across his bicep, slithering its way down onto his forearm.

Not a damn clue to anything!

Pulling my feet up into the chair, I sat Indian style, looking out the window over the billowing white clouds the jet was piercing through. I’d managed to overcome the initial fucking shock of being whisked away, then semi-captured and told to get on a damn plane with some mystery man I’d been fucking for the past couple of weeks. It was what it was.

I cleared my throat, swallowing
back the stitch of panic that kept finding its way to the back of my throat. “So. I’d really appreciate some type of explanation,” I yelled over the drone of the engines.

Jared’s fingers curled around
the steering wheel of the plane as he turned to face me. “Explanation?”

I blew out a loud
, frustrated breath and flapped my arms in the air wildly. “Yeah! An expla-fucking-nation for this shit! You know, the whole fact that we’re flying in a damn jet to – where the hell are you even taking me? Oh! And what about the fact that my friend, who I thought had been fucking murdered… whose funeral we just went to a few days ago… oh, yeah, she’s obviously
alive
, her boyfriend is on America’s Most Wanted,
and
we are goin’ to get her? And what about the fact that you just waltzed past military security onto a jet when martial law’s been declared because every damn person has lost their mind.”

Inhaling, I sank down in my seat
. “How ‘bout an explanation for
any
of that shit, sweetheart?”

Jared tapped his forefinger on the steering wheel and straightened his arms out in front of him. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me!” I snarled, and crossed my arms across my chest.

He laughed and threw his head back. His tongue skimmed across his white teeth, the metal from his tongue ring
clinking across his enamel. Pressing several buttons, he put the plane on autopilot and turned in his chair to face me. His elbows rested on his knees and he tapped his black boot on the floor of the plane.

“Some things –
” he paused and the fingers of his left hand traced down his cheek. “Some things aren’t exactly as they seem.”

Staring at him blankly, I waited
on something else.

“What do you think I am? Hmmm?”

Tired of these endless and pointless questions I leaned back against my seat, fighting the urge I had to just scream. “Well, a few hours ago I would have said a good fuckin’ lay – but now I’ve got no idea who the hell you are!”

His
eyes squinted to nothing more than black slits. “I didn’t ask you
who
you thought I was, I said
what
do you think I am?” he said.

My heart fluttered and flipped,
picking up speed and pumping the blood through my body with force. That sickening warmth of nervousness I’d been growing accustomed to washed over me.

“Are you going to answer me
, doll?”

“
Uh – a guy, I
think
…”

He laughed, this time a slow
maniacal and almost possessed laughter escaped him, and he abruptly cut it off. “You couldn’t be more incorrect in your assumption.”

Ja
red stood up and walked toward me. Kneeling in front of me, he grabbed each side of my face. His thumbs delicately rubbed against my jaw as he brought his face in to kiss me hard on the lips.

I’
d never been more petrified in my life. I was too scared to push him away and too paralyzed to kiss him back.

“You believe in evil?”
he hissed.

I couldn’t answer him. Fear had grabbed my throat and was choking me. A shiver trembled up my spine like I’d never experienced, and
, to be honest, with everything that had happened over the past few days, I didn’t know
what
I believed in anymore.

“Doubt
– I see the doubt in your eyes,” he said. “You don’t know what you believe. What am I, hmmm? It seems your kind have a tendency to refer to my breed as vampires. Monsters who thirst for human blood… sound familiar?” Jared ran his tongue back across his teeth, clicking them together as his face lurched toward mine.

Closing my eyes,
I jumped back.

A short rush of air flew thr
ough his nostrils, flying across my skin.

My mind was telling me he w
as fucking with me, but I could no longer doubt even the most absurd claims.

He whispered,
“You’ve been in bed with a demon, a vampire… my
little black swan
.”

Trapped.
I was trapped on a plane with a crazed lunatic.

He placed his face directly
in front of mine and when his gaze met mine, his eyes were cold and emotionless. My body tensed up and involuntarily jumped up and tried to move away from him. Following me, he pressed my body between his and the side of the plane. His lips danced across my mouth as he stared into my eyes. His pupils dilated and shrunk the brown color of his irises until they were nothing more than an outline.

His eyes flashed and his voice deepened to a growl. “You don’t believe me
, doll? I know everything about you, I know your thoughts, your desires – where your soul will rest when you die.” The corner of his eyes crinkled up from the smile that swept over his face. “And I know you’re fucking terrified right now,” he laughed.

Backing
away from me so that I could see his entire face, he kept me pinned to the wall. “You’ve been lying with death. Allowing me to defile your body, moaning for more. Never would’ve thought you’d find such deep satisfaction from a grim reaper, would you now, doll?”

I want
ed to tell him to get the fuck out of my face, but before I could open my mouth Jared placed his slender finger over my lips. I hadn’t realized how badly my lips were trembling until his finger rested over them.

