Darkness Arisen

by Stephanie Rowe

  Shit. They were not prepared to take on magic.

  Ian!

  He spun around at Alice’s call and saw Deathbringer charge down the stairs with Alice and Cardiff. Ian sprinted past his current opponent, who stood back and let him go, making it clear that, by pursuing the wizard, Ian was doing exactly what Cardiff wanted him to do.

  It was a trap, but he wasn’t about to let Alice or Cardiff go. It was time to end this. Now. He was going after them, right into the trap the wizard had set.

  *

  Ian bolted around the corner, and a streak of green light hit him flat in the chest. It flung him back against the wall of the room. As he hit the stone, there was a loud clanking sound, and steel cuffs slammed around his wrists and ankles, trapping him against the wall like he was a sacrificial virgin.

  Magic was a pain in the ass. Seriously.

  He jerked at his restraints, but they were locked down with relentless force.

  He was trapped. Again. And he didn’t like it any more than he had when the killer kelp had decided to become his anklet.

  Deathbringer stopped, and Cardiff swung him around to face Ian. Alice was pinned against his chest, her face pale, and the wizard’s hand covering her mouth.

  Ian focused on her terrified face. I’m with you, Alice. We’ll get through this.

  She nodded once, but he could taste the bitterness of her fear. Shit, as hard as it had been to deal with the constant threats to her life when she wasn’t concerned about dying, seeing her afraid of death made it a thousand times worse. He could feel the cold draft of fear in every cell of her body, and it made terror settle deep in his bones. What had changed for her? Why was she suddenly afraid to die?

  “Why are you here, soldier?” Cardiff demanded. “Why did you track me down at my home?”

  Ian met his gaze, knowing that he couldn’t defeat the wizard through battle. He had to find another way. “Free my family from the curse. Take the death spell off Alice.” Hey, it was worth a try, right? One never knew when an insane, murderous wizard would suddenly become reasonable.

  But today wasn’t the day for miracles, because Cardiff simply barked with derisive laughter and pointed his wand at Alice’s temple. “Why would I do that? When Alice dies for good, the Order loses their immortality. Think how easy they will be to kill.”

  Alice’s eyes widened, and Ian swore. “What does killing the Order do for you?” he challenged. “Does it bring back your sheva?”

  “It saves all the other ones, you stupid fuck!” Cardiff shouted. “It’s not about revenge! It’s about fixing the Order and giving it the vision that it was supposed to have!”

  Well, gee, that was helpful. Ian was sure Dante would be thrilled to know that his Order was so bad that the only way for life to flourish on earth was to expunge the whole damn crew from existence. Stupid crazy bastard, but hey, if he was into sheva preservation, Ian had an answer to that one. “Alice is my sheva. If you kill her, you’ll perpetuate that which you hate.”

  Cardiff waved his wand with a dismissive snort. “You are all tainted. We need to start over with a clean slate.” He looked past Ian. “With the next generation.”

  The next generation? Ian followed the wizard’s gaze and realized Cardiff was watching Drew. The youth was fighting on the landing at the top of the stairs. Two gargoyles were engaging him, but Drew wasn’t getting hit as hard as the other Order members. Ian realized that the gargoyles were not attacking Drew with deadly intent. They were simply keeping him busy enough that he couldn’t help the rest of the Order. “Dante’s son? He’ll never join you. He believes in his father’s legacy.”

  “He carries far more than his father’s legacy,” Cardiff said. “He’s already changing sides. You will see. He’s the future. Even if I die, the seed is planted.”

  There was a shout from above, and Ian saw Elijah fall, then roll to the right, barely dodging a blow that would have crushed his skull. “Can’t you see it?” the wizard laughed. “You all are already losing your immortality, because your angel of life is so close to death.”

  Close to death? Ian jerked his gaze back to Alice, and his heart seemed to stutter. Alice. You okay?

  She grimaced. I’m having trouble breathing. It feels like I’m drowning. Like he’s filling my lungs with fluid of some sort.

