Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade) (29 page)

Zach stiffened as he stared up at the man who had brutalized Rhiannon. Anger and hatred burned through him, along with a merciless need to destroy him. "You're not a god," he snarled. "You're just another Calydon who knows how to play with fire."

José smiled, his dark lips stretching across gleaming white teeth. "I am a god," he said. "Feel free to underestimate me. I enjoy it." His voice was like pure evil, rolling across Zach's skin like the sharp teeth of a shark, a thousand rows of pain and torture at his command.

Zach gripped his sai, and then tensed when the rim of the pit darkened as all the other warriors that had been pursuing him rimmed the edge of the pit. Shoulder to shoulder they stood, a vertical wall of Calydons, headed by their leader.

There wasn't even an inch of clear space around the rim. Son of a bitch. They were trapped.

Zach whirled around, fisting his sai as he frantically searched for an opening. Forty-to-one usually wouldn't be a problem if he had fire, but without it? They weren't the best odds even against regular Calydons, but these warriors were different. They were bigger. More muscular. Stronger. And their eyes were flecked with glowing red light...the red of a rogue's eyes. Not full rogue, but enough. Jesus.

Forty rogues? And a fire Calydon?

Son of a bitch. There weren't many situations where he'd been in trouble, but right now, if he had a mayday button back to his team, he'd be punching that sucker until the damn thing shattered.

But he had no mayday button.

He just had himself, and Rhiannon and Thano's lives depended on his ability to get them out of this situation.

José walked to the very edge of the rim and looked down at them. His eyes were not red at all. In his hand was a twelve-foot wrought iron staff with a dragon's head on the top. Was that the staff that would save Thano's life?

Live fire was coming out of the dragon's mouth, and smoke was drifting up into the air, forming the image of a winged dragon above their heads. Zach realized that the smoke dragon was what had distracted him right before José had appeared. Son of a bitch. It had been a decoy that had worked on him. He'd been taken by a decoy? God, his team would laugh their asses off at him for being such a fool.

In José's right hand was a sword with a gleaming blade. "Give her to me."

Zach tightened his arms around Rhiannon, a thousand ideas whirling frantically through his mind as he tried to figure out how the hell to get them out of there. "Never."

"She's dying." José bit out the words. "I'm her soul mate. I can bring her into my healing sleep and save her. If you keep her, she will
die.
You are useless to save her."

Zach looked down at Rhiannon, and his heart seemed to stop when he saw that her skin was turning gray, and her lips had become a ghostly shade of blue. "Shit!" He dropped to his knees and frantically wiped the dirt from her face, trying to clear her nose and mouth. "Come on, babe—"

"She's dying!" José shouted. "I can save her!"

"No!" Son of a bitch. He couldn't turn her over to him. That would be the ultimate betrayal. He bent low over her and pressed his mouth to hers, trying to breathe air into her lungs, but it was blocked. There was too much dirt in her throat and lungs. He pressed his fingers to her pulse...and felt nothing. Anguish tore through him, and then he felt one tiny, faint heartbeat. Jesus. She was still alive, but barely. Did she have one minute left? Two? Could he really make that choice for her, to let her die when she could be saved?

He pulled back to look at her and brushed the stray wisps of her hair back from her face. He knew she would choose death over being subjected to José again...but he couldn't let her die. He bent low over her, whispering into her ear a promise that only she could hear. "I will come for you," he whispered vehemently. "You stay alive, and I will come for you." He brushed his finger over her amulet that was hidden beneath her shirt, and tears suddenly burned in his throat. "I swear to God, Rhiannon, I will not let you become his victim again.
I will do whatever it takes to free you.
Just do not die.
"

She didn't move.

Tears burned in his eyes as he set her gently on the ground and then stood up. He took two steps back, and sheathed his sai. "Save her," he said grimly.

At the flick of José's fingers, two warriors leapt down into the pit. One put his sword to Zach's throat while the other picked up Rhiannon. Every muscle in his body tensed as he watched the warrior cradle Rhiannon against his body, but he didn't move. He had made the choice to give her a chance to live, and he would not stand in her way.

