Living Nightmare (36 page)

“Dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” said her father. “That enough?”

“Dad,” she said, raising her voice. “You need to butt out of this.”

There was a joyful lilt in her father’s voice. “I hear the fishing up there’s really good.”

“Yes, sir,” said John. “We’ve got some whoppers in our lake. My cabin sits right on it, too. Best fishing this side of the Canadian border.”

“Put the man out of his misery, girl.”

“What about you?” she asked her father. “Who will take care of you?”

“I’m fine and you know it. The cancer’s gone. I feel like my old self. If you want to take care of someone, have your own kids. I quit.” He grabbed his keys off a hook and said, “I’m going out to meet my girlfriend. Don’t wait up for me.”

The door to the garage closed. A car started and drove away. Meghan still hadn’t said a word.

“So, what about it?” asked John.

“I have two weeks of vacation coming,” she said. “I guess I could spend it with you. See where things go.”

A smile of victory pulled at his mouth. “We could spend one week here and one at my place. You could even bring your dad if you want. I don’t mind.”

She touched her stomach again and the wistful look on her face told him more than words ever could. “By then we should know if I’m pregnant.”

“It won’t change my mind. Either way, I want you in my life.”

“You say that now,” she said, as if it were a warning.

“And I’ll be saying it twenty years from now, too. Just you watch.”

“One step at a time, John. We have to slow this down.”

He didn’t need that, but if she did, that was what he’d give her. “Anything you want.”

E
very available Theronai and a handful of Sanguinar were in vehicles, caravanning southeast. Madoc led the way, searching the landscape for anything that looked familiar.

Tori’s memories kept flickering through his head despite the fact that he didn’t need to see them again to remember them.

They’d been driving for hours and sunset was closing in—a little less than two hours away. Drake, Helen, and Gilda were in the middle seat, with Tynan, Nicholas, and Angus in the rear.

“Do you recognize anything?” asked Nika from the passenger’s seat of the van. She’d asked that same question every few minutes since they’d left, but Madoc refused to lose his patience with her.

“No. Any luck on your end?”

“Not really. Every once in a while I think I’m getting close, like she’s weakening, but then it’s gone and I can’t sense her anymore.”

Madoc had been keeping tabs on the clock each time he felt Nika’s excitement flutter through their link. After watching the interval between them decrease slowly, he was convinced that Tori’s mental defenses went down every time she had a contraction. They were about six minutes apart now, by his calculation.

He shot a look into the back of the van, where Tynan hid from the sun. He met the Sanguinar’s icy gaze. “Do you have a plan for when we find her?”

“None of us know what to expect,” said Tynan, “but this certainly won’t be the first pregnant woman I’ve tended. I’ll do what I must to keep her alive.”

There was no mention of the offspring, and Madoc guessed it was intentional.

“There she is again,” said Nika, her voice high with excitement. “I can almost—”

Her words cut off with a cry of pain. She bent forward in the seat so fast the seat belt caught and held her.

Madoc looked at the clock. Only five minutes had passed. They were running out of time.

He laid a comforting hand on Nika’s shoulder and stepped on the gas. He hated seeing her suffer like this, but there was only one acceptable way to end it now: find Tori.

Nika panted through the pain and he felt an increase in the flow of power between them. Their connection had strengthened at an amazing rate over the past few hours, as though Nika knew just how to make it happen. Of course, the fact that the colors in the luceria had settled to a bright, snowy white might have had something to do with that.

They were stuck with each other now—at least for as long as Madoc lived. The only way he would be able to let her go to a man more deserving of her now was through his death.

“Not going to happen,” said Nika through clenched teeth. “I’m keeping
you
. Just you.”

As much as he liked hearing that, he wasn’t sure how she’d feel if he failed to save Tori. Anger and resentment were ugly things and could grow faster than cancer. He’d seen it happen before.

“Just drive. We’ll fight about this later,” she told him.

Madoc smiled at that. He liked it that she automatically assumed they’d have later. She wasn’t pushing him away yet.

