Darkness Unleashed (6 page)

Slow as it was, disappointment filled me when I heard her soft voice.
Still here.

Not for much longer,
I fired back.

Mason knows. He’s coming for you, Amber. All this . . .
Her words echoed quietly in my mind.
All this will be for nothing. He will never be yours.

Even as she died, Darcy mocked me.

I wasn’t going to let her ruin this moment. Clenching my jaw and tightening my fists, I pushed her back into the shadows. Helena had stopped moving about and stood with her hands cupped in front of her—her quartz pendant lying in the center with the silvered necklace spilling over the side. She’d shown it to me once, and explained that she used it as a focal point when performing difficult spells. It had the ability to magnify her powers and boost them, making it her most prized possession.

Her lips began moving and the effect was instantaneous. Wind whipped around her, raising her hair to dance in the air. A howl erupted, low at first, building in intensity the longer the witch chanted. I couldn’t hear the words, not being privy to the incantations earlier, but whatever they were, they caused the ground to rumble beneath my feet.

All thoughts of Darcy left, as I stood completely entranced by the scene in front of me. Fissures of light cracked in the visible air, like miniature lighting strikes from nowhere. The rocks encircling the vortex began to jostle, unable to keep their place and order. Helena’s body struggled to stay still as the tremors became more violent and pronounced.

Whatever she was doing was working.

I couldn’t help myself. Stepping forward, my gaze never left her. Her expression was one of pure concentration as sweat formed at her brow, her lips moving over clenched teeth.

She hadn’t been lying about the vortex fighting to defend itself. The witch was engaged in a hard battle for dominance and the magical source was giving her a run for her money. Helena was strong, but as she screwed her eyes shut, her body revealed the pressure she was under. I suddenly knew she wouldn’t be enough.

Unfortunately, we hadn’t been able to uncover the artifact Zane had moved and hidden. In all our time in Woodside Hollow, we’d found some trinkets that promised success, but testing them had proven the claims false. Helena had declared her confidence in doing it herself, but as I watched on in amazement, her clothes began shredding from her body, revealing long, large, bloodied welts on her skin.

My fangs punched out through my gums at the scent. Power—she was bursting with it. My mouth watered, temptation screaming for me to take what was before me. I dug deep and began strategizing my own inner battle.

Blood. It was everything. It owned me, but not this time. I refused to submit to my thirst. Refused to let it reduce all my hopes and dreams to rubble.

If I moved, even the slightest bit, I would rip Helena’s throat out. Not because I needed the blood, but because the dark seductive whisperings that beckoned me.

Helena’s scream dragged me from my own private hell as her head fell back and I caught glimpse of her agony. The vortex was slowly tearing her apart, the welts on her arms growing wider and deeper.

“
Helena!” I yelled, panic setting in as I saw my chances to be with Mason dying.

“
Don’t move!” She replied. “I can finish this!”

But even I knew this was over. She just wasn’t strong enough. “If you don’t stop, you’ll die!” I didn’t add that I needed her alive. She was my only connection to the Master and my way out of this body and into one I could appreciate.

“
If I must sacrifice so he can live, so be it!”

In the next moment, the vortex bitch-slapped Helena in one, final demonstration of authority and sent her flying through the air before smashing her hard against the far wall. Immediately, it flashed brightly and returned to its unimpressive former state. If I hadn’t witnessed it for myself, I’d have said it was impossible.

Rushing over to the witch, the call of her blood hit me again, like a freight train. She was a mess and our task a failure. I had no idea how she was going to explain this.

“
Give me your wrist, now!” She ordered, her voice strangely forceful. “Quickly, before it’s too late.”

Blood. She wanted my blood to heal before she died from her wounds. As much as I needed her for my own ambitions, seeing her vulnerable presented a whole new chance for opportunities. Taking a few steps forward, I stopped just out of her reach.

“
Before I let you drink from me, I want to negotiate a new deal.”

