Which was why she’d left.
Okay, so forget the guilt. It had been the right choice to leave him. Sometimes, breaking a promise was the only valid option available. “Okay, so what now?”
“I hid them down here.” Sophie turned away and started running down the trail again. “Rikker almost never goes down here with his team, so we should be safe.”
Maria tripped on the narrow trail, losing her balance and catapulting forward, toward the edge of the precipice.
“Maria!” Sophie shouted as Maria twisted to the right, throwing herself against the side of the mountain. She hit the rock hard, and landed on a craggy outcropping that tore the palms of her hands and her knees. Grimacing at the shot of pain, she leapt to her feet. “I’m okay.”
She caught up to Sophie, then braced her hand on the wall, trying to catch her breath.
Sophie’s forehead furrowed. “You didn’t have sex with him, did you? You’re still weak.”
“He wouldn’t have sex with me.”
Sophie’s eyes widened. “What? How is that possible? What happened?”
Maria shook her head. “We don’t have time for that. We need to get your jewels, and then we need to figure out what to do.” Even as she said it, her mind whirled with possibilities. She looked at Sophie, and knew she was thinking the same thing. “We have to kill Lucien, don’t we?”
“It’s time.” Sophie’s face was stoic, but Maria knew how much it was breaking her to say it. Sophie was a gentle soul, one who had never caused any harm in her life. She was the one who had organized the healing chain for Maria to help the other women. She had always talked Maria out of fighting him, unwilling to risk the dangers that would befall them if they engaged the demons.
They were deep in the demon realm with no way out, and they both knew it. If they took out Lucien, other demons would take his place. It would never end, and they would become outcasts, always on the run. But Maria didn’t care. Sophie was her best friend, and if she’d lost the ability to stay safe, the only option was to take whatever action would keep her safe.
“Then you have to leave the demon realm.” The words felt like they tore Maria’s heart in half, but she knew there was no other option. It was no longer safe for Sophie to be there. She had to get her out, no matter how much it would break her heart to separate from her best friend.
“What? No.” Sophie took Maria’s arm and supported her as they resumed their descent. “You need me. Besides, it’s impossible.”
“You’re not demon,” she said gently. “No demon has had sex with you, so you have no demon taint in you at all. The shields won’t stop you.”
Sophie frowned at her. “I tried to go across when I first got here, remember? I can’t go. It’s not like it’s simply a wall of rock that I can dissolve. It’s a metaphysical layer between two realms.”
“You need someone on the other side to take you across,” Maria said quietly. “That’s how Vlad and Gabe came in. That’s how they’ll get out, and you need to go with them.”
Sophie stopped in place, staring at her. “You mean that. You want to send me out of here.”
“It’s your one chance,” Maria said, trying to blink back tears. She couldn’t imagine surviving the demon realm without Sophie. Yes, she was half-demon, and therefore predisposed to a certain amount of ruthlessness, but the other half of her could break just as much as anyone else. Sophie’s mission to help save the other women gave Maria’s life meaning, and it gave her a reason to continue to offer her body to the demon bastards who would use her until her body lay in broken smithereens, if she didn’t always stop them with a blade to the throat when she’d had enough. “I’ll keep healing the women.”
Sophie met her gaze. “But who will take care of you when you push yourself too far?”
She shrugged. “My brother—”
“Is not as great a guy as you want to believe.” Sophie shook her head. “He’s a demon, Maria. There are limits to how much he can offer you—”
A rock rattled above their heads, and both women froze and looked up, searching the cliffs above their heads for movement. Maria’s heart started to pound, and she realized that she’d made a grave mistake in letting Gabe not have sex with her. She couldn’t be running around out here at half-strength. She was Sophie’s only protection, and lust-crazed demons were almost unstoppable.
She searched the rocky shadows above their heads, but she didn’t see any movement. She touched Sophie’s arm in silent question, and her friend shook her head and gestured ahead. Maria nodded, and the women silently resumed their descent. This time, there was no chatter, just the whisper of their feet over the rocks as they hurried below.
