So far, he’d identified five caverns, all a part of the formation of the Black Line, all sealed with a magical power circle inside. A Black Line would require six of these circles, all perfectly aligned, each created on a separate full moon. The sixth would be created tonight—the next full moon. Once that line was formed, anything magically spelled into the center of it would be under Adrian’s control. Anything. Anyone. That couldn’t happen. Which meant Darius had to work quickly, to find the cavern that was to be used for the final circle. If he found the right cavern, he’d know. It would be spellcast and prepared for the full moon. Once he’d dealt with the cavern, then he’d deal with Talleous.
Darius slipped the backpack from his shoulders and flattened himself against the wall in an enclave of a mountain formation. Scanning, he focused on the entrance to one of three nearby caverns he’d targeted for further investigation, his magical senses on alert, the air rich with the thick taint of magic woven for evil, his nerve endings raw with the bitterness of its malice. Like all Knights of White, he could sense a Darkland Beast, but with an area this infected with them, pinpointing their location was damn near impossible. Beasts would be nearby, no doubt, but the cavern would be guarded by magic. Once he broke that magical seal, he’d be discovered and he’d have only minutes to destroy the cavern and get out. Unless he could manage to slip through the barrier without actually destroying it. That would depend on the power of the magic holding it in place.
All he knew was that he had to get out of this in one piece. And not because he longed for another day of living this hellish life of his, but because he had to deal with Talleous so that he couldn’t try to form another Line. None of the Knights would do what had to be done—kill him. They had rules—don’t kill humans. Well, Darius didn’t give a damn about the rules anymore. He wasn’t a Knight now, nor had he been for a damn long time. He would kill that bastard and smile when he did it. And then came the final act in this show for him—he’d seek death rather than become the demon inside himself that he so despised.
On his knees, Darius crawled toward the opening of the cavern. The instant he felt the pinch of the magical barrier, he knew he’d found the right cavern. Mentally, he shoved back against the magic, trying to slip through the barrier without actually breaking it. The barrier eased, but then bounced right back. Darius cursed and reached deeper, determined he was stronger than the spell even without unleashing the darker side of his magic. Again he weakened the barrier, but again it bounced back. Three more times he tried and failed. He had no choice but to unleash his full power and break the barrier, which would alert the enemy of his presence.
And he would have proceeded, if not for the sudden awareness of magic that rushed over him—unleashed, raw and feminine. Cathy.
Days had passed before Sarah’s spirit connections could track Darius’s—his cloak of invisibility was simply too powerful—but finally they’d done it. With Max behind the wheel of the Ford F150 and Sarah by her side, Cathy watched the scenery of the Mexico Mountains pass; her gut twisted in knots as she tried to shake the feeling that Darius was in trouble and they weren’t going to get to him in time.
The CB radio on Max’s dash went off. “You got trouble, man,” came the voice of Rinehart, one of the Knights of White. “A boatload of demons on your ass, but so are we.”
Max cursed and cut into a cluster of trees. “Stay in the truck,” he ordered, his swords drawn before he even slammed the door closed. Cathy and Sarah both gasped as demons charged him, a good twenty of them.
Sarah turned to look behind them. “They’re everywhere.”
At the same moment, Cathy felt a rush of magic flow over her. Darius. She knew it was him, felt that magic just as she had the night at the bar. She couldn’t get stuck in this truck. Every instinct, every meditation vision she’d had, told her she had to get to Darius, that he couldn’t defeat Talleous and Adrian without her. She reached for the passenger’s door and shoved it open, quickly exiting.
“Wait Cathy!” Sarah yelled, trying to shackle Cathy’s arm, but Cathy dodged her, darting out of the truck as another one pulled up. Max was charging toward the enemies—enemies that looked like normal men from a distance. But when those creatures shifted into their demonic forms, they were ten times stronger than any man, and their faces were hideous, eyes red, teeth like fangs.
