What You Can't See (30 page)

In a tangle of bodies they tumbled to the ground. Neither the force of the fall nor the sharp rocks digging into their skin impacted their bloodlust assault.

Accustomed to his power, Mark was quicker. He twisted out of Zach’s grip then hauled him up by his feet and hurled Zach into the window he had slipped through only moments before. Mark dove in after him. Danica followed. The sound of crashing glass, wall beams splintering, and the thud of heads slamming into the floor, mingled with the heavy breathing of the two assailants, echoed through the place. Danica followed them, keeping a keen eye on Zach but also watching for an opportunity to snatch the star.

As she sprinted into the living room after the two, she skidded to a stop. Another man, and from the stench of him, an Immortal, caught the star Mark tossed to him, as Zach took that moment to plunge the sword deep into Mark’s heart. He screeched as if the hounds of hell had been let loose. The sound caused every hair on her body to stand on end.

The Immortal next to him stood in stunned silence. Danica lunged at him and knocked him against the wall. As the star rattled across the tile floor, she scrambled toward it. But the Immortal came to his senses and slammed her to the floor, forcing her breath from her lungs. She blinked, spots flashing in her vision. His large body covered her but she could see, just beyond her reach,
the star.
She took a deep breath and stretched her fingers and touched the tip. Warmth radiated from the imbedded stones. Amazingly, as if it knew its place in the world, the star cleaved to her hand.

Wrapping her fingers around it Danica turned, and as she would with a Japanese throwing star, she jammed the sharp edges of the Star of Moria into the Immortal’s eyes.

He screamed in pain. She shoved harder, twisting the razor-sharp tips deeper into the writhing body. The sickening smell of burning flesh assaulted her nostrils. The Immortal jerked back, she grabbed the star, and pushed away from him. The Immortal howled, clawing at his eyes, as he rose to his knees. Danica watched in fascinated horror as inch by inch, his skin turned to ash, as if an invisible bacteria ate him from the inside. In less than a minute his body was reduced to a heap of soot.

“I
HAVE IT
, Zach!” Danica held up the star triumphantly to show Zach, who stood breathing heavily across the room, next to Mark’s bloodied body.

Her triumph was short-lived.

“Danica,” Mark called, his voice lower, weaker. Dying. His dark eyes pleaded. “Please. Help me.”

Danica stood frozen for a moment before she stepped toward him. He sat on the floor, his back to the corner of a wall. The golden sword was buried to the hilt in his chest. Blood soaked his shirt, a small pool forming on the linoleum floor next to him. “You can save me, Dani. Please—” He reached a bloody hand out to her. “Heal me, you have the gift. I will reward you with eternal life.”

She took another step closer. Her gaze caught Zach’s. He stood rigid, but quiet beside her, watching expectantly.

She squatted down next to Mark, and keeping the star in her right hand she reached out her left hand and touched the hilt of the sword. Slowly she wrapped her fingers around it, and withdrew it.

Mark’s face softened and he smiled. Blood ran in small rivulets from the right side of his mouth, dripping to his chest. “Dani.” He closed his eyes. “Thank you.”

Star in hand, her right hand joined her left, and she plunged the sword deeper into Mark’s black heart, severing the chambers in half. His lifeblood sprayed out in a gush. Mark’s eyes flew open in shock. Danica put all of her weight into the hilt. “You’re welcome, Mark,” she said between clenched teeth, then jammed it deeper. “Anytime.”

Danica stood back, leaving the sword imbedded in Mark’s chest. She wiped her bloody hands on her shirt and looked up to Zach who didn’t know whether to kiss her or be shocked.

“He pissed me off,” Danica said. She pointed the star at the carcass. “I’ll let you get your sword.”

Zach reached down and pulled it from Mark’s quickly decaying remains. The odor of sulfur became almost unbearable. Danica turned away, covering her nose and mouth.

