Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5)

by Rowe, Stephanie

  Damn, she was beautiful when she was working. Her blond hair was tumbling around her shoulders and her eyes were a lively green, so different from when he’d first found her, nearly broken after two years of imprisonment at the hands of a psychotic bastard. “I sedated him,” she said cheerfully.

  “You did? Why?” Gideon strode across the room, nodding at his teammates even as he blew by them. He set his hand on Lily’s head, entwining his fingers in her hair, needing to reassure himself that she was safe.

  “He was waking up,” Quinn said, backing up just enough to give Gideon space, but not venturing far from Jacob’s side. Quinn’s dark hair was tightly cropped, and his customary black tee shirt was stretched tight across his upper body, showcasing exactly how strong he was. Not that it eased Gideon’s mind. There was no one he trusted to protect Lily as well as he could.

  “Jacob hadn’t even fully regained consciousness before he started to teleport,” Quinn said, his brown eyes gleaming and focused. “So I knocked him out until we could figure out how to hang onto him long enough to interrogate him.”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “If you guys keep hitting him in the head like that, there will be nothing left in his brain for me to learn from.” She held up a syringe. “So, I sedated him.”

  Elijah’s face was dark, his body shifting restlessly as he stepped away from Lily and paced the room. Elijah’s green eyes were clouded and turbulent, his brown hair ragged and unkempt, and Gideon knew the warrior was still treading too close to the edge that had almost done him in.

  “I don’t agree with Lily’s approach,” Elijah said. “We’re a race of violence, and that’s how we need to handle him. I don’t like that she figured out how to knock us on our ass and fuck with our minds by making us sleep.” He eyed the syringe with suspicion and distrust. “That should be destroyed. Now. And why are you trying to figure out how to manipulate us, anyway, Lily?”

  Lily looked at him calmly, her face soft with understanding. They all knew what Elijah had gone through. “It won’t work on you, Elijah,’” she reassured him. “You’re too old and powerful. Jacob is only eighteen, and he’s got a lot of humanity still left in him. You’re way beyond my reach.”

  “It’s not his age that makes Elijah immune,” Quinn interrupted, spinning his sword restlessly in his hand. “It’s the fact he’s Order. It’s the fact we’re all Order. Shit doesn’t work on us that works on others. Never has.”

  Gideon grinned. “True. We are a bunch of bad asses.”

  “Not funny, and not true. Not anymore.” Elijah stalked across the room and looked out the window that looked down at the courtyard behind the mansion. “We almost got taken out by that kid out there, who’s only eighteen years old. We’re not indestructible. The world is shifting, and we’re playing catch up.”

  Gideon knew that Elijah was referring to Drew Cartland, Dante’s son, who was training with Gabe and Zach. Elijah was correct that there was shit going on that they hadn’t seen before: males that were stronger than they should have been who went rogue for no apparent reason. The Calydons who had invaded their domain with their claws and teleporting ability made it damned clear that they had some new challenges to deal with.

  Gideon looked at Lily. “Any word on who these guys are? On what their deal is?”

  “No. Not yet.” Lily picked her computer up off the small table beside her. “I’ve found some anecdotal reports of clawed Calydons from about two thousand years ago. There are rumors that some of the original Calydons, the ones who were turned by that demon-tainted water, had claws, but I can’t find any kind of real evidence, and there have been no reports since.”

  Gideon crouched beside Lily and studied her notes. “So, we’ve got throwbacks to two thousand years ago? Where the hell are they coming from?”

  “They’re young kids,” Quinn said, nudging the comatose Jacob with his blade. “This kid hasn’t been alive for two thousand years. These are new ones.”

  Elijah leaned on the metal cot, bracing his hands beside Jacob’s head. “Who the fuck are you?” he whispered, his voice laced with threat and urgency. “Talk to us.” He swore and lowered his voice, but it was still thick with emotion that ran too personal. “Trust me, kid. You don’t want to be the guy who kills his own sister. For hell’s sake, let us help you before you make a choice that will haunt you for the rest of your goddamn life.”

  There was no movement from the cot, and Elijah swore and spun away, striding across the room. Gideon touched his arm as he went past. “We’re not going to let him kill his sister.”

