Darkness Arisen (39 page)

"But what about the Order? You can't be in the Order if you're stuck under water."

Ian took her hands and met her gaze with unflinching intensity. "The bastards don't appreciate me. Why would I trade what I have with you to run around with a bunch of guys who sweat too much?"

Tears burned in Alice's eyes and she saw the depth of sadness in Ian's face at the idea of walking away from the Order. "No," she said, "Don't do that for me—"

He put his index finger across her lips, silencing her. "I love you, Alice. There's no other life for me besides the one I share with you. I'm sure there are sharks and shit down there that I can protect the girls against. Because those women need protection, don't they?"

Alice nodded. "They do—"

"So, I'm the man to do it." He winked at her, and behind the sadness at leaving his friends, she saw an inner peace, a man who had found his calling. "You really mean that, don't you?"

"Of course." He kissed her hard. "I gave my life for you, sweetheart. Giving up oxygen and poker with the guys is a no-brainer."

Alice laughed, suddenly feeling giddy. And to think this was the man she'd thought could never put her first. She felt light and glorious, a woman finally alive. "I love you, Ian."

"I love you, too." He kissed her for a long moment, then raised her arm to press his lips to her marks. He stopped suddenly and grinned at her brands. "Now, that's what it's supposed to look like."

She followed his gaze and smiled at the thin, silver lines. She pressed her hand to them, and found they were cool to the touch. "It's over."

"Yeah, it is." He grinned. "The demons no longer have any claim on you. They got me, and that satisfied the bargain."

"But you came back, like I did." She looked at him. "So, they'll come back again, won't they? The deal isn't done."

"I think it is. Unlike you, I was actually dead for a minute. The deal was complete. They got their angel soul; they just couldn't hang onto it." He framed her face with his hands. "Don't you get it sweetheart? They won't be stalking you anymore. No more dying. We've got a whole life ahead of us."

Hope began to hammer in her heart, hope for all the things she'd craved for so long, but had no chance of having. "What about the bond? Don't you need to go rogue since we bonded?"

He paused for a moment, then shrugged. "I feel fine. My guess is that I died too quickly to go rogue, but since I died, that fate is taken care of as well."

"Or it could still come after you," Gideon said, clamping his hand down on Ian's shoulder. "Welcome to the unstable world of being fully-bonded and always looking over your shoulder to see if fate's going to grab you by the ass."

Ian grinned, and slung his arm around Alice. "I've been stalked by magical shit my whole life. Keeps life interesting." He kissed the top of her head, his eyes growing serious. "Hey, Alice?"

She smiled at him. "Yes?"

"Since the new trend appears to be that we marry our soul mates, I'd hate to be out of the club. Will you marry me? And..." He cleared his throat. "I'd be a good dad," he said, not quite able to keep the thickness out of his voice.

She grinned, the most incredible emotions filling her up. "I will," she whispered. "I really will. And you will be an amazing father, one that will make yours proud." A flicker of sadness drifted through her heart. "But I don't know how to be a good mom."

"I'll help you." He laid his hand over her heart. "All you need is in here. I believe in you, and I'll help you find your way."

Alice put her hand over his, and she knew he was right. She might be a guardian angel, but she'd just found the guardian angel who was meant for her.

As they stood there, Alice became aware of a loud chirping from the ocean. Frowning, she walked over and peered out a window. Beneath them, cresting the whitecaps were two dolphins towing an ancient dinghy. Alice caught her breath as Ian's hands clasped her shoulders. "It's time."

"It is."

Anguish filling her, Alice turned toward Catherine and hugged her. "Let the Order protect you. They'll help," she whispered.

Catherine hugged her back. "I love you, Ally."

Alice pulled back, searching Catherine's eyes for a promise. "Stay with them, Cat. Seriously."

Catherine pulled back, wrapping her too-thin arms around her torso. "It's bigger than you know, Ally. I can't stay."

"But—"

Cat held up her hand. "Trust me, Alice. Let me do what I need to do. Don't come after me."

Alice's chest hurt with sadness, but she'd already broken one promise to her sister. She couldn't betray her again. "I'll always be here for you."

