She could’ve fought it, could’ve tried harder to wait for Raiden, but the summons didn’t feel evil or wrong, just powerful and determined.
Evil she would’ve had to fight. This was just like a magnet pulling on a paperclip that got too close. She was the tiny sliver of metal, and she was way too close to fight the pull now. She could practically feel the electric pulse of the being who called to her, as if he were already a part of her, already inside her.
She didn’t want any more men yanking her proverbial psychic chain, but it didn’t look like she had much choice. Whoever called to her now had nearly as strong a pull on her soul as Raiden’s, and was definitely male.
She turned what she knew would be the final corner. She swam up an access tunnel and crawled out onto the hard floor on the level above her.
A chill raised on her face and neck as cold, stale air made contact with her wet skin. She crawled a few feet, watching the doorway ahead nervously, not daring to leave her knees until the water had cleared her lungs. Up ahead, two doors to her left, she knew she’d find Raiden’s private quarters. She’d visited it in dreams, but never knew where she was or what she’d hunted until today.
Now she knew, and no one would stop her. The nightmare ended now.
She gasped as air flowed into her lungs. How odd that one could get used to breathing water so quickly. How very sad that breathing air made her feel weak and afraid. Breathing air she was nothing special, just an average woman of average height and average intelligence. In the air, she felt too human.
Only human.
Abruptly, she slumped back against the wall and sat. Temple resting on her bent knee, she stared at the doorway where destiny waited. Her destiny. One normal little human girl stuck in the middle of some kind of inter-dimensional war. Immortals. Triscani. Humans. Half-bloods and Timewalkers.
She’d somehow found the courage to go back into that cave and fry the Triscani. But that had been to save Raiden, to save someone she cared about, from a horrible fate.
But this was different. This time she knew there were more of those things waiting for her like fat spiders in the center of their web. They wanted her to lead them to the stone, to the soul that practically screamed at her to hurry.
Whatever this new ability Celestina had put into her DNA, it gave her a connection to living things, gave her newfound abilities to heal others and to talk to sharks. That was all fine and dandy, but the power also forced her to feel them. And they were here, two of them. Their emptiness hovered in her awareness and surrounded the ship. They waited patiently, hiding until the perfect moment to ambush her.
Palm flaring brightly with her anger at the thought, Mari took off her BCD and flippers, dragged herself onto her feet and slipped silently toward the door. It was sealed. She’d known it would be. But she’d been here a hundred times, a thousand. Her blood was the key. Always her blood.
Three deep breaths.
Check.
Knees done shaking?
Close enough.
Mari! Answer me. Raiden was closer now, maybe even inside the ship. Not that it mattered.
She sliced her hand and pressed the hot-red liquid to the secret panel on the side of the door frame. Wouldn’t do any good to wait for Raiden, or to argue with him. Other than a couple knives, a flashlight, and a bad attitude, Raiden didn’t have any real weapons. Certainly nothing capable of taking out the Triscani soldiers she felt on the other side of the door. And she had to cut the guy some slack. He’d been asleep for two years.
Raiden, stay outside. I’ll be there in a minute.
No! The Triscani are on board. So, he could feel them, too.
I’ll be fine. There are only two of them.
Lifting her head toward the sun and sky she knew waited far above, she prayed for strength and the courage to do what must be done. She couldn’t sit here and wait while Raiden swam into danger. She’d worked too hard to find him and save him, to lose him now. He still had a job to do. So did she.
Mari took a deep breath and fired up her hand until it felt so hot that a flicker of a thought would shoot light from her flesh like water from a fire truck’s hose. No more time to waste. She had to face them now. Silent darkness waited for her in the room beyond. Silence and the psychic screams of a soul stone.
Mari? Stop! Wait for me.
I can’t.
She didn’t stop. She couldn’t. The one who called her absorbed her attention completely. There was no danger, no ship, no Triscani, no sound, no Mari. There was only power, and a pulsing summons that pulled her closer and closer. It was as if her very soul screamed at her to save it. Her soul. No one else’s. It was her own deep self that screamed now, urged her to hurry.
