Darkness Shatters: Book 5 (Sensor Series) (33 page)

Lucas leaped ahead of me and went after the guards. I pulled my sword and joined him. The tunnel was only about seven or eight feet across, but it was enough we were able to maneuver a little. He attacked the first guard, leaving me the other.

That one was in worse shape with missing chunks of skin on his arms and face. He still managed to raise his sword in time to block my initial attack. We exchanged thrusts and parries back and forth. He was stronger than me—wounded or not—and more skilled. I didn’t bring my sword back up in time after attempting a strike and he slashed into my arm.

I gritted my teeth through the pain and returned the favor, slicing through his neck. His blood sprayed out and he grabbed at his wound with his free hand. I took advantage of the opening, pushing the tip of my sword through his chest and into his heart. Repeating the same process as my last opponent, I yanked the blade back out as he fell and replaced it with a throwing knife. His body went lax.

Lucas stood there with his arms crossed and amusement in his eyes. “Your methods are most…fascinating.”

He’d already taken out his guard and re-sheathed his sword. There wasn’t a scratch on him. I consoled myself with the fact he had a couple millennia of practice and power built up. Considering my much weaker immortality, I thought I was doing good taking out a guy out who was more than a thousand years older than me. Purgatory guards tended to be much younger than their angel counterparts, but they were strong.

“I do my best.” I scowled at him.

“You do.” He inclined his head. “But for the sake of saving time I’d ask that you restrict yourself to throwing grenades and stabbing them once they’re down. Allow me to handle the fighting.”

He had a fair argument. Micah and Yerik were counting on us to return as soon as we could. I understood my weaknesses enough to know I’d only slow us if we continued doing things the same way.

“Fine. As long as we’re not too outnumbered, you can have at it,” I conceded.

“Let’s go.” He spun on his heels and raced down the tunnel.

Without the heat, I found it a little easier to keep up. There was even a little more oxygen as we went deeper into the tunnels. Not a lot, but enough I didn’t feel quite so light headed. After only a few more twists and turns, we came to a three-way intersection. Lucas paused, looking in each direction.

“Which way do you think, sensor?”

I’d been picking up on other supernaturals for some time, but their proximity varied as we moved along. “There are fae off to the right and farther down to the left are the nerou. I sense a couple of guards and a guardian close to them.”

Relief came over his features. “Ah, I think I can guide us from here. We’re close to tunnels I’ve traveled before.”

He set off at a rapid pace toward the nerou. I tried to warn him when we got close to the guards, but his only response was to pull his sword and keep going. As soon as he came upon them he slashed through one guard, nearly taking his head off and flung the body at me. I knew what he expected me to do and pulled a throwing knife. The guard weakly put his hands up, but I was able to shove them away and stab his heart.

A moment later another body landed next to me. I had a knife in his heart even faster. All that was left was the guardian—who was about the same age and power level as Kerbasi. He put up a better fight and managed to get a solid strike into Lucas’ gut. Blood gushed from his wound, but he kept going.

Lucas swung his sword faster and faster until the guardian could hardly keep up. Then he kicked him in the kneecap hard enough to break it and knocked his opponent to the ground. In one smooth motion, he brought his sword down and sunk it into the guardian’s chest. I tossed him a throwing knife and he finished the man off.

“There’s only the nerou now,” I informed him.

Close to one hundred and seventy of them were spread across the tunnels in this section with the other thirty outside with Micah and Yerik. We didn’t run into any doors or magic barriers. I had no idea if nerou could be held by them. It was one of a thousand questions I hoped to ask soon.

“Lead me to Ivan,” Lucas said.

We passed room after room carved into the stone. They had cloth flaps over the entrances for privacy, but many were drawn open with cords fastened to the walls. Some of the nerou stood in the halls, staring. None looked surprised to see us. It was a little unnerving after our experience outside.

Ivan was close. We only had to pass a dozen rooms before reaching him. He’d already been heading for us. The nerou was powerfully built and dressed the same as the leader who’d met us with just a pair of pants to cover him. He had short black hair and sensor-blue eyes.

“Why have you come?” he asked.

Lucas gave him a serious look. “To free you.”

“Truly?” Excitement lit in the nerou’s eyes.

“You are needed on Earth and it is time for you to return home.”

Ivan gazed around at his brethren. “Did you hear that? We are finally leaving.”

Cheers went up. My jaw nearly dropped at the excitement. After my experience outside I’d expected we’d have to negotiate a little more.

“You prepared them for this,” Lucas stated.

“The woman over there, Olivia,” Ivan said, pointing at a slim blond female. “She has a gift for seeing the future. Not long after I last saw you, she predicted this day would come. I thought it was best then to tell them everything you’d told me about Earth and prepare them. We just hadn’t expected it to happen this soon.”

Lucas looked at me. There was a sense of humility in his expression. As if he was realizing how important this mission had been and why we’d had to keep it from him for it to work. All of this came across his eyes as we stared at each other. If you loved someone enough, sometimes words weren’t needed to convey thoughts.

He turned back to Ivan. “We faced some difficulties with a group of your people. My brother and a friend have been holding them off so that we might reach you.”

“They come from a group kept separate from us. After we allowed you and your mate to leave they selected a new defense force. I’ve had no opportunity to speak with them since we were divided.”

Lucas took his arm. “You’ll need to convince them to relent. We must leave this place quickly.”

“Of course.” Ivan inclined his head.

With the nerou’s next order word was spread that we were leaving right away. Men and woman all around scrambled to grab the few things they couldn’t stand to leave behind. I noted the female nerou were given more to wear. They had sleeveless buckskin tops to cover their chests. Most of them wore their hair braided or had it cut to above their shoulders. They were smaller than the males, but their muscles were well-toned.

