Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) (44 page)

Nate scowled and rubbed his arms, and she realized he was feeling the illusion.
It was working.

He gave her a suspicious look. “What are you doing?”

“Fighting back.” And then she let it go.

Power swamped the night and electricity crackled through the sky. Nate looked up and his eyes widened in shock, and she knew she’d done it. Victory triumphed through her. He’d finally fallen victim to her! She’d done it!

Then she saw what he was looking at and she forgot about everything, horrified by what she’d conjured up. Her worst nightmare had come to life. “Oh, God.”

Nate whirled around and sprinted for safety, jerking her free of the shock of the illusion and back to her situation. She could agonize later. Right now, she had to act.

Ana gripped the stone handle of the knife and pulled, grimacing with the pain as it came free. It slipped out of her trembling fingers and she lunged for it, scooping it out of the muck before it disappeared. Her hands numb with exhaustion and cold, she managed to hide it under her shirt just before she collapsed back into the mud.

He still had his other one, but one was all she needed. With a groan, she rolled onto her stomach and forced herself to her knees. “Come on, Ana! Go!” Summoning strength she knew wouldn’t last, she began to crawl through the mud toward the clash of weapons, to where the Order was fighting Nate’s men.

She’d done all she could. It was time to let someone else save her.

* * *

Grace hadn’t made it very far when the air pressure suddenly skyrocketed.
The illusion is active, Quinn. Be ready.

Ducking against the wet branches slapping at her, Grace ran even faster, desperate to reach Ana before the illusion could distract her. She’d never tried to break through Ana’s illusions before, since butterflies and puppies were what she’d wanted to see, and she had no idea if she’d be able to do it. She ducked under a branch and then smacked her forehead on the next one, pitching to the forest floor.

Reeling from the impact, Grace lay in the mud for a few seconds while she waited for the pain to subside enough to stand up. Ow. Yes. Princess Grace, she wasn’t. Excellent timing. Clearly, warrior girl all the way.

The wind began to pick up, and the rain started to pour even more heavily. The weather was too extreme, and she knew it was the beginnings of the illusion, on its way across the woods toward them.

She realized Ana’s screams had silenced, and Grace’s stomach twisted with fear of what that could mean. “Ana! Where are you?”

No sound except the howl of the rising wind and the pounding of the rain. She stood up, staggering at a wave of dizziness. “Ana!”

Quinn brushed her mind.
We’ve taken care of the Calydons for now,
sheva
. Kane and I are following behind you. Keep going. We’ll catch up.

Okay.
She started to run again, but her feet slipped in the deepening muck, and she fell again as the rain pooled at her feet. Her hands disappeared into the puddle, and the black water closed over them, hiding her hands.

The water was too warm. Grace’s knees sank into the mud as she lifted her hand up, and thick, black water dripped off her hand in the dark night. Her stomach turned as she caught the faint metallic scent of blood.
Oh…that wasn’t good.
It’s raining blood. Like Ana did to Elijah.

Quinn snorted with disgust.
It’s not raining blood. It’s raining water. You know that.

Not blood. It wasn’t blood. Right. She did know that.

Grace lurched to her feet, grateful that it was too dark to see the color of the rain. It looked black. Mud. It looked like mud. She wiped her hands on her pants and slogged forward, her boots sinking in the thick sludge. “Ana!”

A shadow leapt out of the woods in front of her and took the shape of a Calydon warrior. She recognized him instantly from what she’d seen in Quinn’s mind, but she couldn’t believe it. “Elijah?”

* * *

Quinn vaulted over a log, following Kane as they sprinted through the woods. They’d gotten a fix on Ana’s screams, and they were closing fast, knowing Nate was probably the one making her scream. The rain was pooling at their feet, ankle deep as they splashed through it. Quinn wiped his hand over his eyes to clear them, then nearly crashed into Kane, who’d stopped suddenly.

“Elijah?” Kane sounded shocked.

Holy crap. Elijah was standing in front of them, a knife sticking out of his throat, the same knife Quinn had seen Nate thrust into his neck. Blood was running down his chest, the wound gaping open.

Kane held his flail ready, the spiked metal balls swinging at the end of the chains. “Talk to me, Elijah. You on our side now?”

Quinn reached out with his mind, trying to connect with Elijah, but he wasn’t able to touch his mind. It was as if Elijah didn’t exist. There was no link, no response. Simply nothing.

Elijah suddenly moved, so fast that Quinn and Kane had time only to hit the dirt before Elijah’s throwing stars whizzed past their heads. Quinn cursed and hurled his sword. The handle smacked into Elijah’s head and he dropped.

Quinn and Kane leapt up, then another Calydon stepped out of the woods in front of them.

Kane’s mouth dropped open. “Elijah?”

Quinn caught a whiff of danger behind them and he tackled Kane to the ground as throwing stars whistled past where their heads had been. Elijah was behind them now, his arms raised as he called his stars back.

“What the hell?” Quinn jerked his gaze to his left, just in time to see three more Elijahs bolt out of the woods, throwing stars in hand. Son of a bitch. “The illusion is Elijah,” he told Kane. “At the moment of his death.”

