Darkness Savage (The Dark Cycle Book 3)

by Rachel A. Marks

  That’s what Eric told me. And like everything else with Daniel, Eric was very stiff when he brought it up, as if the workings of the ancient prophet were secret or dangerous.

  “It’s not happening, Kara. I wouldn’t even know how. And if he wanted to talk to me, he would.”

  She nods but I can tell she’s not letting the idea go. She sits at Sid’s side and tucks herself around his arm, resting her head on his bony shoulder, like a daughter might. Then she closes her eyes and a fresh tear escapes, slipping down her cheek.

  And I know she’s not just going to sit by and let this happen. That’s not my Kara.

  I lean over and kiss each of them on the forehead, then whisper, “Just rest. I need to get back to the club.”

  But as I turn to leave, to head back to the warehouse apartment, the reality, the emotions, tug at me, as if the gravity pulling Sid away from us is pulling me back to his side again. A warning. Time’s almost up.

  FOURTEEN

  Aidan

  A new message comes just as I’m settling on the apartment couch an hour later. The sun casts its glow over the living room; another day I’m not ready for is already in full swing. I feel the magic in the air this time as the piece of paper on the coffee table sizzles. I watch the words appear, and my pulse speeds up as I read over them.

  You are so clueless. But you’re also super lucky. Your witch had a card up her sleeve. I’ll get her another way. I guess you win that one, but I’ve got another, buck-o. Hint: Someone sweet will soon be in my soldier’s teeth. Save her within the hour.

  I stare at the paper and seethe. This is madness.

  At least the green witch is still alive, whoever she is. I pace the living room, racking my brain for who I know that Ava might want to hurt next. She already tried to get Rebecca, but maybe she’ll try again. Rebecca is definitely sweet.

  I pull out my phone and text Rebecca that she needs to call me right away, even though she’s coming over later this morning. Her house isn’t warded at all. Anything could get in there.

  I grab my jacket and head outside for some fresh air, hoping maybe I’ll see her arriving. The sky is coated in thin grey clouds as I check the parking lot, and there’s a slight chill in the air. Hanna’s car is here already. She’s probably inside. Maybe I should talk to her about all this, get some advice from a sensible person. I head across the lot to the main part of the club.

  As I’m starting to go around the side of the building, I see her. I wave but she doesn’t notice me. She’s bent down, talking to someone who’s sitting on the front sidewalk near the opening of the alley. It looks like a homeless man. She hands him a white pastry bag—she’s giving him her breakfast.

  She smiles her kind smile at him and tips her head as she says something I can’t hear.

  And then a hand shoots out from the bundle of rags and grabs her throat.

  My body jerks to a halt, my mind unsure what I’m seeing.

  Hanna’s eyes go wide in shock, her mouth opening, looking for air.

  It all clicks into place in a heartbeat, and I spring forward, closing the distance between us. But before I can get there, the man is rolling on top of her, beating her head into the concrete.

  She gasps, cries out. And the smell of blood lifts into the air.

  I skid into them, grab the man’s filthy jacket and yank. My dagger is in my other fist already, coming at him in warning. He tumbles off Hanna’s body, the jacket fabric tears, and suddenly it’s all I’m holding.

  He squirms away and darts down the alley, back toward the warehouse. I’m on him in three paces, tackling him, trying to take him off balance. My foot slips on cracked gravel and we both tumble to the ground, the dagger flying from my hand.

  He scrambles up onto my back, pins me, smashing my face into the filth beside the trash bin. The smell of rot smothers me. A sudden fist to the kidney, then another. My skin burns, head throbs. And rage fills me.

  I roll, shoving him off with every ounce of strength I have in me.

  He goes flying. With a crack his body hits the wall ten feet away. Then lands on the ground.

  I rise to my knees quickly, ready for the next attack, the next escape.

  But the man isn’t moving.

  My power smolders on my arm and shoulder as I try to catch my breath. I can’t think. The urge to lunge, to hurt, still courses through me. Everything happened so fast.

  I feel someone come up on my left and spin to block a hit. But it’s only Hanna.

