Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5) (7 page)

Kane immediately tapped into his preternatural instincts, searching his surroundings for the residual taint of violence or conflict, but there was none, which meant Sarah hadn't been hurt or taken from him. Excellent. She'd left on her own...

Damn.

She'd left him on her own? He didn't like that. He didn't like that
at all.
Why hadn't she felt the need to stay wrapped around him, breathing in the fullness of their connection until life finally forced them apart? Wasn't she feeling what he was feeling? She had to be. There was no way it was one-sided. He'd been intimately connected to her last night, and he knew damn well that he'd rocked her world.

So why had she left? The instinct to find her and keep her safe was urgent and compelling, and it sent life and purpose surging through Kane. She was why he was alive. He knew it in his soul. He'd spent five hundred years protecting humanity, but his mission as a member of the Order of the Blade had never coursed through him with the rightness and strength that he was feeling right now.

Sarah was his mission. Sarah was his past, his present and his future. Sarah was his, and he was going to claim her now—

Then he laughed softly, realizing that he had no idea which way she'd gone. Her spirit still lingered, and a faint white haze drifted through the trees. Her signature, covering her trail so he couldn't track her.
I will find you, sweetheart, and I promise you, it won't take long.

He inhaled deeply, breathing the white mist into his lungs. It drifted through him, loosening the grip of the darkness trying to consume him. He had a sudden memory of that white light slicing through the blackness in his chest, and he looked down at it, expecting to see a white mark on his skin.

Then he went utterly still in shock. On the left side of his chest, just above his heart, was a two inch circle of unblemished skin.

The scars were gone.

Stunned, Kane ran his fingers over the skin. The skin was so hot he jerked his hand off, his fingertips instantly charred.

But there was no doubt: the skin was smooth in that spot. Perfect. Unmarred. Five hundred years of scars and unanswered questions, and Sarah had changed it.

Sarah had the answers he'd relentlessly pursued for five hundred years.

Anticipation rushed through Kane, and he lifted his head, searching the woods with the intense, focused resolution of a warrior on a mission.

She had run from him, but she couldn't hide. "I will find you, Sarah Burns," he promised.

And then he would have answers.

For the first time in five hundred years, he had a lead on his past. Excitement and hope leapt through him, and he began to lope through the woods in pursuit of the woman who had given him what he'd been seeking his whole life.

* * *

When Kane finally returned to the mansion after failing to find Sarah, the scene was grim. The gardens were destroyed, and the bodies of dozens of Calydons were strewn across the lawns. Their twelve-inch claws had vanished, but the black brands on their arms remained. There was no doubt they were Calydons, though they were unlike any he'd ever seen.

Assorted members of the Order were collecting them on the patio, a pile of assassins that really didn't match the violets planted next to the stone bench. Lily Davenport, Gideon's
sheva
, and the world renowned expert on Calydons, was kneeling beside the pile of bodies, studying the brands on one of the fallen males.

"Did any escape?" Kane asked as he walked across the churned up grass toward his team.

Quinn tossed another body on the pile and nodded. "Just before dawn, all the ones still standing teleported away." He scanned the horizon, the bright blue sky of morning. "I don't know if they'll be back or not. Lily's never seen them before and doesn't know what they are."

"I know what they are," Lily interrupted. "They're Calydons. I'm trying to figure out their lineage, since they're different than you guys. I think they're a small enclave, which is why there isn't much about them."

Kane grinned at Lily, once again thinking how much better it worked for the Order now that Lily was on their team, instead of exposing them to the world. A woman with that much information about the Order needed to be kept close, and the fact she was Gideon's soul mate had made her a valuable asset. "Have you figured out where they're from?" He suspected that if he found their place of origin, he would find Sarah.

Lilly shook her head. "Not yet, but I'm working on it."

Kane grimaced with frustration. "Let me know when you do."

"You bet." She bent over one of the dead warriors, snapping a photograph of his brand.

"Where's the girl?" Quinn asked, looking past Kane for Sarah, who, of course, wasn't there.

Kane ground his jaw, still annoyed that he'd slept right through her taking off on him. Had he really been so knocked out by the sex and intimacy that he'd passed out like that? Apparently. He shoved his hands in his jeans pockets. "Yeah, well, I lost her."

"You what?" Ryland strode up, his body streaked with blood from all the battles. His muscles were flexed and tense, and his eyes were coal-black with adrenaline. "You lost our angel? Even though she has a team of assassins hunting her? How is that going to keep her safe, you bastard?"

Kane narrowed his eyes, his brands burning with the need to call out his weapons in response to Ryland's possessiveness about Sarah. "She took off on me."

