“Sophie!” Vlad’s anguished cry made her turn, but just as she did, pain shot through her shoulders, and she was jerked off the ground as Lucien snatched her in his claws. She screamed and twisted around, but within a split second, they were a hundred feet in the air, racing back across the lava fields. She twisted around, trying to look behind her. Vlad on his knees, his palms outstretched toward her, his face stark with horror as Lucien sped away, rising higher and higher. She felt Vlad’s energy pulling on her, but Lucien was stronger, so much stronger.
She reached toward Vlad, her fingertips stretched toward him just as they had been so long ago. And just like before, she was torn away from, their outstretched hands nothing more than a silent call for a rescue that would never come. All she could see was his anguished face, the horror in his blue eyes as she got further way. “Vlad.” The wind tore his name from her, dissolving it in the air.
Tears filled her eyes, and within seconds, Vlad was swallowed up by the rocky terrain, a speck of dust in a barren wasteland of hell.
Chapter 34
The air rushed up at Gabe and Maria with violent fury, whipping past them just as Vlad’s anguished cry rent the air. Gabe swore, almost doubling over at the intensity of Vlad’s pain. Jesus. Something horrible had just happened to Vlad, something unbearable, so devastating that his anguish flooded Gabe, crushing him with grief.
Swearing, Gabe had to block his connection with Vlad so he could focus, knowing he and Maria would both die if he couldn’t control their fall. His heart thundering for Vlad’s suffering, Gabe pulled Maria more tightly against him, fighting to balance them. They plummeted past demons, their poisoned claws ripping at their flesh as they fell. His blood was searing through his body, burning with the toxins, and he could feel the heat rising from Maria’s flesh as her body fought the toxins as well.
Swearing, he looked down at the ground rushing up at them. It was solid rock. He was very, very good, but landing a thousand-foot drop onto solid rock was outside his skillset. What’s the plan now, sweetheart?
Damon.
The nice guy who almost killed Vlad and me not so long ago? Not liking that plan, babe—
Suddenly, arms slammed around them, jerking them to the side. Gabe swore, tightening his grip on Maria as they were ripped sideways, speeding across the sky. He glanced up, and saw they were in the arms of a massive dragon-like beast, with clawed arms, a scaly body, massive wings lined with spikes….and her brother’s face. Shit. This was not what he’d been thinking of when he’d been wishing for a little backup.
He flexed his hand, preparing to call out his weapon if he needed to.
“Let go of him, Maria.” Damon snarled, his voice rough and animalistic. “Let him fall.”
Gabe tensed, scanning the underside of the beast’s chest for a vulnerable spot to hit when they were closer to the ground. No way was he letting the demon take him wherever he was planning to go.
“No,” Maria snapped at the demon. “Gabe’s with me.” Her arms tightened around him. “He’s my chosen, Damon.”
Her chosen? Gabe had no idea what it meant, but the claim of ownership was unmistakable. He wouldn’t have thought demons were human enough to honor something like that, but he felt the immediate shift in Damon’s body, the protectiveness that surged around both Maria and Gabe. Damon’s arms tightened around them both, even as he unleashed a litany of curses which made it apparent just how irritated he was by that news.
Well aware of the conflict surging through Maria’s brother, Gabe continued to watch him carefully, scanning the tightly overlaid scales for an opening. Chosen? Is that like a soulmate in demon lingo?
It’s more like I’ve decided you’re going to be my only sex toy until I’ve exhausted your resources and you die in my arms in the throes of ecstasy.
Her voice was light, but he felt the weight behind her words. It was like a soulmate. Son of a bitch. She’d chosen him, just as he’d chosen her. His cock tightened, despite the fact that they were a thousand feet above the earth, their fate in the hands of a possessive dragon-beast who wanted to drop him on his ass. Damn, woman. You have a way with words.
“He’s a human.” Damon was still flying with numbing speed. “He isn’t worthy.”
“He’s not human. He’s an immortal warrior, and he stays sane when we have sex.” Maria’s voice was becoming labored. “Take us to the fourth ridge.”
