Darkness Possessed (Order of the Blade)

by Stephanie Rowe

  Ben Forsett froze at the unexpected question, his hand clenching around the amber beer bottle. For a long second, he didn’t move. Instead, his gaze shot stealthily to the three exits he’d already located before he’d even walked into this local pub known as O’Dell’s in Where-the-Hell-Are-We, Alaska. He rapidly calculated which exit had the clearest path. A couple of bush pilots were by the kitchen door. They were large, rough men who would shove themselves directly into the path of someone they thought should be stopped. His access to the front door was obstructed by two jean-clad young women walking into the foyer, shaking snowflakes out of their perfectly coiffed hair. The emergency exit was alarmed, but no one was in front of it. That was his best choice—

  “Chill, kid,” the man continued. “I’m not hunting you. I’ve been where you are. So have most of the men in this place.”

  Slowly, Ben pulled his gaze off his escape route and looked at the grizzled Alaskan old-timer sitting next to him. Lines of outdoor hardship creased his face, and wisps of straggly white hair hung below his faded, black baseball hat. His skin hung loose, too tired to hold on anymore, but in the old man’s pale blue eyes burned a sharp, gritty intelligence born of a tough life. His shoulders were encased in a heavy, dark green jacket that was so bulky it almost hid the hunch to his back and the thinness of his shoulders.

  The man nodded once. “Name’s Haas. Haas Carter.” He extended a gnarled hand toward Ben.

  Ben didn’t respond, but Haas didn’t retract his hand.

  For a long moment, neither man moved, then, finally, Ben peeled his fingers off his beer and shook Haas’s hand. “John Sullivan,” he said, the fake name sliding off his tongue far more easily than it had three months ago, the first time he’d used it.

  “John Sullivan?” Haas laughed softly. “You picked the most common name you could think of, eh? Lots of John Sullivans in just about every town you’ve been to, I should imagine. It’d be hard for people to keep track of one more.”

  Ben stiffened. “My father was John Sullivan, Sr.,” he lied. “I honor the name.”

  Haas’s bushy gray brows went up. “Do you now?”

  The truth was, Ben’s father was a lying bastard who had left when he was two years old. Or he’d been shot. Or he’d been put in prison. No one knew what had happened to him, and no one really cared, including Ben. “I’m not here to make friends,” Ben said quietly.

  “No, I can see that.” Haas regarded him for a moment, his silver-blue eyes surveying Ben’s heavy whiskers and the shaggy hair that had once been perfectly groomed. Ben shook his head so his hair hung down over his forehead, shielding his eyes as he watched the older man, waiting for a sign that this situation was going south.

  He would be pissed if Haas turned on him. He needed to be here. He was so sure this was finally the break he’d been waiting for. He let his gaze slither off Haas to the back wall of the bar where an enormous stuffed moose head was displayed. Its rack had to be at least six feet wide, its glazed dead eyes a bitter reminder of what happened to life when you stopped paying attention for a split second.

  Beside the moose rack was the battered wooden clock he’d been watching all evening. Adrenaline raced through Ben as he watched the minute hand clunk to the twelve. It was seven o’clock.

  “What happens at seven?”

  Ben jerked his gaze back to Haas, startled to realize the older man had been watching him closely enough to notice his focus on the clock. “I turn into a fairy princess.”

  Haas guffawed and slammed his hand down on Ben’s shoulder. “You’re all right, John Sullivan. Mind if I call you Sully? Most Sullivans go by Sully. It’ll make it seem more like it’s your real name.”

  Ben’s fingers tightened around the frosty bottle at Haas’s persistence. “It is my real name.”

  Haas dropped the smile and leaned forward, lowering his voice as his gaze locked onto Ben’s. “I’ll tell you this, young man, I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life. I’ve seen men who look like princes, but turn out to be scum you wouldn’t even want to waste a bullet on. I’ve seen pieces of shit who would actually give their life for you. You look like shit, but whatever the hell you’re running from, you got my vote. Don’t let the bastards catch you until you can serve it up right in their damn faces. Got it?”

