Read Carpathian 06 - Dark Fire for Free Online

infected her with something, but it wasn't rabies.
    Weariness continued to invade her body, deadening her limbs, so she gave up the fight and allowed her eyes to close.
    Harry drove for fifteen minutes, casting quick, covert glances at his hitchhiker. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest. She was small and curvy and had fallen right into his lap. He never looked a gift horse in the mouth. Glancing at his watch, he was satisfied to see that he was ahead of schedule. He was meeting his boss in a couple of hours and had time enough to indulge his fantasies with the little redhead.
    The ominous clouds had thickened and darkened, occasionally issuing small veins of lightning and a rumble of thunder. But it was still early evening, around six-thirty, and Harry watched for a grove of trees where he could pull off the road into a private area and remain undetected by any passing cars.
    Rusti jerked awake when a hand fumbled clumsily at her breast. Her eyes flew open. Harry was leaning across her, tearing at her clothes. She slugged him as hard as she was able to in the small confines of the truck. But he was a big man, and his fist clipped her behind her ear, then smashed into her left eye. For a brief instant she saw stars, then everything went black, and she slid farther down into the seat.
    Harry's mouth covered hers, wet and slimy. Again she struggled wildly, raking at his face with her fingernails. "Stop! Stop it!"
    He slapped her over and over, his other hand squeezing her breast hard, hurting her. "You're a whore.
    Why else would you get in here with me? You wanted this. You know you did. That's okay, honey, I like it rough. Fight me. It's great. It's what I want."
    His knee pressed hard against her thigh, holding her down so that he could tear at the waistband of her jeans. Rusti's hand found the door handle, and she wrenched at it and jackknifed out onto the ground.
    Scrambling on all fours, she tried to get away.
    Overhead the skies unexpectedly opened up, and the dark clouds emptied onto them like a waterfall.
    Harry caught her ankle, dragging her back over the gravel toward him. Grabbing her other ankle, he flipped her over so hard it drove the air from her lungs.
    Lightning flashed, sizzled, and arced from cloud to cloud. She saw it clearly as she stared up at the sky.
    Rain fell in silver sheets, drenching her. She closed her eyes as Harry struck her repeatedly with his clenched fist. "Feels good, feels real good, doesn't it?" he rasped. His eyes were ugly and hard, glaring down at her with hatred and triumph.

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    Tempest fought him with every ounce of strength she possessed, kicking at him when she could draw her legs up, beating at him until her fists were bruised and ach-ing. Nothing seemed to help. The rain poured down on them both, and thunder growled, shaking the ground.
    There was no warning whatsoever. One moment Harry's weight was pressing down on her body, the next he was jerked backward by some unseen hand. She heard the thud as her attacker landed hard against his truck. She tried to roll over, sick to her stomach. Every muscle hurt. She managed to make it to her knees before she vomited violently, again and again. Her eye was swelling shut, and with the rain, wind, and abruptly falling darkness, it was hard to see what was happening.
    She heard an ominous crack, the sound of a bone breaking. She crawled almost blindly toward a tree and dragged herself unsteadily up to brace herself on the trunk. Then arms surrounded her, drew her toward a solid chest. Instantly she erupted into a fighting, struggling wild thing, screaming and blindly flailing.
    "You are safe, now," Darius crooned softly, battling down the beast raging in his body. "No one is going to hurt you. Be calm, Tempest. You are safe with me."
    At that moment she didn't care what Darius was; he had saved her. She clutched his jacket and burrowed close, trying to shrink