At the same moment, pain ripped through him, and he stumbled back. Looking down, he saw the silver scalpel sticking out of his chest, just missing his heart but still within the twin circles of his life-force tattoo.
Though the pain was nearly blinding, Darius pulled the scalpel out and tossed it aside. Amadja also seemed to be having a hard time recovering from his injury, but he pulled himself upright. He raised his hand, and Darius had just enough time to realize what was coming and jump out of the way before a bolt of black energy struck the floor. It left a nasty, raw burned spot on the once shiny floor. Darius returned fire, pulling Re’s fire bolts from his shoulder and hurling them.
One struck the demon lord, who howled in anger. He loosed another burst of black energy that singed Darius’s arm as he dodged to get away. Despite the burning pain, Darius kept fighting.
Nearby, Lexi took on the guards. Darius could hardly spare her a glance and prayed she wouldn’t come to harm.
As Amadja gathered his strength for another assault, Darius could feel himself weakening and knew he only had one shot to take down the demon.
He pulled his golden cord from around his waist and made a lasso of it. Just as Amadja attacked, Darius let the loop fly. It soared through the air and landed around Amadja’s neck. Darius pulled the cord tight and held on, despite the way Amadja fought. The lasso kept the demon from morphing or using any other magic while it slowly cut off Amadja’s air supply. Finally the demon lord slumped to the ground, unconscious.
For a second, Darius was tempted to pull his broadsword and cut off Amadja’s head, but killing a demon—especially an old one such as Amadja—took more energy than Darius could command at the moment. Right now, it took all his effort just to stand up. The most Darius could hope for was that Amadja remained disabled long enough to give Darius time to free his brother and make their escape.
“You’re hurt,” Lexi said, rushing to him.
He looked down and saw the blood. “It’s just a cut,” he told her, though it was really starting to hurt and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.
“I can help,” she offered. “If you’ll let me.”
“How?”
She held up her fist, forefinger extended. A small ball of fire suddenly appeared and grew stronger. He guessed her intentions and nodded.
“It’s going to hurt,” she told him, glancing up to his face as she stepped toward him.
“I doubt it can hurt more than it already does. Just do it. We don’t have much time.” He knew his words were abrupt, but fortunately, she didn’t seem to take offense. Instead, she guided the tiny ball of flame to his chest and then, giving him a second to prepare, placed her finger over the wound.
As the fire cauterized the wound, he gritted his teeth against the pain. He knew this was much better than bleeding to death—in this case, a very real possibility.
When Lexi took her finger away, the pain subsided ever so slightly. He looked down at the burned flesh, knowing it would heal in time. At least the bleeding had stopped.
He gave Lexi a grateful smile and hurried across the room to where his brother was chained.
“Darius?” Tain asked, obviously shocked to see him.
“It’s me,” Darius assured him. “Everything’s going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of here.”
Tain seemed surprised, but a small smile spread to his lips. “You’re rescuing me?”
“Yes.” Darius reached behind him and pulled off his key, which he held up to the first cuff. “I’ll have you free in a moment.”
“I’d forgotten you had that,” Tain said, watching him work.
The first cuff opened, and Darius pulled Tain’s hand free before going around to the other side. He spared a quick glance at Amadja to make sure he was still unconscious, noticing as he did the scars that covered his brother’s back. New scars layered over old ones. The amount of suffering his brother had endured was unfathomable.
Darius forced his attention to opening the cuffs. As soon as both arms were free, he pulled Tain into his arms and held him close. “I never thought I’d see you again,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion. “I’ll get you out of here, and soon we’ll all be together again—you, me, Adrian, Kalen and Hunter.”
“They’re here too?” Tain asked, clearly startled.
“No, not here. But we’ll be with them soon.”
Lexi’s hand on his arm reminded Darius that now was neither the time nor place for this happy reunion. Amadja was slowly coming around.
