Stephanie Rowe - Darkness Unleashed (36 page)

Their swords ignited in purple sparks and then they threw them. The swords hit in perfect sync in the middle of his chest, making a pentagram, each of the five blades forming one side of the shape.

Thano froze, his eyes widened, and then he collapsed, tumbling right off Apollo onto the ground. Dead. His body flickered and started to fade almost instantly, as the young Calydons always did.

"No!" Ryland was the first to reach him, kneeling beside him and thrusting his healing energy and immortality into him, just barely catching Thano's body hovering in a state so faint he was barely visible. Zach dropped to his knees beside him, and joined his healing energy. Then the five strangers did the same, seven warriors imbuing Thano with their immortality, holding Thano's body alive. "Catherine!" Ryland shouted. "Where's his soul?"

"I've got him."

He looked over at her, and saw her eyes were closed. There was a look of intense focus on her face, but her expression was calm. "I have his soul," she said. "You need to keep him corporeal."

Ryland grimly looked at them all. Seven warriors holding his body alive. One angel of death holding his spirit. One Calydon warrior trying his best to go to the Afterlife. What next? How did they solve this? What in the hell were they supposed to do now—

Then the earth began to rumble and shake. Fissures shot up the stone walls. The ceiling began to crumble. Ryland swore. "Desdria's coming for us," he yelled. "We have to get out of here! Now!"

In a synchronized move honed by what Ryland would guess were hundreds of years of practice, the cloaked Order members picked up Thano and hoisted him onto Ryland's back. Ryland looked over at Catherine. "Come on! Get on!"

She shook her head. "There's no space. Get Thano out of here and then come back for me."

The earth shook again violently, and the ground split open beneath them. Catherine screamed as she and Lucy tumbled off the edge into the sudden crack in the foundation. Ryland dove after them instantly, tucking his wings as he shot straight downward. His riders dug their weapons into his scales to stay on board, but he didn't even feel the pain. All he could see was Lucy and Catherine plummeting away from him.

Below him, Cat's blond hair and Lucy's curls streamed out behind them as they fell into the crevasse. The little girl lifted her head and looked at him, and then she smiled, completely at peace, completely trusting this ugly monster to save her.

No fucking way was he going to let her down.

He put on a burst of speed, caught them gently in his claws, and then swooped through the crevasse. Below him, he could see swirling black clouds, and he thought he could hear the deep, rasping breaths of a monstrous creature. Then he was speeding back toward the top of the chasm. The crevasse was already closing above his head. Apollo was standing on the rim, staring down at them, his tail swishing madly, as if to will them on.

"Faster," Zach yelled. "It's closing!"

"I know!" Tucking Catherine and Lucy against his chest, Ryland summoned all the strength the beast could give him. They shot through the gap just as it closed, the walls brushing the tips of his wings. He burst out of the crevasse and launched himself toward the door, Apollo on his tail. Side by side, they tore through the nether-realm as that same dark smoke seemed to fill it. It was thick and noxious, and spilling right toward the entrance. "She's trying to trap us in here," he yelled. "She's closing off the connection between the earthly realm and the nether-realm." If she managed to shut it down, they would all be trapped for eternity.

"Wait!" Catherine shouted. "It's Dante! He's still lost. I can guide him out! Give me a second, and I can track him!"

For a split second, Ryland's wings slowed. "Dante?" Before he could even look around, an avalanche of rocks tumbled down from near the exit, a deafening roar of the ground capitulating to Desdria. Son of a bitch. He didn't have time to stop. He'd never get them out. Nine lives were counting on him right now.
Nine.
He could not betray them. He looked out across the vast expanse, as if he could see the soul of the man who'd saved him once. He could see nothing, but encroaching darkness. He could not stop for the man who had saved him. He had to make a choice, and he knew what it had to be.
Dante,
he said.
Forgive me.

Something echoed through his mind, that same voice he'd missed so much. It was one word, one word that spoke so much.
Go.

Ryland didn't hesitate. He just flew as hard as he could, trusting the team on his back to keep Thano alive. The smoke grew thicker, and thicker, rising fast. A race to freedom. A race to light.