They reached the bottom of the trail, but Sophie kept close to the bottom of the precipice, sliding through the shadows as she led Maria deeper into what she knew was the perimeter of the demon burial ground that housed the most powerful demon essences. Very few demons could be killed, and all it really meant was that their spirits had been trapped here, bound to the bowels of the realm for all eternity.
She could almost feel the ground pulsating with power as she followed Sophie, and the bottom of her shoes felt like they were burning through her feet. “How can you survive down here?” she whispered to Sophie. “You have no protection from the demons.”
Sophie looked over her shoulder at her. “I don’t feel anything,” she whispered back. “What are you talking about?”
Maria was startled by Sophie’s reply. “You can’t feel the demon energy?”
Sophie shook her head, but she glanced around, suddenly wary. “Are they close?”
“They’re trapped.” Shit. Maria pulled out two of her swords and gripped them loosely as she moved closer to Sophie. She’d never been down here before, but it was dangerous and ugly. “Let’s hurry.”
Sophie nodded. “In here.” She ducked into a crevice in the wall.
Maria hesitated at the opening to the crack, glancing upwards. The crack went up to the top of the precipice, and it was less than a foot wide. They would be utterly trapped if something came after them while they were in there. “What’s in there?”
“It’s a pathway about three hundred yards long. My stuff is in a cave at the other end.” Sophie looked back at her, her palms on the rock wall as she inched her way through.
Maria swore under her breath, debating about whether she could protect Sophie more by waiting by the entrance, or by going with her. She knew Sophie might still be able to dissolve if they were threatened, but Maria couldn’t. She would have no room to fight. Sweat broke out over her palms as she watched Sophie inch further along. “What if you can’t dissolve?”
Sophie looked back at her. “These jewels are my only chance, Maria. I had to hide them here, because the crevice is too narrow for most demons to fit through.”
“Most, not all.” Maria looked up at the top of the cliff, and then surveyed their surroundings. She saw no movement, nothing to suggest they were being hunted, but she still didn’t like it. Demons could move like magic, and she knew they could be anywhere…including waiting at the end of the crevasse for Sophie. What if Rikker knew she’d been hiding jewels there?
Swearing under her breath, and hoping she was making the right choice, Maria sheathed her swords, turned sideways, and then slithered into the crevasse behind her friend.
Vlad had been in some pretty rank places during the last few decades of self-abuse and self-hate, but this was a new low for him.
The tunnel was rancid with the stench of rot and death. The ground was damp and spongy beneath his feet, and he had a bad feeling it was the blood of the unfortunate that had softened the earth. The walls were dripping with something that made his fingers burn when he touched it once to test it.
He led the way, continuously scanning the tunnel ahead for living matter, though he wasn’t sure whether some of the beasts in the demon realm would show up on his radar. Even Sophie hadn’t. The thought made guilt stab through his gut, and h
e shook it off.
He didn’t have time for guilt. He’d touched her. He’d talked to her. He’d given her an orgasm. Whether she was incorporeal or not, her soul was clearly alive, and he wasn’t leaving without her.
But he was also grimly aware that she didn’t share the same goal.
Gabe touched his back, and Vlad stopped. “What?”
“We need to blood bond.” Gabe’s voice echoed out of the darkness.
Vlad turned around, but he couldn’t discern Gabe in the dim light. “What?”
“Blood bond. Calydons do it when necessary to communicate over great distances. If we do it, we can talk mind-to-mind. I have a feeling we’re heading into serious shit, and we need all our resources.”
Vlad scowled. “I’m not Calydon.”
Gabe laughed softly. “I’m sure you’ve got some somewhere in your heritage. Most males with any kind of power do.”
“Fuck that.” Vlad turned and started to walk again. “My only loyalty is to Sophie. I’m not hooking up with some Order of the Blade groupie who thinks his duty is all that matters—” He suddenly found himself shoved up against the side of the tunnel. Acid coating the walls burned into his back, but Gabe didn’t let go.
