Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade)

by Stephanie Rowe

  “No—” José let out a high-pitched shriek of terror, and then the vine finished its job, severing his head from his burning body. His head bounced on the ground, then rolled to a stop at their feet, already consumed by flames so it was nothing more than a raging fireball.

  Rhiannon waved her hands, and the vines shot past his head, opening a crevice in the earth like the one that they’d escaped through before. José‘s head toppled into the pit, and then the vines dragged what was left of his burning body into the earth. The dirt closed over him instantly, cutting him off from her jungle forever.

  The moment he was gone, a huge weight seemed to vanish from her mind. Her legs collapsed, and she fell to her knees, gasping in relief as a decade of pressure on her dissipated.

  Zach knelt beside her, and she fell into his arms. He locked her in his embrace, his own body trembling against hers as they clung to each other. She couldn’t seem to get her breath, and Zach was breathing just as heavily, but it felt so amazing. She felt so free, as if she could leap to her feet and skip all the way to the moon and back. There was no anguish or torment streaming through her because her soul mate was dead. Just relief. She knew it was because she had severed the bond with him while he was still alive, so that his death could not affect her. With Zach’s help, she had freed herself.

  “I knew you could do it.” Zach pressed a kiss to her temple, and she pulled back to look at him.

  Although he was covered in soot, burning embers, and his own blood, he was grinning, showcasing dimples she didn’t even know he had. “Dimples,” she touched his cheek. “The man can bring down an entire jungle with fire, and he has dimples.” It felt completely ridiculous to be talking about dimples after all they had just been through, but after all the weight she’d been enduring over so many years, dimples were such a silly, nonsensical thing to think about, that it felt perfect to have the luxury to focus on something so minute. The thought of dimples on Zach made her want to laugh. She hadn’t wanted to laugh in a really long time, so dimples were perfect.

  His smile widened. “I don’t have dimples. They’re fire pits of hell that I use to channel my destructive tendencies upon deserving enemies.”

  She laughed, and touched his left cheek. “They’re dimples.” Her smile faded. “You killed him for me, even though you were supposed to keep him alive for Thano.”

  “Yeah, I did.” His face became serious. “That sheva destiny can’t hold a candle to love that’s built upon real emotion. I will give my life to protect you, Rhiannon. A thousand times if I have to, and this time, I won’t screw it up.”

  Her heart tightened. “How could you screw it up?”

  “Last time—”

  “No.” She put her finger over his lips. “You are a good man, Zach. Your wife, stepdaughter, and Madeline were lucky to have you, just as I am so fortunate to have you, too. You saved my life, Zach. You called your fire for me. You’re amazing.”

  His eyes glistened, and he pulled her close, burying his face in her hair. There were no words, but she felt the depth of his emotion in the desperation of his embrace, and she knew that the failures of his past would always be a part of him. She, like him, had once failed the people she loved. Sent into the jungle to destroy José, she’d bonded with him instead, and freed him to eradicate her tribe.

  But he’s dead now. Zach’s voice caressed her mind, and she looked at him sharply, startled by the feel of him in her head. You finally saved your jungle, Rhiannon. You fulfilled your destiny. You did it.

  Rhiannon stiffened. “How come I can hear you in my mind?” Suddenly, scared, she looked down at her arms, half-expecting to see his marks on her flesh, but all she saw were the vines and plants she’d had tattooed there after she’d left the jungle.

  I still have my wards. He held out his arm to her, showing her the marks on his flesh. It’s just because we’re connected in our souls, sweetheart. That’s all it is. He pulled her close, and kissed her. Try it. I’m here. I’ll hear you.

  She shook her head. “No.” Although a part of her longed for that kind of connection with Zach, she knew she would never cross that line. Never would she let a man that far into her mind again, not even Zach. It had been such a horrific nightmare not to be able to shut out José, and now that he was gone, she didn’t want to go back there, not ever again. In some ways, talking to Zach in her mind was even more of an emotional hurdle than making love had been. Her mind was all she’d had, and in the end, José had almost taken that as well. “I can’t.”