He watched grimly, his attention riveted on her limp body as the warrior leapt back to the rim. Fierce, dark anger burned through him as he watched the warrior transfer her to José. When the fire Calydon's arms closed around Rhiannon, Zach felt like he heard her soul scream in anguish and terror.
I swear I won't let him hurt you again, Rhiannon. Stay alive for me. I will not fail you.

Not like he'd failed his wife and his daughter. He would not fail again.

His brands burned with helpless anger as he watched José trail his fingers along Rhiannon's slack jaw, as if he were basking in the triumph of having reclaimed his woman. "Save her," he shouted. "Fucking save her now!"

José's hand closed around the cord that held Rhiannon's amulet, and then he ripped it from her neck. Zach felt like he'd been sucker-punched when he saw José hurl it into the dark jungle, stripping Rhiannon of her only way to defend herself against him. When she awoke, she would be utterly trapped by José's will once again, as she had been for a decade.
Sweet Jesus. What had he done?

Then José waved his hand at his team. "Kill him," he snapped. "He fucked my woman and has to die." Then he whirled around, and vanished into the night in a swirl of black smoke and fire.

Zach had only a split second to call out his sai before they attacked.

Jordyn leapt up as the earth shook violently and a resounding boom shook the night. The flames in the campfire fluttered, and two of their torches fell over. "What was that?"

"I have no idea, but I'm thinking that it's not good." Eric was already on his feet, swords out as he leapt in front of her. With a crack and a flash of black light, the rest of the team was armed and on the perimeter of the campfire, ready as they searched the night, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Rohan sprinted into the circle from the dark part of the woods, his swords exploding into his hands in a crack and a flash of black light. "What is it?" he directed his question at Eric, as if he were Rohan's second in command.

"I don't know." Eric was circling the campfire, staring out into the jungle that surrounded them.

Movement behind him caught Jordyn's eye. "The sky looks lighter over to the north," she said, trying to shade her eyes from the glow from their torches.

Eric looked where she was pointing. "It looks like dawn over there. What the hell?"

Together, they sprinted past the torches and into the dark jungle. Without the glare of the torches, Jordyn could see that the entire sky was lit in bright orange. "Oh, my God," she whispered. "The night is on
fire.
" It looked like a billion flashes of light were cascading through the night sky, floating down over the jungle about ten miles to the west.

"The fire god," Eric said grimly. "The Calydon that Rohan sent Zach to hunt."

"Holy shit." Ethan sprinted up beside him, his shaggy blond hair reflecting the orange in the sky. "That'll melt the hair off a guy's chest in a heartbeat."

A cold fear began to creep through Jordyn as she gaped at the sky. "Rhiannon's ex is a Calydon. Powerful." Not the same one, right? Not a fire god? Not a creature who had lit up the entire sky and shook the earth? But she didn't need to ask it. She knew. She just
knew.

"The fire god is the one who controls this jungle," Eric said, moving closer to her as the other warriors joined them. Rohan stopped by Eric's other shoulder, his swords crackling with blue electricity. "I've never seen anything like that. Rohan?"

Rohan shook his head. "Never." His fingers tightened around his swords, and Jordyn could feel the tension emanating off him. "He lost control."

Jordyn knew what could make a Calydon lose control: his woman. His
sheva.
His mate. "Rhiannon," she whispered in horror, grabbed Eric's arm. "It's Rhiannon's ex. She's there. We have to go."

He looked at her sharply. "
That's
her ex? Hell."

"We have to help her! Now!" She whirled around to sprint back to the campsite to grab her bag, when Rohan grabbed her arm and stopped her. "No," he said.

"No?" She tried to tear out of his grasp. "What do you mean, 'no?' You can't stop me! My friend is in danger!"

"We can't interfere! It must be Zach!"

"Zach?" She suddenly realized he was talking about the warrior who he'd sent after the fire god. Was that who had set the night on fire? Not José? She looked suddenly toward the sky again, hope leaping through her heart. Maybe Rhiannon had an ally. Maybe she had enough help to stay alive until Jordyn could get there. "Well, I hope he's good. Come on, Eric!" But when she turned to him, he was gone. Where was he?