"I know." Cat hugged her again, then turned and ducked wearily down the stairs, slipping unnoticed past the men who were talking solemnly with Ian, not happy with his disclosure that he was off to become a merman. Guilt swept through her at the heaviness of the atmosphere, all jubilation from their defeat of the wizard gone.

The tightness of the bond between the men was evident, and Alice knew that they would have welcomed Ian back into the Order if he weren't leaving it to be with her. How could she let him give that up?

She knew then that she couldn't. He was compelled to come back with her, but if she could save Chloe, they would be allowed to leave. She would be trapped as a Mageaan without the pearl, but Ian would be free.

She would not let Ian stay with her. She would save Chloe not just to save the girl, but also to liberate Ian, and then, she would let him go.

It would be easy. As a Mageaan, she would control the sea. If she commanded it to reject him, it would. He would have no choice.

The dolphins squeaked again, and Ian met Alice's gaze, his warm smile not hiding the weight in his heart as his team stood in a silent semi-circle around him. "Ready to start our new life, sweetheart?"

Sadness filled Alice's heart as she put her hand in his, because she knew that this was the last time they would be together. She managed a smile, but not words.

It was just too hard.

* * *

Ryland leaned against the wall of the tunnel, his lungs heaving with each ragged inhale. His skin was hanging in shreds. His clothes had burned into embers. Around him on the floor lay the putrid remains of the poisonous substance that had tried to claim him once he'd entered the pit. What he'd had to do to break free of it...it had been a thousand times worse than what had happened when he'd been at the other pit with Kane.

He looked down at his hand and saw glittery scales shifting beneath the skin. Shit. He leaned his head back against the wall, summoning the same intense control that had kept him going for so long. But he couldn't find it. All he could think about was Thano going through that same hell. And the angel of death, somewhere in this morbid castle. And Dante's demise. Shit, he missed Dante.

His upper lip curled, and his teeth began to lengthen.

"Shit!" He slammed his head back against the wall and pressed his hands to his eyes, his body straining with the effort of holding it in.
Dante. Why the fuck did you have to die? What kind of plan is that?

Ryland.

Ryland's eyes snapped open at the sound of his mentor's voice. He spun around desperately, almost frantically, searching the dark tunnels. "Dante!" he shouted. "Dante! Where are you? Are you down here?" He staggered down the hall, bumping off walls as he tried to regain his equilibrium. "Dante!"

Stop.

Ryland froze, going instantly immobile at the command.

This war has become your battle.

"Yeah, okay." He clenched his hands as his fingernails began to lengthen, the sharp barbs digging into his fisted palms. "Tell me what to do."

You don't need that from me anymore. You know your path.

"My path is your path. I'm here to serve you."

This is bigger than I am, Ryland. You need to move beyond me.

Denial roared through him. "No!" he shouted. "I will not abandon you!" Scales shifted on his arms, and Ryland's face contorted. "Shit!" He went down on his knees, fighting as his muscles began to contort. "I can't do this without you, Dante. I can't." He gasped the last words. "Help me. Please, help me."

He felt Dante's disappointment, and then a wave of calmness washed over him as Dante provided that same protection he'd given him so many times before. Ryland sucked in his breath as the scales receded and his muscles relaxed. He hung his head, shuddering as his body reclaimed itself. "Thank you."

No more help from me, Ryland. You are on your own now. Deviate from the path you think you're supposed to be on. There's no other way.

"No other way to do what?"

What needs to be done.

Ryland felt his mentor's spirit vanish. Loss and grief roared through him. "Dante!" He lunged forward, his hands clutching at empty air as if he could somehow reach the man who'd given him a second chance at life, who'd snatched him from the bowels of hell and taught him how to be a warrior.

But Dante was gone, and the emptiness of his existence filled Ryland again, the same pulsating doom that haunted him day after day. With a groan, Ryland hauled himself to his feet. His palms were bleeding, three cuts on each hand. A reminder of how close he was to that edge.

But Dante had given him a reprieve, and he would not waste it.