  Tension started to ripple through him. Fear. Despair. He could feel her struggle, and it plunged right into him. Shit. He had to stop overreacting and stay focused. He couldn’t help her if he lost his shit right now.

  But never had he felt anything as devastating as the idea of losing Alice now that they were so tightly bonded. It was horrifying. No wonder Warwick had gone insane. Ian would do anything to save Alice… An idea burst into his mind. “Stop,” he gasped. “Alice can bring her back to life.”

  Cardiff froze, his black eyes sharp. “What are you talking about?”

  “Alice. She’s an angel of life—”

  “For the Order. She can’t help anyone else. I already tried.”

  “She’s broken the rules now.” Ian looked at Alice. “I got expelled from the Order, so she couldn’t help me, but she did. She brought me back. She’s no longer constrained by angel limitations.”

  Alice gaped at him. I didn’t bring you back. I gave you peace and serenity with the golden light. You healed yourself. I did nothing.

  Warwick stared at him, and suddenly Ian felt the wizard’s emotions blasting through the room: crashing waves of longing, so intense, so powerful, and so crazily desperate. He jerked Alice around so he could look at her. “Is he telling the truth? Can you bring Audrey back to life?”

  Tell him yes, Alice, Ian urged.

  I’m an angel, Ian! By nature, we tend to be pretty horrific liars.

  Then don’t lie. Tell him the truth. You know you can use your powers on anyone. You’ve broken through your restraints. You can do it if you want to. He sent his confidence into her, trying to help her see what he saw in her. He’d been awed by the immense strength of her powers when she’d given him the golden light. There was no doubt in his mind that she could save the entire world if she wanted to. You know you can.

  Alice shook her head, and he felt her denial. You’re wrong, Ian. I can’t.

  Furious, he fought his shackles. Of course you can! Stop living the role that you’ve locked yourself into! Tell him you can save his sheva and believe you’re speaking the truth!

  Cardiff shook her with such fierceness that anger tore through Ian. He struggled against his bonds, desperate to get free and help her. Tell him! It’s the only way!

  Alice swallowed, and Ian felt her summon her courage as she answered the wizard. “As long as her soul didn’t die, she’s still alive. Just in a different place.” Her words rang true, and Ian knew that she’d chosen her words carefully to enable her to speak the truth. She hadn’t said she could save the woman, because she believed she couldn’t. Ian! I can’t bring the dead back to life.

  Her words were a fierce denial, but he could feel the faintest undercurrent of hope that he could be right, that she was more than she’d let herself be. You can. Ian shot Cardiff a hooded gaze. “Take the death spell off Alice and the curse off me, and then we’ll help you.”

  “I won’t do it unless you free Ian,” Alice said quickly. “I don’t care if I die. I know what death is, and it doesn’t matter if I stay alive unless Ian does too.”

  Ian’s gaze shot to Alice, shocked by her statement. Despite her aversion to dying, she was claiming his future as a condition to her assistance? Something tightened in his chest, something he didn’t understand, but it made him want to tear across the room and sweep Alice up into his arms.

  “You lie. You’re afraid of death. Everyone is—” Cardiff stopped when Alice held up her arm, showing him Ian’s brands on her skin.

  “We’re almost fully bonded,” she said. “Of course his life matters to me. How can I live without him?”

  The strangest feeling of awe began to roll through Ian. Alic
e was really fighting for him. It was unreal. Incredible. Something so powerful and inspiring rolled through him, making him want to shout to the heavens that she was his woman.

  Cardiff looked sharply at her arm. “The brand has demon taint. What the hell’s that?”

  Darkness jarred Ian at the reminder of how disfigured the marks were. The ugly black scars marred what should be symbols of the ultimate beauty and purity, marks that symbolized the incredible bond between a male and a female. It was wrong that they were tainted. Just wrong.

  As Ian scowled at her arm, he sensed the faintest hint of demon shadows beginning to form around the edges of the room…and that’s when he knew. The demon taint in her brand wasn’t because of him and the fact he carried a trace of demon in his genes. It was because she was so close to death, so close to being owned by the demons, that they were staking their claim on her, trying to trump Ian’s.

