Chains of Darkness (30 page)

“Well,
you
found it, but I’ve just seen a vision of it in my head because of you.”

“Seriously?”

He glanced at her, nodding.

“Just to make sure, describe it.”

“The same ventilation flaps, same color, but the whole thing has an additional black section on the bottom.”

She turned toward him, eyes wide. “That’s it. And there’s a welded loop on top.”

“Probably for hauling by crane.”

“That would make sense.”

He cupped her face with his hands, then leaned in to kiss her. But that was when a familiar voice called from across the space. “How precious. And look, you both survived. Neat trick with the disguise out in Siberia, Claire, but you won’t be lucky twice.”

Daniel. Again.

Best to just ignore him.

I agree.

Ready?

She squeezed his arm and he flew her straight through the rock, in a northeasterly direction.

Lucian, I caught a glimpse just before you took us out of there. Your father has brought a whole bunch of men with him, but they don’t look right. They look ill, underfed.

Slaves. He’s brought slaves, the bastard.

What does he intend to do with them?

You don’t want to know.

Fortunately, she didn’t ask, but she’d probably soon see for herself.

He brought her to the edge of the torture zone where a low gray metal wall separated what looked like a combined minefield and war zone. There were also several paths they could take, but each of them led beneath the openings through which sunlight streamed.

“Can’t you just fly us to the destination?”

“Do you see the webbing that hangs all through the space from the cave ceilings, even the shorter tunnels?”

“Yes.”

“Electricity. If I’d flown you in, we could have been zapped and lost consciousness. Part of what’s along here are fire pits that lead to lava flow.”

“We would’ve fallen in and been burned up completely unaware.”

“Exactly.”

“So what do we do?”

“Daniel will be along any second, and it seems to me we’ve got a race on our hands. We need to start down one of these paths.”

“What about the sun?”

He gritted his teeth. “I can take it.”

“What if I piggybacked you, created sort of a physical shield, at least as much of you as my body can cover?”

He met her gaze, brows lifted. “That would definitely help.”

“You seem surprised.”

“I suppose so. I’ve just never gone on missions with humans before—and definitely not with women. It would never have occurred to me.” He shifted his back to her. “Hop on.”

She jumped up and he caught her below her buttocks and pulled her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and slung one arm over his shoulder and chest. The other she balanced on his other shoulder and hung on. “Let’s go.”

Because he’d seen the end point, his innate sense of direction kicked into high gear. Surveying the pathways, he chose one to the far right. Just as he levitated over the metal barrier, Daniel showed up and took the path all the way to the left.

Daniel sent three of his slaves in front, however, shouting directions. The moment one of them hit an electrical field and fell, Daniel leapfrogged then ordered more of his people forward. He’d brought a hundred, at least, and he’d use all of them if he had to just to keep testing the path in front of him. If they died, Daniel just didn’t give rat’s ass.

Lucian heard the first scream and set his vision forward. He’d trained for centuries in how to battle with single-minded purpose, and he let all that training serve him now.

Ignore those sounds, Claire. There’s nothing either of us can do for those lost souls.

I know. Patch of light coming up.
She leaned over him, covering as much of his face as she could, but sunlight streamed, burning through his clothes; he hurt at every point that Claire didn’t cover him.

He took deep, heavy breaths as he pushed forward.

Behind him, more screams hit the air as Daniel’s slaves formed a shield for him through the distance of several feet of sunlight.

Am I smelling flesh burning?

Yes, you are.

I knew the sunlight-thing was true, but I had no idea.

It’s bad. We live out our lives at night.

In caves.

Yep.

In extraordinary caves.

It helped to have her in his head, making bland conversation when screams of the innocent filled the air and he had a huge pit to traverse with great care. The heat from the lava flow below would scorch Claire’s body, and if he hit the electricity above, they’d both be dead.

He stopped at the edge.
Do you trust me?

Hell yeah.

Lucian smiled. She did that for him, made his heart light.
Okay, I’m going to levitate like I did while you were on the platform, stretching out prone, remember?

She purred softly and tweaked his ear.
You gonna take your clothes off? I wouldn’t advise it. I can feel the heat from here and I’d hate to think of your cock unable to function even a little.

You done, Claire?
But he smiled a little more despite the fact that he could see Daniel gaining on him, using up his slaves, plowing through the obstacle course.

Do it.

He stretched out and her body slid out to lie the length of his. Still, he knew parts of her would be burned after this.
Hang on. This will be brutal.

He felt her take a deep breath then he shot forward.

The heat was furnace hot but he got to the other side.

Claire whimpered.
My arms.

Damn. I’m sorry.

Just go. I can take the pain.

His heart swelled as he moved forward, levitating past a patch of sunlight. His hands were blistered, probably like hers. He sent as much of his power as he could to her, to heal her. But he was damn proud of her.

Thank you. That’s better.
She rose up to piggyback him again.