He wiped his hands over the wall of the passageway, leaving his blood behind as he continued down the dark hallway, allowing his instincts to continue to guide his path.
Thano.
He tried again, for the thousandth time.
I know you're alive. You don't get to shirk your duties anymore. Man up, kid, and get with the program.

There was a faint ripple of Calydon energy in Ryland's mind, and he went utterly still.
Thano. Your manicurist misses you. You gotta come home.
He focused all his energy into his mind, thrusting out feelers in all directions.
Come on, Thano. Answer me. I'll do the rest.

And then he heard it. The sound that he'd been searching for so hard.
You're too old for this shit, Ry. Go back to bed and let the young guys handle it.

Thano! It's about damned time you spoke up!
Elation rushed through Ryland, and he immediately locked onto the warrior's mental energy. He broke into a run, not caring about his half-burned foot or the bits of silvery scales drifting in the air behind him. He sprinted down the hall, took a right, two lefts and then stopped in the middle of a long hallway. Thano's energy was all around him. It was weak and splotchy, mingled with something else, but definitely Thano.
Where are you?

Right where I've been, waiting for one of you guys to show up.

Ryland looked down at the ground beneath his feet. Solid rock. Fuck that. Rock wasn't enough to stop him.

He called out his machete as he rubbed his foot over the floor, searching for the weakest spot. Thano's energy suddenly came through stronger, and Ryland marked it. He took a step back, focused on the location he'd identified, and then slammed his machete into the rock. Stones exploded everywhere. Three more hits, and then the hole was big enough for him to fit through.

Ryland immediately dropped through the hole, not even bothering to check and see what he was descending into. It was pitch black as he landed, so dark that not even his enhanced vision could penetrate the darkness. "Thano?"

A faint violet glow appeared in the corner, and Ry whirled toward it, his machete ready...until he saw what it was.

Sitting in the corner, his forearms draped over his knees, was Thano. His palm was faceup toward the ceiling, and a small violet flame was burning brightly on his hand. His face was shadowed by the light, showing hollowed-out cheeks. He was covered in dirt, and his shoulders were bone-thin, as if he'd been deprived of food for a thousand years, not for just the short time that he'd been missing.

But he was alive. Conscious. "Thano." Ryland lowered his machete, his throat actually tightening at the sight of his teammate.

Thano looked up, and in those haunted eyes was the same glittering attitude there had always been. "Where have you been?"

"Looking for you." Ryland walked across the room, and after a moment, he sat down beside Thano, draping his arms over his knees like Thano was. He leaned his head back against the wall, suddenly too exhausted to move. "You forgot to leave your new address, which made it a little tough to find you."

"Sorry about that." Thano held out his hand. "I've never been able to start fires before. Not sure what that means."

"You'll have to ask Zach. He knows fire." Zach Roderick was one of the Order members. He had a special relationship with fire that none of them really understood. Ryland passed his hand through the flames. "It's ice cold."

"Yeah. Zach's isn't." Thano turned his head to look at him. This time, now that he was closer, Ryland could see shadows in Thano's eyes that hadn't been there before. "Ry?"

"Yeah."

"I want to go home."

Ryland nodded. "Let's do it, buddy." He stood up, but Thano didn't. No words passed between the warriors, but Ryland understood. He sheathed his machete, then crouched down, slid his arms beneath the warrior and picked him up.

As he carried Thano back toward the hole in the ceiling, Ryland thought of Dante's words. The battle was his now. His to win or lose.

There was no choice. Nothing else mattered but Dante's legacy.

Whatever the battle was, he was going to win it.

Chapter Twenty

Alice perched on the bow seat of the dinghy, watching the sun rising over the horizon as the dolphins carried them back toward Jada and Chloe. The dawn was a beautiful but quiet array of yellows and oranges, the start of a new day, of her new life as a...yeah...water dweller.

Sigh.

She took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air. "This is the last time I'll breathe air like this," she said. "It's the last time I'll belong to the land instead of the ocean." It was a bummer, but at the same time, she felt weirdly liberated. She may have condemned herself, but she'd done it willingly and knowingly, and she was proud of what she'd accomplished.