“
You dare try to bargain with me after everything I’ve done for you?” Helena asked incredulously.

“
Everything the Master has done for me,” I corrected.

“
Whatever. Give me what I want, Amber. Don’t make me regret including you in this.”

“
But you did. You needed me then, and you need me even more now.”

Her body convulsed as it began to give out. Her face was white, the light in her eyes fading. “Fine. What do you want?”

“
I want a place by the side of the Master. I want to be important. Me. Not Mason. Me.”

“
I’m sure the Master will agree,” Helena quickly replied, stretching her feeble hand out.

“
I want you to swear you’ll make it happen.”

“
I swear. Now, please.”

I don’t know what I enjoyed more—knowing my future was suddenly brighter or the fact I had one of the most powerful people I knew begging. Dropping to my knees, my teeth tore open my wrist and let my life-giving blood flow. “Remember your promise, Helena.”

She greedily grabbed my arm and began sucking. Slowly, but surely, her wounds began to heal and color returned to her face. She didn’t answer me, her throat swallowing what I offered in large mouthfuls. It was a risk pissing her off, but I hadn’t come this far by playing it safe.

Nothing would stop me.

I would take advantage of anyone and anything to climb to the top.

I didn’t hear the footsteps until it was too late. Something grabbed the back of my shirt; ripping me away from Helena and slamming me down hard, face first, into the ground. Before I could react and fight against my captor, silvered cuffs snapped around my wrists. The contact sizzled against my flesh, reducing my strength dramatically.

“
What the . . .?” I asked as I was roughly turned over.

Mason’s furious face stared down at me.

He’d found me.

The cold look I received from him told me everything. He knew. He might not know I was Amber, but he knew I wasn’t his beloved Darcy. Bucking against my restraints, there was no way I was going to let him take me willing. I was still part vampire and even though it would be harder, these handcuffs wouldn’t hold me for much longer.

“
I don’t know who you are, but these are Enforcer cuffs. Unbreakable,” Mason growled.

“
Maybe, but pity we can’t say the same for your heart. I’m going to enjoy watching it shatter.” The line between love and hate grew murkier as I spat in his face. I was sick of seeing him look at me as though I was beneath him. I was done allowing him to make me feel like I was nothing.

In that second, I knew I could hate Mason O’Connor much more than I could ever love him.

Hate was a far superior master.

“
I’m going to bury you,” he whispered menacingly. “I’m not going to rest until you’re out of my wife and destroyed.”

“
Then tick tock, lover. You better act fast because she’s not going to last much longer.”

“
What do you mean?” Mason thundered, lifting me off the ground enough to slam me back down.

That’s when I started laughing. Once I did, I couldn’t stop—over and over until tears filled my eyes and spilled over.

Even as Devlin compelled me to sleep, my hysterics echoed in my mind, joining me in the darkness

Chapter Five

Mason

The waiting was torturous.

The thing that was occupying my wife sat on the other side of the one-way mirror I was watching through, similarly chained to the table and chair as Morgan, the rogue witch Devlin and I had accused of causing all the deaths in town, had been.

Fury pulsed red hot through me the longer Devlin interrogated the hijacker.

Every now and then, Darcy would look over to the mirror and smile, the sight of it crushing me. That ‘thing’ had taunted me back at the vortex, words filled with lies about how my mate was slowly dying inside of her and that time was running out. My head reasoned with this new information and I tried convincing myself it was merely a stalling technique and way to get under my skin.

The very thought of Darcy slipping even further away from me, out of my reach, terrified me. It made standing here, while Devlin conducted a proper interview to establish who we were dealing with, pure insanity. On the way to the Council offices, where dungeons were maintained beneath the building, I’d argued hard for my case to simply magic the truth out of Darcy.

It’d been on the tip of my tongue to shake it loose through a little rough handling to pry the traitor’s mouth open—a stronger incentive to confess than simply sitting quietly in an enclosed room.

So far, Devlin and Darcy were at a stalemate.

