UnholyCravings (11 page)

Tara needed to think, and that meant that she had to put
some distance between her and the men. Their presence was too overwhelming and
intense. When she was around them, she was all emotion, no reason. She started
to turn away, but Donar grabbed her arms and pulled her back.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “You have to tell us.”

“It doesn’t matter why you feel the connection or how it was
formed. The only thing that matters is that you sever it.” The familiar voice
rippled through the air and chilled her heart.
Nergal.

Donar stepped back and drew his sword. Soren did the same.
Tara turned and saw the cab driver step out from the storage unit.

“Well, well. You two must be stronger than we thought. Urian
will be pleased to learn of this.”

“Urian?” Tara searched her memory. Why was the name so
familiar?

“You have Urian?” Soren’s grip tightened around the hilt of
his sword. “Give him back to us.”

“With pleasure.” Nergal turned and bowed as a large man with
long, dark hair and an ebony goatee strode outside. Tara recognized him. He was
also the one who created the blast that caused Donar and Soren to temporarily
lose their memories.

The man placed his hand on Nergal’s head. “Rise.”

Nergal straightened as Urian pulled his hand away.

“I don’t believe it,” Soren whispered.

Nergal’s smile was smug and self-satisfactory. “
Deahman
s,
meet your new master, chosen by the red horseman himself.”

“The red horseman? As in the apocalypse?” This was worse
than she thought. If the
deahmans
ever freed one of the horsemen of the
apocalypse…

Tara heard a loud
clang
. She glanced at Donar and
Soren and was horrified to see that they had tossed aside their swords and had
bowed low to the newcomer.

She turned back to Urian and studied his face. She had seen
him somewhere else, sometime before he hurt Donar and Soren. Where? When?

“You are part of Darien’s team,” she said after a moment.

“Darien. Yes.” Urian’s smile was pure evil. “You will have
to thank him for me.”

“I will do no such thing.” She withdrew her stars. “You can
give him the message yourself.”

“Perhaps I will.”

She glanced at Donar and Soren. Why weren’t they defending
themselves?

“It’s me,” Urian said.

Tara turned back to the dark lord. “You?”

“Their inner
deahmans
recognize their master. I can
control them.” He glanced down at Nergal and frowned. “Evidently I can control
them much better than my second-in-command.”

Nergal fixed his gaze on Urian and held his hands out to his
sides. “Our power always weakens when we cross the portal. It was inevitible.”

Urian raised his hand for silence. “Perhaps for you, but not
for me.” He focused on Tara. “I believe that you have something that belongs to
me.”

The twins.
“No.” She shook her head. “You can’t have
them.”

“Ah, but I already possess them. It’s been a long time, hasn’t
it, friends?”

Soren and Donar buckled closer to the ground. Their jaws
locked and sweat beaded at their temples. Donar let out a low groan.

“Stop it. You’re hurting them,” Tara said.

“It will be nothing like what they receive when we finally
bring them back home. They ran away from me, Tara. I can’t let that go
unpunished.”

“How do you know my name?”

He smiled. “I know many things, can do many things. Perhaps
a demonstration.” His smile fell. “Seize her.”

Soren and Donar rose as one and grabbed Tara by the arms,
causing her to drop her throwing star. She struggled and kicked, but she didn’t
want to hurt them. They easily overcame her.

“You see?” Urian held his hands out to the sides. “It was
almost too easy.”

“You bastard. Let them go.”

“I don’t think so, not yet. As long as they have the taint,
I’ll be able to control them. That could prove to be…useful to my plan to
destroy Darien Lange.”

“Asshole. If you can control people with the taint, why don’t
you just order Darien to come to you?”

“Ah, you see, he fucked that
Iatros
whore and now I
can no longer touch him. But once the stone is healed, that little bitch won’t
be able to block me and he’ll be mine to control.” Urian smiled at the thought
and then glanced at Nergal. “Go retrieve the shard.”

How did he know about the shard? Tara watched as Nergal rose
and went directly to Soren. He stuck his hand inside Soren’s glowing pocket and
retrieved the shard. Then he rubbed Soren’s head.