Maybe she never would. The thought was enough to make him daydream like a little girl, but there wasn’t time for that now. He had a sister to rescue.

“Any word from Paul or Andra?” he asked loudly enough for Nicholas to hear him in the back.

“Not yet. I’ve left them ten thousand messages, so I’m sure they’ll call when they’re back in cell phone range. I did get a report from Briant, though. He interrogated Ricky and found signs of Synestryn taint in the boy’s mind. The kid has no idea where Tori is. All he knew was that he was ordered to take Nika to a shopping center, where someone would pick her up.”

Madoc glanced into the rearview mirror to say something to Nicholas, but the words fell out of his head. Behind him, the lay of the land, the slope of the hillside they’d just climbed, matched perfectly with one of Tori’s memories.

He slowed the van, careful to not cause a wreck with the other vehicles behind him. The road here was undivided and relatively empty.

“You see something, don’t you?” asked Nika.

“Yeah. Hold on.” He maneuvered the van, making a U-turn. Behind him, the rest of the caravan followed.

He drove back the way they’d come, turning off onto a gravel drive leading into private land. The drive was bumpy, but he was able to keep sight of the land he recognized and follow it.

The gravel path ended near a barn so old it was falling down, and there was no way this vehicle would make it over the rocky ground.

“Nicholas, let everyone know we’re close, but we’re going to have to go in on foot.”

They parked and piled out of their vehicles. Gearing up was quick and efficient. Madoc helped Nika slide on an armored leather trench coat and face shield, just in case. He wasn’t planning to let her get close enough to combat to need either, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

Her blue eyes flared a moment before she doubled over in pain. Madoc caught her against him and held her while the spasm passed.

“She’s close,” said Nika, breathing hard. Sweat had beaded up along her forehead and all color bled from her skin. “She knows we’re here.”

That meant the bad guys might, too. “Time to move,” he shouted. He took a strong hold on Nika’s waist and helped her over the rocky ground.

As they got farther, he got more matches between the terrain and Tori’s memories. It had been dark when they’d brought her here, but there were enough similarities that Madoc had no trouble spotting the way she’d come. A few hundred yards later, the vegetation began to show patterns of wear where lots of feet had trampled it down. Those thin trails began to converge until they dropped off over the edge of a rocky outcropping.

Madoc had to jump down about six feet, but as soon as he did, he saw the mouth of the cave. It looked unchanged from the image Tori had given him, and accompanying that image was a primal burst of fear. She hadn’t wanted to be taken in there. Even as a child, she’d known to fear that darkness.

“Here,” he called up to the rest of the group.

He reached up for Nika, easing her down beside him. He waited until the whole group was ready, their swords drawn, before he stepped inside.

Darkness engulfed him, along with the strong smell of animal and decay. This was definitely the kind of place Synestryn loved to hide.

Madoc pulled enough power from the air around him to fuel his night vision, silently showing Nika how to do the same through their connection. He felt the subtle tug of power leave him and knew she’d caught on without trouble.

He loved that mind of hers and the lightning speed at which it moved. Every time her presence was inside him, he felt smarter and more aware of his surroundings. This time was no different. She was right there inside him, a part of him.

He didn’t think he’d ever again feel whole without her.

He moved slowly down the tunnel, searching for traps or anything else that might give away their presence. Maybe the Synestryn already knew they were here, but he wasn’t going to fill them in if they didn’t.

The tunnel narrowed, curving to the right. It emptied into a small opening, showing two alternate paths they could take. One was natural; the other had been gouged out by tools and claws.

He turned to Nika. “Any idea which way?”

She closed her eyes and a pulse of power flowed out of him. “No. Sorry.”

Madoc checked his watch. “We’ll wait a minute. You might get another chance.”

Her mouth opened in shock and a faint line of pain formed between her brows. “Those pains I feel. Those are labor pains, aren’t they?”

“That’s what I was thinking. They’re getting closer together.”

“How close?” asked Tynan.

“Four, four and a half minutes now.”

Nika’s hand clenched on his arm, but that was the only sign she gave of the pain he knew she felt. She didn’t make a sound.

