Darkness Arisen (38 page)

"Forever," he agreed, brushing his fingers over her cheek in a gesture so tender that it made her soul ache with longing. "You're a part of me. Which means I fulfill the contract—" He gasped suddenly, and Alice saw black shadows winding around his ankle. The demons that had come to take her were taking him instead. "No! Stop!" She shouted and batted at them, but they just kept coming. "Ian!"

His fingers drifted off her cheek. "I love you, sweetheart. You'll always be my angel." Then his eyes closed, and his body relaxed. The dark shadows swirled over his body, and she felt them taking his soul. "No, no, no!" She screamed, frantically trying to remember how she'd saved Gideon. She called the white light, but it didn't come. Nothing came. Because he wasn't Order anymore. She couldn't save him. "No!"

He'd relinquished his legacy for her. He'd given up his chance to restore honor to his family name. He'd taken the road considered least honorable. Everything that mattered to him, he'd given it all up for her.

And she'd lost him. Dear God, he was gone.

* * *

A weapon whizzed by Alice's head, and she numbly looked up as the young warrior continued to pummel Warwick. A dagger nicked the wizard's shoulder, and another grazed past his horse's chest. There were too many for him to fend off. He glanced down at Ian, and then threw his arms in the air in victory. "It is done!" he crowed in delight.

Victory because he'd caused an amazing man to kill himself?

"You bastard!" She lurched to her feet, anger blazing through her. She'd never felt so much fury, never allowed such intense emotions to flow though her. "You don't get it! You didn't dishonor him! Ian just made the most powerful choice a warrior can make! You didn't ruin him. He died with glory and honor because he took back what you stole from him, his ability to love!" She was screaming at him now, tears streaming down her face.

Warwick glanced at her. "What are you raving about, woman?" In the split second he took his attention off the battle to focus on Alice, a spear plunged into his shoulder.

He shouted, whirling back to face his young attacker, but Alice grabbed his horse's bridle, yanking the massive animal back toward her with surprising ease, as if the horse himself was on her side and not the wizard's. "You failed! Don't you get it? You failed to destroy him! He defeated you!"

The wizard yanked the horse's reins free of her grasp, and she saw pink foam frothing at the animal's mouth. Blood? He was hurting his horse too? "You bastard!" She called out Ian's mace, and it appeared in her hand. "How dare you!"

Cardiff laughed. "You think you can kill me with that?" He held his arms out to his sides in a defenseless position. "Just try! If you kill me, it will destroy you even more! Try!"

Alice raised the mace to strike, her arms shaking with fury as he waited for her to strike him down in cold blood. She hesitated, the weapon heavy in her hands. How could she do that? How could she take a life? How could she become like him?

She could make herself do it. She knew she could break the rules. She was already damned. But at the same time, did she really want to become the person with even more blood on her hands? Tears filled her eyes, and she lowered the mace. "I am an angel, not a monster," she said, claiming her birthright with pride for the first time in her life. "I will not be that person. You will find your death by hands other than mine."

"Like mine!" With a shout of triumph, Gideon sprang up from the floor behind Warwick, and slammed his axe into the side of the wizard's neck. It went clean through, severing the life from him instantly.

Cardiff tumbled off his mount, but before he hit the ground, his body shimmered once and then vanished from sight, his cloak dropping to his horse's saddle. It stayed there for a minute, then the animal stepped sideways and the cloak slid silently off the leather and landed in a soft heap on the ground beside his massive hoof.

Beside him, Catherine moaned, and she slumped on the wood as the stains on her body faded.

Alice cried with relief as Catherine looked up, her eyes blue again. "Alice?" she croaked.

"Cat!" Alice dropped to her knees beside Catherine and hugged her. The wizard's death had broken the spell he'd cast that had been dragging Cat toward that horrific fate. "You're okay."

Cat hugged her fiercely, her body trembling. "For now, Ally. Just for now." She pulled back and met her gaze. "It won't end."

Alice brushed the hair out of her sister's eyes. "I know. We'll figure something out. But we have time now."

