Piercing the Darkness

by Angela Dennis

Once the last set of troops had transported out, Rhys returned to his side. “Ready?”

  Cade shook his head. “Not this time. It’s all you. I got a call from the head of the IRT in Denver. He wants a meeting in a few hours. It’s about the plague, so I couldn’t say no.”

  “True.” Rhys shifted his weight, hands clenching at his sides. “So this is it then. My mission.”

  “All yours. Go kill it.” Cade slapped him between the shoulder blades. “Come back in one piece and I’ll buy you a beer.”

  “Deal.” Grinning, Rhys teleported out.

  Cade was still smiling as he made his way back to his tent, stopping along the way to grab some cold water. Even early, the heat was stifling. They’d made a home here, he and his men. It didn’t look like much, but it had all the necessities—food, drink, and a dry place to sleep. He’d had worse.

  Taking a swift swig from the glass bottle, he pulled open the flap of his tent, unsurprised by the man waiting inside. “Felt you a few yards out. Figured you’re friendly since you didn’t cloak your presence.”

  “Pretty big assumption.” A large hulk of a man stepped from the shadows. His blond hair was buzzed nearly down to the scalp, making his already strong features more prominent. “Seraph,” he said, hand outstretched.

  “Cade.” Their palms touched and Cade jerked, too shocked to hide his reaction.

  The other man shrugged, releasing his grip. “There’s that as well. That’s why I sought you out, asked for the meeting. I thought I was alone here, then I heard rumors.”

  Cade swallowed hard. It had been years since he’d seen another of his kind. Much less one who could give him a run for his money. Seraph was huge. “What do you want?”

  “You.” Seraph tossed a pile of pictures on the bed. Cade tried to make out the images, but the resolution was too grainy to see at a distance. “I’ve lost some of my strongest hunters to the demons. I need more. We’re losing.”

  Cade moved passed him, picking up the photos. Flipping through them, all he saw was ash. None of it made sense. “You need help fighting fires?”

  “No, smart ass. Those were humans. That plague your useless IRT division is ignoring—that’s the result.” Seraph shoved the pictures back in the leather bag strapped to his chest. “I’m offering you a position as one of my hunters. We’re some of the strongest in the country, and I could use another Adurro.”

  Cade raised a brow. “Do they know what you are?”

  Seraph snorted. “A few of them do. The rest wouldn’t believe it. We don’t exist anymore, remember?”

  “Yeah. The humans would freak if they knew there were any of us left. I’ve been careful. Hell, I work with humans. They trust me.” Cade glanced outside where the human mages were practicing their spells.

  “But would they if they knew? Our kind led the rebellion against them, and we almost wiped them out.”

  “That’s ancient history,” Cade lied. The humans had a long memory—too long. He’d thought about coming clean, but something had always stopped him. “Besides, they’ve got a new enemy now that the demons are trying to wipe them out.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Cade sank onto the bed. “Tell me about Denver.”

  “Considering it?” Seraph sat in the plastic chair beside him, placing his ankle over his knee. “I don’t feel like wasting my time if you’re not.”

  “You’ve got five minutes to convince me. I’ve got another meeting.”

  “No you don’t.” Seraph smirked. “I went to the IRT first and cleared your schedule. But I’m still confused as to why you work with them, but not for them.”

  “They’re useless. All humans and vamps. No match for the demons. Someone had to step in. I like it here.” Cade yawned and tapped his wrist. “Tick tock.”

  “Nice.” Seraph leaned forward and pulled something from his bag. “I’ll tell you. But I have a confession to make first.”

  No conversation that began with those words ever ended well. Cade studied the other man. “Spill it or leave. I don’t have time for this.”

  Seraph tossed him a thick yellow envelope. “Open it.”

  Cade tore into it, then sighed. It was just more pictures. “Really. I’ve seen enough ash.”

  “Keep going. Trust me, it’s worth it.”

  “Fine.” He flipped through the stack of documents, his pulse accelerating. It was a catalogue of his time here. “How did you get this?”