When she spoke, she was out of breath. “Right. She’s to our right.”

Madoc nodded. “We’ll go when you’re ready.”

She swallowed and straightened her stance. “I’m ready now.”

Madoc didn’t fight her. As much as he hated this, it was the only way.

He led them into the carved tunnel. It was a tight squeeze in several places, but they all fit through. There were more than a dozen men and women trailing behind him, ready and eager to have this rescue finished.

The tunnel angled down; then ahead, he saw it open up. He stopped and turned to Drake, who was immediately behind Nika. “I’ll go check it out,” he whispered. To Nika, he said, “Stay put a sec. I’ll be right back.”

To her credit, she didn’t argue. He could sense her agitation and fear, along with the sure knowledge that the pain would be back again all too soon.

Madoc moved forward as silently as he could, hugging one wall. He peered into the room, powering up his vision so he could see more clearly.

It was a sleeping chamber. Dozens of Synestryn lay huddled in piles like puppies. He didn’t recognize them. He was used to seeing fur and scales, but these things—whatever they were—had mostly bare skin instead. They were vaguely humanoid, though larger than most men, maybe seven feet if they stood up on their hind legs. Their hands and feet were huge, and their wide heads bristled with stiff tufts of hair. Beside each pile of creatures, several swords were propped against debris or the cave wall.

The swords were battered, rusty, and pitted with use, but the fact that they were there at all was disturbing. Since when did monsters start using weapons instead of teeth and claws?

There was no sign of Tori, but across the cavern, there was a tunnel leading off to the right.

Madoc went back to the group. “There’s a cavern up ahead full of sleeping somethings. We’re going to have to go through them.”

“How many?” asked Drake.

“Thirty or forty.”

“Any friendlies in there?” asked Helen.

“No.”

“How big is the room?” asked Drake.

“Maybe twenty by thirty or so.”

Helen smiled. “I got this. Hang back.”

She and Drake moved ahead. A few seconds later, there was a burst of orange light, a whoosh of heat, and the sound of animalistic screams. Smoke drifted down the tunnel, but Gilda lifted a hand and it flowed over their heads toward the exit.

Nika hissed in pain and grabbed hold of Madoc’s arm hard. “There’s some kind of commotion around Tori. I think they know we’re here.”

Drake and Helen came back a minute later. “Room’s clear. I wouldn’t breathe the smoke, though.”

“I’ll blow the smoke away from us,” said Gilda. “Let’s just get this over with. If we don’t retrieve her before sunset, they could move her where we’ll never find her.”

“We can’t let that happen,” said Nika, panting.

“Can you walk?” asked Madoc. He sensed she wasn’t fighting the pain, but letting it in—it was the only link she had to Tori, but it was nearly incapacitating.

She nodded, so Madoc helped support her weight, following Drake and Helen into the chamber.

Burned corpses lay in charred heaps, as if they hadn’t even had time to move before they died. Clearly, Helen’s ability had grown since she’d partnered with Drake nearly a year ago. Madoc would hate to be on the receiving end of the power she wielded.

They moved into the next tunnel and had gone a few feet when Nicholas said, “We’ve got movement behind us.”

“Nicholas, you, Liam, and the other single men guard our escape,” ordered Angus. “We have to keep moving.”

Nika was leaning on him harder now, and he could feel pain tightening her body more with every step. “We’re getting closer,” she whispered. “I can feel her.”

Behind them, the sound of combat began. The snarl of Synestryn and the thud of steel on bone grew louder as their only known exit was compromised. Ahead of them, a high, feminine scream of pain echoed off the rock walls.

 

Tori had tried to stay strong. She’d tried not to call out for Nika, but she’d failed. The pain had been too much to stand, and with each wrenching spasm of her body, she’d grown weaker and less able to block Nika out.

Zillah had her strapped down on a metal table, unable to move. Her knees were pinned against her chest to make room for the thing to come out. Around her Synestryn demons crouched in eagerness, as if waiting for a meal. Maybe that was what she’d become if this birth killed her. She had no idea.