Hunt the Darkness (Order of the Blade Book 11)

by Stephanie Rowe

  Gabe and the others charged into the fray, swinging hard, while Vlad sprinted over to the wall. He was vaguely aware of Vlad slamming his hands onto the wall, but then a demon leapt toward Maria, and all that mattered was saving her. Gabe hit it hard, his blade slicing clean through, but before he could recover, another demon leapt on his back. Ian shouted and slammed his flail into its head, ripping it off Gabe’s back. But even as they fought, more demons came in, and he knew they were outmatched—

  Then suddenly, a gleaming machete sliced through the air, decapitating a demon that was lunging at Gabe. Ryland Samuels leapt forward, unleashing a battle cry that rent the air as he tore into the battle, moving with blinding speed. And then Thano came charging up, riding his black horse, Apollo. Ian was there, and Gideon, and Quinn…

  Within seconds, the demons were down, their decapitated bodies littered across the cell. Gabe looked around at his team. Not one of them had been cut or hurt, or even broken a sweat. Even Thano had brought across his new team of Order members, all of their faces hidden behind hoods.

  They were all there, all together, just like it had once been. Fuck, it felt good. His gaze settled on Zach, who was holding a glowing fireball in his hand. “You got your fire back.”

  Zach grinned. “Yeah. Love will do that for a guy, right?” His smile faded. “What now?”

  Gabe sheathed his weapons in his arms. “Now we go get a girl.”

  Chapter 38

  Lucien shoved Sophie up the mountain, his jaw hard and tight. Sophie moved slowly, frantically trying to figure out some solution that wouldn’t result in everyone she loved, including herself, dying—

  She suddenly realized that it had gotten darker. She glanced at the lava pouring down the mountainside, and realized that it had slowed. There was less of it. The volcano was going dormant…which meant the temple’s entrance would be closing soon—

  “In here.” Lucien caught her arm, dragging her to a stop in front of an opening in the mountain. Above the entrance, the stones were arranged in a spiral that culminated in a massive rock in the middle. On the center stone was the carving of a winged demon with a scaled body, massive claws, and deadly fangs. Its eyes were made of a stone that appeared to be glowing red, giving it a chilling, live visage. Ancient words were carved into the header stone, words she knew would translate to Temple of the Sun.

  She stopped, digging her feet into the ground. She knew she couldn’t go in there. Once a woman entered, she lost her identity and her mind. There would be no going back, no survival, nothing.

  Lucien’s claws dug into her arm, and he jerked her off her feet and threw her toward the entrance. She hit the wall, but her body sank into the stone instead of bouncing off it—

  “No!” Lucien roared with fury and leapt across the clearing. He snatched her off the ground, ripping her body out of the stone that it had already started to merge with. Pain ripped through her, and she had to stifle a scream as Lucien threw her over his shoulder.

  “No fucking rocks for you.” He strode across the entrance. The shadows fell over her, and she gasped, reaching out toward the rocks outside the cavern, trying to get her hands on them. She dropped all her shields, opening her mind to the stone, to merge with it. It didn’t even matter now if she was stuck in the rock forever. It was better than being in the temple with Lucien—

  Except her body didn’t dissolve.

  She didn’t merge with the rock.

  She had nothing.

  Horrified, she realized that Lucien’s body was somehow acting as a buffer between her and the stones. Frantic, she lunged upward and grabbed the rocky threshold above her head. Her fingers slipped across the rock, but it felt dead, empty. She couldn’t access them, even when she was touching them. Her fingernails scraped against the rock, and they were past it…

  Inside the temple.

  Urgency coursed through Vlad as Gabe greeted his team. “Who can fly?” Vlad asked. “We need to move fast.”

  A tall, dangerous looking Calydon looked over at him. Vlad’s connection with Gabe gave Vlad instant knowledge of who it was, and he tensed. Ryland Samuels was as dangerous and unpredictable as they came, as close to full demon as any of them had ever been. Vlad tensed, half-expecting him to hurl the machete in his hand at him. But Ryland simply nodded. “I can. I can carry about half the team.”

  “I can take the rest,” Damon said.

