“I tried to tell you.” Tim ran his hand over his bald head, shrugged and sipped on a mug of coffee, a smug, self-satisfied look on his face. Raiden clenched his fists to keep them from spontaneously rearranging Tim’s features. If he killed the man, he wouldn’t find out where Mari went. And Sarah. Sarah would be upset, which would make Mari angry with him, again. Which was how he got in this mess in the first place. Gods be damned.
“Where is she? And why the hell have you been lying to me for the past half hour?” He’d woken to find Tim alone in the house with the explanation that the women had gone out to purchase some supplies. He’d showered, shaved, brushed his teeth, and generally felt self-satisfied with how things had gone with Mari last night while simultaneously trying to figure out what he was going to say to her today, how he was going to explain himself and convince her to give him another chance, try to explain that he wanted to accept her Mark, but couldn’t, not yet…
And she was fucking gone?
Tim leaned back in his chair, rotated the blue mug in circles a couple times, then tilted his head to the side and raised one eyebrow. “I figure, if she wanted you to know, she would have let you tag along.”
“Tell me now.” Raiden crossed the room to lean over the seat opposite Tim’s. “Tell me, or I’ll drain you dry and throw your ashes into the water as fish food.”
Tim came to his feet and the air crackled with electricity as they faced off. Sparks flickered in his eyes, just like his wife’s. What in hellsfire? “Try me, brother. Your brain will be liquefied before you can touch me with one little girly finger. Or maybe I’ll just juice you enough to watch you twitch on the floor and piss yourself.”
Raiden studied his face for a three count, then relaxed his stance, waiting. “Manipulating energy is Sarah’s power, Tim. Not yours.”
“True. But I’m her Marked mate, and a Descendant. So, I’ve taken on some of her powers. I can’t do what she can, but I’ve got enough juice to fry your stubborn ass.”
“I had no idea that was even possible.” Raiden gave in, and resigned himself to waiting Tim out. He sat at the kitchen table and threw up his hands. “Well? Now what?”
Tim shrugged, then sat down with a grin on his face. “You’re full of shit, you know that, alien boy?” He took another sip of coffee. “Here we thought you knew more about what’s going on with this war than we did. Guess we were wrong. You don’t know a damn thing.”
“Then enlighten me.”
“I tried. You’re too pig-headed to listen to reason.” Tim finished the beverage and tipped his chair back on two legs to reach over and place the mug in the stainless steel sink. “You didn’t know.”
“Know what?”
“That Sarah and I share power. That I help ground her power. Without me, she’d lose herself in the storm. They’re powerful, freakishly powerful, and they need us to anchor them, to help them think when they’re lost to their power, to protect them from themselves, and to give them a reason to come back.”
“Come back from where?”
“From the dark? From madness? From doing to much or sacrificing too big a piece of themselves? I don’t know exactly. But Sarah has told me several times that she’s nearly lost herself riding the skies, but I always bring her home.”
Raiden hated to admit it, but he had figured the big brute was around as a bodyguard and not much else. He hadn’t seen anything else until a moment ago. “What does that have to do where Mari is?”
“Everything, dumb-ass.” Tim got up and made Raiden stew as he thoroughly washed the coffee mug and placed it in the plastic drying rack. He leaned one hip against the counter, arms crossed. He was a huge warrior, fast and intelligent. Add lightning bolts to the package, and Raiden wasn’t entirely sure he could take him, even with his new, stronger powers. But if Tim called him dumb-ass again, or kept him in the dark about where Mari was now, he was going to have a go at the man anyway.
Unfortunately, the human was right. He was an idiot when it came to both Mari, and his pathetic attempts at understanding what she was thinking. But was that just her, or all women in general? “You couldn’t do all that before Sarah?”
Tim snorted. “Hell, no. I was a soldier and a lab rat. Nothing more. Now I have Sarah. She’s mine, Raiden, I’ll kill anyone or anything that threatens her. She’s mine, but she owns me. You get that, yet? Without her, I’m nothing, a dead man walking.”
“I had power before. Enemies. I was only trying to protect her.”