Cathy ran in the only direction that she didn’t see demons—and that was to her right. She cut to the backside of the mountain, toward the trail of magical energy that she couldn’t begin to explain; it was like an invisible path that she felt—a path of energy that magic left, like a fingerprint. She rounded the corner of a mountain, the dirt and desert between hilltops offering her few options to take cover. Suddenly, a rush of magic damn near knocked her off her feet before she was grabbed from behind and a hand covered her mouth.
“Stay still,” came the raspy whisper in her ear a moment before three demons charged past them. Darius pushed her to the side, and went up behind the demons, his hands extended as if he was reaching for them. Suddenly, the demons stilled and began to shake. A moment later, all three exploded into ash.
Cathy gasped, shocked by the power Darius possessed, but almost immediately he was there again with her, his hands on her shoulders, his face full of fury. “I told you to stay away. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
Somehow, she didn’t let the fieriness in his face rattle her. “I’m counting on you to protect me from them.”
“And who’s going to protect you from me, Cathy?”
Chapter Four
In a fast run, Darius led Cathy to the cavern, the task of getting inside that final Circle of Power now riddled with an enemy presence that had forced him into several more demon confrontations. Silently, Darius vowed to stay alive long enough to kick Max’s Harley-riding ass. The bastard had brought Cathy into the middle of a war zone, and delivered her right into the hands of the most deadly demon on this planet, at least where Cathy was concerned—that demon being Darius.
Finally at the edge of the magical shield, Darius drew to a halt.
“Wait,” he ordered, his hand tightening around her arm, his body vibrating from her nearness. He dropped his hand, shaking off the impact of touching her, and refocused his energy on the barrier. This time, he didn’t play around with trying to manipulate the shield without attracting notice. He blasted it with every bit of energy he possessed. Electricity darted through the air, and in a matter of seconds, he’d broken through the magic that sealed off the cavern.
“Now,” he said, glancing at Cathy’s nervous, heart-shaped face, then quickly looking away. He didn’t dare reach for her again—yet he did. His fear of something happening to her was far too great to allow him to risk letting her slip away.
As they entered the pitch-black cavern, Darius waved his hand, magically illuminating the seven-foot-high walls etched with magical drawings. Evil lived in that small space, so absolute that it almost hummed with life.
“Oh my God,” Cathy whispered, shivering. “I saw these drawings in my meditations.” Her eyes traveled the etched walls and she reached out to one.
Darius grabbed her hand before she made contact, sending another charge through the room. “Don’t touch the walls,” he warned, a moment before their gazes collided; the spike of awareness between them was instant, stunning in its intensity. As if burned, Darius quickly dropped her arm, faced the entrance and refocused his energy on sealing off the cave. Electricity charged
Once the entrance as the barrier slid back into place, he set his backpack on the ground, inwardly cursing his inability to control his reaction to Cathy. But the idea of her ever touching the kind of evil lacing those walls burned like acid through his blood. He didn’t want her to be corrupted by its power—its malice—as he had been.
“They’re really doing it,” she said, hugging herself. “Forming the Black Line.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” he replied, working open the zipper
of his bag as he examined the dark magical code few understood, but which he did, and all too well. “We’re safe until Adrian shows up, and he will.”
“Not Talleous?” she asked, worry lacing her words. She glanced from the wall to him.
“I wouldn’t rule it out, but Adrian won’t risk anything happening to a human who he needs as much as he needs Talleous, if he doesn’t have to.” He tossed her a bag of crystals. “Line the walls with these.” He yanked sticks of dynamite from the bag.
Cathy’s eyes went wide. “We’re blowing up the cave?”
“We aren’t taking any chances,” he said, as he activated the remote sensor on the base of the main charge of dynamite. “If the sixth circle isn’t completed on the sixth full moon, the Black Line will fail. We have to be absolutely sure we don’t leave any remnant of magic behind.”
“They’ll try again,” she said. “You know they will.”
