Dark Deceiver

by Pamela Palmer

  She loved him.

  Never had his spirit soared so high. His heart still ached from the sweetness of her declaration, though he doubted he’d ever feel he deserved her love. But he would cherish it for all the long, dark years ahead of him. If he survived this night.

  The car careened around a corner and he braced himself, holding her tightly. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes. I’m fine.” She looked up at him with such happiness, such hope in her eyes. “It was worth a little discomfort to escape that cage, believe me.”

  He kissed her, pouring his love into her, wishing with everything he was that they could have a future together. That she could be his mate. But it could never be.

  The police officer pulled the cruiser to a jarring stop in front of Dupont Circle Park, blocking traffic in the circle. In the middle of the park rose the huge marble fountain the humans had built upon the gate to Esria.

  In front of the fountain, Zander and Ustanis worked to open the gate. Kade could see the green stones lying in a circle around the fountain, already glowing. Ustanis was standing on the fountain’s base, his hands raised to the sky, his orange eyes bright, his hair whipping around his face.

  Kade jumped out of the car, pulling Autumn with him, then ordered the policeman back to the waterfront. When the cruiser drove off, Kade pulled Autumn close, his heart in his throat. “Stay here. You must. I’m going to try to get those stones, but I don’t want you coming near Zander. Once the Sitheen arrive, they’ll take over.

  “Autumn…” He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her around to face him. “If that gate opens, I’m leaving tonight.” And if it didn’t, if he managed to stop Zander and Ustanis and hold them until the Sitheen arrived, Jack and the others would sing their death chant for all three of them. Either way, his time in this world was at an end. “This has to be goodbye.”

  He saw the shock in her eyes and was sorry for it. He kissed her hard. “I love you.”

  “Kade…” He released her and took off running, but not before he heard her say, “I love you, too.”

  Living without her was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done. But living without her, knowing Rith was destroying her world, would be unbearable. He must not fail.

  Kade ran for Ustanis, using his increased speed to cover the distance in a handful of seconds. First, he must keep that gate from opening. Second, he had to get the draggon stone. He knew better than to think he could take the two Esri alone. The help of the Sitheen was critical even though it would likely mean his death. If that was what it took to save this world—Autumn’s world—then it was a sacrifice he was prepared to make.

  His speed allowed him to reach Ustanis before either of the two Esri realized he was there. He grabbed Ustanis. The power Ustanis was raising singed Kade’s hands, but he pushed through the discomfort, and with the Punisher’s growl, threw the Esri far from the gate. He landed in the grass a good twenty feet away. Kade ran for him, determined to get that draggon stone.

  Ustanis leaped to his feet and faced him, holding his ground. He now knew, as Zander always had, that Kade’s strength was all in his muscles.

  “I don’t approve of Zander’s plan, Punisher. Nor my king’s.”

  “Then give me the stone, Ustanis.”

  His eyes darted with fear. “I cannot. It is my duty…”

  Kade lunged for him and Ustanis met him head-on, his hands outstretched, his orange eyes still glowing. But Kade was too fast. He grabbed the other Esri’s wrists and hauled him forward.

  “The draggon stone isn’t your duty. It’s mine.”

  The stone was within reach. But before he could take it, something hit his head and stuck. Pain exploded.

  Zander.

  He couldn’t release Ustanis or he’d lose the stone and he had to get that stone. As he reached for Ustanis’s neck, a second hand slammed into his arm, searing it with agony.

  “How did you escape?” Zander hissed in his ear.

  Kade struggled to reach Ustanis, but the power ripping through his head was stealing his balance, disorienting him.

  “You should not have been able to escape! That was my revenge, dark blood. I will end you here. Now.”

  “If you end me,” Kade gasped, “you forfeit your life.” Autumn would die. Her entire world would die.

  “Nay!” Zander spat. “You’re a traitor. A murderer. You should have been ended centuries ago for destroying my Pensia, Malcolm. You’ll not live another day.”

  “I’m not Malcolm!”

  But Zander didn’t seem to hear him.