Rohan's grip tightened on her arm. "We must let Zach do it. He's the only one who can. The prophecy decrees—"

"Prophecy?" She stared at him. "Are you kidding? Screw prophecies! That's my friend out there!"

There was a sudden burst of white light and a black cloud exploded around them. Jordyn gagged on the toxic fumes, stumbling backward as it burned her eyes. The other Calydons all shouted and leapt to the side, gagging and coughing. The cloud dissipated suddenly, and she saw that Rohan was gone. In his place was a patch of raw, ragged earth, scorched and burned. "What—"

"I buried him alive in the ground," Eric said from behind her.

She whirled around to see that he was on his knees just behind where Rohan had been standing. His hands were covered with black soot, and his face was drained of color. "It won't last for more than a few minutes against him since he's so powerful. Let's go!" He grabbed her hand and sprinted past her into the campsite.

"What did you do?" Jordyn raced over to her backpack and grabbed her gun. Did she have enough demon bile to take down a Calydon strong enough to burn up the entire sky? God, she hoped so.

"It's an ancient, spiritual magic," Eric said as he grabbed his duffel and slung it over his shoulder. "I appear to have a special talent for it, but I never know exactly how it's going to work. That worked, so we get to live another day. Always a bonus." He swept her backpack out of her hand and threw it over his other shoulder. "Run!"

She didn't bother to argue with his manly offer to carry her backpack. She knew she wouldn't be able to run fast with it. "Thanks." She spun around and bolted back out of the circle of torches. She saw the rest of Rohan's crew up ahead, blocking her path, and she hesitated. "Can you bury them, too?"

"No need. They won't stop us. Go!"

She grimaced at the sight of all the swords, but had no time to question Eric. The glow over the trees was already fading, and once it was gone, it would be almost impossible to track where it had been. So, she just gripped her gun more tightly and ran right toward the warriors.

To her surprise, they stepped aside, opening a gap as she neared. She burst through, Eric right behind her. They'd gone only a few yards, when she heard footsteps behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, and was shocked to see all the warriors behind them, racing single file, weapons out. "They're coming?"

"Their teammate's gone rogue and about to die at the hands of that webbing. They're not going to sit around if there's a chance to save him, just because Rohan thinks they shouldn't interfere." He grinned at her as he fell in beside her, his long legs keeping up with her easily, despite the fact he was carrying two heavy bags. "Rohan's their leader, but they don't have the same faith in his visions that he does. We fight for what we believe in and what we can see. It's what we do. Never leave a man behind, if we can help it."

She noticed that Eric said "we fight," not "they fight," and she knew that the stoic warrior who decried this tight band of warriors was more connected to them than he had been willing to admit. Not a Calydon in real life, but in his heart, maybe. The idea should have unsettled her, but it didn't. It made him seemed more grounded in normalcy. She didn't know anything about his spiritual magic or his "I'm not a man" background, but she understood Calydons. His bond with the other Calydons made him seem more approachable...and more dangerous.

He looked up at the sky. "I don't know what we're walking into," he said grimly, "but I sure as hell hope we're in time."

Jordyn thought of Rhiannon's scared face when she'd said that she was going to go back and face her ex, and she felt her throat tighten. She'd seen what Calydons could do to their mates. She'd lived the aftermath of having to kill her soul mate. She'd seen carnage and destruction that would haunt her forever. And even worse, she'd already lost one best friend to an abusive man, and she couldn't bear to lose another. "Me, too," she whispered, as she pushed herself to run even faster, giving it every last ounce that she had to offer.

Zach unleashed a battle cry as the first of his attackers landed in the bottom of the pit. He swung fast and swung hard, taking down the first three that attacked. The sai that José had melted had not regained form yet, but he kept trying to call it out, knowing that he was toast if he didn't get it back. And even then—

A blow hit him between the shoulders, and he staggered under the force of the hit, even as he swung around and took out the warrior behind him. But as he laid him out, he got pummeled in his right shoulder, tearing a gaping wound that cut right through the muscle, leaving his arm useless.