  Zach nodded. “I understand.” He brushed her hair back from her face, his eyes gentle. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It really is.” He kissed her again, and tears burned in her eyes.

  How could she not trust this man? How could she not give him everything she had after what he’d done for her? “I want to, but—”

  The night suddenly shook, and they both looked up as a dark cloud formed above their heads. It wasn’t smoke. It looked more like a thick net descending over the jungle. “What’s that?”

  Zach went still beside her. “Holy shit. That’s the webbing that Rohan called out to trap Thano. It’s coming for him. We gotta go!” Zach leapt to his feet. “We need to get back!” He spun around, then swore. “Where’s the staff?”

  Rhiannon leapt to her feet, urgency coursing through her. “What do you mean?” Even as she asked the question, she saw that the staff was no longer on the ground beside where José had been lying.

  Oh, God. No, she couldn’t let this happen, not after Zach had risked everything to save her. She fell to her knees, frantically feeling through the leaves for the hard, metal staff, but it wasn’t there. “It’s gone!”

  Chapter 24

  Desperation rushed through Zach as the night grew thicker, and an unearthly scream filled the air, resonating from the cloud of webbing taking shape above their heads. Son of a bitch. He couldn’t let Thano down now. They were so close. “Where the hell is it?”

  He scanned the jungle, searching for the staff, but it was nowhere. Frantic, he tried to remember if José had been holding it when Rhiannon’s vines had yanked him into the dirt, but he didn’t remember seeing it. But where else would it be? Or maybe José had simply reclaimed it? Calydon weapons vanished when not being touched by their owners. What if the staff was like that? What if it had returned to José? Or what if José had taken it with him?

  He spun to Rhiannon. “Send your vines after him,” he commanded. “Drag his body back up. He must still have it with him!”

  She instantly called out her vines, and the wind began to howl again, but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the increasing crescendo of shrieks coming from the webbing that was getting thicker and thicker above their heads. The vines plunged into the earth, and her eyes widened. “I can sense it! It’s not with José.” She spun around, holding out her hands as she sent the vines in another direction, away from where José had been.

  They had no time for her to be wrong. They had one shot at it. He put his hands on her shoulders, his body taut. “Come on, Rhiannon. Find it for me.”

  The earth seemed to erupt beneath their feet, and the vines suddenly plunged straight down into the earth, ten yards away. Rhiannon went down on her knees, her eyes closed as she thrust her energy into the earth. The air hummed with her power, but she shook her head. ‘I need your help,” she shouted. “I need fire and plants. The staff is fueled by both, so we need both!”

  “I’m on it.” Instantly, he crouched behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her into the shield of his body. He rested his chin on her shoulder, offering her his strength.

  She took it, and he was suddenly swept into her mind. He could feel the power of the plants, and the damp warmth of the earth. He could hear the sounds of leaves breathing. He could smell the beauty of each plant around them. He realized he was not only in Rhiannon’s mind, but he was merged with her completely, his spirit and energy entangled with hers.

  She was completely vulnerable to hi
m, drawing him into the very depths of who she was, not protecting herself against him at all. His throat tightened with the magnitude of the trust she was giving him, and he wrapped his arms more tightly around her. He opened his fire to her, and it slid through her body, becoming a part of her instead of harming her. She swept it up, until their worlds became a tangle of orange flames and the pulsating vibrancy of the plants. His fire rode her vines, sending the burning vegetation through the earth.

  Then he felt it. A distant pulse deep below the earth’s surface, thick with the vibrations of Calydon energy…not just Calydon. The Order. The staff.

  I know, she said. Stay with me. Together, they sent their merged energies deep beneath the ground, hurtling along the path the staff had taken. Closer, and closer, until suddenly the vines made contact. The jolt of energy was electric, and Rhiannon jumped in his arms. But he held tight, fueling her vines with his flames as the plants wrapped around the staff—-

  But then they slid right through it, as if it wasn’t really there. “It’s fading,” Rhiannon shouted. “You have to give it fire!”

