He raised his arm and pressed his lips to her name, unable to suppress the same well of grief that had been haunting him so relentlessly for so long. But this time, with the grief was the raw, unbridled promise that her death would finally be avenged. After centuries of planning, her time, their time, had finally come.
He raised his arm to the heavens, reaching up toward the stars that mocked him with their levity. “Tonight, it begins, Audrey Beckett. Tonight, it begins!”
Then he grabbed the reins, whirled his mount to the right, and then the two of them galloped into the night, swallowed up by the darkness, soon to be far, far away from the hellhouse, long before the nightmare was unleashed.
*
The moonlight vanished the moment Kane and his team stepped over the edge of the cliff into the crevasse. It was total and complete blackness as they skidded down the rocky shale, down toward a destination they couldn’t identify. The air was thick and noxious, making it feel like they were trying to breathe a fetid swamp itself.
Sarah coughed, and he tightened his grip on her wrist. Talk to me, sweetheart.
I’m okay so far. Just hard to breathe.
Kane wrapped his arm over her shoulder and tucked her against him, holding her face against his chest. Better?
Sarah’s body shuddered with relief. Yes. Excitement rippled through her. I’ve never been able to come in here before.
Kane tightened his grip on his flail as they descended deeper. He reached out with his senses, searching for any sign of life, but he could sense nothing. Just the overwhelming stench that overrode all other smells, and the ominous, deathly silence. What do you think is in here?
The source of the evil, Sarah said. It has to be.
Then we better be ready. The darkness seemed to pulse and swirl through Kane, a cold, clammy sensation of fingers trying to peel off his skin ever so carefully.
“I don’t feel anything weird,” said Thano. “What about you?”
“Nothing,” Ryland said. “The air is just regular. I’m scenting trees and some scrub brush and rodents. An owl.”
“You get the frog off to the right?” Thano asked.
“Yeah, and the fly it just ate.”
Kane swore under his breath, straining to pick up the scents that his teammates were smelling, but his senses were overwhelmed with the thick, pungent fumes of sulfur and rot. He could hear nothing, except the sound of his team. Not a single flutter of feet. Not a whisper of an owl. Nothing but silence that was so loud that it seemed to beat at him. Shit. Why was he sensing things the others weren’t? Sarah? What do you smell?
Smell? The woods. Dirt.
Something began to pulse inside Kane, a dark foreboding. What do you hear?
I hear a whisper, like two giant pieces of sandpaper rubbing against each other.
He shot a sharp look at her, but it was too dark to see her face. Merge with me. He reached out with his mind as they continued to skid down the shale slope. Sarah instantly opened to him, and he wove their minds together, enabling each of them to see and hear what the other was experiencing.
Oh, God, Kane. That silence is horrible. Sarah put her hands over her ears. It hurts.
He heard the rasping that she’d mentioned, and it sent chills rippling down his arms and over his spine. He jerked suddenly, realizing that he could feel it on his body, that the scratching sound was from something that was rubbing against him. He swore and slapped at his arms, trying to clean them off. Thick black sludge peeled from his skin, tearing from his flesh like glue that had adhered to him.
Sarah jerked back, her face barely visible. “What’s that?”
“No idea.” It was creeping up his legs now, like tendrils of black smoke wrapping around his legs. He kicked his foot, and it got even thicker around him.
“What the hell’s going on?” Ryland slashed at the black vines with his machete as they tried to grab Kane. He tore through them with his blade, but even as he did it, more seemed to come out of the air, wrapping around Kane.
“Shit.” He scraped more of it off with his flail, and then Thano was attacking it as well, all three warriors slashing at the black smoke that kept wrapping tighter and tighter around Kane, like living tattoos sinking into his flesh.
“Shit.” Thano finally stopped, leaning on his halberd. “It’s faster than we are.”
Sarah’s eyes were wide with horror. “Does it hurt?”
“No.” But Kane could feel it seeping through his skin, like thousands of microscopic needles piercing his flesh. The malevolence was thick and tainted, and his skin crawled from the sensation of it closing around him. “Let’s keep going.”
