They were watching, she could feel the sick oily stain of their malignant minds moving around the light of her soul, sniffing like rabid wolves at a piece of fresh meat. A chill raced through her, not a physical cold, nothing so innocent as that. This cold would drain her, send her heart and mind into an abyss of darkness so profound she’d never find her way out. The cold penetrated her defenses and crawled through her awareness like cold sludge moving through her body, chilling her and stealing her will to fight.
She pushed it back with more power from the Earth mother, the animals, the wind and rain and rocking water of the oceans. She expanded her consciousness until she was no longer human, no longer Sarah, but part of the universe itself.
And still the chilling cold pulled at the edges of her mind.
Tim!
I feel it.
Sarah dove into his thoughts and saw his plan. He knew how to fight this thing, he understood it in a way she could not, in formulas and mathematical theories that existed in his mind, making these things concrete, real, and stealing their invincibility from them.
He knew where they were. He understood what they did and how they moved through reality, through time.
He could find them, he just needed the power to get to them, to open the door.
Sarah pulled more, felt the tiny soul huddled within her own fight with her, calling on the link she had with all the Timewalkers and their descendants, Sarah drew them all into the fight. All their minds, their skills and energies. All their wills merged for an infinite moment in time into one will, one mind, one soul.
Katie was there, and Molly, Alexa and Luke. Those energies she recognized. But there were scores more, minds tuned to the call, souls that answered and fed her the power and control that she needed to help Tim do the impossible and command the door between worlds.
Force it open, and force this nasty death dust back to where it came from.
The energy built inside her, around her, until she was the center of a hurricane of invisible energy that would make a nuclear bomb look like a firecracker in the rain. The aliens wouldn’t need to destroy Chicago. If she didn’t get the energy under control they’d blow half of North America off the map.
“Tim!” She screamed it at him, body and mind, and tore through his barriers to his bare mind, forcing him to funnel the power, to twist it to his own ends.
His thoughts silenced, calm and cold as a machine, as his mind raced to comprehend and hold the incomprehensible. No human mind could cleave to the knowledge he now commanded, no mere human could withstand the rush of electromagnetic energy flowing through them.
“We’re more than human, Sarah.” Tim smiled and stepped up beside her, pulled her raised arm down and entwined their fingers. His meaning drifted between them and the hundreds of connected souls feeding them power, understanding and will. “We always were.”
Sarah squeezed his hand and nodded as they stood quiet and still in the eye of the storm. She kept the energy raging, throwing dust and debris into the air to interact with the other particles, slowing their fall and stealing their power in tiny increments.
The twisted lines of reality that were torqued and folded around her uncurled in response to Tim’s directed energy and will. He knew it existed. He understood it, and that gave him the power to open the doorway between worlds.
“Just a crack, Sarah. Any more and we could destroy everything, or worse, let more of this stuff in.”
She nodded and fed him the power he needed.
The moment reality shifted, the discordant notes of power shooting from that tiny rift in reality screamed through her like a police siren inside her head. It hurt like hell. She fell to her knees beside Tim, hand still clasped in his as massive amounts of energy flowed between them.
Tim focused on holding the door open, the crushing weight of two realities threatening to buckle their combined will despite the massive amounts of power she gave him to command.
“Now, Sarah!”
She had to summon the particles, she had to become the sound in her head, a giant magnet to attract them back home.
She wrapped her energy around that non-sound in her mind, the scream of wrongness in her soul and sent it out to ride the wind, to settle over the particles of this world like masks, fooling the other, drawing them to her in a river of dark matter streaming toward her.
The song of their home dimension pulled the particles through the door and a small river of beautiful shimmering death vanished into thin air in the space a few feet in front of them.
A giant vacuum of nothing existed in their wake and normal matter rushed in to fill the space with a sonic boom of sound. Shattering glass from hundreds of office windows filled the city as the doorway between worlds collapsed.
The repercussion hit their minds with the force of a sledgehammer and Sarah fell to her knees next to Tim as her vision went black.
<><><>
Tim woke with Sarah in his arms and the rumble of jet engines in his ears. They were laid out together on a makeshift bed of blankets and pillows on the floor of a six-seater jet.
He looked around and found Katie sitting nearby, a watchful and worried expression on her face as she stared at Sarah’s unconscious face.
“We made it?”
“You made it.” Katie’s smile was filled with relief and the aftershocks of terror he was sure they were all going to be feeling for a long time.
“Am I dead?”
Katie set his duffel bag beside him on the floor then resumed her seat and clapped her hands together in front of her face. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
Tim sighed and hugged Sarah tighter. “Surprise me.”
“You are very, very dead, Timothy Daniel Tucker. We planted your cell phone up there, so we got you a new one. It’s in the bag. And we got Bandit on board.”
“Good.” He couldn’t go back. Ever. Luke’s flash drive held all the proof he needed to know that they were already twisting his work to their own ends at the government labs. He didn’t know who had stolen his work, or when they’d managed to sneak in and copy his private notes, but he wasn’t really surprised. “And the bad news?”