“Sure you were.” Tim rubbed his head again and grabbed a large brown envelope off the counter. He sat down in his chair and tossed the package onto the table top where it landed with a loud smack. “Tell me something, before you met Mari, you ever fry not one, but two Triscani, and live to tell the tale? You survive that green poison that was oozing from Mari’s wound when she found you? Did you have a clue where your brother was or how to find your ship?” When Raiden didn’t answer, Tim grunted. “Didn’t think so.”
Raiden waited in silence. At this point, he’d endure whatever verbal bashing Tim felt like giving, because the man was going to tell him where Mari was. He was even going to help Raiden get there. It was in his eyes.
“Before we go any further, I need to know the answer to one question, no bullshit.”
“Ask.”
“What are you willing to do to make sure Mari is safe?” Tim cracked his knuckles and sighed with obvious frustration.
“Anything.”
“Really? You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Die?”
“Yes. I already proved as much.”
“Kill?”
“Easily.”
“Trust her?”
That one stopped Raiden cold, and Tim knew it, leaned back in his seat and shook his head. “That’s the whole problem in one little word, trust. You lied to her and kept secrets that nearly got you both killed.”
Raiden opened his mouth to protest, but Tim raised his hands into the air to stop him. “I know, I know. You had your reasons. You thought you were doing the right thing, protecting her, yada, yada, yada.”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Excuses.”
“What?”
“Excuses, Raiden.” Tim shoved the envelope toward him. “Think about that between now and when you see her next. Right now, I don’t care if she trusts you or not. You keep her alive, or you answer to me. I’ve seen you watching her. I know that I can trust you to do that much, at least. I’d go myself, but according to Mari’s source on the dark side, we have bigger problems brewing and I can’t leave Sarah and Katherine unprotected right now.”
“What source on the dark side? What problems? What did Mari tell you?”
Tim shrugged. “Guess it’s her turn to have secrets. Didn’t tell you about her time on the other side, at the Black Gate?”
“Mari was at the Gate?” Raiden’s heart jumped in alarm. “When? What happened?”
“You’ll have to ask her, if you can catch her before she gets herself killed. Because right now, she’s leaving you behind to the tune of about four hundred miles an hour, and my stubborn wife is helping her.”
“Why did she do this? She’s going to get herself killed.”
“Funny, that’s almost exactly what she said about you. Said you wouldn’t listen if she told you what she’d learned. Said you’d be too stubborn and insist on going after Droghan, or worse, that you’d hold her back, try to stop her from doing what needs to be done.”
“She’s carrying around the Queen’s Remnant, whatever Immortal bastards was in that soul stone, and not just two, but seven Triscani souls. She should be resting, not tracking down an Immortal who is well known for being an uncompromising and unforgiving bastard. I would have tracked down Teagh and brought him to her.” Raiden couldn’t believe this was happening. “Are you trying to tell me you’d stand by and allow that kind of threat to destroy Sarah?”
Tim shook his head. “No. But what if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not wrong. The stone came from one of the oldest and most trusted Seers on my home world. She’s the one who gave Gerrick the soul stone. She told Gerrick that a Timewalker would find me and claim me. The soul Mari carries belongs to the Lost King. He’s powerful. The Queen’s Remnant is powerful. The Triscani are all Immortals, all forbidden sons of the Queen’s lineage. Any one of them would devour the strongest Immortal over time. But together? In a human? Mari has hours, maybe days.
“I have to believe the Seer knew we’d be sent back in time, that we’d have a chance to change the outcome of the war.” Raiden wanted to kill something, but settled for glaring at Tim instead. “Look, in my time, Droghan was a war criminal, defector, and he was responsible for opening the Black Gate and starting the war. In a few weeks he’s going to defeat Teagh and release a hoard of Triscani that will destroyed Earth and every living thing on it. For some reason, he wants Mari. He needs to die. We need to warn Teagh. We need to find the Lost King. And we need to stop Droghan. And it all must be done in the next three weeks.”
“Shit. That countdown in the cave? Those bastards are from the future, too?”