  Ben stared at Haas, too stunned by the words to respond. No one believed in him, no one except for the man who had helped him escape. He’d known Mack Connor since he was a kid, and Mack understood what loyalty meant. But even Mack knew damn well who Ben really was and what he was truly capable of. Mack’s allegiance was unwavering, but he did it with his eyes open and ready to react if Ben went over the line.

  He had a sudden urge to tell Haas exactly what shit was going down for him, and see if the old man still wanted to stand by him.

  But he wasn’t that stupid. He couldn’t afford for anyone to know why he was here. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he finally said.

  Haas raised his beer in a toast. “Yeah, me neither, Sully. Me neither.” As Haas took a drink, another weather-beaten Alaskan sat down on Haas’s other side. This guy’s face was so creased it looked like his razor would get lost if he tried to shave, and the size of his beard said the guy hadn’t been willing to take the risk. Haas nodded at him. “Donnie, this here boy is Sully. New in town. Needs a job. His wife left him six months ago, and the poor bastard lost everything. He’s been wandering aimless for too damn long.”

  Ben almost choked on his beer at Haas’s story, but Donnie just nodded. “Women can sure break a man.” He leveled his dark brown gaze at Ben. “She ain’t worth it, young man. There are lots of doe around for a guy to pick up with.”

  Ben managed a nod. “Yeah, well, I’m not ready yet.”

  “We gotta get him back on the horse,” Haas said. “Got any ideas?” With a wink at Ben, he and Donnie launched into a discussion about the assorted available women in town and which ones might be worthy of Ben.

  As the two old-timers talked, Ben felt some of the tension ease from his shoulders. In this small town in the middle of Alaska, he had an ally, at least until Haas found out the truth. Shit, it felt good to have someone at his back. It had been too damn long—

  The door to the kitchen swung open, and a cheerful female voice echoed through the swinging door. Her voice was like a soft caress of something…damn. He realized he didn’t even know what to compare it to. His mind was too tired to conjure up words that would do justice to the sudden heat sliding over his skin. But a seductive, tempting warmth washed over him, through him, like someone had just slipped hot whisky into his veins, burning and cleansing as it went.

  Ben went rigid, adrenaline flooding his body. It was seven o’clock. Based on what he’d pieced together about her schedule and her life, she would be coming on duty now, walking out of the kitchen now. Was it her? Was it her? Her hand was on the kitchen door, holding it open as she finished her muffled conversation. She was wearing a black leather cord with a silver disk around her wrist. On her index finger was a silver ring with a rough-cut turquoise stone and a wide band with carvings on it. Her fingernails were bare and natural, a woman who didn’t bother with enamel and lacquer to go to work. Her arm was exposed, the smooth expanse of flesh sliding up to a capped black sleeve that just covered the curve of her shoulder. She wasn’t tall, maybe a little over five feet.

  Son of a bitch. It might actually be her. Come into the bar, he urged silently. Let me see your face. He’d never heard her talk before. He’d never seen her in person. All he had was that one newspaper picture of her, and the headshot he’d snagged from her family’s store website before it had been taken down. But her trail had led to O’Dell’s, and he was hoping he was right. He had to be right.

  The door opened wider, and Ben ducked his head, letting his hair shield his eyes again, but he didn’t take his gaze off her, watching intently as the woman moved into the restaurant. Her back was toward him as she continued her conversation, and he could see h
er hair. Thick, luscious waves of dark brown.

  Brown. Brown. The woman he’d been searching for was blond.

  The disappointment and frustration that knifed through his gut was like the sharp stab of death itself. He bowed his head, resting his forehead in his palms as the image flooded his mind again, the same memory that had haunted him for so long. His sister, her clothes stained with that vibrant red of fresh blood, sprawled across her living room, her hand stretching toward Ben in the final entreaty of death. Son of a bitch. He couldn’t let Holly down. He couldn’t let her down again.

  “Are you okay?”

  He went still at the question, at the sound of the woman’s voice so close. She still had the same effect on him, a flood of heat that seemed to touch every part of his body. He schooled his features into the same uninviting expression he’d perfected, and he looked up to find himself staring into the face he’d been hunting for the last three months.