“That’s not all,” Lexi said, gesturing to the door. “Company’s coming.”
Though he couldn’t hear anything, Darius didn’t question her. He knew her hearing was better than his. “Are you all right?” he asked her. “Can you walk?”
“I’m good,” she said. “Let’s go.”
He turned to Tain. “Do you need help?”
He reached out a steadying hand, but to his surprise, Tain pulled away.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, thinking Tain was hurt more seriously than he’d thought.
“I’m not going.”
Darius couldn’t believe he’d heard correctly. “We have to go. Reinforcements are coming. Soon we’ll be outnumbered.”
“I’m not going,” Tain repeated. His insistence bothered Darius. It spoke of serious psychological injuries. Darius only hoped the Mother Goddess could heal him once Darius returned him to Ravenscroft.
At that moment, the door burst open, followed by a flash of energy. The shock wave crashed into Darius, Lexi and Tain, knocking them back as six demons raced in.
Darius was the first to recover. When he saw the demons gathering their magic for another assault, he stepped in front of Lexi and Tain, pulling his shield tattoo from his right shoulder and holding it before them. When the blast hit, the shield deflected the energy to other areas of the room, scorching the drapes around the bed and slamming the wardrobe against the wall.
As Darius feared, when the demons saw how ineffective their initial assault had been, they quickly split apart, intending to attack from all directions. It was time for him to go on the offensive.
The moment he lowered his shield, Lexi was beside him, conjuring a massive fireball. With the shield still in one hand, he pulled his broadsword with the other. Then, at his signal, Lexi hurled her fireball at the nearest demon while Darius stormed the others.
Darius took his sword to the next lesser demon, while Lexi blasted more fire at another.
Darius had hoped that Tain would join in the fight, but when he didn’t, Darius worried that centuries of being held prisoner might have broken his spirit.
As he did in the old days, Darius focused on the battle before him until a cry of pain from Lexi tore his attention away. He turned and saw her clutching her stomach where his dagger, previously stuck in Amadja’s chest, now protruded. Before his brain could register what had happened, her knees buckled and she sank to the floor.
A new, nearly paralyzing fear shot through him. She couldn’t be dead. Darius whirled around, swinging his sword in a deadly arc laced with crackling energy. Each of the last four demons rushing him fell to the ground and disappeared in a flash of sulphur and brimstone.
He hurried to Lexi’s side. She was on the floor, blood seeping from between her fingers as she pressed her hand against the wound. Her eyes were open, but he knew she was having trouble focusing, and her complexion was paling from the loss of blood. If she could only generate enough magic to cauterize her own wound…
The thought broke off as a low-level droning caught his attention. Darius turned around and saw Amadja, fully recovered, holding his hands out to the side, palms up. The air above them shimmered as he summoned his magic once more. When he met Darius’s gaze, his eyes were glowing like hot coals.
The next few minutes unfolded in slow motion. Amadja pointed at Lexi and there was a brilliant flash of light. At the same instant, Darius threw himself on top of her, shielding her body from whatever magic Amadja had
just unleashed.
If he’d been anyone else, the impact of his body would have driven the dagger through her, sealing her fate. But the dagger was his, and the instant it touched his skin, it morphed into the tattoo once more. Then he felt a blistering heat on his back as Amadja’s magic burned him. He could smell the sickening stench of his own charred flesh and thanked the Goddess he’d gotten there before the bolt had struck Lexi.
When the blast subsided, he looked straight up into the face of Amadja, though the effort cost him dearly. Amadja looked triumphant, and Darius could understand why. Lexi was bleeding to death from her wounds, and he was injured almost to the point of being unable to move. As he prepared himself for Amadja’s final attack, Tain suddenly stepped between them.
“Get out of the way, Tain,” Amadja ordered. Darius had little time to wonder about his brother’s change of heart because at that moment, Tain rushed Amadja.