How much farther? Can you feel the distance?

I think it’s a quarter mile. Is that what you’re getting?

Yes.
The word came out with a slight hiss. He ran now, having gained a better feel for the path, and the mind that had set up the horrendous obstacles in the first place.

He got zapped just a little by an electrical field, but it didn’t stop him; he’d only caught the edge.

The dirt gave way to sharp rock and he levitated now, summoning his Ancestral power, breathing hard. Claire held on tight, but she’d stopped joking. He knew why. He could feel she was in a mountain of pain, again.

When he reached the next pit of fire, he didn’t need to warn her. He could feel she was ready.

Lucian, it’s okay. Do it. I’m good. Holding steady.

And she was. God, he was proud of her.

He stretched out and as soon as he felt that she was balanced he shot forward, faster this time. She didn’t cry out or whimper, but her whole body had tensed.

She held him around his chest, with the pressure of her wrists. He didn’t want to look at her hands.

He moved faster now, especially since he could see Daniel and a handful of slaves racing along the far-left track. He carried ten of them with him over the pits, but lost at least two each time he had to pass beneath sunlight.

He kept pace with his father through the next eighth of a mile. He kept his head down and ignored the severe blisters on his hands and the deep burns through the parts of the clothing that Claire’s body couldn’t block.

She shivered now. Burns would do that, send a body into shock. He wanted to offer her more power, but he needed to beat Daniel to the weapon.

We’re close, Lucian, closer than I thought. There’s a disguise around the weapon that has altered the sense of direction and location. We’re close. You need to pull up.

If I stop, Daniel will know something’s going on. He’ll shift course.

Keep going, but I’m going to start fake-screaming, which will give you a reason to start slowing down, like you’re worried about me.

Got it.

Claire let out a scream and held up her hands, which were bloody now. Lucian shifted his gaze toward Daniel as he called out, “Claire. My God, Claire.” All a fake, of course. The pain was real, but the ruse worked; Daniel took the bait and raced forward.

Where’s the weapon?

Claire slid off him and continued to scream, then let her screams fall to outright sobs.
Off to your right. I’m going to give you directions, but I’m staying put. I’m in a lot of pain.

Got it.

All you need to do is take ten steps straight ahead.

There’s a rock wall in front of me.

No, there’s not. Just do it.

Lucian felt like something of a fool. He was sure he was going to slam into the wall and end up with a bloody nose, but the disguises he’d seen today were way beyond anything he’d seen before, except in Siberia.

He walked straight ahead. The next moment he passed through the fog and there it was. Now to do the transport and do it quick. Daniel would figure this out and he would be pissed as hell.

Get over here, Claire. We need to leave. Now. I can haul this with one hand if you can hop on my back again.

She was already with him and jumped up, surrounding his neck with her arms and his waist with her legs.

Hold on tight.

I am and I’m ready.

He took hold of the iron loop on top with both hands, felt the weight, then hefted it into the air. The weapon was four feet tall and three feet wide. He levitated and once he knew that Claire was stuck to him like glue and that he could manage the weight of the machine, he used his goddamn righteous Ancestral speed and took the weapon and Claire straight out the side of the mountain.

And nothing followed him.

Daniel had fallen for the trick.

Lucian sped west, past two continents then through the Middle East, heading to the northern regions of Egypt.

The Pharaoh Cavern system wasn’t far, but it was one of the most heavily fortified in his entire world: Gabriel’s lair.

He shot a telepathic message to the owner and a second later landed in the middle of Gabriel’s outer entrance cavern, with a dozen automatic weapons leveled at him.

Gabriel, wearing a long, Arabian robe, moved into the space, his hands spread wide, letting his men know everything was okay.

“Lucian, where the hell have you been?”

“Four Diamonds.”

Gabriel whistled. “And you found one of the weapons. Is this the one Arsen and Salazar were trying to sell to Daniel?”

He nodded. Gabriel started to ask another question and Lucian really did want to answer, but Claire was shaking now. He pulled her off his back and into his arms. Her hands were bleeding, as was her face. Her hair was singed badly, her beautiful auburn hair. “We need help here. Claire got me through the obstacle course, but at a price.”

His own pain, he ignored.

Gabriel shouted a dozen orders, which sent his security team to the edges of the space and closer to the entrance in a protective array.

Gabriel’s household staff began arriving on a run, and because Lucian was burned as well Gabriel asked permission to take Claire from him.

Lucian looked down at her. His ridiculous protective instincts didn’t want to let her go, but he was in bad shape as well.

Lucian took a deep breath. “Please, take her. You’re the only one I would trust with Claire right now.”

Gabriel hefted her easily, but kept her head near Lucian so that he could see her. Gabriel then shifted to altered flight. Lucian sped next to him.

A special healing bath had been prepared for Claire, something his kind had designed for burn victims, which had always had a beneficial effect on humans as well. She couldn’t speak.

Claire?