When the next shade reached them, Ricco hit it again, adjusting the angle of the blow so the demon shot away and hit the water with a resounding plop. It started lapping at the magic and in less than ten seconds, it burst into nothingness.
“Cool,” Ricco said as another demon flew at him. Ricco’s vampire reflexes were much faster than Lexi’s, and he had no problem connecting with the shades as they darted about. Ricco’s team quickly picked up on the technique, and soon demons were sailing into the pool.
With Ricco and his boys busy dealing with the shades, Lexi motioned to Heather and Mai to join her. Maybe together they could open the portal enough to help Darius.
Amadja was winning. That was the thought that raced through Darius’s mind as he lay paralyzed in a heap against the far wall of the portal where the demon’s latest magic bolt had sent him. He tried to catch his breath as he struggled to his feet. He glanced at Tain, but knew he’d get no help from that quarter. He was on his own.
He turned back to Amadja and saw the demon was already preparing his next attack. When the next volley of magic came at him, Darius dove out of the way.
The bolt flew past and hit Tain, who hadn’t moved fast enough. He cried out in pain, and Darius knew from personal experience that the magic was spreading through Tain’s body, searing every nerve. He felt only a moment’s remorse for his brother’s agony. Tain’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed, unconscious.
Amadja roared with anger and hurled another bolt of magic at Darius, hitting him in the chest. He fell back, nearly tripping over Tain’s body. When he touched the side of the portal, living magic poured into him, giving him the strength to fire a return volley at Amadja. He could tell it stunned the demon, but that was all.
As Amadja gathered his power to unleash another bolt of magic, Darius reached up and pulled off the shield, wishing he’d thought of it sooner. He almost had it in front of him when the black magic struck his arm and sent the shield flying. Before he could react, Amadja began a continuous assault.
“Give up, Immortal,” Amadja said with a knowing smile. “I’m going to give you a chance to experience death.”
Darius’s foot hit Tain’s prone body, and when he looked down, he noticed Tain’s head was turned and the pentacle tattoo on his cheek was facing up. It was the sign of the Immortal, a reminder of who he was. Give up? “Don’t count on it,” he muttered.
Reaching down, he hauled Tain’s unconscious body up and slammed him into the side of the cell, holding him there with his body. He lifted Tain’s arm and propped it against the cell. As soon as he could, he grabbed Tain’s hand, palm-to-palm, and interlaced their fingers, locking their hands together. Immediately the pentacle tattoo on the back of his neck began to burn. Power welled up inside him: Immortal magic.
When Amadja came rushing at him, Darius lowered his hand, interlaced with Tain’s, and a brilliant beam of living magic shot forth, hitting Amadja square in the chest. He screamed as the bolt blasted him across the portal and out the opening.
Darius knew he should go after him, but first he had to see to Satan’s Gate.
Lexi, Heather and Mai had just managed to open the portal a little when a flash of light arced out of it and across the domed ceiling. It happened so quickly, Lexi wasn’t sure what she’d seen, but it made her worry all the more about Darius.
She jumped through the opening and saw Darius holding Tain and leaning against some kind of gate. She could tell that Darius was tired and hurt—but he continued to struggle to close the gate.
Hundreds of demons pushed against the other side, shoving and fighting to get out of their prison. Though the number of escaping demons had slowed significantly, they were still slipping out in massive numbers and would continue to until the gate was completely shut and locked.
“Want some help?” she asked, giving him a thorough visual inspection as she hurried forward.
“I’m not sure I have enough magic left to do this,” Darius told her.
She put her shoulder to the gate and pushed with all her might. The gate budged the tiniest amount, and they stopped to catch their breath.
Lexi saw him reach out and touch the side of the portal. It seemed to restore him a little, so she did the same and felt magic surge through her. It gave her the strength she needed, and between them, they got the gate closed.
“Help me with Tain,” Darius instructed as he hefted his brother’s body away from the gate and propped him against the wall of the portal. “Hold him here.”
Curious about what he was doing, she did as he asked. Slowly she felt the magic slipping through Tain. It seemed to travel through his body and into Darius through their clasped hands. For a full minute, the brothers simply stood there while the magic built. Then Darius reached for his key, still inserted in the lock of the gate.
As soon as he touched it, magic surged from the portal, through the men and into the key.
“No!” Tain came fully awake, shouting. He was clearly distressed. Lexi glanced at Darius for guidance, but his face was twisted with pain as well. The key shone so brightly it seemed to burn, but if it really did, Darius gave no indication. He held on to it and slowly turned it.
It seemed to take forever, and as she watched, Tain’s agitation grew more pronounced. Then she heard the snap of the lock sliding into place, followed by Darius’s sigh.
“Done,” he said.
Lexi glanced at Tain, who had suddenly quieted. His expression was unreadable. Something about him worried her; something she felt she should remember but couldn’t.
“Are you all right?” Darius asked her, concern written on his face.
She nodded. “Ricco and some of his gang showed up. They’re out there dealing with the demons who escaped.”
“Good.”
“What about Amadja?” she asked.
Darius looked dismal. “He escaped.”
Lexi remembered the arc of light moments before. “What should we do about Tain?”