"Not much, Ally. Not much." The women hugged again, both of them treasuring this moment, all too aware that Catherine's battle was far from over.

The sounds of fighting on the roof stopped, and there were shouts of triumph from the warriors still up there. In their tower room, Drew let out a whoop of victory, but Gideon just looked at Alice, his face grim. "Ian?"

Grief surged through Alice. Grief, and the most powerful love she'd ever experienced. "He killed himself for me."

Gideon looked past her, and hope sparked in his face. "His body hasn't vanished yet. He still has a chance."

Alice's heart jumped, and she whirled around to look at Ian. "What?"

"Calydon bodies vanish at death. The older they are, the quicker they disappear. Ian's should be gone by now." He sprinted across the room and knelt beside Ian as boots began to thud down the stairs. With a few slashes of his axe, he broke the manacles that had been trapping Ian and caught him as he slid to the ground.

Alice squeezed in beside him, and put her hand on Ian's chest. His body was empty. His spirit was gone. "He's not there."

"No!" Gideon swore, grabbing Ian's shoulders. "Quinn Masters died for two minutes, and then came back to life. Ian! Come on! Don't give up!"

God, if there was a way...but she knew there wasn't. He was gone. Tears blurred, and she realized she was clutching Ian's hand, as if she could bring him back to life with her touch.

Gideon grabbed her arm. "Save him, like you saved me. Give him that white light shit that you did."

"I can't. He's not Order of the Blade! You guys kicked him out and now I can't help him!"

Gideon blanched, and the other Order of the Blade members charged down the stairs. Kane let out a shout and teleported himself right beside Ian. "Shit, we have to heal him!"

But unlike last time, when his team could help him, this was different. "He's dead," she whispered. "There's nothing left to save."

Kane turned his head. "Then you're the only thing that can help him."

"He's not Order—"

"Who the fuck cares? Just do it." Kane's eyes glittered. "I'm married to an angel, and I know damn well that you can break the rules if you want to badly enough."

"I do want to! I love him!"

"Then save him!" Kane commanded. "Now!"

Alice looked down at Ian, knowing that it wasn't anything like how it had been with Gideon when she'd saved him out of instinct and duty. It wasn't Chloe, who was just a person to her. This was
Ian,
the man who had saved her so many times, pushed her past her limits, and made her laugh when she had no reason to. He'd awakened her emotions, and he'd given her the ability to feel and connect in a way she never had before. The man who'd given up what mattered most to him, just so he could give her love.

She didn't want to save him because it was her duty.

She wanted to save him because she loved him—

Oh, God. Did she really love him? That was the ultimate betrayal of her duty as an angel of life. The ultimate failure. Had she really crossed that line?

But as she gazed down at Ian, the pain in her heart was so deep, so intense, and so agonizingly terrible, that she knew the answer was yes. And she didn't want it any other way.

Kane's flail pressed against her neck. "Save him," he said, his eyes darkening with a fury that made her skin crawl. "I won't lose two of my teammates. Get him back for us.
Now!"
His eyes were blazing with such torment and hell that her skin went cold.

Something was seriously dangerous inside him. Slowly, Alice reached out and touched his face. His skin was cold and hard, almost brittle. "You need help," she said.

Surprise flickered in Kane's dark eyes, and for a split second, she saw the desperate humanity within them. A vulnerability he kept hidden deep inside, from others but also from himself. "I know," he said softly, in a voice so low she felt his words more than heard them. "Sarah keeps me in control. I need to get back to her. But right now, Ian needs help."

"Save him like you saved me," Gideon said. "I can feel the white light pouring out of you. It's still in there. Use it on Ian. Now."

"The white light is for the Order—" But as she protested, she realized there had been times when she'd used white light on someone other than the Order: herself.

Every time she died, just at that moment when the demons had taken her beyond what she could endure, a white light had come for her. It had always started as a glow, but it eventually took the shape of a woman before plunging into her and taking her back to the physical world. She'd always thought it was something external coming to rescue her, but now, for the first time, she realized that she'd been wrong.

