Ian narrowed his eyes, and called out his weapon. “That statement serves no purpose but to try to protect your own sheva. It changes nothing about what happened before.”
Elijah tensed, his forearm tingling with the need to call out his throwing star. “Are you threatening me?”
“Hey!” Gabe stepped between them. “What the hell’s going on? We’re up against the worst bastard in the history of the world, and we’re actually wasting time listening to Elijah apologizing for doing his job? Hell, he’s actually apologizing for killing a sheva in accordance with his Oath as an Order member? And worse, he’s actually refusing a smart battle strategy because it might endanger his sheva, who, by all rights, should have already been killed?” He called out his hooksword and leveled it at Ana. “This ends now. Elijah needs to do his damn job without being distracted by you.”
Elijah was across the room and in front of her before he’d even realized he’d moved. “Back off, Gabe.” He managed to keep his voice controlled as he slid his hand behind him and made sure Ana was hidden. “What’s your problem? Now isn’t the time to go off on shevas. We need Ana, and you can’t kill her.”
“The Order is crumbling, and I’m trying to stop it!” Gabe snapped. “In times of chaos, we revert to following the rules! It gives us control! You’re deviating, and we’re going to lose it all because of that!”
Thano whistled softly. “You guys are a bunch of uptight bastards, for sure.”
Gabe glared at him. “What the hell do you know?”
Thano shrugged. “I don’t have all the emotional shit you guys have when it comes to the Order—”
“We aren’t emotional,” Gabe said. “We’re warriors.”
Thano ignored him. “But it seems to me that you all are getting caught up in a whole lot of pissing that’s better done when Ezekiel isn’t running around threatening the world. He’s letting us live because we don’t scare him. Am I the only one who is pissed off by that? I hate being underestimated.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ryland snapped. “You know nothing.”
Elijah frowned as he watched the warriors argue. Everyone was tense, agitated and distracted from their mission of taking down Ezekiel. It wasn’t like them to conflict like this. Even without Dante, the Order should have been focused, pulled together by the threat of an enemy such as Ezekiel. Even Ian wouldn’t be holding a grudge for his sheva, not with the stakes as high as they are.
Quinn stepped forward and entered the heated discussion, and the tempers began to rise. He was their interim leader, and yet he couldn’t get them focused. What the hell was going on? Elijah felt his own adrenaline kick in, and the urge to engage surged through him—
Ana touched his arm. “Do you feel it?”
“Feel what?” Elijah shifted restlessly, itching with the need to confront his team, to shut them up.
“The air. It has changed. It’s Ezekiel. He’s poisoning the Order.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The minute Ana mentioned the air in the room, Elijah knew what she was talking about. The atmosphere had become thick and heavy. Dank. Laden with Ezekiel’s presence. Elijah swore, shocked that it had taken Ana’s statement before he’d even noticed. “Ezekiel’s tainting the Order the same way he used to do to entire towns.”
He remembered the stories well, how an entire village would be decimated, no one left alive, everyone having slaughtered everyone else. Nothing left, not even vegetation. Just complete decimation. Had it started like this? The silent, insidious encroaching of violence and aggression, so subtle that it could consume people before they were even aware of it? People like ancient warriors who were highly trained to notice and defend against shit like this?
Son of a bitch. The Order was outmatched. Even now that he knew what was happening, Elijah could feel his antipathy continuing to ramp up sharply. Shit, he’d been so ready to start flashing some blades that he hadn’t even had a clear enough head to notice Ezekiel’s taint. He’d just let it smack him around and direct him exactly where Ezekiel wanted them all.
The only ones he wasn’t feeling aggressive towards were those he was blood-bonded with. Everyone else was pissing him off, and he could see the rest of the team felt the same way. Hostilities were rising, weapons were out, and no one was talking about Ezekiel. They were arguing among themselves, heated arguments that had no place among seasoned warriors. No place among a team as disciplined as the Order was.