“Good boy. You always were one to obey orders.” He glanced
at Donar. “You, on the other hand, were more difficult to control.” He closed
the distance between him and Donar and ruffled his fingers through the hair on
top of Donar’s head. “But in the end you finally submitted, didn’t you?”

Donar hissed through clenched teeth as his whole body
tightened. Pain washed over Tara from both Donar and Soren. Thankfully they
weren’t fully bound, or she would be washed in too much pain to think. When a
full mate was hurt, the
Iatros
felt the pain right along with him. If he
died, she’d die as well.

Tara wished that there was something that she could do to
break the hold Urian had over them, but what? Even if she could fuck them
twice, there was no guarantee that it would work. Arianne was much stronger
than her and she had all she could do to hold off the taint of one tainted man.
How could Tara hope to help two?

Nergal laughed and stepped back. Then he turned his back to
them and held up the shard. “I’ve found it, master.”

Tara’s frustration grew. It was so unfair. How could they
just take the shard from Soren so easily? The fact that they could control
Donar and Soren didn’t sit well with Tara. It looked like the men weren’t going
to be able to help her with this one. Once again, she was going to have to save
their asses.

“Bring it to me.” Urian held out his hand as Nergal
approached him. The lesser
deahman
knelt low before his master and
presented the shard. It glowed bright red in his hands. Urian reached down and
picked it up. The glow intensified, engulfing his arm up to the elbow.

Urian pulled a second shard out of his pocket. It too glowed
like the first. As the shards came close together, they glowed brighter. Urian
closed his eyes and bowed his head as he cupped both in his palms. The glow
engulfed his entire body and Tara felt the evil ooze out of the light. She
turned away. After a moment, the glow faded. Tara turned back to Urian and saw
him stare at the shards in his palms.

“It didn’t work,” he said.

Nergal stood. “What do you mean, it didn’t work?”

“I felt the power in each shard reaching out toward the
other fragment of the stone, but they didn’t bond together.”

“Perhaps you need all of the shards together before you can
fuse them.”

“Perhaps.” Urian gave Nergal one of the shards. “Take the
men to the boat and tie them up, then clip the girl’s wings. Set the boat
adrift and use the shard to take her across the portal. Lock her in the
cage-room close to my chambers.” He glanced up at Tara. “I will personally keep
tabs on her there.”

Tara gasped at the command. To clip an
Iatros
’ wings
would be to strip her of all her power. She’d become as helpless as the humans
she was sworn to protect.

“Why don’t we kill her, master?” Nergal asked.

“They have already started the binding ritual, you idiot. If
we kill her, there is a good chance that the twins will die too and I need them
to tell Darien what they saw here today. It’s part of my plan.”

“Yes, you’re right as always, master.”

“Good.” Urian’s shoulders relaxed as he pocketed the second shard.
“I have business to attend to elsewhere.”

“What business is that, master?”

Urian frowned.

“If it pleases you to tell me,” Nergal added. He sounded
supplicant enough, but Tara sensed a thread of frustration in his voice. Things
might not be as they seemed in the
deahman
hierarchy. She filed the
information away for future use.

Urian’s features softened. “Someone has failed me, Nergal,
and I cannot allow failure in my ranks.”

“I understand, master. Let me send Anisa. She will give
proper punishment.”

Urian’s eyes widened and the crimson in his eyes brightened,
engulfing the entire orb. Then, seconds after it happened, the glow faded.
Urian ran his fingers over his goatee. “It appears that your secret weapon has
a weakness, my friend.”

“What? Impossible. I turned Anisa myself. She’s the perfect
heartless killing machine.”

“Not so heartless, it seems.”

“What are you talking about?”

Urian nodded to Tara. “You deal with them, then collect
Anisa back at the hotel. Bring her and Tara to me. We have much to discuss.”

“Yes, master.” Nergal nodded as Urian disappeared back into
the storage unit.

“What’s in there?” Tara asked.

“Surveillance equipment, not that it matters. It will be
dismantled now that we no longer need it.” He turned to Soren and patted his
cheek. “We have found what we came for. And in time, these two will do all of
our dirty work.”

Soren growled, but said nothing. Were they really so
helpless?