That light was inside her. It was her own powers, coming to save her when she was at her most desperate, when she was so desolate that she called it even without meaning to. She wasn't Order, but she used the white light on herself. Could she call it for Ian, for the man who was such a part of her that his brands were on her arms?

Sudden, fierce resolution flowed through her. Determination. No fear. For the first time in her life, she felt no fear or insecurity, just the same intense focus that she'd seen in Ian every time he'd prepared for battle. "Come on, Ian." She slid her hands under his head and bent her head to his.
Just as you offered me your healing and your strength to save my life all those times, I offer you mine.

Then she pressed her lips to his cold ones and offered him everything she had, just as he had offered it to her so many times. She opened her heart to him. She let him feel her love for him. She showed him her terror at what would become of her for saving him, and at the same time, let warm reassurance flow through her that it was the right choice. That she would do it a thousand times.

His lips didn't respond, and his soul was gone...no...no...wait! She could feel him! Distant. Not in his body, but hovering close, connected by mere threads, still trying to hang on and resist the demons. There was still a chance!

Ian. Come back to me.
Alice continued to kiss him, trying desperately to erase a lifetime of protective shields around her emotions. She let herself feel the agony of a future without Ian. She allowed herself to experience the anguish of what his death would feel like. She let the trauma of it all fill her, until the grief and desperation were so strong that they tore at her heart. She welcomed all the pain and let it fill her.

She opened herself to Ian's suffering, and nearly staggered at the feeling of how fiercely he was fighting to live. She brought that will to live into her, and she absorbed it as her own until her lungs began to labor under the effort of taking one more breath, as if she were the one who was dying.

She let his death fill her, merging them until she felt her soul join him in death. Further and further she fell into the crevasse, winding her soul around his, until his last breath tried to steal hers, until death was their only future.
No! I'm not ready to die!
Just as she had all those times while in demon hands, Alice lunged for the one thing that would save her: the white light.

She screamed to the heavens, calling for her life, for help, and for salvation. She turned her existence and Ian's over to a power far greater than she. And as she did so, she reached the end of her capacity and her lifeline. Immediately, that familiar white light formed in her mind, coming to save both her and the man so connected to her that they were one.

As she and Ian fought together for breath, the white glow began to spin, faster and faster. It took the shape of an orb, stretching longer and longer, and then suddenly morphed into the form of a woman. And for the first time in her life, Alice saw that it was herself. She screamed for help, and the white light transformed into a glowing sphere and plunged right through both of their hearts.

She gasped and her body bowed in unison with Ian's, and their screams joined in agonizing relief as their spirits returned to their bodies.

Alice.
Ian's arms went around her, catching her as she collapsed onto him. His pride filled her, a sense of pride so beautiful that she wanted to cry.
I knew you had it in you.

"Way to go!" Kane thumped her shoulder, and she was vaguely aware of the rest of the team's cheers of triumph.

All she could focus on was Ian.
I lo—
But before she could get the words out, her thigh began to burn. Alice yelped and grabbed for the front of her shorts. Smoke was rising from them, and a charred black hole was in her front pocket. She cupped her hand beneath the hole as the pearl rolled free and landed in her palm.

It was no longer the inactive swirl of reds and oranges. Now, it was glowing with a blazing white light, so bright that she had to shield her eyes. Ian sat up, bracing himself on his elbows, his eyes clear and focused as if he hadn't been a whisper from death. "What's that?"

She held it up. "The pearl of Lycanth. It's activated now."

Ian looked at her, and his eyes were grim with comprehension. "Saving me damned you, didn't it? The pearl is on overdrive trying to protect you."

She nodded and closed her fist around it. "Without it, I'd already be in the ocean."

"And when you have to give it back when we return—" He didn't finish the sentence. They both knew what would happen.

Alice shrugged. "You don't need to go back. I'll go—"

"Fuck that. We're going back, and we're going to face the deal we made. If you're going to wind up living a mermaid's life, I'll buy some scuba gear and rule the underworld with you."