  He’d never mistake those eyes. The dark rich brown framed by eyelashes so thick he’d thought they had to be fake, until now. Until he could see her for real. Until he could feel the weight of her sorrow so thickly that it seemed to wrap around him and steal the oxygen from his lungs. Until he looked into that face, that face that had once been so innocent, and now carried burdens too heavy for her small frame.

  Until he’d found her.

  Because he had.

  It was her. Yeah, maybe she’d ditched the blond and let herself go back to her natural color, which looked good as hell on her, but there was no doubt in his mind.

  He’d found her.

  Son of a bitch.

  He’d found her.

  Buy Ghost at Amazon

  Sneak Peek: Darkness Unleashed

  The Order of the Blade

  Available Now

  Ryland spun around, engaging all his preternatural senses as he searched the graveyard for Catherine. He knew she had to be close. He’d touched her backpack just before she’d vanished right in front of him.

  “Catherine!” he shouted again. He’d been so close. Where the hell was she? All he could sense were the deaths of all the people in the graveyard. Women, children, old men, young men, good people, scum who had taken their demented values to the grave with them. The spirits were thick and heavy in the graveyard, souls that had not moved on to their place of rest.

  They circled him, trying to penetrate his barriers, seeking asylum in the creature that would be their doom. “No,” he said to them. “I’m not your savior.” Not by a long shot. He was about as far from their savior as it was possible to be.

  Dismissing them, Ryland focused more directly on Catherine, opening his senses to the night, but as much as he tried to concentrate, he couldn’t keep the vision of her out of his head. He’d finally seen her up close. She’d been mere inches away, the angel who had filled his thoughts for so long. Her hair was gold. Gold. It must have been tucked up under a hat when he’d seen her before, but now? It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before. He’d been riveted by the sight of it streaming behind her as she ran, the golden highlights glistening in the dark as if she’d been lit from within.

  Her gait had been smooth and agile, but he’d sensed the sheer effort she’d had to expend during the run. Another few feet, and he would have caught up to her easily, but she’d sensed him while he’d still been a quarter mile away, giving her a head start that had gotten her to the graveyard first.

  Shit. He had to focus and find her. Summoning his rigid control to focus on his task, Ryland crouched down and placed his hand on the dirt path where he’d last seen her. The ground was humming with the energy of death, but again, he couldn’t untangle her trail from all the others. He realized that she’d mingled her own scent of death with those of all the other spirits, making it impossible for him to track her. He grinned as he rested his forearm on his quad and surveyed the small cemetery. “I’m impressed,” he said aloud. “You’re good.”

  There was no response, but he had the distinct sensation that she was watching him.

  Slowly, he rose to his feet. “My name is Ryland Samuels,” he said. “I’m a member of the Order of the Blade, the group of warriors that you protect. I’m here to offer you my protection and bring you into our safekeeping.”

  Again, there was no answer, but suddenly threaded through the tendrils of death was the cold filament of fear. Not just a superficial apprehension, but the kind of deep, penetrating fear that would bring a person to their knees and render them powerless. Fear of him? Or of the fact he said he wanted to take her with him? Swearing, Ryland turned in a slow circle, searching for where she might be. “There’s no need to be afraid of me. I would never hurt an angel.”

  The fear thickened, like the thorns of a dying rose pricking his skin.

  Ryland moved slowly toward the far corner, and smiled when he felt the terror grow stronger. She might be able to hide death, but there was no cover for the terror that was hers alone. He was clearly getting closer to her. “Look into my eyes,” he said softly. “I don’t hurt angels.”

  There was a whisper of a sound behind him, and he felt the cold drift of fingers across his back. She was touching him. He froze, not daring to turn around, even though his heartbeat had suddenly accelerated a thousand-fold. Her touch was so faint, almost as if it were her spirit that was examining him, not her own flesh. Was she merely invisible right now, or had she abandoned her physical existence completely and traveled to some spiritual plane? He had no idea what she was capable of. All he knew was that he felt like he never wanted to move away from this spot, not as long as she was touching him. He wanted to stay right where he was and never break the connection.

