The Dark

by Cheyenne McCray

  I casually turn and smile at one of the hulking male warriors, who can see through my glamour as all magical creatures can. He wears a black coat that covers all of his weapons. He nods in return as we pass each other.

  Fool.

  My mind churns as I head out to where all the action is, in the middle of the warehouse. Should I make myself “useful” and see what else I can learn?

  Or should I find Fredrickson and fuck it out of him? I can use my gray magic to draw whatever I want out of him if I choose to.

  I scowl as I realize Fredrickson is not a part of the now limited inner circle of one person per group. But I know he will still be useful.

  I pass the PSF’s strategy area, a room much smaller than the Alliance’s strategy and command center. It amuses me to see what the PSF tries to come up with to attempt to hurt Darkwolf and the Stormcutters.

  Sure, they take down a lot of the cutters, but cutters are pawns and there’s more where they came from.

  When I fight with the Alliance, no one notices how much I avoid the Stormcutters. For the most part the Stormcutters recognize me as Darkwolf’s informant and spin away, so I’m not forced to do anything to them. But still, I have to trap some of them with my magic for “show.”

  What I really get a kick out of, though, are the times I manage to kill Alliance members here and there—and no one sees me.

  If anyone does catch me, no matter who it is, I’ll have no qualms about killing the person before they can say anything to me or anyone else. An instant death. Just another Alliance member out of the picture. No matter who it is.

  The Alliance is hardly an itch beneath Darkwolf’s collar. Soon, he’ll control so many Stormcutters that they’ll be unstoppable and the Alliance will be destroyed.

  And even more importantly, as Darkwolf’s army expands, his power, his incredible magic, grows and grows.

  When he attains his army of at least a million, there will be no stopping him, no matter where he decides to go and what he chooses to control.

  I can’t wait.

  17

  The command center seemed bigger as only one rep from each faction of the Alliance moved into the room to sit in front of the flat-screen monitors.

  Still standing, Jake glanced up at the skylights. It was dark outside, which meant the Drow were out.

  Sure enough, Garran strode through the doorway the moment Jake started to take his seat. The King looked around the room as if assessing the occupants and then firmly shut the newly installed door behind him.

  “Are you certain we cannot be heard?” The gems on Garran’s chest straps glittered as he eased into a seat.

  Jake turned his folding metal chair around so that he straddled it, and rested his forearms on the back of the chair. The room smelled of freshly cut wood and some kind of plastic from the soundproofing materials. Not to mention that ever-present, undefinable scent of magic that always accompanied the magical beings, including the witches.

  Jake pointed to the padding that had been put up around the walls. “The room’s now almost totally soundproof. Once the ceiling is up, no worries.”

  “This feels so strange.” Rhiannon folded both of her hands on the tabletop. “Just us.”

  Hawk represented the D’Danann warriors; Garran the Dark Elves; David Bourne the Marines; Jake the PSF; Rhiannon the D’Anu witches; and Cassia the Light Elves.

  The moment Jake’s gaze met Cassia’s beautiful turquoise eyes a strange sensation hit his gut like a weird electrical storm. He’d never felt the kinds of things with other women that he did with Cassia.

  God, but he wanted her. He wanted to bury his nose in her hair and breathe in the clean scent of her vanilla shampoo and bathing gel.

  Whatever it was he felt for her left him shaken and unsteady, like he couldn’t stand right now if his life depended on it. And he was so hard he was glad he was straddling a chair backward to hide his hard-on.

  He cleared his throat as he braced his arms on the back of the chair and looked at David Bourne. “What do you have on the military front?”

  Bourne tipped his chair back. “More brass is on its way and all branches are trying to get their crap together.”

  He went on, “Since the demons wiped out most of the heads of the military here in San Francisco, that means the Coast Guard, Army, Reserves, Navy, and Marines have to draw elsewhere for leadership. The National Guard did a pretty good job of getting in here and getting things started, though.”

  Jake nodded, anger rolling through him at the thought of all the leadership that had been wiped out by Fomorii.