“Sane? You’re kidding.” Damon looked down at him, shock etched on his features. “How?”
Gabe shrugged, grimacing as the poison began to settle in his bones. “Just a badass kind of guy I guess.”
Damon continued to stare at him, and Gabe stared back. “I’m a Calydon,” he said, his voice low. “Descended from demons. Not entirely human.”
“Half human, and half demon?” Damon asked with a frown. “Like Maria?”
Gabe glanced at Maria, who was still locked around him. “I guess.” He frowned when he saw her looking at her forearms, her brow furrowed. “What?”
“More lines. A lot more.”
He swore. “I trusted you with my life when you told me to jump, and I did.” Son of a bitch. “There’s only one left. The transference of my weapon.”
She held up her arm, and he saw the lines of his weapons appearing on her arm. Possessiveness roared through him, a visceral, instinctive surge of power. She was almost completely bound to him. His. To claim. To protect. To serve. To honor.
Her gaze snapped to his. Not yours. I’ll never belong to any man.
Need poured through him, a need to drag her into his arms and pour his seed into her, to mark her as his. His cock got hard, and he swore, jerking his gaze off hers. This was not the time. Not the fucking time. He was a thousand feet in the air, for hell’s sake, in the middle of demon hell…but son of a bitch. The physical need to claim her was insane. He suddenly wondered how the bloody hell his teammates had stayed sane after bonding with their women. Her presence was almost overwhelming, plunging ruthlessly into every crevice of his being, and they weren’t even fully bonded.
He could taste her. He could smell her. He could hear the beat of her heart, the air whispering through her lungs with each breath, the fear thundering through her.
It was the fear that got him. He jerked his gaze back to her. You’re afraid.
She lifted her chin, her hair whipping past her face as they shot through the air. I’m not afraid.
Something inside him softened, and he suddenly wanted to slide his hand gently along her jaw, offering comfort and solace, things he’d never even thought of before this moment. I swear I will protect you with my life.
She met his gaze. What about Dante? What about the Order? What if you have to choose? Has that changed? Who would you choose?
You. It was the first thought that went through his mind, but he shut it down before she could hear it. For the first time, fear ripped through him. Fear that he really would put her first. Fear that this woman, this courageous, amazing woman would rip him away from his duties, from his oath to protect the entire fucking world. He suddenly realized that he hadn’t reopened communication with Vlad. He’d been so consumed with that bond that he’d forgotten his own teammate. Jesus. This wasn’t him. This wasn’t how he was supposed to live his life! Swearing, he opened his mind to Vlad. Where are you? We’re coming.
Vlad’s anguish flooded him so hard that even Maria flinched. He got her. He fucking got her.
Sophie? Who got her? Gabe brought Maria into the communication, so she could hear.
Lucien. He took her. Jesus, Gabe.
“Sophie!” Maria’s grief tore through Gabe so hard that his breath caught. She. He needed to shield themselves from their pain so he could think, but he needed to maintain communication. Where are you? We’ll come to you.
Apparently on the other side of a rock wall from you. Fuck, Gabe. He swore again, anguish raw in his voice.
“Damon!” Maria shouted at her brother. “Lucien got Sophie. We have to turn around!
”
“Sophie?” Damon swore, and immediately began to fly in an arc, turning them back toward where they’d come. “Where?”
“On the other side of the cliff. Vlad’s there. He saw it.”
Gabe expected Damon to protest being asked to team up with Vlad, just as he’d told Maria to drop him, but he didn’t. He just sped across the sky, his urgency evident in every line of his body. Gabe realized then that like his sister, Damon’s loyalty ran deep. He might be a demon, but there was more to him as well. Sophie was in his circle of protection, and that made his decision to help her automatic. Damn. He respected that. He wouldn’t have thought there was anything about demons to respect, but Damon had just made it onto the list.
Maria pointed at the rocks. “There!”
“I see him.” Damon tucked his wings and dove toward the cliff.
Vlad leapt to his feet, and held up his hand. Instantly, Gabe felt the push of his magic, shoving them back. It’s us, Vlad! Let us land!
