Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5)

by Rowe, Stephanie

  God, no, she couldn’t think like that.

  She rubbed her neck, bile churning at the feeling of those five puncture wounds, at the reminder that the brother she loved more than anything had led the assault on her last night. One of the best ways to destroy her was to force her to use her powers to hurt others, especially those she loved. It was devastating to watch men she’d once known and loved suffer and die at her hands, and each time she’d done it, another part of her heart had died.

  She had so little hope and faith left after what had happened seven years ago, and last night had almost destroyed her completely. Another night like that? She knew she didn’t have the resources to survive it. “If you die, I have nothing left, Nonny. You’re the only thing left in my life I can believe in. I can’t do it without you.”

  Her grandmother swore. “You’ll die if they get you tonight, and you’ll die if I get killed? What kind of crap is that? Toughen up, Sarah. I won’t sacrifice myself if you’re just going to roll over and give up just because the night gets a little rough!”

  “I’m not going to roll over! Don’t sacrifice yourself!” Sarah jammed her foot on the gas, ignoring the sweat streaming down her temples, the nausea roiling in her belly, and the aching of her body. “I’ll survive tonight. I’ll find a way. Just go back inside. Please, you’re all I have left, Nonny.” Her voice broke, and she had to fight to hold back the tears.

  Seven years ago, everything she believed in had been destroyed when the man she had loved with all her soul, who she’d known since childhood, had turned on her after becoming a Calydon. He’d murdered her parents. He’d slaughtered their baby girl, tearing her from Sarah’s arms as she fought to protect her. And then he’d come after Sarah, his eyes blazing red as the demon consumed him.

  Grief filled Sarah at the memory of her husband sprawled on the ground, crawling toward her to get in the final killing blow before he died, his life bleeding from him, spilling into the earth like black poison into dust.

  To stop him, she’d killed him. She’d murdered the man she’d loved, and he’d killed almost everyone she cared about. The old anguish flared deep and agonizing again, brought to life by her brother’s turning on her. If she couldn’t trust those she loved, who could she trust?

  The debilitating emotions she’d fought so hard to suppress for so long swelled inside her: the despair, the hopelessness, the doom, all the feelings that would finally destroy the soul that had been dying for the last seven years.

  She rubbed her hand over the scar on her stomach, from the blow that had nearly killed her. The eleven months in the hospital with nothing to do but obsess about Mason’s betrayal, her unforgivable failure to protect her daughter, and the loss of so many who she loved so dearly. The loneliness and guilt had been overwhelming, and Sarah knew her spirit would have broken if it hadn’t been for her grandmother sitting by her bed, haranguing her relentlessly to survive for one more day.

  To lose her grandmother now? Her only rock? Sarah knew it would be more than she could take. “Nonny. You can’t sacrifice yourself for me. You can’t!”

  “Bullshit, Sarah. Of course I can. It’s your time to step up, and it’s my job to help you. Your life is worth more than mine. Godspeed, child.”

  “Nonny!” Sarah gripped the phone frantically as the line went dead. Her hand shaking, she frantically dialed again, and it went right into voicemail. “No!” She screamed her denial, her anguish, her protest useless in the empty cab of the truck.

  Her damned curse, her blessing, her fate, whatever name you attached to it, had stolen everything. And now it was going to take her grandmother, the woman who had held Sarah’s broken body, refusing to let her die after the man Sarah loved had attacked her and killed their child.

  Sarah couldn’t do it without her grandmother. She knew she couldn’t. It wasn’t simply her life that her brother had been trying to take from her last night. It was her soul, her hope, her faith, the very things that gave her power.

  Nonny was the only light left in Sarah’s life, the only beauty, the only sign that there might be something good in this God-forsaken existence she’d been cursed with. Without Nonny, there was nothing left inside Sarah. No hope. No faith. Nothing.

  The darkness closed in around Sarah, and a sudden chill rippled down her arms, a knowledge so ingrained in her that it told her exactly the moment the sun had set.

