Blood Chained (Dark Siren Book 3) (14 page)

Chapter 20

Really, he was the last person Kali expected to come to her rescue. But she gazed into River’s icy eyes—scary because they were so void of feeling, but even scarier when they looked at her and came alive—and knew she should not have been surprised at all. The barrier sealed, hissing like an air lock, and they were both imprisoned. Absolute silence followed, and the wall released her. Pain from its relentless hold lingered, rippling through her body in faint waves. Still fearful, Kali also felt relief. She was trapped, but at least she wasn’t trapped alone.

“River,” she whispered. “What do we do now?”

“Wait,” he said.

A hum simmered from behind the walls as if a large piece of machinery had turned on in the distance. A dull glow filled the enclosure, alleviating the darkness. Cool metal vibrated beneath her hands and feet. The floor gave a gentle lurch, and Kali felt a falling sensation. She must have made a noise because River reached out to her. But when his hand touched her skin she flinched away. His expression was hurt. “It’s alright.”

“Tell me what’s happening.”

He frowned. “What makes you so sure I know?”

“Because you’ve been here before.” A deeper sense rooted in her core told Kali that River knew much more than he’d let on. He had known this would happened. Cixi’s touch must have activated some long dormant systems. Preset protocols for whatever reason had targeted and locked onto Kali’s presence. Or at least that’s what it seemed like. Maybe when the wall had scanned her body, it found something it needed. Or maybe it just took her because she was the only one unlucky enough to get caught in its path. Either way, she was here now. And for better or worse, River had gotten himself trapped with her.

“Kali, you should trust me.”

“I did once. That didn’t work out too well for me, did it?”

“I did what I did to protect you.”

“Next time, just shit on my sundae and tell me it’s fudge,” she said. Her eyes narrowed at his bemused expression. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what that means.”

“I—” he began, but the motion of the floor interrupted whatever thought would follow, jarring them slightly as it settled to a stop. They had reached their destination.

“We’re here,” River confirmed.

“Where’s here?”

His reply ignored her question. “Those walls will dissolve soon. Stay down.”

Gritting her teeth, Kali pressed herself closer to the floor. She hated not knowing what would happen next and being completely dependent on River to survive it. She also hated being separated from York. But there wasn’t much time to mire in loathing. One second, white walls stood solidly before her eyes. In the next, the walls shimmered away.

Whatever power source was responsible for sustaining this strange realm was partially corrupted in the lower regions. Here, the stark whiteness was interrupted by patches of flickering gray. In some areas, the walls and floors were completely dark. It gave the vast openness of the room an eerie feel. At any moment Kali expected one of the strange hybrids to jump from the darkness shrieking while trying to rip her apart. But it wasn’t flesh and bone that came for her. Something large, terrifying, and inhuman descended from above, whirring metallic sounds like a mechanical demon. Whipping out her blades, Kali flipped onto her back, all the while resisting the overwhelming urge to crawl away screaming.

Seven grapplers extended toward her face from a cylindrical center. The extensions were like giant fingers with sharp hooks terminating each end. She wasn’t sure how much use her knives would be against such a foe, but she had to try.

Hearing River grunt, she risked a sidelong glance in his direction. He was tangled in a metal web, battling to keep free. Not good. Considering his greater strength, if River was hard-pressed in this fight, the odds weren’t looking too great for her.

Kali struck out and connected, but even the honed edges of blood silver barely left a scratch on the clawed metal’s surface. There was time to level one more blow against it, and then the giants hand wrapped around her torso, lifting as it squeezed until she thought her eyes would pop.

Okay. We need a new tactic here.

Her damaged ribs couldn’t take much more of the punishment. Kali screamed as her bones threatened collapse, at the same time summoning every ounce of power she had. Dark flames ignited around her, erupting outward with the intensity of which their mistress called them. The noise of the explosion was nearly muffled by the sound of metal being torn to shreds as the machine was pulverized from the inside.

Obliterating her mechanical bonds left Kali suspended by nothing in midair. The fifteen foot plummet ended with an unforgiving landing that pummeled more agony through her side. Lacking the breath to stand, she rolled to her feet anyway.

“Styganna lumas,”
she shouted with outstretched hands as debris rained down around her. Twin balls of fire energized, expanding as they traversed the room to slam into the machine that still besieged River. Just like the first, the claw was blasted into a thousand bits. He raised both arms to shield himself from the scorching backlash, his feet losing ground from the force of the explosion.

Even after the dust had settled, Kali waited tensely, anticipating another attack. She noticed River watching her. His expression, as usual, was difficult to read. Maybe she saw astonishment and even a little fear in his clear blue eyes. Several fine creases weathered the porcelain skin of his forehead. “You may stand down. Nothing else will harm us.”

