Darkness Arisen

by Stephanie Rowe

  “I know, but I did it. Don’t you see what that means? It means that maybe our fate isn’t determined. Maybe we can save you—”

  “It’s not worth the risk.” Catherine grabbed the wall and dragged herself to her feet. “I love you, Ally. I knew you’d come for me.” She staggered, her fingers digging into the cold stone as she fought her way to the door.

  Alice extended her arms through the bars and caught Catherine as the other woman reached her. Through the bars, they hugged. Alice was shocked by how cold Catherine was, but at the same time, she felt a wave of warmth and love from the other angel. Love she’d never felt before. She realized instantly that it was because she was no longer blocking it. Ian had freed her, and now she could even feel love from other people. “Cat.” She wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight through the bars. “I’m so sorry I took so long to get here.”

  “I missed you.” Catherine hugged her back, her cheeks mashed against the bars as she tried to get close to Alice. “I know you tried. I knew you’d come.” She managed a smile, a haunting smile that made Alice want to cry. “It’s not too late. You can still kill me.”

  But Alice shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I love you, Cat. I won’t give up.”

  Catherine’s eyes filled with fear. “But you have to kill me. It’s already started. I wake up in the morning and I—” She stopped, and Alice knew what she had been going to say. “It’s already starting. You have to stop me.”

  Alice closed her eyes. How could she kill the one person she loved? But even as she thought it, she knew Catherine wasn’t the only person she held in her heart. She loved Ian, which was why she’d helped save him. How could she save one and kill the other?

  Cat’s fingers dug into Alice’s arms. “Ally? You did figure out a way to kill me, didn’t you? You didn’t come without a way, did you?”

  Alice grimaced. “I—” Suddenly, she heard the thud of hooves in the distance, and her heart stuttered. “He’s coming.”

  Cat gripped her arms. “No, no, no, he can’t get me. Do you know what he’s trying to make me do to the Order?”

  Alice stared at her. “The Order? Then you’re…you’re one of their guardians?” She was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. If Cat was one of the trinity, did that mean Alice was, too? She hadn’t really believed it. Hadn’t thought it was possible. And if she was, what did that mean?

  Catherine nodded. “He tested me on one of the Order members that he brought here.” She grimaced. “It was so awful, Ally. The poor man—”

  Footsteps pounded on the dirt floor, and Alice gripped Catherine’s arms. “He’s here.” Frantically, she looked around, desperate for something to use to defend herself. But before she could even think about it, Ian’s mace appeared in her hand with a flash of black light and a crack.

  Catherine gaped at her. “What is that?”

  “It’s an Order of the Blade weapon.” She held it up, moving away from the door, her heart racing. What in God’s name she was planning to do with it, she didn’t know, but—

  “It’s an Order of the Blade weapon?” Catherine’s voice raised several octaves. “I might be able to make it deadly enough to destroy me. Bring it over here. We’ll try that. It might work.”

  Alice hesitated as the footsteps grew nearer. Ian? Is that you? There were no hoofbeats. Just the footsteps of a person. Was it Ian? But there was still no answer, and she couldn’t feel his presence at all. Fear began to build inside her. Ian had never cut her off before. Was he hurt? Was he dead? “I don’t want you to die, Cat.”

  “It doesn’t matter! I have to!”

  “If you’re a guardian angel for the Order of the Blade, what will happen to them if you die? What if they lose one of their trinity?” Even as she asked the words, she realized that it applied to her as well, if she were the third part of the trinity. What if she died for good? What would happen to them? If, of course, she was part of their trinity. But what if she was? What if, all this time, she’d been saving lives?

  Catherine looked grave. “It will be worse for them if I live.” She thrust her hand through the bars. “Give me the weapon, Ally. Let me try it.”

  “I—” Alice looked back and forth between Cat and the hallway that was echoing with the sound of encroaching footsteps. Ian. Please tell me it’s you who is almost here. No reply. Was he dead?

  “Alice!” Catherine screamed at her. “Don’t you dare let me live! You made a promise to me!”