“Exactly. And every breath she takes drains some of Mari’s life force, some of her essence. She’ll be dead in a matter of days unless the Dark One can help her. Now try to convince me that Mari should be out running around fighting Droghan and the Triscani on her own.”
“I happen to agree with you.”
“Then what the fuck are we doing sitting here having this conversation? Tell me where she is.” Raiden stood to tower over Tim, ready to beat the shit out of the guy if he didn’t start talking.
“How sure are you of your information? Do you know, for a fact, that Droghan is the one who opened this Black Gate?” Tim leaned forward. “Do you know, for a fact, that the Dark One is the only one who can save Mari? This isn’t the time for history books or heresy. Two women’s lives hang in the balance.”
More than two women’s lives. Worlds. Billions of lives. Raided paced. How sure was he of his data? The source of Gerrick’s orders was trusted, but he didn’t know anything firsthand. At twenty-three, on a world populated with Immortals, he hadn’t been much more than a child at the time of the Crux, during the final battle when the Triscani had risen from their dark kingdom and flooded the Earth. He’d been sitting in a gaming hall drinking himself into a stupor when Droghan had supposedly opened the gates of hell on Earth. Over a hundred and fifty years of war had followed. “I didn’t witness it myself. It’s all from historical documents. Heresy.”
“Get your ass moving. Find Mari. She’s got a bead on Teagh. Says she knows where he is. Catch up to her and call me. If he won’t help Mari, I’ll meet you and we’ll beat the mother fucker, if we have to. There’s time to figure out a solution. He is supposed to find Katherine and protect her, or the Gate will fall. That was the message Mari received at the Gate. That’s not an acceptable option.”
“Fine. But if he refuses to help Mari, I may not wait for you to try to convince him to change his mind.”
“And Mari didn’t think you’d be reasonable about this. Tsk. Tsk.”
“Borrowing your Earthen expression, fuck you.” Raiden dumped the contents of the envelope on the table. There was a stack of cash, a credit card with a deposit receipt for 5,000, a driver’s license from the state of Illinois, a cell phone, charger, and a passport with his face staring back at him. The document listed his birthplace as somewhere called Chicago, Illinois, in the year 1985. His new name? Ryan Raiden Jean-Mennette.
“Sweet Maggie. Gave you two lovebirds the same last name. Looks like that was Sarah being optimistic, but it’s too late to change now.” Brakes squealed outside and Tim rose to peek out the front window. “That’ll be your ride to the airport. I’ve got Sarah’s family flying you on a private plane to Miami. That’s where Mari’s flight will land. She’s still going to have about an hour’s head start on you, and by the look of your Mark when Mari left, you better move like lightning or you won’t be able to track her at all.”
“What?”
“Wasn’t playing peek-a-boo, just stuck my nose in the door and saw your naked ass sleeping while your woman left you behind. You have a problem.”
“What’s wrong with the Mark?” Raiden rose and twisted around to check his Mark in the small mirror by their entry door. He yanked the shirt off his head and turned to check the place he instinctively knew to look. The Mark, the Shen, his link to her had faded. He could still see it, barely, but he couldn’t feel her. Panic rose in a swell and he shoved the black T-shirt back over his head. His heart and soul knew that his mind had rejected her claim. The Mark was already fading. “Hellsfire.”
“My thoughts exactly. Hell, I didn’t even know that was possible. Sarah and I both thought once you were Marked…well, that was supposed to be it. Fate, you know?” Tim stuffed the paperwork and documents into the zipper of a backpack while Raiden shoved shoes on. So, he was lucky enough to be the only known male to be deselected as a mate, lover, and protector of a Timewalker? He’d failed her, lied to her, and refused to trust her. And for what? His brother was dead, his ship lost, and the woman he loved was walking into danger without him…by her own choice. It was enough to make him feel like a worthless eunuch.
A hundred and fifty years of war, countless kills in battle, so many that he could no longer remember the faces, and he’d utterly failed to convince Mari that he was worth bringing along, even for protection? She felt safer without him, even after he’d brought her back from the brink of a cold, gray death?
