Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5)

by Rowe, Stephanie

  Sarah stared at her grandmother. “But you’re not immortal—”

  “No? Don’t make judgments, young lady—”

  Kane leaned forward, his voice urgent. “Was it me? Am I Los Muerte? Am I the danger that’s going to bring this village down?””

  Nonny’s eyebrows shot up. “Why are you asking me? You know the answer to that question.”

  Kane swore. “I don’t remember anything—”

  “Of course you do. Everything you’ve ever lived is inside you. You know exactly who you used to be, and who you are now. It’s your choice to decide when you’re ready to know.”

  “I don’t remember a damned thing.”

  “You can’t erase what’s in your mind, boy. You just have to decide you want to hear it.” Nonny stood up. “Come on, Sarah. We need to get you out of here. There’s no need for you to spend the night in the village and endanger yourself. Let the boys do their thing.”

  Kane blocked the door “No,” he said fiercely. “Sarah stays.”

  Sarah frowned. “I can’t stay here. They know I’m here and they’ll come get me. Without Jacob to track me, I can hide outside the village—”

  “And if they do find you outside the village, who will protect you?”

  “My brother is the only one who can find me, and he’s dead—”

  “He’s not dead.”

  Sarah went still, and Nonny sucked in her breath. “What?” Sarah had suspected her brother might have survived when she’d realized that she and Kane hadn’t done the death stage of the bond, but she hadn’t dared to hope it was true, not when Jacob had failed to reappear. She’d simply tried to focus on keeping herself strong so that his death and betrayal couldn’t kill her as well. But now… “He’s really alive?” Joy leapt in her heart for her brother, at the same moment that fear trickled through her for the assassin he was planning to be.

  “He’s not dead. He’s unconscious. They’re keeping him at the mansion until they can figure out how to hold him. The minute he wakes up, he’ll find you, won’t he?” Kane’s eyes flashed the challenge, and Sarah closed her eyes as rekindled fear simmered through her.

  Kane was right.

  She opened her eyes and looked at her grandmother. Nonny’s face was grim, but at the same time, there was a glimmer of hope. As long as Jacob was alive, they might be able to save him. Resolution poured through Sarah, and she clenched her fists. “All right,” she said, “I’m staying.” But she knew there was no hiding. If Jacob was alive, he could teleport right into the house, right past the lights. There was nowhere safe to hide from Jacob. The only man who could keep her safe was Kane, which meant that when he went hunting tonight, she had to go with him. “This has to end tonight. I can’t keep this up.”

  Nonny set her hands on her hips. “How is it going to end? What ends tonight?”

  Sarah took a deep breath. “Tonight they… we… are going to follow them home and find out what happens to them at night to make them crazy. Tonight, it ends.” She glanced over at Kane and the others, and knew this was her best chance.

  As long as they didn’t go crazy, too. Oh, God, what if they went rogue once they were exposed to the village?

  Kane grinned at her, flashing a decadent smile. I won’t go crazy until after we complete our bonding, sweetheart.

  Desire pulsed through her, and fear. We will never complete our bonding—

  Oh, but we will. There was no other choice in the matter.

  *

  Hours later, Sarah huddled beside Kane, crouched low in the cave on the side of the mountain near Akara. She watched the sun dip lower in the sky, and her heart began to pound. She hadn’t been outside in the village at night before, not in her whole life. It was terrifying, but at the same time, exhilarating. This was her village, her town, and she was taking it back.

  No longer was she hiding. No longer was she quivering in fear. Kane had given her the power to stand up and fight for her village, for her brother, for herself.

  She glanced over at Kane. He was on his stomach in the dirt, hunkered down behind the rock ledge. His weapons were at the ready, a flail in each hand. His body was streaked in mud to make him blend into the night, and his muscles were taut with alertness.

  Out in those woods right now were Ryland and Thano, hunting Calydons, herding them toward Kane, trying to sweep for the darkness that Kane had sensed earlier. The powerful one. The one that had nearly brought him down by flooding him with those terrible visions, and by drawing blood from Kane without even touching him. She’d felt the darkness that had attacked Kane on other occasions, and she’d felt it earlier today. It was laced with a depth of evil and depravity that made her blood turn to ice in her body. She’d always been certain that was the energy signature of the leader. Kane and the others agreed.

