Dark Warrior

by Rebecca York

  Jason was aware that Sophia had knelt beside him.

  “Your father?” she wheezed as she tore open his bloodsoaked shirt, catching her breath as she saw the extent of the wound beneath.

  “Yes.”

  Paul’s eyes fixed on Jason. “I’m . . . finished. I’ll finally be with your mother. Run.”

  Eugenia joined them. “Garrison’s done for. We’ve won.” She looked at the man sprawled in front of Jason. He had stopped breathing, and his eyes were staring into nothingness.

  “Is that your father?”

  “Yes.”

  “You said he was dead.”

  “I thought he was,” he choked out, trying to grapple with what had happened. He’d lost his father years ago. And now he’d lost him again.

  Tessa ran over to them. “Rafe’s got a bomb. It’s linked to his physiology. It’s going to go off if he dies.”

  Jason didn’t ask how she knew. He simply picked up Sophia and started running.

  The Ionians who had been pounding Garrison with psychic energy leaped up and followed.

  How long did they have?

  Jason didn’t know. All he could do was run, hoping the bastard would live for a few more minutes.

  He heard the Ionians pelting after him. They hadn’t listened to Tessa’s warning, and they hadn’t understood the danger of killing Garrison.

  Jason headed for the hill, bent on putting it between himself and the house.

  Before he reached it, a massive explosion shook the structure behind him, sending a shock wave toward them and deafening him as he threw Sophia to the ground, sheltering her under his body.

  Debris rained down around them, and a large chunk of wood landed nearby. But only small pieces hit him on the head and back.

  Finally, it was over, and Jason raised his head. When he looked back, the house had disappeared in a pile of smoking rubble. Had all the servants gotten out? He didn’t know.

  He rolled off of Sophia. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” She lay still for several seconds, then raised her head and looked at her sister. “How did you know about the bomb?”

  Tessa spoke in a shaky voice. “John . . . I guess he was really Paul, your father, said Garrison was bragging about it. Paul was sure you’d come to rescue me. He said to be ready to get out of there.”

  “He was expecting us?”

  “Yes. But I didn’t get a chance to ask . . . him any questions. And I didn’t tell him I’d been in communication with you and Sophia—in case.” She gave Jason an apologetic look. “In case he was going to . . . double-cross me.”

  “I understand,” he answered, still shell-shocked by what had happened. “After what Garrison did, you couldn’t trust me, and you couldn’t trust my father. Not completely,” he added in a gritty voice.

  “But I trusted him enough to work with him. I opened the locked cabinet where Rafe kept the electronics. John told me to keep Rafe busy while he turned off the shield.” She gulped. “I had to pretend I wanted to make love again.”

  “Don’t think about that now,” Sophia said. “It’s over.”

  Tessa nodded then focused on Jason. “I kept thinking John looked familiar. It was because he looked like you.” She gulped. “It’s my fault he’s dead.”

  “No,” Sophia said automatically.

  “He made his choices,” Jason added.

  “So did I,” Tessa said. “And I never should have left the spa.” Her gaze swung back to Eugenia. “I want to go home. So much. Can I?”

  Eugenia nodded. “Of course.”

  But Jason heard an edge of doubt in her voice. Would Cynthia really permit Tessa back into the order? Would she punish everyone who had participated in the rescue?

  He watched Sophia and Tessa embrace, saw them whispering together, then watched the women gather round the sister whom they’d saved.

  He could see how close they were, how the order drew them back together.

  Sophia glanced at him, an uncertain look on her face. Detaching herself from the group, she came over.

  “I’ve got to ride back with Tessa. She needs a lot of support now.”

  “I understand,” he answered before clearing his throat. “I want to bury my father.”

  “Yes. I’m so sorry about him.”

  “I lost him a long time ago. Seeing him again was a shock.”

  Sophia reached a hand toward him and let it fall back. “I have to go. Can you meet us at the spa?”

  “Okay.” He wanted to ask what would happen then. He wanted everything settled, but what if it all went the wrong way?

  He couldn’t deal with that now.

  “We should get out of here before someone comes to investigate the explosion,” Eugenia said.

  “What will the police think happened here?” Sophia asked as she craned her neck toward the wreckage of the house.

  “Hopefully they’ll think it was some sort of accident,” Jason answered. He looked at Garrison. “Maybe they’ll think he had a stroke.” He walked to his father’s body, picked him up in a tender embrace, and started for the cars without looking back toward the women.

  Jason drove directly to his ranch, speeding ahead of the Ionians. He wanted to be alone with his grief. No, that was a lie. He ached to have Sophia with him, but she’d gone with her sisters instead.

  Darkness seemed to hang around him as he began to dig a grave in a spot not far from the labyrinth. After wrapping his father in one of the native rugs he’d bought for his house, he laid him carefully in the grave and covered it with dirt.

  When he was finished, he bowed his head and asked the spirit of the universe to grant Paul Castle peace at last.