  Elijah’s eyes flashed. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Gideon.”

  Gideon stiffened. “I’m not—”

  “Hey!” The door slammed open, and Ian Fitzgerald burst into the room.

  “Ian!” Gideon’s relief at seeing their teammate who’d gone missing three weeks ago was instantly chased away when he saw Ian’s deteriorating condition.

  The warrior had been gaunt before, but he looked even worse now. There was dried blood on his shirt, his face was shadowed, and his body looked like he’d lost even more weight. His jeans were caked in dirt, and around his head was a piece of blood-stained fabric, tied into a headband like some teenage bad ass. Shit. The man had been dying a slow death since he’d lost his sheva eight months ago, and it looked like death was winning.

  At the thought of Ian losing his sheva, Gideon swore and tightened his grip in Lily’s hair, unable to even allow himself to imagine what it would be like to lose her. His entire body thrummed with sudden adrenaline, and his weapons burned in his arms, ready to be unleashed at any threat to his woman.

  Lily touched his arm and looked up at him. It’s okay, Gideon. I’m right here.

  But he couldn’t breathe, sucked into Ian’s anguish, consumed by the image of being like his teammate, of losing his woman—

  Elijah swore and gripped Ian’s shoulder as Ian braced his hands on the wall, his ribs heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Hell, man,” Elijah said. “You look like shit. Where have you been? No one’s been able to reach you.”

  Ian caught Elijah’s arm, and stared at the team. “I found her,” he said. “I found her.”

  Gideon stared at his teammate in disbelief, as Lily caught her breath. “Who?”

  “My sheva.”

  Gideon swore under his breath, and exchanged glances with Quinn and Elijah. That was impossible, and they all knew it.

  “No.” Elijah turned Ian toward him, and set his hands on his shoulders. Elijah’s face was grim, knowing all too well the delusions that the mind could play. “I killed her, Ian. Don’t you remember? I’m sorry as hell that I did it, but I did. You were there. She died in your arms.”

  “No!” Ian knocked his hands away. “She came back to life. And died again. And now I have to find her before it happens again.”

  “Ian, she didn’t come back to life,” Elijah swore, and Gideon saw the tension in his body. Elijah knew what it was like to lose his mind, and he was still on edge most of the time. Only his sheva kept him sane, but Ana had gone off with her sister Grace, Quinn’s sheva, for a trip into town. Elijah had been needed to stay and guard Jacob, so it was the first separation he’d had from Ana since they’d completed their bond.

  “That’s impossible, Ian,” Quinn said. “Your sheva died. You don’t come back from that. Elijah’s right.”

  “No.” Ian lurched to his feet and looked at Lily, his eyes blazing with a clarity that didn’t look like a man drowning in his own delusions. He looked desperate and haggard, yeah, but there was a clarity that Gideon hadn’t seen in months.

  “There has to be a way that can happen. Tell me what she is,” Ian said to Lily, his voice urgent. “Tell me how it can happen. I have to find her again. I’ve been looking, but I can’t find her. I don’t know where she is.” His voice vibrated with desperate agony, and Gideon had a sudden sense that Ian was closer to the edge than he’d ever been before, even when they’d had t
o chain him up for three months to protect him and the rest of them.

  At Ian’s desperation and his stark suffering, Gideon felt a rush of hope that Ian was somehow correct that his sheva was alive. He wanted Ian to have that chance to be with her, to feel the surge of life that came from bonding with his soul mate. He looked at Lily, who was frowning. “Is there a chance she came back to life?” he asked her. “Is there a way to come back from being truly dead?”

  Lily rubbed her forehead, wearily. “I don’t know. I’ve never run across it, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

  What the fuck are you thinking? Quinn’s voice pushed into Gideon’s mind. It sucks that Ian lost his sheva, but you really think it would be better if she were still alive?

  Gideon eyed his teammate. You would rather exist without your sheva? You think your life would be better without Grace?