  “Apollo and I are good,” Thano said, patting the neck of his massive horse.

  “I can teleport,” Kane said, “but it can get ugly if I don’t know where I’m going. We should fly if we can.”

  “We’ll fly, then.” Vlad divided up the team, putting himself with Gabe, Maria, Ian, and three others on Damon’s back, while Ryland shifted into a massive, winged dragon that looked suspiciously similar to Damon’s demon beast. He saw a few Order members notice the similarity, but no one commented as they leapt on his back.

  Within a split second, they were all loaded up. Vlad leaned forward over Damon’s neck, with Maria’s arms around his waist, and Gabe behind her. “Haul ass, buddy.”

  “You got it.” Damon took off instantly, streaking through the tunnels at blinding speed. The screech of his wings as he shattered the walls of the tunnel was deafening. Ryland’s wings were even wider, so he followed with an equally resounding roar of stone being torn apart. Behind them, Thano and Apollo followed, the horse and rider galloping easily through the tunnel that the dragons had widened. As fast as the beasts were flying, Thano’s horse had no trouble keeping up, his strong legs moving so fast they were almost invisible.

  Within moments, they had burst out of the tunnel, and were streaking across the lava fields, Apollo galloping through the air as if it were solid ground.

  Vlad swore as he saw that it was almost dark, and the orange glow of the distant mountain had faded significantly. “Hurry!”

  Damon surged forward with a massive effort, flying through the air so fast that the wind bit at Vlad’s skin, and yet still, the light continued to fade, darker and darker—

  “There!” Maria pointed ahead of them. “That’s the Temple! That opening in the north side!”

  Vlad saw the dark shadows on the side of the mountain, and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t see them,” he yelled over the wind.

  “They must be inside already,” Maria said, horror etched in her voice. “Oh, God. We’re too late!”

  “No!” Vlad leaned forward and extended his hand, reaching out with his magic, searching for Sophie, but the moment he opened his senses, he was blasted by a tsunami of living matter. The mountain was teeming with it. Swearing, he looked more closely, and saw that the shadows on the mountain were moving. “Demons,” he said. “They’re all over the place.” All down the side of the mountain, and clustered around the entrance.

  “So, we go prepared to fight.” Gabe gestured at Ryland, and his teammates on the dragon’s back, indicating the mountain ahead. He opened a communication link that Vlad could hear. When we land, Vlad, Maria, Damon, and I will try to get through the entrance. The rest of you will cover our backs, and try to keep it clear so we can get out.

  There was instant assent from every Order member.

  The plan was in place.

  Would it work?

  It had to.

  Vlad bent low over Damon’s neck, holding out his hand as he reached out with his magic, scanning the demons clustered around the entrance. They were packed in, an impenetrable force blocking the entrance. He kept his link open with the other Order members, showing them what he found.

  The night exploded with multiple flashes of black light, and the ear-splitting crack of weapons being called out. Vlad narrowed his eyes, focusing his energy on the demons, directing their attention away from the sky, toward the bottom of the mountain, hoping to give the rescue team a chance to arrive unnoticed. They resisted him, and he swore.

  Let me help. Like they’d done before, Gabe connected his energy with Vlad’s. The rush of power was blinding, and
Vlad thrust it at the demons, hurtling them backwards. They flew up into the air, crashing into each other as they tumbled down the mountain, creating an opening just in front of the cavern’s entrance.

  Damon swept low, and four of his passengers leapt to the ground, landing on their feet with weapons out. Thano and Apollo landed easily, charging directly into the battle. Gabe, Vlad, and Maria stayed on his back as Damon careened through the open door. Behind them, Ryland landed, and there was a resounding battle cry as the Calydons launched themselves at the demons.

  The tunnel narrowed, and Damon tucked his wings as they all crouched low on his neck, straining to see in the darkness as he sped around a corner—

  Lucien exploded out of the darkness with a roar of fury, his wing smashing into Damon before they could stop. Damon grunted with pain, crashing to the ground, as Vlad, Gabe, and Maria leapt off his back.

  Vlad had barely landed when Lucien attacked again, slamming his tail into Maria and flinging her across the room.

