I’m a dark Illusionist, Ezekiel. The thought tumbled before she could stop it. I’m so terrified I’m going to become like the Illusionists of old, thrive on torture and death because when those dark illusions rise, they feel so right. Like I’ve finally found my place, and it scares the hell out of me. My illusions would kill me if they got out of control— Damn it! She’d trusted him with the truth that could endanger her life!
Ezekiel’s laugh echoed through her mind, and her forearm burned as the trust stage was sealed. Danger is coming, my dear. Use my weapons to defend yourself.
She stared at Elijah, dread welling in her chest. “The bond,” she whispered. “He’s going to make me call out his weapon!”
“Oh, shit.” Elijah whirled around as the bolt on the basement door was thrown open and Calydons charged into the room. “Get the hell away from her!” Elijah attacked, taking out assailants left and right, as he’d done before. While he was occupied, others dodged him and raced toward Ana, her death gleaming in their eyes.
Ana tried to run, but there was nowhere to go. Walls were all around her. She couldn’t call Elijah’s weapon and leave him defenseless, but without it, she had no way to protect herself. “You bastard!” She screamed with frustration as a Calydon swung his sword toward her throat, and she threw up her arm to block it—
A knife appeared in her palm. Ezekiel’s weapon had claimed her.
Horror assailed her, and she nearly cried in dismay as she instinctively swung the knife upward in self-defense. It sank deep into the gut of the warrior. He clutched his stomach, yanked out the knife and flung it aside. Then he reared back with his sword to strike her again, oblivious to the blood flowing from his wound.
“Oh, no.” She scrambled backwards as Elijah’s throwing star sliced through the Calydon’s throat, cutting him down in a spray of blood that coated her face. Oh, dear God.
It was the same as when she’d been working for Nate. Another warrior dead because of her. Stumbling, she gaped at the body, and suddenly her mind saw the dead warrior as Elijah. Her beautiful, wonderful mate, as he’d fallen at her feet at the Gun Rack, covered in blood—
“Come on, Ana. Stay with me, sweetheart.” Elijah grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet as he took down another Calydon, his throwing star humming through the air. “Let’s go. Party’s getting crowded.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the dead man as Elijah pulled her across the floor. “He’s dead. Again. My fault.”
“Ana! Focus on me!”
The urgency in Elijah’s voice burst through the horror coating her mind, and she finally pried her gaze off the body. She looked up to see Elijah was dragging them to the door, straight into the mass of oncoming Calydons. As fast as Elijah killed them, more kept streaming in the door, and still he kept moving forward toward the exit they were obstructing. His weapons were flying, so fast they were a blur, as he held off so many assailants, so vastly outnumbered, but never outmatched.
Not now, but he couldn’t keep it up forever, and more and more were coming…
They weren’t going for her anymore. They were targeting Elijah now. Was Ezekiel going to have him killed right there? “Elijah—”
Kane flashed into the room suddenly, right in the midst of the Calydons. He had the entire Order with him, including a male Ana didn’t recognize.
Relief rushed through her at the appearance of his team, and she felt like hugging them all. They had a chance!
“Nice of you to make it,” Elijah shouted. “How about a little help on this side of the room, eh?”
Kane saluted him, disappeared, and then appeared beside them. “Nice odds you two have going here.” He called out his double spiked flails and hurled them, taking out the two front Calydons as Elijah cut down two others. The rest of the Order attacked from the rear. Weapons were flying, blades were flashing, and this time, the odds were no longer against the Order. “Time for a vacation for the bad guys,” Kane said cheerfully.
With the entire Order on the assault, Ezekiel’s Calydons were struck down in a matter of minutes. The last ones were just falling when Ezekiel appeared in the doorway. Ana jerked her gaze to him, realizing that no one else had seen him.
He was wearing a pair of black pants, a loose white cotton shirt and his dark hair was slicked back, a man on his way to a cocktail party, not a battle. He met Ana’s eyes over the battle, and a longing pulsed deep in her belly for him.