  Son of a bitch. They were claiming her.

  No way. He couldn’t allow that to happen. No fucking way.

  Tension ran through him as he twisted his arms, trying to get free of the bonds. He needed to liberate himself so he could protect her against the encroaching death, but again, he made no progress. The things were locked down, secured by magic. Shit! The fact that the shadows were there told him that she was about to die again, and they were ready to take her. Had Cardiff made a deal with them? A bargain? How was he going to kill her for good? She always came back.

  The door opened and a young woman was carried in by two Calydons that Ian had never seen before. They were strapping and strong, men who were clearly warriors. The new Order already being created? The woman was being dragged between them, and her head was lolling to the side as if she’d been drugged.

  “Catherine!” Alice screamed, fighting to get free of Warwick.

  This was Catherine? Ian narrowed his eyes as he inspected her more closely. The Calydons dropped the woman at Deathbringer’s feet, and she slumped to the ground. There was a dark cloud surrounding her, almost as if it were bleeding out of her pores. Her skin was spotted with black, and even her blond hair was tinged with a putrid brown.

  “This is your death,” Warwick said, bringing his mount closer. “Alice Shaw, bring my sheva Audrey Beckett back to life, or die at the hands of the angel of death.”

  Alice felt her heart stop as she looked down at Catherine, and suddenly she understood why Catherine had been so desperate to die. She was dangerous now, a scourge that would contaminate all who came near her. Guilt filled Alice for the fact she’d let her need to feel love trump what she’d promised Catherine she would do. “Oh, Cat, I’m so sorry.”

  “Now!” Cardiff threw Alice to the ground.

  She landed next to the woman that Alice knew in her heart was her sister, even if they weren’t connected by blood. “Cat!” She touched her hands, and immediately jerked it back when her skin burned.

  Alice. Ian’s voice broke into her mind. Get away from there. She’s too dangerous. The demons are coming for you.

  Alice looked back, and her heart began to race when she saw the familiar dark shadows easing out of the walls. She looked at Warwick. “You promised them that they’d get me today, didn’t you? That you would kill my soul so I couldn’t come back this time?” Terror began to beat at her, and fear. If Catherine killed her, it would be over. Her soul would be dead forever, locked down in an eternity of hell. After a lifetime of not really caring if she died, she didn’t want to anymore. She wanted to be with the man she loved. She wanted to take care of her sister. And—

  A warrior came tumbling down the stairs, his body limp and bleeding. He landed beside Alice, his shoulder resting against her leg. He was immobile, his head almost entirely crushed by stone. Alice immediately sensed that his spirit was leaving his body.

  “Shit! Gideon!” Ian shouted.

  The moment Gideon’s skin brushed Alice’s, the most tremendous sense of power filled her. Before she could even think about what she was doing, Alice laid her hand on his chest. Her hand glowed white, offering him the same blessing that had always come to her when she’d been suffering in the afterlife with the demons. It spilled through him until his entire body glowed white. There was a burst of brilliant light, like an explosion, then complete blackness and silence for a split second, and then the room returned to normal.

  Gideon was still lying on the floor, but she could feel his healing energies racing through him, working to repair the head wound. He was no longer on the edge of death. His body was working the miraculous healing that the Calydons were so famous for.

  Stunned, she stared at him as the aftermath of her powers continued to rush through her like a torrent. “Oh my God,” she whispered, shocked by what had just happened. Had she really just saved Gideon?

  “Yes, you did.” Ian’s pride flowed over her. “You did it. You gave life back to Gideon. You’re one of our angels. You’re our guardian angel.”

  Alice couldn’t believe it. All this time, she’d had a mission, and she’d been doing right by it. It was exhilarating and amazing! She wasn’t a pathetic angel with no talents. She’d been feeding the Order their life force this whole time. “How did I not know?”