Kali relaxed. “How did you get past those things the last time?”

River’s frown increased slightly. “They weren’t here the last time,” he muttered and started to walk away.

“Wait,” she called.

“We need to move, Kali. And keep your voice down.”

Forced to double her stride in order to match the briskness of his long steps, her aching ribs protested the strenuous pace. “You said the danger was over,” she whispered with some resentment as she finally caught up.

“I never said that.”

“Okay fine.” She tried and failed to bite back her mounting irritation. “How do we find York and Cixi?”

“We don’t.”

Kali’s feet skidded to a halt even as her heart lurched and hammered forward. “What?”

River’s fingers closed around her arm, his grip was iron as he dropped to the floor and pulled her with him. “Get down!” he hissed.

Somewhere high above, she heard the indistinct sound of someone or something else breathing in the darkness. Next came the unmistakable shriek of protesting metal being ripped from the ceiling. But Kali kept her head down. The paneled square of light flickered beneath her knees. Her vision blurred as she stared into it, the smell of mint and cedar cutting through her senses to rob awareness of anything else. The scent dragged Kali four hundred years into the past, to the moment when things between her and River had changed forever.

Rough leathers scraped the back of her thighs while a crushing weight stole the breath from her lungs. The light aroma of mint and cedar trees, heavily tainted by sweat, poured into her flaring nostrils as she slowly regained consciousness. Foggy. Thoughts scattered. Blood. Was that her blood pooled onto the dirt floor? The pain in her head was so awful, she couldn’t move or think. But there was something else. Another feeling held her stiff and unmoving. Her body was paralyzed by the shock and disgust of unexpected betrayal.

Kali gasped. River’s hand clamped onto her mouth and she bit down, hard. She didn’t care what creature stalked them in the darkness. She had to get away from the real monster.

He yelled for her to stop. Kali kept running. There was no way in hell she was going to stop. With no exits in sight, it was a blind dash for a path to escape. But it wasn’t fear that propelled her forward. White-hot rage burned inside Kali’s chest, spilling into her extremities. If Kali didn’t get away from River, she was afraid she might kill him.

Glimpsing what looked like glowing symbols as she sailed past, Kali doubled back and ran smack into River. As they collided, he grabbed for her, pleading softly for her to stop. Without thinking, her fist and then elbow connected solidly with his throat and temple. The third blow came from her dagger, drawing blood from his cheek. He staggered backward.

Wordlessly, she backed away. Kneeling on the floor, River carefully fingered the wound and appeared to consider his next move. Kali already knew hers. With River’s blood she painted the seal surrounding the door and immediately stepped through when it opened. There was barely a second to enjoy a somewhat well-lit passage and the feel of semi-fresh air against her face before River had lunged through after her.

“Kali, you must wait! Please. At least let me explain.”

“I am done talking to you. You’re dead to me.”

“That’s somewhat harsh don’t you think?” His footsteps were close behind, but he wisely did not reach for her again. “I’m sorry I had to separate you from York but it was necessary. We could have never come this far with him and that mongrel in tow. This is the only way to reach The Siren’s Heart. The artifact remains here. It never left the Builders’ possession.”

Kali shook her head as he spoke. “Stop following me.”

“I have to. You don’t know where you’re going. And that statue is the only chance we have to get Rhane back.”

She found it hard to believe
how good River was at pretending to have her best interests at heart. He and Rhane were brothers, so of course he loved him. But what River had done expressed nothing short of hatred.

As he jabbered on with apologies and explanations for deliberately splitting up the group, Kali whirled, practically spitting her words as she spoke. “It wasn’t just sex, you lying son of a bitch. All this time you let me think I had betrayed Rhane. But I didn’t. It was rape. You
raped
me.”

Chapter 21

Kali hadn’t thought it possible, but River’s face became even paler. His mouth snapped shut, opened, and closed again wordlessly. After a long silence, his guilt ridden words emptied into the space between them. “I didn’t want to. But I had to.” His voice cracked miserably. “I did it to save your life.”

Struggling against a fire burning within, Kali considered the tortured look of River’s face and the sincerity of his words. She narrowed her eyes. “You really don’t realize how ridiculous that sounds.”

He took a step toward her. “Kali, I—” he started but was interrupted by the huge shadow that leapt from the darkness, nearly landing on top of Kali as it crashed into him. Taken by surprise, River scrambled not to be killed by the ferocious onslaught of blows rained down upon him. Managing to avoid the worst of the damage, he fell to the dirt stunned and bleeding.

No longer moving, the shadow took shape. Kali’s stomach twisted. She recognized the hooded cloak that dragged the floor and concealed most of its black-clad form. It was the big rogue—the same one that attacked Orrin at the bank.