"And you let her?" Ryland swore. "I'll find her. Jesus, Kane, an angel dropped into our lap. You don't fucking blow that assignment."

Kane flexed his hand. "She's mine," he said quietly, barely able to contain his aggression toward Ryland. Ry was always on edge, but usually it didn't affect Kane. Today, it was grinding under his skin, making him want to engage. "She is my responsibility."

Ryland moved into Kane's space, his eyes blazing. "Fuck that. You lost her. She's anyone's now."

"She chose me, and we both know it." Kane met Ryland's gaze, and let him see his commitment to Sarah.

Ryland stared at him, and then swore. "You slept with her? You defiled an angel?" His machete flashed into his hand with a crack of black light, and Kane instantly called his out as well.

"Hey!" Quinn moved quickly between them. "Stand down. Now."

"What's going on?" Thano Savakis sauntered up to them carrying a peach latte, despite the Order's attempts to get him to switch to a more testosterone-appropriate drink. "Don't tell me the Order finally decided to self-destruct and no one invited the new kid on the block?" He propped his elbow on Ryland's shoulder, completely ignoring the danger of the situation. "Just because I'm not old, cynical and bitter doesn't mean I don't appreciate a good internal feud over a woman. So, tell me, who slept with whose chick? Was it behind the bleachers or in the back of a station wagon?"

Ryland didn't move, and Kane held his ground. A sudden, ominous burst of raw pleasure hit Kane at the thought of attacking his teammate, and he tightened his grip on his weapon. "Bring it on, Ryland."

Ryland stiffened, and Thano immediately whooped and shoved Ryland to the side. "Dudes, you guys are taking this way too far. Kane, what the hell's got your panties in a twist? You should see your face right now. You look like a ghoul from a bad horror movie."

Kane felt the seriousness underlying Thano's easy tone, and he became aware of the violence streaming through his muscles, of his burning need to attack Ryland. "Shit." He took a sharp step back, immediately sheathing his weapons. He would have struck first against Ryland, and this time he'd come a hell of a lot closer than he had in the woods. What the hell was that about? Yeah, it was standard operating procedure to be ready for Ryland to come unhinged, but never Kane.

He and Ry had an understanding. They were both fucked up, but they would never direct it against each other. Until now.

Ryland turned his dark gaze on Kane. "Santiago," he said quietly, still gripping his machete. "There is something seriously wrong with you."

Kane met his gaze. "I know, man."

Ryland nodded in acknowledgement, as Quinn and Thano stepped aside, giving them space to resolve it. "What is it?"

Kane tapped the smooth patch of skin on his chest. "I'm changing."

Ryland's eyes widened, and Thano and Quinn immediately came over, not even pretending that they hadn't been listening.

"Wow, you have nice skin," Thano said. "I had no idea you were so delicate."

Kane eyed Thano. "Shut up."

"Never." Thano grinned, but his eyes weren't laughing. "What is it?"

"Damned if I know, but Sarah has answers. I think it happened because of her."

"Then we find her," Quinn said. "You're treading an edge right now, Kane, and we can't afford for you to go rogue. If Sarah affects that, then we need to find her." He gestured at the pile of Calydons on the ground behind him. "These guys are serious shit, and we need to stop them. Seems like she'll have info about them as well."

Kane ground his jaw as he looked past Quinn at the warriors on the ground. There were only ten, and yet most of the Order were sporting serious injuries. "What are they, the next generation of Calydons? The young bucks here to take us out?"

"Apparently." Gideon walked up, the body of Sarah's brother tossed over his shoulder. "This one is still alive. He's in a coma, but he's alive."

Kane swore, immediately thinking of Sarah's safety. "The minute he wakes up, he'll teleport and track down Sarah. We won't be able to hold onto him."

Gideon met his gaze. "It's a chance we have to take. He's our only lead. We don't even know where these guys are from."

"No—" But even as Kane protested, he remembered Sarah's words that if her brother died, then she would die. But if he lived, he would kill her. Son of a bitch. There was only one choice. "I'll find Sarah before he wakes up."

Ryland walked up beside him. "I'm coming with you."

Kane stiffened. "You think that's a good idea?"

Ryland grinned. "I'm the only one strong enough to take you down if you go rogue. So, yeah, I think that makes it a damn good idea that I go with you because you're not exactly roses and bunny rabbits right now."

"I'm not going rogue," Kane shot back, but even as he said it, the bare spot on his chest burned, and the darkness swirled inside him.

"Yeah." Ryland met his gaze, and nodded once. No further exchange was needed.