“He’ll be fine. Once I get him home.”
Home. Lexi didn’t want to think about Darius leaving.
“Let’s get out of here,” Darius said, letting go of Tain’s hand but urging him forward. Soon they were standing outside the portal, looking around the chamber. It seemed empty, except for Ricco, who was walking toward them.
“Everything all right?” Ricco asked.
Lexi hurried to intercept him, knowing that Darius wouldn’t remember the vampire.
“Ricco’s a friend of mine,” she told him, standing between the two.“He and his friends helped me fight the demons while you were inside.”
Ricco looked confused.
“Darius lost his memory,” she hurried to explain.“But he seems to remember bits and pieces.” Just not her.
“Oh, well, no problem,” Ricco said. “We got it under control.”
Darius smiled and held out his hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem. I got your message, not that there was any question about where you were.”
“What do you mean?” Darius asked.
“At the stroke of midnight, suddenly all the magic in New York was being pulled to the same point—the spire at the top of this building. Standing outside, it looked like hundreds of bolts of lightning were touching the top. When I took a closer look, I saw that the spire was actually absorbing the magic, presumably funneling it down the building to some point below ground. That much magic couldn’t be good.”
Lexi gasped. “Oh, my Goddess.” She looked around. “Where are Heather and Mai?”
“They’re fine. Once we destroyed the last of the demons, Heather said she had to contact the Coven of Light and tell them what was going on. Mai ran off talking about this all making a great story.” He smiled. “I sent a couple of my boys with them, although I’m thinking about going to check on Mai personally a little later. She gave me her address.” He looked from Lexi to Darius. “I assume that’s all right with both of you?”
Lexi smile
d, glad that Mai had finally gotten what she had been wanting—Ricco, all to herself. It suddenly made her own situation that much harder to take. She glanced at Darius, wondering if he remembered anything of what they had shared.
“What about the Vlads?” Darius asked, and Lexi wondered how he had remembered the name of Ricco’s rival gang.
“Looks like O’Rourke and his gang left town as soon as they realized what was going down. I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them for a while, but we’ll keep our eyes open just the same.” Ricco nodded toward Tain. “Do you need any more help?”
“No,” Darius said. “I think I’ve got it under control.”
“All right, then. I guess I’ll be on my way.” Ricco shook hands with Darius, bent forward to give Lexi a quick kiss on the cheek and left.
She watched Ricco walk out of the chamber, and as the door closed behind him, a large, plump dragon flew past, heading straight for Darius. It startled her so much, she took a step back before recognizing Fury. There was a shimmer of magic, and then, in the blink of an eye, the demon was gone and the dragon tattoo was back on Darius’s chest.
“Let’s close the portal,” he said, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand. “The sooner we close it, the sooner we can go home.”
Home. He was leaving and taking Tain with him. She felt her heart breaking. Maybe it was better this way, she told herself. What future could a mortal and immortal possibly have together?
He started walking toward the portal, and she followed behind him to help. They’d almost reached it when something plowed into her from behind, knocking her over. She hit her head on the hard floor and slid several feet before coming to a stop.
Dazed, she looked up and saw Tain pointing Mai’s thornalis at Darius.
“What are you doing, Tain?” Darius asked, keeping his voice level.
“I can’t let you close the portal.”
“Why not?”
“Aja can’t come back if you close the portal.”
“Aja isn’t who you think she is,” Darius said, sounding like a parent doing his best to deal with an unreasonable child.“She’s not a real woman. She’s using you.”
“No,” Tain shouted. “She loves me. She’s the only one who ever cared about me.”
“That’s not true, Tain,” Darius said. “Adrian, Kalen, Hunter and I all love you—as does Cerridwen, your mother. She misses you greatly. Come home with me, Tain. Come home to Ravenscroft.”
“No,” Tain said in a saner, more reasonable tone. “I won’t go back.”
Lexi started to get to her feet, but a sharp shake of Darius’s head made her hold still.
“Tain, even if you shoot me, I won’t die. So you’re wasting your time.”
“You’re forgetting about that new tattoo over your heart.” Tain’s smile was sinister and the hand holding the thornalis was frighteningly steady. “You didn’t think I knew about that, did you? That’s the problem with a psychic summoning—it’s hard to control who gets the call. You didn’t even know we were there, did you? Aja and I. Listening to your conversation with Whitley.”
“I don’t care that you heard the conversation,” Darius said. “You won’t shoot me. I’m your brother.”
Lexi didn’t share his conviction. She wasn’t sure that Darius knew his brother as well as he thought he did. The old Tain might not have shot his brother, but the Tain who’d been tortured for centuries might.
She let her eyes morph to lupine so she could get a closer view of his trigger finger. She saw the barely imperceptible movement as he tested the resistance without actually pulling the trigger.
She looked at his face and saw the hate and determination there. Darius, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to it.
Then, to her surprise, Tain’s hand fell to his side. She saw Darius visibly relax.
“Let me close this and we’ll go home.” Darius turned his back and started walking toward the portal.
The hairs on the back of Lexi’s neck stood on end, she didn’t even question why. She simply reacted, morphing into her wolf form as she leapt through the air.