Thano raised his brows, but didn’t bother to question him. Ryland just nodded, and they began to move forward again.
Kane swatted at the back of his neck, and he felt something fall off his skin and drop to the earth. “Shit. Something bit me.”
“I’m not getting anything,” Thano said. “I always thought you looked like you tasted better than the rest of us.” But his voice was grim, with none of the levity he usually had.
“Let’s speed this up,” Ryland said. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
As a unit, the team broke into a jog. Kane kept his hand on Sarah’s back, letting her set the pace and keeping her close. The skin on the back of his neck prickled, and he jerked around, searching the darkness, but finding nothing. “We’re being hunted.”
“I know,” Ryland said. “I can feel it.”
“Stupid bastards,” Thano muttered. “Don’t they know that we’re the good guys? We do the hunting.”
“It’s the Calydons,” Sarah said. “They’re hunting me.”
“They’re hunting all of us,” Kane replied. His brands were burning, warning him of the danger coming in all directions, and he clenched his fists, his mind rapidly assessing their situation and trying to come up with a solution. “Sarah,” he muttered, stepping in front of her. “Get on my back.”
Without a moment of hesitation, she grabbed his shoulders and leapt up, locking her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck, after handing him the other flail. He made sure she was secure, then he muttered one word to his team. “Run.”
The three of them broke into a dead sprint, racing down the hill at a speed very few living creatures could match. They leapt over rocks and crevices, tore past boulders, and raced deeper and deeper into the crevasse. Silent, the three massive warriors were like streaks in the night, in high conceal mode as they sprinted down the hill. Sarah was secure on his back, holding tight, giving them the freedom to cover ground at a pace she could never match.
They ran for eleven minutes. Eleven minutes straight down into the earth at breakneck speed, until Kane felt a lessening of the sensation of being watched. “We’re losing them,” he told the team. “Keep going.”
Barely breathing hard, they upped their speed, their muscles contracting with fierce intensity, their legs churning so fast that most eyes would not be able to track them. But even as he ran, Kane felt his muscles stabbing with pain, as if the black sludge on his skin was eating away at his body. Swearing, he dug harder, fighting to keep up with his team—
Suddenly there was a loud-pitched scream, and a black shadow sprang out of the earth directly in front of Thano. Thano shouted and swung his halberd as it swooped around him. It jerked him off his feet and began dragging him along the earth.
“Shit! Thano!” Ryland and Kane sprinted after him, as Thano hacked at the shadow with his weapon, but the blade was going right through the black smoke, as if it wasn’t even there.
“Fuck!” Thano’s muscles were bulging as he fought, as his body tore a furrow through the rocky terrain. “Let me go you bastard!”
Ryland and Kane ran harder, but Thano was moving faster than either of them could go. “Teleport,” Ryland shouted. “Get the bastard!”
Kane swore, and tore Sarah off him. “Keep her safe!” He tossed Sarah at Ryland, not breaking stride. He starte
d to teleport even as she flew out of his arms—
The moment he wasn’t touching her, agony ripped through him. He bellowed with anguish even as he dematerialized. He reformed ten feet in front of Thano, his body screaming with agony as he spread his feet to block the path of his teammate. Kane reared back with his flail as the tentacle neared and brought down his flail with tremendous strength just as the black streak moved between his feet.
But it simply parted around his weapon, streaking past him, still dragging Thano. “Thano!” Kane dove on Thano as the warrior was ripped past him. He locked onto his teammate, and instantly dematerialized, taking Thano with him. But as he faded, he felt Thano’s body resisting the teleportation, his cells refusing to disintegrate. “Shit!” Kane rematerialized, still holding onto Thano as they were yanked and dragged, tumbling across the earth as they were sucked along.
“Get out of there!” Ryland shouted, pointing past him.
Kane turned and saw a gaping black hole in the earth. The air above it was murky, roiling with violent green, purple and black. “Son of a bitch.” He concentrated his energy on Thano, who was still relentlessly hacking at the thing wrapped around him. “Thano! Don’t shut me out!”
“I’m not,” he yelled back. “It’s not me. Get us the fuck out of here, Kane!”
