Stephanie Rowe - Darkness Unleashed (30 page)

Desdria laughed, a cackle that made the hairs on Catherine's arms stand up. "What a charming offer. I reject it."

There was a loud clang, and suddenly Ryland careened backward, as if some giant invisible hand had snatched him by the back of the neck and jerked him off his feet. He slammed into the wall, and then chains exploded out of the stone, slamming into his cuffs with a violent rat-a-tat. Within a split second, thick golden chains were fastened to his wrist and ankle cuffs, binding him to the wall.

With a roar of fury, he lunged forward, trying to free himself. Black smoke began to fill the air around him, and his skin began to glitter. "Ryland! Stop!" Catherine hurried toward him, then gasped as a golden collar appeared around his throat.

"Oh, dear God,
no.
" Catherine's heart stuttered in horror as a chain shot out from the wall, attached to the collar and then jerked him backward.

He slammed into the wall with such force that the entire temple shook.

Ryland.
Catherine reached out with her mind, diving past the churning darkness in his mind.
Don't lose control.

Ryland pressed the back of his head against the rough stone, his eyes shut as he fought for breath. His shirt was hanging open, and Catherine could see that the drawing on his chest was completely filled in, except for the beast's eye. His body shook with the effort of maintaining control, but how could he withstand it? Adrenaline thundered through her as she felt Ryland's mind reach for hers.
Cat. Help me.

She knew instantly what he wanted. Not physical help. He needed something positive and good to counteract his terror and anger.
I love you.
The words appeared in her mind before she'd even thought them.

Fear slammed through her. Oh, dear God. What had she just said? Horrified, she clapped her hand over her mouth as Ryland's eyes snapped open.

He stared at her, and for a split second, his eyes were a bright blue. Not black. Not black? Then he blinked, and the black had returned. Had she imagined it?
You are a foolish angel, picking me to love.
But he didn't sound mad. His voice was actually reverent, almost disbelieving. Stunned.

I didn't pick you. It just happened.
Now that she'd said it, she could feel the emotions burning through her. It was the truth, a terrifying revelation, but at the same time, it felt incredible to put her faith in someone again.

Her words still vibrating between them, she felt a new power rise within Ryland, a calm focus that seemed to be trumping the beast. Had her declaration soothed him? She couldn't help but feel pleased. His response to her was not a lie. If he'd said he loved her back, she knew now that those were just words. Anyone could say them. But for her words to give him the ability to pull himself back from the edge of demonhood? That couldn't be faked. She mattered to him. She didn't know how much or on what level, but she definitely mattered. Relief cascaded through her, and she felt almost giddy with relief.
What now? Can you get free?

He grimaced.
No. This is what happened last time. I can't get free unless I fully engage the beast.

Fear began to hammer at her.
No,
she said.
This isn't like before. You're centuries stronger than you were back then. It's not the same. They don't know how powerful you are.
She met his gaze.
I do.

Ryland stared at her hungrily, and fierce, dark determination began to flow through him.
You are insane, woman.

She shrugged.
As long as I'm right, I'm okay with that. You can get out, Ryland. There is a way—

"My dear, sweet, Catherine. How lovely of you to come by."

The voice knifed fear right into her heart. She whirled around, shock numbing her as her former husband, the father of her child, walked into the room from a hidden door at the back. He was far taller than she remembered, almost seven feet. His shoulders were huge, barely covered by the black satin shirt open to his navel. Tight leather pants were caked on his legs, a thick gold chain glittered around his neck, and huge jeweled rings clung to every long finger. Gone was the lean, unsophisticated man who wore jeans and T-shirts, who chopped wood for his family. "Simon?" she gasped.

Simon?
Ryland's voice was equally shocked.
That's Simon?

Fury exploded through her. "You bastard!" She summoned all her death energy, sucking it into her body, amassing it with violent intensity "Where is my daughter?" Her voice was low and haunting, a dangerous, lethal threat that she didn't try to contain, for the first time in her life. She opened herself to it, inviting every last bit of darkness inside her to the surface.

