Stephanie Rowe - Darkness Unleashed (34 page)

Simon released her, and she fell to the floor, gasping as she landed on hard stone. After using her power to try to bring down Simon, she had nothing left. Her soul was dying. The damage had been done. Simon's skin was mottled and flaking off, and she knew that he was dying as well. They were both going down, but at least Ryland would be free.

"You stupid bitch," he snarled. "How dare you try to steal my soul?"

"I didn't try. I did it."

Simon stumbled toward a cabinet on the wall, his legs barely functioning. "Do you really think it is so easy to bring down the Dark Lord? You're an angel of death. You mean nothing to me." He yanked open the cabinet, and Catherine saw hundreds of stoppered bottles like the one that had held her daughter's spirit.

Tears burned fresh, and grief crashed over her again. Her sweet, baby girl. "How could you have killed her? I don't understand. She's your
daughter.
" No. Not his daughter. Simon was a bastard who didn't deserve the title of father. Not ever.

He fell into the cabinet, crashing into the shelves. Dozens of bottles fell and shattered. The air around her filled with souls, the frantic, searching entities looking for their eternity. Lost, and confused. A self-preservation instinct flared through her, a need to feed, to consume the souls and give her enough strength to recover.

She gritted her teeth, digging her fingers into the hard stone, refusing to give in. No more. No more. No more. She would not be that person ever again.

Instead, she waved her hand, offering them her light to guide them on their journey. They passed by her, sailing from the nether-realm, their path illuminated by the angel of death in the role she was supposed to play as a guide for lost souls, instead of being a harbinger of death and destruction.

Simon shoved more bottles off the shelf, his legs giving out as he fell. He lunged for a bottle on the bottom shelf, a pale green bottle that was almost six inches in diameter. A huge soul, one with tremendous power. As he moved it, she caught the faint pulsing of a familiar energy. Dante's? He spun toward her, holding it out. "You will guide this soul into me," he gritted out.

Catherine realized instantly what he wanted to do. He wanted to mingle his life force with another soul and use it to sustain him. He wanted Dante's soul to become his? "No," she said. "Never."

"You don't understand, bitch." He fell to his knees, holding the bottle under her chin. "I am Lucy's only chance to survive."

She stared at him in shock. "What? Lucy's dead."

"She is the daughter of the Dark Lord. She is far too valuable to kill."

Catherine's mind reeled in disbelief. "She's okay?" she whispered, afraid to even say the words.

"Not yet dead." He held up the bottle. "Guide Dante into me, and we will reclaim Lucy together."

Was he telling the truth? Was he lying? She'd sensed Lucy's soul. How could she still be alive?

He leaned forward. "Do you know how long a body can survive without a soul in residence?"

She nodded. "It can't. Not even for a minute. Not if the connection is severed by death."

"Oh, but my dear sweet, Catherine, you are mistaken."

She blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"Under certain conditions, like being killed by the Dark Lord himself on the temple steps, the bond is not completely severed. It takes two hours for that final cord to be cut. Until then, they can be reunited."

She stared at him, inconceivable hope exploding through her. At his grin of triumph, she realized he was toying with her again, just like before. She recoiled from him, shaking her head. "No, you're lying. You're lying! It's impossible!"

"I would think that you, of anyone, would realize that nothing is impossible." He smiled again. "Do you know how long it's been since Lucy has been without her soul?"

Catherine's heart seemed to hover. "How long?" she whispered.

"One hour and fifty-seven minutes." He breathed deeply. "I can smell the body preparing to die, can't you?"

Her heart began to pound. "Put her soul back, then. Put it back!"

"That's your job." He smiled. "You just need to guide her back, like any lost soul. Like you will do for Dante."