Darius bent over Lexi, who was lying deathly still. He caressed the side of her face and felt her clammy, cool skin. “Come on, baby, stay with me,” he encouraged when he saw her eyelids flutter.
He lifted her into his arms, wincing at the shooting pain radiating from the scalpel wound and the burns on his back. Cradling her against his chest, he turned to check on the fight. To his surprise, Tain was alone.
“Where’s Amadja?” he asked, looking around. The door to the room stood open.
“He ran for reinforcements,” Tain gasped, still breathing hard. “We need to leave before he returns.”
Darius needed no further encouragement. He had to get Lexi out of there before she died. He pushed through the open doorway and glanced up and down the hall to make sure that Amadja and his demons weren’t waiting for them. Seeing that the coast was clear, he headed for the door to the bar, Tain close on his heels. They were within sight of it when a figure stepped through. Daphne. Her sultry gaze drew Darius in, and though he tried to resist, he’d taken a step toward her before he even realized what he’d done.
Lexi shuddered in his arms, and he looked down. For a moment, the fog in his head lifted, and he remembered why he was there. He had to get Lexi to safety. She was his number-one concern, not the succubus coming toward him.
“Darius.” The sound of his name from Daphne’s lips was a siren’s song, and every fiber in his being wanted to go to her. He had to fight the temptation.
Then, suddenly, Tain came to his rescue again, stepping in front of him. Immediately the temptation to go to the succubus faded as she focused on his brother. A new fear shot through Darius. He hadn’t rescued his brother from Amadja only to have him fall victim to the succubus.
“Tain,” he shouted. “Don’t listen to her. Come with me.”
“Go,” Tain growled, a strange light in his eyes. “I can handle this.”
“Tain.” All the pain and helplessness Darius felt was in that single utterance. It must have pierced the glamour affecting Tain, because he turned to look back at Darius.
“I’ll come back for you,” Darius promised.
“I know.”
Still Darius hesitated. He couldn’t leave Tain behind. But as soon as the thought formed, it died. The succubus had reached Tain. Her arms were around his neck, and she was kissing him. If Darius tried to interfere, she would only siphon off the last of his energy as well and Lexi would surely die. Tain’s sacrifice would be for nothing.
Hating to leave his brother, Darius turned and raced down the long hall that led to the collection pool. He was betting that Amadja wouldn’t realize that Darius knew about the underground network of tunnels.
“Hang in there, baby,” Darius kept saying softly as he hurried along with Lexi in his arms. “Be strong. I’ll get us out of here.” He hoped when he did that she would have enough magic to change into wolf form. Whenever a shifter changed form, any damaged muscle, bone or tissue replaced itself in the new body. Given the extent of her injuries, shifting might be the only thing that could save her life at this point.
Darius was tired and in pain, but he shut out his own feelings as he hurried through the tunnel until he reached the other end.
Lexi’s breathing had grown shallow, and he knew she needed to morph soon. He found the door he was looking for and stepped through. Once again, he was in the utility room beneath the Chrysler Building.
Sensing they were alone, he looked around the room to be sure. Then he carefully set Lexi on the floor and bent over her.
“Lexi, wake up, baby,” he said, brushing the hairs from her face.
Her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. “Darius…” she breathed, trying to focus on his face.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her.
“Like I’m dying,” she said with a lame attempt at humor.
Darius was afraid she was, too. They were out of time. “I need for you to shift.”
“Can’t,” she whispered. “No energy.”
He made his voice stern. “Yes, you can, damn it—and you will. Now!”
His tone caught her by surprise, he could tell. There was fear when she looked up at him—not fear of him, he knew; fear of what might happen.
“The demon?” she asked.
“Gone for now, but he is sure to come back. We don’t have a lot of time. You need to shift—it will heal your wound. It’s the only way.”
After an eternally long second, she nodded. “Help me out of my clothes—can’t do it myself.”