  He was the one they needed to find, and Kane was going to try to find him by following a trail of blood…literally.

  Sarah looked down at the scars on Kane’s arm and saw another clear spot on his forearm. The talismans were definitely disappearing. Whether he was Los Muerte or not, those talismans were on him for a reason, and she was scared of what would happen if he was stripped of their protections. What would happen if he imbued himself with tainted blood from one of Akara’s rogue Calydons? She touched his arm, and he jumped, before turning his head toward her. “Your touch ignites something inside me,” he said, his eyes hooded. “Every single time.”

  Heat burst through her, and suddenly the cave seemed to disappear, consumed by the enormity of his presence. She swallowed and pulled her hand back. “Kane—”

  He grabbed her hand and kept it pressed against his skin. “Don’t let go,” he said, his voice low and sensual. “I need it.”

  Ohh… Desire rippled through her, a calling for him, for his touch, for his possession. His grip was tight, his skin burning hot as if he were trying to melt through her flesh right to her soul. Involuntarily, her fingers tightened around his arm, and she felt his body shudder in response. How could she have that much power over him? “Is this from the sheva bond?”

  “Hell if I know.” He bent his head and brushed his lips over her knuckles, his gaze never leaving her face. “All I know is that I’ve been inside this fucking shell for the last five hundred years. I feel nothing. I just exist. And yet when you touch me…” He lifted his head, his mouth almost touching hers… “Or when you kiss me…” He brushed his mouth over the corner of hers, and she went still, her heart hammering in her chest. “Or when I touch you…” He slipped his hand beneath her shirt, spanning his palm across her lower back. “My world literally changes, and I come to life.”

  Sarah’s breath was tight in her chest, and she felt like she couldn’t get air. The current was electric between them, and Kane’s emotions were rolling over her. Desire, passion, and something else. Something she couldn’t read. Something so human, so vulnerable, so endearing that she wanted to cry that this powerful, rugged warrior who lived a life of such violence could be so broken inside. “Don’t do it,” she whispered.

  “Do what? Kiss you?” He caught her chin and kissed her, his lips so tender and gentle that tears filled her eyes. I have to kiss you, Sarah. You’re like my oxygen. I don’t know how to make my heart beat unless you’re inside my soul. It didn’t beat before. Not until I met you.

  “Kane,” she gasped, pulling away. She gripped his hair, desperate to hold onto this man who was breaking through the shields she’d kept around herself for so long. “Don’t do the blood bond with one of the Calydons from our woods. They’re evil. You shouldn’t have their blood in you.”

  His eyes glittered, and she felt a pulsing heat from him. A burst of raw, sensual desire. “You’re worried about me?”

  “Well, yes…” She glanced at the talismans on his body and felt a ripple of fear at the thought of what their purpose was. “I mean, we don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with here and—”

  “Shit, woman. No one worries about me. It’s an insult.”
Then he locked his arm around her waist and kissed her again. Hard this time. Like he wanted to possess every inch of her soul and own it forever. But I fucking love that you said that anyway.

  She almost laughed at his reply, even as heat tore through her body at his kiss. You big strong guys are just liars. You want to be coddled, don’t you?

  “No.” He pulled back, his gaze so intense it seemed to bore right through her. “I want to make love to you until you can’t move. I want to be inside you, on top of you, wrapped around you on every level of our being until our spirits are so intertwined that everywhere I go, for every second of every day, I feel your spirit inside me, keeping me alive.”

  “Oh.” She could barely manage to squeak a response, she was so overwhelmed by the mixture of emotions flooding her. His. Hers. Passion. Lust. Protectiveness. Darkness. Desperation. She didn’t even know whose emotions were whose, but it was an unbelievable feeling. Suddenly, she knew what he meant when he’d claimed that she made him come alive, because he was doing the same thing to her.

