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.He hissed, “This is not the way.I will not lose my mate.”Beside him, Christopher cringed but did not move otherwise.He quietly added to the heatedexchange, “You so easily forget that Sheila is in there as well.”“Sheila?” Alfred queried.Before Christopher responded, Rukh snatched the candleholder from Alfred and shoved it to thecrack.The flame flickered before it sprang back to life.On the other side of the door, the light reflected off a large pane of red glass.Rukh shook his head.There didn’t appear to be anywhere to go.“Isabel?” he roared, but his call bounced back as if muffled.No answer.How could he get her back? He clutched the bottom of the copper candleholder.It crushed in his fist.The taper fell, but it didn’t hit the floor and sputter out.The flame caught on The Witch’s Hammer and immediately flared.Ella DrakeThe Forbidden ChamberThe fire swooshed high and fanned sparks onto his naked arm.Unlike normal, the blaze was not red,orange, yellow, or even blue.Sickly green flames began to spread wildly.Rukh flinched against the burnbut did not budge.His frenzied yanks on the door began anew.“What the hell?” Alfred yelped.“Come away, Christopher, my lord.”“No,” both men returned in unison.They tugged with refreshed vigor.In all the years Rukh had attempted to destroy the door, nothing had worked.Fire had not taken buthad died out within seconds, even when he’d used fats and oils as fuel.Now, the green seared across thewood, burning the red door through.Finally unable to bear the searing heat, Rukh fell back.The wood crumbled.Emerald flames licked up through the doors, quickly spreading to the two beside Isabel’s and the threeabove.Bluebeard stretched out of his relaxed repose, and his face tightened.When the blaze spread further, he growled and paced the edge of the room.Once.Twice.He hissed and stopped abruptly.Absently, he toyed with the ring through his nose.He pouted,“We’ve waited too long to use those doors.They will not be taken away from us again.”Isabel did not move.No longer under his erotic spell, she tried not to attract his attention.All thewhile Bluebeard cursed and muttered about ungrateful Ravens, she watched the scene framed by the door.Fire spread through her husband’s bedchamber.Men fled the inferno.Ravens.Patriarchs.All butthree.Rukh, Christopher, and Alfred remained.The younger men covered their faces with their arms andattempted to enter the burning portal.Alfred tugged on Christopher to keep him away.The Witch’s Hammer lay on the floor.It shone with a green blaze, but it was not consumed.Stopped in his tirade, his features twisted with hatred, Bluebeard reached toward the book as if theglass wall did not exist.Isabel tensed.His bright eyes expectant, Rukh looked through the fire and the smoky glass straight at her.Christopher dropped to a crouch, his focus entirely on the demon who reached forward.Her friendgrasped Rukh’s sword.The two men who held different parts of her heart were in danger, and she stoodstill like a scared child.Heart fluttering wildly, Isabel ran toward the demon.He pushed through the glass which moved in hiswake like water ripples from a pebble thrown through the surface.The demon stepped into Rukh’schamber.Isabel leaped after him.Her arms stung where she brushed against the closing walls of theforbidden chamber.She fell to the floor as chaos broke around her.A bitter taste coated her mouth as she breathed in thesmoky air.She choked and gagged on the polluted breath caught in her lungs.Claws now extended, a hissing Bluebeard swatted at Christopher.With an angry roar, Christopherrounded on the demon.Sword held high, he managed to cut across Bluebeard’s arm.The demon smiled,www.samhainpublishing.comElla Drakenot the least concerned, and extended his long reach.Before Christopher could bring the sword aroundagain, the incubus closed his hand around Christopher’s face.And pushed.With a grunt, Christophercrashed into the wall eight feet away.No time to worry over her friend, she watched with horror as her naked husband approached the fiendfrom behind.Rukh cast an appraising look over Isabel and cocked his head toward the door.He wanted herto run.They should run.They should all run.She placed her hand on her stomach and sidled around the edge of the room.Isabel stood at the door,but all three Ravens remained.Christopher struggled back to his feet while Rukh’s body tensed to attackthe demon.Please run, Rukh.Our baby will need his father.The incubus lifted his great foot and stomped on The Witch’s Hammer.The flames quelled but did not die out.Frozen, she warred within.She wanted to run back and fight as her husband now did.He’d picked upthe sword Christopher had dropped when he’d hit the floor.She wanted to flee and protect the child.Achild who would never be free if she did not help end this.Her jaw twitched from the pressure of her clenched teeth.Her husband hacked at Bluebeard’s back.Along deep gash hissed with steam.Bloody, the wound gaped only a moment before it began to close.Bent low over the book, Bluebeard spun in a crouch and slashed across Rukh’s legs.Her husbandcrumpled.Over the crackling roar of the fire, she heard Alfred yell.“Get out of here, Isabel! Christopher!”Christopher looked at Rukh.The fire spread from the now demolished forbidden door around to thetapestries of the bed and windows.The entire room heated to unbearable levels.Though she coughed on the polluted air, she wouldn’t leave her husband.To his side in heartbeats,she gripped his hand when he gathered himself off the floor.“Get out of this house.Now,” Rukh commanded with fury in his eyes.“You, too,” she replied, tugging on his arm.His body, covered in slashes, already began to heal itself.Bruises that had to be new had already begun to turn brown from angry purple and red.“I have to kill it, or you will never be safe,” he said as he shook out his hand, marred with livid marks.Not waiting on her reply, he turned toward the demon.She did not let go, but tugged all the harder.“I won’t leave you.”Bluebeard picked up the burning book and screamed in agony.His giant wings unfurled, and he doveout the window.The glass crashed to the ground below.“Alfred, Christopher, get out of here.” Her husband’s command brooked no argument.Isabel was up in her husband’s strong arms and carried out the bedroom in an instant.The fire had spread to the floor below.Clamoring came from the steps behind her.The great hallwayfilled with smoke and people, but they all moved to exit in a wave of humanity.Ravens and servantswww.samhainpublishing.comElla DrakeThe Forbidden Chamberdashed out the great doors and into the night.It had been daylight when she’d entered the chamber.Itseemed only minutes ago, but it must have been hours.Outside, with wings spread high and wide, Bluebeard threw the burning book into a stone fountain.Several of the household women fondled him wherever they could reach and made a mockery of thefountain centerpiece of an angel playing upon a harp
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