  “I didn’t want to waste my time if you weren’t one of us, so I looked into your past. Even then I wasn’t sure I wanted to recruit you. Until I saw this.” He leaned forward and pulled a carefully folded piece of paper from his back pocket.

  Cade caught and opened it. Hilda’s image stared back at him, stealing his breath. This meeting, the dreams… He didn’t believe in coincidences. He locked gazes with Seraph. “Tell me.”

  “Do you recognize that woman?”

  Cade could only nod.

  “I thought so. Loved her once, according to her coven.” Seraph shook his head. “If I hadn’t seen your face, I wouldn’t have believed it. I mean, Hilda? She’s a basket case.”

  Cade wanted to wipe that smirk off his face. “Basket case? You got the wrong witch. Hilda was headstrong, brash, but she had it together. And, yeah, I did love her. Still do. Probably always will. So how’d you know her?

  “It’s a long story.” Seraph stood. “See, a few weeks ago my team went up against a demon prince named Ga’loh. Our ghost sacrificed herself to save the life of a powerful witch. We should have been able to get her back, but something went wrong. The demon was too strong. He banished her before we could stop him. Our Shadow Bearers have been searching the planes for her, with no luck.”

  Cade’s stomach churned with anticipation. “What does this have to do with me?”

  “See, that ghost, her name was Hilda. Your old lover. We think she’s in the Void, and we have to establish a connection with her to pull her out. None of us has that type of bond with her, but you do. We need you in Denver. We need you to save Hilda.”

  Chapter Three

  Hilda hugged herself but couldn’t stop shivering. It was just too cold. Her new body wasn’t up to dealing with extreme temperatures. The creature had moved from the bottom of the hill, lurking somewhere she couldn’t see, and her choices were limited. She could stay where she was and get hypothermia or take her chances down below. Neither boded well.

  “Make the wrong decision and you’re done,” a voice said from behind her.

  She jerked, hands up to defend herself, but there was no one there. Great. Now she was hearing Cade’s voice in her head. This kept getting better and better.

  Desperate to hold back her emotions, she studied the view. A plume of wind whipped her hair back, and the cloud cover broke, giving her a view of the land that stretched out below. She squinted, trying to make out the vague structure in the distance. Situated inside a small wooded area, a canvas tent tilted precariously against the onslaught of the wind. It wasn’t much, but it would provide some shelter against the elements.

  “It might work,” the voice said, but she squeezed her eyes shut, counted to ten and tried to tune it out. She couldn’t afford to lose her mind. It was all she had left. She had almost managed to refocus when a hand squeezed her shoulder.

  “What the—” She scrambled in the dirt, rocks scouring her skin, as she tried to make sense of the apparition. It looked like Cade, though older and oddly translucent. Hell, it even moved like Cade. But it couldn’t possibly be Cade, so what the hell was it?

  It moved toward her, hands up, palms facing out. “Calm down. Don’t want you to tumble down the hill.” He took a deep breath and looked around. “Damn. The Eversors have destroyed this place.”

  “What are you?” She stilled, watching him warily. Naked and weaponless, there wasn’t much she
could do against him.

  He sighed, and his form shimmered. “Don’t you remember me? It’s not been that long.” There was a trace of sarcasm and hurt in his voice. He settled on the ground beside her, legs spread out, arms crossed. “Most people remember people they claim to love. Of course, if you love someone, you let them know when you come back as a ghost.”

  “Cade?” Her heart pounded in her chest, her breath quickened. There was no way. She had finally lost her mind. Unable to help herself, she reached out to touch him. Her hand slipped through his body. It was all light and no substance. “No way are you real.” She pinched her arm to snap herself out of it, but her skin was so cold she barely felt it. “First I’m chased by huge creepy purple things, and now I’m hallucinating. This is freaking ridiculous. Whoever made this place up is into some crazy—”

  “You’re not hallucinating,” Cade interrupted. “I’m really here.”

  She froze. “Right. And I’m Cleopatra.”

  He gave her a knowing smile. “Queen of the Nile. I remember. That was a good night.”