Ana was the only one who had been clear-headed enough to notice, and even now, she was nodding with calm thoughtfulness as she watched the Order disintegrating. “Ezekiel’s not here, so how is he doing it?”
“Through us.” Ezekiel’s presence was still in Elijah’s mind, even though he couldn’t get past Elijah’s defenses and actually tap into his mind. But his aura was still there, his darkness, his evil. “We’re bringing him into the room. He’s using his blood bond with us to bring down the Order from the inside.” Elijah could see it wasn’t affecting Ana. Her eyes were clear and bright, and her body was relaxed. There was no hostility in her at all. “You don’t feel it?”
She glanced at him. “Of course I do. I can feel him inside me.”
“But do you feel violent or aggressive toward anyone?”
Ana raised her brows in surprise. “No, but I’m worried about the team.”
Well, damn. And this woman thought she was a monster? She was so damn pure that even Ezekiel couldn’t corrupt her. He narrowed his eyes at the significance of that realization. “If it weren’t for you, I’d be over there trying to kick everyone’s ass.”
Ana’s eyes widened. “Even mine?”
“No, not you.” Elijah pulled her close and kissed her lightly, thankful as hell for her presence. “Nor Gideon or Quinn.” A loud shout jerked his attention back to his team, and he saw Ryland and Thano in a heated debate, weapons out. “Shit. We need to stop this.” No one was listening to him and Ana talk. They were too caught up in the rising heat of the arguments. “Hey!” he shouted, trying to get their attention.
No one even glanced his way, oblivious to everything but the need to fight. Muscles were bunched. The warriors were in battle stances, aligning off in groups. Quinn and Gideon. Zach and Gabe. Thano and Ryland. Ian and Kane by themselves. Elijah shoved his way into the middle of the group. “Ezekiel’s screwing with all of you. Listen to yourselves. We’re at war with him, not each other.”
The shouting didn’t even dim. Elijah grabbed Gideon’s shoulder and spun his friend to face him. Gideon! Listen to yourself! Ezekiel’s messing with us, the same way he screws with everyone else. He’s pulling the Order apart.
Gideon stared at him blankly. What?
Elijah repeated the statement, opening his mind to include Quinn, calling on the blood bond they shared to reach them.
Quinn looked at him, blinked several times, then surveyed the room and cursed. You’re right. How is he doing this? I want to beat the hell out of every one of these guys.
“Ezekiel’s reaching the Order through his bond with Ana and me. We need to take off, and then you and Gideon try to bring the Order back together.” His own aggression rising, Elijah knew he had to get out of there before he contributed to the deterioration of the atmosphere. He was safe only around those he had a blood bond with. Ana might be resistant, but he sure as hell wasn’t.
“We’ll take the team up to Dante’s fishing shack,” Gideon said, his voice tense with heated emotion. “That place is clean. Dante warded in some way. We’ll meet up there and get organized.”
“Good.” Elijah yanked Ana back as Gabe turned toward her, his halberd clenched in his fist, fury in his eyes. Let’s go, Ana. Now. He fought his urge to take on his Order mate for pointing his weapon at Ana. Instead, he headed toward the door, his body itching with the need to get into the fray.
He didn’t even have to look back to know that Gideon had stepped between Gabe and Ana, giving them time to get out. Ryland threw Elijah a hard lo
ok. “Where the fuck are you going?” His voice was hard and angry, even more than usual.
Elijah fought to keep his voice calm. “To get Ezekiel.”
“No, you’re not. You’re going to go hide your little woman, like Ian tried to do. The bond will fuck with you and take us all down. I won’t—”
“Hey!” Elijah grabbed Ryland by the throat and slammed him up against the wall before Ryland had finished raising his machete toward Ana. “The only reason I’m not going to kill you right now is because I know it will give Ezekiel the victory.” His fingers dug into Ryland’s throat, not even flinching as Ryland fought his hold.
Elijah felt so incredibly strong, and he knew Ryland had no chance against him. None at all. Ezekiel’s strength was flowing through his veins, feeding him, making him more powerful, and it felt indescribably fantastic. He felt unstoppable, like he could bring down the entire damn world.