  “But hell, these guys really don’t know what they’re up against,” Bourne continued, “and they don’t know how to eliminate the threat. They’re so goddamn clueless.”

  He rubbed his hand over his high-and-tight haircut. “I’m trying to bring them up to speed, but they’re having a hard time ‘getting it.’ Or believing it.”

  Hawk grunted and Garran scowled.

  Bourne blew out his breath. “Everyone is scrambling to establish some kind of local government and a strong military presence. Only the Marines are here to back the National Guard, and ready to do some reconnaissance and fight these bastards.”

  “I can’t shake the thought that it’s going to take magic to fight magic.” Rhiannon fiddled with her obsidian ring. “So let’s say the military takes out Stormcutters, and maybe even the Blades. Darkwolf will just make more.”

  “When I brought him down with the knife, it proved he has vulnerabilities,” Jake said. “If we do find the metal we need to make the god-laser we’ll blow him to pieces—end of problem.”

  “The Great Guardian would probably say it would tip the balance in all the Otherworlds,” Rhiannon said with a wry expression, and looked at Cassia. “No offense.”

  “You’re right.” Cassia sighed. “I don’t have to ask her. Darkwolf is now a product of a god and goddess from Underworld, as well as being from this Earth Otherworld. We can’t allow him to be killed. He must be removed in other ways.”

  “Shit,” Jake growled, echoed by Bourne.

  Rhiannon’s jaw dropped. “I was only kidding.”

  Cassia gave a not-so-casual shrug. “I need to go home and have a chat with M—the Guardian to get her word on it, but I’m pretty certain that’s the case.”

  “Goddamn it. We were so close.” Jake rubbed his hand hard over his head as frustration exploded through him.

  “What the hell do you do to get rid of a duo-god if you can’t vaporize the bastard?” Bourne asked with anger in his voice. “Ask him nicely to leave?”

  “Wait.” Jake held up one of his hands while he considered the situation and went over the weapon schematics in his mind. Maybe—yes. “I think I’ve got it.” He looked at Cassia. “You have the power to send him to Underworld?”

  Cassia’s throat worked as she met his gaze. “If I don’t now, I will within days.”

  Thoughts of Cassia’s mating requirement clashed with his focus on the weapon, and he ground his teeth and took a deep breath.

  “How will you get the power if you don’t already have it?” Rhiannon asked.

  Cassia swallowed again. “The power will result from my ascension to becoming a Guardian.”

  Before anyone could ask any more questions that would turn the knife harder in his gut, Jake said, “I think we can pull this off.”

  While everyone turned their complete attention to him, Jake continued. “I can back off on the obliteration part of the weapon. Instead, we’ll contain him in the array long enough for you to do your thing.”

  “That would be perfect.” Cassia nodded slowly. “Witch magic, and even my own magic, won’t be able to contain him. But if you can hold him in one location and prevent him from blocking my energies, then I’ll be able to use my power to send him to a place where he can do no harm.”

  Hawk narrowed his gaze. “Underworld.”

  Rhiannon frowned and held her hand to her cheek, trailing her fingers ov
er the scars. “I don’t know why, as horrible as he is, I can’t imagine sending Darkwolf to Underworld.”

  “It is better than he deserves,” Hawk said in a low growl.

  Cassia tilted her head to the side. “There may be another place more suited to him.”

  “As long as he’s out of here,” Jake said. “I don’t give a damn where he goes.”

  “What about the metal we need to make that weapon?” Bourne shifted his stance against the workstation. “Will those mist—uh, mist-beings give us what we need?”

  “Mystwalkers,” Hawk and Garran said at the same time.

  Jake brought Cassia up to speed on the discussion about the metal needed for the now god-containing weapon.

  “The Mystwalkers have been working on other weapons for us,” Cassia said with a thoughtful expression. “If their metal will also work for the weapon you’re trying to build, they might help.”

  Jake gripped the back of the chair he was straddling. “You’ll take me to see them?”

  “I will attempt to arrange an audience,” Cassia said. “Few are allowed in the free Mystwalker sanctuary and I don’t know that they’d consider bringing a human to their secluded location.”