  No way. Quinn narrowed his eyes and paced restlessly, his body coiled with visible tension at the mere idea of it. But every minute of every day, I think about the fact that our destiny commands that once a warrior completes his bond with his mate, he is destined to lose her, go rogue and destroy everything that matters to both of them. I look at the woman who means more to me than my own life, and I wonder when that time bomb will go off and I’ll lose her. Sometimes I can’t even think straight because I’m quivering in bloody terror waiting to lose Grace. If Ian escaped that hell and dodged the bullet by having his sheva die before he could get attached to her and go rogue, then fuck yeah, I think he’s better off.

  Shit. Gideon had thought he was the only one who had those nightmares. He swore and looked at Lily, who was talking intently with Ian, grilling him with questions. We beat our fate, Quinn. We’re all still alive, and we need to remember that. We won.

  For now. Quinn closed his eyes, and Gideon felt the well of raw emotion coming from him. Fear, at the very deepest level of his core. We knocked destiny on her ass, but we didn’t defeat her. He opened his eyes. You, me, and Elijah are the first warriors in two thousand years not to be destroyed by the sheva bond. You really think we’re so special? Fate’s going to come for us, Gideon, and as God is my witness, as much as I love my woman and would go through hell a thousand times for every minute I have with her, never on this earth would I want Ian to have to find his woman and lose her again, because I know it will fucking break me if and when it happens.

  “Not me.” Elijah slowly rose to his feet, his voice commanding the attention of the room. Since he was blood-bonded with Gideon and Quinn, he could hear their conversations unless they were actively blocking him, which they hadn’t bothered to do. “I’ve been through hell and back, more than a thousand times, and it all goes away when I’m with Ana. I don’t give a shit what happens in the future, but I’m willing to risk my own soul and every last piece of my heart for another minute with her.” He nodded at Ian. “Find your woman, Ian. Find her, and give her everything you have. It’s worth every fucking minute of it.”

  Ian nodded. “I know.”

  Elijah sheathed his weapons. “I’m going off guard duty. I need to find Ana.” He met their gaze. “I can’t do this without her.” Then he turned and strode out of the room, not even bothering to look back.

  For a moment, no one spoke. What was there to say? Gideon agreed with both Quinn and Elijah, and right now, he couldn’t even begin to imagine a single second without Lily. Was it better for Ian to never find his woman, or to find her, give his soul to her, and then lose her?

  Ian was the one who broke the silence. “Alice is my one chance to survive,” he said, his voice hard.

  “Alice?” Gideon exchanged glances with Quinn. “I thought her name was Catherine Taylor—” He cut himself off when he saw the look of agony on Ian’s face. “Or Alice is fine.” What the hell was going on? Ian’s sheva, the woman who had died was Catherine Taylor. Since when did Ian’s sheva become a woman named Alice? Ian’s dark expression made it clear that now was not the time for questions.

  “Fuck destiny and what it wants to do to us if we complete our bond,” Ian bit out. “That doesn’t matter right now. All that matters is that I find Alice.”

  Quinn looked at him grimly. “But fate’s plan for you will matter—”

  Ian met his gaze. “If I don’t get through today, then the future is irrelevant. I have to find her.”

  Gideon swore when he saw the intense expression on Ian’s face. Recognition pulsed through him, because he knew exactly what it felt like to have a singular focus on one woman. There was no other option. Not for Ian. “Then we’re with you.” He slammed his hand down on Ian’s shoulder. “Fuck two thousand years of destiny.”

  Quinn cursed under his breath, but nodded. His eyes bore into Ian with the grim reality of their lives. “You want me to strike you down if you go rogue, or her?”

  The mission of the Order dictated that the sheva of an Order member was always killed to prevent the completion of the bond and the triggering of fate’s destruction. Order males were so rare and so elite, a critical factor in protecting innocents from rogue Calydons who were essentially undefeatable except by Order, that the female had to be sacrificed to save him. But since the three of them had met their shevas and dodged destiny, the rules were beginning to blur.

  Ian whirled on Quinn, calling out his weapons instantly with a crack and a flash of black light. He had them at Quinn’s throat before the warrior had even reacted. “No one dies. Not me. Not her. Not ever.”

  Quinn raised his brows, and Gideon grinned, relief cascading through him. Damn, it’s good to see him like this. He’s got a mission, Quinn.