“Don’t denigrate the Order of the Blade.”
“The skin is disintegrating off my back right now. Let me go.” Vlad fisted his hands, resisting the urge to hurl the other warrior backwards with the flick of his finger. He had no idea what was around him, and if they were attacked by something that wasn’t living matter, Gabe’s weapons were going to come in handy.
Swearing, Gabe pulled him off the wall. “I need your help,” he said.
Vlad heard the edge in Gabe’s voice. “I am not a team player,” he said softly. “It’s not my thing.” He’d heard enough about the Order of the Blade to know that they were a major boys’ club. The members always had each other’s back, and usually worked in pairs, if not in larger groups.
“It goes both ways,” Gabe said. “You help me with Dante, and I’ve got your back with Sophie. If the demon king goes after her, it wouldn’t be bad to have backup. What if you die, Vlad? What if you fail again? You want to leave her behind unprotected again, or do you want to die knowing that I’ve got your back, and hers? Because that’s how it works.”
Vlad ground his jaw. “I don’t trust people,” he said. “They fuck you over the minute you count on them.” For hell’s sake, he’d watched his own parents throw him and his sister to the demons, and he’d watched Sophie’s parents do the same. “My parents sacrificed me for some delusional duty to their kingdom. Duty is crap. It makes people betray those who really matter. I don’t want to be part of the Order, and the last thing I’m going to do is trust Sophie’s safety to anyone.”
“And if you die? Aren’t I better than no one?”
Vlad swore under his breath. “Your duty is to Dante,” he snapped. “I’m not an idiot. You want to team up with me so I’ll help you. If you have to choose between Sophie and Dante, you’re going to leave her high and dry.”
“Yeah, I would, but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure I don’t have to make that choice. I believe in honor.” His voice grew harder. “If I promise to stand by Sophie for you, then I will honor that. The only thing that could come before that would be my oath to the Order. Other than that, I will do everything possible to get her to safety. Honor is all we have, my friend.”
Vlad ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t have honor.”
“Yeah, you do actually.”
Vlad was silent. He wasn’t honorable. He knew that. He was a piece of shit who had let his sister die and his wife be dragged into hell, and then sat on his ass for a couple centuries while Sophie suffered. He didn’t trust the Order because they valued the greater good over individuals, but at the same time, he knew that their loyalty was to protect the innocent, and he respected that. He also knew he could never play in that ballpark.
Gabe’s hand settled on his shoulder. “The Order is falling apart. Without us, the rogues take over, and the demons won’t be far behind. The demons are your enemy, Vlad. We’re on the same team now. We’re never going to make it out of here without teaming up. You know that. I know that. We need both of us, and we need every advantage we can get.”
Vlad ran his hand through his hair, swearing under his breath. He’d done everything wrong in his life. He’d failed everyone who mattered to him. He just wanted to get one thing right, and get Sophie to safety. That was his only path to redemption. Could he really turn down Gabe’s offer for help? He already knew damn well that he’d failed to save his sister, and he’d failed to save Sophie once before, even though he’d been present. He’d had to stand there and watch them die. “I don’t do the team thing.”
“I know. You broadcast antisocial isolated loner like it’s tattooed on your forehead. That’s okay. I’m a team guy. I’ll smack you around until you figure it out.” His voice lowered. “My team has gone to hell, Vlad. I’ve got no one to back me up except you. I know when someone can be counted on, and you’re it, whether you want to own up to it or not.”
Shit. He wished he was that guy, but he knew he wasn’t. But he also knew Gabe was right. They were in this together, and two women’s lives were at stake. “If I do a blood bond with you, is that going to turn me into a Calydon? Or is it going to trick me into being an Order of the Blade groupie?”
Gabe laughed. “No chance of either. Just the ability to communicate telepathically and keep track of where we are. It’ll help us communicate in battle and become a more effective force.”
