“Who the hell are you?” Kane demanded.
Sarah jerked her gaze off the woods and gasped in shock when she saw a man walk out of the red light, striding toward them. He was tall and heavily muscled, wearing a black leather shirt cuffed to the elbows and unbuttoned to his navel, showcasing angry red marks across his chest, as if someone had tied him down for centuries and the cables had become permanently carved into his flesh. His muscular legs were encased in black pants and his leather belt that seemed to undulate as if it were alive.
The man fastened his gaze on Kane, and there was a glow of intense satisfaction in his eyes. “You returned.”
Kane stiffened as the man’s voice rolled through him. His voice was grating and harsh, as if he’d spent centuries screaming and had nearly destroyed his ability to speak. His voice carried pain, anguish, despair, and a violence so dark and so dangerous that all of Kane’s warnings began to sound. Kane tightened his grip on Sarah, pulling her back. He was vigilantly aware of all the Calydons surrounding them, ready to leap, and he knew he’d have only a split second to get Sarah out of there once they launched their attack.
Swearing, he began to edge to the right, toward Ryland. He would not leave two men behind. Not today. Thano, if you can hear me, stay alive. We’re coming for you.
“Kane Santiago,” the man said. “You’re more than I ever thought you might be.”
Kane’s adrenaline bolted into high gear as he kept moving Sarah toward Ryland. “You know me?”
The male’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t remember?”
Kane went still, all his senses on high alert, racing through everything he could pick up. The scent of sulfur and death on the man, the taint of blood on the claws that reached halfway to the ground, the raspiness of his breathing. The male bled evil. He was thick with power, corruption and torture. Kane’s brands burned, and he felt his upper lip lift in a snarl, disgusted by the creature before them.
“No!” The man shouted his rage. “You know me! Think about it, Kane! Bring it back!”
Kane swore as something nudged at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t place it. But even as he thought it, pain began to streak through his body again.
Sarah gripped his arm. Kane. Your arm!
He glanced down, and saw the skin on his left arm was completely flawless. Not a single scar from his shoulder to his fingers. But as he watched it, it began to ripple, as if there was a black poison beneath his skin, being stirred by an approaching storm.
A thin smile stretched across the man’s face, and he raised his hand. A streak of red light flashed out of his hand spiking right toward Kane’s heart. Kane instinctively blocked it with his flail. The man smiled, his face pleased. “You’re good.”
There was movement from his right, and Kane sensed Ryland dragging himself onto his knees. He glanced over and swore when he saw that Ryland’s face was still the distorted hell that it had been. Ry’s eyes were fixated on Kane, on his hand where he was holding onto Sarah. Kane swore. Threats coming from all directions. Too many to defend against. “Who are you?”
“Luc Acostos,” the man bowed deeply, and Kane saw black markings on his right shoulder, markings that made the hair on the back of Kane’s neck stand up.
Because he had those same markings. They were barely visible beneath the scars, but they were there. And this man had them too.
“Jesus,” he said softly. “What are you?” The man carried no brands. He wasn’t a Calydon.
“You know,” Luc said, moving closer, his gaze locked on Kane. He didn’t even seem to see Sarah or Ryland or anything else. “You know.”
Kane’s mind filled with flashes and images. A woman. Brown hair, blue eyes. Kindness. Warmth. Something shifted inside Kane, something that tightened in his gut and seemed to reverberate through him…then the pain began again. Not his skin this time. Deeper. Inside his soul. The kind of pain that stripped a man raw and left him to die.
Luc’s eyes glittered. “Elizabeth,” he breathed. “You see Elizabeth.”
“Who is she?”
“Your mother.”
And suddenly Kane was back there in the room. He could smell the fire in the hearth, the scent of food cooking. She was rocking in a chair, humming to herself as she knitted. Kane closed his eyes at the sound of the song. He knew it. Sweet Jesus, he knew that song. She held up her project, and he saw it was a small blue blanket. A baby blanket. She smiled and pressed the blanket to her heart, and he felt the waves of love pouring off her, filling the room with warmth and a golden energy that seemed to wrap around her.