Cocking his head
to the side, he widened his eyes. One eyebrow pointed down and his head shook slightly from side to side. He looked pissed. “I wouldn’t use such language with someone who could end your life so quickly.” His hand fell from my mouth. “Wouldn’t be a wise decision.” Turning away from me, he sat back down in the pilot’s seat.

What the hell? Did he really know what I was thinking?

“Now, as long as you behave yourself, I promise I won’t kill you, understand?”

My entire body went cold. At that moment I realized that he was either serious
, or seriously delusional. Either way, I was completely fucked. I managed to shake my head to let him know I understood what he’d just told me.

H
e ran his hand through his thick, spiky blond hair. “Don’t tell me you’ve never wondered if there weren’t some truth to all the myths?” Another short huff of air came from his lips and a large, possessive smile formed on his face. “You honestly think a mortal would ever be able to fuck you like I have? The attraction you have for me is much more than a physical one. It’s the strongest pull in this world, the undeniable attraction of sin. You humans have always been drawn to sin. Like an instinct.”

His tongue
rolled across his bottom lip as he stared at me. That look, it was one of demonic starvation and … and unlike any other I’d ever seen. It completely terrified me.

“You’ll never feel more alive than you do when you have immortal
darkness pressed on top of you – death separated only by skin.” Tilting his head back, he laughed loudly. Jared’s eyes shot down at me and he said, “And even though you are scared shitless right now, you can’t stop that thought in the back of your mind of how badly you want me– can you, doll?”

I
felt like he was inside my mind. My hands flew over my ears and I cradled my head with my elbows. I let out a deafening scream and shook my head furiously, praying for this to all leave me. I felt like I was going insane.

My scream faded and I slowly rose my head. Looking up
, I saw Jared staring at me. I’d never seen such an expressionless face before. Bouncing his leg up and down, he snidely asked, “Are you done now?”

Wetness seeped from my eyes and rolled gracelessly from my cheek. I
didn’t know what to say or do.

“I to
ld you, I won’t kill you! Don’t make me go back on my word. I’ve grown a little fond of you and would hate to have to do that.”

I don’t know how long I sat there without saying a word. Anytime Jared moved suddenly I jumped and my heart pa
lpitated in my chest. We must have been on that plane for a few hours because the horizon was turning dark.

“I’m not the devil
, you know.” Jared said as he leaned back in the pilot’s seat.

I glared at him. As far as I was concerned
, devils, demons, vampires – they all were equally evil and terrifying.

“Hey, I had no choice
,” he said. “I was born into this. This is all I’ve ever known.”

Blowing a breath from my nose, I asked,
“What do you mean you were born into it?”

“When the fallen angels took mortal ‘wives
,’ their union was considered a disgrace. An abomination and the offspring – well, they were demons. The physical birth of evil.” He turned back to stare out the windshield of the plane. “Some called them giants, some called them demons, but the term most of us have grown the fondest of is vampire.”

“Fallen angels?”

Jared’s eyebrows arched. “Yes, fallen angels.”

“Angels
… made vampires?” Shaking my head, I rubbed my palms across my face. He seemed so serious. I remembered some controversy that had started years ago when I was in private school about the entire angels mating with humans, and now I was being told that not only did fallen angels actually exist, but that they created
vampires
. My temples started to pulse and the tension crept up the back of my neck.

Jared cut his eyes over at me.
“The angels were angered at being cast out of heaven, and so they vowed to destroy mankind. If they were unable to have eternal salvation they’d be damned if mankind would find eternal peace.” He fell silent and his fingers tapped against the steering wheel. “It’s because of their knowledge that man learned to sin. Witchcraft – that was taught by the Fallen. The Fallen tempted Eve.” His voice softened. “All sin man has known came from those fallen angels. They hate mankind!”

My lips rolled under my teeth. I wanted to tell him how crazy he sounded, but
I knew better.

Jared sat silently. I noticed hi
s fingers curl around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “Their bloodline has tainted history. All the ‘mortals’ that you’ve been taught were monsters… they actually
were
, Constance. They all came from the bloodlines of the angels. The thirst for death, the want for the blood of man was an innate urge to them.”

My hands felt through my hair and my leg fell from the edge of my seat. “So,” I swallowed and conti
nued. “Like, Ted Bundy?”

Jared
nodded. “Man, as he was created, although flawed by free will, is innately good. Murder is not a sin of man. That is a sin of the Fallen.”

“
Okay, so, you’re a vampire.” I paused. Just hearing myself actually say that sounded absolutely insane. “You drink blood – you’re the undead – you’re like, all-knowing and shit?” I couldn’t believe I was actually entertaining this nonsense.

One side of
his mouth curved up. “Somewhat.”

Even though I was nearly petrified with fear
, I couldn’t control my urge to be a smartass. “Well, so, I guess this is the end? I guess we’re all gonna die?”

He stared ahead and answered me
in a monotone voice, “You’re gonna die – not me.”

I hyperventilate
d. My throat tightened and blocked air from reaching my lungs. I was an emotional wreck, and, for whatever reason, I was beginning to believe what this man was telling me.