Bedeviled (24 page)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

T
he deeper Kyana traveled into the forest, the harder it was to tell the time through the thick canopy of branches overhead. Haven had bought her a watch years ago, but it lay dusty on her dresser at home, even the soft tick-tick too much technology for Kyana to handle. Now, a little pain would've been worth knowing exactly how much time she had before darkness fell, exactly how much time until the pure Vampyre were released upon them all.

Exactly how much time before Artemis's blood finally overtook her own and she no longer knew how to work her own body.

Normally, her Vampyric senses told her such things, but it seemed she didn't have much Vampyre in her blood anymore.

She summoned Artemis's powers now, one of the few she'd managed to tap into: speed. Like the wind, she flew through the trees—branches and leaves nothing more than a blur as she wound around their trunks and over rocky obstacles in her path. Like the last time she'd been here, the eerie silence chilled her bones.

No birds. No ants. Nothing.

All life on this island had been exterminated long ago, leaving the pure Vampyre trapped with nothing to feed upon. They too were in danger of extinction, and the minute they smelled their living, breathing, uninvited guests, their hunger would make them unstoppable.

When the ground became a muddied quagmire, she leaped skyward, grabbed hold of a branch, and began swinging her way in monkey-bar fashion across the trail, deeper and deeper into the woods.

Farther and farther from her port out of here.

She had to push her fear to the back of her mind, lest it consume her fully. One second's panic could cause one second's hesitation. She didn't have that kind of time to waste.

The cave she was looking for sat smack in the middle of a deep copse of trees. There was enough darkness here to allow the Vampyre to come out and play if they dared, but the tunnel system where they dwelled was a good distance away. Chances were, they'd stay put until any threat of sun exposure was over.

At least she hoped.

She swung herself onto the top of the cave, her body pumping with adrenaline, and took a moment to survey her surroundings. Face tilted, she sniffed the air. She caught Haven's scent and scanned the ground where footprints had flattened the grass outside the cave. Stooping, she slid her dagger from her boot once again, and took a deep breath.

Pressing her palms to the hot rock under her feet, she pushed, throwing herself to the ground, where she landed directly in front of the entrance.

It was scarier going inside this time—now that she knew what lived on this island. Being oblivious had its perks that way. But at least this time, she was prepared. All senses on high alert.

As she ducked her head and stepped inside, she told herself it was all going to be okay. They'd all get off this island alive and Cronos would no longer be a threat.

She was such a damned liar.

The rancid air of the cave cloaked her, encasing her as if it was a physical force trying to keep her from entering. She took shallow breaths and wished she still held on to the Vampyric side of herself that didn't require air. The choking weight of evil caused her steps to falter in the darkness, but she pushed on to the farthest corner of the cave where Cronos's bones had lain for thousands of years.

Determined not to alert Haven to her presence, Kyana carefully stepped over pebbles and loose dirt. A strange warmth spread over her, like giant hands grabbing her around the waist and lifting her over the rubble.

She was almost positive if she looked down at the moist earth, not even her footprints would be visible. Another trait of Artie's, perhaps?

As she approached the final bend, she paused. Listening. Waiting. Trying to determine where Haven was and if she had completed the ceremony she'd come here to perform. Soft whimpers whispered over the rocky, muddy walls to settle around her ears. She craned her neck to listen, heard a sob, then pressed herself deeper into the shadows when she saw movement at the end of the tunnel.

Why would Haven be crying? Was she fighting against Cronos? Refusing to do his bidding anymore? Coherent enough to fight him?

Kyana stepped into the open and was immediately punched in the face with enough force to send her flying backward several feet before landing harshly on her ass.

“Hello, Kyana.”

Though Haven's lips moved, the voice wasn't her own. But this was good news. He was still inside Haven, which meant he hadn't yet returned to his own body. There was still time to stop the resurrection.

Not bothering to wipe the blood from her mouth, Kyana sprang to her feet. “This ends. Right now.”

“Oh, you're right about that.” Haven closed the distance, slowly circling, testing her. Waiting for the moment to strike.

She had an infinitesimal wave of doubt settle over her. Cronos, through Haven, might be able to kill her. But, if she was meant to die, then she'd make damned sure her last act was to take Haven with her and leave Cronos to rot for the rest of eternity.

“Haven, please,” she whispered. “Don't make me do this.”

Haven bared her fangs and hissed.

She wanted to reach out to her best friend, to make one last attempt to get her to stop this madness. But deep inside, she knew it would do no good. Cronos was buried so deeply within Haven's body and mind, she'd never be able to claw her way free. Not now, when Cronos's body was so close and his dream of resurrection so near to realization. He'd never let loose his hold on her.