Son of a bitch. Was Ezekiel trying to taint him with delusions of grandeur so he’d help him in his deranged quest? Crap. Elijah’s grip on Ryland’s throat tightened as he fought to resist the temptation to unleash the power surging through him. “Ezekiel is screwing with all of us right now. I’m going to take Ana and walk out of here, and no one is going to raise a weapon against anyone else. After we’re gone, you guys are going to pull your shit together and help us figure out how the hell to beat him so when I touch base we have a plan. Got it?” God, he could crush Ryland’s throat so easily. Just another squeeze—
“Elijah.” Ana’s hand was on his arm. “Let’s go.”
Her touch brought him back, like a flash of white light piercing the violence trying to consume him. Elijah jerked back, releasing Ryland. His comrade dropped to the floor with a groan, rubbing his throat, but his weapon was down.
Silence reigned, everyone riveted by the interaction between Elijah and Ryland. Anticipation was thick, the team clearly expecting Ryland to finally snap. But he let his head drop back against the wall and closed his eyes. “Get out.” His voice was rigid with restraint. “If you’re the one bringing this poison into the room, get out.”
Ana was already at the door, and Elijah had to clench his fists to keep from jumping Ryland now that he was defenseless. Elijah could feel the hostility from the other Order members, and he knew any action by him would trigger them.
“Elijah.” There was strain in Ana’s voice, and fear. “Come on.”
It was her fear that penetrated Elijah’s anger, and he turned his head to look at her. Her back was against the door, her fists clenched and lines of tension around her eyes.
Elijah forgot about Ryland and everyone else in the room. All that mattered was his sheva’s well-being. He strode across the room to her without another thought, catching her hands in his. “You okay?”
She shook her head once, her hands icy cold in his grip. “We need to leave.”
“Yeah, we do.” He put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her against his side. He glanced back at the scene. Everyone was standing still, rigid, as if afraid to move. He’d caused this. It was him. He looked at Gideon. “I’m going to my place. You know where to find me.”
He didn’t wait for Gideon’s response. He simply hugged Ana to him and guided her out of the room.
*
Ezekiel slid open the door to his master bedroom and stepped inside. The king-sized bed of polished mahogany was surrounded by armed Calydons, standing shoulder-to-shoulder so tightly that he couldn’t see more than the occasional glimpse of the black silk coverlet on his bed.
He nodded and two of them moved aside, still keeping their weapons ready. Ezekiel stepped between them and looked down at the unconscious occupant of the bed.
He was staring at himself. Ezekiel studied the body in the bed, the face he hadn’t seen for two thousand years. His own face. He examined the slightly crooked nose, the scar along his jaw, the centuries of weariness so evident in the lines on the face. The skin was pale, utterly deprived of the sun. He looked old. Weary. Beaten down.
He didn’t want to feel like that.
He lifted his gaze to the mirror over the headboard and saw the face of a young man staring back at him, but with his eyes. There were no lines of age on his face, no scars. It was as he had once been. Innocent. The same age he’d been when he’d finally killed his bastard of a father, after watching the son of a bitch beat their mother day after day. The age he’d been long before he’d been betrayed by his own brother.
He examined the flush of youth on his cheeks, the narrowness of his shoulders from muscles still developing. It was a body devoid of a past. All options were open and available at this point. A chance for any future he wanted.
“Sir?”
Ezekiel peeled his gaze off the mirror and looked at Faulk, the Calydon he’d appointed his second in command, until the spot was occupied by his brother. By Elijah. “Let me know when Drew regains consciousness. I can’t do anything while he’s out.” He glanced again at the figure in the bed, knowing that he had to merge with it to regain his full powers.
He would do what was necessary. He just had to make sure the cost wasn’t more than he was willing to pay this time. “I have work to do. I’ll be back.”
Then he turned and strode out of the room, his strides long and energetic with the spring of youth long left behind.