  His vision wavered. The pain in his head was intolerable. Unendurable for much longer. His mind was fogging. No. He couldn’t die. He must save the stones. He must save Autumn’s world.

  Kade struggled to reach the hand against his head, the pain destroying his sense of direction. His fingers closed around the wrist and he yanked, tearing the hand loose from his head. But the pain remained. And Zander still had hold of his other arm and was pouring pain into his body, a hundred times worse than he’d ever done before. Never before had Zander meant to kill him. Tonight, he did.

  Belatedly, he realized he no longer had Ustanis. His blurred vision tried to focus on the spot where the glowing-eyed Esri had stood a moment before. He was gone.

  Kade fought the pain, focusing on Autumn. Lurching around, he grabbed Zander’s leg and pulled, unbalancing the white Esri for a moment. He snapped the leg in three places before the pain slammed into his arm again. Kade turned, grabbing Zander’s arms, but not quickly enough. The pain was making him slow. Zander caught Kade’s arms in the same grip. It was too much. Despite the renewed power, it was too much. He couldn’t beat Zander. And if Zander killed him, all was lost.

  A blast of power hit him from the fountain and he would have stumbled if he’d not been holding on to Zander.

  Ustanis had done it. He’d opened the gate.

  As he watched, Ustanis jumped into the fountain and disappeared, the draggon stone still glowing around his neck. If Zander picked up the six green stones and followed, the human realm was doomed.

  Kade struggled against the pain of Zander’s fiery touch.

  “I will end you, dark blood. I have hated you for an eternity. I have waited for the perfect revenge. Now, you’ve stolen it from me. No more! I will end you now. Here!”

  Zander’s words swirled in his head, blending with the pain that fired his body as they struggled, locked in combat. Thanks to the renewal of the strength he’d found with Autumn, he was strong enough to fight this superior foe. But fighting wasn’t enough. He must win.

  Something tugged at his shirt behind him. He barely felt it, had no time to worry about it. Then cold hands pressed against the heated flesh of his back.

  Autumn.

  “Autumn…no! Run! Get…away.” If he lost this battle, Zander would kill her. Or worse.

  “No.” The soft word exploded in his ear. “You’re going to beat him. I’m going to help you beat him. I love you, Kaderil.”

  She’d never called him Kaderil. Kaderil was a monster. The thought penetrated the fog of pain. She loved the monster. The knowledge filled his heart and his mind with a fresh and desperate determination.

  As she held on to him, as she pushed her strength into him as she had in the shadow cage, he felt the stirrings of power buzzing along his flesh.

  “Too…dangerous,” he ground between teeth clenched tight with pain.

  “I love you.” Her words, and the depth of emotion behind them, poured into him. “We’ll do this together.”

  His skin had to be burning her hands, yet she held on. Such determination. Such courage.

  Already, he was starting to feel stronger. Her power renewed his. Her love made him feel reborn, mighty in ways he’d never been before.

  But Zander did not back down. Hatred flowed out of him in waves. “You don’t deserve to live, dark blood. You’ve never deserved to live!”

  The intensity of Zander’s hatred was ast
ounding. It became suddenly, brutally clear that only one of them would survive this night. The survivor must not be Zander.

  The power surged suddenly, racing through him as it had in the shadow cage. He heard Autumn gasp behind him.

  “Autumn! Let go.”

  “No.”

  “It’s going to damage you.”

  “Doesn’t matter. You must win.”

  He could feel the energy building, growing stronger moment by moment. Heat built in his body, in the hands he pressed against Zander’s arms. Nose to nose, they battled, hatred arcing between them, fury seething in their eyes.

  The power roared through Kade’s body, building in a cresting wave, strength beyond anything he’d ever known. He struggled, using every ounce of power, muscle and will in his body. He must stop Zander.

  “I will end you, dark blood.” Zander’s eyes began to smoke. His skin beneath Kade’s hands turned scorching. “I will end you!”

  With a cry, Zander arched back, his body sparking. Kade released him a second before Zander burst into flame.

  The death chant. Kade hesitated only a second before whispering the words that would end this deadly foe.