Cool feminine laugher ricocheted around the room. A harsh force swept across Danica’s hand, taking the star. She cried out in pain, grabbing her wrist to her chest. It was then that her blood ran cold.

An enchantingly beautiful yet equally deadly apparition floated inches above the ground three feet in front of her. A woman, an angel, a devil—she wasn’t sure which of the three or maybe a combination of all.

The room rumbled in her wake. The floor vibrated violently beneath her. The she-devil cried out and retreated to the corner of the room, her feet now barely touching the floor. When she did so, her form solidified.

She was even more enchanting in full human flesh. No longer suspended in midair, her gold and black robes hung perfectly about her noble shoulders. She stood regal, ethereal, and, Danica instinctively knew, lethal.

Her presence in the room was that of one thousand queens.

The rumbling increased in sound and velocity. Danica watched as the entity’s violet-colored eyes widened then narrowed before returning to casual. The woman stood calmly as if no force on heaven or earth could unsettle her.

Suddenly another presence filled the room, this one darker, heavier, more powerful on a basic level, but without the seductive power the woman wielded. As it materialized the woman’s eyes narrowed. Danica knew that look. It was the same one she reserved for Zach Garett when he upset her.

The entire unit shook, then steadied calmly.

Danica turned, following the apparition’s stare, and gasped. A large man dressed completely in black stood behind her. Her eyes swept to his large feet, which did not touch the tile floor. Instead they hovered like the woman’s had just moments before. His long black hair hung around his shoulders like a dark shroud. His face was strong and hard, the chiseled lines severe. His crystalline eyes burned with the brightness of ice.

The woman laughed, the sound rich, warm, tempting. “Michael, what took you so long?”

Danica scooted back against the wall and watched these two indomitable spirits dance.

“Sephora, I would have come sooner had you not been so coy.”

She laughed again, the sound sexy, seductive. Even Danica felt lured by its promise. Who was she? And Michael? He was larger than life and the energy emanating from him exuded thick hypnotic warmth. Sephora’s energy was as strong too, but it was not good energy.

It was immediately obvious to Danica who the bad guy was. And she was the most beautiful creature Danica had ever set eyes on. She was hypnotizing. And from the look on Michael’s face he was not immune to it.

Sephora held out her hand. The star glowed deep purple in her palm. “Have you come for this, my love?”

Michael smiled, the gesture pure pleasure. His eyes never touched on the star. Instead they locked with Sephora’s. In a lightning-quick action Michael pulled a mighty sword from behind him, and before Danica realized what he was doing he cut Sephora in half, then he severed the hand holding the star from her arm. Snatching it before it fell to the ground, he slipped it inside the dark duster he wore.

What happened next stupefied Danica. There was no blood, only a soft glow from the internal parts of Sephora’s body. The severed hand reattached to the arm. Then slowly, as if awakening from a long sleep, the two halves met, and melded again. Sephora stood before them whole, no sign of trauma.

Michael was not amused. Sephora walked toward him, her hips swaying seductively. “Your sword nearly killed me once. Now I am immune to it. Just as I am immune to you. Can you say the same for yourself?”

“The day hell freezes over is the day I take you again.”

Her deep throaty laughter filled the room. “I can arrange that.” Then her features sharpened. Every hair on Danica’s body stood on end. This woman was terrifying. Sephora pressed her body up against Michael. “The time has come, Michael, my people have atoned.”

“They have atoned for nothing!”

She stepped back, away from him. “End your jealous revenge! Let my people go.”

“Jealous? Of what, Sephora?”

“Of
feeling
, Michael. Of
living
. Your self-imposed prison is not ours!”

Sephora backed farther away from Michael before she turned her full attention on Danica. Her skin chilled and she felt very vulnerable. “For the rest of your life, my dear little Starkeeper, I will be near. You have what I want, and I will literally move heaven and earth.” Sephora smiled and looked at Michael. “Or hell to possess it.”