  With a frown, Jake narrowed his eyes. “I hope to hell you can.”

  “I will do my best,” Cassia said.

  Jake pressed on to other matters. “Do you think the Light Elves would help us fight Darkwolf?” he asked Cassia as they continued to hold each other’s gazes.

  Garran snorted and said, “Self-righteous bastards—”

  Cassia frowned and Garran pushed his silvery-blue hair over his shoulder plate.

  “My apologies,” Garran added as he met Cassia’s gaze. “However the Light Eves have never shown a willingness to aid any people.”

  “All right, all right.” Jake rolled his shoulders. “We get it. Ancient history.”

  Garran snorted again, but Cassia looked like she was struggling to gather her normally calm expression.

  “Back to the Light Elves.” Jake focused on Cassia again. “Think they’d help?”

  Cassia’s frown deepened. “Truthfully, I don’t think so.”

  “But it can’t hurt to ask,” Rhiannon said as she leaned closer to Cassia.

  Cassia slowly nodded, concern etched on her beautiful features. “Darkwolf is amassing thousands of Stormcutters according to the prisoners who were persuaded to give us the information. He’s planning on gathering tens of thousands. Who knows how many he’s already brought together?”

  “Thousands.” Jake thumped the table. “With the Drow, D’Danann, D’Anu, and PSF, we have maybe nine hundred. A huge number of fighters in the Alliance are Drow, and they can only come out at night.”

  “At this moment the Marines can back you with twenty-two hundred of our finest,” Bourne said.

  Jake looked down at the satellite images on screens before raising his head. “That makes about three thousand, counting the Drow.”

  “If that’s not enough,” Bourne said, “within thirty days we’ll have fifteen thousand more on his doorstep.”

  “Providing we can find Darkwolf’s doorstep,” Rhiannon grumbled.

  “We don’t have thirty days,” Cassia said quietly. “We’ll be fortunate if we have two weeks.”

  “That is the worst friggin’ carnival ride,” Jake muttered as they appeared in a meadow in Otherworld. “My head is spinning.”

  Cassia held back a smile—she felt nothing but a soft breeze on her cheeks when she took them through the veil. Jake was human, yet a warrior in every sense of the word.

  Kael had stayed in San Francisco to keep an eye on things there. The wolf familiar had expressed his unease over Cassia having to leave for Otherworld.

  She had no choice, and one of them needed to remain in San Francisco to help monitor the situation and to help fight.

  Before she looked away from Jake, Cassia felt her mother’s presence and caught the Great Guardian’s scent of wildflowers and spring breezes.

  As it had been ingrained in her from the time she was a child, Cassia bent on one knee and lowered her head.

  Jake was still standing and she caught his hand, jerked it, and he got to his knees beside her.

  “Lay down your weapon,” she said through her teeth. She should have prepared him for the formalities and protocol one should follow when around the Guardian.

  Jake drew his new Glock from its holster and placed it on the grass before the Great Guardian. The Guardian’s flowing white gown brushed the tops of her feet, and her gleaming blonde hair nearly reached the hem of her gown.

  “You may rise and retrieve your weapon.” The Guardian spoke in a musical voice, as always, but this time with a hint of amusement. “I must say I have never had any being place such a weapon before me.”

  Cassia stood with Jake as he re-holstered his gun and relief flooded her at the Guardian’s light smile.

  The Guardian turned her gaze on Cassia. “We have much to discuss.”

  Her brilliant blue eyes then moved to Jake and the smile vanished. “And I sense strongly that you wish to speak with me about matters that are best discussed in private.”

  “I sure do.” Jake’s features were calm, but Cassia’s stomach twisted.

  Oh, goddess.

  She knew he wanted to talk about the situation with Daire taking Cassia through her transition. Not to mention the Elvin prejudice against humans that was eating at him.

  Now was so not a good time.

  “Then we will talk.” The Guardian gave a slight incline of her head toward Jake. “After you have completed your task with the Mystwalkers.”