  “Is he dead?” She couldn’t focus on anything else but the gaping void in her mind where Ian was supposed to be. “Is Ian Fitzgerald dead? Can you tell?”

  Cat’s jaw dropped. “Are you kidding? We don’t have time for that. Give me the weapon.” But as Alice looked at Cat’s fierce gaze, she suddenly saw in her dear friend the same emptiness and loneliness that she’d lived with her whole life. An agony of guilt, and a terror so deep it made her bones ache. She’d lived with that her entire existence, the fear of what would happen to her if she screwed up, and in the end, she’d finally broken through those walls, and it hadn’t been so bad.

  It had been, in fact, beautiful. She could feel the love for Ian and her worry that something had happened to him. She could feel the love that she and Cat had for each other. It was beautiful, a gift so pure that it made everything worthwhile. She looked down at her shorts and saw the white light from the glowing pearl through the fabric. The pearl was the only thing keeping her an angel, and soon it would be gone. Did she feel any regret? No. She’d rather be alive for two hours than die without understanding what love was. And as she looked into Catherine’s eyes, she saw the same emptiness that she’d lived with.

  She couldn’t let Cat die never having lived.

  “No.” She stepped back from Catherine. “I won’t kill you. We’re going to find a way—”

  A huge dark shadow morphed out of the darkness and grabbed Alice from behind. A hand clamped over her mouth, and she was hauled back against a hard, well-muscled body.

  But it wasn’t Ian’s body.

  “Alice,” a husky voice said in her ear, and she went ice cold.

  It was Flynn. The man she’d lured here to kill her.

  *

  Alice’s heart began to pound furiously as Flynn crushed her against him with his massive arms. He was solid muscle, more than he had been before that terrible night when everything had changed for them, for him. The night that she’d betrayed him, at least in his eyes. “Flynn,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm, trying to reach the man who had once been her dearest friend. “I’m so glad you’re here. We have to get Cat out of the cell—”

  “No.” His arms tightened around her, and she saw a faint green glow beneath his fingernails. “This is about you. And me.” He spun her around, and she gasped when she saw his face.

  Eyes that were once a beautiful rich brown were glowing green. A mouth that used to quirk in laughter at her jokes was a grim, brutal line. His cheeks were shadowed, his eyes heavy with torment. She saw the burdens that haunted him, including those she hadn’t been able to spare him from. Suddenly, she didn’t see him as the man who had been about to kill her. He was someone who’d been tormented and abused for so long that he was trapped in his own hell.

  She hadn’t been able to see it before. She hadn’t been able to see his pain. But now, she felt like her heart was going to break for him. Suddenly, her fear of him was gone. Simply gone. “Flynn,” she whispered, laying her hands on his cheeks. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you that night. I’m so sorry for it all.”

  He stared at her, and for a brief second, she thought she saw a flash of brown in his green eyes, an attempt at sanity trying to break through. “Alice?” His voice was rough and harsh, as if he were speaking for the first time in too long.

  “Flynn. Please, don’t cross that line again. You don’t have to do it. You know you don’t.”

  He stared at her, and she felt the internal battle within him. How had she not
felt his torment before? How had she not sensed his agony? How much time had they spent together, and she’d never seen the anguish beneath the surface? All he’d been was a partner in her loneliness, someone who understood hell.

  But now, in his eyes, she saw more. Love. Yearning. Longing. For her. Guilt filled her, and shock. He loved her? Dear God, no wonder he’d felt it was such a betrayal when she hadn’t been able to save that person for him on that awful, terrible night.

  “Alice,” he gasped. He suddenly thrust her back against the wall and stumbled away from her, clutching his hands to his head. “No,” he roared, as if he were fighting a demon from within. “No!”

  “Flynn Shapiro. Your time is done.” A deep voice boomed through the hallway, and a massive shadowed figure walked toward them. It was Vaughn, but he seemed to be even larger than before, moving with a silent, ominous stride too dangerous for any living creature.

  Flynn spun toward him, and a low growl echoed from deep in his chest. “No,” he spat. “You walked away. You don’t get to come back.”

