Darkness Arisen (35 page)

"No." His arms tightened around her, and she saw a faint green glow beneath his fingernails. "This is about you. And me." He spun her around, and she gasped when she saw his face.

Eyes that were once a beautiful rich brown were glowing green. A mouth that used to quirk in laughter at her jokes was a grim, brutal line. His cheeks were shadowed, his eyes heavy with torment. She saw the burdens that haunted him, including those she hadn't been able to spare him from. Suddenly, she didn't see him as the man who had been about to kill her. He was someone who'd been tormented and abused for so long that he was trapped in his own hell.

She hadn't been able to see it before. She hadn't been able to see his pain. But now, she felt like her heart was going to break for him. Suddenly, her fear of him was gone. Simply gone. "Flynn," she whispered, laying her hands on his cheeks. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you that night. I'm so sorry for it all."

He stared at her, and for a brief second, she thought she saw a flash of brown in his green eyes, an attempt at sanity trying to break through. "Alice?" His voice was rough and harsh, as if he were speaking for the first time in too long.

"Flynn. Please, don't cross that line again. You don't have to do it. You know you don't."

He stared at her, and she felt the internal battle within him. How had she not felt his torment before? How had she not sensed his agony? How much time had they spent together, and she'd never seen the anguish beneath the surface? All he'd been was a partner in her loneliness, someone who understood hell.

But now, in his eyes, she saw more. Love. Yearning. Longing. For her. Guilt filled her, and shock. He loved her? Dear God, no wonder he'd felt it was such a betrayal when she hadn't been able to save that person for him on that awful, terrible night.

"Alice," he gasped. He suddenly thrust her back against the wall and stumbled away from her, clutching his hands to his head. "No," he roared, as if he were fighting a demon from within. "No!"

"Flynn Shapiro. Your time is done." A deep voice boomed through the hallway, and a massive shadowed figure walked toward them. It was Vaughn, but he seemed to be even larger than before, moving with a silent, ominous stride too dangerous for any living creature.

Flynn spun toward him, and a low growl echoed from deep in his chest. "No," he spat. "You walked away. You don't get to come back."

"I can do whatever I want," Vaughn said, closing the gap. His eyes were glowing green, and there was a dark turbulence flowing off him. "Come with me, Flynn. Don't make me kill you." Vaughn's hand twitched, and Alice felt the sudden surge of power roll off him. There was something about Vaughn that was so much more than Flynn, so much more than anything she'd ever seen before.

"Dear God," whispered Catherine. "What is he?"

Lethal power. Power ready to kill.
No.
Not again. No more death. "Flynn," she urged. "Don't let him take you. Run.
Run.
" She didn't believe for an instant that Flynn would be able to defeat Vaughn. His only choice was to flee.

Flynn looked over at her, and she saw the torment in his eyes. The violence, the years and years of taint from what he'd been forced to do, but she also saw the humanity that she'd connected with before. He deserved a chance. "Run," she said. "Just run."

He closed his eyes for a split second, as Vaughn drew even closer. Then he opened his eyes, looked right at her and said, "I will always love you, Alice. Good-bye." Then he whirled around, charged the stone wall of the hallway, and burst right through it. He let out a howl of agony as he sailed through the air down toward the ocean.

Vaughn streaked by her, a flash of darkness too fast to register, and then he followed Flynn through the hole in the castle wall. She heard two quick splashes in the ocean, and then silence.
Please, Flynn, get away from him.

"That was it, wasn't it?" Catherine was staring at her through the bars. "Flynn was how you were going to kill me, wasn't he? And you didn't let him."

Alice gritted her teeth and strode toward the door. "Yes, you're right. I'm not going to give up on you, Cat. There has to be a way—"

Out of the darkness, a massive figure burst forth and suddenly Deathbringer was there, bearing down on her in a dead gallop. Alice swung her mace, but Warwick scooped her easily off the ground, throwing her over the back of his horse as they sped down the hallway.

She gasped as he pinned her with one hand, pushing so hard that she couldn't breathe. She felt her ribs crack, and she grabbed his leg, fighting to hold on, to stay conscious, to stay alive.