Next Sephora graced Zach—who had remained as still and transfixed as Danica—with her enigmatic smile. But to him she extended her hand. “I am Sephora, Queen of the Watchers, and Commander of the Immortals. We are of the same blood, Zachary Garett.”

Zach remained motionless. Sephora looked askance at Michael, who stood with sword at the ready. “He can only deliver you from your evil. I can give you eternal life.”

She touched Zach. He flinched; her fingers burned his skin. Sephora looked at Danica, who held her wrist. “You would come to love me as you love her.”

Michael stepped toward Sephora, his feet still only an inch from the floor. Sephora laughed as her eyes noticed this fact. “Always so careful not to touch earth, are you, Michael? Are you so afraid you’ll lose that famous self-control of yours?”

Michael stood stalwart. Zach could see he would not be goaded into a war of words or, worse, prove he had control. Of what Zach had no clue, but he trusted Michael.

Sephora glanced at Danica before her amethyst-colored eyes flashed back at Michael. She smiled again but this time the gesture was pure malice. “Remember, Michael, I am all that you desire and more. I will use any and all means at my disposal to free my people—even tempting a fallen angel.”

She rose above the floor as Michael had. Slowly her body turned to gossamer then disappeared, her sultry scent the only lingering reminder that she had been there.

Danica and Zach both gaped at Michael. He scowled. “Sephora is to be avoided at all costs.”

“No shit,” Zach whispered.

“Is what she said true?” Danica asked. “She and Zach are of the same blood?”

Michael nodded. “The result of the Watchers fornicating with mortals are Caladians. As a hybrid they are oftentimes made up of good and bad, of which Zachary is a prime example. A constant internal battle ensues until death. Then, a choice must be made. Caladians who choose Sephora turn into the strongest of Immortals. Those who choose the light? Live to fulfill their destiny on earth. And upon their next natural death go north.”

“Was Santos a Caladian?” Zach asked.

Michael shook his head. “No, your dead partner was a purist. One born evil. Sephora especially enjoys recruiting them as they tumble into hell. They have no conscience, no remorse. No soul. They are the perfect fighting machine.”

Michael reached into his pocket and handed Danica the star. “Take this, Starkeeper, and put it where no one would ever think to look. And protect the knowledge of the location with your life.”

Zach moved between Danica and Michael. “What guarantee do I have she won’t be followed?”

“I can shield her until the rise of the next full moon to find a home for the star, and another for the scabbard. The two shall never meet; should they end up in the wrong hands, humanity is doomed.”

Danica’s body quivered—her big blue eyes looked up at Zach as trustingly as a newborn baby’s. She nodded. “I can do this, Zach. I
want
to do it.”

Zach looked from Danica to Michael. “Can I go with her?”

“No. Only she will know the locations.”

“So you’re telling me after she hides these pieces of the Trinity, there’s no way Sephora or an Immortal can track them down and life will be normal?”

Michael smiled. It almost made him seem…human. “There are two ways for the locations to be known. One is by accident. Which is why it is imperative the hiding place is well thought out.”

“And the second?” Zach prompted.

Michael looked at Danica. “The Starkeeper.”

“As in she tells someone?”

“Yes.”

“But what if—”

“There are no ifs. Your daughter will be next to inherit the truth. And only she can pass it to her daughter.”

Danica pulled at Zach’s arm. “I can do this without you. I
need
to.” She touched his hand and held his gaze. “Will you wait for me?”

Zach smoothed Danica’s hair from her face, then took her head between his hands. Slowly he drew her lips to his and kissed her long, hard, then lovingly. Emotion built in his gut, spreading to his heart and filling it to capacity. Hot moisture stung his eyes. “I’ll never stop waiting,” he said against her lips.

He pulled slightly away from her and rested his forehead against hers. “Hurry back.”

Danica smiled up at him and nodded. She looked past his shoulder to Michael, who stood dark and silent. He nodded. Clasping the star to her heart, she rushed past both men to retrieve the scabbard in the Jeep then on to fulfill her destiny.

Ten weeks later