She took a step toward Ezekiel, then Elijah shouted her name and grabbed her around the waist, yanking her against him. Ezekiel’s gaze flicked to Elijah, and a triumphant smile flashed across his face. Elijah raised his throwing star to hurl it at Ezekiel, and then the ancient Calydon vanished, still smiling.
He’d dematerialized, but he’d left the door open for them.
It was then that Ana realized he had intentionally set her and Elijah up to call in the Order. He’d set the trap and they’d played their part to perfection. He’d wanted the Order there, and he’d left the door open for a reason.
It was exactly as Elijah had said.
Ezekiel was playing them, and the burning of his brands as they seared her forearms with the new marks told her who was winning.
***
Ana stumbled on the body of a Calydon as she backed away from the door, and Elijah caught her as she fell. She leaned against him, focusing on his scent, on the rhythm of his breathing, on the familiar feel of his body against hers as his arms held her tight. She was so desperate to reconnect with Elijah, to have him resonating in her soul cleansing Ezekiel’s darkness.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on, pressing her face against him. Together, they called on the power of their connection while she tried to overcome her need to go after Ezekiel and Elijah fought to regain his mental control.
For a long moment, neither of them moved, just holding each other, and drawing strength from their connection. She was vaguely aware of the low murmurs of the other Order members, but she didn’t look up.
Elijah’s body was damp with sweat, and there was blood trickling from a wound on his shoulder. She could feel the stress in his mind. The demons had started to rise when Ezekiel had been trying to force the illusion from her before the Order had appeared.
But in Elijah’s arms, she was safe. She knew she was, and without a threat to her safety and well-being, there was no need for an illusion to rise. The adrenaline faded, and she began to tremble.
Elijah pressed his lips to her forehead, then peeled her hand from around his neck. He brought her arm down where they could both see it.
Superimposed on Elijah’s throwing star was a dagger. The entire outline was complete, and part of the design on the handle was finished. Elijah swore and covered the dagger with his hand. “He got a stage and a half in that scenario. Half the trust stage and his weapons recognizing you. All that’s left is the other half of the trust stage and for you to satisfy your half of the death stage.”
The latter was the only stage she had left to do with Elijah. So close with both of them, so terrifyingly close. “He set it up perfectly. He raised our stress levels so our defenses were down, then hit us both hard before we could recover.” She bit her lip and stared at the double marks on her arms. “I look at his mark, and it feels right.” She tried to rub it off, but of course, it didn’t move. And she didn’t want it to. “Damn it, Elijah!”
He caught her chin, dragging her attention from the graffiti on her arm. “Ana.”
As she looked into his intense eyes, Ana forgot about Ezekiel. Elijah was who mattered. It was Elijah. “I feel like I’m losing my mind,” she whispered.
He snorted softly and rubbed his thumb over her chin. “I know I am.”
“You guys okay?” Quinn walked up to them, sporting only a few minor injuries.
Elijah thudded Quinn on the shoulder. “That was damn impressive, connecting with Ana through your sheva bond with Grace so you could find us.”
Quinn smiled back, his eyes light
ening with relief to hear Elijah sounding sane. “Thought you’d be jealous that I connected with her and want to kill me.”
“Hell, no. I owe you now. And trust me, you’re no threat to her.” Elijah grabbed Ana’s hand and tugged her close. “We’ve got issues.” He glanced around him, and she knew he was wondering when Ezekiel would reappear or launch the next part of his trap.
“Yeah, but at least we’re in his home now,” Quinn said. “We have access to him.”
“Which is where he wants us.” Elijah glanced again at the open door. “He’s got us all where he wants us.”
Quinn looked at him. “You think he’s planning to take down the entire Order at once?”
Elijah ground his jaw. “I think he’s planning to force me to take it down, actually.”
Quinn’s eyebrows went up, and the rest of the Order fell silent. “What are you talking about?”
“I can’t kill him.” Elijah lifted his chin, finally admitting the secret he’d kept from the team for so long. “He’s been manipulating me through our blood bond. I feel…” He swore. “Sympathetic toward him.”