For Dante? She suddenly realized what was going on. He was taking advantage of her need to believe the impossible, that her daughter was still alive, to make her work for him. It was all a lie. A stupid lie! Disappointment and weakness shuddered through Catherine. Fleeting hope lost so brutally and quickly. Her arms trembled where they held her up. Death was swirling through her, her soul bleeding out in its final battle. "You lie," she gritted out. "You're lying to me—"

"Am I?" With a roar of fury, he shoved his palm toward the far wall, which was made of stone. White light exploded from his palm, and the barrier disintegrated, revealing an adjoining room. Stretched out on the floor, under a scarlet blanket was Lucy. Tangled blond curls fell about her cheeks, her hands were folded across her stomach, and her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. Her eyes were closed. Her breath silent. Her heart not beating. But there was a faint aura around her still, a body still clinging to life.

"Lucy!" Catherine screamed as she lunged to her feet and ran toward her daughter—

The collar around her neck jerked her back against the wall, and her breath gurgled in her throat, but she still strained toward her child, fighting desperately to find a way to get to her.

Another burst of white light exploded from Simon's palm, and the wall reformed, cutting her off from Lucy. "No!" Catherine screamed. "Lucy—"

Simon grabbed her by the collar and yanked her over to him. "Put Dante Sinclair's spirit into me," he snarled. "Now!"

Catherine grabbed the stopper and yanked it out. The room was immediately filled with the most intense power, a soul so strong it seemed to make the walls bend outward. It was swirling about her, disoriented and confused, just as all the others had been. What did Simon do to the souls to make them unable to find their way?

"Now," Simon snarled.

Catherine immediately closed her eyes and reached out to Dante's soul, but it resisted her, refusing to let her connect with him. It was too strong for her to control. She was too drained to overpower it.
Please,
she whispered desperately, unable to get the sight of Lucy's lifeless form out of her mind.
Please, come to me.
But it didn't. It wouldn't. It strained against the walls, pushing away from her, as if it could sense the threat that Simon posed. Of course it could. It was the leader of the Order. A man who always knew. "Dante, please—"

The door suddenly exploded off its hinges, and a monstrous beast exploded through the front wall. Her heart seemed to leap from her chest. Ryland had returned!

* * *

Ryland thought his heart would stop when he saw Catherine entrapped by the same chains that had bound him for so long. She was slumped on her knees, her skin ashen, her body trembling violently. She was reaching for him, a look of such relief on her face that his chest actually tightened. He was in time. He was there for her. He would save her. "Catherine!" He bounded through the door toward her—

Simon jumped in front of him. "Down, beast,
down!
"

To his horror, Ryland dropped to the ground like a fucking subservient piece of shit. Catherine's face fell. Raw, indescribable self-loathing flooded him. His woman was dying, and he couldn't save her? Unacceptable. This could not happen. He would not allow it. With a low growl, he willed his body to shake off the command, but nothing happened. He didn't move. Fuck!

"You all die!" Simon whirled on the rest of the Order, white light exploding from his palm as the others charged into the massive stone lodging.

"Ryland. Help!" Tears were pouring down her cheeks. Her eyes were haunted, her shirt streaked with blood. On her arms were the completed brands in the shape of Thano's halberds. For a moment, he couldn't take his gaze off them, shocked by the sight. Somehow,
somehow
, he'd thought that at the final stage, when that moment had connected them after he'd offered his life to save her, that his brands would have replaced Thano's. How could they still be on her like that? The connection between them had been about
them
, not Thano. It wasn't Thano!

"Please," she whispered, her voice so full of anguish he felt a fissure crack through him. "Lucy," she managed to say. "She's alive."

"Alive? She's alive?" Son of a bitch. Urgency exploded through him. "Where is she?"

"I have to put her soul back in her body. I—" Her breath stuttered, and her skin grew even paler. "I'm dying," she whispered. "Need light. Nothing left—"

"Catherine!" Her name ripped from his throat, a howl of such longing and need, of a thousand years of suffering finally being released. His life suddenly loomed before him, an empty chasm of isolation and loneliness if she wasn't in it. The magnitude of the loss was debilitating, tearing away at the very fabric of his being, a horror so great he bellowed in agony. "I won't let you die!"