  As he walked away, he wondered if there was any point in going to the spa. Sophia had risked everything to rescue Tessa. Then he’d watched her rush back to her sisters when the crisis was over. He’d seen how important they were to her, and the longer she was with them now, the more likely they’d turn her around to their point of view again.

  She’d only known him for a few weeks. Weeks that had been a pressure cooker of intensity. Now that the crisis was over, how could their short relationship compete against the life she’d always known? The life she’d been born for. Raised for.

  His chest tightened painfully as he thought of all the reasons why he had lost her. His father was one of them. He’d initially talked to Garrison about a revenge plot. Finding out his son was involved with an Ionian had changed his mind, but that didn’t speak very well of his initial motivation.

  Jason turned back toward the grave and grimaced. His father had lost the woman he loved. Jason was sure he had, too.

  But he’d be a coward if he didn’t drive to the spa and hear about it in person.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  JASON’S STOMACH MUSCLES clenched as he pulled up in front of the main spa building. He was dreading the coming confrontation, but he didn’t want to postpone it either.

  When he got out and saw Cynthia waiting for him, he steeled himself for the worst.

  From her expression, it looked as if she was planning to boil him in oil. Instead she said, “Come in,” before turning abruptly and going inside.

  He followed, willing his face not to give anything away.

  When he got to the lounge, he found all the sisters assembled. The ones who had gone to Garrison’s house were in a separate group, with Sophia among them.

  “Sit down,” Cynthia ordered.

  He looked toward Sophia, meeting her gaze but unable to read her expression. He ached to go to her. He wanted to lift her into his arms and carry her away—very far away. But he knew there was no point in proving he was an overbearing lout.

  Instead he took the only seat available—which was off to the side of the group.

  So what was this going to be? A trial?

  He thought Cynthia was going to start in on him immediately. Instead she swept her gaze over the disobedient Ionians.

  “You defied me,” she said.
r />   Sophia raised her chin. “I couldn’t leave my sister in terrible danger.”

  “And I couldn’t allow it either,” Eugenia added.

  “You couldn’t allow,” Cynthia said, her voice deadly calm.

  The two women stared at each other. It was Eugenia who looked down. “I am sorry I overstepped,” she said, her words stiff. “But I felt we needed to get Tessa back if we could.”

  “You could have all gotten killed,” Cynthia said. “You and everyone who went with you. That was an unacceptable risk.”

  Tessa spoke for the first time.

  “If they hadn’t come to get me, you wouldn’t know that Rafe Garrison was planning to impregnate me and kill the rest of the Ionians. You’d all be dead.”

  Cynthia blanched. “Is that true?”

  “Yes. I needed time to think, but I made a mistake by leaving the spa. Garrison found me almost at once.”

  “And Jason’s father—a Minot—played a key part in saving her,” Sophia added. “He gave up his life for us—and Jason.”

  Cynthia looked at Jason. “The last I heard, you said your father was already dead.”

  “I thought he was. That’s what he wanted me and everyone to think. He faked his death. He said because he was afraid his anger would contaminate me. He was at Garrison’s house.” He swallowed, before continuing with brutal honesty, “I think at first he was planning to get revenge on the Ionians. Then he found out I was involved, and he changed his mind.”

  Sophia spoke up. “For centuries, we’ve been protecting ourselves from the Minot. Maybe it’s time for us to figure out how to work with them.”

  “Impossible,” Cynthia answered. “They can’t be trusted.”

  “Jason can,” Sophia shot back, and his heart leaped to hear her defending him.

  “We don’t know that.”

  “And you won’t unless you give him a chance to prove it,” Sophia said.

  “He could live with us for years and turn out to be a traitor. Like those Russian spies who were in the U.S. for years until the FBI arrested them,” Cynthia answered.

  Eugenia entered the conversation. “It may be time for us to think about how we need to change—to exist in the modern world. These are complicated times.”

  Cynthia gave her a dark look, and Jason knew she didn’t like being challenged, but she was a practical woman. And perhaps she saw that the order was under new pressures that demanded new solutions.

  But Cynthia wasn’t ready to give up. She glared at Sophia, then swept her arm toward Jason.

  “You think this Minot wants a warm, close relationship with you. What if he only wants to lift the ancient curse he says the Scythians placed on him and the others of his kind?”

  Jason jumped up, determined to defend himself. When he started to speak, Sophia shook her head.

  Let me, she said. I hope she’ll listen to me. When he realized she was speaking silently to him, his heart squeezed. They could still do it! She still wanted to do it.

  As he gave an almost imperceptible nod, she addressed Cynthia again.

  “I think he already lifted it.”

  Had he heard that right?

  How?

  “By changing everything about himself,” she continued aloud. “He says his father and mother discovered the curse. I think they didn’t figure out what it really meant.”

  Jason waited with his heart pounding. What was she talking about?

  “At the cabin, when I was starting to doubt him, he took me back to one of his past lives and let me see what it was like. It was awful. More horrible than you can imagine. His enemies did unspeakable things to him.” She gulped. “But it was as much his fault as theirs. He was leading a violent, immoral life, and that violence came back to destroy him.”

  His heart sank. Was she getting ready to walk away from him after all?