Up ahead, he could see the exit. The light from the sun. Smoke obscuring it. It began to close, filling in from the smoke. "No!" he bellowed, launching himself at the barrier. He broke through it with violent force. Boulders and rocks exploded into the clearing as they burst through. One of them caught him in the side, knocking him off balance. He swore, fighting to stay straight as he crashed to the earth.

He landed hard, but managed to shift his body so that the precious cargo in his arms was protected. The men on his back stayed put, holding on as he skidded across the earth, cleaving a gash through the grassy terrain.

He jammed his claws into the ground, dragging himself to a stop.

The moment his forward movement ceased, the men on his back leapt off, all of them still maintaining contact with Thano. "He needs his soul back," the leader shouted. "Now!"

Catherine handed Lucy to Ryland and rushed off to Thano's side.

Stunned, Ryland looked down at the little girl he was holding in his arms. She smiled up at him, and something seemed to soften inside him. His beastly form melted away, leaving him as a man. Lucy's smile widened. "That's really cool. Will you teach me how to do that?"

He couldn't understand. "Aren't you afraid of me? Everyone is afraid of me."

Her forehead puckered. "Why would anyone be afraid of you? You're an angel." Then she smiled and snuggled into his arms, as if he was the safest place in the world for her to be.

Which it was. He'd make damn certain of it.

Tucking her against his chest, he turned his attention toward the one other person left that he needed to help. Thano was on his back, his body ashen and gray, barely visible.

"It's too late," Catherine was whispering as she knelt beside him. "His body is too far gone. There's nothing for his soul to attach to."

"Never." With a pulse of focused determination, Ryland raced over to the group, tucking Lucy against his chest while he crouched beside Thano. He placed his hands on his teammate's chest, and instinctively summoned a golden light from the depths of his soul, that same golden light that the angel had used to save him so many centuries ago. An angel's gift that could be summoned once every thousand years and offered only to a worthy soul. Without hesitation, he thrust it into Thano, and the warrior's body jerked and flared into visibility. "Now, Catherine," he said calmly, continuing to hold Thano in the glow of the golden angel light, that same light he'd been seeking from others his whole life.

Catherine placed her hands on his chest and closed her eyes. He touched her mind, and could feel the warmth and love filling her as she guided Thano's soul back into his body. The moment that Thano's soul was restored, his body lurched. Ryland felt the rogue poison swirling inside the warrior, so he poured more golden light into him, trying to wipe away the destiny trying to take him.

Thano shuddered, and then he went still, slipping into a troubled state of unconsciousness, in a suspended state of peace that Ryland knew would not last long. Grimly, he looked up at the team, who were huddled around him. "This is my fault," he said. "I took his woman."

"Did you?" The leader of the cloaked Order met his gaze. "Are you so certain?"

Ryland stared at him, sensing that the man knew something he wasn't sharing. "What are you talking about?"

"You aren't pure Calydon. You couldn't bond with her on your own. You had to do it through him."

Ryland narrowed his eyes. "How do you know all this?"

"I am a seer."

Ryland's heart leapt. He hadn't met an oracle in hundreds of years, not since the one who had told him he would meet an angel of death. "What do you see?"

"You had it backwards, warrior."

"Backwards?" Ryland looked at Catherine, who looked as confused as he did. "What do you mean?"

The warrior stood. "We can heal this warrior, but there isn't much time. With your permission, we will take him with us."

Ryland stiffened. "It's my job to heal him."

"Then you know this is the right choice to entrust him to us."

Ryland studied the dark warrior, opening his mind to the other, who had lowered his own shields to allow Ryland access. Ryland sensed honor, loyalty, and a deep commitment to other Order members, similar to what defined his own team. There was more there too, things he couldn't quite tap into, but the warrior shut him out before he could process them. "What is your name?"

"Rohan." The warrior did not give a last name, and Ryland suspected that he did not have one to give. Not a man, not entirely.

"My name is Ryland Samuels," he said, introducing his team. He nodded at his injured teammate. "This is Thano Savakis. And Zach Roderick."

The cloaked warrior inclined his head once. "We will take Savakis with us."