  “I can do whatever I want,” Vaughn said, closing the gap. His eyes were glowing green, and there was a dark turbulence flowing off him. “Come with me, Flynn. Don’t make me kill you.” Vaughn’s hand twitched, and Alice felt the sudden surge of power roll off him. There was something about Vaughn that was so much more than Flynn, so much more than anything she’d ever seen before.

  “Dear God,” whispered Catherine. “What is he?”

  Lethal power. Power ready to kill. No. Not again. No more death. “Flynn,” she urged. “Don’t let him take you. Run. Run.” She didn’t believe for an instant that Flynn would be able to defeat Vaughn. His only choice was to flee.

  Flynn looked over at her, and she saw the torment in his eyes. The violence, the years and years of taint from what he’d been forced to do, but she also saw the humanity that she’d connected with before. He deserved a chance. “Run,” she said. “Just run.”

  He closed his eyes for a split second, as Vaughn drew even closer. Then he opened his eyes, looked right at her and said, “I will always love you, Alice. Good-bye.” Then he whirled around, charged the stone wall of the hallway, and burst right through it. He let out a howl of agony as he sailed through the air down toward the ocean.

  Vaughn streaked by her, a flash of darkness too fast to register, and then he followed Flynn through the hole in the castle wall. She heard two quick splashes in the ocean, and then silence. Please, Flynn, get away from him.

  “That was it, wasn’t it?” Catherine was staring at her through the bars. “Flynn was how you were going to kill me, wasn’t he? And you didn’t let him.”

  Alice gritted her teeth and strode toward the door. “Yes, you’re right. I’m not going to give up on you, Cat. There has to be a way—”

  Out of the darkness, a massive figure burst forth and suddenly Deathbringer was there, bearing down on her in a dead gallop. Alice swung her mace, but Warwick scooped her easily off the ground, throwing her over the back of his horse as they sped down the hallway.

  She gasped as he pinned her with one hand, pushing so hard that she couldn’t breathe. She felt her ribs crack, and she grabbed his leg, fighting to hold on, to stay conscious, to stay alive.

  She raised her head and looked back to see Catherine reaching for her through the bars. Regret filled her heart. She couldn’t leave her sister behind. Cat didn’t believe, and would never be able to save herself. “Cat! Don’t give up!” Then Deathbringer turned a corner, and Catherine vanished from sight.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Forcing himself to stay calm, Ian closed his eyes. He focused all his energy into his body, sending healing into all his cells. He could feel his muscles trembling as they tried to fight off the spell that had immobilized them. He concentrated even more intently, drawing upon a lifetime of trying to fight off the spell that had haunted him for so long. Magic sucked, but there had to be a way to defeat a spell as simple as this one.

  His little finger twitched, and triumph shot through him. Come on! He drilled down harder, willing all his focus into his right hand.

  His thumb moved.

  Then his index finger.

  Then—

  Ian! Alice’s desperate plea burst through his shields, and he faltered, his mouth going dry at the desperation in her voice. The shields he’d erected against her so carefully shattered, and her anguish filled him.

  He couldn’t stop his response to her, and he didn’t want to. Alice! What’s wrong?

  Cardiff has me— A wave of her pain washed through him, and a dark sense of fury rose through Ian at the thought of that bastard with his hands on Alice.

  With a roar of rage, Ian broke through the spell in one swift, violent move. He leapt to his feet and immediately opened his mind to Alice, latching onto her through their blood bond. He knew instantly that she was three floors down and moving quickly up the stairwell.

  Cardiff was bringing Alice to him.

  Ian bolted over toward the doorway that Cardiff had sprinted down previously, and he lined up beside the open door. He called out his maces and gripped them, ready to take him out.

  The clatter of hoofbeats was getting closer, and Ian readied himself. Stay low, Alice— Before he could finish his warning, Deathbringer burst through the doorway. Ian instinctively swung, aiming for Cardiff’s chest. But as he moved, he realized that Cardiff had Alice in his arms and was using her as a shield to hide behind. He’d put her right in Ian’s line of attack.

  Alice’s face went white with horror at the sight of Ian’s mace heading toward her chest, and Ian swore as he fought to alter his trajectory. Alice! He threw every bit of strength into his blow, dragging his mace to the side just as the trio blew by him. His mace slammed into the stone wall with a brutal clatter, missing Alice’s face by a fraction of an inch.

