Darkness Shatters: Book 5 (Sensor Series)

by Susan Illene

  I pulled my gun and leaped to the top of the boulders. My opponent had to stumble up the lower rocks, facing me from lower ground. I aimed the .45 Sig and fired repeatedly at his face. His head jerked like a piñata as I drilled the bullets into him at a close range, taking out his eyes and nose.

  He stumbled backward. I holstered the gun and pulled my sword. Jumping down to his level, I thrust it straight into his heart. The others might prefer old-fashioned weapons but if the Musketeers could use guns and blades together, why couldn’t I? The combo had worked well for me so far.

  The guard fell to the ground. I let my sword slide out of him as he descended and reached around to my pack, pulling one of a dozen throwing knives I’d brought along. I sunk the blade into the wound in the guy’s chest and buried it in his heart. He slumped, all the fight gone from him.

  I looked up and found the other guards slashed to bits. All of them lay on the ground in pools of blood, unconscious. The men had made a mess of them.

  “Stick knives in their hearts. It’ll keep them down longer,” I said.

  Their expressions said they were humoring me, but they did it. We had at least an hour or so before they’d heal enough to yank them back out—even longer before they’d be in any kind of shape to fight.

  “Let’s head to the cave entrance.”

  “No one else is coming?” Yerik lifted a brow.

  I shrugged. “Not yet, anyway.”

  We headed toward the mountains. Now that the fight was over I felt the heat again. Beads of sweat ran down my face and soaked my clothes. Since it was cold in Alaska at the moment and it would be cool inside the mountains I had chosen to wear thicker clothing. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

  Now with all the gear strapped on me I couldn’t even pull my jacket off unless I wanted to waste precious minutes. The only consolation I got was everyone except Yerik—who only wore his kilt and black vest—had dressed in as many layers as me. Everyone looked hot and miserable.

  “If I could only have one magical ability, it would be to control the temperature,” I grumbled.

  Lucas gave me a grim smile. “Would that I could give it to you, sensor.”

  “I’m afraid we’ve got more company,” Yerik announced.

  I squinted and caught a large group by the cave entrance where we were headed. They were far away enough that my senses hadn’t picked up on them yet. None of them moved toward us. They just stood there, waiting.

  “This is going to be ugly.” I could make out enough to know we were severely outnumbered this time—and our weapons supply depleted.

  “We’ll manage it.” Lucas gripped his sword tighter.

  We came to the half-mile range and I stopped in my tracks. “Those aren’t guards.”

  “How so?” Yerik asked.

  “Those are nerou, but none of them are familiar to me.” I looked at Lucas. “Your friend Ivan isn’t among them.”

  It might have been a while, but I had a pretty good memory for supernatural signatures. I was certain the group waiting for us was a different one than I’d met the last time I’d come to Purgatory. What that meant for us, I didn’t know, but I hoped we didn’t have to fight the very people we were trying to rescue.

  Lucas worked his jaw. “Let’s meet them first and decide what to do from there.”

  We resumed walking. As the distance closed between us, I grew more worried. These nerou held blades in their hands and stood in a line, blocking the cave entrance. As soon as we got within speaking range—about a hundred feet away—we stopped.

  A muscular nerou, wearing nothing but buckskin pants stepped forward. “Leave now and you can go in peace. If you choose to fight, you should be aware we will overcome you and imprison you. The choice is yours.”

  “I was afraid he’d say something like that,” Micah said.

  “We’re here to take you and your brethren back to Earth,” Yerik called back. “It is not our desire to fight you.”

  The leader flexed his chest. “We are not interested in leaving. This is our home.”

  I didn’t say anything. More nerou were coming out of the mountain so that the numbers were climbing to about thirty of them. One in particular drew my attention. He was different than the others with traces of demon blood in him—and he was only about fifty years old. I couldn’t see him, but he was definitely in the crowd.

  “Yerik, your son is there with them. Somewhere in the back of the group.”

  The daimoun glanced at me. “Are you certain?”