Ryland gritted his teeth, but his instincts told him that Rohan's team was Thano's only chance. "Fine. Zach, go with him. I'll go back to our team and report in."

Zach stood up. "I'll protect him."

"I know you will." The two men exchanged looks, and then Zach turned away to help with Thano.

Apollo stood restlessly as the men set Thano on top of him, tying him down so he didn't fall off. With a nod that promised they'd be in touch, the group set off toward the woods with Thano. They made it to the edge of the clearing, there was a ripple in the air, and then they were gone, vanishing from sight as if by magic.

Ryland stared after them. So many questions. Who were they? How was there another Order? What did they protect? Why had they been guarding the entrance to the nether-realm?

"It's gone." Catherine's stunned whisper drew his attention back, and he followed her glance.

The entrance to the temple had collapsed. Gone were the archway, the pyres, and even the steps. In its place was simply earth and woods. Even the air was lighter. "She withdrew the nether-realm from this part of the earth." He reached down to sift through the soil. It was clean and pure, no longer tainted.

"Is she gone? Forever?" Catherine's voice was hopeful as she took Lucy back from him, the little girl chattering cheerfully about Thano's horse, showcasing the incredible resilience of children…and of the daughter of an angel.

"No. She'll be back." He couldn't stop thinking of the queen that both Desdria and Simon had mentioned. Who was she? Was there a being more powerful than the two of them that they were answering to? So many questions. "Not to the same place. Maybe not for a while, but she will be back." He sighed. "Somewhere in there is Dante. He's still trapped."

"Maybe."

Ryland looked down at Catherine, who had cocked her head, as if she were listening to secrets in the air. "I showed him the way out, and I felt him respond. I think he might have made it to freedom."

"Really?" Hope churned through him as he reached out with his mind.
Dante?

There was no answer, but when Catherine slipped her hand in his, the loneliness and grief at Dante's absence didn't hit him as hard or deep anymore. He looked down at the two females, and he felt something in his heart lift. He wasn't alone anymore. "I'm still a monster," he said.

She smiled. "I know. I am too, in a way. I'll always need a steady diet of love, light and souls."

A slow, meaningful grin crept over his face. "I can help with all three." He wrapped his arms around Catherine and Lucy, pulling them against his chest. One tiny set of arms locked around his neck, and a longer, more delicate set joined them. Ryland bent his head, so that his lips were beside both their ears. "I love you," he whispered.

Lucy looked up at him. "Me? Or Mama?"

He grinned. "Both of you."

They weren't empty words. He knew what love was now, and he knew exactly what he was saying. He meant every damn word of it.

A fortnight later, Ryland paused just outside the front door of Dante's mansion. Lucy was asleep in his arms, and Catherine was standing wearily beside him. "This is it," he said. The headquarters of his team. It had been all that mattered to him for so long, but suddenly, he wasn't sure he wanted to go in.

After the last two weeks with Catherine and Lucy, trekking through the woods to head back home, suddenly the idea of reentering a world where he wasn't trusted, where he was almost reviled and barely tolerated seemed to be an empty existence.

He wasn't okay with it anymore.

The door opened, and Gideon Roarke walked out, his blond hair cropped short. He was wearing jeans and boots, his T-shirt actually clean, as it had been ever since he'd found his
sheva
and discovered how much better she liked it when he didn't smell like he'd been on a hunt for weeks and never heard of the concept of a shower. He stopped in surprise. "You're back? You didn't say you were coming."

"I know." Ryland waited, tensing as he prepared for the typical welcome he always received.

Gideon nodded approvingly at Catherine. "You found our angel." Then his brows went up as he registered the child asleep in Ryland's arms. "You found a girl, too."

Ryland tightened his grip on her. "Yeah. She's with me. They're both with me." He couldn't keep the defiance out of his voice. The challenge. He was grimly aware that Catherine still carried Thano's brand.

A slow smile spread over Gideon's face, and he grinned. "Well, damn, Ryland. You went and got yourself a
sheva,
didn't you? How in hell's name did you not go rogue? You, of all people, should have succumbed to that destiny." He turned and shouted over his shoulder. "You guys gotta see this!"