  He closed his eyes, breathing in the sensation of her touch as her fingers traced down his arm, over his jacket. What was she looking for? Was she reading his aura? Searching for the truth of his claim that he would not hurt her? She would get nowhere trying to get a read on him. He never allowed anyone to see who he truly was, not even an angel of death.

  But even as he thought it, he made no move to resist, his pulse quickening in anticipation as her touch trailed toward his bare hand. Would she brush her fingers over his skin? Would he feel the touch of an angel for the first time in a thousand years? He felt his soul begin to strain, reaching for this gift only she could give him.

  He tracked every inch of movement as her hand moved lower toward his bare skin. Past his elbow. To the cuff of his sleeve. Then he felt it. Her fingers on the back of his hand. His flesh seemed to ignite under her touch. A wave of angelic serenity and beauty cascaded through his soul, like a breath of great relief easing a thousand years of tension from his lungs.

  At the same time, there was a dangerous undercurrent beneath the beauty, a darkness that he recognized as death. A thousand souls seemed to dance through his mind, spirits lodged in the depths of her existence. Her emotions flooded him. Fear. Regret. Determination. Love. A sense of being trapped.

  Trapped? He understood that one well. Far too well. Instinctively, he flipped his hand over, wrapping his fingers around hers, not to trap her, but to offer her his protection from a hell that still drove every choice he made.

  He heard her suck in her breath, and she went still, not pulling away from him. Her hand was cold. Her fingers were small and delicate, like fragile blossoms that would snap under a stiff breeze. A hand that needed support and help.

  Ryland snapped his eyes open but there was no one standing in front of him. He looked down and could see only his own hand, folded around air. He couldn’t see her, but she was there, her hand in his, not pulling away. “Show yourself to me,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.”

  Her hand jerked back, and a sense of loss assailed him as he lost his grip on her. “No!” He reached for her, but his hands just drifted through air. “Catherine,” he urged, as he strained to get a sense of her. “I—”

  Buy Darkness Unleashed at Amazon

  Select List of Other Books by Stephanie Rowe

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p; (For a complete book list, please visit www.stephanierowe.com)

  PARANORMAL ROMANCE

  The NightHunter Series

  Not Quite Dead

  (Available October 27, 2014)

  The Order of the Blade Series

  Darkness Awakened

  Darkness Seduced

  Darkness Surrendered

  Forever in Darkness (Novella)

  Darkness Reborn

  Darkness Arisen

  Darkness Unleashed

  Inferno of Darkness

  Darkness Possessed

  Hunt the Darkness (Coming Soon!)

  The Soulfire Series

  Kiss at Your Own Risk

  Touch if You Dare

  Hold Me if You Can

  The Immortally Sexy Series

  Date Me Baby, One More Time

  Must Love Dragons

  He Loves Me, He Loves Me Hot

  Sex & the Immortal Bad Boy

  ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

  The Alaska Heat Series

  Ice

  Chill

  Ghost

  CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

  Ever After Series

  No Knight Needed

  Fairytale Not Required

  Prince Charming Can Wait

  The Knight Who Brought Chocolate (Coming Soon!)

  Stand Alone Novels

  Jingle This!

  NONFICTION

  The Feel Good Life

  FOR TEENS

  A Girlfriend’s Guide to Boys Series

  Putting Boys on the Ledge

  Studying Boys

  Who Needs Boys?

  Smart Boys & Fast Girls

  Stand Alone Novels

  The Fake Boyfriend Experiment

  FOR PRE-TEENS

  The Forgotten Series

  Penelope Moonswoggle, The Girl Who Could Not Ride a Dragon

  Penelope Moonswoggle & the Accidental Doppelganger

  Release Date TBD

  Stephanie Rowe Bio

  Four-time RITA® Award nominee and Golden Heart® Award winner Stephanie Rowe is a nationally bestselling author, and has more than twenty-five contracted titles with major New York publishers such as Grand Central, HarperCollins, Dorchester and Harlequin, and more than fifteen indie books. She believes in writing stories where characters survive against all odds, fighting their way through to personal triumph, while discovering true love and sensual, hot passion along the way.