He laughed at her.

Laughed? He
laughed?
She threw out her hands and charged him, thrusting all her death energy into her palms. All she had to do was touch him and he—

No!
Ryland shouted.
Don't—

Simon raised his palm. Silver light shot out of his hand, slammed into her chest and threw her backwards. She screamed as agony consumed her, as her body writhed in pain. She crashed into a stone, and she gasped as it slammed into her back, knocking the breath out of her. What had he done? Where had he gotten that power?

Catherine!
Ryland shouted into her mind.
Get up! Get up!

Driven by the urgency in his voice, Catherine dragged herself to her feet just as the ground where she'd been lying turned black and began to sizzle. She stumbled away from it, not even wanting to imagine what would have happened if she had still been lying there.
What's going on?

Ryland cursed.
He's the Dark Lord. Desdria's mate.

Catherine spun toward Ryland.
What? Simon is the Dark Lord?
Dear God. That was impossible.

Get out of here. Just run. You can't save Lucy now. Not from him.

Screw that. Enraged, Catherine whirled to face Simon, the man who had once made her believe in love. "Give me back my daughter," she snapped. "Or I will bring you all down."

Simon smiled, a slithering, disgusting smile that made her stomach turn. "No, my dear Catherine, you don't understand. I'm not finished with what I need from you yet." He nodded at Ryland. "There are still more warriors who need to die, starting with him."

She drew her shoulders back. "Never." She knew he couldn't make her kill Ryland. She loved him, and nothing could break that. Ryland had given her hope and light, and that was enough. She opened her heart to her love for him and for Lucy, thrusting it out into the world as protection for herself and the two people who mattered to her.

"No?" Simon laughed again. "Then there's something that you need to see." He held out his hand to Desdria, who handed him a glass canister with a stopper. "You should have this."

She didn't take it. "Give me back my daughter."

He held it up. "If you want Lucy, you need to look at this."

Don't touch it,
Ryland warned, but Catherine was already reaching for it.

He said it had to do with Lucy. I have to see.

Simon brushed his fingers across her palm as she took the bottle from him, and she shuddered. Ryland let out a low growl, and she felt his pain as he struggled against his bonds. He was growing in anger and frustration, but still keeping his energy contained and his strength targeted as he worked against his bonds.
Come on, Ryland,
she said.
You can do it. I need you. Dante needs you. Lucy needs you. Free yourself.

You're so damned bossy.

I'm a mom. We're all bossy. Get on it.

"Open it," Simon commanded, gesturing to the glass bottle she held.

Don't,
Ryland warned her.

I have to.
Catherine gripped the cork and yanked it while Simon watched her with an expectant gleam in his eye. She bent her head to smell the content, but there was no odor. "I don't smell any—" Suddenly, her mind was filled with her daughter's energy. The beautiful innocence of the young spirit, the suffering, the loneliness...her soul... Catherine went numb with horror. "Lucy's soul was in here." Oh dear God.
No.
Her soul had been in the bottle before Catherine had opened it. There was only one thing that would have allowed that to happen. Lucy was dead. Dead.
Dead.

Stunned, she dropped the bottle, and the glass shattered all over the floor. Her legs gave out and she fell, her knees crashing onto the floor. "Lucy," she gasped. "Lucy.
Lucy!
"She screamed for her daughter, for the loss, for the child she hadn't been able to protect. The sobs tore from her throat, ripping apart her soul, screams that wouldn't stop. Screams that would never, ever,
ever
stop.

Catherine's devastation tore through Ryland as if his own heart had been slashed and ripped from his body. Her grief brought him to his knees, and his soul screamed for her pain. He lunged to the end of his chains, trying to reach her, but his hands were stopped several feet away from her by his restraints.
Catherine! Come to me!
He had to touch her. Hold her. Comfort her.