Swearing, Kane gripped Thano tighter and opened his mental connection to his teammate. They weren’t blood bonded, but when they were close, they could talk mind-to-mind like any Calydons. Thano’s mind met his, and he sensed the warrior’s grim desperation. They locked onto each other, and Kane made sure they were tightly connected.
“Now!” Ryland shouted. “Now!”
“Kane!” Sarah yelled, her voice frantic. “You’re almost there!”
With a furious burst of power, Kane poured all his energy into Thano, tearing apart his cells and yanking him ruthlessly into the dematerialization. They began to fade, and Kane felt a surge of triumph—
Then Thano was torn out of his grasp, and both warriors bellowed in fury as they were ripped apart. Kane lunged for Thano as the younger warrior plunged over the edge of the hole. “Go,” Thano shouted as he was yanked over the edge. “This isn’t about me! I’m not your mission!” Then he was gone, and Kane was hurtling over the edge after him—
Kane! Sarah’s voice ripped through his mind. You can’t save him that way! Don’t go in there!
With a roar of agony, Kane dematerialized, and he landed beside Ryland and Sarah, his body screaming from the effort. He landed hard on the earth, his body shaking as the black taint rushed over him, eating away at his skin. Son of a bitch. He’d lost Thano. He’d lost him.
He stumbled to his feet, as Ryland and Sarah hurried over. “We have to get him,” he managed, barely able to stand through the pain. It felt like his skin was being torn off his body, like his flesh was being ripped from the bone. “Now!”
Ryland was already racing toward the hole, his machete out as he bellowed his rage. Kane grabbed Sarah, and they sprinted after him. But even as they raced after him, Kane saw another black tendril spring out of the earth right at Ryland. “Ry!” he shouted. “Watch out—”
Ryland vaulted over the tendril, hacking at it with his machete. It twisted and turned, trying to track him as he leapt over it. “Stupid bastard,” he yelled. “You don’t get to have me—” It grabbed at his ankle and hauled him back toward the hole, tearing through the air as Ryland shouted his rage.
Sarah let go of Kane. “Get him,” she shouted. “Go!”
Kane didn’t waste any time. He immediately dematerialized and teleported to mid-air where Ryland was being dragged down toward the hole. Ryland met Kane’s gaze, and Kane saw his teammate’s eyes were blood red. Pure, raw evil was pouring out of Ryland, so thick that Kane’s hands burned where they touched his flesh. “Fuck that bastard, Santiago,” Ryland snarled. “Get me the fuck out of here.”
Inches from the churning miasmas of smoke spewing out of the hole, Kane dematerialized again. He felt a scream of rage from the smoke, and he felt Ryland’s body resist the dematerialization just like Thano’s had. But then, something violent and evil ripped out of Ryland. There was a flash of crimson light, streaked with putrid brown and black slashes. It lit up the night, and the smoke that had been gripping Ryland so tightly screamed in agony and suddenly Ryland’s body was released and he disintegrated with Kane.
Kane teleported them to the hill just below Sarah, both men landing with a staggering impact. Kane braced his hands on the earth, fighting against the pain, his body vibrating with the shock of whatever Ryland had unleashed. “What the hell was that?”
Ryland was on his stomach in the dirt, not moving, his head turned toward the side, away from Kane.
“Ry?” Then Kane saw Sarah’s expression. She was on her knees on the other side of Ryland, staring at Ryland’s face. She was frozen in sheer terror, her eyes wide, her mouth open, her body trembling.
“Sarah?” Raw dread pulsed through Kane and he saw Ryland’s body twitch. Violent black, brown and red slashes appeared on his skin, as if he were being flayed with an invisible whip before their very eyes.
“Oh, God.” Sarah began to back away from Ryland, and he felt the raw coldness of terror so deep it could destroy one’s very soul. “Kane,” she whispered. “You need to see this.”
“What? What?” Kane lurched to his feet and vaulted over Ryland’s twitching body, tackling Sarah and yanking her back from Ryland. Once he had her a safe distance from Ryland, Kane shoved her behind him as he whirled to face his teammate.
Then he saw what Sarah had seen, and his blood ran cold. “Hell, man,” he whispered. “What the fuck are you?”
