Dark Desires After Dusk (40 page)

“What? What has to be done?”

In answer, Cadeon pointed off to the side of the street to a towering birch tree. Tattered nooses swayed from its limbs.

“Are the Wendigo still here after all this time?”

“Probably. They can survive on animal flesh if they have to.”

They neared the town's church. “Is that what I think it is on the chapel?” The building was still eerily pristine—on its sides. Across the front, ruddy spatter stretched in distinct arcs at least fifteen feet high.

He nodded. “It's blood.”

“Oh, God . . .”

“The villagers still living and uninfected probably barricaded themselves in that church. The windows are boarded on the inside.”

The front doors hung askew. Just past them, Holly spied stacked pews. She could imagine the scene all too clearly. Once the front blockade had fallen, the people inside had been trapped by their own defenses. The Wendigo likely dragged out screaming villagers, tossing them to the waiting pack . . . .

“Cadeon, even if I'm not interested in being human again, I'm glad you brought me.”

“How could you be?” His tone was almost sharp.

“Just in case you need me to get your back,” she said,
frowning when she saw his knuckles go white on the steering wheel.

Just as she parted her lips to ask him what was wrong, he said, “There's Groot's fortress.”

As the mist began to clear, she glimpsed a magnificent waterfall, at least four hundred feet high. Directly atop it was . . . a castle, built at the fall's edge.

Five towers all conjoined to a central keep over the water. Above it, a stone smokeshaft billowed gray smoke. Even from this distance, the mighty forge was visible.

“That's why the river isn't frozen and why there's so much mist,” he said. “It heats the water—”

“Cadeon!” She swallowed. “Down a side street. I think I just saw something running!”

C
ade had spotted them, too. Wendigo hunted in packs—and they were stalking them.

“Are they still following us?” she asked, eyes darting.

“Yeah.”

The road continued up the escarpment, taking them ever higher and closer to the keep. He turned on the wipers when mist from the falls became as thick as rain, until they climbed above it.

The sun had set, and the full moon had begun to rise by the time they came upon a perimeter fence. Metal spikes pointed outward like old-fashioned bulwarks, yet he could see that they were fastened to gears. Cade suspected that they would move if disturbed.

The front gate was towering and complex. One section rolled on a rail to the side, and another could be raised and lowered. When the truck was directly in front of it, the two components opened to allow just enough space for him to ease through, then both closed inches from his back bumper.

They were in.
Minutes till show time.

“There's no way Wendigo can get past that gate. You can relax now,” he said, inwardly wincing.

This part of the drive seemed endless to Cade. His hands were damp on the steering wheel, and at every instant, he was tempted to turn around.

But he didn't turn around, instead parking in front of two colossal entry doors. Made of iron, they stood at least a couple of stories high and were flanked by flaming torches the size of a man.

When Cade grabbed his sword sheath to strap over his back, she raised her brows. “Just in case we have to depart quick-like.”

The noise from the waterfall was deafening when they got out of the truck. Immediately, those doors groaned open, seeming of their own accord.

“You ready?” he asked, having to raise his voice over the sound.

“Ready to get this over with!”

When he and Holly entered the empty hall, no one greeted them. The doors eased shut behind them, just as another opened across the bailey. They had no choice but to follow the path available, leading them deeper toward the heart of the castle. Their footsteps echoed on the stone floor.

As much as Cade despised Groot, the military part of Cade's mind couldn't help but be impressed with the design of the castle. The layout was a defensive dream.

Five baileys had been built in an X formation, all connected to the largest tower in the center by narrow walkways. Only one bailey was on land. The other four were constructed on man-made piers or natural pediments in the water.

If Groot were attacked, he could destroy the walkway from the land bailey, and the others would be unreachable.

Even if an enemy decided to approach by water, at least two of the baileys would prove unassailable because they
lay at the direct edge of the waterfall. The strength of the current would make them impossible to near.

An attack by air wouldn't work. The forge vented smoke so dense it would cloak the castle from above.

When they passed through the far door, it led them outside to a walkway over the water, connecting to the forge. Cade glanced over the stone balustrade. Beneath them, the silt-laden water dropped at least four hundred feet down, churning in monstrous eddies and spitting up foam. The din was so loud he would have to yell to be heard.

In the main tower, the forge had large bay doors that opened up like a warehouse. The area was filled with blacksmith tools: tongs, pincers, and an anvil as big as a car. An immense furnace blazed. Directly across from the forge opening was a crenellated parapet wall.

Inside the main keep they entered a long, dimly lit hall. All along the walls, he saw glowing white eyes, like penlights covered with a milky film. He smelled the stench of rot.

“What are they?” Holly whispered.

“Revenants,” he grated. Imatra had said they'd be here. His jaw clenched. She'd neglected to mention that there would be
hundreds
of them.

*   *   *

“I thought only
evil
sorcerers raised them from the dead,” Holly said.

“Standard sorcerer issue,” Cadeon answered. “They all use them.”

The revenants' skin was putrid, their bodies in varying stages of decomposition, and they each had a disgusting metal spike shoved into their temple. “What's with those spikes?”