She collapsed to the ground, holding her stomach as the grief poured out of her, moans of agony so chilling it made his chest hurt. The darkness flowed out of her, a thick, tainted mass of death eating through the air. She wasn't holding it in anymore. She wasn't even trying. She was lost, completely inundated by the grief of losing her daughter.

He knew what that was like. He knew it because he'd been through the exact same thing the day that he'd held Marie in his arms as she died, knowing that he hadn't been able to save her. He couldn't let Catherine go through that. He had to help her. Had to execute some miracle that would spare her that hell.

"Catherine!" He shouted for her, his voice raw with emotion as he strained against the chains. Blood ran down his wrists as the cuffs dug into his flesh. His chest burned from lack of oxygen as the neck collar crushed his throat. But still he fought, channeling all his energy into her, into the angel who had come to him, into the suffering consuming her.

Her knees were bloody from where she'd fallen on the broken glass that had cut through her jeans, and her hands were bleeding as well. Her hair hung in tangled mats, and she was bowed over, her body shaking violently. Her mind was a confused miasma of grief, guilt, and loss. Of isolation so intense it was as if her soul had been stripped into a thousand fragments and sunk into a pool of suffering. She was lost to him, unable to hear him or feel his presence. She was spiraling away from him, from herself, from life.

Jesus. He had to get to her. He had to help her. He had to—

A white light flashed from Simon's palm and hit Catherine in the sternum. "No! Fuck! No!" Ryland roared with anguish as Catherine screamed and fell backward, holding her chest.

"She's going to die," Simon taunted. "Unless you save her." He shot another bolt of light at Catherine. Her body jerked as it hit her, and another scream tore from her throat.

"Catherine!" Ryland bucked violently in his restraints.
Fight back, Cat! I know you can!
He thrust his own healing energy at her, trying to offer her his strength and immortality, but she didn't accept it. Her mind was shut down, unable to connect with his.

Panic began to build inside Ryland, and he tried harder, driving all his energy toward her. How many times had she told him how impossible it was to kill her? He knew she could survive this. She had to survive it. She was death herself, the very essence of what Simon was attempting to do to her.

Ryland knew he could help her get through it. He
had
to help her get through it.
Take my strength, Cat. Come on—

Simon hit her with another blast, and this time, she didn't react. Her body jerked, but no scream came from her mouth. She just lay on the floor, smoke rising from her burned skin.

"Jesus! Cat!" Fighting for sanity, for strategic thought, Ryland jumped backward to give himself slack, then he called out his machetes and hurled them at Simon in a lightning-fast one-two strike.

Simon didn't even bother to look at him. He just held up his hand. White light shot out of his palm and slammed into the blades. They ricocheted off to the side, spinning completely out of control. Ryland tried to call them back, but they were still hurtling violently away from him, his connection to them severed by whatever Simon had done. Shit!

The Dark Lord finally looked at him. "There is only one thing that will work down here, Balthazar. You know what it is."

Ryland's lip curled in a sneer. "You will not get me again, you bastard. I'll save her without going over the edge. Never,
ever,
again."

"Enough of this." Desdria strode across the floor, her body lithe and strong, like a cat stalking its prey.

Ryland's adrenaline surged even further, and he tried to call his machetes back again. They were lying on the floor against the far wall. Again, they didn't respond. He tried to reach out to Catherine.
Come on, Cat. Take my energy. Call my weapons.
He didn't even hesitate with his next command.
Call Thano's.

There was no response. She just lay on the ground, motionless. Jesus.

"I'm tired of this!" Desdria said. "Things need to be done. The queen is growing impatient."

Ryland narrowed his eyes. "Queen? What queen?" Even as he asked the question, he continued to thrust healing energy into Catherine, his mind still racing as he searched for a solution, for a different ending than the one that happened before.

Desdria didn't answer. Instead, she walked over to Catherine, grabbed her shoulder, and rolled her onto her back.