  “His signature and age are right—unless there’s another like you who bred with a sensor at the same time.”

  Yerik addressed the nerou. “This is not your home. You were born on Earth and some of you have family who misses you. It is your right to return to where you truly belong.”

  The leader glanced behind him at his group, then returned his gaze to us. “There is nothing you can say that will change our minds.”

  They were brainwashed and sheltered. We should have expected this.

  I sighed. “This would be so much easier with Ivan here.”

  “There are other entrances we could use,” Lucas spoke at a whisper. “If Micah and Yerik are willing to keep this group distracted we could search for an alternate way inside and locate Ivan. Perhaps he could convince this group to lay down their arms.”

  Yerik moved closer to us, keeping his tone just as low. “It is a good plan, but you will need to move quickly. We will have a difficult time holding them back.”

  “But we will do our best,” Micah added.

  I reached into my pack and took out all but two grenades. “Take these. It won’t kill them, but it’ll slow them down and help even the odds.”

  Lucas handed over his as well. “You’ll need these more than we will.”

  “Thank you,” Micah said, tucking the spare grenades away.

  “We will return as soon as we can,” Lucas vowed.

  The brothers’ gazes met and for a brief moment the animosity was gone. It was simply two men who’d known each other their entire lives and fought many battles together. They had a long history that couldn’t be wiped away—even by a seeming act of betrayal.

  Lucas pulled me into his arms. “Apologies, sensor, but my way will get us there faster.”

  I was off my feet in the next moment and speeding with him across the sand. I’d had no idea he’d been holding back for my sake. Lucas wasn’t moving as quickly as he could on Earth, but enough the air whizzed past us. I sensed the nerou racing toward Yerik and Micah, who were already tossing the first grenades. How well could they hold up against such a force?

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Lucas raced us alongside the mountains, slowing as the exertion wore him down. We’d gone what I estimated to be over a mile when my senses picked up a protection ward surrounding a cave entrance. Magic spells didn’t come to me until I was close.

  “Let me down,” I shouted in his ear.

  He came to a stumbling halt. Sweat covered him and his face had reddened under the hot Purgatory sun. If my chafing skin were anything to go by, I wasn’t in much better shape.

  “Where?” he asked between heaving breaths.

  “Just over there.” I jutted my chin at an entrance cut from the mountain up ahead, maybe fifty feet.

  “There’s no one guarding it, but I sense we’ll run into trouble once we get into the tunnels.”

  He nodded. “I’d hate for it to be too easy.”

  We sprinted toward the entrance. There was a magical force field covering the opening. I could have walked right through it, but Lucas needed it down to go inside. I took out a pocket knife and cut one of my fingers. Once enough blood welled up, I pressed it to the invisible wall that was supposed to only admit Purgatory natives. It shimmered and broke.

  As soon as we stepped into the tunnel the temperature dropped. Once we were out of direct sunlight, it cooled to about forty degrees. Water dripped along the walls, making the floor wet and slippe
ry.

  We hurried as fast as we could through the darkness lit only by a slight glow emanating from the silvery walls. The tunnel wound around, making it difficult to estimate when we’d run into the guards I sensed. With each turn, we went deeper into the mountains and the air cooled further. Shards of ice began to appear on the ceiling and the sweat covering me began to freeze. It was still nowhere near as bad as Alaska. I could handle it.

  “Wait,” I whispered, putting up a hand.

  My senses told me the guards were going to be around the next bend. I rubbed my healed hand on my pants and grabbed a grenade from my pack. Keeping a solid grip on the lever, I pulled the pin out. As long as I kept my blood off of it, the grenade wouldn’t damage the magically protected walls when it exploded—only my living targets.

  Lucas watched me and silently drew his sword from its scabbard. He didn’t say anything as I crept up ahead until just before the tunnel veered to the right. By now he had to hear the guards’ soft footsteps coming along. They were close—twenty feet, then fifteen.