Summoning reserves he'd never before accessed, he lunged for her once again, galvanized by the terror of losing her. For a moment, he was suspended in stillness, frozen in time, but he could feel the invisible bonds holding him begin to weaken. "Now!" he roared, and suddenly an incredible force swelled within him, infusing his body with indescribable strength. To his shock, he broke free of Simon's hold and was suddenly on his feet again! He charged across the room to the only person in the room who mattered to him. "Catherine!" He ripped the chains out of the walls with his claws, then scooped her up, cradling her against his chest.

She was too cold. She was shaking too badly. Her body was limp against his, dying. Losing her soul. Fear was like a cold knife, and he pulled her more tightly against him, as if he could use his body to shield her.
Tell me what you need. How do I help you?

She closed her eyes.
The east wall. Break it. Get Lucy.

Ryland didn't even hesitate. He just swung his mighty tail, decimating the wall.

A small child was lying on the floor, shocking him into silence for a split second. Memories assaulted him, images of being on that same slab as a boy. That had been his bed. His home. His hell. And there was another child there, being groomed to replace him? How many other children had suffered his fate? Rage exploded through him, the need to destroy Simon, but he didn't cave to his instinct for revenge. There was no time for that. Time only to save. Time only to steal two precious victims from death before it could win.

Still cradling Catherine, he sprinted for the girl. As he set Catherine down beside Lucy, his insides seemed to congeal in the presence of such innocence. He'd never been near something as pure as this child. Never in his life. His life was death and destruction, and even Catherine was steeped in death. But this child, this little girl...he was overwhelmed by what she represented. "She needs to live," he rasped out, his body vibrating with the intensity of his protective feelings for her, for this child, for her mother.

He lifted the little girl in his bloodied claws, setting her in Catherine's embrace, and then pulled both of them into his arms.

Tears streamed down Catherine's cheeks as she cradled her daughter, pressing her lips to the blond wisps of her hair. Ryland was so connected with Catherine that he felt the swell of her love for Lucy. It filled him with emotions so beautiful, so intense, it unleashed in him things he'd never felt before. Hope. Beauty. Love. In that moment, being part of the circle of love between Catherine, Lucy, and himself, he finally understood love. He wanted to weep for what she was giving him, for what she was showing him.

Then Catherine's arms slid away from the child, falling toward the floor, and her head fell back as Lucy lay inert across her mother's torso.
I'm dying,
she said.
I have nothing left. I can't save her.

Dark, fierce anger flooded Ryland, the same emotions that had carried and fueled him for so long.
Fuck that, sweetheart. No one dies on my watch.
And with that, he merged with her, sending all his strength and immortality into her. He didn't give a shit that he could feel Thano's energy in the link, still acting as the bridge between them. He tapped into Thano's energy, merged it with his own, and thrust both of their healing energies into Catherine. He wove it through her damaged soul, accepting her encroaching death as his own. With his ties to the nether-realm, death could not hurt him, and he took hers, while he continued to channel his and Thano's Calydon immortality into her.

The depth of their connection was incredible, and he could feel the intricacies of the bond between them as his soul took the scourges of death from her and accepted it into his own body, where it could do no harm. He knew the moment that he'd cleared enough damage from her, and he felt her soul shudder in relief. Sudden light seemed to rush through them, as if the sun itself had broken free of the clouds.

Catherine's arm tightened around Lucy again, and he felt her reaching out with her energy, searching for her daughter's spirit. Although he could not help her on this journey, Ryland mingled his spirit with hers, offering his love and his support as she reached out with her own soul into the tainted air of the nether-realm, calling for her child's lost soul.
Lucy. It's Mama. I'm here to bring you home.

Her voice was like the purest of angels, so filled with the beauty of a mother's love.

Lucy, it's Mama. Come back to me, baby.
Suddenly, fear began to pulse through her.
Ryland, I can't find her. We're running out of time. Her body is dying—

Ryland focused on the child in his arms, and he instantly sensed that Catherine spoke the truth. The last bits of light were blinking out of her physical being.
I got this one covered, sweetheart.
He'd never heard of anyone doing what he was about to do, but he didn't hesitate, absolutely certain it would work.