  She’d shut down her own emotions the day her daughter had died in her arms. She had closed herself off to any emotions, including the hope and faith that was so necessary for her to live. “I was dying, too,” she said quietly. “But you’re giving me hope again. You’re not letting me shut you out.”

  He grinned. “Good. I hate being ignored.”

  “No. It’s not good.” She groaned and closed her eyes, resting her cheek against the cold stone of the cave floor as she realized the implications of what she was feeling. “I can’t go through it again. If I hadn’t trusted Mason so completely, it wouldn’t have devastated me so badly. I can’t do that again.” She sighed. “I know, you’re this big, tough badass who’s at least five hundred years old, and Mason was only twenty-two, so you should be able to resist what he couldn’t and not go insane, but it’s not that easy, Kane.”

  Kane was silent for a moment, his hand rubbing small circles on her lower back. “Sarah. There’s something I need to tell you about Mason.”

  “What?” Sarah inched closer to him, checking her flask of water from the river. She couldn’t afford to think about Kane or how he made her feel. She couldn’t afford to let down her guard. She had one job, and that was to find out what was poisoning the village and stop it before it destroyed her.

  The water was a reminder of what she was about to face, of the need to recover if she had to strike offensively with her powers. She had two flasks on her hip, and several more on the ground beside her. Kane had forced her to bring them, ordering her to be prepared to use her powers to save herself if she had to. With the water at her side to help her recover, Kane was determined that she would be able to protect herself and not die from it.

  She had other plans, and they involved not hurting anyone. She’d had enough of that. Tonight, it would be different. Kane and his team could fight the battle. She was going to find the source of the taint and end it. Now.

  Kane had told her to stay close, that he would teleport her to safety if she needed it, and she knew he meant it. He would take her out of the battle, even if she wanted to stay. Heat went through Sarah at the memory of how he’d saved her before. The intensity of their lovemaking, the power of their connection. She missed that. She wanted it again. She wanted to fall into what he offered her and forget about everything else. She wanted to believe his words and his touch and stop trying to stand on her own, but she’d done that before, and how wrong she’d been.

  She couldn’t lose sight of what mattered. She couldn’t make herself so vulnerable that she lost the ability to do what she was supposed to do. The darkness that was encroaching on the village had to be stopped, and falling into ecstasy with Kane wasn’t going to do it.

  “Mason’s eyes were clear,” Kane said quietly. “He knew what he was doing when he attacked you and Abigail. He wasn’t rogue.” He glanced over at her. “Is it always that way? Do they always know?”

  His words plunged straight through her shields, and suddenly Sarah was back in that moment, staring into the face of the man she’d known her whole life. Into his eyes. Glowing. Red. And aware. Shock rippled through her, icy cold shock, as she realized Kane was telling the truth, and that she had known it all along.

  Betrayal bit deep, even deeper than ever before, and she bowed her head, fighting against the swell of despair trying to take her. It was one thing for someone she loved to go insane and try to kill her. It was worse, so much worse, for him to turn on her and know what he was doing. Like Jacob. They both had known, and she knew it. She took a deep breath, fighting to steel herself to the emotions that would never serve her. “Yes.”

  Kane swore and shifted position, moving closer to her until his hip was against hers. “Then they’re not rogue. They’re something else.”

  “Evil.” God, it hurt just to say the word, to acknowledge that two men she’d loved dearly for her whole life were evil, but it was true. She knew it was. There was no other word for someone who would kill those they loved in ruthless, cold blood.

  Kane looked at her in surprise. “That’s a strong word.”

  “I know.” She looked out into the dusk, at the yellows and oranges lighting up the sky, beginning to sink the woods into darkness. “But can’t you feel it? The woods change at night. The air becomes stagnant. It smells like sulfur and rot. It hurts to breathe. It’s as if there is a layer of death on the earth, and each night it gets stronger, encroaching upon the village.” She looked down at the old fountain, at the river that Kane had opened earlier today. “It will be closed up in the morning,” she said. “We won’t be able to get to the water. We’ll have to hunt for it again. Each time it gets harder.”