  Ian had been without fire, without passion, without life since his sheva had died. To see him with a fire in his eyes…damn…it was good. Really good. But hell, if he lost his sheva again, would he ever survive it? “Ian, if you don’t find her—”

  There was a loud noise from the hallway, and Vaughn McIntyre strode into the room. He was Drew’s guardian, the man who Drew called his uncle, a warrior who had made it clear that he would defend the youth with his life. Vaughn’s eyes were glittering with a faint hint of green, reminding Gideon that although the Order had accepted Vaughn into the mansion because of his relationship with Drew, they still had no idea what the hell he was or who his people were.

  “Drew’s training has to stop,” Vaughn stated without preamble. “The kid tried to kill Gabe today. He lost sight of the fact it was training. He snapped.” He stopped in the middle of the room. “I’m taking him away from here. Now.”

  Gideon shook his head, while Quinn subtly moved into battle stance. They all knew they could not afford to let Drew leave. He was too deadly, too on edge, and too tainted with the spirit of Ezekiel, the madman who nearly destroyed the Order so recently. They had to watch Drew, and carefully. “It’s not the training that’s doing it, Vaughn. It’s Drew himself. He needs to stay here where we can help him manage it.”

  “Fuck that.” Vaughn shook his head. “There’s violence in his soul now. It wasn’t there before he came here.”

  “It’s what happens when you come into your powers as a Calydon, and it’s from Ezekiel, too,” Quinn explained. “It’s our job to help him manage it—”

  “No. I won’t let him go down that road. The Calydons are a bunch of crap, and I’m taking him out of here. We can take care of him.”

  “We?” Gideon went into high alert. “Who? Who are your people, Vaughn? Why would they be able to control him when you think we can’t?”

  “I’m taking Drew,” Vaughn said, aggression thickening his voice. Vaughn flexed his hands, and his skin began to glow with the faintest hint of green as he prepared for them to try to stop him. Gideon swore. What the hell was going on with Vaughn? He’d never seen his skin like that before.

  “Hey!” Ian strode across the room and grabbed Vaughn’s arm. “What the hell are you? What’s up with the green?”

  Vaughn’s face went expressionless, and he gave no information. As always. “Back off, Fitzgerald
. My battle is not with you.”

  “Do you know a guy named Flynn?” Ian demanded. “Turns green? Violent as hell? His eyes go green like yours, Vaughn. I’ve never seen anyone else’s do that, besides you.”

  Vaughn went still, staring at Ian. Saying nothing.

  Gideon scowled. “What are you talking about, Ian?”

  “A man with Vaughn’s eyes killed my sheva. I want to know where to find him.” Ian watched Vaughn closely. “He was a hell of a lot like Vaughn. Do you know where I can find him? He knew Alice, and he might have the answers I need.”

  Vaughn met Ian’s gaze. “How did he kill her?”

  “A green disc.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Vaughn broke away and strode to the window. He braced his palms and leaned out, watching the courtyard. Gideon could still hear the clangs of metal on metal as Drew sparred with Gabe and Zach.

  “Listen,” Quinn said, walking into the middle of the room, taking control back from Ian and Vaughn. “Ian, we’ve got some serious shit going on right now. I hear you about your woman, but we’ve got some major issues with these guys and an angel they’re trying to kill.” He jerked his chin at Lily, who was hunched over her computer and typing furiously. “Lily’s working on that right now, and we need to allocate all our resources to this situation, including you.”

  “No.” Ian turned and strode toward the door, apparently leaving. “If I don’t find Alice, none of this shit matters—”

  “Wait.” Vaughn spoke up, not turning from the window. “I’m going with Ian.”

  Ian whirled sharply around, and Gideon stiffened. “You’re taking Drew on a hunt?” The kid was too volatile to take into battle, but Vaughn had always kept vigilant watch on the young Calydon, never entrusting him to anyone else.

  “No.” Vaughn finally turned away from the courtyard, and there was grim resolution on his face. He looked right at Quinn. “I want your oath that you will take over Drew’s training. That you will watch him carefully and monitor every thought in his mind. He’s close to the edge, but I don’t know what direction he’s going in or what’s causing it.” Quinn was the Order member that Drew had chosen to trust originally, and it was only Quinn that Vaughn truly trusted.