The only way to stop Cronos was to stop Haven, and as much as it was going to devastate her to do it, Kyana was going to have to kill her best friend.

With a growl, Haven charged at her. They collided with enough force to make the loose pebbles on the cave floor skitter. Kyana slammed her fist upward into Haven's kidney, stunning her long enough for Kyana to flip Haven behind her. By the time Haven recovered, Kyana was on her feet again.

Anger, hatred, and regret fed her like ambrosia. She stood her ground, letting Haven come to her. When Haven launched herself at her, she caught Haven by the throat. With a roar, she flung her away, but Haven wouldn't stay down. She just kept coming and coming, again and again, until her assaults became weaker and weaker.

Kyana steeled herself each time Haven rose to her feet, and each time Haven charged, she reached into her gut, into her determination as Artemis had told her to do, and flung Haven backward.

The tactic was working. Haven was spending all her strength and the frustration was muddling her ability to strategize.

“I expected more from you, Cronos,” Kyana said, trying to keep her own breathing even so he'd catch no glimpse of her own growing fatigue.

Something in her belly was aching, likely from one of Haven's misguided blows. Whatever it was, it was stealing her breath with each passing second.

Haven's mouth opened and her throat visibly constricted with the desire to speak, but no words escaped. She lowered her head and stooped slightly, and Kyana prepared to be charged by a lunatic bull.

Nothing happened.

“Haven?”

Haven just stood there, limp, like a hanged corpse whose feet were firmly planted on the ground. She could make out Haven's black eyes peering upward at her through her long hair, but other than the slight sway of her body, she did nothing.

Kyana would have preferred another attack. This was simply chilling. Eerie.

She was torn between stepping forward to check on her friend and stepping backward for her own safety. The minute Haven's feet drifted off the ground and she began to hover, Kyana followed her instincts and took a retreating step, her back pressing to the muddy wall.

“What the—”

Haven's body spun; her head was thrown backward. Her arms reached out, grabbing at air. One leg bent, the other pointed its toes toward the earth. It was the form of the crucified, and the horrifying scream that exploded from Haven's mouth sent Kyana's hands over her ears in a desperate attempt to keep her own head from exploding.

Rocks jumped in place overhead before crashing around her. She lifted her hands from her ears to her head, protecting her skull from the fist-sized stones pelting her shoulders and arms.

Whatever was happening, it was coming from inside Haven. If Kyana didn't stop it, they were going to be buried alive.

Keeping one arm up to protect her head, she bent and ran at Haven. But instead of knocking her out of thin air, Haven caught her by the throat and threw her. It was no little toss. Kyana whipped across the room at the speed of light, her body folding in on itself as she crashed against the wall and crumpled to the ground.

Stunned, it took her a moment to orient herself. She picked herself up, her arm hanging limply at her side. Her shoulder had dislocated from the impact and she was forced to crush it back into its socket.

The sound of bone on bone churned her stomach, and the pain made her ill, but she didn't dare look away from Haven, who was spinning again. Her body glowed, shimmering, lighting up the dark cave.

One glimpse into her eyes had been a mistake, for she saw in there not a monster, but a friend. Black eyes had turned yellow, her pasty pallor now once again golden tan.

“Let her go, Cronos!” Kyana screamed. “Take me! Use
me
!”

As Haven's head moved to look at her, the pleading in their depths broke Kyana's heart and ripped through her soul.

“Kill me,” Haven whispered.

“No! Haven, fight him!”

She rushed at her friend once again, this time grabbing Haven by the ankles and tugging with all her Vampyric, Lychen, goddess strength to bring her back to the ground.

Haven wouldn't budge. She remained suspended like a puppet, tears streaming down her face.

“Kill me.”

The desperation in Haven's face nearly destroyed Kyana. She didn't realize she was crying too until she heard the tears in her own voice.

“I can't. Haven, please. Help me. I can't do this. Fight him.”

Laughter caused a new quake and before she could steady her stance, Haven's body fell into her arms.

They tumbled to the ground in a heap, and as she struggled to free herself from the weight of Haven's body, a glimmer in the corner of the cave caught her eye.

“Shit. No. No, no, no, no, no!”

Haven turned, her eyes wide, her face soaked with tears. As she set her gaze upon the horror, she grabbed Kyana by the arm and yanked her up before shoving her toward the exit.

“Run!”

But Kyana couldn't move.

Cronos's bones were radiating an eerie neon aura.

The laughter around them grew louder and louder, deafening Haven's pleas for Kyana to run. Greens and golds sparkled like jewels as the fragments of his body inched toward one another. Leg and arm bones attached themselves to the torso. The torso and neck attached to the head. Fingers moved. Knees bent.