Katie’s grim face set free a colony of bees in his gut. “Luke and Alexa are off grid. Their house was destroyed by the Triscani right after the attack this morning.”
“Shit.”
“Yours was, too.” Her grin was forced. “Your estate will forward Mr. Davis the insurance check.”
His house? Gone? “What about Molly? Your house? It sounds like they are tracking Sarah.” His head spun with the implications. A life on the run. Had they finally found a way to track her? Or were they having an aliens’ version of a temper tantrum since they’d gotten their asses kicked this morning by the beautiful Mrs. Davis?
“Our house is fine. I don’t know how they knew about your house or Alexa’s, but there’s been no sign of them at all around mom’s house. And since this morning, we’d know.”
That was true enough. Every Timewalker descendant on Earth had been pulled into that battle with them. They’d all felt the strange energy and malevolent touch of the Triscani world.
To hell with them. If the bad guys tried to come after them, so be it. He and Sarah would take them down as many times as it took. The Triscani had to know that he wouldn’t run from a fight. Not with them. Fucking bastards.
He buried his nose in Sarah’s hair and let the future flow over him in a warm haze. Sarah on the beach under the hot sun, a cold drink in her hand and a tiny bikini barely covering her warm, willing body. His. Forever.
“Wake up, Mrs. Davis.” He ordered Sarah to come to. He needed to know she was all right, that the cold darkness he’d felt trying to devour her was well and truly gone.
Katie smiled in understanding. “You’ve both been out for a few hours. But all of her vitals were fine, so she should wake up any time.” She stood and tugged her jacket into place, ever the professional. “I’ll just go have a chat wit
h the pilot and give you some time to adjust. We’ll be in Bermuda in a couple of hours. We’ve got Bandit up front. She’s keeping my uncle company.”
She walked to the cockpit and a heavily accented British voice drifted through the plane before she closed the door behind her, leaving him alone with Sarah.
He tightened his arms around her in what he knew would be a painful grip, but couldn’t stop his need to feel her, alive and warm in his arms. Silent tears defied his orders and slid into her hair.
That thing they’d faced had scared the living shit out of him. It was not good or evil, not dark or light, it was…nothing. A cold, alien nothing that would swallow the world whole and still not be satisfied.
And Sarah had faced it and not flinched. She’d battled it and defied it, denied it the souls it wanted to consume, the souls that stood in its way. Without the light, the Triscani invaders would be free to erase everything. The Timewalkers were the army in their path, defending existence simply by being, by fighting, by refusing to give up even in the face of overwhelming odds.
And he was one of them. He’d felt the call of the strands that wrapped around this reality, this stream of time that cradled them and their world.
If it were to unravel, their world would cease to exist.
His little experiments, his obsession with Nikola Tesla, were now insignificant in the face of this cold reality.
The darkness would stop at nothing to reach that little girl’s light still cradled safely on the other side of Sarah’s soul, of his own. They both would fight for her now, and ignore her stubborn, childlike desire to be free from their temporary cage.
He sent the child his tears, his pain at nearly losing Sarah and the full scope of terror, the absolute power over dark energies that the enemy hunting her had at its command.
The girl settled, defiant but not quite ready to face what he’d shown her. Sarah wouldn’t approve. She wanted to coddle the girl, surround her with love and warmth, to teach her humanity and compassion. Tim had to hope her parents, whoever and whatever they were, would take care of that. His job now, his and Sarah’s job, was to keep that little light hidden until she was grown.
Sarah had been the cause of the Crux, in the moment he’d called out to her, she’d fought herself, debated giving herself to him, giving him the storm.
But it was over now. They’d won a temporary victory in what appeared to be a global war. He had no idea what would happen next, but whatever did, he’d be by Sarah’s side.
The child Sarah had found was a not a Timewalker, her light was different but no less bright. Still, the Timewalkers fought for her. He’d let her see the courage Sarah displayed while fighting for her survival, for the survival of millions, and hoped the child would rise to the occasion. She had, but that didn’t mean she could come out of hiding. She was still small. Still young. And they had no idea who she was or how to find her. So, he had to scare her a little. And that meant letting her see the monsters that waited for her so she’d stop trying to get out of the cage.
“Stop scaring her.”
“She needs to be scared. Otherwise she’ll do something foolish.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He kissed her temple. “Like throw lightning bolts at aliens from the top of tall buildings?”
“Hmm. Sounds like my kind of girl.”
Tim laughed and turned Sarah, and her smart mouth, to face him. “Exactly what I’m afraid of.”
Sarah smiled and reached for him, wrapped her arm around his head, around his Mark, and pulled his lips to hers. He kissed her tenderly, grateful for the love that hummed between them in a current more electric and powerful than anything else in the universe.
“We made it.” Tears slid down her cheeks and dripped onto his arm, which she was currently using as a pillow.
“We made it.”
“Are you dead?”
“Yes. Katie and Molly took care of it. I didn’t ask where they got the bodies, but the police will find Tim Tucker and an unknown female burned to cinders at the top of the Hancock Observatory, presumably hit by lightning during a freak storm.”