  His flames surged into the staff, and he ignited it. For a split second, it didn’t hold, and then he took what was left of José‘s fire that he’d absorbed into his body, and he merged it with his own. This time, the flame caught, and power surged through the staff, turning it corporeal again.

  “Now!” Rhiannon shouted, and the vines recoiled with stunning swiftness, dragging the staff back toward them, faster and faster. It erupted from the earth in a cascade of dirt. Zach snatched it out of the air. The metal was hot and solid beneath his hand, but he could feel that it was fighting him, trying to fade, as Calydon weapons did when their masters died. Her vines were twisted around it, and he saw that her leaves were aligned perfectly with the etchings of vines on the staff, and his own flames matched the carvings of fire. Plants and fire. That was how it was done. “No wonder he needed you.”

  But even as he spoke, he felt it shudder in his hand, and he realized that they were barely holding it together, even with their combined efforts. “It was José‘s fire fueling it,” he said. “I can’t hold it corporeal for long. We gotta go!”

  Together, they leapt to their feet, and began to race back toward the campsite. They tore through the jungle, the woods parting for them as they ran.

  “Hey!” Eric suddenly appeared beside them, his body charred and blackened. “Where’s Jordyn?” he shouted.

  Shit. Jordyn!

  “She’s back there!” Rhiannon didn’t even slow down as she pointed behind her. “Go get her!” she shouted.

  Eric whirled around and vanished into the woods, calling for Jordyn as he ran.

  The shrieking of the webbing grew louder, and the air became even thicker. Swearing, Zach grabbed her hand. He knew there was only one way they were going to get there in time, and it wasn’t running. He was going to have to bring her into his fire.

  She looked over at him, as if she’d heard his thoughts, and nodded. “You won’t kill me,” she said. “Do it!”

  He gritted his teeth against the sudden flash of fear that he might hurt her if he used his fire on her, but he shoved it aside, focusing instead on the absolute trust emanating from Rhiannon, her belief in him. He nodded, double-checked to make sure they were still merged, and then he called his fire.

  The flames erupted through him, a seething mass of destruction. He kept his connection with Rhiannon secure as he twisted the flames tighter and tighter around them both, amping up the power level with each twist, until they were a coiled bomb, ready to explode.

  He tightened his grip on her hand, and then he unleashed it. The fireball exploded with a deafening roar, thrusting them forward. He caught the flames beneath his feet, and rode the wall of fire, surfing through the jungle with Rhiannon by his side, both of them encased in the flaming sphere.

  The heat was intense, even for him, and he focused hard on keeping a wall of protection around Rhiannon. Faster and faster they went, hurtling through the jungle. Her hair was on fire, locks of flames streaming behind her. Fear hammered at him. “You okay?” He shouted the question, but his words were swept away by the roar of the fire. Frustrated, he resorted to the only other method of communication that would work. You okay? Just nod. You don’t need to answer.

  She looked over at him, and smiled, and suddenly her voice filled his mind. Every girl’s dream is to surf fireballs, didn’t you know? Life is good, Zach.

  Relief rushed through him, intense relief that shook him to his core. You spoke to me.

  She smiled. It feels right, doesn’t it? I never spoke to José. It’s really special.

  Yeah, it is.

  She squeezed his hand. We can do this, Zach. Together, we can save him.

  I know. He tightened his grip on her and the staff as they neared the camp, turning his focus onto the staff in his hand. Ahead of them, the sky was pitch black, and a funnel cloud was forming just above the spot where Thano and Trevor were. The tip was heading straight down into the clump of trees, and the screaming was so loud he felt like his eardrums were going to burst.

  Zach directed the fireball straight into Thano’s prison. The flames tore through the blackness, and dumped them out into the clearing. Apollo was pacing restlessly, stomping his feet and swishing his tail, gnashing his teeth at the black cloud descending toward them. Thano and Trevor were hanging by their wrists, encased entirely in the black webbing, except for their mouths. Both warriors were twisting and fighting, and he realized it was their horrific screams he’d been hearing. He could see Thano’s red eyes glowing even through the webbing. He was fully rogue and inches from death. Rohan was standing beside them, a sword in each hand. Blue electricity was crackling all around him, lighting up the clearing. He spun around as Zach approached. “Now, Zachary, now!”