No power on Earth could have stopped her feet from moving forward. The stone owned her. She no longer controlled her own limbs, no longer cared if the Triscani dropped on top of her. Nothing mattered but the soul screaming for her to save it.
Mari! Answer me!
Chapter Nine
I can’t.
The calm determination of her last two words sent chills down his spine. She was in there, alone.
Mari! Answer me!
Raiden couldn’t curse fast enough to vent the helpless anger and frustration that drowned him at her answering silence. The air tank on his back kept him alive, but slowed him down. And she was too far ahead of him, too close to danger. He’d never reach her inside the ship in time.
Gods, he’d been an idiot. These humans believed him powerless, devoid of weapons other than the blades he carried. Nothing could be further from the truth. But even with his considerable gifts, he wasn’t sure he could take down two Triscani alone. Delay and escape? Yes. He’d done it multiple times. But eliminate the bastards? No. At least not without horrible consequences.
But Mari could, with that damn Angel’s Fire, a gift only the Immortals were supposed to carry. An Angelus Mortis was required to clone the fire from her own flesh and gift it to a “worthy” member of the family line, one destined to serve the Circle. All female, the women of that line gave birth to only female children and could read the memories and lies of all Immortals. The Immortals had just a handful of laws, but breaking one meant either exile to Earth or death. The Circle of Judgment, with their Angelus Mortis and their white fire, saw to that. They were so rare as to be legend. He’d heard of them, but never seen one. He didn’t know anyone who had, until now. Until Mari.
But she wasn’t Immortal, wasn’t quite human either. By the time he’d come of age, Timewalkers were a distant memory. He didn’t know enough to guess what Mari and her allies might be capable of. Or how easy it might be for one of them to die.
He kicked harder, ignoring the painful pop as his eardrums fought to keep up with the rapid change in pressure. The sharks were no help to him, circling the invisible craft below like worried parents pacing the living room floor during their daughter’s first date. Completely uninterested in him. Damn it anyway. He really could’ve used another ride.
She was down there, fighting his enemies without him. That fact was a frenzied pain in his bloodstream. He kicked faster.
Gods, he never would’ve believed his ship was here if he hadn’t just watched her disappear right in front of his eyes. That was his ship down there. It was linked to his DNA, not hers. Yet she was the one who knew where to find it. She said something called to her. But what? Gerrick’s stone? Surely the Remnant’s soul held within it wasn’t that powerful. He hadn’t felt anything unusual when Gerrick handed it to him, no blasts of power or life force. The stone had traveled over a hundred and fifty years into the past with Gerrick. Which meant, the Remnant who created it most likely had done so a hundred and fifty years in the future. Mari didn’t exist in that time. She couldn’t be linked to the stone. The Remnant couldn’t use her life to sustain himself. Couldn’t drain her dry.
There was only one Remnant Raiden knew of who had actually attached herself to another living being, instead of a stone, and that ev
il bitch was going to regret it.
If not a stone linked to Mari’s life fire, then what? Now Raiden worried. What if the Triscani had placed a lure for her here? If they had, if Raiden didn’t stop her before she found it, they could get a piece of Mari’s soul. They could alter her DNA. They could kill her or take her prisoner. Gods be damned, they could take her to the dark worlds and hold her forever.
He had to stop her.
He was close now, the sharks circled above his head instead of below. Their anxious energy agitated him even more. Thank the gods the interior doors were all sealed and keyed to his crew and no others. She might be inside, but she’d never be able to breach his inner sanctum. The doors to his private chamber were locked. He’d made sure of that before he’d gone into the deep sleep.
Unless the traitor had somehow opened it. Or the Triscani.
Mari, don’t touch anything. Please, don’t touch anything.