  It was now.

  She had a sudden vision of her stubborn grandmother strutting out of the village, her chin raised defiantly and her leather sandals whispering silently across the ground as she headed into the nightmare of claws, demons and hell beyond what anyone should endure.

  Dammit! She would not let that happen. “No!” Sarah slammed on the brakes, and the SUV skidded across the asphalt. She shoved the door open and leapt out, her battered bare feet aching as they hit the pebbles. She raised her arms to the sky, and closed her eyes, tapping into the very depths of her soul.

  She pictured her brother, and she let her heart bleed with the pain of his betrayal. She allowed her heart to fill with her love for the little boy she’d raised after their parents had been killed. She recalled the tone of his voice, that deep tenor that was so like their father’s had been. She imagined herself standing above his bed while he was a sleeping teenager, praying he would be spared.

  She opened her connection and her soul to Jacob, begging him to find her before he spotted their grandmother, tapping into the blood bond they shared and her immense love for him. Jacob. I’m here. Come find me. I’m almost to my destination, and you’ll never get me then. You have no time to waste. Come find me, now!

  A cool breeze teased over her skin, the hoot of an owl drifted through the woods, but there was no response from Jacob. He hadn’t noticed her yet. What was he doing? Killing Nonny? Jacob! She screamed his name—

  Suddenly, his face appeared in her thoughts, and she felt the cold ripple of his presence in her mind, utterly devoid of the jovial warmth that had been a part of him for so long. She stared into his vibrant blue eyes. The anguish and wisdom in them was so heartbreaking that she knew she was looking into Jacob’s eyes in that very moment, and that there was still awareness and humanity in them. Dear God, it was after sunset and his eyes were still blue. “Jacob?” Desperate hope leapt in her chest. “You’re okay?”

  Then his eyes began to glow red, that violent, punishing crimson of death and hate, and she felt her heart shatter again at the loss. Dammit. She should know better than to hope, because losing it was far more devastating than never feeling it in the first place.

  Jacob let out a roar of fury. Violent heat burst over her, and she knew he’d targeted her location. He was coming after her. The race had begun.

  He wouldn’t notice their grandmother now. He would be focused only on hunting Sarah. Yay. Happy day. There was nothing like forcing an assassin’s attention onto yourself to reinforce the fact that it’s just not a good day.

  Sarah shut him out of her mind, determined to block their connection enough to make it difficult for him to track her. Last night, she hadn’t been ready to block him, and he’d found her the moment the sun had set. But now, she was ready.

  Sarah closed her eyes and carefully reinforced her mental shields, trying to block her location from the brother that she’d been so connected with her entire life. It felt cold and empty not to have his warmth a part of her, but it was also a relief, a realization that maybe she had some control over how this played out.

  How long could she hold him off? Not three hours. Not when they had always been so close. But maybe there was hope up ahead, around the next bend. Every minute gave her a chance, every minute gave her grandmother a chance.

  Her heart thundering, Sarah dove back into the truck, hit the gas and took off into the woods.

  How long would it take for him to reach her? Since he was a new Calydon, his teleporting range was still limited, and he would have to make a series of leaps to catch up to her. Had she contacted him bef
ore he’d found Nonny? Would his need to kill Sarah be strong enough to get him and his team to forego easy prey? Please, Nonny, be safe.

  And would Sarah be able to survive another night at his mercy?

  She looked down at the cracks in her skin, like a porcelain doll about to break, and she knew the answer was no.

  But she’d have to find a way to change that to a yes.

  *

  Crack.

  Sarah jumped at the noise that sounded like a lightning bolt exploding into a tree trunk by the side of the road, right next to her. It had been almost two hours since she’d let her brother connect with her, two terrifying hours when she’d flinched at every sound, wondering how long she had.

  Ten minutes ago, she’d started to hope she was going to make it. She was only an hour away from Nashoba. Forty-five miles. That was all—

  Crack.