  Kane touched her shoulder. “We’ll find it.”

  “Someday we won’t.” She stretched out next to him on her belly, resting her shoulder against his. For some reason she couldn’t understand, touching him seemed to ward off the fear haunting her. If anyone should scare her, it was Kane, with his scars, his darkness and the fact she carried his mark on her arm. But right now, as she looked into his eyes and felt his strength, she knew he was not going to hurt her. He would protect her, and that was a gift.

  Kane made her feel safe, and it was incredible. She couldn’t remember ever feeling safe. Even as a child, her parents had told her stories about the forest at night, trying to terrify her into never daring to sneak out. It had worked. She hadn’t. Ever.

  Until tonight. Until Kane and his team had given her the freedom to stand outside while the sun went down and look directly into the demon’s mouth. “That’s why we have to find out what happens at night.” It was thrilling being out here, not being afraid. She knew that as long as she stayed close to Kane, he would teleport her out of danger and kill everyone who needed to be stopped.

  Kane gave her the power to be the person she wanted to be.

  They fell silent for a moment, watching the woods. Sarah felt content. Safe. In control. Kane gave her that luxury. It was heady and amazing. Brilliant. A gift. As long as she didn’t think about Mason or Jacob, or the scars on her belly, she was good.

  “I talked to the guys at the mansion,” Kane said. “Jacob’s still out, but they’re going to try waking him up at dawn, since that’s when he’s most likely to be somewhat sane.”

  Sarah clenched her fists against the sudden fear in her belly, an emotion that shouldn’t be associated with her brother. What kind of man would he be when he woke up? Would he have a moment of being her brother, or would the evil consume him right way? Would he vanish from their hold even in the light of day and track Sarah right to their home? She couldn’t lie to herself anymore. The time for false hope was over. She had to accept that Jacob would come after her instantly. “So, tonight is our last chance,” she said. “Once Jacob’s out, he’ll be hunting me ruthlessly.”

  “Yeah.” There was an undercurrent of blackness in Kane’s voice, and she looked sharply at him. There was a black stain across his shoulders, sprea
ding slowly through his scars, like a river of taint oozing through the maze of ridges on his back.

  She sat up quickly and put her hand on his back. Kane jumped and sucked in his breath, his whole body rippling. “What?” she asked. “Did that hurt?”

  “No.” He spun toward her suddenly, his eyes dark with passion.

  “Oh…” She sat up, startled by his sudden reaction. “Kane, we’re about to engage in battle.”

  “No.” He grabbed her by her ankle and hauled her over to him, his eyes blazing with lust, and something else. Something dark. Something that made chills of fear ripple over her skin.

  “Kane—”

  “Sarah,” he growled, as he grabbed her around the hips and yanked her against him. “You’re mine.” And then he kissed her, a voracious kiss that seemed to consume her and suck her very spirit right out of her.

  Fear arced through her, and a sense of belonging so powerful she couldn’t stop it. Kane felt so right, even at the same time that she was so terrified of what lay beneath the surface—

  He growled, a deep-throated growl that sounded nothing like him, and fear ran more thickly through her as he upped his assault on her senses. His kisses were a torrent of desire and aggression, flooding her defenses, arousing her to levels beyond her ability to resist.

  Then suddenly, he was in her mind, rushing her with all his emotions. Fear, lust, darkness, passion and something else…something in the very depths of his being…a light? Warmth? His real soul? She hadn’t felt it before, and it slithered out of her grasp before she could access it.

  Panic assaulted her as it disappeared, as if it was her job to find it and hold onto it, keeping it from disappearing. She gripped his shoulders, kissing him back frantically, desperate to reach inside him, to find what she’d lost. She felt like she could help him, that she was supposed to help him, that she was supposed to find that light inside him. Kane. Let me in. Let me find it.

  Pain suddenly rocked Kane, shooting through his body like a violent stab. She felt his body shudder, but he didn’t break the kiss. His hands went to her throat, her chest, over her breasts, as if he could lose himself in her and spare himself the pain. What is this, Sarah? Why does it hurt like fucking hell to kiss you?