With no time to waste, he pulled his dagger from his stomach where it had attached itself and sliced open all her clothes. He was careful when he peeled them away from her wound, but some blood had dried around it and when he pulled, she cried out in pain.
“I’m sorry, Lexi. I know this hurts.” He pulled the last of her clothes away. The wound gaped dark and ugly against the perfection of her body, and his anger at Amadja grew to mammoth proportions.
“What now?” he asked her when he was finished.
“Help me,” she said. “Need more energy.”
“What can I do?” He felt nearly helpless.
Lexi gave a strangled cry. “Full moon…wolf in heat…improvise.”
He nodded, but hesitated. This felt too much like taking advantage of her, but he knew he had to do it. Lying next to her, he bent over and kissed her, hesitantly at first but then more deeply as his fears and emotions surfaced. He tried to convey to her how he felt—how much he cared for her, and his nearly desperate fear that she might leave him. In his kiss, he promised her what he couldn’t promise her in words—that they had a future together. He was so into the moment that he didn’t notice at first the hum of energy around them. When he did, he let the kiss end and lifted his head. Lexi smiled up at him.
He saw her take a couple of deep breaths, and then she closed her eyes and gripped his hand with a strength that belied her condition.
He felt the magic closing in on them, and, wanting to help it along, he placed his free hand across his heart. The life-force tattoo shimmered, and he felt what little magic he had left travel along his arm and into their clasped hands.
Her eyes turned first, growing a shade lighter and becoming elliptical in shape. Then everything happened at once. Her dark hair seemed to get longer and spread across her body, covering her. Her skeletal system reshaped itself, as did the bones of her face.
Darius had only enough time to wonder if the process hurt when it was done and he was leaning over a beautiful black wolf, holding its paw. Lexi’s paw.
It was hard to imagine this beautiful creature was the woman he’d held in his arms moments before. She lifted her weary head and looked at him. Though she couldn’t speak, he felt like he knew what she wanted.
He stooped over her and examined her stomach. “It’s better, Lexi,” he told her, hoping she could understand him. “It’ll take a little time, but it’s healing.”
She seemed to understand because after a second, she struggled to her feet. Then she nudged him, and he smiled. Pushing himself to his feet, he gathered what w
as left of her clothes and led her to the stairs leading outside, watching to make sure she didn’t have any trouble climbing them.
Using his key once more to open the metal doors, they exited into the cool night air.
Tain pulled the succubus more tightly against him and kissed her with a thoroughness only centuries of having sex can teach a man. He knew the instant she lost control of the situation, and he reveled in the experience of being in charge. Of being the dominant one.
Seconds later, he felt rather than heard Amadja approach, but he didn’t hurry to end the kiss. He took his time. When he did release the succubus, she stared up at him with eyes wide with wonder and glazed with passion. This was not the first time he’d kissed her. They’d had sex frequently. Not because he liked her particularly, but because it seemed to annoy Aja.
He turned now to face the demon lord, wondering what guise he would take for this confrontation. As Tain had expected, it was Aja standing there, hands on her hips, eyes blazing in anger.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let go of the succubus immediately.” The look she gave Daphne fairly sizzled. Tain felt a stab of guilt for having used the succubus in such a way, but quickly shrugged it off. If he’d had more living magic in him, she would have sucked him dry without batting an eye. What did he care if, because of him, she was now the object of Aja’s wrath?
“Do you want to tell me why you stopped me in there?” Aja continued. “I had them. I could have destroyed them both.”
Tain smiled and moved closer, Daphne already forgotten as he slipped his arms around Aja’s waist and pulled her close. “Let’s go someplace private, shall we? After you hear my idea, you’ll no doubt want to show your gratitude, and this time, I don’t want an audience.”
Even in New York City, a tall, half-naked man covered in tattoos with blood running down his chest and a rare black wolf by his side was a sight to see in the middle of the night. Darius ignored the stares. He just wanted to put some distance between him and the demons chasing them.
The Darkening (Immortals) Page 21