Nergal nodded toward the cab. “Come along, boys, and bring
your lover here. We’re off to the marina, where I have big plans for all three
of you.”

Tara screamed in frustration as Donar lifted her and tossed
her over his shoulder as though she was a sack of potatoes. “Donar, listen to
me. I can’t go to the marina. The water—”

“Oh, he’s listening, sweetheart. It’s just that his
deahman
is far too powerful to succumb to his feeble protests.” Nergal chuckled as he
led the group back to the cab.

Chapter Eleven

With each kick of Tara’s feet, Donar felt more and more like
a heel. He could sense her rising anguish and frustration, but was helpless to
do anything about it. His darkness felt conflicted. It felt loyalty to Tara,
and yet feared punishment from its master. Donar’s own anger grew at his
helplessness. What could he do? Maybe he could use some good old manipulation
to gain control of his
deahman
.

You’re weak,
he forced the words through his mind and
to the darkness within.

His
deahman
whimpered in response.

You’re letting others control you
.

He could feel the
deahman’s
frustration and anger
.
I must obey my master.

Why?

He will hurt us.

But Tara will suffer.

His
deahman
hesitated for a moment before responding.
Better her than us.

It was no use. His inner darkness was frightened of Nergal
and Urian. The shard Urian had given Nergal had seemed to increase the
deahman’s
power. Before, Donar could easily resist Nergal’s pull. Not anymore. He’d have
to recruit the help of his
deahman
if he had any chance of surviving
this ordeal.

You’re nothing but a big baby,
Donar said.

No hurt.

He’s going to hurt us anyway, you know. As soon as he’s
done using us, he’s going to kill us.

His
deahman
was silent for a moment.
Must obey.

Donar inwardly sighed. Some protector he turned out to be.
He couldn’t protect himself, much less Tara and Soren. What good was he?

He had to get enough control back to get the shard away from
Nergal. Then his power would weaken and he, Soren and Tara could escape. Maybe.
It was a long shot, but at the moment it was the only option he had.

They had parked the cab and had been walking about two
blocks before Nergal stopped in front of a mid-sized yacht and motioned the men
on board. “After you.”

“You aren’t taking me on there,” Tara complained.

“Watch me.” Nergal stepped onto the boat and motioned for
Soren and Donar to follow. Soren stood still, his face contorted with pain. He
was fighting it, Donar knew. He could feel Soren’s energy draining away with
each passing second.

Donar wanted to tell him to stop fighting. Nergal’s hold was
too strong and they would only waste energy. It would be better to follow his
orders now and wait for an opportunity to get the shard away from him.

“Please don’t take me on that boat, Donar.” Tara’s voice
sounded weak and strained. “Please. He’ll clip my wings. It will kill me.”

Donar tried to stop his body, but couldn’t.
Listen to
her.

His
deahman
whimpered in response.

Step on that boat and we’re all dead.

Must obey.
The
deahman
used Donar’s body to
take a step toward the boat, and Tara’s pleas turned into wails.

“I won’t go on that boat. I won’t!” She kicked and screamed
and Donar’s grip slipped.

“Imbecile. Control the bitch, will you?” Nergal jumped off
the boat and closed the distance between them.

“How?” Donar was using all of his strength to keep Tara safe
in his arms. The little woman was a fireball, much stronger than he would have
ever imagined.

“Like this.” Nergal made a fist and swung. The shot was a
good one and Donar couldn’t get out of the way in time. Nergal connected with
the side of Tara’s head.

Her body stilled. Nergal whipped his arm back and punched
her again for good measure. “And that’s to make sure she doesn’t wake up for a
while.”

Donar’s whole body stilled as his
deahman
screamed in
agony.
Mine!
Tears stung his eyes and his arms shook. Tara was his. How
dare Nergal strike her?
Mine!

This was it, the opportunity Donar had been waiting for.
Nergal didn’t know it, but striking Tara made Donar’s
deahman
question
his loyalties.

A mighty roar rose up from his left. Nergal and Donar turned
to see Soren lunge forward.
Yes.
The hit had Soren’s
deahman
question its loyalties as well. Soren must have gotten through to it.