River staggered to his feet as the creature approached and wiped a smear of blood from his temple. He drew the gladius from its scabbard, but before he could settle into any defensive guard, the rogue attacked in a blur of speed unmatched by any of its peers and delivered two brutal hits. The first disarmed River. The second hammered him into the dirt. He regained his feet quickly. Charging forward, he feinted left and struck the rogue’s right side at the last possible moment.

It was as if the rogue expected that very maneuver. Blocking River’s kick, the rogue thrust the foot away from its torso. When a fist flew out to meet the creature’s masked face, it seized the limb, wrenching River’s arm down and back. A sickening crack exploded into the air. Kali closed her eyes as another followed, wishing her ears could unhear the gruesome sound.

Pain transformed River’s voice, making it nearly unrecognizable as he yelled for her to run. It was a good idea really. When Orrin had faced this thing, he barely escaped with his life though he was bigger and a better fighter in hand to hand combat than Kali could ever hope to be. As much as River deserved infinite amounts of pain to raze him cold, Kali wasn’t sure she could stand aside and let one of their enemies kill him. She couldn’t let River die. Could she? He had taken so much…caused irreparable damage. And the baby…

Oh my god. Our baby.

It was going to be hard to look Rhane in the eye once they were together again.

“Run!” River roared.

Fighting on with one badly mangled arm, he managed to squeeze out a sliver of breathing room from the rogue’s overwhelming assault. Two well-aimed kicks to the head and torso connected hard enough to stagger the creature. It dropped to one knee, and River sank to all fours. Silver fur erupted from his body as the wolf took over. Before he could complete the transformation, the rogue recovered, skimming the distance between them in between two beats of a hummingbird’s heart and lunged, slamming its skull into River’s half-formed forehead. River’s legs folded beneath him, reverting to human form as his body momentarily went limp. The rogue wrapped a large hand around his throat, lifting River to his feet and then higher. Blood frothed from his lips. River gasped for air. “Kali, please…run.”

Watching the life leech from River’s limbs and slowly fade in his eyes, Kali’s brain snapped to a decision. River was Rhane’s brother. She had to protect him. It wasn’t her choice whether he lived or died. Rhane was her mate as well as her warlord. She couldn’t, wouldn’t rob him of the opportunity to serve whatever retribution his sense of justice would demand.

Calling flames to both hands, she hurled them across the passage. Twin balls of fire struck off center, hitting the rogue’s left shoulder, engulfing the side of its body. Hoping the flames had sufficiently blinded or distracted it, Kali leapt in to make her move. Drawing her borrowed daggers, she launched two short chops at the creature. One blade cut through leather and flesh, digging deeply into the arm holding River captive. The other missed by millimeters, slicing only air as the rogue ducked the strike aimed for its head.

Kali swore as she landed. Glancing over one shoulder to spot her opponent, she tucked into a roll as she had done in sparring practice so many times. The movement took her out of the rogue’s immediate striking distance. Regaining her feet, she dropped into a low guard and contemplated her options.

River lay on the ground, unmoving.  She heard the low gasping breaths of air struggling to navigate damaged lungs. Until River healed, he was out of this fight.

Great.

She shifted her focus to the big rogue. It had barely moved and stood over River’s fallen form like a predator defending its prey. But the rogue’s focus was not on River. Behind the bronze façade, its eyes stared out at Kali from beyond a dark abyss. Inexplicably, she found herself drawn to that void, and had taken two steps toward the creature before realizing it. Stopping herself, Kali shook her head.
Have I gone nuts?

“What are you waiting for,” she asked aloud.

Uttering a low growl by way of reply, the rogue moved and slowly retrieved River’s fallen gladius. It balanced the weight of the blade, tossed the weapon from hand to hand, and finally settled into a high guard. Three breaths later, the rogue charged.

Kali almost immediately regretted not running away when she’d had the chance. Her muscles strained desperately beneath the sheer ferocity and strength of the rogue’s relentless onslaught. She blocked, ducked, and scrambled to stay alive. Mustering any sort of offense was out of the question. Kali’s single thought was to survive.

She relied on every skill and trick learned from nearly a year of training. But it wasn’t enough. The rogue hammered through her defenses, connecting a painful blow to her already badly battered ribcage. Losing her wind, Kali stumbled and dropped to one knee. She barely got a blade up in time to block the business end of River’s stolen gladius. The rogue knocked her arms away and drove its fist into her chin.

At first there were stars—lots of stars. Blackness took over as her head smacked hard against the ground. The rogue’s challenging growl ripped through her skull, beating back the darkness. She struggled to sit up, but her predicament was grim. River was down. He hadn’t moved in the last few minutes. York had no idea where she was. And Rhane—always her dark knight riding in to save the day—couldn’t help her this time. He was missing, still a prisoner in his homeland.