“I don't know,” Cade murmured. “I've never seen that before.”

The opening and closing of doors finally ushered them into a study with plush rugs, rich wood paneling, and an inviting fire. The cozy room looked as if it was missing an Englishman with a pipe, reading classics aloud.

Still, she said, “I thoroughly don't like this place.”

“Me neither, pet.”

Minutes later, a towering, muscular man strolled in, followed by six revenants.

“Groot?” Cadeon asked in an incredulous tone.

She understood his disbelief. Holly had pictured Groot as a fragile, white-haired wizard, straight out of
The Lord of the Rings.

Instead, he was hulking, his muscles bulging under his old-fashioned trousers and tunic. His smith work must have developed his physique.

His skin was shiny and sallow, as if the only light he'd seen for years was from a fire.

“And you're the infamous Cadeon the Kingmaker,” the sorcerer said. Then his deep-set, pale eyes darted to her. “Welcome to my home, Holly. I am Groot the Metallurgist.”

He had an unctuous demeanor, eyeing her intently, even . . .
smugly
? She unconsciously took a step closer to Cadeon.

This entire place was wrong, unnerving. She knew down to her bones that this man was evil.

“You have the sword?” Cadeon asked.

“I do.”

“And it will kill Omort?”

“I vow it to the Lore and wish you much success with
it. I
want
you to succeed.” His mincing way of speaking seemed out of place for such a burly male. “I would like to leave this compound once in a century or so.” Groot smiled in her direction. “To take my new bride out.”

Why is he looking at
me?

“Cadeon . . . ?” she murmured. When he didn't answer, she met his gaze.

And saw a man she didn't know.

No longer merely cocky, he now looked
cruel
. “What is this?” she asked, dread tightening her stomach.

“It's a trade. Sorry, pet. I need that sword, and Groot needs a Vessel.”

Her lips parted. “A Vessel,” she said dumbly.
This isn't happening. This can't be happening.

“Have you made her eat?” Groot asked.

Cadeon answered, “Three squares a day.”

She remembered all those times Cadeon had urged her to eat. Now she knew why.

To make sure I'm nice and fertile for the evil sorcerer.

She couldn't get enough air. “There's no reversing my change to Valkyrie?”

“Nah. I just needed your cooperation to get you to my employer here.”

Oh, God . . . oh, God. Breathe.
“I was part of a . . . business transaction?”

“Yeah, that's about right.”

Groot chimed in. “Your guardian sold you over. For a weapon.” He snapped his gnarled fingers, and those foul, rotting soldiers seized her arms. “Put her in my room.”

“Cadeon?” As they began forcing her out, she cried over her shoulder, “You don't mean this!”

*   *   *

Cade gritted his teeth, battling not to go to her with every ounce of will he possessed. When he felt Groot studying him, he forced himself to shrug. “Never trust a demon, love . . . .”

Before, he'd wondered if she'd suspected him. At the look on her face, he knew.
She'd really believed in me.
She'd trusted him utterly.

She began struggling against the revenants, seeming shocked when she couldn't budge their grip. When tears welled in her eyes, pain stabbed him like a knife to the heart.

Keep it together, five more minutes.
As long as the sorcerer was with Cade, he wasn't hurting Holly.

Groot's going to give me the sword, I'll kill him, then come for you. We'll take our chances together . . . .

The door closed behind her. Cade forced himself to breathe.

“She's exquisite,” Groot said with sigh. “It will make this process that much more enjoyable.”

Cade had never wanted to kill anyone so badly in his life. This sick fuck thought he would have Cade's female, was already envisioning it.

And Groot was brother to the sorceress who had Rydstrom. At that instant, Cade decided he'd kill every single member of that family with the sword Groot was about to give him.

“The revenants look stronger than before,” Cade said, his tone deceptively casual.

“The metal spike. I'm able to infuse them with a hundred times more power, and control their actions even more precisely. They're handy to have around. They're stronger than even, say, a rage demon.”

Holly might not have suspected Cade of anything, but Groot did. “I'm not here to make trouble. I just want the sword. Get in, get out.”

“Very well. I have it here,” Groot said, crossing to a weapons cabinet. Once he'd collected the sword, he unsheathed it.

The weapon was a thing of beauty to behold, glimmering in the light.

Groot started across the room toward Cade, then faltered. “Actually, I'll keep my distance, if you don't mind.” He made a motion like he was about to toss the sword. Once Cade raised a hand in readiness, Groot pitched it to him.

When Cade caught the handle, he felt the smallest prick in his palm. Changing hands, he darted his gaze down and found what looked like a silver thorn embedded into the skin. He plucked it free, and a drop of blood welled. “What the fuck is this, Groot?” But he knew . . .

“Relax, demon. It's just a little toxin to make you sleep. Your kind is so susceptible to it. You'll wake up unharmed a few hundred miles from here with no memory of how to locate this place.”

Blind panic . . . rage . . .
Cade charged the sorcerer, bellowing, “You goddamned bastard! I'm going to feed your heart to—”