Darkening Chaos: Book Three of The Destroyer Trilogy

***

Darkening
Chaos

Book
3 of The Destroyer Trilogy

***

DelSheree
Gladden

Also by DelSheree Gladden

Escaping Fate

Twin Souls

Book One of the Twin Souls
Saga

Shaxoa’s Gift

Book Two of the Twin Souls
Saga

Qaletaqa

Book Three of the Twin Souls
Saga

Inquest

Book One of the Destroyer
Trilogy

Secret of Betrayal

Book Two of the Destroyer
Trilogy

Wicked Hunger

Book One: SomeOne Wicked This
Way Comes

Darkening Chaos

Book Three

of The Destroyer Trilogy

By DelSheree Gladden

Kindle Edition

Copyright 2012 DelSheree
Gladden

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for
your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please
purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and
did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please
return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting
the hard work of this author.

Copyright © 2012 DelSheree Gladden

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the
U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a
database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the
publisher.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are
fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and
not intended by the author.

For
Ryan

For
making sure the ending

didn’t fall short

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Linda Ulleseit,
Angela Fristoe, and Rhonda Sermon for reading Darkening Chaos and for their
support and recommendations. Thank you to the talented Kassondra Levesque for
all her help with the book cover and promotion.

Thank you to my husband, Ryan,
for helping me make sure this book pulled everything together and gave readers
an ending they wouldn’t forget.

Thank you to Dalene Meek, for
her support and friendship over the last few years. I am so grateful for her
enthusiasm for my books and her willingness to tell everyone about them.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:
Jeopardy

Chapter 2:
Deadline

Chapter 3:
Captured

Chapter 4:
Human

Chapter 5:
Invincible

Chapter 6:
Time to Choose

Chapter 7:
Angry Hope

Chapter 8:
Haunted

Chapter 9:
Fair Chance

Chapter 10:
This One Thing

Chapter 11:
Specter

Chapter 12:
Evaluation

Chapter 13:
Inhumanity

Chapter 14:
No Second Chances

Chapter 15:
In My Pocket

Chapter 16:
Slow Caress

Chapter 17:
On the Brink

Chapter 18:
Back to Lying

Chapter 19:
Shatter

Chapter 20:
An Empty Place

Chapter 21:
Creative Uses

Chapter 22:
Death House

Chapter 23:
Wreckage

Chapter 24:
Redemption

Chapter 25:
From Truth

Chapter 26:
Faith

Chapter 27:
Morbid Curiosity

Chapter 28:
The Right One

Chapter 29:
Time Flies

Chapter 30:
Gateway

Chapter 31:
Strangest Thing

Chapter 32:
Combining

Chapter 33:
Trust

Chapter 34:
Alive

Chapter 35:
The Cost

Chapter 36:
One More Secret

Chapter 37:
Darkening Chaos

Chapter 38:
Life

Sneak Peek of Wicked
Hunger

About the Author

Also by DelSheree Gladden

Darkening Chaos

Book Three of the Destroyer Trilogy

Chapter
1

Jeopardy

There have been very few times in my life when I
thought I had everything figured out. The problem is that even when I think I
have the puzzle solved, there always seems to be a piece missing, the one piece
that will make the difference between utter failure and complete victory. This
is my last chance to get it right. Now more than ever, failure means death. And
not just for me this time. For everyone.

The men who want to kill
me are right behind these double doors. I am well aware of that fact, but I
open them anyway. Their cameras have been trained on me since I reached the
compound parking lot. So, the pack of rabid-looking Guardians filling the lobby
is no surprise. Neither is them being completely unarmed. They don’t need any
weapons to kill me. They are weapons. Faster than any animal, stronger, too,
and every inch of their bodies is honed to murderous anarchy. There are dozens
of them glaring at me, probably close to fifty. Thank goodness this is a
relatively small compound. I can pick out which ones are Seekers, Guardians
with Vision to see what’s about to happen, and a vindictive pleasure rises in
me as I see their faces screw up in confusion. The only thing that does give me
pause is the look on Captain Linden Blackwood’s face. 

Barely
restrained ecstasy glares at me from his eyes. The pure, red hot hatred roiling
off of him doesn’t do a whole lot to steady me, either. Sometimes I really hate
having Perception. There are plenty of times I would rather not have to feel
everyone else’s emotions. I have to tap my Naturalism talent to control my
muscles and keep them from quivering in the face of his raging desire to slit
my throat. Blackwood is the one who gave me the ultimatum. I could either turn
myself in, or save my own skin at the price of eighty-one Ciphers losing
theirs. It was an easy choice. He knew it would be.