  She limps over to me. “My God, are you all right?” She glances sideways at the man crumpled on the other side of the alley, panic on her face.

  Shouldn’t I be asking her that? She’s the one that was attacked by . . . a man?

  I get to my feet and nod that I’m okay. I study her troubled eyes, reaching out to touch her shoulder gently. “Your head . . .” A bruise is already surfacing on her arm, and there’s a scratch on her cheek, her hair’s spilling from its tight twist, and there’s blood smeared on her neck. “Hanna, I’m so sorry.”

  “Why?” she asks, sounding confused. “Aidan, you saved me.”

  We both look over to the pile of rags again, and I move closer. I can’t see his face.

  “Is he possessed?” Hanna asks from behind me.

  I crouch down and she protests.

  “We have to see if he’s all right,” I say. Whatever thing that pushed him to do this, inside his skin or out, this is still a human soul. I tense my muscles and reach out to feel for a pulse at his neck. There’s a slight beat against my fingers. Relief fills me. I didn’t kill him.

  I start to roll him over to get a better look—

  Three demons the size of rats skitter from under him, like cockroaches fleeing the sunlight. I stop one with a foot, then a second with a hand, but the third slips past Hanna’s feet unseen, then disappears under the trash bin.

  My power surges, and the two I’ve got pinned gasp out a squeal as they crumble into ash. Parasites, these things could drive anyone mad. They must’ve been controlling the man.

  A figure appears three feet away with a shudder of air, making my ears pop. Eric.

  “Hanna!” He looks around the alley, frantic. He spots her and releases a long breath, then rushes to her. He takes her in his arms, kissing and holding her gently. “I can’t . . . I had a horrible feeling—then I felt Aidan’s power. My heart, you’re all right, aren’t you?” She nods and rubs his arm, almost as if she’s consoling him now.

  He turns and looks at me, then down at the man in rags crumpled beside me.

  His features turn hard. A faint shimmer of gold rises onto his skin, human Eric flickering into angel Azri’el for a moment. His scent is fury and malice. It’s so strong I wouldn’t be shocked to see the asphalt melt at his feet.

  I stand up, ignoring my aching muscles, my burning side. Whatever was damaged, I’m healing now. “He’s human. It looks like a few pest demons were latched on to him.”

  Eric stalks over, appearing to grow larger with each step.

  I put a hand on his chest, knowing he wants blood. “We need to let this go now,” I say. “It wasn’t him, Eric. It was the demons. I can just take him and drop him off at the homeless shelter. You can smell the alcohol on him, the guy’s likely not going to remember any of this.”

  His gaze moves to meet mine. His eyes darken. And I wonder if he’ll just crack me in half to get me out of the way.

  Hanna puts a hand on his arm. “Come on, Eric. Let’s go inside, and you can help me clean up these cuts and check my head.”

  That snaps him back, and his face fills with pain again. He turns to her and they walk together into the club. I wait, let them have their moment, and try to figure out how to deal with this guy.

  Eventually Eric comes back out. He’s calmer, but he still looks seriously pissed. He helps me move the limp body into a sitting position.

  “Is Hanna all right?” I ask.

  He clenches his teeth and nods, but doesn’t elaborate.r />
  The man groans and his head lulls.

  “If you help me get him into Hanna’s car, I can drive him to the shelter,” I say.

  Eric shakes his head. “You shouldn’t be out there right now. I’ll take him.” He pauses before picking the man up. “Ava did this, didn’t she?”

  I nod. “Her game.” The misery fills me again at the thought. “How do I find her, Eric?”

  “You won’t. She’s cloaked herself. Even my own brothers haven’t been able to locate her.”

  “But she and I have a connection. Doesn’t that mean something?”

  “Do you mean your mother’s blood?”

  “No, we can speak mind to mind.”

  He’s silent for several seconds, then he says, “I’m unsure how a mind link could help you find her if she doesn’t want to be found. She has the control right now, she has the upper hand. That is why you need to work on finding a way for this bonding spell to be done. You’ll need as many souls on your side as you can get.”