"I'm in," Thano said, his green eyes flashing with determination. "You need a young guy along to take on these kids. You old guys will run out of stamina."

Gideon and Quinn nodded their agreement. "We'll search from this end," Gideon said. "Lily will research it, and we'll monitor Jacob and try to get info from him."

Kane nodded. A three-pronged attack was good. One way or another, they would find Sarah.

"Stay in touch," Quinn said. "I have a bad feeling about this deal."

"Yeah, me too." But as Kane thought about what it had been like last night to connect with Sarah, to bury himself inside her and open himself to her so completely, he knew that wasn't the whole truth. He had a bad feeling about the mutated Calydons, but as for Sarah? All good...except for the fact she'd taken off on him.

That still bugged him. It was hell on a man's ego to give a woman the best loving he could, and then have her bail without a word. But her actions also intrigued him. She might be fighting for her life, but she had the courage to do what she felt was right, and he liked that. A lot.

He was fired up as hell to find her again. What answers did she have? Would she be his salvation, or bring him to the doom that had been stalking him for so long? He rubbed his hand over the smooth spot on his chest, wondering whether the missing scars were a good sign, or a bad one.

He needed to know, and he was going to look forward to getting the information from her. He grinned, adrenaline racing through him at the challenge Sarah had presented to him by bailing on him. What would she say when she saw him walking up to her? Would that same passion and desire still be there?

Or would it be even stronger?

He had a feeling he knew the answer. What had ignited between him and Sarah was only the beginning.

Thano raised his eyebrows. "What's that shit-eating grin for?"

"You'll never know, rookie," Kane said as he raised his arm for his teammates to grasp. "Let's go. I know where to start the search." Thano and Ryland set their hands on his arm, and he dematerialized, taking them right to the truck that Sarah had been driving when he'd found her.

Unless the truck was unregistered, he would know everything he needed to know about her within about five minutes.

Two minutes later, as he stared at the spots where a license plate should have been on the back of her truck, Kane had his answer about how hard it was going to be to track her down.

The game of cat and mouse had begun.

She was almost there.

Almost there.

She could make it.

Come on, Sarah.

Fighting for consciousness, Sarah maneuvered her rented Jeep onto the well-hidden, dirt road to her village. The trees blurred in and out of focus, and the sounds of buzzing filled her ears. Dammit. She'd waited too long to come back.

She needed to come back at least once a week to restore her powers, but she'd waited almost two weeks since the night of Jacob's attack and Kane's rescue before coming home. She'd refused to abandon the hope that she could find help outside the village, and she'd been avoiding coming back to a town that didn't have her brother or her grandmother anymore.

She'd been so devastated when she'd finally made it to Nashoba and found a burned out village that had been long abandoned. There was no sign of a fountain of water to restore her, and the houses were boarded up. She'd visited three other sites where earth angels were rumored to live, and they were all burned out, stripped of the magic that could keep her alive.

Her powers dwindling fast, she'd had to return to Akara to recharge. Her drive home had been burdened with the grim possibility that her village might be the last functioning enclave left. She didn't know of anywhere else to find resources. Her trip had been a bust. She'd failed in her quest, and now it was almost too late to save herself.

The vehicle bounced over a rut, and the Jeep careened toward a tree. She yelped and yanked the wheel back to the left, barely avoiding a head-on collision with a massive pine. "Concentrate, Sarah."

She gripped the steering wheel and leaned forward, trying to concentrate on the winding road. The pavement seemed to blur in and out of focus, and she fought for control, straining to see the white marker for the turn-off...

There! She hauled the Jeep to the right, bouncing over the rocks as the vehicle shot down the road, relief cascading through her. She was almost to the village, almost to the fountain, almost home. See? She'd timed it perfectly and had everything under perfect control. The fact she was dizzy, weak and hallucinating because she needed to restore her powers so badly? It was merely an indication of how she had efficiently maximized her resources to get the most out of her trip, not an indication that she was desperate and spiraling out of control. Not at all.

Yes, so she might have utterly failed to come up with a secondary source of support while she was trekking around the countryside, but she was an efficiency goddess in knowing exactly how long she could push it. Go her.

She hit the gas, the tires spewing gravel as she peeled around the corner and burst out of the woods right into the center of the almost-abandoned village. The sight of her grandmother's house hit her hard, and tears filled her eyes as the enormity of her loss filled her. The lavender cabin with its yellow trim and massive collection of colored-glass wind chimes was such an anomaly in a town of rustic cabins, but Nonny had never cared. She did what she wanted and thumbed her nose at anyone who disagreed.

Just like how she'd walked outside after dark to find Jacob.