  She jumped again, her adrenaline surging. That sounded too close. Too real. She frantically looked to the left, searching the forest for the red glow of eyes stalking her. She saw nothing but the dark expanse of woods.

  Crack. The sound was ahead of her now.

  Crack. Behind her. Crack. To the right. Crack. To the left. The night began to bombard her with the sound of Calydon claws digging into tree trunks.

  Okay, she definitely wasn’t imagining it. Not anymore. They’d found her. They were here. All around. How many were there? One that was teleporting from tree to tree, or dozens of them, leaping along beside the truck? How many had her brother brought to destroy her?

  Sarah poised her hand over the button on the dash, knowing she would have only one opportunity. “Come on,” she muttered to herself. “Time this right.” She had to strike before they attacked, but she needed to wait until they were all close enough to be affected. She had one chance to catch them unprepared.

  As men, they were smart and talented.

  As monsters, they went on instinct and gut, and her only chance was to be smarter than they were.

  She turned off her headlights, leaving only her parking lights to illuminate the isolated road as the SUV raced along, trying to lure her attackers into a sense of safety. The night seemed to come to life, swelling around her like the hand of doom, ready to suck her into its depths, offering all the advantage to the beasts hunting her. The blackness was terrifying, a nightmare from her youth—

  No. She could handle this. She could do this.

  Sarah gunned the gas, straining her eyes for that red glow that would tell her where they were. The trees were black specters, striking at the night as the wind took their branches and knifed them across the void.

  A dark shape fluttered across the road, and she almost hit the button—

  No. An owl. She’d almost moved too soon. Sweat dripped down her forehead at the close call, but she didn’t dare take a moment to wipe it away. She had to be ready.

  Her only chance was to strike when they didn’t expect it. The impact of artificial light was limited, and if they had time to defend themselves, her assault would be powerless. Her only infallible weapon was her own powers, but the cost to her was too great, especially if she had to hurt her brother…

  She jutted out her jaw, and fierce determination swelled through her. No. She would not let them win.

  Then she saw what she’d been looking for: two small red circles glowing at her from a tree ahead, the eyes of a demon watching her. Another set to the right. A third on her left. She grimaced, realizing they were all around her. Her brother couldn’t have done the stereotypical male “I-never-ask-for-help” thing and come alone, could he? No, he’d brought the whole damned posse with him. Damn Jacob and his overly social tendencies.

  The Calydons were all around her, just like last night. Panic swelled in her throat, and she fought it back, fighting against the urge to be pathetic and terrified.

  Terror got her nowhere, and dammit, she had somewhere to be in the morning.

  Sarah fixed her gaze on the undulating shadow poised on the tree trunk, those red eyes watching her so carefully, tracking her progress. He was preparing to time the attack with flawless precision.

  Yeah, well, so was she, and she was the smarter one, so odds on her. Or not, but positive thinking was supposed to accomplish something, right?

  Her finger trembled over the button. Ready. Waiting.

  She forced her foot off the gas, slowing down, so they would think they had more time and get careless in their attack. Her instincts were screaming at her to floor it, to try to outrun them, but she knew she couldn’t. This was her only chance—

  Then she heard it. Click click click. The rapid triple click, the only warning their prey ever had. Click click click from all around her, from each one as they prepared to attack.

  Game time…Now!

  Sarah jammed her foot on the gas, and the vehicle exploded forward at the same moment that the night filled with black shadows leaping off the trees, right at her. She had a split second of raw horror as she saw that bottomless mouth and the twelve-inch claws coming at her—

  Screw being afraid. “Leave me alone!” She slammed her finger down on the button, and the floodlights on the roof of her truck burst to life, lighting up the dark woods as if the angels themselves had unleashed heaven’s blessings onto the night.

  The night screamed with their agony as the light burned them, and she swerved to the left as one catapulted past her in a helpless free-fall, his wail of agony like the worst suffering in the bowels of hell.

