Falling Blind: The Sentinel Wars (11 page)

Ronan counted twenty before the first one got close enough for him to strike. He speared it with the tip of his sword and flung it against a wall hard enough to make it splatter. By the time he turned back around, another three of the things were at his feet.

He kicked two away and stomped on a third.

More flooded close, and Ronan had no choice but to jump back onto the thin ledge of concrete left outside the closed dock door.

The demons crawled up the wall, not even slowing.

Ronan no longer had the luxury of options. His sword was no good against so many of the things. He was going to have to dip into his reserves.

He gathered power from his cells, feeling it tingle along his limbs as a faint blue light seeped from his skin. His fingertips blazed like blue flame as the energy coalesced into a searing disk.

Ronan slammed that power down on the horde at his feet, ordering the disk to roll over the demons and crush them as it passed.

The small creatures screamed as they died. Only a few escaped, cowering in the shadows nearby.

His flesh felt like it was sagging on his bones. Every breath was labored, every beat of his heart an effort. A deep chill sank into him, shaking him from the inside out, whispering to him that he was never going to be warm again.

He leaned against the door, letting it support his weight while he caught his breath.

Three of the demons remained, inching closer as if sensing his weakness.

Through a sheer effort of will, Ronan lifted his sword just as the first demon charged.

He sliced through it, more by accident than skill, but by the time he’d recovered from the swing, one of the demons had crawled up his leg and shoved its barbs into his thigh. The other one seemed to be going for his groin.

Not in this lifetime.

Ronan plucked it off, and as soon as his skin touched it, he felt a wave of malignant compulsion seeping from the thing. The power of that compulsion was so strong, it shocked Ronan to stillness.

The demon that had stung him jumped off and scurried away. There was no sign of poison in his blood, which was odd, but what was even more important was figuring out who was controlling these things. They weren’t simply demons out looking for food. They were under orders, and whoever had given those orders was the real threat.

Ronan kept a firm hold on the demon’s tail while he reached into its puny mind, searching for answers. There were no real thoughts inside the thing, only instincts and the most basic of emotions.

It was sent to hunt him. It knew his scent as well as that of several others. Its orders were to collect blood and bring it back to the one who’d compelled it to hunt. There was no hint of why the blood was needed, no trace of rational thought beyond its mission.

But there was something there—a whisper of power running through it, controlling it.

Ronan reached for that power. He studied it, memorized it as he would a scent. It was vile and reeked of malignance. Vengeance.

The Synestryn that had sent these demons out was powerful and looking for revenge on very specific targets. And now it had Ronan’s blood.

Chapter 7

R
ory’s head was still foggy, but her anger was helping her wake up faster than any double espresso ever could.

Cain’s fingers tightened between hers, and the firmer contact made those warm tingles soak into her even faster.

His voice was low and calm. “I’m not pulling over. You’re being unreasonable.”

“No. Unreasonable would be pulling my hand away before giving you fair warning. I think I’m being a saint under the circumstances.”

He didn’t pull over. The sky was beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn, and as they sped down the highway, she could see traffic picking up in the opposite direction as it flowed into the city.

“I’m not stopping. Not until I get you to Dabyr.”

“I don’t know who or what that is, but I’m not going anywhere with someone who would rather knock me out than accept my decision to leave.”

“You’ll be safe at Dabyr. It’s well protected, and the walls keep out most hostile magic. There are people there who may be able to help your visions disappear.”

As tempting as that was, it had to be too good to be true. “How?”

“The same way I help you, but more . . . permanent.”

“How permanent?” She wasn’t sure if she could survive having her visions go away only to return again. At least now she had hope to cling to. If the visions came back . . .

“That would be your decision.”

“You make it sound simple,” she said.

“I promise it’s anything but simple.” He didn’t expand on that, and his silence was thick and heavy, telling her that he was done discussing it.

Rory should have pushed the issue of forcing him to pull over, but her fear held her back. She was so close to the city, she knew that as soon as she stopped touching him, her visions would inundate her. Thousands of sights would flood her head, leaving her blind and stumbling along the highway—not a good position to be in. “Are there many people there?”

“About five hundred or so.”

“How big is this neighborhood?”

“It’s not a neighborhood, it’s more of a compound. There are some smaller structures, but most of Dabyr is one big building.”

She groaned at the thought. “Five hundred people under one roof? You’ve just described my version of hell.”

“It’s lovely. You’ll like it.”

“Like it? How would you like to have the things that five hundred people see shoved into your brain all at once, setting your eyeballs on fire? How do you think those people will feel knowing that I can’t help but invade their privacy? Or will you keep that a secret and use me as some kind of spy?”

The truck slowed and he moved into the right lane. “I hadn’t considered that going there would hurt you. My only thought was to keep you safe.”

“Yeah, well, I’m safe at home. Just take me back to my car and we’ll forget we ever met each other.” As soon as she uttered the words, she knew how ridiculous they were. Cain was not a man easily forgotten. Not his size, or his power, or his lethal ability with that invisible sword. Not the way his skin felt as it brushed hers. Even now, after several minutes to get used to his touch, she still felt every strand of electric warmth as it slid into her, wrapping around her spine and making her tingle all the way down to her toes.

“Where is your home?” he asked.

“You really think I’m going to tell you that?”

“If that’s where you want to go, then that’s where I’ll take you. If you tell me where to go, that is.”

She needed her car, but if she could at least get home before the city woke up and bombarded her with visions, that would be better than nothing. She’d find another way to get her car back.

“If I tell you, how do I know you won’t come back after you drop me off and bother me? I like my privacy.”

“I suppose that’s a chance you’re going to have to take,” he said. “If it’s any comfort, I plan to go kill the demon that stole your blood. I’ll be too busy to bother you.”