“Nice way to go.”
“I thought so.”
Sarah pushed him onto his back and curled into his side like a sleepy kitten. He couldn’t blame her, he still felt like he’d been run over by a half mile of back-to-back semitrucks.
“Now to the beach?”
“To the beach, a little cottage and a dive-shop owned by Mr. and Mrs. Davis.”
“That will be nice. I love the beach.”
He pulled her tightly against his side and reached into his duffel bag. When he had what he needed, he pulled Sarah’s hand up to his chest and slid his grandmother’s diamond-and-emerald engagement ring onto her finger.
“Mrs. Davis, will you marry me?”
Sarah froze, then rose onto one elbow to kiss him until he was out of breath and desperate to hear her answer. Her mission was over. She had control of her power without touching him now. She didn’t need him anymore, not even to protect the child. He could and would help her with that from afar if he had to, and she would know that. The child knew it and had maintained her connection to them both.
The thought of Sarah out there alone, making her way in the world without him, cut him deeply inside where no one could see him bleed. “I love you, Sarah. Say yes.”
Sarah slid the ring all the way down her finger and made a fist to keep it there. “I love you, and your scars, and your freaky math brain.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Yes.” She kissed his forehead. “Yes.” Her lips grazed his cheek.
“Definitely, yes.” Soft feminine lips covered his with a promise he’d never once thought he’d find in a woman’s kiss…forever.
And with a Timewalker, no telling just how long that might be.
<><><>
Thank you for spending part of your valuable time reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer? Your recommendation to a friend is the biggest compliment and gift an author can hope for.
Thank you very much!
Michele Callahan
Read on for an excerpt of
Blue Abyss, Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3
The Timewalker Chronicles:
RED NIGHT
SILVER STORM (Book 2)
BLUE ABYSS (Book 3)
BLACK GATE (Book 4)
CHIMERA BORN (Book 4.5)
WHITE FIRE (Book 5)
Coming Soon – Chimera’s Kiss
The Ozera Wars: (Erotic Space Opera)
ROGUE’S DESTINY (Book 1)
QUEEN’S DESTINY (Book 2)
WARRIOR’S DESTINY (Book 3)
The DESTINY Trilogy (Omnibus Books 1-3)
Coming Soon – Hunter’s Destiny
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Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3:
BLUE ABYSS
by Michele Callahan
Copyright 2014 by Michele Callahan
All Rights Reserved
Prologue
Two Years Ago…
Raiden Tzachar staggered into the tiny healer’s room on his ship and took a seat beside the only occupied healing bed. The traitor had escaped him and even now raced for the surface of Earth. Blood soaked Raiden’s back from a dagger wound in his shoulder and poison burned through every cell, devouring him from the inside out.
The long, soft bed where his second-in-command, his brother by choice, lay dying was no longer a healing bed, it was soon to be an open grave. Gerrick’s normally pristine uniform lay sticky and stiff with blood. The substance still flowed freely from the wound in Gerrick’s thigh. Ignoring the pain from his own mortal wound, Raiden laid his hand on Gerrick’s shoulder so the giant of a man would know that he’d returned. His entire cre
w had perished today, but none of his men died alone.
“Gerrick. I’m here.” Raiden squeezed Gerrick’s shoulder tightly, unable to completely rein in his rage.
“Did you kill him?” Gerrick uttered the question through lips stained by poison. Gerrick’s eyes flashed open for a blink, then the faint light of the chamber assaulted his friend’s overly sensitized pupils which were stained an inhuman chalky blue by the Triscani toxin. The traitor, his own brother, had injected the poison into every single member of the crew. The sight brought an ache to Raiden’s chest that had nothing to do with the wound in his shoulder. A flood of memories hurtled to the front of Raiden’s mind, but he ruthlessly shoved every one of them aside. Now was not the time.
Raiden grimaced and did the one thing he could to bless his honorable friend with a peaceful death. He held up hands stained red with his own life’s blood…and lied. “Yes. Gutted him with my blades, brother.”
Gerrick visually inspected Raiden’s hands and actually smiled. “Good. Good.” That smile was a miracle in itself if the fire in his own veins was any indication of what Gerrick suffered. The wounded soldier attempted to roll onto his side, to move his arms, but only managed to twitch a couple of fingers. Gerrick’s arm muscles were paralyzed. Soon, his diaphragm would be as well. Then he’d stop breathing.
Death would be a blessing. Triscani poison was an excruciating end. If not for Raiden’s Immortal mother, whoever she might be, he’d be dead as well. Hell, he would’ve been dead an hour ago, just as that bastard brother of his had planned. His friend had no such luck. Gerrick was more than three-quarters human.
Gerrick closed his eyes. “The soul stone around my neck. Take it. Keep it safe.”
“What are you talking about?” Raiden rose and struggled to reach his bloody palm beneath the neck of Gerrick’s uniform. His fingers grazed a chain and he tugged, shocked to discover a swirling black stone dangling at its end.
Silver Storm: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 2 Page 18