Instantly, Vlad dropped his hand, and sank to his knees. His palms were braced on the cliff, and his head was down, as if he were fighting to breathe. He was a man broken, and the sight made Gabe’s blood congeal.
That was his ultimate nightmare, to lose who he was because of a woman. The sight of Vlad on his knees drove terror right into the depths of his soul.
Never. He could never go there. Never.
Chapter 35
Damon slowed just before landing, setting both Maria and Gabe on their feet. As they landed, Vlad looked up. Gabe swore when he saw the anguish in his eyes. Not just anguish. Gabe knew he was seeing the death of a man’s soul. Gabe stopped in shock, too stunned to move.
The only time he’d seen that kind of anguish was when his Order of the Blade teammate, Ian Fitzgerald, had lost his sheva. Ian had almost died from the grief, but since she’d been his sheva, it was understandable. Vlad, however, wasn’t a Calydon. There was no fated bond between him and Sophie, and yet, he could feel that Vlad’s grief was almost overwhelming, so brutal that even Gabe could barely focus through it, even though he was feeling it only second-hand.
That was why he could never finish the bond with Maria. That was why he’d stayed celibate his whole life. Who could afford to let someone drag them down like that?
Maria raced over to Vlad and fell to her knees in front of him. She grabbed his shoulders. “Where did he take her? We have to find her now.”
Vlad looked up at her, his face a barren wasteland. “She stayed corporeal,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with raw anguish. “She has no defenses. He knew it. You should have seen his face when he realized she could stay corporeal. I couldn’t stop him.” He held up his hand. “I couldn’t do it. I gave it everything I had, and it wasn’t enough to hold him.”
Gabe tried to harden himself as he listened to the conversation between Vlad and Maria. He fucking tried. He tried to tell himself he was there for Dante, and for the Order. He tried to remove himself emotionally. He tried to stay focused on the oath that had driven him his entire life. He tried, but he couldn’t shield himself from their grief. It was too deep, too visceral, too real.
Beside him, Damon shifted into human form, his body lean and muscular. He strode over to Vlad and crouched beside his sister. “Which way?”
Vlad pointed silently, and everyone turned around to look where he was pointing. Maria slowly stood up, her face ashen. “He’s taking her to the Temple of the Sun.”
Damon swore violently.
Vlad stared at her. “What’s the Temple of the Sun?”
“It’s…” Maria looked at her brother, and the pain in her eyes seemed to plunge right into Gabe’s soul. Without a word, he walked over to her and slid his arm around her waist, pressing a kiss to her temple. There was literally no way he could stand there and pretend none of this mattered. He just couldn’t.
Maria leaned into him, her body shaking and cold.
“It’s a place he takes women when he needs to break their will,” Damon said. “It’s a place of seduction. No woman has a chance. It’s an ancient temple of sorts. Most demons don’t use it, because it sucks the will out of the woman. It destroys who she is, until there is nothing left but a soulless body to fuck.”
Vlad looked like he was going to pass out, and Gabe instinctively reached out, clamping his hand around the other man’s arm. “We’ll get her.”
“How?” Vlad sounded strangled. “It’s too late.”
“No, it’s not.” Maria leaned into Gabe. “The temple closes at sunset. Until then, we can get in.”
Gabe looked up at the sky, which was actually an endless cavern. “There’s no sun here.”
“It’s a volcano that erupts in one hundred year cycles. The light from the lava is considered our sun.” She gestured to the lava fields. “That’s what this is from.”
“Hundred year cycle?” Vlad looked at her. “What does that mean?”
“It means that in forty-five minutes, it will stop erupting for the next hundred years.” She looked at him. “Sophie will be sealed in the temple with Lucien until the next cycle begins.”
“You mean, she’ll be trapped in there with him for a hundred years?” Vlad swore and stumbled to his feet. “We have to get her. We have to go now. Where is it?”
But neither Maria nor Damon moved. “It’s protected by a thousand demons.” Maria looked at her brother. “We can’t get past them.”
“Fuck that.” Vlad shook his head, pacing the small cliff. “We’re going in there.”