Soren raced past Donar and tackled Nergal. Both of them hit
the dock hard and started to roll. Fists flew so fast that Donar wasn’t sure
where one man began and the other ended.

Mine!

Let me have control. I’ll help.

Mine!
The
deahman
wailed, but Donar felt its
control on his body recede. Donar moved onto the boat and carefully laid Tara
down in one of the seats in the back. Having finished Nergal’s command, he felt
the pressure on his mind lessen and felt more in control of himself. He quickly
checked over Tara to confirm that she wasn’t in any immediate danger, then
tried to assess the situation.

Soren had heart, but he was never going to defeat Nergal. He
might have taken the elder
deahman
by surprise, but Nergal was stronger
and faster. Even now, the master was gaining the upper hand.

Their only chance for survival was to escape and find
Darien. Donar looked around and wished he knew how to drive a boat. How did one
start one of these things? He spotted a doorway and went inside. Immediately to
his right was a stairway to what he assumed as sleeping quarters. A large wheel
stood in front of him. To the left of the wheel was a control panel. Fuck, how
did one drive one of these things?

On the floor under the control panel was a toolbox filled
with wrenches, hammers, pliers and the like. He grabbed a wrench and looked at
the control panel. A key had been inserted into the part closest to the wheel.
He turned it.

The motor started to putter. Donar ran back outside and
undid the ropes until only a single line held the boat tethered to the dock.
Then he went to help his friend.

His inner
deahman
grew, feeding on the smell of blood
and violence.

Help Soren,
Donar commanded.

Mine!
Donar’s
deahman
took control once more
and jumped into the thick of the fight, his arms swinging.

“Soren, the boat!” He yelled as he swung the wrench. It hit
nothing but air. Nergal picked up Soren and threw him at Donar. They both went
down in a crash. The air left Donar’s lungs as his back hit the wharf. He
dropped the wrench. Soren scrambled back and stood. Then he charged Nergal once
more before Donar could stop him.

The man was insane.

Donar jumped into the fray and tried to help his twin.
Nergal evaded the attack and lunged for the wrench. Donar dove after him, but
he was too slow. Nergal grabbed the wrench and turned his body. Donar saw the
wrench coming for him but couldn’t move away in time. It hit him hard on the
side of his head and for the moment he saw stars. He lessened his grip and fell
to the dock as pain exploded across his skull.

“Get back here, you little whelp. That’s mine!” Nergal’s
voice rose up from the chaos.

Donar heard footsteps running away. He turned toward the
boat as Nergal punched him in the jaw. Donar tasted blood. The world around him
began to dip and sway.

Donar dragged himself to his feet and threw a punch, but he
was worn from the strain of resisting Nergal’s influence on his
deahman
and in far too much pain. He hit Nergal in the stomach. The elder
deahman
grunted and Donar turned and sprinted for the boat. With each step, his head
pounded like a son-of-a-bitch. Just a few more steps…

“Come on!” Soren shouted from the wheel.

“Cut the rope!” Donar called back.

“What?”

“Cut the rope!”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Something grabbed his ankle and Donar went down onto the hard
wood. He rolled as Nergal’s fist swung down. Thankfully, the elder
deahman
hit the dock instead of his skull. Donar scrambled to his feet and kept
running.

The boat started pulling away from the dock. He had only a
few more feet to go and he’d be safe.

Nergal began to chant in that old Celtic language he used
for his spells. Donar glanced over his shoulder and saw the
deahman
standing on the dock, holding out his hand toward him.

“Fuck!” Soren said. “Hurry, he’s casting a spell!”

Suddenly the compulsion to obey Nergal overwhelmed Donar’s
senses. His steps slowed and his
deahman
cried out in despair.

Must obey.

No!
Donar shouted back at his deahman.

Master.

For Tara.
Donar’s words struck a chord with his
deahman
.
The darkness inside him wavered and he forced himself to move the last few
steps to the dock’s edge and jump into the air. He hovered over the water for a
brief second before landing in a heap at the bottom of the boat.

Soren pushed down on the throttle and they raced away from
the dock, leaving giant waves in their wake.

“Get back here, you little thieves!”