Cronos was rising.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

H
er gaze not daring to stray from Cronos's bones, Kyana grabbed the daggers she'd lost with Haven's first punch. The skeleton continued to piece itself back together—tiny bones slithering across the rock-strewn floor like stony worms. In horror, she watched as muscles materialized and tendons stitched themselves into place.

“You have to get out of here,” Haven pleaded.

She couldn't look away. Morbid fascination held her attention as the body before her slowly rebuilt, repaired itself, became whole again.

“Kyana. Get out of here!”

She snapped out of her temporary hypnosis. Haven wore a frantic expression, her body half leaning toward the exit, half leaning toward Kyana.

When she turned her attention back to the bones . . . they were gone. All of them. There wasn't a single trace of Cronos anywhere around the abandoned Eyes of Power.

“What the hell?” She turned in a small circle, keeping Haven at her back. “Where did they go?”

The ground began to vibrate until the sound was deafening. The cave was closing in on itself.

“He's rising, Kyana! We have to run!”

“Sonofabitch!”

Cronos intended to make his tomb become theirs. Kyana snatched up the Eyes of Power, grabbed Haven's hand, and charged to the exit.

She tossed Haven up and through the opening, but when she attempted to follow, pain ripped through her body, so intense, so mind numbing, that it doubled her over. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around her belly. Her vision blurred. Her entire body shook so hard her teeth rattled.

“Give me your hand.”

She managed to tilt her head in the direction of the distant voice, and forced herself to see through the pain.

“Give me your hand, damn it! Let me help you.”

Somehow, she found the strength to lift her arm. To wrap her fingers around Haven's wrist. Haven pulled her to her feet, then slowly through the opening. They'd barely managed to extract themselves before the rocks collapsed, sealing the cave completely.

Kyana lay on her back. Her stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself. Bile rose in her throat. Had this been Ryker's fear? Was this why he'd been adamant about her staying Beyond and near Artemis? Prying one eye open, she stared at the sky. Darkness was upon them.

Her transition had begun.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

Haven's fear-filled whisper pulled Kyana's attention from the sky. The color had drained from Haven's face. Her lips moved, but nothing more than
no
escaped.

“What is it?”

Haven pointed toward the canopy of trees in the distance. They were coming alive, swaying with some hidden force she couldn't see or feel. “They're coming.”

As Kyana cursed Cronos, she kicked at the rock-sealed opening, wishing now that they'd stayed inside. It would offer them some protection against the creatures hunting in the darkness. But Ryker and Ares were on the beach. They had nowhere to hide. Ares could port them out, but if there was any life left in Ryker, she knew he'd die at the hands of these creatures before he left her.

She wouldn't let her pain prevent her from getting them off this island.

Using Haven as a crutch, she managed to stand. How did she hope to outrun these things when she could barely breathe?

“We're going to run,” she said, inhaling as deeply as she could to summon strength from agony. “Don't stop. Don't look back. Don't think about what's chasing us. When you hear the surf, start screaming for Ares to start his circle. Do you understand?”

“What are you going to do?”

Try like hell to keep up.
But in case that didn't happen, she had to know the others were safe. “Just do as I say, damn it!”

She shoved Haven to get her moving. Keeping her gaze locked on Haven's back, she stumbled along behind her as fast as she could, clutching the Eyes of Power against her chest. Her Vampyric speed was deserting her. Her goddess speed was lost in the lava boiling in her belly and spilling into her legs.

Trees popped from the ground like cannon fire. Branches crashed around them like thunder. The very air hung with the oppressed odor of death. Even without seeing them, she knew the creatures were almost upon them.

She tripped over a gnarled tree root and dropped Zeus's staff. When she stooped to retrieve it, another sharp pain seized her neck and electrified her brain.

“Ares!” Kyana yelled, hoping the faint sound she heard was the ocean and not her blood whooshing in her ears. “Get us outta here!”

“Ky?” Her name, carried faintly on the wind by Ryker's voice, had never sounded more beautiful. “Hurry!”

“Gogogogo,” she chanted, both to prod Haven to move faster and to her feet to keep moving forward. The pain in her gut was spreading into her chest. Every breath was like inhaling razor blades. Only the sheer will not to be ripped apart by those hunting them helped her see beyond the agony.

Hard, packed earth gave way to the soft, sugary sand of the coast and she almost wept with joy. They'd made it. Her knees gave out and she went down hard, the Eyes of Power rolling beneath her body as she struggled to keep them near.

Haven skidded to a stop and turned back.

“Get to Ryker,” Kyana screamed. “Make sure they get out of here.”

For a split second, Haven looked like she might ignore the demand, but the Dark Breed broke through the underbrush and dropped from the trees, cutting off any hope Kyana might have had of escape.

The last thing she heard before the creatures closed in on her was the sound of Ryker bellowing her name.