Time slowed. The sound of the thornalis going off resounded loudly in her ears, but she barely noticed. She saw the thorn emerge from the muzzle and elongate into a four-inch wooden arrow. On its current trajectory she knew it would enter Darius’s back, right below his left shoulder blade and pass through his heart before exiting through the center of his serpent tattoo. He would die.
Then, just as suddenly as time had slowed, everything went back to normal speed. She was leaping through the air, front legs stretched out as far as she could reach in an effort to put herself between the arrow and Darius.
She felt the arrow pierce her body. The pain was excruciating, worse than anything she’d felt in her life.
She fell to the ground. Her legs buckled beneath her, and she slumped to the floor, in too much agony to even lift her head. Things started to grow fuzzy as blood seeped from her body. She tried to gather enough magic to shift, hoping to close the wound, but she’d spent the last of it changing in midair.
As her vision narrowed, she thought of her sister and finally understood why Bev had been willing to sacrifice herself for the man she loved. It would have been too painful to go on without him.
From far away, she heard the thornalis fire again. It was followed by a man’s roar of pain. Darius. She knew then that there was no longer any point in trying to hang on to life.
Her attempt to save Darius had been for nothing. Tain had shot him anyway. She stopped fighting and closed her eyes, letting the pain and darkness swallow her completely.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
At the first sound of a weapon being discharged, Darius whipped around just in time to see a black wolf leaping through the air before him. He heard the sickening thud as an arrow, intended for him, impaled the wolf instead. He knew then that Tain would stop at nothing to kill him. That was the first shock.
The second came when he took another look at the wolf and realized where it had come from. Lying on the floor, slowly bleeding to death, was the woman he loved. A horror unlike any he’d faced before in his life hit him, nearly crippling him.
Consumed by an overwhelming rage, he gave a primal roar, startling Tain, whose eyes went wide.
Tain stared at the weapon in his hand, then at the wolf at his feet. “I didn’t mean…”
Darius raced forward. “If death is what you seek, then death is what you’ll get,” he snarled, pulling off each of the weapons tattooed on his arms and chest and hurling them at Tain. If he’d thought about it, he would have known it was impossible to kill his brother, but he was beyond thinking.
He heard the weapon go off a second time, but the shot went wild—and still Darius bore down on Tain. His rage was such that he would not stop until Tain lay dead at his feet. It took him no time to reach Tain and grab him by the throat. He lifted his brother off the floor, squeezing with all his might.
“You killed her,” Darius growled.
Tain clawed at Darius’s hands. “No,” he gasped. “She still lives. You can save her.”
Slowly the words pierced his rage, and he turned to see that the wolf was still breathing. Barely. He dropped Tain and hurried to Lexi’s side. Tain took advantage of the opportunity to make his escape. Darius let him go. If Lexi died, he had the rest of eternity to hunt his brother and exact revenge.
But now he had more immediate concerns.
“Lexi, my love. Can you hear me?”
He saw the wolf’s eyes open slowly.
“Baby, it’s me, Darius.”
A faint whimper was the only response he got.
“Hang on, love.” He searched the room, searching for some means to save her life. Maybe if she morphed. He hurried to the pool, now nearly empty, and dipped his hand into it. He felt the warmth of the living magic and carried it to Lexi. He wasn’t sure of the best way to help her, so he simply laid his hand on her and willed the magic into her
.
The transformation was slow, but she started to change. He hurried several more times to the pool to carry magic back to her. At one point, he considered placing her in the pool, but wasn’t sure what that might do to her.
Once she was human, the wound appeared as a tiny hole in her chest. Darius thought that changing would have healed it and couldn’t understand why it hadn’t. He bent close and finally saw the protruding small piece of wood. He knew he had to get it out, even though he hated to cause her even more pain. Grabbing the end of it, he pulled.
Lexi cried out, but he didn’t stop until he’d fully extracted the arrow. Blood flowed freely, spilling over her bare breasts and down her stomach. The bright red against her pale complexion was stark and horrifying.
“Oh, Lexi, baby. I’m so sorry.” He lifted her onto his lap, rocking her as he looked around the room, desperate for a way to save her. He didn’t think, even given all the magic in the pool, that she had the strength to morph again.
She couldn’t even generate a tiny fireball to cauterize the wound, as she’d done for him.
It wasn’t fair that the life of the woman he loved should be snatched away from him like this. He didn’t want to live without her—not another day, not another hour, not another second. He sure as hell didn’t want to spend eternity without her.
But what if he could join her?
He remembered the serpent tattoo on his chest. His life force. He hadn’t tried to remove it, wasn’t sure he could. He touched the tattoo and felt the shimmer of magic. He found the edge and slipped his finger beneath it. When he gave it an experimental tug, he felt the pull of it all the way to his core. Taking this off could very well kill him, but he was prepared for that. He accepted that. What he couldn’t accept was Lexi dying.
But maybe she didn’t have to.
Knowing her time was almost up, he bent over and, tilting her head back, he pressed his lips to hers. “I never forgot you,” he told her. “And I never will.” He only hoped she would understand.
The Darkening (Immortals) Page 26