  I whipped my arm out and tossed the grenade at them. We flattened our backs to the walls and covered our ears, waiting for it to blow. A few seconds later the blast reverberated through the cavern, eliciting screams from the guards. No debris or rock fell, but some shards of ice flew past us. The magic spell protecting the walls had held.

  Lucas leaped ahead of me and went after the guards. I pulled my sword and joined him. The tunnel was only about seven or eight feet across, but it was enough we were able to maneuver a little. He attacked the first guard, leaving me the other.

  That one was in worse shape with missing chunks of skin on his arms and face. He still managed to raise his sword in time to block my initial attack. We exchanged thrusts and parries back and forth. He was stronger than me—wounded or not—and more skilled. I didn’t bring my sword back up in time after attempting a strike and he slashed into my arm.

  I gritted my teeth through the pain and returned the favor, slicing through his neck. His blood sprayed out and he grabbed at his wound with his free hand. I took advantage of the opening, pushing the tip of my sword through his chest and into his heart. Repeating the same process as my last opponent, I yanked the blade back out as he fell and replaced it with a throwing knife. His body went lax.

  Lucas stood there with his arms crossed and amusement in his eyes. “Your methods are most…fascinating.”

  He’d already taken out his guard and re-sheathed his sword. There wasn’t a scratch on him. I consoled myself with the fact he had a couple millennia of practice and power built up. Considering my much weaker immortality, I thought I was doing good taking out a guy out who was more than a thousand years older than me. Purgatory guards tended to be much younger than their angel counterparts, but they were strong.

  “I do my best.” I scowled at him.

  “You do.” He inclined his head. “But for the sake of saving time I’d ask that you restrict yourself to throwing grenades and stabbing them once they’re down. Allow me to handle the fighting.”

  He had a fair argument. Micah and Yerik were counting on us to return as soon as we could. I understood my weaknesses enough to know I’d only slow us if we continued doing things the same way.

  “Fine. As long as we’re not too outnumbered, you can have at it,” I conceded.

  “Let’s go.” He spun on his heels and raced down the tunnel.

  Without the heat, I found it a little easier to keep up. There was even a little more oxygen as we went deeper into the tunnels. Not a lot, but enough I didn’t feel quite so light headed. After only a few more twists and turns, we came to a three-way intersection. Lucas paused, looking in each direction.

  “Which way do you think, sensor?”

  I’d been picking up on other supernaturals for some time, but their proximity varied as we moved along. “There are fae off to the right and farther down to the left are the nerou. I sense a couple of guards and a guardian close to them.”

  Relief came over his features. “Ah, I think I can guide us from here. We’re close to tunnels I’ve traveled before.”

  He set off at a rapid pace toward the nerou. I tried to warn him when we got close to the guards, but his only response was to pull his sword and keep going. As soon as he came upon them he slashed through one guard, nearly taking his head off and flung the body at me. I knew what he expected me to do and pulled a throwing knife. The guard weakly put his hands up, but I was able to shove them away and stab his heart.

  A moment later another body landed next to me. I had a knife in his heart even faster. All that was left was the guardian—who was about the same age and power level as Kerbasi. He put up a better fight and managed to get a solid strike into Lucas’ gut. Blood gushed from his wound, but he kept going.

  Lucas swung his sword faster and faster until the guardian could hardly keep up. Then he kicked him in the kneecap hard enough to break it and knocked his opponent to the ground. In one smooth motion, he brought his sword down and sunk it into the guardian’s chest. I tossed him a throwing knife and he finished the man off.

  “There’s only the nerou now,” I informed him.

  Close to one hundred and seventy of them were spread across the tunnels in this section with the other thirty outside with Micah and Yerik. We didn’t run into any doors or magic barriers. I had no idea if nerou could be held by them. It was one of a thousand questions I hoped to ask soon.

  “Lead me to Ivan,” Lucas said.

  We passed room after room carved into the stone. They had cloth flaps over the entrances for privacy, but many were drawn open with cords fastened to the walls. Some of the nerou stood in the halls, staring. None looked surprised to see us. It was a little unnerving after our experience outside.