  “Oh. My. God.” She sank onto the ground beside him. “If it is you, how did you find me?”

  “Remember the stories I told you? About my homeland and how the Guardians kicked us out, so they could use our plane to imprison their castoffs?” He jumped to his feet and stretched his arms to the horizons. “Take a look around. This is it. Home sweet home.”

  “So I’m in some kind of immortal prison?” She felt sick. No wonder the purple creature had looked familiar. It was an Eversor—a corrupt Guardian that had refused to bend to the task of protecting the Veil, using the powers gifted to it for its own nefarious purposes. And those wounds on its arms were the result of the runes of power being carved from its body.

  “Lucky for you, this is my home world, the place where my powers originated, so a piece of my essence will always reside here. I can use it to communicate with you.”

  “But can you use it to get me out?” Hilda flinched as a wave of icy wind wrapped around her. Teeth chattering, she curled up for warmth.

  “I’m working on it with your Shadow Bearers. Seraph brought me into the fold.” He ran his gaze across her exposed flesh. “You need clothes.”

  “Gee, you think?” She wrapped her arms tighter around her body. “I’ll get right on that.”

  Cade motioned to the rickety tent on the edge of the horizon. “The Eversor is gone. And that’s the best you’ve got. Pray whoever is in there will help you.”

  “So that’s it?” she asked as his body began to fade. “You’re leaving me here?”

  “No choice. It takes a lot of power to sustain our contact, and mine’s fading. I’ll come back as soon as I can.” He disappeared completely. When he came back he was barely visible. “Get down the hill and out of the open. You’re a witch—use your magic and stay alive. I’ll get you out.” Then he was gone.

  She still wasn’t altogether convinced he wasn’t a figment of her imagination. A vivid one, but still an illusion. But even if he was, his advice was sound. Staying here and freezing to death wasn’t her best option.

  But it had been easier to climb the hill than crawl back down. At least then her body had felt less like an icicle and more like a human. Sand scattered as she slid down the narrow path. She ignored it, although it felt like a million tiny razorblades. She wanted to scream and curse, but wallowing in self-pity would get her killed. She might be in hell, but she’d been given a new body, another chance at life. The hell if she’d give up this quickly. But even the wind was working against her, pulling at her hair, holding her back.

  When her feet touched the dirt path, she was swamped with relief so great it was painful. But she had a ways to go. Still partially hidden by the hillside, she narrowed her eyes and murmured an incantation. Her spell casting was rusty since magic had eluded her as a ghost. But the spell worked, stretching across the field to search for danger.

  But even with the threat lurking in the darkness, all she could think about was Cade. Despite everything, her feelings for Cade had never faded. Alive she had loved him with a ferocity that had frightened her, and after death she had pined for him in the worst way.

  Even translucent, he’d looked good. Of course, he always had. Before she’d learned his true nature, she’d joked he was like a god among men—gigantic, golden and glorious. He’d make a nun stop and take notice. He’d been all hers, and she’d reveled in his attention.

  But in the end, it had been those attentions that had killed her. The rebel mage she had been assigned to caught them together. He had killed her in a fit of jealous rage, then cursed her to stay on the Earthly plane. Cade had killed him afterward. She had watched in a fit of entitled fury, but it hadn’t changed anything. She’d still been dead, Cade outside her reach. She’d loved him too much to go to him once she’d risen. But more than that, she hadn’t wanted his guilt to tarnish what they had shared. Their love had been glorious, but it had died when that mage had plunged the dagger in her heart.

  The loss had been horrific, so she had pushed it from her mind and heart. Shutting down her emotions until she was numb. Seeing him brought them rushing back like a hurricane. But she was done with Cade, had slammed that door closed a half a century before. There was no way she was going to tempt herself with the thought of reopening it. Even if she did make it out of here, nothing had changed. She would still be a ghost, and he was an immortal Adurro. It was an impossible match.

  Seraph was a master of tricks. But to find out about Cade and pull him into their circle would have taken time, longer than her exile. And she had kept her past a tightly guarded secret. No one knew. Not even Brenna. So there was more to the story, something Cade hadn’t shared.