That thought drove all others out of her in a single instant. As pissed as she should have been at him, fear over him facing more demons and whatever was going to happen to her now made that anger pale in comparison. “What will that thing do with my blood?”

“We don’t know. And I don’t plan for you to find out the hard way. I’ll kill it first.”

“How do you even know where it went?”

“I don’t, but I’ve hunted down plenty of demons in my lifetime. And if I can’t locate its nest, Logan will be able to help.”

“How?”

“He’s smelled your blood. He should be able to track that scent back to the demon.”

Rory let her head fall against the seat in overwhelming defeat. “I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know how Logan can smell my blood. I don’t know why the demons want it. I don’t know why your touch blocks my visions or how it can make me feel like this. All I know is that I want to live my life in peace, without monsters hunting me all the time.”

“That’s all any of us want, Rory. But you and I aren’t like humans. We don’t get that kind of life.”

She was human, albeit a fucked-up version of one, and no one could persuade her otherwise. But there was another question his comment brought up, one she could barely stand to ask. If it hadn’t been for the curiosity that was burning a hole in her brain, making all logical thought dribble out, she would have stayed silent. “What kind of life
do
you have?”

He didn’t say anything for several seconds. His jaw was tense and a vein pulsed in his temple. He really was a handsome man in a barbaric kind of way—not at all like the type of guy she normally went for, all artistic and flimsy—but that was part of his appeal. She’d made so many bad choices in the past, it was comforting to be sitting next to a guy so utterly
different
.

Rory would have been willing to bet Nana’s house that the man didn’t have a single flimsy spot on his entire body.

He pulled in a deep breath that expanded his thick chest even further. “There are two kinds of Theronai: those who are joined as they were meant to be, and those that aren’t.”

“And which are you?”

He glanced at their twined fingers, and she swore she could feel a sense of sadness and loss radiating out of his touch.

“I’m like most of my kind. We live a long time. We hunt and kill demons. We protect humans and each other, and try not to think too hard about the things that we can never have.”

“Sounds like a pile of suck.”

His mouth twitched. “It’s a life filled with honor, duty and purpose. It’s more than many ever have.”

It was more than Rory had, which was disgustingly pathetic. Ever since she’d lost Nana,
she’d
been lost. The only friendships she could manage were long-distance ones—people online she’d never meet in person for fear of what she might see through their eyes. They helped fill the void, but there were still gaping holes Rory knew would never be whole. She was twenty-five and hadn’t been able to go to a normal school or hold down a job or keep a boyfriend for more than a few days—at least not one who wasn’t planning to hand her over to a demon in exchange for drugs.

She’d stopped dreaming about a future years ago. The only thing that drove her was her quest to find the person who made her visions go away. It was her white whale, her reason for getting up in the morning.

Now she was holding the hand of a man who blocked her visions, and as nice as that was, it wasn’t enough. It was hollow. Worse than that, it allowed her to see just how empty her life had become. How worthless.

Once her visions were gone, then what? What would get her out of bed then?

She had no answer, which made a whole writhing mass of fear spring to life in her stomach. She wasn’t the type of person who panicked, but she could feel that now, cutting at the edges of her confidence, wearing it away, bit by bit.

Her visions had defined her life. She couldn’t live with them, but she wasn’t sure she could live without them, either.

Rory didn’t know how to calm her fears. She didn’t even know if it was possible. What she did know was that the man she’d pitied only a few moments ago for his crappy life had a better life than she did, and if she didn’t start taking some chances, she was never going to be able to make something of herself.

“Head south at the next exit,” she told him.

“You’re going to let me take you home?”

“Looks like.”

She was quiet for a long time, only speaking to give him directions to Nana’s house out in the country. “These people you said might be able to help me? Would they be willing to come see me or meet me somewhere—somewhere without a lot of people around?”

“The men would swim entire oceans to meet you.”

That sounded a little over the top and left her confused. “But not the women?”

“The women can’t help you. That’s not the way it works.”

“Then how does it work?”

“Our kind—Theronai—were created to work in pairs. One man, one woman.”

“You don’t know I’m your kind.”

“I do. Your ring-shaped birthmark proves it.”

Outrage slammed into her, and if he hadn’t had a firm hold on her fingers, she would have pulled away in shock. “You looked at my ass when I was asleep?”

A slow smile pulled at his mouth. “No, but now I know you have the mark. No denying it.”

“You tricked me.”

He shrugged and she felt the powerful movement all the way up her arm. “Denial will get you nowhere. It could even kill you, which is something I can’t allow. We all have to face reality, and yours isn’t going to change just because you don’t like it.”

“You say that like you know my life better than I do.”

“Not your past, maybe, but I know your future.”

She grunted in amusement. “So you can see the future, can you?”

“Only yours.”

“Fine. Then spill. What does my grand future hold?”

“Power. More than you can imagine. Purpose, too. Your life will be filled with fear and danger, but also love. Undying, unyielding love and devotion from a man who would put your safety and happiness above all else, except, perhaps, that of your children.”

Rory laughed at the ludicrous image he painted. “You know, back when I used to think about having kids, I always thought my visions would come in handy. I’d know what they were up to all the time. No sneaking cookies before dinner or cutting their own hair without me knowing.”

“You say that as if you no longer think about having children.”

“I don’t. How can I care for someone else when sometimes I can’t even walk without running into walls?”

“I’m certain that you will learn to control your visions.”

“Oh. I see. You’re certain. Well, that makes it true then, huh?”

“Every female Theronai has a special gift. These visions are yours, and once you’re connected to your mate and have access to his power, you’ll be able to use that power to control them.”

“And the winner of today’s Too Good To Be True contest is . . .”

“I’m serious, Rory. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. You have no idea how much power awaits you once you connect yourself to the right man.”