Darkness Surrendered (Primal Heat Trilogy #3) (Order of the Blade) (45 page)

Grace leaned back against her, her body shaking, and Ana rested her chin on her sister’s shoulder. “You ready?” Ana asked.

Grace nodded, her hands clutching Ana’s. They were cold, so cold, so pale from the loss of blood. “You start it.”

Ana checked on Elijah again and caught her breath as he took a hard hit to the shoulder.

Grace squeezed her hand. “We have to stop Ezekiel to get our males back. Do it, little sister. Make me proud with your dark illusions.”

Hah. The irony of her sister’s comment was not lost on her—

Sudden movement from Ana’s right caught her attention. She glanced to the side, then stiffened when she saw two of Ezekiel’s Calydons turn toward her and Grace. She gasped as they started running toward her with their weapons out, their eyes rogue red. Dear God, the entire place was spiraling! They were going to kill her and Grace!

“Do the illusion,” Grace shouted. “They’ll all be caught up in it. Do it now!”

“Okay!” Ana focused her energies and the air pressure in the room shifted instantly. She opened her bond with Ezekiel and picked up an image of Caleb from his mind.

Ezekiel reeled in surprise when she cast that likeness into the air. Grace added her energy, and together they pictured Caleb. The Calydons charging them paused, looking back and forth as their crazed minds tried to make sense of the image of the man who was the founder of their race.

“Come on,” Grace shouted. “It’s working!” The wind began to rise, whipping through the room, making their hair snap in their eyes. Before them, the image of Caleb came to life, living and breathing, so real. Ezekiel frowned at the image, then Ana felt him shake it off, telling himself it wasn’t real. He wasn’t being fooled by the illusion. Not yet.

“Death by illusions for Caleb,” Ana said. “Tap into Ezekiel’s emotions until he has no defenses.”

Grace gave a brief nod, and then they attacked Caleb with things no one but he could see, the same way Elijah and all the other members of his family had gone down. Caleb threw back his head and screamed, the same god-awful noise that Elijah was making. He ripped at his body, clawing at his stomach.

Then Ana felt raw, sheer anguish flooding Ezekiel. Triumph surged through her as Ezekiel bellowed in anguished protest. “No!”

Caleb called out his weapon, a glistening throwing star like Elijah’s. He plunged it into his own chest with a howl of heart-wrenching betrayal.

“Caleb!” Ezekiel ripped free of his chains, leapt to the floor and grabbed the illusion of his brother. Grace upped her concentration to create the feeling of solidity out of the illusion, and Ana kept hammering with the screams, the blood and the torture.

“This is your fault,” the illusion of Caleb screamed at Ezekiel. “You brought this upon both of us! You’re killing me!”

“I’m sorry, fuck, I’m sorry!” Ezekiel fell to his knees as Caleb doubled over in pain. “We were supposed to rule together.” Tears streamed down Ezekiel’s cheeks and Ana’s heart burned for his pain. She felt his suffering deep inside her, knifing away at her own heart.

No, no, no! She had to be strong. She tried to raise her shields against him, fighting to suppress her own emotions.

Grace snorted. “Nice touch, sis, with the guilt.”

Ana nodded, keeping her focus as she searched for Elijah. He was charging Ezekiel now, his throwing stars out, his face contorted with such crazed fury that she knew Ezekiel wouldn’t stand a chance. Her throat tightened at the thought of Ezekiel dying, and for a split second, Ezekiel lifted his head, as if to search for her, as if she’d accidentally broadcast his impending fate into his mind..

“Concentrate, Ana!” Grace ordered.

Ana jerked her gaze off Ezekiel and focused on Elijah, on the way his muscles rippled as he knocked aside the Calydons in his way, his gaze so intent on Ezekiel. His crazy, tortured gaze, so twisted with hatred and violence...
I swear I’ll find a way to bring you back.

The way was clear now for Elijah, and she knew he was going to kill Ezekiel—

Then suddenly a movement from Elijah’s right caught her eye, and she saw Vaughn charging Elijah. His eyes were glowing green and his hands where curled into claws. A violent power emanated off his body that was so unnatural and so deadly. Elijah hadn’t noticed him, wasn’t even looking his way, he was so consumed by his hatred for Ezekiel. She gasped, gripping her sister. “Vaughn is going to kill Elijah to protect Drew, because Ezekiel is still in Drew’s body!”

Ana knew she couldn’t get there in time to save Elijah from Vaughn…but Ezekiel could.

“Don’t cut the illusion,” Grace shouted, pointing at the rogue Calydons that had been on their way to kill them. “They’ll come after us again!”