Kane. Sarah’s awed voice was in his head, and he realized that she could see what he was seeing. She’s an angel. The gold glow. Your mother was an angel.
An angel? His mother was an angel? His entire body shuddered in disbelief. This was his past? This was his world? His mother stood up suddenly, and he saw she was heavy with child. She patted her belly, and again, he felt her warmth. It plunged straight into his chest so fiercely, he couldn’t breathe, and he realized that she’d sent that love into him. Jesus, Sarah. She’s pregnant with me.
And she’d loved him. Son of a bitch. She’d loved him—
His mother staggered suddenly, and waves of violent energy began to pour off her. She screamed and grabbed the back of the chair while she slid to her knees, grasping her belly. “No!” Kane leapt up, reaching for her, for the woman who wasn’t really there. “What’s happening to her?”
She screamed again, and a black stain began to spread over her skin. Violence spewed off her, turning her golden light to a mutated taint of poisonous smog. She fell to the ground, and her body began to convulse as smoke poured out of her fingers, blood oozing from her pores, cuts appearing on her body. “No!” Kane screamed, lunging for her, but his hands met only earth. Her body began to shake, and others rushed into the room, people shouting and holding her. Some staggering and gagging from the taint in the room. The vileness of the atmosphere was palpable, and some ran out, shouting for help.
People surrounded her, cutting off his view of her, and Kane bellowed his rage, trying to get to see her—
Then someone stood up, carrying a baby. A boy. Him? The crowd parted, and he saw the outline of his mother’s body beneath a tattered black blanket. Seeping from the edges of the blanket, inching its way through the crevices in the wood was a thick, black stain, eating away at the very fabric of the home.
Kane stared in horror at his mother, bile rising in his throat. “What happened to her?”
“You did,” Luc’s voice was dripping with disgust, with disdain, with hatred so thick that it tore through Kane’s memories and jerked him out of the past.
Kane looked up in shock. “What?”
“You killed her.” Luc spat on Kane, his lip curled in disgust. “You destroyed her, you bastard cretin. I was coming back for her. We had a plan. And you fucking killed her.”
The truth of Luc’s words reverberated through Kane, and pain stabbed through him, tearing through his flesh and his soul. “Son of a bitch.” He bent over and braced his hands on his quads, fighting for breath. How could he have killed his own mother? But he felt the truth of it. He knew that taint was his. He’d poisoned her before he had even been born.
Kane, Sarah said. Don’t listen to him. He’s trying to torment you—
“No!” He gasped. “I can feel it. It’s true.”
“And now you pay for it.” Luc lashed out suddenly, and Kane felt his heart stutter. He looked down and saw a black shadow had pierced his chest and was trying to rip his heart out of his body.
“Stop it!” Sarah called out Kane’s flail and hurled it at Luc. He glanced over at her too late, and it slammed right into his chest, hurling him backward and ripping his shadowy arm out of Kane’s chest.
Kane gasped for breath, his mind reeling as he fought for clarity. He had to focus. Had to concentrate—
Luc was on his knees now, glowering at Kane, but he didn’t attack again. “In due time,” he
snarled. “But first you suffer.”
More visions flashed into Kane’s mind, thundering through his consciousness. He was in a small cabin in the woods. The night was beating at the doors, the windows rattling, but there was a fire in the hearth. He was restless, pacing the room, his skin on fire. He reached for the door, and then a soft voice called his name.
He turned as a woman walked out of the bedroom. She had white blond hair, blue eyes, and a smile so tender that Kane nearly choked. She was young, shit, so young, barely eighteen. She smiled at him, and he saw brands on her arms. His brands. His soul mate. “Son of a bitch.” He didn’t know her name. He had no clue who she was, but those were his brands. She belonged to him. “Jesus.” His chest hurt, his lungs hurt, he couldn’t breathe. This was who he was. His past. His family.
Kane. Sarah’s hands were on his shoulders, and he gripped them tightly, trying to pull himself back from the images. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He wanted to find out about his past. To know the people who had been important to him.