“We can’t.” Tears glistened in Maria’s eyes. “It’s impossible. We’ll die instantly.” She pressed her hand to her heart and walked away from them. “Lucien never would have tried for her if she hadn’t offered herself to save me.” She looked at her brother. “It’s my fault, Damon. My fault. Sophie’s going to go through hell because she was willing to be my friend.”
Gabe’s hands balled into fists as she looked at her brother. He didn’t want her looking to Damon for comfort. He wanted her looking at him. “Where is this place?”
“On the other side of the Graveyard of the Damned,” Damon said.
“The Graveyard of the Damned?” Where Dante’s body was buried? Gabe stiffened, his adrenaline surging. They were that close to his leader? Not that he could bring himself to care. He was too consumed by the emotions of the trio on the ledge with him. But shit, he had to try to stay focused. Dante was about protecting the entire world. Sophie was one woman. One woman wasn’t his priority. The world was. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t find that place anymore, that one that let him sacrifice one to save thousands. Jesus. He was losing everything that defined him.
Helplessly, he looked at the others for help, but no one was paying any attention to him.
Damon focused on his sister. “Maria, you can’t punish yourself. Sophie would never change it. You know she wouldn’t.”
“I should have forced her away from me,” she snapped. “I was too selfish. I needed her as my friend. I needed her, and I knew it was dangerous.” She spun away from them and walked to the edge of the cliff, staring across the wasteland. “I’m so sorry, Soph. Dear God, I’m so sorry.” She dropped to her knees and bowed her head, tears falling silently down her cheeks.
Damon swore and ran his hand through his hair. “I can call some demons to help—”
“They won’t come,” Maria whispered. “They can’t afford to piss off Lucien. You know that. You’re the only one willing to stand up to him. We’d need an army, anyway. A few demons wouldn’t do it.”
Vlad raised his head to look at Gabe. “Call them.”
Gabe frowned, trying to clear his head enough to focus. All he cared about was Maria, and the pain crushing her. His entire being was calling to her, needing to heal her, to take away her pain, to protect her. “Call who?” he asked blankly.
“Your team. The Order of the Blade.” Vlad surged to his feet, his muscles taut. “I’ll bring them across—”
“To rescue Sop
hie?” Gabe blinked as Maria and Damon spun toward him. “The Order’s mission is to protect against rogue Calydons,” he said automatically. “I can’t bring them here to get Sophie. We don’t do that—”
“Don’t do that?” Vlad surged to his feet. “Are you fucking kidding me? That’s the Order you’re trying so hard to preserve? It’s some bullshit group of losers who won’t use their power to help a woman who needs them?”
“Gabe.” Maria stared at him. “You said you would call them for me.”
“I know, but—” His voice faded. How could he explain it? In that moment with her, he’d wanted to give her the world. He truly had. He’d meant it at the time, but when faced with actually making that choice, the reality of it struck him hard and brutally. It was against his oath. It was against the oath of every one of his teammates. It violated everything they had sworn their loyalty to.
But even as he thought it, Gabe shifted uncomfortably, tormented by the look on Maria’s face. For a split second, he imagined calling them across and asking them to help. Hope leapt through him, a raw, visceral hope of making a difference, of helping these women who had fought like hell to survive against all odds, of helping the woman his soul burned for.
But then he thought of his team, the one that had been assembled centuries ago for the sole purpose of hunting rogue Calydons, a team that was fracturing even as he stood there, not going after Dante. “They wouldn’t do it,” he said, unable to keep the regret out of his voice. He knew he shouldn’t feel regret, because helping Sophie violated everything the Order was about, but he couldn’t help it. In this moment, in this crazy, brutal moment, he didn’t want the Order to be about hunting rogues. He wanted it to be about helping those who needed help, regardless of where the threat was coming from.
He’d lived for the Order his whole life. He’d believed in their mission with every fiber of his soul. He was the Order. And yet, standing there, looking at three people who’d lost someone they loved, he didn’t give a shit about the Order’s mission. He just cared about the people who mattered.
Hunt the Darkness (Order of the Blade Book 11) Page 31