“I don’t care! I can’t let Elijah die!” Ana cut the illusion instantly, and Ezekiel’s head snapped up as he returned to the present, assessing his surroundings with instant comprehension. Ezekiel whirled around just as Elijah’s throwing star was descending toward him, and just as Vaughn’s glowing green hands were closing around Elijah’s throat.

Ezekiel’s voice rang in her mind.
I can be killed by my sheva.

Ana blinked as heat seared up her arm.
What?

“Run,” Grace shouted, leaping to her feet. “They’re coming for us again!” She grabbed Ana’s hand and dragged her across the room as the rogue Calydons spun around, searching for the prey they’d been hunting before the distraction.

Ezekiel launched himself at Vaughn just as he reared back to hit Elijah with the killing blow. The ancient Calydon screamed his fury at Vaughn for endangering Elijah and hurled him across the room. As Vaughn crashed into the wall with a violent thud, Ezekiel shimmered out of sight, disappearing a split second before Elijah’s throwing star cut through the air, right where his heart had been.

Without Ezekiel there to take the blow, the throwing star kept going, straight toward Ana.

She realized she had no time to avoid it, and Elijah’s eyes widened in anguish even through his crazed haze.
Ana!
His tormented shout ripped through her mind, then Ezekiel grabbed her, yanking her to the side as the throwing star grazed over the front of her neck, a tickle instead of a death blow.

Elijah screamed in agony and fell to his knees.

No, no,
she shouted at him.
You didn’t kill me—

“Ana!” Ezekiel grabbed her arms, his eyes frantic and thrilled. “We did it. You are mine!” He held up her arm, and she gasped in disbelieving horror as Elijah’s mark faded from her arm and Ezekiel’s final marks filled in.

Trust.
Ezekiel had given her the power to kill him when he’d told her how he could die. And then, when she’d called off the illusion so that Ezekiel would stop Vaughn from killing Elijah, she’d actually saved Ezekiel’s life first by breaking the illusion that was making Elijah want to kill him. She’d risked her own life to save Ezekiel’s, even though her intention had been to save Elijah’s. Dear God.
They’d completed the bond
.

A deep longing rose within Ana, her entire soul screaming for Ezekiel even as bile rose in her throat.

There was a horrific scream as Elijah doubled over, clawing at his eyes. Oh, no! She’d let the illusion slip that he hated Ezekiel, and now he was simply consumed by his nightmares as the demons turned on him. He was in hell, true hell. “Elijah!” She struggled to get free of Ezekiel, but his arm clamped around her waist and he hauled her against his hard body.

“No. You are no longer bonded to him. You are
mine
.”

Ana stared into his eyes, the ancient hell they housed. She felt the heat of his body against hers, and she knew he spoke the truth. Her heart beat for him, her soul cried for him, her body needed him. She was
his
. He’d told her how to kill him, but she never, ever would.

Ezekiel was her life.

Lily began to chant in a language Ana didn’t know, and Ezekiel’s grip tightened on Ana. She felt his anticipation, felt the strength in his mind as something began to shift in his being. She became more aware of the old body suspended from the rafters than the young one holding her arm, her soul being drawn toward it with merciless force.

She stared up, mesmerized as she felt Ezekiel regain control of his own body, his strength, his personality, his
presence
, magnified thousands of times, as was her need for him. She took a step toward the suspended body, felt her hands reach for him.
Ezekiel
. There was such need in her voice, such desperation, in her being...something in her mind heard it, and chafed at it, screamed that it was
wrong
that there was someone else...but she couldn’t stop herself. Ezekiel was everything. She fought it, she struggled, and there was nothing. He consumed her.

Lily’s voice rose in a beautiful crescendo, and Ana felt the moment Ezekiel meshed with his physical body, and his power crashed through the room. He threw out his hand and the woman Ian was trying to free screamed, her skin turned black and then she collapsed. Ian screamed with grief, but Ana knew it was over. The woman was dead, killed by Ezekiel’s mere presence.

Ana knew it was all wrong, that everything was wrong, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop it. All she could do was embrace the man whose entire being had overwhelmed hers.

“Holy Jesus,” Ryland whispered. “We’re
fucked
.”

***

Elijah shuddered at the sudden crash of power rolling through him, a swell of such intensity it rattled his body to the core, staggering him and stunning him. For a split second, all he heard was the scream of the demons and the bite of their claws, and then all he could feel was pain. Agony. Anguish.

Not his pain.
Ana
. She was being tortured.

He wrenched his head up, ignoring the demons ripping at him, slicing his skin off, stabbing at his eyes. All he could think about was Ana. Where was she? She needed him. He had to find her.

Elijah slitted his eyes against the pain, against the blurred vision. He saw her just ahead of him. She was staring up, reaching up...he followed her gaze and saw a black specter with claws and teeth, bottomless eyes of pure hell suspended from the ceiling. It was reaching for Ana. It was going to consume her. “No!”