  She heard the thud of its body crashing to the asphalt behind her, rendered helpless by the light that he hadn’t had time to shield against. Others hurtled past her vehicle, their equilibrium destroyed, the night filled with the scent of their burning flesh. Thud after thud of creatures that used to be men hitting the asphalt, screaming in agony.

  Nausea and regret at the harm she had caused flooded Sarah as she fought to regain control of the SUV as it careened across the road toward the woods. “Come on!”

  The vehicle finally obeyed, and she realigned it, jamming her foot on the accelerator the moment she had control, hurtling up the dark road again. Guilt burned at her as she drove away from the bodies, leaving them to rot and die from her attack. Although the backlash wasn’t nearly as severe as if she’d used her own power to hurt them, the cost was still significant. A bad-ass warrior she would never be, as convenient as it would have been to have that be her professional calling.

  How many more were going to be in the next wave? And how soon? She knew they were coming, because she hadn’t seen her brother go down. As long as he was still alive, he would be able to track her and bring them straight to her—

  “Sarah.” The low male voice rasped in her ear, and she yelped, hit the brakes, and whirled around.

  Her brother was sitting in her backseat.

  Her stomach dropped, and raw terror knifed through her when she saw the blood red glow of his eyes, filled with the promise of death, torture, and a night of her begging for mercy she would never receive. His tousled blond hair was the same as it had been before his change, but his black tee shirt was torn and his skin was stretched taut across the bones of his face, like the demon within was about to break right through his skin. “Jacob, don’t do this—”

  He lunged over the backseat at her, his claws bared as he went for her throat.

  She lunged for the door, but there was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. No mercy was coming for her tonight. Only hell.

  Chapter Two

  Even with his chest heaving from exertion, his weapons burning in his hands, steam rising from his bare torso from the humidity, and the earth ruthlessly torn up from the battle, Calydon warrior Kane Santiago wanted more.

  He needed more.

  He needed to keep going until sheer, raw exhaustion dragged him ruthlessly into the sleep that wouldn’t come, until he was so drained that he couldn’t think any more.

  Kane had been driving himself relentlessly for eleven days straight, but it hadn’t been enough
to chase away the gaping void trying to consume him. It had been coming at him for months, this great pit of darkness, stalking him at every moment, but now it felt like his entire soul had been sucked from his body and thrust into a bottomless void of blackness.

  He didn’t know what was coming for him or how to stop it. He didn’t have answers. All he had was a scarred body that looked like an artist had used his flesh for a canvas and a knife for a paintbrush, and a thousand unanswered questions about a past he didn’t remember.

  Kane’s skin looked like ancient designs had been carved into it, but no one on this God-forsaken earth could explain why he had them or what they meant. Kane’s memories of his life began five hundred years ago, the day Dante Sinclair, the now-deceased leader of the elite team of Calydon warriors called the Order of the Blade, had hauled him out of the gutter. How old had Kane been that day? Thirty? A hundred? Two hundred? How had he ended up there, covered in body art of the most brutal kind?

  He had no idea, but the story carved on his body and the enormity of the blackness hunting him made it clear that there was shit he needed to know about his prior life, and he was running out of time to do it. In his five hundred years as an Order member, he’d spent every day fulfilling the Order’s mission to protect innocents from rogue Calydons, grimly willing to sacrifice one innocent to preserve the greater good, but no matter how hard Kane fought in defense of the Order’s moral code, it still hadn’t filled that void inside him, an emptiness that had been taking on a decidedly violent taint lately.

  The void he could live with. The uncontrollable need to inflict violence on others without justification? Not so much. That shit had to stop, and now.

  The air in the southern Oregon woods was thick with moisture, rich with the scent of earth saturated by the rain that was too cold for this time of year. Thick fog was rolling in fast, sucked in by the dance of the heat and cold. The air Kane was breathing was alive with vibrant energy, and yet all he could feel was the endless free-fall of his spirit into the bottomless chasm of darkness.