Free Sapphire Angel by Khloe Wren Page A

you."
    His father smiled at him, "No problem, son. You go take care of her. I’ll find another place to lay my head today."
    Angelo smiled back at his father, he was so full of emotion he had no words. As the doors slid open and they both climbed out, his father turned to walk away but stopped a moment, "She is beautiful, and I’m so glad we rescued her. It would have destroyed me to see you lose her, or worse, to see both of you lost."
    Before Angelo could say a word, his father turned and walked away from them.
    Darcy began to stir against him, nuzzling her nose against his bare chest. He smiled as he carried her to their apartment. Today was going to be a good day. And once she was fully healed, he was going to claim her properly and fully.

Chapter Seven
    Karl lay slumped in the back of the van, taking deep breaths in through his nose and out of his mouth, trying vainly to get through the pain currently radiating from his groin. How the hell was he going to help her when she kicked him in the balls hard enough he might actually need surgery to retrieve them? He winced as he tried to move, he dragged himself to the back of the van so he could watch what was happening with Darcy.
    He had known they intended to hurt her bad enough she would be on the brink of death. His mind still raced with how he could possibly help save her, as he watched the Elder to her right run a knife deep into her upper thigh, Darcy’s ear piercing scream made him cringe as his heart ached for her.
    The bright red blood rushing from her body was all he could see. Barely able to breathe through the pain, he watched as she rapidly lost her color and slumped back against the tree, head hanging forward. He watched her chest rise with a deep breath before she raised her head to yell into the night sky her love for Angelo. A sudden sharp stab of jealousy ripped through him. He’d spent six years with Darcy. How dare she now call another man’s name?
    The moment she dropped unconscious to the ground all thoughts of jealously disappeared. He finally found the energy to move, his personal pain forgotten. He wrapped his hand around the edge of the van to haul himself out when a hooded elder blocked his path.
    "Where do you think you’re going?"
    Karl just looked at him, what could he say?
    "Yeah, I thought so. You need to stay here, and away from her."
    "She’s dying, what good is she to any of us dead?"
    "He’ll come. Her vampire will save her. She needs to be near death to force him to claim her."
    Karl didn’t give him time to continue. He had heard enough. He tried to push past the much larger man, but didn’t get far. A moment later he was on his back on the floor of the van, while his head was still smarting from a smack against the floor. His hands were bound and raised above his head. He watched helplessly as he was tied to the anchor point on the back of the rear seat. Damn it he was really stuffed now.
    As soon as he was tied, the Elder left the van and Karl looked over to see what was taking place. He needed to know she hadn’t died while he was being restrained. He sucked in a shocked breath as he saw Angelo with her, wrapping her wounded leg in strips of his shirt. A blur of movement caught his eye, he swung his head to watch as one of the Elders near the van was pulled silently behind a tree. The others couldn’t see, but from his angle he scored a front row seat as the vampire swiped a blade across the Elder’s throat. Karl watched in silence, mesmerized by the macabre sight of the slow death of the man now lying on the ground twitching as blood gushed from his neck.
    When the Elder on the ground stopped moving, Karl finally managed to tear his gaze away. He glanced around at the other Elders, doing a quick head count. They had come in two vans. Three Elders travelled with him and Darcy, so he could assume there were five in the other van. That meant, there should be seven Elders still standing. He could only count five. He