***
Ana was exhausted by the time they reached Elijah’s condo. The stress of trying to keep Ezekiel out of her mind, combined with the effort of helping Elijah regain control of himself had reminded her all too clearly about the strength of their enemy, and what little resources they had to defeat him.
It was such a relief to reach Elijah’s condo and retreat into a place that was his, not Ezekiel’s, not the Order’s, just his.
His building was in a highly secure tower with a doorman she was pretty sure was armed with more than one type of weapon and enhanced with an Otherworld strength she couldn’t identify. Elijah had to use a key card to access the elevator and then punch in a security code to open the doors on his floor.
The opulent lobby on his floor was small, and there was only one door that opened into it, besides the fire exit, which had four heavy locks. Elijah used another key card, punched in codes to disarm yet another lock and then entered another long code just inside the door to turn off the alarm.
Ana’s heart filled with empathy for the locks that Elijah lived behind. He was one of the most powerful warriors alive, a man who could destroy virtually any threat, and yet he had cloistered himself away behind dozens of locks and isolation.
With all this security, it was clear that he may have partitioned the horrors of his youth for the last five hundred years, but it had always been haunting him. The demons had been chasing him for a long time.
Elijah glanced back at her as he opened the door and stepped back to let her in. “We’re going to regroup here, and then touch base with the Order and make plans.” His eyes were dark in the shadowed hallway, and she couldn’t read his expression as she moved past him.
Ana touched his arm as she walked by, but he didn’t respond to the touch, so she dropped her hand.
The ceilings were high, the hall wide, the floors highly polished black slate.
Elijah shut the door behind her. As she walked down the hall, she was saddened by the sounds of her soul mate resetting all the locks and alarms, wishing he didn’t have to live like that.
The hallway opened into a huge great room, with a modern stainless steel kitchen that looked like it had never been used and a family room with huge leather couches and a flat screen TV on the wall. A gorgeous stone fireplace took up most of another wall, and the sheer glass coffee table was polished to such a sheen there wasn’t even a speck of dust on it. A thick white carpet covered the family room floor, abutting the beautiful tile floors.
A huge painting of a nature scene covered the other wall. It had an antique gold frame that looked incredibly old and valuable, as did the sofa table beneath it. A mixture of modern
and old, all of it high quality and flawless beauty.
His condo was lovely, a place of impeccable taste and wealth. He’d tried to create a place of perfection and ultimate decor, a home so impeccable that it would feel like an oasis instead of the prison it really was.
Ana thought of her comfortable Victorian house in the suburbs that she had shared with her sister before they’d taken up temporary residence in Dante’s mansion. Her home had huge windows, doors that never quite locked securely, and uneven floors that creaked at night.
There was so much history in her house, she could almost feel the laughter, tears and love from those who had lived there before her. She’d even discovered that the back wall of her bedroom closet had apparently served as a canvas for a young child’s crayon art, and she’d left the gallery untouched. The house was full of life and imperfection, and she loved every inch of it. With the huge back yard and so many neighbors, she’d had visions of the home someday housing the boisterous, loving, enormous family that she’d never had.
There were no hopes and dreams like that in Elijah’s condo. The only dream that this place spoke of was a prayer of waking up in the morning and finding that the locks and walls had kept the demons away for one more night.
Elijah moved up behind her and set his hands on her shoulders, rubbing gently. “No one ever comes here,” he said. “It feels weird to have someone else in my space.”
Ana leaned back against him, wishing that she could somehow wave a magic wand and release Elijah from the grip of his past. “Did you design this place yourself?”
“Yeah.”
Of course he had. There were huge windows lining one side of the room, and the kitchen table was practically up against the glass, as if he yearned for the freedom of fresh air and open spaces, but didn’t dare step outside the fortress he’d erected. Did he yearn for another life as much as she did? “You have so many windows here. The view is amazing.”
“Yeah, I know. It looks amazing at night when you see the lights from the city. It’s like heaven’s stars are blinking below you, ready to catch you if you fall.”
Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) Page 25