“More badass? I like that.” Vlad made his decision. “I’m in. What do we do?” It was too dark to see Gabe at all, which was probably good. It was weird as hell to be bonding with another male, or anyone, and the darkness made it easier to separate himself from it.
“Cut your palm, and I cut mine. We grasp hands, and I’ll chant the words. Once you figure them out, do it with me. When the blood bond is complete, you’ll know because you’ll hear my voice in your head.”
Vlad grimaced. “I don’t want your damned voice in my head.” What the hell?
“You will when we’re fighting down an entire kingdom of demons standing between you and your woman.”
“Good point. Got a knife?”
“Hook sword work?” There was a crack and a flash of black light that lit up the tunnel for a split second. Vlad caught a glimpse of Gabe’s grim face, and resolution flooded him. There was pure focus on Gabe’s face, the visage of a warrior bent on doing his duty. Vlad knew then that the alignment would only strengthen them both, and he knew damn well that the honor of the Order of the Blade was legendary. He could trust Gabe.
Shit. It had been a long time since he’d trusted anyone.
Gabe set a sword in Vlad’s hand. The metal was cold to the touch, and Vlad didn’t flinch as he opened his palm and dragged the blade across his flesh, opening a fissure in his hand. He held out his hand, and, despite the darkness, he found Gabe’s hand with unerring precision. The two warriors clasped hands in the darkness, and Vlad’s palm began to burn as Gabe’s demon-tainted blood mixed with his.
Gabe’s voice filled the tunnel with a chant that felt ancient with its power and strength. “Warrior to warrior. Bonded by blood. Connected across all distances. Sworn to defend and fight side by side, at all costs. So be it.”
The words settled inside Vlad, as if they were born to be a part of him. He spoke the words with Gabe the second time through, already knowing every syllable and intonation. “Warrior to warrior. Bonded by blood. Connected across all distances. Sworn to defend and fight side-by-side, at all costs. So be it.”
Power surged through him, a raw, untamed force that came from deep within him and charged across their joined palms. His muscles flexed involuntarily, and he felt the flesh on his forearms burn.
The chant burned in Vlad’s mind, and he spoke the words silently, his unspoken voice melding with Gabe’s as the warrior’s voi
ce reverberated in his mind. Warrior to warrior. Bonded by blood. Connected across all distances. Sworn to defend and fight side-by-side, at all costs. So be it.
Pain shot through his hand, but he didn’t pull away, gritting his teeth against the raging burn that raked through his body, as if it were burning off all the shit that no longer served it. Gabe’s grip tightened as well, as if he were experiencing the same thing.
Finally, the pain stopped, but there was still power humming through Vlad’s ears, like the roar of an ancient tidal wave that had spanned centuries of time to hunt him down.
The two warriors released their grip, and Vlad dropped his hand to his side. That was weird. He tested the mental communication, having no damn clue how it worked.
To his surprise, Gabe answered, in his own head.
Yeah. That was different from how it works with Calydons. Gabe’s voice had an edge to it. What was all that burning? You get that?
That’s not supposed to happen?
Who knows what’s supposed to happen? It’s against the law of nature to blood bond with a non-Calydon. Gabe sounded surprised. I didn’t actually think this was going to work. This is good, man, it’s really good.
Vlad felt like his senses had magnified a thousand-fold. He could hear the thud of Gabe’s heart, the distant sound of toenails scrabbling on rock, as if there were hell hounds a hundred miles away that he could hear. He could feel the weight of the demon taint in the tunnel, mixed with the remnants of what had once been living creatures. It was as if the entire world had descended into technicolor, and he tried to quickly attune his senses and manage the sudden influx of sensory overload. You broke rules to do that?
Yeah. Gabe walked past him and began leading the way down the tunnel. Got a problem with that?
Hell no. I hate rules. Vlad fell in behind Gabe, using his heightened senses to reach behind him and assess whether they were being followed. He was accustomed to being able to search only for living matter, but now he could pick up so much more. I thought you were too uptight to do things like break the rules.
Hunt the Darkness (Order of the Blade Book 11) Page 17