Darcy.

It wasn’t Darcy. It was the thing inside her. The very dead thing I would destroy the second I knew how to.

I didn’t care who it was or why this had happened. Those answers were irrelevant now. I was way past being understanding and tolerant. Someone had come gunning for my wife when she was at her most vulnerable. Once I dealt with the imposter, my next stop would be to visit that betraying bitch downstairs, Helena.

We’d welcomed her into our home. I’d entrusted the woman I loved to her care and this was how she repaid my generosity. Her involvement had rattled Vivien hard as she greeted us when we pulled up with the duo. She’d been completely blindsided, having taken her long-time friend into her confidences and inviting her into her inner circle. Helena had been privy to so much, only to use that information against us, against the supernatural community who’d embraced her as a supportive colleague.

Betrayal surrounded us and we were all reeling from the painful dagger we could almost feel protruding from our backs. It proved, once again, the importance of being careful about who we let in—that it wasn’t always the stranger who posed the greatest threat. No, most times it was the friend, the one who smiled and placated you with agreeable words, the one who patiently waited to strike when it would do the most damage.

I thought I’d learned that with Amber, my former girlfriend and betrothed mate.

I’d vowed never to allow myself to be fooled again, when Nathan, a trusted pack brother and friend, sided with Amber and accused Darcy of magical falsehoods. When he stepped forward to defend his lover’s honor and challenged me, it was like a dagger through my heart.

Killing wasn’t something I reveled in. It was a necessary evil that came with being Alpha and the need to defend my pack. I always tried to reason first, to understand what went wrong, and find an alternative that encouraged the wrong doer to reform—be better.

But not this time. This time there would be no mercy. That Mason had stepped aside when I’d entered the scene at the Vortex and witnessed the senseless destruction unleashed. All the blood spilt and dark magic that tinged the air with its vile corruption.

He wasn’t here, standing in this small-darkened room, jaw clenched as a heavier weight pressed firmly on his chest. With each thunderous tick of the clock hanging on the wall beside me, I pushed that Mason deeper and deeper down. I wouldn’t allow his willingness to look for the good in people to cloud what needed to be done.

Darcy needed to be freed–and whoever was controlling her? They needed to be killed with my bare hands.

Pack justice.

“
How you holding up?” Daniel asked, coming up from behind.

I hadn’t heard him come in. Turning, I growled low before returning my gaze to where Devlin and Darcy sat, now in heated conversation.

Placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder, my first instinct was to shrug him off. As he squeezed firmly, I realized the gesture for what it was—a warning to calm down. Nothing would be achieved if I lost my temper entirely, even if it was justified. I needed to remain level headed for Darcy’s sake.

Her safety came first; and then I would avenge her.

Slowly releasing the tension in my jaw, I nodded my thanks for his quiet intervention. “This is driving me nuts.”

“
I know. I could feel your power through the building. It’s making everyone twitchy.” The
everyone
he referred to were those council members working in their offices and Enforcers assigned to the area.

“
It’s kind of hard to suppress it, Daniel. That’s my girl in there. That thing . . .” I spat at the last word with disgust. “That thing has been inside her for who knows how long, wreaking havoc. It’s put Darcy in danger and I can’t forgive that.”

“
I know; and though it doesn’t help, getting so agitated that you could level the building isn’t either.”

I gave him a look that told him he was being absurd. “Fine, maybe not that bad. But we found her in time and now we can get her back. Once Devlin’s finished getting the information he needs, Vivien will come in and exorcise whoever it is.”

“
Can’t come soon enough,” I growled.

“
Any idea who you think it is?”

“
No, and I don’t care. They’re dead the moment I know Darcy’s out of danger and whole again.”

Movement on the other side of the mirror caught my attention. The interrogation had come to a grinding halt as Devlin stood, the chair scraping across the linoleum floor, and exited the room. A few seconds later, he entered the area where I’d been watching, a look of frustration blazing over his features.