  She turned to him, her face grave. “But I know that he’s a different man now. He’s proved through his actions that he’s conquered his Minot heritage. And he did it by himself.”

  She got up, crossed to him, and clasped his hand, holding tightly to him in front of all her sisters.

  “I’ve had a lot of time to think about the Minot. Jason believes the curse was only about repeating his mistakes over and over. I think it was also about taking away the ability to change. He’s done that! By himself—because he wanted a different life.”

  “You have no proof of that,” Cynthia said.

  “Yes I do. Everything he’s done in the past few days proves it. He had the courage to tell me he wanted a relationship with me. He had the courage to show me what he had been in the past. And the courage to ask for my love—not demand anything from me. Then he risked everything to help us rescue Tessa. What Minot could do that unless he’d overcome the curse?”

  She stretched out her hand toward Cynthia. “Don’t deny us the chance to show you that an Ionian and a Minot can make peace with each other. Real peace,” she pleaded.

  Every muscle in his body was rigid as he waited for an answer.

  “We cannot allow him to live here at the spa,” Cynthia said.

  Jason’s hopes sank, but Cynthia went on. “I would make a concession, though. He can live near us at his ranch. And you can live with him and come to the spa to work here—and perform your other duties.”

  He felt light-headed. Had he heard that right?

  He must have, because Sophia pulled him into her arms, holding tight. “Thank you,” she said, and he echoed the heartfelt words.

  SOPHIA clung to the man she loved, rocking in his arms, her joy overflowing. Raising her head, she looked at Cynthia. “I know that was a hard decision. A decision only a wise and good high priestess could make. Thank you so much,” she murmured.

  Even as she spoke, she understood that some of her sisters would never accept the new order.

  Yet she knew she had changed. And the Ionians had changed, too, although they might not admit it yet. The blending of those two truths might be their salvation.

  The meeting was over quickly. As many of the sisters gathered around Tessa, Sophia and Jason slipped away. At the spa exit, when the guard raised the gate, she breathed out a deep sigh.

  Jason looked at her. “I thought I had lost you.”

  “I was frightened, too.”

  “I’m glad she didn’t force you to choose between me or your sisters.”

  She gulped. “I would have gone with you. Not far away, but to your ranch, close to the spa. I would have kept hoping that Eugenia and Tessa could change Cynthia’s mind.”

  The words astonished him. “You would have chosen me?”

  “Yes. But we don’t have to worry about that now. And we’ll show them that our life can be a model for the order.”

  “It’s going to be a little strange when the Ionians are almost like nuns.”

  She laughed. “Nuns with sex.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “If you’re thinking about pulling off the road and making love with me, it’s only a ten-minute drive to your house—where we can be comfortable.”

  He grinned, clamping his hands on the wheel as he headed for his ranch. “What about Tessa? Will she be all right?” he asked.

  “I hope so. She has a lot of healing to do, but our sisters will help. If she comes through this, it will make her stronger.”

  “And do you think Eugenia is going to shove Cynthia out?”

  “Maybe. It’s hard to say. All I know is that the order isn’t going to be the same.”

  “Maybe Cynthia will take a leaf from our book and move in with her boyfriend.”

  “Impossible! Not the high priestess.”

  He shrugged. “You know a lot more about the order than I do.”

  After pulling to a stop in the parking area and cutting the engine, he reached for her, and she came into his arms, clasping him tightly.

  “This is what I longed for,” he whispered. “Since I was young.”

  “It’s what I never dared hope for.
You had to show me what I could have—if I had the courage.”

  After a long kiss, he asked, “Do you think she’ll let us marry?

  “I hope so, but we’d better take this one step at a time.”

  “Starting with a lifetime commitment. Maybe we can have a private ceremony—in that cave of yours.”

  “Something creative.”

  She hugged him more tightly, overwhelmed with happiness. Until a few weeks ago, she’d been sure of the future laid out for her. Now it was taking a completely different direction. One that she could never have imagined, but one that she would embrace with all her heart.

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  SEVERAL WEEKS LATER

  AN ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

  WASHINGTON, D.C.

  CALEB’S HANDS MOVED swiftly and efficiently as he set up the mobile radar equipment he’d spread out on the roof. The building below his feet had been swept and a perimeter established. Now all Caleb had to do was determine who was in the room with Mahone and whether Mahone was still alive.

  Briefly, he glanced at Ethan Riley, leader of Hope Restored Team Blue, and the four men, skilled in entry and perimeter surveillance, who’d accompanied them here. Only hours had passed since Caleb had left his teammates in the Vamp Council’s chambers in Oregon and, despite the grueling activity of the last few days—which had included parachuting into North Korea, hiking miles in the snow, rescuing several Otherborn, and tracking down what just might be an antidote to the vamp vaccine—Caleb felt the same focused energy he always did when on a mission. “Did you get in touch with the Para-Ops team?”

  Riley looked up from checking his rifle. “They’ve detained the vampire Dante Prime. Devereaux tried to teleport here, but he’d depleted his powers in Korea . . .”