Donar turned to Soren. “Thieves?”

Soren grinned and pulled the shard out of his pocket. “It’s
technically not thieving if I’m taking back what was mine to begin with.”

Donar laughed as Soren stuffed the shard back into his
pocket. “Good job.”

“I thought so. Now we just need to find Darien.”

Donar could feel Nergal’s magic weakening the farther they
got from him. Good. Hopefully the distance would help both he and Soren clear
their heads.

Donar looked up from his position on the floor. “Where did
you learn to drive the boat?”

“Venom.”

Donar blinked at the familiar name. Venom was the assassin
group both he and Soren used to belong to. It was where they had gotten their
matching snake tattoos and earrings.

Their membership in the group was also why Darien valued
their loyalty. Soren and Donar used to kill people for a living. There wasn’t
much difference between killing a human and killing a
deahman
. With a
deahman
,
you just had to make sure that the head was separated from the body, otherwise
the dark creature might come back to life. Donar had seen it happen once. It
wasn’t a pretty sight.

“Why did Venom teach you to drive a boat and not me?” Donar
asked.

Soren shrugged. “You knew that the group was cutting costs.
They probably assumed that we’d always be together, so only one of us needed to
know how to drive a boat.”

Donar frowned as Soren averted his gaze to fiddle with something
on the control panel. He didn’t need to read Soren’s emotions to know his twin
was hiding something, but what?

“Perhaps, but cutting back on training of their personnel
doesn’t sound like something that they’d do,” Donar said.

Venom was a group of elite undercover assassins for the US
government. Five years ago, in an attempt to balance the budget, the group was
disbanded and the members scattered through other divisions within the FBI and
CIA. He, Soren and a third man, known as Sparrow, went to work for Darien. He
didn’t know what happened to the rest.

Soren laughed as he steadied the wheel. “You think Venom’s
financial troubles began the year they disbanded? No, it started long before
that.”

Donar didn’t doubt it, but that wasn’t the whole story.
Soren was hiding something, he was sure of it. Donar didn’t like being out of
the loop, particularly when the discussion was about Venom. Those bastards had
put both him and Soren through hell, but it was worth every scar, every strain.
Donar loved that job, and felt a little betrayed that Soren was part of
something that he wasn’t.

“Keep driving,” he told Soren. It was pointless to argue the
past now. Venom was disbanded and behind them. It was better to leave the past
in the past.

“Where should we go?” Soren asked.

“I don’t care. Pull it out far from land and let it drift
for a while. I need to think.” He pushed aside his thoughts of Venom, scrambled
to the back of the boat and sat beside Tara. The woman hadn’t stirred during
his whole conversation with Soren.

Fuck.
He had failed her. Hell, he had failed both of
them. Donar could feel Soren’s dependence on him. It ran deeper than his need
to follow orders. There was a special connection there that made them brothers
in more than blood. He had hoped that one day he’d share that same connection
with Tara too. Donar liked feeling needed. It gave him purpose and made him
feel complete. To have Tara look up to him the way Soren did…well, that would
be like heaven on earth.

How could this precious woman grow to depend on him when he
couldn’t protect her? A sense of hopelessness surrounded him. Donar fought back
tears as he brushed his fingers along the side of her cheek. She felt so soft,
so smooth. She deserved so much better than a possessed soul like himself.

Tara opened her eyes and touched his wrist. “Where am I?”

“Safe.”

“Nergal?”

“We left him behind on the dock. He can’t get to us unless
he hires another boat, and that could take hours.”

“We’re on the water?” Tara started to sit up and Donar eased
her back down.

“Yes.”

“We can’t be on the water, we
can’t
.”

Donar frowned at the panic he felt from her. “What do you
mean, we can’t? We just did it.”

“No, no, no, no.” Tara huddled in a ball and rocked herself.
“No water. No water.”

“Is she all right?” Soren poked his head out from behind the
wheel.

Donar glanced up at his brother, unsure of how much to tell
him. He thought about the closeness that the Soren and Tara shared, and how he
craved that for his own. He wanted Tara to turn to him like she turned to Soren
back in the cab. No, he’d take care of this on his own.