"Damn you, Nonny," Sarah whispered as she clenched the steering wheel, jamming her foot on the accelerator, knowing that she had no time to grieve. She had to get to the fountain, or Nonny's sacrifice meant nothing.

Ruthlessly shoving aside her tears, Sarah kept driving, right through the center of town. Most of the stores were boarded up now, and the pots of flowers in the town green were just old, dead strands of flowers from last summer that no one had bothered to repot.

The white church was silent, the bells no longer pealing the hour, plywood nailed up over the stained glass windows she'd loved so much as a child. There were a few people gathered on the front porch of the Spur & Cask, the general store that had once been the focal point of the bustling eastern Oregon town. Today, it was the only place still open to get groceries or news, but just walking inside gave the aura of a past dying out. One that would be completely destroyed once Sarah was dead.

This was her town, the place she'd grown up with friends and family, a place that had survived near destruction hundreds of years ago, and clawed its way back into the living. The town had been rebuilding piece by piece until the last ten years, when the cycle had begun again.

Now, it was almost dead again. Sarah was the last angel still living there, and there were so few people who even remembered what the village had once been.

Loneliness aching through her, Sarah drove past the closed-down theatre and down the dirt road to the older section of the village, the one no one bothered to go to anymore except her. As she passed one of the outlying cabins, she saw a door open. Out onto the sagging porch came Javier deLeon, one of the old guard who had once patrolled the streets at night to keep everyone safe. She'd heard stories about his legendary strength from the days before she was born, but today he was simply old, gray, and wrinkled. He was the man who spoke to no one and who lived on the outskirts. People left food on his porch, but it was never touched, and no one knew how he managed to feed himself.

But onward he lived, year after year, never faltering over that precipice of death that he'd seemed to be on for decades.

Javier's long hair was split in two braids which trailed down his back in gray and white ropes of gnarled mess. His skin was dark, as if he'd spent years in the Oregon high desert sun and paid the price. A cold chill rippled over Sarah as he watched her pass by, his black eyes riveted to her Jeep.

He always watched her. Never spoke. Retreated when she reached out.

She raised her hand in greeting, and to her shock, he gave her a single, solitary nod, not taking his eyes off her. The chill immediately shifted to a cold that went all the way to the marrow of her bones. Why had he acknowledged her
now
? What had changed?

But as she glanced down at the hairline fractures fissuring over her skin, she had a bad feeling she knew: it was because Javier sensed she was dying.

Crap!

Her hands shaking now, Sarah pulled the Jeep up beside the crumbling mound of rocks that had once been the center of the village, a majestic fountain of life and hope. The tires skidded on the dusty earth, too dry for this time of year. Coughing at the billows of dust, Sarah yanked off her seatbelt, grabbed the door frame and pulled herself out of the seat. She landed on the parched earth, and her legs gave out instantly, her knees crashing to the rocky ground.

Sarah gritted her teeth as she braced her hands on the earth, her palms burning from the impact. "Come on, Sarah," she muttered. "All you have to do is get over to the fountain. It's really not that difficult."

Almost glad that Nonny wasn't there to give her grief for letting herself get this weak, Sarah crawled over to the fountain. She grabbed what was left of the crumbling stone wall, heaved herself over the two-foot barrier and landed in what used to be a pool at the base of the fountain.

Ten years ago, it had been filled with cool, pure water that would have seeped into her skin from the moment she landed in it. Ten years ago, all she would have had to do was collapse right now, submerge beneath the water and let it restore her.

Today, there was just the dry, crumbling rock that had once been the bottom of the fountain. Gritting her teeth, Sarah pulled herself across the basin to the statue in the middle, a sculpture that now looked more like a decaying leper than an angel. She braced herself on the bottom of the statue and reached up into the small bowl that used to overflow—

Her fingers touched dry rock.

No water. Not even a trickle.

Damn! It had been almost dry when she'd left, but there'd been dampness. Now, it was bone dry. "Come on!" She had not allotted time to actually run out of water completely. She needed water
now.

Sarah grabbed the statue and hauled herself to her feet to look inside. The opening that water had been flowing through for a thousand years was
dry.
"Oh, man. This isn't good."

Sarah shoved her fingers inside. Dry. "Oh, come on!" She grabbed a small rock, a fragment from the angel's toe, and clenched it in her fist as she leaned against the fountain, using the crumbling tower to hold her up. She hit the opening with the rock, trying to chisel it to make it bigger.

The opening crumbled beneath her assault, getting wider and wider, and still no water. "Oh, crap. Seriously?" The rock fell out of her hands and clattered to the ground. "Dammit!" Tears of frustration burned in her eyes as she turned to retrieve it, and then she saw a shadow move in the woods.