She raised her head and looked back to see Catherine reaching for her through the bars. Regret filled her heart. She couldn't leave her sister behind. Cat didn't believe, and would never be able to save herself. "Cat! Don't give up!" Then Deathbringer turned a corner, and Catherine vanished from sight.

Chapter Eighteen

Forcing himself to stay calm, Ian closed his eyes. He focused all his energy into his body, sending healing into all his cells. He could feel his muscles trembling as they tried to fight off the spell that had immobilized them. He concentrated even more intently, drawing upon a lifetime of trying to fight off the spell that had haunted him for so long. Magic sucked, but there had to be a way to defeat a spell as simple as this one.

His little finger twitched, and triumph shot through him.
Come on!
He drilled down harder, willing all his focus into his right hand.

His thumb moved.

Then his index finger.

Then—

Ian!
Alice's desperate plea burst through his shields, and he faltered, his mouth going dry at the desperation in her voice. The shields he'd erected against her so carefully shattered, and her anguish filled him.

He couldn't stop his response to her, and he didn't want to.
Alice! What's wrong?

Cardiff has me—
A wave of her pain washed through him, and a dark sense of fury rose through Ian at the thought of that bastard with his hands on Alice.

With a roar of rage, Ian broke through the spell in one swift, violent move. He leapt to his feet and immediately opened his mind to Alice, latching onto her through their blood bond. He knew instantly that she was three floors down and moving quickly up the stairwell.

Cardiff was bringing Alice to him.

Ian bolted over toward the doorway that Cardiff had sprinted down previously, and he lined up beside the open door. He called out his maces and gripped them, ready to take him out.

The clatter of hoofbeats was getting closer, and Ian readied himself.
Stay low, Alice—
Before he could finish his warning, Deathbringer burst through the doorway. Ian instinctively swung, aiming for Cardiff's chest. But as he moved, he realized that Cardiff had Alice in his arms and was using her as a shield to hide behind. He'd put her right in Ian's line of attack.

Alice's face went white with horror at the sight of Ian's mace heading toward her chest, and Ian swore as he fought to alter his trajectory.
Alice!
He threw every bit of strength into his blow, dragging his mace to the side just as the trio blew by him. His mace slammed into the stone wall with a brutal clatter, missing Alice's face by a fraction of an inch.

"Jesus." The terror of what he'd almost done tore through him, and Ian staggered as the image of Alice's bloodied body filled his mind. For a second, he was frozen, overwhelmed by what had nearly happened. He couldn't move as Cardiff reined in his mount, spinning the massive beast toward him, Alice still locked in his arms.

All Ian could do was stare at Alice. Her face was streaked with dirt and taut with fear, but there was a fire blazing in her eyes. A courage he hadn't seen before. And as he stared at her, he felt his heart stutter. The woman who he'd blocked from his heart only moments ago filled him, and suddenly his world became only about her. No one but Alice.

"You're free." Cardiff whipped out his wand, but this time, Ian didn't hesitate. He dodged the beam of light from the wand, circling the horse as he tried to get closer to Alice to pry her out of the bastard's arms. But the horse was too quick, and there was no way to free her. It was a standoff, because Ian wouldn't strike for fear of hitting Alice, and he couldn't afford to have Cardiff die until the curse was lifted.

Then there was a shimmer of low pressure in the air, and Ian grinned as Kane appeared at his side, accompanied by six members of the Order of the Blade. Gideon Roarke, their interim leader. Quinn Masters. Elijah Ross. Zach Roderick. Gabe Watson. Plus their deceased leader's young son, Drew Cartland. Ian swore when he saw him. The youth was a dangerous wildcard, too untrained and unpredictable to be brought into battle.

But there was no time to argue. Upon arrival the Order went directly into formation, spreading out in a circle around the wizard. All of them were armed, their gazes focused and intense. A team meant for war.

Rightness surged through Ian as he felt the familiar power of the team around him. This was what he lived for. This was what he was meant for. His team.

Gideon was the one who spoke. "You want to destroy the Order," he said to Cardiff.

Cardiff glowered at him. "I want justice."