And if Kali wanted a chance to ever see him again, she was going to have to kick this rogue’s ass.

A tight smile found a way to her already swelling face as Kali lifted her chin and pushed to her feet. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, she reestablished a low guard and held the daggers at ready. The rogue paced a few feet away and stood stock-still, watching her.

She would never be able to defeat it in a fair fight. Hand to hand wasn’t her strong point, but Kali did have a talent no rogue possessed—the ability to wield fire. Her skill had come a long way since last summer. Mastery over her abilities was far from perfect, and in such tight quarters, mistakes could be disastrous. But Kali didn’t see where she had any other choice. 

She waited for it to charge again, but the rogue remained motionless. She continued to wait, remembering that sometimes the best offense was a patient defense.

Come on, mallet face. Your move.

Time stretched on. So did the silence. Kali wasn’t sure how many minutes passed before the rogue finally advanced. She tried to stay relaxed. Tension only allowed an opponent to guess the next move. And Kali desperately needed surprise on her side.

The rogue swung the short sword, forcing her to shift her stance slightly to make the next block. It was a good tactic. Fights were won or lost because of good or bad footing. The blitz that followed was certainly intended to knock Kali off her feet, but behind the second block, she raised a wall of fire and channeled it forward. Unable to withstand the blaze, the rogue retreated, but pounced again as soon as the flames died. From then on, Kali followed every punch, stab, and strike with fire. Bit by bit, she drove the enemy back.

But the rogue’s surrender was too gradual. Kali couldn’t keep up the pace for much longer. The rogue seemed to know it too. No matter how many times she punished it with fire, and even with the smell of its own burned flesh and singed hair strong in the air, the rogue didn’t fatigue, didn’t falter.

The creature’s movements possessed a certain grace about them. Powerful. Deadly. Fluid. Perfection. Had not the rogue been so determined to kill her, Kali would have wanted them both to walk away and end the fight. She didn’t want to die. And this rogue didn’t need to die. Because something so dangerously rare had a right to exist in the world.

Intensely focused on the battle, Kali nearly missed a crucial block when a sharp cry of pain split the cavern atmosphere. The shout was followed by something heavy scuffing against hard-packed earth. Behind the rogue, Kali caught of a glimpse of what made the sound.

Crapola.

River was on fire.

At some point in the struggle, the rogue had smartly and literally put Rhane’s brother in the line of fire. Too weak to put himself out, River needed Kali’s help. But one very large roadblock stood in her way.

Though the mask concealed every aspect of the creature’s face, Kali could have sworn that it was smiling behind its camouflage. She made several attempts to dodge around it, but each time the rogue maneuvered to remain rooted in her path.

In her past life, Kali could smother flames from a distance. Or at least, so she’d been told. But even after months and months of training, Kali still lacked the amount of control required to accomplish that sort of thing. She would have to extinguish the fire burning River’s clothing the old-fashioned way—if she could ever get close enough.

With the rogue directly in front of River, she couldn’t risk throwing more fire to drive it away. That was probably a part of its plan too.

River cried out again, but the sound was weaker. Kali could almost taste his misery at the back of her throat.
Don’t panic. Figure it out.

She studied the rogue, recalling to her mind everything she’d learned about its fighting style tonight. So far they’d danced together as equals, and as warriors. Maybe it was time to change that.

Charging forward, she swung high, dovetailing the strikes of her daggers. The rogue fulfilled each block just as she thought it would. But when the gladius met her blade for the third time, Kali pounded a fourth blow home—below the belt home—driving the hilt of her dagger into its groin. The rogue dropped, and she hit it again, dead center on its temple. Leaping overhead as its form sank even lower, Kali threw a burst of fire at the stunned creature. The force of the flames knocked it back at least ten feet, and at last the rogue didn’t move.

Kali hurried to River. Stabbing her weapons into the ground, she knelt next to him. Face down, his fingers and legs twitched beneath the blanket of fire turned orange by the fuel of his clothing, no longer a siren’s to command. Kali leveraged her weight to roll River onto his back and hurriedly scooped handfuls of dirt to cover any escaping flames.

The sigh of relief was just across her lips when Kali was lifted off the ground and tossed through the air like scraps for a dog. She endured an awful landing, one her skull took the brunt of. A few moments passed before she recovered enough of her senses to realize her weapons were left next to River. The revelation jolted her to her feet, but the rogue was already on top of her. Grabbing her by the throat, it growled like a wild animal as it shoved her against the rocky wall.

This is it. It’s over.