  “Piece of shit!” Gabe launched himself at him, slashing with blinding fury as Lucien lunged for Maria.

  Vlad saw Sophie behind Lucien. She was strung up by her wrists, suspended from the ceiling by a rope, so she wasn’t touching any rocks. She appeared to be unconscious, hanging limply. “Sophie!” Terror knifed his heart, and he lunged for her—

  “No!” Gabe bellowed at him. “Stop Lucien!”

  Vlad didn’t even hear him. He just raced across the floor and swept Sophie up in his arms. She was dead weight in his arms, her eyes closed, and her body limp. Jesus. He was too late. “Sophie—”

  Lucien’s tail smashed into him, ripping him away from Sophie and slamming him against the wall. Pain shot through him, and for a split second, he couldn’t move, immobilized by the blast of pain beyond anything he’d ever experienced.

  He tried to breathe, but he couldn’t get any air. His arms and legs were numb. He couldn’t feel them. The pain in his back was blinding, and he realized he’d been impaled on something, something laced with demon poison. He tried to use his magic to lift himself off the rock, but the pain was too great. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t save himself. He turned his head, and saw Sophie dangling limply. Gabe. Help her.

  But even as he said it, Gabe shouted with fury, and then he was thrown past Vlad, slamming into the wall beside him. His head hit first, and he didn’t move.

  They were all down.

  Maria struggled to her feet as Lucien whirled toward her. Gabe and Vlad were unmoving on the other side of the cavern, and Sophie appeared to be unconscious. Damon was also out, crumpled in his dragon form. A single blow from Lucien was all it had taken to knock them all down. A single blow.

  She’d known he was powerful, but she’d had no idea he was like this. Now, everyone she loved, everyone who mattered to her was at risk, exposed to danger because she’d been selfish enough to befriend Sophie. Gabe. Can you hear me?

  Lucien ignored them all as he swung toward her, his face stretched and deformed. He grinned, his half-human face grotesque. “And so I have both of you for a hundred years.”

  Maria could feel the poison from the earlier demon attack still coursing through her veins, burning her. They had all been running on adrenaline, but it was getting more difficult to hold it off. She needed to heal.

  Lucien smiled. “I can feel your need for sex.” He moved closer, stalking her. “Your body won’t let you turn down sex, not when it will die without it. You will fuck me without me even having to try, because I’m all you have, lust demon.”

  Sweat beaded on Maria’s brow as she glanced at Gabe again. He still wasn’t moving. She knew the poison was in his body as well, eating away at him, leaving him weakened for his battle against Lucien.

  She pulled out a knife and held it up, trying to keep her hands from shaking. “Never.” Gabe. Wake up.

  Maria. His voice was groggy in her mind. Call my weapon.

  She backed up as Lucien neared, still holding her dagger between them. What? That will finish the sheva bond. We can’t risk it.

  It’s the only way.

  It won’t help. She backed up further, trying to edge toward the entrance. If only she could pull him back toward the front of the cavern, away from her friends, toward the other Order members.

  Gabe laughed softly. As spoken by someone who has no concept of the strength of the sheva bond.

  Won’t it kill us? Isn’t that the destiny? That you’ll lose me, and then go rogue, and then I’ll have to kill you to stop you?

  Yes.

  Tears filled her eyes at the thought of him dying. But—

  Going rogue to save you is the only way I’ll be strong enough. Do it now, Maria.

  But if you die—

  It will be worth it to save you.

  The tears spilled out at his words. You’d die to save me?

  Fuck yeah. I love you, woman. And I expect your love for me to haul me back from insanity, just like it’s done for my teammates. Got it?

  She looked across the cavern at him. His eyes were closed, and he was unmoving. He looked dead, and she could feel the weakness of his body. You love me? She whispered it, unable to believe it.

  Damn right, I do. I thought I was coming here for Dante, but I think Dante sent me here to find you. He wanted me to become the man that you have made me become, one that has taught me a different way to be, a different vision of the future, of the Order, of myself. He opened his eyes and met her gaze. You matter, Maria. Just because you’re you. So, call my damn weapon and let’s kick his ass.