Tears burned in Ana’s eyes at Elijah’s confession, at the strength he was summoning to be honest with them. He was finally trusting that they would still have faith in him no matter what. Maybe Elijah was beginning to see himself as she did: as a warrior worth admiring and honoring, no matter what.
“Even when he’s trying to steal your sheva?” Quinn sounded shocked, but Ana could tell it hadn’t even occurred to him to strike out at Elijah and shut him down for being vulnerable to the ancient Calydon.
Elijah snorted. “In the moment, hell, no.” Then he sobered, looking warily at his teammates, as if still expecting them to leap on him for his revelation. “But once the intensity is gone…hell…I don’t know. I’d have to kill him in the heat of the moment. Otherwise, I won’t be able to.”
Of course, not a single one saw it as a weakness, but simply as another piece of information in their puzzle. God, she loved these warriors. Their commitment to each other was so powerful, it was amazing. This was the kind of family she wanted, to be surrounded by people who cared so much that their faith was unyielding. And she saw from the emotions of wonder and disbelief playing across Elijah’s face that he was feeling the same.
“Then maybe this’ll help motivate you to hate him.” Gideon was canvassing the room, checking to ensure all of Ezekiel’s Calydons were truly dead. Thano and Ryland were standing guard in the hall, making sure no one was coming. “When Lily was trying to figure out why you’re so special, she discovered you’re the only surviving descendant of Caleb. All the others died in Illusionist pits, tortured to such insanity that they killed themselves trying to escape from demons that didn’t exist.”
Elijah looked like he’d been kicked in the gut. “Illusionists exterminated my entire family?”
Ana stiffened, but to her surprise, Elijah didn’t loosen his grip on her at all. It didn’t seem as if he was associating her with the Illusionists who had tortured him and his ancestors so severely. But why not? That’s who she was.
No, it’s not. His voice was fierce in her head. You’re not like them.
But you know I am—
Fuck that, Ana. You’re a beacon of shining light in my life. Accept it.
Warmth spread through her, the most beautiful and amazing sense of peace and belonging. Her history and her race were no longer between them. Just as she saw him only as Elijah, a man of such amazing courage and strength, he simply saw her as Ana, not a monster. How can you forgive me for who I am?
I don’t forgive anything. I see exactly who you are, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life.
Ana closed her eyes, fighting against the swell of emotion trying to overtake her. Damn you, Elijah. I don’t have time to turn into some mushy female right now. Don’t say things like that.
His laughter was an affectionate balm as it touched her mind. Fine. I’ll save it for after we kick Ezekiel’s ass. Okay?
She opened her eyes to look at him, hope leaping in her heart. You think we’re going to win? Did he believe? Had he started to believe?
But Gideon didn’t give Elijah a chance to answer. “No, it wasn’t the Illusionists who you need to blame,” Gideon said. “It was Ezekiel.”
Elijah frowned. “He’s been in prison—”
“When I was merged with Nate before he died,” Quinn explained, “I could feel Ezekiel’s presence in his mind. Nate had been doing his bidding for two thousand years, and it turns out that one of those tasks was to dump every direct descendent of Caleb into an Illusionist hell.” Quinn met his gaze. “Weren’t you in a pit when Dante recruited you for the Order?”
Elijah ground his jaw and gave a terse nod. “Yeah. I was. I was insane.”
Gideon nodded at the confirmation. “Ezekiel had everyone killed except for you—”
“No.” Elijah suddenly understood what Ezekiel had done. All Ezekiel’s comments made sense now, that he was the only one who had survived, that he was the one who’d been selected. “He tried to have me killed, too, and I survived. That’s why I’m worthy.” He swore. “It was all a test, an audition to see what family member deserved to stand by his side.” He paced the room, analyzing the times during his torture when he’d felt Ezekiel’s presence touching his. Testing, always testing, seeing how Elijah was faring. “Son of a bitch. I’ve been sucker-picked for this shit all along.” For six hundred years, Ezekiel had been toying with him. Six hundred years.