  Zach landed just as the tip of the funnel cloud reached Thano’s head. “No!” He lunged forward and jammed the staff into Thano’s chest, thrusting all the fire he had into the staff. Thano screamed again, and his body convulsed as smoke rose from the end of the staff, as it burned into his flesh, right through the webbing. Thano’s howl ripped through his soul, and he gasped, driving the brand even deeper into his flesh as the funnel cloud touched Thano’s head—

  Then the red glow of Thano’s eyes disappeared.

  “He’s back,” Rhiannon yelled. “Stop it!”

  Rohan slashed through the webbing instantly, ripping Thano from the cocoon. Thano’s limp body fell out of it, shriveled and pale as he collapsed across Apollo, who had dropped to his knees just in time to cushion his master.

  “Trevor!” Rohan shouted. “Do Trevor!”

  Zach wrenched the staff from Thano’s body and jammed it into Trevor just as a second funnel cloud descended toward him. The warrior screamed and convulsed, his eyes glowing vicious red through the webbing. “Come on!” Zach called upon every last bit of flame remaining from his battle with José, and thrust it into the warrior.

  His eyes still glowed red. “Rhiannon!”

  She grabbed the staff, and vines shot along it and plunged into Trevor’s chest with Zach’s fire. The tremendous force of the impact tore the staff from their hands and flung them backwards. The staff shattered into a thousand fragments as Zach caught Rhiannon and cushioned their landing. But as they fell, there was a roar of triumph from Rohan and he sliced through Trevor’s webbing.

  The warrior fell out of the cocoon into Rohan’s arms, sagging against him, clearly unconscious.

  Zach leapt to his feet and raced over to Thano, who was sprawled across his horse’s back, his body limp. “Thano?” He crouched in front of him as Apollo turned his head, twisting around to nudge his nose against Thano’s head.

  Thano didn’t move.

  Rhiannon knelt beside him, and put her hand on Thano’s shoulder. A white flower appeared beneath her palm, the same kind that she’d put in his chest after impaling him on the tree. It glowed bright white, and then sank into his body, disappearing
from sight. She set another one on him, and then another, and still they kept disappearing.

  “What are you doing?”

  “The Junto flower has healing properties,” she said. “I asked the blossom to share them with Thano, and it agreed he is worthy. There is much damage, which is why they keep disappearing.” But even as she spoke, one finally remained on his shoulder, not sinking into his body. “That’s all they can do. The rest is up to him.”

  Zach bent forward, putting his head beside Thano’s. “Come on, Thano,” he urged. “We need you in this world.”

  Again, no response, and he felt his throat tighten. “Fuck!” He bent his head, sudden grief overwhelming him. “I was too late.”

  “Are you gonna cry? I think you should cry.” That familiar, cocky voice broke through his grief, and he jerked his head up.

  Thano’s green eyes were open, and he was grinning. Apollo whinnied, and Rhiannon let out a cheer.

  “Thano!” Zach dragged him off the horse, but Thano’s legs collapsed, dragging them both back to the ground. Zach had a split second of anguish as he realized that Thano was still paralyzed, despite that brief moment of movement, but then decided he didn’t give a shit. Thano was alive and sane, not dead. That was what mattered. He immediately wrapped him up in a massive hug that was so not appropriate for manly, badass warriors. But he didn’t give a shit.

  And when he felt Thano grip him back, he knew that his friend had been through enough hell not to care either.

  ***

  He was happy.

  Six hours later, as Zach leaned against a stump with Rhiannon in his arms, watching the flames of the campfire for their last night in the jungle, he was happy for the first time since he’d lost his family. Not just happy. At peace. He rested his chin on Rhiannon’s shoulder while she chatted with Thano, basking in the feel of her body nestled against him. You saved me, he said.