  “This can’t wait.” Jake looked at Cassia, his gaze filled with fire and emotion.

  Cassia widened her eyes and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. “Jake—”

  “Very well.” The Guardian’s voice now carried an unfamiliar hint of frost that made Cassia shiver. “I believe I know what it is that you wish to speak to me about, but I want to hear it from you.”

  “Train me how to help Cassia with her transition.” Jake kept his head up as he spoke. “I want to be the one who goes through it with her.”

  Cassia held back a groan. She wanted to slide through the blades of grass and into the earth. By the goddess, this was very much not the way to speak to the Great Guardian.

  The Guardian regarded Jake with now icy blue eyes. “Cassia must mate with an Elvin male of pure blood. Only a fully vested magical male—of our species—has the strength to take her through the transition. Only he can be beside her to serve all Otherworlds.”

  Jake’s jaw tensed and his gaze locked with Cassia’s. She had the sudden urge to clap her hand over his mouth.

  Too late.

  He turned to face the Guardian again. “I know your kind is prejudiced against humans, but Cassia—”

  “My kind?” The Guardian raised an eyebrow and the very air around them grew frosty.

  Cassia shivered from the chill. Her heart beat faster and she wanted to kick Jake or stomp on his foot. Maybe elbow him.

  Better yet, knock him upside the head. Too bad she didn’t have her shirre.

  “Light Elves.” Jake studied the Guardian dead on. “When I was in the city of the Light Elves, pretty much everyone I passed by acted like I was dirt.”

  The Guardian certainly didn’t look as calm as normal, and that shook Cassia up more than anything. “We will discuss this later,” the Guardian said.

  Cassia resisted closing her eyes, but prayed to Anu for Jake to shut his blessed mouth.

  Unfortunately her prayer went unanswered.

  “I care too much about Cassia to let another man have her.” Jake took Cassia’s now shaking hand and she wanted to crunch his bones in a death grip.

  Didn’t he see what he was doing? One did not “piss off” the Great Guardian. Ever.

  Cassia swore she saw a light tinge of pink in the Guardian’s cheeks, as if anger had actually risen up within her.
>
  “Your decisions in the past have led to the demise of others. Many others,” the Guardian said, and shock pitched Cassia’s stomach.

  Jake’s expression told her the Guardian had wounded him as if she had thrust a sword into his chest. He didn’t respond, but he didn’t break his gaze with the Guardian.

  “Go to the Mystwalkers then return to me.” The Guardian waved her hand in the direction of the forest. “Then we will discuss this situation.”

  The Guardian turned away and walked toward the forest. Cassia did clap her hand over Jake’s mouth this time, before he could say anything else that would anger the Guardian.

  When the Guardian vanished, Cassia took her hand away from Jake’s mouth and clenched her hands at her sides. Sparks started flying across the meadow from her fists. A harsh wind kicked up and flung her hair around her face.

  “I’m not going to cow down, Cassia.” He took her by the shoulders, mindless of the fact that she was beginning to glow and might just blow the both of them up, and everything around them.

  “I won’t be intimidated by anyone—especially about this,” he said in a hard tone. “Let her turn me into a two-headed snake or whatever. I don’t give a damn. She will hear me. She will grant my request. I care about you too much.”

  Cassia shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

  “Yes. I do.” He gripped her shoulders tighter. “I’m not going down without a fight, and even then they’ll have to kill me.”

  Cassia’s magic zipped across the meadow and hit a rabbit in the butt, causing the poor creature to jump at least ten feet in the air before landing and bolting into the forest.

  “Kill you?” She searched his gaze, trying to make him understand. “That might just happen if you don’t shut your mouth when you need to.”

  The corners of his mouth curved. “I know how to shut you up.”

  She blinked. “Wha—”

  Jake jerked her to him and took her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. The kind of kiss that made her feel like she belonged to him and no one else.

  A soft moan rose up in her throat as she returned his kiss. Every bit of anger, concern—absolutely everything vanished, melting away in a blur of color and emotion as his kiss took complete control of her.