He didn’t bother telling her he was going to kill Talleous. He didn’t need her or any of the Knights trying to stop him from killing a human. He cut his gaze from hers and studied the writing on the wall as he shoved dynamite in various cracks and started to read the code of a dark master of magic and not liking what he saw one bit.
The demons had named their first target—Jag, the leader of the Knights. Once Jag was magically spelled into the center of the Black Line, they could kill him, or perhaps even control his actions. Dream on, you bastards, Darius thought. He was going to enjoy killing Talleous, but Jag deserved the honor of killing Adrian. And though no one knew how to kill Adrian, Darius had the feeling Jag was the man for the job. The very fact that Adrian had made him the first target out of so many choices told Darius that Adrian, too, thought Jag was his biggest threat.
From his bag, he grabbed the bottle of liquid he’d spellcast before coming there, and then ordered Cathy to stand in front of him—not daring to touch her, but needing her within the circle of protection he was about to form.
“Do you know how to form a protective shield around yourself?”
She nodded.
“Do it,” he said. “Do it now.”
He didn’t dare risk his own shield being enough to protect her, not when he had this kind of evil around him—on top of the evil inside him. “The room is going to feel like it’s on fire. Just focus on holding your shield in place. Focus on protecting yourself. And don’t move.”
She inhaled and nodded. He drank the spellcast liquid—it had nothing to do with breaking the power circle and everything to do with controlling his inner darkness—magic he’d woven a century before, out of desperation to survive. Darius allowed the potion to seep through his taste buds, to enter his bloodstream.
Then, and only then, did he funnel his energy and begin to whisper the words that would destroy the magic circle. Suddenly, a jolt of magic hit him—intense, fierce—throwing him against the wall. Cathy landed on top of him, and he felt the rise of the demon inside him. Felt the mix of primal instincts—not to mate but protect. His anger fueled its power in a way no potion could stop. Talleous and Adrian were here—both of them—and they had no intention of allowing Darius to destroy the Black Line.
“They’re here, aren’t they?” Cathy asked, her hands plastered to his chest.
“Yes,” he hissed, using his power to press against the magic invading the cavern, but Talleous and Adrian were joined together, stronger as a unit. His eyes snapped to Cathy’s, the connection between them also powerful. He covered her hands with his. “I have to use your magic, Cathy.” He could take it from her, but if she gave it freely, he’d absorb more energy. “I won’t hurt you, but I have to do this to get us out of here.”
“Yes, fine,” she said, bravely, willingly. She amazed him in so many ways—a human fearlessly facing hell. “How? What do I need to do?”
“Just focus on me,” he said and rested his forehead against hers, already reaching for the energy inside her, for the magic. The magic he was fighting wavered under the new energy he threw at it, but every time he pushed, the enemies’ magic surged and pushed back.
He struggled against the power he faced. Talleous alone would be easy to defeat, but Adrian was a Demon Master; his abilities far outreached Darius’s own. Darius shook with the effort, and the unfamiliar emotion of fear began to build inside him—fear that he would fail, that Jag would be destroyed—and many more innocents after him.
Cathy seemed to understand the need in him—the need for more magic. She wrapped her arms around his waist, clung to him, gave herself to him on every possible level—offering him strength she didn’t know was possible. The wall behind him began to heat, and Darius pushed away from it, taking Cathy with him. Protectively, he huddled over her, while the walls around them flamed and the magic dissolved. Seconds passed, and the heat faded.
Suddenly, Cathy’s legs went limp, and he captured her waist, pulling her to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Darius weaved his fingers through Cathy’s hair, searching her face to ensure she was okay before he got her the heck out of there.
“Dizzy,” she said, her hand covering his, urgency in her whispered words. “Is it done? Did we destroy the magic?”
“Yes,” he said readily. She’d been a critical part of their success. “We destroyed the magic.”
“I told you—you needed me,” she whispered, a moment before she passed out.