Silence. Raiden felt fear such as he’d never known burst in his chest, an explosion behind his rib cage. He kicked, hard. Seconds seemed an eternity before his hand bumped into the smooth metallic sides of his ship. Judging by where he’d seen her disappear moments ago, he ran his hands along the surface until he found the opening he sought and slipped inside.
Complete darkness engulfed him and he grabbed at his waist for the artificial light that Tim had attached to his dive belt. He clicked it on and shined the narrow beam of light up and down the corridor. This door placed him on the ship’s mid-deck. His vessel was miniature, only three levels to the usual thirty or forty. His was a scout ship. Small, fast, deadly, and not meant to survive direct assault, as the Triscani attack had proven. Ships like his were built to dart in and out like a scorpion’s tail. He attacked from positions unseen, much like a great white shark rocketing up from the depths. He’d survived many missions protected by her shields. Seeing her broken and forgotten, invisible on the ocean floor, unsettled him, pained him, as if he’d lost an arm or leg.
This ship carried decades of memories and the bodies of his crew. Blood and sacrifice. His ship had survived it all, been there with him, held together for him. In the end, she’d been more reliable and trustworthy than his own blood, his own brother.
And now Mari was lost to her, wandering weightless through her narrow corridors and heading for disaster.
Mari? Raiden didn’t waste time looking around. Now that he traversed the interior, his insides lit up like the Earthling’s radar screens. Two Triscani were here, guarding the stone, setting the trap for Mari. Their cloying evil sat with infinite patience, waiting to devour her.
No! They couldn’t have her. She belonged to him and no other. Mari needed protection. She was too damn headstrong, impulsive and courageous for her own good. She didn’t fully understand the horror she faced. But he knew…he knew, and there was no one else to save her.
A blockage filled the corridor. He’d barely squeeze through naked. He’d never make it with a tank on his back.
Raiden unbuckled his gear and slid it off his shoulders. One deep breath and he shoved the tank through ahead of him before squeezing through the narrow opening. It wasn’t far to the upper-level ladder. Trying to keep his heart rate under control, he pulled one of his blades free and slipped one arm through a strap to drag the air tank along as he swam for the tunnel that would take him up to his cabin. To her. And he’d exterminate every fucking Triscani who dared to threaten her, even if it destroyed him. The Triscani wanted the stone, and he’d hidden it too well. They would wait until she’d found it for them before they pounced on her, before they killed her.
Again.
Raiden doubled his speed and yanked himself up the ladder and into the air-filled space outside his cabin. The trail of water clearly marked where she’d come up out of the tunnel, emptied her lungs, and leaned against the wall. Wet footsteps led to his sleeping chamber. The door was open, but no light or sound escaped the space. Was he too late? Was the Triscani’s twisted power already eating away pieces of her soul?
No. There was no way she had the stone. That stone was protected by a blood seal. His blood alone would open the lock. He’d created the lock himself. She’d never find the chamber, let alone open it. He’d find her, retrieve the stone, and get them both off this ship alive. He only hoped he could stop the Triscani before they incapacitated him. And that Mari would be strong enough to heal him…again. If he attacked both of them, he could slow them down, get off the ship alive. But it would cost him. And Mari would pay the price.
When this was over, he’d leave her safe and sound with Tim and Sarah and find the Dark One on his own. Mari continually placed herself in danger on his behalf. She absorbed his wounds, healed him, and nearly killed herself doing it. She was not Immortal. The little human woman didn’t understand just how easily she could die. Worse, she didn’t seem to care about the risks.
No more. Not one more person was going to die for him. The corpses of his men, his friends, and their vengeful ghosts, likely haunted his ship. His men would still be on board where they died, every single one of them betrayed, murdered, and left to decay, a blight on his honor and on the beautiful blue of this alien ocean.
Once he took Mari off this ship, she was going to be as safe as a child in the womb. Protected. Cocooned. Safe from the Triscani, from the Immortals, and most of all, from the shadows that hunted him.
All he had to do was reach her first.