  As it flamed, Zander’s body began to sparkle with the lights of death, a million iridescent colors. The lights rose to hover above him before exploding in a brilliant arc, turning Zander’s body to ash.

  The full import of what he’d done slowly sank in. He’d killed a fellow Esri and was now marked for death. He couldn’t go back. Couldn’t stay here. But Autumn was safe.

  He turned to her and froze as he saw her on the ground, unconscious…or dead. His heart stopped in his chest. He fell to his knees beside her, his hands frantically touching her, feeling for life. She was on fire, but breath still struggled within her.

  “Get away from her, Kade…or whatever your real name is!” Charlie was bearing down on him with a flamethrower, his face tight with hatred, but the only thing that mattered was Autumn.

  Kade scooped her into his arms, his chest so tight with fear, he thought his own heart would stop beating. “Cool your body, Autumn. Cool the fire.” Please let my words be enough to save her. If they’re not, I don’t know what to do.

  He looked up at the Sitheen who had once looked at him with welcome and friendship. The man whose eyes now blazed hatred.

  “She’s dying, Charlie. I have to try to save her.”

  “Autumn!” Larsen came running, Jack and Harrison close behind her.

  “What did you do to her, you bastard?” Jack roared.

  Kade shook his head, his senses focused on Autumn. Her body wasn’t cooling. It wasn’t working! “She helped me defeat Zander, but it was too much for her. I must help her or she’ll die.”

  Desperation fueled his anger as he rose to his full height, holding Autumn tightly against himself. “Back off!” he growled, the full force of the Punisher in his voice. “I must save her!”

  Larsen stepped forward and grabbed Charlie’s arm. “Guard the gate, Charlie. You, too, Jack. Let him do what he can for her.”

  Jack stared at her. “He’s Esri!”

  “Look at him! He’s a man protecting his mate. He loves her, Jack. Let him help her.”

  Jack scowled, but he backed down. “Son of a bitch.”

  Larsen met Kade’s gaze. “Save her, Kade. I love her, too.”

  Kade nodded, but as he laid Autumn on the grass, the fury drained away, replaced by cold fear that he was already too late. He’d demanded they let him save her, but he didn’t know how! Before, when she’d been full of pain, she’d been awake. She’d told him how she hurt or that she was too cold, and he’d helped her. He didn’t know what to do!

  Power. He still had power. But the power was hot. It went into her and harmed her. Maybe, if he could reverse the process…

  He knelt beside her and took her limp burning hands in his. He closed his eyes and pulled the heat back into his own body. “Autumn, hear me. Cool your body. I’m trying to pull the heat out of you. Help me. Purge yourself of the fire. Give it to me instead.”

  Little by little, he felt his body heating. Little by little, her hands cooled. But she wasn’t stirring. It wasn’t enough.

  He gripped her hands tighter. “Don’t leave me, sweet one. Don’t leave me.” He felt the heat go into his eyes and felt his eyes bleed tears. “I love you, Autumn McGinn. You can’t die!”

  “Pour your love into her, Kaderil.”

  Kade’s eyes snapped open. Through the moisture that fogged his vision he saw Jack squatting on the other side of Autumn, his hands on his knees. “Not your power. She can’t handle the power. Just your love.”

  Kade blinked, then nodded. He squeezed his eyes closed, feeling the moisture track down his cheeks. His love for her filled him so completely it threatened to absorb his entire being. With everything inside him, every ounce of strength he possessed, he pushed his heart and soul into her through his hands.

  Still, it wasn’t enough.

  He lay down beside her, lifting their joined hands to her head and pressed his fingers against her temples. Then he lowered his head and covered her warm, still lips with his mouth.

  Live, Autumn. You. Must. Live. I love you more than life. Beyond measure.

  Against her mouth, he whispered, “Live for me. I love you. I love you.”

  He kissed her, willing her to live as the tears flowed freely down his cheeks.

  A slight movement against his mouth made him freeze. Had he imagined it?

