Darkness Arisen (27 page)

"No." Alice leaned over the edge of the boat and touched the water. "But Jada said it was hidden to all except those who know."

"So, we must know, then, right?" Ian closed his eyes and opened his preternatural senses. He breathed in the fullness of the air. He tasted salt in the wind...and soil. He smelled grass and flowers. He could hear the sounds of tiny claws skittering along dead leaves and the sound of leaves rippling in the wind. "We're here," he said. He opened his senses further, using the powers and skills his father had taught him so many years ago in the woods, to see with his mind and not with his eyes. He sensed the life force around them. Plants, animals, and the pulsing call of the earth itself. Tangled in the midst was the cold, dank energy of black magic, coating his pores like a heavy syrup of death and danger.

The brands in his arms began to burn, and he instinctively reached out for Alice, drawing her closer against him while he called out his mace with a crack and a flash of black light.

"Where is it?" Alice asked.

"Can't you feel it?" Keeping his eyes closed, he turned in a slow circle, using his preternatural senses like a radar, sending it out into the air. So much space and air over the water to the north and the west. He turned again to the east. More open space. He turned again, facing due south, and sent out a wave of energy.

It vanished, absorbed by whatever was in front of them.

He opened his eyes, but saw only ocean.

Alice was leaning forward, her gaze riveted in the same spot his was. She was holding out her palm, the one with the gray mark. "I can feel him," she said. "I can sense his magic."

Ian leaned over the edge of the boat and peered into the water. Just ocean. No sand. "Where is it?" It was here somewhere. He knew it was. But where?

Alice went down on her knees and stuck her hand in the water. It came away wet. She frowned. "I could swear it was right here."

"Me, too."

He crouched beside her and shoved his mace into the water. It sliced through easily, and he could see the blade beneath the surface of the water. "Just ocean."

For a moment, the two of them sat there, staring at the island that wasn't there. "Cardiff believes in angels," Alice finally said.

"So?"

"So, angels can't be proven. We don't look special or wear halos or float down from heaven." She chewed her lip. "You have to take us on faith."

Ian looked back across the expanse of water. "Faith." Faith wasn't a word he'd believed in. He believed in making things happen, in fighting relentlessly to discover the right solution. Faith was for people who didn't take action. He looked over at her. "Do you have faith?"

"Not really," she said, and there was no mistaking the regret in her voice. "And I should." Slowly, she rose to her feet. "Faith is the most powerful tool any of us can have," she said. "As powerful as angels are, there's nothing we can do for those who don't believe in us and allow us to help."

He raised his brows. "So, maybe that's why you can't save anyone. Because the people you want to save don't believe in you."

She looked over at him. "My mother was an angel. Of course she believed in me."

"So maybe you're the one without faith. You don't believe in yourself."

Her mouth tightened, and she inclined her head. "Entirely possible." She turned back toward the water again. "Cardiff has faith," she whispered. "Faith is what it's all about." She took a deep breath, and before Ian could stop her, she stepped up onto the edge of the boat.

"Hey." Ian eased toward her, his heart starting to race. "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking a leap of faith." And then she jumped.

Ian lunged for her, but his hands closed around empty air. He stopped in surprise, realizing that she had literally disappeared. Not into the water. She'd just vanished. Into Cardiff's hidden kingdom?

It didn't matter where she was. Alice was unprotected, and he was going after her. Without a second thought or a moment of hesitation, Ian threw himself off the edge of the boat and into the air, his mace ready.

* * *

Alice startled, jumping to the side when Ian burst out of the mist and landed beside her, his boots thumping on the damp earth. When she saw it was him, she relaxed...slightly. He was better than an insane, murderous wizard, but he'd made it pretty clear he wasn't the shiny-cheeked answer to her dreams.

Ian let out his breath in a low whistle. "Holy shit," he said as he looked around.