Now he could allow himself to love her? Now? When she was gone and he could lose her forever, when his rejection of her soft heart had been so severe that the very universe, the very fate that had Marked her as his, his own body now rejected him as unworthy and was erasing her Mark from his flesh. Erasing her warmth from his soul? Cutting his link to the only woman in the world he’d rather die than live without?
“Without her, I’m nothing, a dead man walking.” Now he understood.
By the gods, could this day get worse?
“Sarah’s going to chew my ass for this, but both of our numbers and Mari’s are programmed into the cell phone.” Tim offered his hand and Raiden shook it, then took the proffered black bag. The car waiting outside honked its horn. “Good luck. Call me when you find her.”
<><><>
Traffic was a snarl and Mari cursed as she slammed on the brakes of her little white rental car for the hundredth time. She’d been driving south for a while, turning when she felt like turning, going wherever the little tug inside her chest told her to go. That pull would lead her straight to the Darkwalker Lord, the Guardian of the Gate, to an Immortal named Teagh.
He had a name. That made it a fraction less terrifying to be chasing down some dark “lord” who was most likely a bad-ass, soul-sucking killer. And then what? Skip up to him with a lollipop and a smile and ask him to please take all the extra souls out of her without killing her and go save her friend Katherine, who she hadn’t ever actually met, but he didn’t need to know that. She had Kate’s picture in her pocket, courtesy of Sarah. That would have to do.
What if he said no? What if he just decided to suck her soul dry and to hell with Kate? What was she going to do? What was she willing to do? Beg? Plead? Threaten? Seduce?
God no. That was all she needed. Another hard-ass alien bad boy to rock her world and leave her hanging. No. Thank. You.
She’d have to kill him, if he wouldn’t agree to help her. She was a bonified damsel in distress. If he wouldn’t help, he was evil, which meant she’d have to take care of him. That would suck balls, but she could do it. She’d felt the twist in her power when she’d put Raiden to sleep. Healers healed by manipulating the energy in a living body. That didn’t mean she couldn’t manipulate it for bad as well as good. Who would know a better way to kill than a doctor? Sure, soldiers could be lethal and efficient, blunt and brutal, but a doctor could stare a person in the ey
e, make small talk, and shoot them up with some seemingly harmless medication that stopped the heart or made a person stop breathing…and they’d never even know what happened.
Stop it! Stop being creepy. She could just fry him with her magic laser.
Sheesh. She hated doctors, never trusted any doctor but her dad. He had told too many horror stories around the dinner table of incompetence at the hospital. Oh, yes, she hated hospitals, too. Hated needles. Hated dentists and nurses and the stupid back massagers at the mall. She didn’t want anyone touching her, giving her meds, or telling her what do to do with her body.
Well, anyone but…
“Stop!” Mari yelled into the small confines of the car and cranked up the volume on the Hispanic music station she’d found on the radio. It made her think of her mother, and salsa dancing, and homemade burritos smothered in green chili, and home. Which made her melancholy, but that was old pain, numb now and scarred over, not fresh and bloodied and raw with black-tipped hair and flashing silver eyes.
About five mile markers back her shoulder had acted up again, aching and burning. She ignored it. One more small pain didn’t matter much at this point. The tug was getting stronger. She could feel the Remnants now, each one a separate and distinct pulse occupying her skin. Multiple energies in one body. They each had Immortal blood, they were so strong, especially the two eating away at her soul, the Remnants.
They all felt very wrong, and the discordant notes made her bones ache and her head feel like it was about to implode. Mother of all migraines, hello.
Mari followed the signs toward the Florida Keys, to Tavernier. She passed the hospital, the Tavernier Towne II shopping center, a fast food restaurant. Drove over another bridge. Never-ending bridges down here.
There. Old Highway. She turned off and wound her way down a two-way road lined with nothing but palm trees, bushes taller than the ranch homes in Santa Fe, flowers and power lines. It was a line of asphalt through paradise broken by the occasional white gate on her left with a mailbox on otherwise unmarked drives.
Blue Abyss: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 3 (The Timewalker Chronicles) Page 24