  Maria looked back at Lucien, who was grinning at her, the lascivious, disgusting smile of a predator who was certain he had no enemies. “You bastard.” She reared back and hurled her dagger at him, unleashing it with all the speed she could muster.

  His speed hampered by ego, he didn’t react in time, and the blade plunged straight into his chest. “Bitch!” He ripped it out and lunged at her, his claws reaching for her throat.

  Gabe bellowed through her mind. Do it!

  She stood tall and held up her hand, not flinching as Lucien lunged at her. She just opened her mind to the man she loved and called him to her. There was a loud crack and a flash of black light, and then his hook sword appeared in her hand. Power flooded her, and she felt Gabe’s roar of possessiveness and triumph. His strength surged through her, and she felt Gabe’s entire soul settle onto hers, mingling, becoming one, claiming her, granting her his protection for eternity. Maria. His voice filled her, wrapping around her like a shield that wove through every cell in her body. My forever.

  It felt right. More than right. It felt like the home, the connection, the love, that she’d been searching for her entire life. I love you, Gabe. Then, she looked up at Lucien, gripped Gabe’s weapon, and swung hard, throwing all her weight behind it as it sank into his chest, right where his heart was, if the organ that beat in his chest could be called a heart.

  He stumbled to a stop, gasping as he clutched the sword. Smoke poured out of the wound, and he went down onto his knees. “Bitch—” He fell forward, lunging at her with surreal speed, catching her just as she scrambled again. His claw raked across her chest, and she gasped as she felt his claw pierce her heart, plunging demon toxin straight into her bloodstream.

  Pain shot through her and she gasped, gripping her chest as she rolled away from him, her body burning instantly as the poison flooded her system. It was too much. Too much, too fast. She knew she had no chance to heal it. It was over. She’d failed. They’d all failed.

  Gabe. I’m sorry.

  Fury erupted through Gabe, a blinding, white rage that exploded through him. Maria! The room was swathed in red light, and he leapt to his feet, screaming with rage, with loss, with anguish. His woman was dying! He’d lost her! “Maria!” His tormented cry tore through him, eviscerating him with blinding agony.

  “You bastard!” He had to kill. He had to destroy. The fucker had to die! A roar of brutal fury tore from his throat as he leapt up, hi
s body so charged with energy that he was already running by the time he landed. Greedily, he burned through the rage, channeling it into his body. The poison that had been killing him was incinerated almost instantly, destroyed by the raging power within him, a power focused on only one thing.

  Kill.

  Kill.

  Kill.

  His weapons clenched in his fist, he charged across the room and leapt on Lucien’s back, ripping the demon king away from Maria. Lucien twisted and turned, trying to dislodge Gabe, but the superhuman strength pouring through Gabe gave him a grip the demon couldn’t break. He hurled Lucien to the ground so hard that the entire mountain shook, and rocks crumbled down from the ceiling.

  The bastard wouldn’t stay down, leaping to his feet and ripping Gabe off him. Gabe catapulted through the air, but landed easily on his feet, sprinting back toward the demon instantly.

  Black, noxious blood flowed down Lucien’s chest, but he moved easily, not even hampered by the blow Maria had dealt him. Maria! Panic streaked through him and he spun around, searching for her.

  She was down on the ground at the far side of the cavern, not moving. “Maria!” Anguish tore through him and he raced across the cavern, falling down to his knees beside her. He sheathed his weapons and pulled her into his arms, his skin burning at the feel of her tainted skin. She was being poisoned, and she needed to heal. Without hesitating, he kissed her, pouring his energy into her, feeding her every bit of himself that he could—

  “She’s mine!” Lucien grabbed Gabe by the head and wrenched him sideways, almost breaking his neck.

  White hot rage wiped out his concern for Maria, replaced by a frenzied need to stop the monster that had hurt his woman. “Fucking demon!” Gabe called out his weapons with a crack and a flash of black light, and lunged at Lucien, slashing harder and faster than he’d ever fought in his life. “You die now!” His blades moved too fast for even him to see, but the demon moved faster, avoiding every blow.