Another scene now. The same woman. Working outside in the garden. She turned toward him, and a smile lit up her face. Not just a smile. Love. Son of a bitch. She’d loved him. He’d been loved. He reached for her, and then there was a shout from around the corner of the house.
His sheva turned and held out her arms, laughing as a young boy toddled toward her. The boy Kane had seen before in his dreams. Tousled curly hair. A muddy red shirt. The woman swept the boy up in her arms, their laughter echoing through the yard. God, they were happy. Then the boy looked toward Kane, and his heart almost stopped. The boy had his eyes. Sweet Jesus. “Is he my son?”
“He is,” Luc said, violent disgust making his voice vibrate. “Do you feel their love? Do you feel their innocence?”
“God, yes.” Kane tried to reach for them to touch them, but his hands just passed through air—
Then suddenly, his sheva whirled around, facing the woods. Her smile vanished, fear flickered across her face. She began to back toward the house, clutching the boy to her chest. She had her hand out, as if she was trying to ward off something.
Slowly with great dread, as if he knew what was coming, Kane turned his head to see what she was looking at, and he went rigid when he saw himself sprint out of the woods. His body was clean, not a scar to be seen, his muscles leaner with youth. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen, barely a warrior.
But his eyes were glowing black, and he was wielding both his weapons as if for battle. She screamed and tried to run, and Kane leapt on her, raising his weapon and bringing it down toward her head—
Stop it! Sarah blasted through his mind, shredding the image.
Kane gasped, his mind whirling, agony constricting his heart. “I killed them.” Jesus. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t swallow. His emotions were tearing apart his insides. “I killed my son—”
“No!” Sarah grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. “It’s not real, Kane! Luc is projecting them into your mind! It didn’t happen! You wouldn’t do that! It’s not real.”
He gripped her shoulders, his fingers digging into her in desperation. “Get away from me, Sarah. Get away before I do it to you.”
“No!” She screamed at him and hammered on his chest. “Stop it!”
Then the images flashed. His sheva on the ground, blood pouring from a wound in her chest. His son on the ground next to her. Eyes closed. His face angelic even in death. Grief roared through Kane, and he staggered to his feet, unable to focus, to think. He’d killed them. He’d killed them all. Jesus Christ. He was the monster. He was the one who should have been struck down. It was him. He was the one. “No!” He bellowed his rage to the night, unable to contain the hell filling him.
“Kane!” Sarah grabbed his arm, and he felt her trying to build a connection between them, to call upon their bond to bring him back.
“Don’t!” He yanked his arm out of her grip, staggering as the world spun around him. Everything he believed in was a lie. Everything that he’d purported to honor for his whole existence meant nothing. He was the protector. The guardian. The harbinger of relief to innocents. And it was a lie. A fucking lie. He was the monster he’d claimed to protect the world against for the last five hundred years. He was the one who deserved to die. Not the others. Him.
Sarah threw herself in his way, blocking his path. The anguish rolling off Kane was unbelievably intense, a thousand times worse than she’d ever felt from anyone. He couldn’t see that it could be a lie, he couldn’t fathom the concept of hope or faith that it was wrong. He was drowning in despair, pure unadulterated, heart-wrenching despair. He was sunk in the hopelessness for who he was, for what he had been, for what he could be.
It was so intense, so much stronger than it should have been. She felt it tearing at her, invading her own soul, burdening her. “Dammit, Kane! Stop it!” A flicker of fear rippled through her, fear that maybe he was the man brought to destroy her, and she grimaced, knowing full well that it was the loss of hope and faith that was making her afraid.
Somehow, Kane had given her back hope and faith, and now it was slipping through their fingers, torn apart by the magnitude of what he was feeling. A sudden chill rippled over her. The river. Something had to have happened to the river, and it was affecting Kane, tearing him apart.