“Do we kill him or not?” Kane rose to his feet and swung his flail, blocking a throwing star aimed at his throat. “How do we know if one of them’s really him?”

The woods erupted suddenly and dozens of Elijahs charged, the throwing stars whizzing through the air. “Elijah’s dead. Kill them,” Quinn shouted. He sliced the midsection of the nearest Elijah, and his heart clenched as he dropped to the ground with a howl of death.
God help me if I just killed my friend.

Then another throwing star pierced the front of his shoulder. He roared with pain, ripped it out and charged.

* * *

Grace’s heart pounded as Elijah stood in front of her. She eased back a step as she tried to tap into his blood bond with Quinn to see if he was under an illusion. She softened her vision to access her Illusionist powers, just as she’d done with Quinn to see inside him. A faint glow started at his torso, and she grimaced. “You’re under an illusion—” She stopped as his whole body lit up, a bright orange glow. Not just his gut. His entire being.

Holy cow. He wasn’t carrying an illusion. He
was
the illusion.
Quinn! Elijah’s the illusion.

Got it. Thanks.

Grace flinched at the flash of pain she got from Quinn, then Elijah raised his throwing star and hurled it at her neck.

She had no time to duck, no right to call Quinn’s weapon when he was using it. She had only one way to defend herself, and that was with her own powers. She channeled all her focus on the orange glow rising off him, on the irrefutable proof that he was an illusion. “You aren’t real. I don’t believe in you.”

Her mind went still, and utter calmness took over her, and he seemed to glow even brighter as the throwing star hurtled toward her heart.

She looked in the eyes of the man who seemed so real, and she took back her power. “You can’t hurt me.”

The throwing star whizzed straight through her chest and disappeared into the woods behind her.

She gasped with relief and her hands went to her ribs where the blade had hit. She’d done it. She’d broken through the illusion. By reaching out with her own powers, she’d been able to recognize the truth. It had been there all along, her ability to see through illusions, but she’d been fighting who she was so fiercely that she’d never embraced the talent she already had.

Quinn had given her the courage to face her true self, to not fear her abilities. And it had given her mastery over who she was. Never again would she have to fear herself.

She kept her gaze fixed on the illusion as three more Elijahs emerged from the woods. All of them were brandishing throwing stars, and, all of them glowing. Hot damn! She was doing it!

She marched resolutely toward them, keeping her mind calm and focused, embracing her ability to know truth from illusion,
believing
in her instincts. The throwing stars whizzed past her, through her, causing no harm. Exhilaration rushed through her, and she broke into a run as more and more Elijahs emerged from the woods, attacking her and failing.

She heard the roar of blades crashing in the woods and realized Quinn and the others were being attacked by more Elijahs. With Nate nearby, she knew Quinn and the others couldn’t afford to shut down their senses to avoid the illusion. Nate would leap at the opportunity and take them out. Could she help them? Could she hold the truth for them the way Quinn had done for them before?

Hurrying toward where she thought Ana was, Grace scrambled up an incline, her feet slipping in the mud.
Quinn. Let me into your mind.

Little busy here, Grace.
But he pulled her right in, and she could see he was surrounded by Elijahs, far too many to fight. She stumbled and went down in the woods, as she felt the fatigue in his body, the crippling pain as he fought through his injuries. “Oh, God.”

She pressed her hands to her forehead and reached out over their link, focusing on the Elijahs he was seeing and sharing her power with him. The Elijahs surrounding him began to glow orange.
Do you see that?

Shit. Yeah. They’re all illusions. I can see it.
A throwing star whizzed at Quinn, and she caught her breath when he didn’t try to block it with his sword. He let it fly right at his shoulder, and it whipped through him without injury. She sensed his exhilaration, and then he focused again.
Can you do that with the other men?

She let out a shuddering breath.
I don’t know. If you can get me into their mind, I might.

Quinn started running toward her, and she kept focusing on his illusions, even as she was surrounded by her own. He reached out with his mind and contacted the rest of his men. She saw what they were seeing, and she used her powers to reach into each illusion and expose the truth. The moment she did, all the Elijahs they were fighting turned orange.

Quinn explained what the orange meant, and the men’s faith in their leader was so absolute that they didn’t question it. They simply stopped fighting and started running for Ana and Nate. The throwing stars hit them, and went right through their bodies.

She was shocked by their faith in Quinn, by their ability to rapidly assess the facts and make instant decisions, like accepting that Elijah was an illusion. Maybe there was something to their stoic focus. If they’d been writhing in fear of death or fury at Elijah for turning on them, they couldn’t have made such a quick shift.

Maybe she was the one who’d been wrong—

Oh, come on! She didn’t have time for this now. “Ana!” She lurched to her feet and started forward, her muscles screaming with exhaustion. She tripped several times, having trouble holding the focus for all the men as well as herself, and still see where she was going—

A set of hands grabbed her and hurled her to the forest floor. She looked up to see Nate looming over her.

And he wasn’t glowing.