  A few yards later, she allowed herself a brief rest. The jagged rocks had torn at the tender undersides of her feet, leaving them shredded and bleeding. They’d be a bloody mess by the time she made it to the tent, but at least the rest of her would have a chance at staying alive. It wasn’t like she hadn’t been through worse. Pushing all thoughts of Cade from her head, she stopped in front of the tent and drew in a long breath, unsure how to go on. But the makeshift entrance parted and she was saved the decision.

  A woman stepped into the darkness. She was petite, her skin almost translucent, and her bright red hair curling around her like a cloak. “I’ve been waiting for you.” She motioned Hilda through the doorway. “I felt the disruption in the Veil.”

  No wonder the Eversor had found her so easily. Hilda followed the other woman inside. The outward appearance of the tent had been an illusion. Instead of the expected cramped space, she found a wide-open room filled with clean furnishings and a roaring fire.

  “Who are you?” she asked, taking it all in.

  “Carina.” The woman grabbed a pile of clothes from the makeshift table on the far end of the tent. “Get in front of the fire. You’re blue.”

  “Thanks.” Hilda slipped the stretchy black pants on without issue, but her trembling fingers made it difficult to fasten the buttons on the wool sweater. When she had settled beside the fire, she stretched her muscles, willing them to loosen. It had been so long since she’d had to worry about physical ailments, the process felt alien.

  Carina gave her some space by moving to the kitchen portion of the enclosure. She was fixing something that smelled divine. Hilda’s stomach rumbled, loud in the silence.

  “Here.” Crouching, Carina handed her a broken loaf of bread slathered in warm butter.

  There was nothing better than carbs after a long day of banishing demons and being exiled into hell. Hilda loved bread. And it had been fifty years since it had touched her lips. “Thanks,” she managed before she shoved a chunk in her mouth. “So hungry.”

  Carina nodded. “Do you know where you are?”

  Mouth full, Hilda shrugged. A smile playing across her lips, Carina stepped away and returned
with a cup. She filled it from the pot that swayed above the fire. “Drink this. It’ll warm you up.”

  Hilda didn’t care what it was. If it was as good as the bread, she wanted it. “Am I in the Void?” she asked, although she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

  “Gold star.” Carina smiled slightly. “Who sent you here? Not many things are strong enough.”

  “Demon prince.” Hilda mouthed between bites.

  “Of course.” Carina jumped to her feet. “Me too. So we have that in common—that and we’re both witches. Maybe you’ll survive.” She stoked the fire. “There were a lot of us, but I’m the only one left.”

  “Did the Eversors kill them?”

  Carina’s back was to her, but Hilda could make out the faint shake of her head. “No. The Eversors feed. They nourish themselves on energy, but never kill. They drain you to a shell, until all you want is death. Most of us can’t resist its call. We race to meet it, even by our own hand.”

  Hilda swallowed the last piece of bread then pushed to her feet. “I refuse to believe that we’re damned. There’s got to be a way out.”

  Carina turned, eyes slightly glazed. “I’m sure there is. And I’ll find it eventually. The others believed the fairy tales the Guardians spin about this place. That it’s an impenetrable prison, filled with Guardians who have lost their way.”

  “But if the wards on the plane are impassable, how did we get here?” Surely there was hope. If you could get in, you had to be able to get out.

  “Only the dead who haven’t crossed over can be cursed here. Our essence is so diminished we’re barely a blip on the radar. We slip right through the safeguards the Guardians have in place to keep everyone out.”

  A flower of hope began to bloom. “Then we should be able to leave.”

  “That would be true, if we were still ghosts, but we’re not. Look at yourself.” Carina swept her hand toward Hilda’s body. “The Eversors didn’t give you a body because they’re generous. It’s a game changer. It’s their way of trapping you here, making it impossible to slip back through.” She grabbed the dagger hanging from the side of the tent and swiped the sharp blade across her arm. Blood welled in the wound. “These bodies are real. We’re not leaving here without them.”