Darkness Falls (Dark Angels 7)

gh that meant the odds were more even, it certainly didn’t ease the tension curling through me. It wasn’t over yet—not by a long shot. As long as even one of them lived, neither of our worlds would be safe.

Amaya thudded back into my grip, heavier than before. She’d obviously consumed another Aedh. The back of my neck crawled with awareness. I swung around, Amaya raised high. Bright steel met energy, and the resulting explosion sent me tumbling backward.

I was still rolling when a rope of energy hit me, winding itself around me, then pinning me in place. I couldn’t move, couldn’t raise Amaya. She hissed and shot flames out from her sides; they crawled across the line of energy holding me captive, spitting and sizzling as she battled to free us both.

It wasn’t going to be soon enough. The remaining two Raziq of the original five who’d been sent after me were coming. Not only could I see them, but I could feel their determination to make me pay—suffer—before they bent me to their will. And I knew that once again they intended to unravel the threads of my being—only this time, when they put me back together, they would ensure I could do nothing other than obey them. Fear bloomed, thick and fast, its taste so bitter that bile rose in my throat and threatened to choke me. I swore and struggled against the bonds holding me captive, desperate to get free.

Two serpentine forms—one winged, one not—shot out of the ether. Azriel’s headed for the two Raziq, while mine swept me up, rope and all, and carried me away from the battlefield and out of immediate danger.

The Dušan will take you to Malin, Azriel said. She is up to no good.

Malin is more than I can handle alone, Azriel.

Perhaps, he agreed, but rest assured she will not find you so easy to kill now—not after inserting her own DNA within you.

When the hell did she do that?

When she tore you— The rest of the sentence was ended by a grunt. Pain flickered down the mental lines, and I knew he’d been wounded again.

Damn it, Azriel, you need—

To finish what I started here, he cut in, tone fierce. As much as I might wish otherwise, I have been tasked with ending the Raziq. I cannot—dare not—do otherwise.

I glanced down. My Dušan wasn’t taking me to the gates—which was where I’d half expected Malin to be—but rather over the external temple buildings and into the inner sanctum. It was a place that would have rejected my presence—and probably killed me outright—if not for the bracelet I now wore. It was black string twined with a silverish thread, and it had an almost ghostly glow. My father had given it to me to chase the sorceress, and its presence on my wrist was the only reason I had access to both his private quarters and the more sacred areas of this place.

I guess that was two good things he’d done for me.

Malin’s a Raziq, I commented. And you have permission to deal with them.

But she is not mine to end—the fates were clear on that, if nothing else.

The fates, as usual, were being damned unhelpful. I took a deep breath, trying to calm the fear that sat like a stone in the middle of my being. Damn it, I didn’t want our child to grow up without his father!

He won’t. I am injured, but nowhere near expiry.

Well, make sure you stay that way! The bright structures below were less impossibly shaped than before, yet even more ethereal. There was no sign of Malin, however. But what has Malin inserting her DNA in me got to do with it being less likely that she can kill me?

You are now a creation of three races—werewolf, Aedh, and reaper. It gives you strength and power not only in your world and mine, but here, in the one place Malin thinks she has no equal.

I frowned. But I can’t do what she—

You can, he cut in again, if you apply yourself and believe. She may have had aeons to understand and use the power of this place, but she is no longer the more powerful.

And what of the remnants? Will they help me if you happen to be wrong and it all goes to hell in a handbasket?

The remnants have not yet intervened because they have had no need to. But they assisted you the last time you were here and they will do so again, if you actually call. They can no more ignore you than I can.

I snorted. That remark can be taken two ways, reaper.

And both would be true. There was a brief edge of amusement in his mental tones. Now, go. I must concentrate.

The mental line shut down, but I could nevertheless feel his presence; it was a soft buzz of electricity that would flare to life the minute either of us wished it.

The Dušan began spiraling down. Soon we were gliding through canyons that were deep but not shadowed, thanks to the incandescence of the sturdy buildings that soared high above us.

Eventually, the Dušan slithered to a halt at the base of a building that was egg shaped and had a lustrous pearl-like sheen. The sheer force of energy radiating off it made my soul shiver in fear. This place, whatever the fuck it was, was both ancient and powerful. More powerful than anything or anyone I’d ever come across—even the gates to heaven and hell themselves.

The Dušan raked a claw through my body, cutting the cords that bound me without hurting me. I scrambled to my feet as the bindings fell away, then raised Amaya. She was hissing like a banshee, and the sound echoed uneasily across the silence.