  “Jesus.” The terror of what he’d almost done tore through him, and Ian staggered as the image of Alice’s bloodied body filled his mind. For a second, he was frozen, overwhelmed by what had nearly happened. He couldn’t move as Cardiff reined in his mount, spinning the massive beast toward him, Alice still locked in his arms.

  All Ian could do was stare at Alice. Her face was streaked with dirt and taut with fear, but there was a fire blazing in her eyes. A courage he hadn’t seen before. And as he stared at her, he felt his heart stutter. The woman who he’d blocked from his heart only moments ago filled him, and suddenly his world became only about her. No one but Alice.

  “You’re free.” Cardiff whipped out his wand, but this time, Ian didn’t hesitate. He dodged the beam of light from the wand, circling the horse as he tried to get closer to Alice to pry her out of the bastard’s arms. But the horse was too quick, and there was no way to free her. It was a standoff, because Ian wouldn’t strike for fear of hitting Alice, and he couldn’t afford to have Cardiff die until the curse was lifted.

  Then there was a shimmer of low pressure in the air, and Ian grinned as Kane appeared at his side, accompanied by six members of the Order of the Blade. Gideon Roarke, their interim leader. Quinn Masters. Elijah Ross. Zach Roderick. Gabe Watson. Plus their deceased leader’s young son, Drew Cartland. Ian swore when he saw him. The youth was a dangerous wildcard, too untrained and unpredictable to be brought into battle.

  But there was no time to argue. Upon arrival the Order went directly into formation, spreading out in a circle around the wizard. All of them were armed, their gazes focused and intense. A team meant for war.

  Rightness surged through Ian as he felt the familiar power of the team around him. This was what he lived for. This was what he was meant for. His team.

  Gideon was the one who spoke. “You want to destroy the Order,” he said to Cardiff.

  Cardiff glowered at him. “I want justice.”

  Ian knew that the conversation was simply for distraction while the team moved into position and established a plan. If this battle were to be simply hand-to-hand combat, it’d be an easy win for the
Order. But as he and Kane had learned, the rules changed when a wizard was involved. They had to be smarter than he was, not simply better fighters.

  But even though Ian tried to focus on his team and listen to the commands going back and forth in silent telepathy, all he could think about was the woman in the wizard’s arms.

  Alice was gripping his forearm, as if she were trying to keep it off her throat. Her mouth was twisted in pain, and she was staring at Ian.

  Hang in there, Alice. We’ll get you out.

  She nodded once. I don’t want to die.

  The moment Ian heard her confession, he felt something inside him stop. Ever since he’d first met her, she’d shown no fear of death or of the future that was coming her way. And now she’d changed her mind? She was afraid? Shit. That was unacceptable. Fierce protectiveness surged though him, and he knew that there was no choice. He had to save her. Not just now, in this moment. He had to save her from her fate.

  Warwick glared at them, then he looked past them and muttered something. Words to a spell? “Shut him up!” Ian shouted. “Don’t let him do that!”

  Elijah was closest, and he unleashed his weapon at the wizard. His throwing star cut through the air as something moved to Ian’s right. He glanced over, and then spun around when he saw that one of the stone gargoyles was watching him. “Incoming,” he shouted, wielding his mace just as the creature came to life, tearing out of the wall with fearsome strength.

  All around him gargoyles erupted off the walls. Ian heard the shouts of his team as they fought creatures made of stone that their weapons could not dent. The air filled with the grunts of men as they took hits from the monsters. Ian joined the chorus, shouting as he slammed his mace into the chest of the nearest combatant.

  His blade bounced off, and the gargoyle lunged for him, slamming a cement fist at Ian’s head. He ducked, and the stone glanced off his temple, still hitting him hard enough to send him spinning. As he fought to regain his balance, he glanced around at his team. They were all heavily engaged and losing badly. Even Drew, with his assortment of weapons, was no match for the two gargoyles bearing down on him. Their weapons were useless against the stone creatures.