  But even as she asked the question, she realized she had known, but had not been ready to understand it. How many times had her hands glowed with that white light? Sometimes faintly. Sometimes bright. She’d never thought of it as significant, just another sign that she couldn’t control her powers. In reality, it must have been the Order drawing on her. Her hands hadn’t started to glow until after her mother had died…

  And that’s when Alice knew. Her mother must have been the Order’s guardian angel before she’d died, and she’d passed it on to Alice. She’d never told Alice what her assignment was, or how to do it, or how to connect with her charges. An angel of life was supposed to be trained by her mother, but her mother had never done that for her. Would she have helped Alice if she hadn’t died? Or… would she simply have abandoned her for good?

  With a sudden burst of clarity, Alice began to wonder if maybe her mother hadn’t been the flawless angel she’d always believed. She remembered the bitter tilt to her mother’s lips, the weariness that always seemed to be pouring off her. She’d thought it was because her mom was burdened with a daughter she didn’t want. What if that wasn’t it at all? What if her mother hated being an angel, and she’d wanted a different life for her daughter, so she’d withheld her assignment and given Alice the pearl of Lycanth, so that Alice could be free to live however she wanted?

  Maybe her deathbed disappointment hadn’t been Alice’s failure to save her, but her disappointment that her daughter could not break free of the rules… Dear God. As she had the thought, Alice knew it was true. She was certain of it. Her mother had not only loved her, but she’d loved her enough to want her to be free of the hellish life of an angel. She’d had a lifetime of freedom with that pearl, and she’d never understood that freedom was the true gift her mother had tried to give her.

  Not until now. Not until it was too late.

  But even as she realized it, a part of her felt violated. She could have been connected to the Order her whole life, and instead, she’d been alone and isolated, trying to find her way.

  Ian watched the expressions warring on Alice’s face: the awe, the excitement, and the wash of loneliness. He swore as he picked up on her thoughts about her mother, so many questions she would never be able to answer. You have always known who you were, he said. You’ve been keeping us alive for a long time.

  She looked at him, and he saw anguish in her eyes. What about Dante? I didn’t keep him alive. Would I have been able to if I’d been there?

  Her question shocked him. She was right. How had she not been able to save Dante? What had been different about his death? They’d seen the replay of his death, and it had been a single strike by a Calydon weapon that had brought him down, something that should never have been able to hurt him. I don’t know, sweetheart. But he was
going to find out.

  “See?” Cardiff’s hand closed on Alice’s hair, yanking her back toward him, making Ian strain at his bonds again. “She is part of the Order’s trinity. Without her, the Order will not be able to continue. Since she has no daughter, there will be no replacement for her when she is gone. You’ll die. The Order will die—”

  “And Audrey will never come back,” Ian interrupted, desperate to distract the wizard.

  Ian’s exhilaration at discovering Alice’s true calling vanished, chased away by the fact that her saving Gideon had just given the wizard all the reason he needed to make sure she stayed dead because he now knew for certain that Alice was their guardian angel.

  Alice’s death wouldn’t just destroy Ian. It would take down the entire Order. Ian had to stop him, had to find a way to reach him. “Do you really want to be alone for the rest of your life?” Ian challenged the wizard.

  As he posed the question, he felt himself answer it as he looked at Alice, still kneeling beside Gideon and Catherine, both of whom were unconscious.

  No, he didn’t want to be alone the rest of his life. He wanted Alice to be a part of it.

  For a long moment, Warwick hesitated, and Ian could feel him warring with his choice. Bring back the woman he loved, or change the future? Ian knew what he would do: he would choose Alice. “You’ll be with Audrey again,” Ian urged. “You’ll kiss her. You’ll see the beauty of her smile.” Still straining against the cuffs that wouldn’t budge, he looked down at Alice, his heart awakening for the first time in his life. No longer did he see a woman who would strip him of his ability to stay alive, a female who was too dangerous to connect with. He simply saw the reason he wanted to live. “You’ll hear her voice again,” he said, thinking of all the things about Alice that mattered, that were so beautiful. “You’ll hear her say your name. You’ll see that smile on her face when she looks at you. You’ll hold her again, and never have to let her go. You’ll be the one to cheer for her when she finally finds her path, and you’ll be the one she’ll reach for when she needs help.”