<><><>
Mari straightened her spine and walked forward, crossing the threshold into the small chamber. Raiden’s private quarters. The Triscani were here, she sensed their presence like a strange background hum in the otherwise silent ship. Somehow, they were hidden from sight, waiting to pounce.
She knew this, and still continued forward. The soul stone was louder than any warnings in her head, louder than logic or even her own, apparently irrelevant, survival instinct. Nothing mattered but setting that soul free.
Determined, she flared the light in her hand to blazing brightness, chasing the shadows from the room so she could see the destruction. Every panel had been yanked from the wall and smashed into pieces. The bed was shredded and torn to bits, down to bare metal and pieces of padding no larger than a cotton ball. The room looked like a bad scene from a movie, the one where the heroine comes home to find the interior of her house completely shredded, topsy-turvy demolished by the bad guys.
Except Raiden’s private space was a lot like him, efficient, void of common comforts beyond the basics of a bed, one chair, which was lying on its side, and a writing desk. There was a small nook built into one of the walls. The doors to that compartment were bent in half and on the floor, as if a giant had pulled them from their hinges and crinkled them up like a used soda can. Not much here for the Triscani thieves to toss around. They must have been pretty frustrated to shred his bed into so many little pieces. The pieces littered the floor, which appeared to be one solid sheet of metal.
The desk interested her momentarily, as a likely place for a hidden compartment. She’d seen enough movies to know that was the most likely place a man in power would hide his secret stash.
But then, Raiden was no ordinary man.
The stone’s presence overwhelmed her senses here. The power was literally everywhere. She’d really thought she’d walk in and hone in on it like a shark sensing its prey. No such luck. The whole place pulsed with power, so much power that she could no longer pinpoint the Triscani’s presence on the ship. Maybe they’d crawled back into whatever hellhole they’d come from.
That was a cruel joke mixed in with a whole lot of wishful thinking. They were here all right, and waiting for her to solve the puzzle so they could steal the prize.
Dream on, assholes.
She couldn’t kill them until she could see them and actually aim. So, she’d have to figure out where the stone was, draw them out, and then kill them. Right. All within this room that was probably about the size of her high school bedroom. Double bed, desk, and just enough r
oom on the floor to lie on the carpet, chat on the phone and spread out her homework. For a ship, the space was quite large. Well, for any ship she’d ever been on. But he was the captain, right? And they usually got the best space.
Find the crystal, draw out the bad guys, kill the bad guys, leave with the stone. Simple list. Simple, simple list.
Now that she’d stood here for a full minute, she was confident the Triscani wouldn’t make a move until they tried to take the soul stone from her. That meant she had to risk ignoring them while she found it.
Okay. Ignore scary, heart-stabbing bastards that hovered somewhere out of sight. Focus on the stone. Only the stone and the wretched, painful pulse that insisted a piece of herself was missing. Crying out. Tormented. Dying.
Mari closed her eyes and sank to her knees to listen, to feel, and opened herself up to the pain. The Shen burned like her flesh was being branded with ice, but an answering fire burned its way into her consciousness on the wall. The energy also revealed the location of the enemy. Both Triscani hovered above her, inside the ceiling of the room, as if they were partially fused with the material.
She ignored them and centered her attention on the flame that called to her. It rested within the wall, buried inside the solid metal of the wall to her left. It would have been kept safe above Raiden’s head while he slept. It was not in a hidden compartment, behind a sliding wall, or even in a blank space someone could break through to get to. It was inside the wall, held suspended inside the metal like ore within a mine. It was part of the wall itself.
So, how the hell had Raiden placed it there, and how was she going to get it out? Standing there would place her back to the Triscani that floated unseen above her.
Maybe her hand could get them anyway.
Mari opened her eyes to study the ceiling. In the light from her hand, it gleamed silver like one solid metal sheet stretched the length of the room. Exactly like the floor. But the material used to build Raiden’s ship seemed lighter somehow, more like aluminum foil than solid iron would be. She lowered her eyes to study her palm, the fine lines and soft skin. So innocuous and so deadly.
Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) Page 18