"I know. It's incredible." They were deep in a jungle, with massive trees towering so high they blocked out the sun. The vegetation was thick and green, with vines and moss dangling from branches. Bushes with leaves two feet wide surrounded them, and the squeaks and chirps of animals were a tremendous cacophony of noise. But the most incredible things were the flowers that towered above them. Pink, blue, yellow... every color imaginable, in every shape possible. They twisted around tree trunks, dangled from branches, squeezed out between leaves, and popped up from the dirt. The fragrance was astonishing, the deeply rich scents of flowers so vibrant that she wanted to close her eyes and simply breathe.

It was a sanctuary, an oasis in the middle of a vast ocean. A place of beauty and nature, so unlike what she would have expected from a wizard steeped in black magic and death. "It's beautiful." She started to walk toward a bush of violet flowers, but Ian grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"Stop."

The urgency in his voice made her freeze. "What is it?"

"Give me a sec." He looked around, and she felt his energy rippling through the air. After a moment, he looked at the ground she'd been walking toward. He hurled his mace at the earth, and the moment the blade made contact with the ground, there was an explosion. The earth vanished, replaced by a bottomless pit seething with black and purple smoke.

"Oh, wow." Alice started to retreat, but Ian forced her to stop again as he recalled his mace from the pit.

He jammed his mace into the earth behind them, and the same thing happened. It simply crumbled beneath his weapon, revealing another gaping hole bubbling with noxious mist. Ian swore under his breath, and recalled his mace as it plummeted down the bottomless hole. "The beauty is a trap," he said. "A distraction."

A trap. The most beautiful things she'd ever seen were simply a facade for death and destruction. The realization was almost devastating, as if she'd finally opened her heart enough to trust the good, the beauty, and it was all a lie. Was how she felt about Ian a lie as well?

"Stay here." Ian hurled his mace all around them. Hole after hole after hole opened up, until the only solid earth was the four-foot piece of ground they were standing on. Everything beautiful was gone. Had it ever been there, or was it all simply an illusion?

"Don't throw it at our feet," she said as he looked around, ostensibly for another spot to test. Not that there was anything left. He'd opened up the entire area around them, so they were perched on what felt like the head of a pin, standing precariously in the middle of bottomless chasms of torment and death.

Not her first choice of places to be, she had to admit.

"It wouldn't make a difference if I hit the earth we're standing on. We're on solid ground. The dolphins knew where to deliver us." He looked around. "The question is, how do we get out of here?"

He slung his arm around her shoulder and hauled her against him, as if to ensure that she didn't accidentally step off the ledge and free-fall to a gnarly conclusion. There was nowhere else to go given their tiny sanctuary, but she had to admit that being tucked up against his strong body felt like the right place to be. She could feel his calmness, and it soothed her nerves, giving her the ability not to panic. Ian gave her security and stability, and it felt amazing. But were her feelings no more real than the beauty that had welcomed them? Was Ian just one mace strike from disintegrating into a poisonous death for her?

Probably,
he said.
You gotta watch out for the guys who carry weapons. We're an unpredictable bunch.

Alice stiffened at the brush of warmth in her mind that seemed to cascade through her, igniting her body the same way he always did.
Do you really have so little sense of privacy?

I've spent half a millennium running around the earth with a bunch of sweaty guys who wind up naked, almost dead, and bleeding several times a week. Privacy isn't going to keep us alive, babe. I don't believe in it.

Well, I do!

He tightened his grip on her and looked down at her. His eyes were blazing with adrenaline and heat.
Well, I don't.
And before she could stop him, he bent his head and kissed her. Not a simple kiss designed to ease her terror at their predicament, like a nice guy would offer her.

It was a statement of ownership from a soldier in the middle of a battle, a man whose testosterone was raging, who was in the mindset to dominate, outsmart, and survive. And of course, it plunged straight into her soul, awakening everything that made her a woman. She didn't care that they were balanced precariously on the tip of the earth. She forgot that there were noxious fumes and a bottomless pit surrounding them. She lost sight of the betrayal of the beautiful flowers being so deadly. All that mattered to her was the feel of his mouth on hers, the heat from his body consuming her, the untamed power in his arms as they crushed her against him. She melted into the kiss, accepting all that he thrust at her, loving every bruising kiss he gave her.