Their ethnicities ranged from white, Asian, black, Latino, and many other variations. They’d come from all over the planet to be imprisoned in this place. The oldest ones I sensed had lived a thousand years. Had that been when the first were born or was that as old as they lived? I wanted to ask, but I knew it wasn’t the right time.

Within a few minutes, the nerou closest to us were ready to go.

“Where are your brother and friend now?” Ivan asked.

“We left them near the tunnel entrance to the nephilim quarter,” Lucas explained.

“Good. We can go through the tunnels gathering the rest of my brethren along the way and come from behind them. It will be the fastest route to travel.”

We headed out. As we passed room after room, more nerou joined us. They flooded my senses as a long line grew behind us. Eventually, we’d reached them all and left their living area. We picked up the pace and came to a familiar intersection. I caught sight of the door where Kerbasi’s torture chamber had been located. We passed it and kept going toward the section where nephilim were kept.

At the moment, only Bartol was housed there. His hundred-year prison term was almost up, but he still had a few months to go. We passed by his cell, which was quite a bit larger than the last time I visited. They’d improved on a few things since Kerbasi left. Bartol sat huddled in the corner with the scarred half of his face averted.

Lucas paused and put his hands on the bars of the cell. “Soon, my friend, you’ll be free. I’ll have a place for you when the time comes.”

Bartol opened eyes full of despair. “Make certain it is a dark place.”

“If that is what you wish,” Lucas replied.

He moved on. If we could have lingered longer we would have, but more than half an hour had passed since we left Micah and Yerik. Who knew what kind of shape they were in by now?

We ran into a couple of guards coming back up the tunnels. Lucas slashed through them and once again tossed the bodies at me. I pulled my knives and took care of them. Ivan watched, expressionless, as we dragged them out of the way. Just because he was willing to leave didn’t mean he hated the guards. This was the only home he’d ever known.

Natural light began filtering down the tunnel. I sensed the other group of nerou ahead with Micah and Yerik in the middle of them. Lucas and I took off at a run with the others picking up the pace behind us. Just before the entrance I pulled ahead, cutting into my hand and bringing down the magic ward before anyone could hit it.

We raced outside into the oppressive heat and bright light.

“Stop!” Ivan yelled at the mob ahead of us.

A few of the closest nerou looked back. Ivan strutted toward them and they opened up a path. Lucas and I followed close behind. The nerou didn’t attack us as we began moving through their ranks. Many of them were wounded and their clothes were shredded from their battle. Micah and Yerik had given them a good fight.

“You must stop,” Ivan shouted. “Olivia has had a vision that we will leave this place and now it is time. You should not attack those who would liberate us.”

The leader who’d confronted us before stepped away from the others. A deep gash crossed his stomach and there were numerous smaller wounds on his arms and legs. He was nearly nine hundred years old and among the strongest of his race that I could sense. No doubt he’d led the fight and battled the hardest. He strutted toward Ivan.

“We have orders to apprehend these invaders,” he said, anger in his eyes.

“Not anymore.” Ivan shook his head. “We must begin the life we were meant to have—on Earth.”

“You cannot mean to turn our backs on our caregivers?” the leader asked, incredulous.

Olivia stepped forward. “We were prisoners here, nothing more. Our future lies elsewhere—a place where we are truly needed.”

The leader’s eyes softened. “Are you certain?”

She must have held some sort of sway over these people by the way they all looked at her.

Olivia smiled gently. “I am.”

There was something familiar about her. It was only then that I noted her age and put two and two together. She was about six hundred and forty years old. With Lucas and Micah’s golden hair and their straight nose, there was a very good chance this was the lost daughter.

The leader turned. “Fight no more. We shall leave this place as the one who calls himself Ivan requests.”

I remembered Lucas telling me that none of the nerou had names when he’d first met them. He’d given Ivan his name, who in turn must have given some of the others names as well. If the leader had one, they’d failed to mention it yet.

“Thank you,” Ivan briefly placed his hand on the older nerou’s shoulder.

“It is only because I respect you and the seer that I agree to this madness,” he responded.

Lucas and I didn’t waste time making our way to Micah and Yerik after that was settled. We found them on the ground. Their bulletproof vests were ripped up and they were covered in blood from their wounds, breathing raggedly. Their eyes were open, though, so at least they were conscious. We helped them up.

“Is it over?” Micah gasped.

“For now,” Lucas replied.

The men wavered on their feet but managed to stay standing on their own. Ivan came over and put an arm around Yerik, insisting on helping him. Lucas did the same for his brother. As one massive group we headed toward the portal. A few guards and guardians came out, but after we fired the last of our RPGs at them we had no more trouble.

Chapter Thirty-four

Lucas and I came out of the portal into the freezing cold of Alaska. During our trek across the sand, I’d opened my jacket up. Now I zipped it closed and stuck my hands in my pockets. Lucas did the same.

We moved about twenty feet away, footsteps crunching in the snow, to make room for the first of the nerou to arrive. The first few came through and their eyes widened at the dark woods surrounding them. Yeah. We weren’t in sunny Purgatory anymore.

“Huddle close together,” I said, guiding them off to the side.

They weren’t dressed for this. Their feet were going to freeze in the snow and while the women had a little more cloth covering them, it wasn’t nearly enough. As each nerou came through I pulled them close to the others.

“I don’t know how friendly you all are among each other.” I guided another three to the group. “But until we can get you someplace warm you need to become very good friends.”