  Ivan was close. We only had to pass a dozen rooms before reaching him. He’d already been heading for us. The nerou was powerfully built and dressed the same as the leader who’d met us with just a pair of pants to cover him. He had short black hair and sensor-blue eyes.

  “Why have you come?” he asked.

  Lucas gave him a serious look. “To free you.”

  “Truly?” Excitement lit in the nerou’s eyes.

  “You are needed on Earth and it is time for you to return home.”

  Ivan gazed around at his brethren. “Did you hear that? We are finally leaving.”

  Cheers went up. My jaw nearly dropped at the excitement. After my experience outside I’d expected we’d have to negotiate a little more.

  “You prepared them for this,” Lucas stated.

  “The woman over there, Olivia,” Ivan said, pointing at a slim blond female. “She has a gift for seeing the future. Not long after I last saw you, she predicted this day would come. I thought it was best then to tell them everything you’d told me about Earth and prepare them. We just hadn’t expected it to happen this soon.”

  Lucas looked at me. There was a sense of humility in his expression. As if he was realizing how important this mission had been and why we’d had to keep it from him for it to work. All of this came across his eyes as we stared at each other. If you loved someone enough, sometimes words weren’t needed to convey thoughts.

  He turned back to Ivan. “We faced some difficulties with a group of your people. My brother and a friend have been holding them off so that we might reach you.”

  “They come from a group kept separate from us. After we allowed you and your mate to leave they selected a new defense force. I’ve had no opportunity to speak with them since we were divided.”

  Lucas took his arm. “You’ll need to convince them to relent. We must leave this place quickly.”

  “Of course.” Ivan inclined his head.

  With the nerou’s next order word was spread that we were leaving right away. Men and woman all around scrambled to grab the few things they couldn’t stand to leave behind. I noted the female nerou were given more to wear. They had sleeveless buckskin tops to cover their chests. Most of them wore thei
r hair braided or had it cut to above their shoulders. They were smaller than the males, but their muscles were well-toned.

  Their ethnicities ranged from white, Asian, black, Latino, and many other variations. They’d come from all over the planet to be imprisoned in this place. The oldest ones I sensed had lived a thousand years. Had that been when the first were born or was that as old as they lived? I wanted to ask, but I knew it wasn’t the right time.

  Within a few minutes, the nerou closest to us were ready to go.

  “Where are your brother and friend now?” Ivan asked.

  “We left them near the tunnel entrance to the nephilim quarter,” Lucas explained.

  “Good. We can go through the tunnels gathering the rest of my brethren along the way and come from behind them. It will be the fastest route to travel.”

  We headed out. As we passed room after room, more nerou joined us. They flooded my senses as a long line grew behind us. Eventually, we’d reached them all and left their living area. We picked up the pace and came to a familiar intersection. I caught sight of the door where Kerbasi’s torture chamber had been located. We passed it and kept going toward the section where nephilim were kept.

  At the moment, only Bartol was housed there. His hundred-year prison term was almost up, but he still had a few months to go. We passed by his cell, which was quite a bit larger than the last time I visited. They’d improved on a few things since Kerbasi left. Bartol sat huddled in the corner with the scarred half of his face averted.

  Lucas paused and put his hands on the bars of the cell. “Soon, my friend, you’ll be free. I’ll have a place for you when the time comes.”

  Bartol opened eyes full of despair. “Make certain it is a dark place.”

  “If that is what you wish,” Lucas replied.

  He moved on. If we could have lingered longer we would have, but more than half an hour had passed since we left Micah and Yerik. Who knew what kind of shape they were in by now?

  We ran into a couple of guards coming back up the tunnels. Lucas slashed through them and once again tossed the bodies at me. I pulled my knives and took care of them. Ivan watched, expressionless, as we dragged them out of the way. Just because he was willing to leave didn’t mean he hated the guards. This was the only home he’d ever known.