Holding Cathy in his arms, Darius stared down at her pale face, the swell of protectiveness inside him unbelievable. Protectiveness that defied the danger he knew he himself represented to her. Yet, at this moment, he wanted nothing more than to transport her from this place and to safety, but he was weak from the effort. And, for the first time in centuries, he felt fear.
With a heavy inhalation of breath, he walked to the exit, every nerve he owned on edge, wondering why they had yet to be attacked. It was a question that was answered when Adrian appeared in his path.
The Demon Lord stood there, a facade of human masculinity: leather clad, long, blond hair touching his shoulders—but his eyes glowed red. “I’ve tolerated your interference, Darius, because I knew your magic would one day serve me and serve me well,” he said. “But I’ve grown tired. Destroying the Black Line pushed me beyond my limits. It is time that you join me.”
“I will die before I join you.”
Adrian’s eyes rested on Cathy; an evil smile played on his lips. “But will you allow her to die before you join me?” he challenged. “We both know you’re not human enough to claim her. You’ll kill her if you try. And when you’re dead, who will protect her?” He grimaced. “Don’t say the Knights. Not against the magic that Talleous and I will use against her. Perhaps we will form another Black Line—and make her the first it destroys. Of course, you could kill Talleous. That would damn you to hell—and place you outside my reach, of course—but then, Cathy would still be here.” His eyes sparked with fire. “And I will ensure she is hunted down and killed. There is only one way to save her—join me. But we both know I need free will. The choice is yours. Kill Talleous. Kill yourself. Kill Cathy. Decide. Just remember. I don’t like to be kept waiting.” Flames licked at the air around his body a moment before he disappeared.
Chapter Five
Cathy blinked awake, soft silk and fluffy blankets surrounding her. A ceiling fan clicked above, and she watched it rotate, memories fluttering in her mind like the air that it spun. She remembered everything. The cavern. Adrian. She’d been awake on some level through it all. And she knew she was in Darius’s home, somewhere off the coast, overlooking the ocean. But there was more than that—more she knew. When she’d connected with Darius in that cavern, somehow she’d found her way into his memories—into his past. She swallowed hard against the emotion that came to her as she thought of the things Darius had endured and she sat up in the bed.
Her gaze scanned the room; it was filled with black—a black headboard, black covers, a black dresser—and was bare of any personal photos or memories. “Because he
doesn’t want to remember,” she whispered.
She shoved aside the blankets, smiling as she realized she was wearing one of Darius’s shirts. She’d never actually worn a man’s shirt to sleep. Not that she hadn’t dated here and there, but no man had ever gained her interest as much as magic and the unknown. Later, in college, she’d met Sarah and joined her team, and then chasing down reported paranormal events had completely absorbed her attention. The more evil she’d seen, the more dedicated to Sarah and then to the Knights she’d become. But things with Darius were different.
Cathy stared down at the shirt. Wearing it felt nice—feminine in a way she’d never felt before. She noted the robe lying at the end of the bed, but it was clearly way too big for her. At five foot two, that thing would be more like a cape, dragging the ground. She’d pass. Still, her hand ran over it, her gaze once again traveling the room—his room.
She inhaled, drawing in the spicy male scent around her. She’d thought she’d resent having a predestined mate picked for her, had often wondered about the Knights and their mates and how they dealt with the choice being made for them. But now, she did not feel that way at all. How could she after all those images that she’d seen in his mind, after the precious chance she’d been given to see what had created the immortal known as the Destroyer.
She crossed the black-tiled floor and pulled open the door, the scent of food instantly reaching her nose. Cathy pressed her hand to her stomach as it rumbled in anxious demand. A long hallway gave her the option of going upstairs to another level or straight ahead. She chose the latter, which led directly to the kitchen that was—surprise—black! Black tile, black cabinets, black table and chairs. Good grief. Rounding the corner to the cooking area, she found Darius at the stove—tall and broad, in jeans and a T-shirt—with his back to her as he cooked what looked to be pancakes.