As she kissed him back, the tension and fear that had been dogging her melted away, replaced by the sensation of being cradled in a basin of warmth, safety, and unstoppable desire. The world became about the two of them, and the magic they could create with their kisses. She wanted more. She wanted all of him. She wanted him to make love to her like he'd done before, only this time, she wanted it to be about them, not about him trying to make his brand appear on her arm or break through her barriers.

She wanted Ian to make love to her, Alice Shaw, simply because she was the woman who touched his heart.

Hell, Alice.
Ian wrenched his mouth off hers, breaking the kiss.
We can't do this right now.

She almost cried out in protest as he deprived her of the kiss, and she had to struggle to resist the need to beg for more. Ian was right. Of course he was right. This wasn't the time or place for anything like this. What was wrong with her? Had she completely lost her mind?

No, you haven't.
Ian caught her under the chin and raised her face so she met his gaze.
I heard your thoughts when we were kissing, and I want you to know that there is nothing I would like more than to make long, slow, leisurely love to you for no other reason than that you are the woman who brings light into my life.

Alice's throat tightened. "Stop it," she said. "Don't say things that you don't mean—"

"Oh, I mean it." He cut her off with a kiss, a long, tender kiss that made tears sting her eyes.
When we get out of here, that is exactly what I am going to do to you.
He pulled back so she could see the promise in his eyes. "Because I want it even more than you do. Got it?"

Alice nodded, her throat too tight to answer. No one had ever said anything like that to her, making her feel like she was special simply because of who she was.

He grinned. "Hell, woman, you're a lot of things that make me crazy, but special? You're in a category that no one else can touch." He squeezed her once, then turned away to scan their surroundings, keeping her anchored against him. "I have to admit, the thought of making love to you is a damned good incentive for getting us out of here alive. I'd hate to die and miss it."

She almost laughed at his comment. "That is such a guy statement, not wanting to die because you might miss out on some great sex."

He rubbed his hand seductively over her lower back, even as he continued to evaluate their surroundings. "It was great sex, wasn't it?"

She felt her cheeks heat up. "Yes," she admitted.

"And just think, I got better than that to show you." He winked at her. "Now you don't want to die either, do you?"

"I don't want to die for other reasons."

"Yeah, but the sex is a good one."

She poked his side. "You're such a dork."

"But a hot one." His eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on the trees nearest them, and she saw the moment he stopped being a playful lover and stepped fully into his role as a warrior.

With a happy sigh that was so incongruous to the situation they were in, Alice wrapped her arms around Ian's waist and peered past him at their surroundings. So weird that she felt safe and content right now, given everything that was going on, but she did. At least, she felt secure enough to be able to think rationally and not be overwhelmed. The power of a good kiss and a hard male body could not be underestimated. She pointed out at the trees. "The trees must be on solid ground, right?" There had to be something around them that wouldn't disintegrate from Ian's mace.

"Maybe." Ian hurled his mace at a tree, and it instantly exploded into a raging inferno so hot that she felt like her skin was on fire. Ian swore and pulled her behind him, his body blocking the heat. As they watched, the other trees caught fire in a weirdly surreal domino effect, until they were in the middle of a towering firestorm of orange and purple flames. "So, the answer to your question about the trees being on solid ground seems sort of irrelevant now," he observed. "Given that they all just blew up."

"Yes, I would agree." Alice tensed as the flames leapt across the gap to the patch of earth they stood on, landing on her bare foot. She jumped at the pain, and Ian stomped out sparks as they flickered at their feet. Fire raged all around them, and toxic fumes poured out of the earth below them. There was nowhere to go, and the smoke from both sources was getting thicker and thicker. Alice coughed as her lungs started to burn, and Ian pulled her shirt up so it covered her mouth and nose.