No
one says anything, as if none of them really believes I, the most hated person
in the world, the prophesied Destroyer, has just turned myself in to them. I
take advantage of their shock, and frantically scan the crowd. Foolish hope
makes me search for him. My eyes touch every face, but he isn’t here. Part of
me is relieved. The rest of me is terrified of what that might mean. It might
mean they haven’t turned him into an assassin aimed at my throat, yet. There
may still be hope to rescue him. Or, I could be completely wrong, which
wouldn’t be all that surprising, really. He may have already been twisted, and
they’re simply holding him back to deliver the final blow in the most
devastating way possible.

Leave
it to the Guardians to want a dramatic finish.

The
only thing I do know for sure about Braden is that he’s still alive, thanks to
our connection as Spiritual Companions. That one thought gives me enough
strength to keep from trembling and showing my utter terror at being here. He’s
still alive. The man I love, well one of them, is still alive. Even in this
moment of being so scared I can barely move, I am struck with how screwed up my
love life is right now. Somehow, I managed to fall for two guys at the same
time. Milo, for loving me when no one else would, and Braden, for bringing
happiness back into my world. But even worse, one of them hates me for the
necessary lies I fed him, and the other one is probably working out the best
way to murder me right now. World’s best girlfriend I am not.

My
heart starts pumping harder as the Guardians begin to shift, whisper.

I
can’t think about my monumental list of mistakes right now, so I focus on
Braden instead. I can feel his life force pulsing inside of me. I wish I knew
whether he’s hurt or where he might be. I won’t know until I am faced with him,
until he either kisses me, or tries to kill me. I’m really hoping it’s going to
be the first one, but I know how unlikely that option is. He knew what his
brothers would do to him if they ever found out he betrayed them to help me.
And judging by the ferocity in every one of their expressions, I don’t doubt
him. That doesn’t mean I’m giving up on him, though.

Finally,
the spell of having the one thing you have worked for your entire life being dropped
into your lap finally wears off, and Blackwood steps forward. “You came,” he
says.

Well,
duh. I want very much to smack him and call him an idiot for mouthing such an
obvious statement, but I don’t. My heart is racing and my mind is fighting to
keep control of my building fear. It is a concentrated effort to look calm and in
control. I face him squarely and say, “You knew I would.”

“Yes,
I did.” He knew I could never let eighty-one people die when I had the chance
to save them. Some Destroyer I am.  

“Where
are they?” I demand.

“Your
pets?” Blackwood asks in his most disgusted tone. “Where do you think they are,
Libby? In their cells, where they belong.”

He
is such a creep. Anger starts seeping into my body, slowly overpowering the
panic and fear. My hands ball up into fists at my side. Blackwood sees the
movement and snorts derisively. The Ciphers, once talentless freaks they hunted
and locked up in the spirit world where they had no hope of escaping, are still
their prisoners after our rescue attempt didn’t quite work out the way we were
hoping. My friend and teacher, Mr. Walters, betrayed our plans at the last
minute and left them all trapped here. Mr. Walters only did it to save his
daughter and her family, which I understand completely, but it still left me
with the responsibility of rescuing them for a second time.

“Bring
them out here, now,” I demand.

Blackwood
oozes toward me, a snaky smile showing the perfect white of his teeth. “Now why
would I do that?”

“We
had a deal, Blackwood! I turn myself in, you let the Ciphers go.”

He
stops right in front of me. I can see his cronies behind him. Knowing,
sickening smiles creep onto their faces. “Libby, Libby, Libby,” Blackwood says
as he shakes his head sadly, “you should really work on your listening skills,
little girl. The deal was, you turn yourself in, and I don’t
kill
the
Ciphers. I never said anything about letting them go. That’s much too
dangerous.”

Rage
boils around me. I can feel my face turning red. “Let them go, Blackwood, or
you can kiss my surrender goodbye.”

For
a moment, I can see and feel the doubt in him. It bursts through him like a
party balloon stuck with a pin. Unfortunately, it clears just as quickly.
“Refusing to surrender will get them killed, Libby. You will practically be
killing them yourself, then. At least if you turn yourself over to me, they
will stay alive. And you can die knowing your precious little pets won’t be
harmed.”

“I
don’t believe you,” I snap. “You’ll kill them right after you kill me.”

Blackwood
tsks at me and shakes his head. “Given how Braden and Walters both betrayed
their promises to you, I guess I can see why you would doubt me, Libby, but
even you cannot doubt this.”