She knew then that they had to get out of there now. She didn’t know what game Luc was playing, but he was winning. “Kane!” She grabbed his wrist. “Teleport us out of here. Take us out—”
There was a sudden howl of victory that sent chills down Sarah’s arms. She whirled around just as a Calydon’s blade closed in on her face—
“No!” Kane’s flail slammed into it, knocking it aside. Sarah whirled toward him. His eyes were wild and strung out, and anguish was pouring off him, but his eyes were clear now. “You don’t get to hurt her!” He bellowed, tearing past her as the forest erupted with Calydons attacking her. He tore through them with his weapons, fighting with unbelievable speed and force, beyond what any male should be able to summon. The others had no chance against him, and—
“Sarah.” A cold hand closed around her throat, and Luc yanked her over to him, his claws digging into her flesh, and cutting off her breath. His eyes were glittering with black rage, as she scrabbled at her neck, trying to pry his hands off. She couldn’t call Kane’s weapons, because it would leave him defenseless against the dozens of attackers.
His eyes glittered. “Kill me, Sarah. Try.”
She realized then what he was trying to do. He was trying to destroy her. He was the one behind it all. He wanted her to use her powers to hurt him. Damn him! “No,” she hissed. “You don’t get to destroy me!”
His claws tightened on her throat, and she couldn’t breathe. The earth started to spin, and her arms went numb. Panic hit her, and she fought desperately. Sarah! She heard Kane’s roar of outrage, and suddenly he materialized beside her. He grabbed her and started to dematerialize—
But her body wouldn’t go with him.It was the same thing that had happened with Thano and Ryland!
“Shit!” Kane reformed, and he struck hard against Luc, but her captor simply dissolved into smoke, allowing Kane’s weapon to pass through him before rematerializing again.
“Kane! Behind you!” Kane whirled around and blocked another blow, but the Calydons were on them, attacking swiftly and aggressively. Sarah screamed as another blade came down toward her. Kane deflected it, and then someone hit him in the back of the head. And another came at her. Too many, from all directions.
Sarah screamed as a blade jammed into her belly, trying to twist free of Luc’s ruthless grip, but she was nothing more than a rag doll in his grasp.
“Stay away from her!” Suddenly there was a roar of fury, and Ryland leapt to his feet and hurled his machete at Luc. His face was human again, his body thick with muscle as he charged Luc. “Get the fuck off the angel,” he bellowed.
But again, Luc simply dissolved himself w
here the machete had struck, and then he reformed, a broad grin widening on his face. “You can’t beat me,” he shouted. “Now is when the suffering begins, and I get what I want.” He raised her up by her neck, leaving her feet dangling above the ground. “Kane Santiago,” he shouted. “Come save your sheva!”
Then he hurled her right at a team of Calydons, standing there ready with their blades. “No!” She instinctively summoned her white light, and she struck instantly, igniting the night with her light just as she reached them. But before she hit them, Kane materialized and grabbed her. “Oh, no!” She tried to turn off her white light, but it was too late, and she smelled the stench of burning flesh as Kane tore her away from them, the smoke rising from his own body as she torched him.
Kane gasped and stumbled, and they reformed right in the middle of the carnage. Calydons descended upon them, and Kane leapt up, fighting to protect her, even as the white flames flickered on his body, and he fell to the ground. Ryland rushed in beside them, cutting down their attackers as Sarah crawled over to Kane, who was trying to lurch to his feet. “Kane! Just take us out—”
He grabbed her and tried again, and again, nothing happened. They didn’t disappear. Kane swore, and she saw that same black shadow winding around their legs, the same one that had taken Thano, the one that had made it impossible for Kane to teleport him out of there.
They were trapped.
Then more Calydons attacked Kane and Ryland. The moment her guardians were engaged, Luc grabbed her again, grinning at Kane’s howls of fury as he tried to get to her, but couldn’t, his teleporting stripped from him by the smoky tendrils. Sarah gasped as Luc dragged her across the dirt toward him and locked his claws around her throat. “I’m sorry you need to die for this,” he said, and Sarah saw real humanity in his eyes for a split second. “But I have to save her.”
Darkness Reborn (Order of the Blade #5) Page 20