  “I hope to go see someone today who might be a Light. And Rebecca’s on her way over soon.”

  “Good.” He pulls the homeless man into his arms and stands as if the guy weighs next to nothing. “I’ll be right back. Wait here.” And then he’s blinking away, only to return with a pop of air a minute later. I’m guessing the man is safe wherever Eric took him.

  As we’re walking into the club again, I remember there’s more to be said. “Something happened with Sid early this morning.” My throat tightens as the memory fills me. “He’s taken a bad turn. I don’t think it will be much longer before . . . I’m pretty sure Ava cursed his shed so his spell wouldn’t work right anymore.”

  Eric glances back at me over his shoulder, heading up the stairs to the office. “Perhaps we should place stronger wards over the property. Similar to the ones we placed at your great-grandmother’s.”

  More wards. All we ever have are wards. They’re all over this place, and they didn’t protect Hanna a few minutes ago. It feels like we’re only swatting back a fly when we really should be preparing to fight off a lioness. “I know we need to block her out as much as we can, but I feel like I need to let her in at the same time. How else am I going to catch her?”

  He’s silent as he opens the office door and walks over to the couch where Hanna is sitting. He kisses one of the scrapes on her forehead and then sits beside her. She holds a cold compress to her head and leans on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

  He looks over to me. “And what do you think you will do once you have caught her?”

  “I . . .” I have no idea. “There has to be a way to change things. Maybe we can put her in a deep sleep again? Just for the time it takes for us to figure out how to heal her, or fix this mess.”

  “You don’t truly believe any of that will work.”

  I don’t. But what else can I do? “If I could manage to get my hands on her blood, then I can throw her into the doorway.”

  “Don’t you think she’s thought of that? Maybe this is why she hides from you. In any case, she would just find a way to return, and then the struggle will begin all over again.”

  I clench my jaw. “I don’t know, Eric. You tell me, then. What do we do?”

  “I’ve been looking for alternatives to the only answer I can come up with, trust me. Because I know that answer isn’t easy. And it’s not something you can do.”

  “What answer?” I ask, feeling breathless. Because I think I know.

  He gives me a steady look. “Kill her.” Hanna’s features pinch in pain as she opens her eyes, looking up at him. Then he adds, “Destroy her. Annihilate her from existence.”

  He’s right, I couldn’t do that.

  God, I’m a coward.

  “It’s all right, Aidan,” Hanna says.

  “No,” I say. “No it’s not.” I should be able to do what needs to be done to keep people safe. Whatever that means.

  But when I think about hurting her, my little sister, cutting into her with a blade, burning through her spirit with my fire . . . my stomach churns. I just . . . I can’t.

  “How?” I ask. When he gives me a questioning look, I clarify, “She’s a Nephilim. How would we even . . . do it?”

  “A human would have to sever her head from her body.”

  I step back involuntarily.

  Sadness fills his eyes. “Your power would likely allow you to kill her with a blade through the heart, or the brain.”

  I choke on a burst of emotion at the vision of it and find myself sinking into a chair. It’s gruesome. Horrifying. I breathe through my nose and try to steady myself, hold down my gut as it rises.

  “Let me keep looking for another way,” he says, quietly. “You find those Lights so we can be sure the others can protect themselves and you can have some backup. All right?”

  I give a jerky nod and swallow the sharp pain in my throat.

  FIFTEEN

  Aidan

  Rebecca seems to be in better spirits when she answers my frantic text from earlier. She writes that she’s fine, and she’ll be swinging by the club soon. There’s a heart emoji at the end, so that’s a positive sign. And since Hanna was obviously the “sweet” person in Ava’s threat, I don’t feel the need to say anything else.

  I call and check on Sid, and Kara says he’s the same, sound asleep; she’s filled everyone in on what happened. I hate that I’m here and not at the house with the them. I hate that I’m a walking BOLO. While I wait for Rebecca, I’m back to sitting in the warehouse apartment with books stacked on the teal brocade couch. If there are any answers in the thousands of pages around me, I won’t find them. I can’t focus on any of it. The ink blurs into grey and black smudges as my mind wanders, and the rest of the morning comes and goes.