  No. Autumn’s mouth moved ever so slightly against his. Joy exploded through him. “Autumn…”

  He kissed her, pouring his love into her. Her lips moved again, stronger moment by moment until she was kissing him back thoroughly, her tongue sliding into his mouth, her arms sliding around his neck to pull him close.

  He wanted to shout and laugh and rejoice.

  He pulled back from her kiss to gaze into her eyes, searching for assurance that he wasn’t imagining her recovery. Gray eyes shining with love stared back at him.

  He brushed a loose tendril of hair from her face. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Did we win?”

  “Zander is no more. But Ustanis has the draggon. And he’s gone through the gate.” In his peripheral vision he saw the flamethrowers in the hands of the Sitheen. With a jolt, his desire to laugh died. He kissed her one more time, a brief outpouring of his love, then he stood and helped her to her feet.

  Autumn at his side, he faced the Sitheen. “I believe the six lesser stones of power are still here. The pale green stones lying in a circle around the fountain. But the draggon stone has gone through the gate. If Ustanis is still close by, I may be able to get it back. I’m your only chance.”

  Charlie raised his flamethrower. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  The other three Sitheen moved around him until he and Autumn stood at the center of the deadly circle. And he knew it was over. These were the people who must fight this war, not him. Chances were slim he’d make it through the gate and back with the draggon stone before it closed. And once in Esria, he would soon be destroyed for having ended Zander. His life was over either way.

  He pulled Autumn against him and kissed her hard, one last time, feeling her warm body pressed against his, wishing he could stop time right this moment. He gazed down into her gray eyes and felt his heart break at the loss, at the knowledge he would never touch her again. “I love you, Autumn McGinn. Now, go.” Releasing her, he gave her a gentle push toward Larsen.

  But she held her ground stubbornly. “No way. They’re not going to hurt you.”

  She didn’t understand. “Autumn…this is the way it must be.” He looked to Jack for help. “I won’t fight you. But I don’t want her to watch.”

  Autumn whirled to him, then back to the others. “You’re not going to kill him. My God, after all you’ve seen, after all he’s done, you’ve got to see he’s not evil. He’s a good man. He risked his life…he forfeited his life in his world in order to help u
s.”

  “He’s Esri,” Harrison spat.

  “Actually…he’s only half Esri,” Jack said, his tone strangely conversational. He was the only one of the Sitheen whose flamethrower remained at his side. “And if we kill him, I’m going to have a riot erupting in my head.”

  “What do you mean?” Larsen asked.

  Kade’s pulse raced with tension. He’d accepted his fate. What was this game?

  Jack shrugged, an almost-smile forming on his mouth as he met Kade’s gaze. “It seems we’re related, Kaderil.”

  “Why are you calling me Kaderil?” Kade stared at the man…the human. “Related?”

  Jack cocked his head. “Have you ever heard the name Malcolm?”

  “Yes.” Zander had said the name often enough. “Who is he?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “I know only that Zander blamed a human named Malcolm for the death of his mate.”

  Jack stood as if listening to a voice only he could hear. Slowly he started to nod. “Malcolm killed several Esri when they attacked his village fifteen hundred years ago. Zander’s mate might well have been one of them.”

  Kade stared at him. “Isn’t Malcolm the name of one of the ancestors who talks to you in your head?”

  Jack nodded. “My oldest Sitheen ancestor and the one who’s best able to answer my questions.”

  “But what does this have to do with me?”

  Jack did smile now. “He was your father, Kaderil.”

  Kade stared at him, his jaw dropping. “I had no father.”

  “Yeah, he’s sorry about that. Your mother was also half Esri, but immortality passes along the maternal side and she was immortal. She had to return to Esria to birth you. While there, she learned of Zander’s plot to attack your father’s village. She left you behind, where you’d be safe, and returned to warn your father. But she was captured by a Sitheen who didn’t know her and destroyed her before your father could save her. Your father tried to find a way to get to you, but humans can’t travel through the gates unescorted, and the Esri and humans were at war in that place. Soon after, the gates were sealed and you were lost to him. He never forgot you, never stopped worrying about you.”