Ana touched his arm. “See?” she said quietly, her eyes gleaming with such pride it made his heart actually stutter. “You aren’t the weak one, Elijah. You are the strong one, the strongest one of all.”
One other thing, Gideon continued, retreating into the privacy of their blood bond, a message not meant for Ana to overhear. Lily also discovered that there is precedent for the same female being a sheva for more than one Calydon.
Elijah snorted. We already know it can happen. What about it?
Whoever completes the bond first wins the girl. The other male’s marks disappear completely. It’s a race to the finish line. Gideon’s gaze flicked to Ana’s arm. And it looks like you guys are in a pretty close heat.
Elijah’s entire soul froze. You mean I could lose her? Completely? His entire body began to shake, and he grabbed Ana, yanking her against him. I can’t lose her!
Gideon gave him a grim look. I know, buddy. I fucking know.
“Someone’s screaming! Victims!” Ryland shouted from the hall. “We need to move.”
Adrenaline tore through Elijah as he became aware of the screams. Every fiber went on alert, and he was already racing for the door before the first echoes were over, his Calydon instincts to protect the innocent raging at him.
Still reeling from Gideon’s revelation, Elijah held tight to Ana’s arm as they ran into the hall, the Order moving fast and silently. The minute they stepped out into the hall, Ana could hear the screams as well. They were screams of such pain, such torment, such hell. A woman. “Dear God,” she whispered, shocked by the torment in the woman’s voice.
The Order was running flat-out now, nine men focused on one goal, weapons out. They moved fast down the hall and hit the entryway of the house.
Ana stumbled when she saw where they were. They were on a magnificent landing, with a gorgeous mahogany railing, overlooking a gilded entry way. A crystal chandelier hung down, sparkling in the foyer, reflecting off the marble tile. “I’ve been here. Nate brought me here. We murdered a Calydon in this hallway. This has all been set up from the start, every death, everything—”
Elijah squeezed her hand, yanking her back from her memories. “Come on,” he said urgently. “Don’t let Ezekiel distract you. The shit’s going down in the basement.”
There was a tension to his tone that caught her attention. “You think it’s a trap?”
“Hell, yeah.”
She tried to stop, digging her heels in as they heade
d toward the stairs. “So why—”
“Because he underestimates us.”
Ana saw the grim determination in Elijah’s eyes, and her heart leapt. There was no fear in there, no worry about his mind fragmenting or his vulnerability with Ezekiel. He was a warrior on a mission, completely focused and confident, aware of his limitations, but fully cognizant of his strengths. Elijah had come back into his own, and he was ready.
Relief and excitement swirled through her, and she stopped resisting. “Okay, let’s do it.”
He gave her a brief grin, then turned his focus to the battle, shouting orders to his team as they sped down the stairs toward the screams. “Gideon! Call on Lily! You’re going to need her help to fight Ezekiel!”
“Already on it,” Gideon shouted back.
By the time they reached the bottom of the main steps in the lobby, Ryland was decimating the basement door with his machete. It fell as the rest of the Order caught up, and then they were through, the remains of the door splintering.
They charged down the basement stairs to an enormous room the size of a ballroom. Cement walls stretched up three stories, and there were chains hanging from the walls around them, all empty, except for one female. She was slumped over, her skin a mottled gray, as if she’d been poisoned by Ezekiel’s touch.
Ian swore and sprinted for her, but the rest of the team stopped dead, fanning out in a defensive position, weapons ready, bodies tense.
Ana felt a dark pressure in the air above her head, and she looked up at the same moment Elijah did.
Suspended above them by chains were Ezekiel and Drew…or the physical manifestation of their bodies. Both were gagged, tightly bound, and dressed in black trousers, a white dress shirt and polished loafers. Both men were wearing dark sunglasses, making it impossible to see into their eyes and determine who was who. Which soul was in which body?
The man the Order had brought with them tensed to leap up, and Quinn tackled him. “No, Vaughn! We don’t know which is housing Drew’s spirit!”
“Back off!” Vaughn tensed and whirled toward Quinn, rage burning in his green eyes. “Don’t fucking stop me—”
Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) Page 32