  Rebecca obviously isn’t feeling the same urgency to see me that I’m feeling to see her. I thought she meant she’d be leaving her house in mere minutes when she said “soon.” Why would she be worried, though? She has no clue what’s happened in the last twenty-four hours.

  I should have taken one of Eric’s cars to go and get her.

  But just as I’m tossing aside a book and going to get my phone on the kitchen counter, it pings with a text.

  I’m here, where do I go?

  Relieved she’s okay, I type back.

  In the warehouse. I’ll meet you in the main garage by the cars.

  I head out of the apartment and down the stairs to the garage. My rushing footsteps echo in the huge space. I’m so relieved when I see her emerge from the light shining through the side door that I grab her up in a hug as soon as I reach her. “I shouldn’t have let you come alone, I’m sorry. After everything, I’m just . . .”

  She doesn’t return the embrace. She pulls away and frowns at me. “What’s going on, Aidan. You’re seriously freaking me out.”

  I step back, and suddenly have no clue what to do with my hands. It bothers me that she pushed me away just now. “Let’s talk in the apartment,” I say. As soon as we’re inside and she’s settled in one of the chairs in the small living room, I stand in front of her and say it: “I needed to see you because of my sister. She’s finally coming at me. At us.”

  “Us?” She doesn’t seem to like the word.

  I tell her a little about what happened yesterday at the Gap and the ER, as simply as I can, and watch as she goes from guarded to very guarded. As I elaborate on the media and the police, she starts to smell like fear and bites at her nails.

  “So, it was Ava who sent the demon to attack me last night?” she asks.

  I nod. “Pretty sure.”

  Her gaze moves to my pile of books. “I thought Connor was acting strange and wanted to tell me something, but we never really got to talk because my dad showed up.”

  “I heard.”

  Her eyes skip back to mine, and her cheeks flush pink.

  “But there’s another reason I needed to talk to you,” I say, ignoring her embarrassment. I start to pace, trying to figure ou
t how to explain. “I’m supposed to find at least eight Lights to do a spell to bond our powers, and I need to see if you’re still one of them, or if that connection is really gone now.”

  “Still a Light,” she says, carefully, like she’s feeling out the idea. “How do you tell if I am?”

  “I’m not sure.” I stop pacing and face her. “Do you feel any connection to me? More than just friendship?”

  She studies my face. “No, Aidan. Everything I felt for you is gone now.”

  A red spark lights her eye.

  I step closer and crouch to her level. “You just lied.”

  She leans back. “No, I didn’t.”

  “You may not think so, but you did.”

  She blinks at me for several seconds, then says quietly, with assurance, “I care about Connor. A lot.”

  “And I love Kara.”

  We stare at each other, and her confusion seeps into my skin. The way her chin comes up in defense and the innocent way her cheeks glow as I study her should make me feel more than endearment. I should want to soak in the sight of her curves, the delicate line of her coral lips.

  But she’s not inside my skin, not like Kara. My feelings for Rebecca are protective, brotherly. And I’m fairly sure she feels the same friendship. So what is it? Why did she lie?

  “I’m positive we’re not connected anymore, Aidan,” she says, her voice stern even as her gaze shifts away from me, to the floor. Her fingers play at the hem of her sundress.

  “Why are you so sure?”

  She shakes her head. “I just am.”

  I take her hand in mine, but she pulls it back and cradles it in her lap, leaning back again.

  “What’s wrong, Rebecca?”

  She just stares at me. Her green eyes glisten as her jaw works. Her body is tense. As I watch her walls go up between us, my own worry grows.

  “I went to see Miss Mae,” she says, quietly. “Last night.”

  I move to sit a little farther away on the coffee table. Rebecca was at the witch’s house last night when she was attacked? “What did she say?”

  Rebecca takes in a shaky breath. “I’m not a Light. I’m not supposed to be with you. I’m the exact opposite.”