Ian knew that the conversation was simply for distraction while the team moved into position and established a plan. If this battle were to be simply hand-to-hand combat, it'd be an easy win for the Order. But as he and Kane had learned, the rules changed when a wizard was involved. They had to be smarter than he was, not simply better fighters.

But even though Ian tried to focus on his team and listen to the commands going back and forth in silent telepathy, all he could think about was the woman in the wizard's arms.

Alice was gripping his forearm, as if she were trying to keep it off her throat. Her mouth was twisted in pain, and she was staring at Ian.

Hang in there, Alice. We'll get you out.

She nodded once.
I don't want to die.

The moment Ian heard her confession, he felt something inside him stop. Ever since he'd first met her, she'd shown no fear of death or of the future that was coming her way. And now she'd changed her mind? She was afraid? Shit. That was unacceptable. Fierce protectiveness surged though him, and he knew that there was no choice. He had to save her. Not just now, in this moment. He had to save her from her fate.

Warwick glared at them, then he looked past them and muttered something. Words to a spell? "Shut him up!" Ian shouted. "Don't let him do that!"

Elijah was closest, and he unleashed his weapon at the wizard. His throwing star cut through the air as something moved to Ian's right. He glanced over, and then spun around when he saw that one of the stone gargoyles was watching him. "Incoming," he shouted, wielding his mace just as the creature came to life, tearing out of the wall with fearsome strength.

All around him gargoyles erupted off the walls. Ian heard the shouts of his team as they fought creatures made of stone that their weapons could not dent. The air filled with the grunts of men as they took hits from the monsters. Ian joined the chorus, shouting as he slammed his mace into the chest of the nearest combatant.

His blade bounced off, and the gargoyle lunged for him, slamming a cement fist at Ian's head. He ducked, and the stone glanced off his temple, still hitting him hard enough to send him spinning. As he fought to regain his balance, he glanced around at his team. They were all heavily engaged and losing badly. Even Drew, with his assortment of weapons, was no match for the two gargoyles bearing down on him. Their weapons were useless against the stone creatures.

Shit. They were not prepared to take on magic.

Ian!

He spun around at Alice's call and saw Deathbringer charge down the stairs with Alice and Cardiff. Ian sprinted past his current opponent, who stood back and let him go, making it clear that, by pursuing the wizard, Ian was doing exactly what Cardiff wanted him to do.

It was a trap, but he wasn't about to let Alice or Cardiff go. It was time to end this.
Now.
He was going after them, right into the trap the wizard had set.

* * *

Ian bolted around the corner, and a streak of green light hit him flat in the chest. It flung him back against the wall of the room. As he hit the stone, there was a loud clanking sound, and steel cuffs slammed around his wrists and ankles, trapping him against the wall like he was a sacrificial virgin.

Magic was a pain in the ass. Seriously.

He jerked at his restraints, but they were locked down with relentless force.

He was trapped. Again. And he didn't like it any more than he had when the killer kelp had decided to become his anklet.

Deathbringer stopped, and Cardiff swung him around to face Ian. Alice was pinned against his chest, her face pale, and the wizard's hand covering her mouth.

Ian focused on her terrified face.
I'm with you, Alice. We'll get through this.

She nodded once, but he could taste the bitterness of her fear. Shit, as hard as it had been to deal with the constant threats to her life when she wasn't concerned about dying, seeing her afraid of death made it a thousand times worse. He could feel the cold draft of fear in every cell of her body, and it made terror settle deep in his bones. What had changed for her? Why was she suddenly afraid to die?

"Why are you here, soldier?" Cardiff demanded. "Why did you track me down at my home?"

Ian met his gaze, knowing that he couldn't defeat the wizard through battle. He had to find another way. "Free my family from the curse. Take the death spell off Alice." Hey, it was worth a try, right? One never knew when an insane, murderous wizard would suddenly become reasonable.

But today wasn't the day for miracles, because Cardiff simply barked with derisive laughter and pointed his wand at Alice's temple. "Why would I do that? When Alice dies for good, the Order loses their immortality. Think how easy they will be to kill."