She froze, straining to see into the shadows of the forest. "Nonny?" There was a dark shadow, a quick movement, and her heart started to race as she saw the muscled bulk of a Calydon. Of course it was a Calydon. Who else ran around in the woods of Akara these days?

Aching disappointment and loneliness arced through her at the realization that it would never be Nonny sneaking up on her again, and she fisted her hands against the grief, trying to steel herself. For two weeks, she'd fought to control her sadness, and she had to continue to keep control. Every minute she was in town, she was in danger, and she couldn't afford to get killed just because she was too upset to concentrate on staying alive.

She had to focus on the movement in the woods, on the scout that had noted her arrival. It was daytime, so they wouldn't attack, and some might even be close to their normal human selves, but she knew she'd just been spotted.

She'd have to leave town before nightfall and pray they didn't track her. How long could she keep sneaking into the village during the day and getting out at night before they figured out how to follow her? Not long. She knew it wouldn't be for much longer. And if they caught her tonight? Yeah, she'd last maybe five minutes. Tops.

Which meant she had to find the damn water
now
. Her jaw jutting out in determination, she grabbed another rock and began pounding at the fountain. Her fingers were bleeding, and the rock slipped out of her aching grasp again. Sarah groaned as she watched it clatter across the pebbles, and slowly sank to her knees, leaning her head against the side of the fountain. She closed her eyes, the warm rock rough against her cheek as her body trembled. "This is ridiculous," she muttered. "It would be so anticlimactic to die sitting next to the fountain that is supposed to save my life. I'm really not this pathetic, am I?"

"See what happens when you have sex with a guy and blow him off? It never ends well to break a guy's heart."

Sarah whirled around at the sound of the male whose marks still burned on her arms.

Standing behind her, his shoulder propped casually against the crumbling frame of one of the old buildings was Kane Santiago, a smug expression on his face. His torso was bare, showcasing the myriad of scars across his strong body, and his jeans hung low over his hips. With his hair tousled and spiky, the sun gleaming from behind him, his shoulders broad, he looked exactly like the savior who had plucked her from death and gifted her with the very depths of his emotions. But with his scars so vivid and raw across his body and the hard set to his jaw, he also looked exactly like Los Muerte himself, come back to life.

* * *

Sarah had no time to fear him. No time to worry about the talismans on his body. She just needed him. "Kane," she gasped, unable to keep the relief out of her voice.

His gaze swept over her, and his cocky amusement fled, replaced with that same intense protectiveness she'd seen before. "What can I do?"

She gestured at the fountain, her hands trembling, blood oozing from her torn up fingernails. "It's supposed to have water. I can't get it." She couldn't keep the desperation out of her voice.

Kane strode across the crumbling village square and vaulted effortlessly into the fountain. He crouched beside her, his face intense and all-business. "Where does the water come from?"

She almost cried with relief. He didn't bother with silly questions that wouldn't help. He'd instantly realized the danger of the situation to her, and he was focusing on what mattered. "From the earth. But it's not rising."

Kane set his hand on her hair, a tender, soothing gesture that made her want to cry as he studied the fountain. His gaze was sharp and clear as he scanned it. "It's usually in the bowl?"

She nodded. "I tried to chisel through the opening, but I couldn't get very far."

Kane stood up and peered inside the bowl, then he shot her a look of respect. "You got pretty far."

The tension began to ease from her body now that Kane was here. She wasn't alone. She had help, and quite frankly, she was too damned desperate to worry about whether that help was in the form of the world's greatest lover or the world's most deadly demon-tainted mass-murderer. If the man could get her water, then he could have whatever past he wanted, at least for the moment. "Well, I've always been known for my rock-chiseling skills. It's a girl thing."

He raised his brows. "Impressive."

"I know." She grimaced, unable to keep all of the trembling out of her voice. "Unfortunately, my skills seem to be declining. I couldn't pull it off."

"I got it." He crouched beside her, and pushed her hair back from her face, his gaze intense. "But do me a favor and don't take off on me again. It was a bit of a pain in the ass trying to track you down." His voice was hard, but beneath it was an undercurrent of vulnerability, a man who had so much to lose and so much at stake.

Like she was going to argue right now. Anything to get his help. Besides, it wasn't as if she was going anywhere at the moment. "Yes, I promise not to crawl the entire two inches away from you that I could manage before I crumble to the earth in a pile of sheer exhaustion and impending death."

Amusement flickered over his face. "I swear, there's nothing like saving a woman from death twice to make it easy to manipulate her."