Ryland’s face was gone. In its place was a smoky, turbulent facade of shifting shadows. Black, red, green, purple. Where his eyes should have been were two black abysses, bottomless pits of raging fire, of spirits screaming in agony. Thousands and thousands of spirits, trapped in the abyss, screaming to be saved, suffering agony beyond words.
Kane held up his flail, reaching behind him to make sure Sarah was still within reach. “Ryland,” he said quietly. “Come back to us. We need your help.”
The warrior didn’t move, but his body was still twitching, and more and more slashes were appearing on his skin, tearing his clothes, ripping chunks out of his flesh.
“Ryland!” Kane yelled. “Get the fuck back here! Your angel needs you!”
Still no response, and the ground beneath Ryland began to churn, spewing bits of dirt and earth into the air. “Shit,” Kane swore.
“This isn’t the pit that’s doing it,” Sarah said, her hand tight on Kane’s back. “I’ve never seen that before. This is him.”
“Ryland!” Kane shouted. Shit. What would Dante do for Ryland? Dante had been their leader, the only one who’d been able to provide peace to Ryland. Thano had seemed to have a connection with Ry, but… Guilt and grief welled through Kane. Thano was gone. Kane was all Ry had left, but he had no idea how to help him. How to bring him back—
His brands suddenly burned in his arms, and Kane jerked his attention back to his surroundings. He became aware of massive amounts of smoke pouring out of the hole in the ground now, so dense with evil that it permeated his pores.
Sarah gripped the back of his shirt. “This is it,” she whispered, her voice pulsing with anticipation. “This is what I feel at night. It’s coming out.” She stepped up beside him, keeping close to him, her heart pounding. “This is the source.”
Kane fisted his weapons as he watched it swirl. The pain in his flesh was almost excruciating now, but he shut it out, focusing his adrenaline on the shapes swirling above their heads. “Touch me and don’t let go,” he instructed Sarah. “I need to be able to take you out of here, but I need my hands free.”
Sarah set her hand on his waist and twisted her fingers in the waistband of his jeans. Her skin was cold, too cold, and he glanced over at her. Her face was pale, and there was a sheen of perspiration on her forehead. Prote
ctiveness surged through him, and he whirled back to face the smoke, intensely focused. This was the source of the threat to his woman, and it ended now.
Chapter Thirteen
Sarah caught her breath as the smoke began to take shape, the swirling getting faster and faster, like a tornado of doom and rot—
Click click click.
A triple clicking noise sounded from her right, and she jerked her gaze off the mass that was accumulating above them. Two red eyes glowed at her from the side of a nearby tree: a Calydon ready to attack. A triple click to her left. More glowing eyes. And to her right. And behind them. Suddenly, the night was alive with clicking, and the woods took on an eerie red glow. She felt for the flask at her hip, her last one. Um, Kane.
I know they’re here. I knew they’d come. They were waiting.
She swallowed hard, frantically scanning the woods. The triple click always preceded an almost instantaneous attack, yet nothing was coming at her. She braced for the assault as the clicks became louder and louder. The crescendo rose to a thundering din, and the woods began to glow so brightly. It was as if a forest fire was raging around them, ready to burn them all to a crisp.
“Holy shit,” Kane breathed, pulling her attention back just as the clouds above them began to take the shape of a face, of a man, a distorted, tormented male.
The wind began to howl around them as the massive face took shape above them, whipping Sarah’s hair around her cheeks so violently it felt like it was cutting her skin.
Kane pulled her more tightly against him, crushing her against his side, protecting her from all the directions that he could. “Ryland,” he muttered. “Get the fuck up.”
But Ryland was the same, his body bleeding now from all the slashes, convulsing violently as the earth was chewed up around him, chopped up by invisible blades.
Suddenly there was a flash of red light so bright that Sarah yelped and covered her eyes. Black spots flashed in her vision as she struggled to see. The clicking grew louder, closer, and she jerked her eyes open as shadows began to shift around her, Calydons moving into position, surrounding her, getting tighter and tighter. “Oh, crap,” she whispered.
Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5) Page 19
