Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (20 page)

“No doubt, you delivered my message to Kris
that if I don’t get what I want, I’m taking out the human village,”
Darkyn said. “I plan on doing it anyway. I want that vial or the
girl, Jade.”

“I’m not sure how to get it. I’ve got nothing
to offer him.”

“Didn’t Sasha have one of Kris’s Immortals?
The demons passed her around. Give her back. And do it quick. I’m
losing patience with you, my pet.”

Darkyn strode past him, and Jade bowed his
head again. He wiped his face and walked slowly down the hall. He
didn’t even know if Iliana had survived what he did to her. He
hadn’t thought he’d need her, or he would’ve taken the hand of
someone else. He pushed the door open to his chamber and saw Katie
on the bed with an unconscious Iliana. The woman had wrapped
Iliana’s hand and elevated it, though the blonde's wheezing led him
to believe she wouldn’t last long.

“You have to get her help, Jade,” the human
whispered. “Isn’t there some part of you that wants to make this
right?”

“It’s too late for that. I’ve crossed all the
lines.”

“What lines? You hurt her, but you can fix
it. It’ll be like you didn’t do anything to her at all.”

“She’s not the only one I hurt,” he said.
“The Immortals in the castle.”

“Sasha did that.”

“I made him.”

A look of horror crossed her face, and his
anger boiled.

“This is all because of you!” he shouted.
“You made me do this! You made me hurt them.” He strode toward her,
determined to beat some sense into her. She scrambled over Iliana’s
body.

“I believe you, Jade!” she said as she fled.
“Sasha didn’t have to do what he did. He had a choice, and he made
it. You can still make things right!”

He shoved her against the wall, and she
hunkered down.

“You can make this right, Jade. Just get her
somewhere safe. Leave me here for the demons to guard, if you want.
She’s an innocent.”

Her words fed at the small piece of him that
didn’t want to live in Hell forever, that still thought he could go
back to the Immortals and his old life. He released her and turned
to look at Iliana.

“Take her to a Sanctuary,” Katie said softly.
“There’s an Ancient healer at the Caribbean Sanctuary. I know
because I came from there. He could fix her fast.”

“I can make things right,” he repeated.

“Yes, Jade.”

A knock at the door jarred him, and he
whirled to see the demon that entered. It froze, looking from him
to the woman on the bed before his eyes settled on Katie.
Recognition passed over his face. Terror of Darkyn finding out made
Jade snap, and he withdrew his machete. The demon was too surprised
to react, and Jade hacked him down until the black walls were
sprayed with demon blood.

Chest heaving, he dropped the machete from
his hand as he realized what he’d done. Darkyn would know he killed
a demon. They’d do the same to him that they did to Sasha.

“Sanctuary, Jade.”

He turned at her voice and saw the girl
shaking with her eyes averted from the mess. He snatched up his
machete and crossed to the bed to grab and sling Iliana over his
shoulder. He motioned Katie forward with his machete, then stopped
her to drape the pillowcase over her head as he had when she
entered Hell with him.

Darkyn followed Jade as the madman hauled his
two prisoners toward the portal to the shadow world. So far,
everything was going as planned. Jade and Sasha would soon be out
of his way, and his gamble on the hidden honor of Rhyn had paid
off. Feeding Sasha information about the only way to break the
bond-- without telling him the breakage was only temporary--
rendered the girl he’d been tracking for weeks vulnerable. The
window of her weakness was short, only a week in mortals’ time, but
long enough for him to act. If he took down the Council, too, he
would be all the more content.

Satisfied he’d outsmarted everyone, he waited
for Jade to hack apart the demon warrior guarding the portal and
then disappear into the shadow world on his way to where Sasha was,
the one piece of information Darkyn didn’t have. He’d have the girl
soon, and he’d create an army unlike any that preceded him.

He leapt through the portal before it closed
in time to see which one Jade chose. Darkyn pursued and peered
through it with a slow smile, recognizing the place from Katie’s
dream.

Katie had never been so relieved to feel the
chill of the shadow world! She stumbled but pressed herself to keep
up, in case he left her there and she was trapped. When she
emerged, she dropped to her knees, crippled once again by the
sensation that hadn’t bothered her when she was bound to Rhyn.

She whipped the pillowcase off her head and
vomited, her insides burning hot then turning cold. Jade had led
them onto a beach. She couldn’t see the Sanctuary through her
blurry eyes, just the blue of water and the tan sand beneath her
hands. When her body adjusted, she sat back.

Jade was marching up the beach, Iliana
flopping over his shoulder like a ragdoll. He seemed to have
forgotten about her, and Katie stood unsteadily, hoping he’d
brought them to the Sanctuary-- and safety.

She stumbled through the deep sand until her
calves ached and her breathing was hard. When she reached the top
of the beach, she paused to catch her breath before hurrying after
Jade, whose determined walk soon outdistanced her. The Caribbean
air was heavy and her body was soon covered with sweat. The outer
wall of the Sanctuary appeared over a rise. Jade stopped and
crouched, all but flinging Iliana’s body down. She drew near, both
hopeful and dreading what he intended to do.

“Stay here,” he ordered. “I want to kill
Sasha first.”

The madman had lost it. She said nothing to
dissuade him. He darted up the hill and disappeared from view over
the top. Carefully, she rolled Iliana onto her back and propped up
her injured arm again. Blood was everywhere, and Katie peeled off
her sweater to wrap around Iliana’s severed wrist. There were no
trees for shade, and Iliana’s labored breathing worried her.

She feared leaving the injured woman, in case
Jade lurked on the other side of the hill or there were animals
that might drag her away. Yet she wasn’t sure how else to get help.
A group of boulders nearby offered some escape from the sun. Katie
rose, hefted Iliana beneath the shoulders, and dragged the woman
over to the shade. She lowered her and sagged against the
boulder.

“Sasha and Jade will soon be out of the way,
leaving just us.”

She recognized the familiar voice and froze.
Her nightmares returned and for a moment, she wondered if this was
one of them. She turned to face the creature who’d been stalking
her in her dreams.

He stood a head taller than her and thick,
his eyes colder than Gabriel’s, and his heavy, lopsided features
set off by neatly trimmed dark hair. She’d heard his name
before.

“Darkyn,” she whispered.

“Katie.”

“What do you want?”

“A new breed of demon warrior, one that
cannot be defeated by Immortals,” he said and glanced at her
stomach.

“You want more than my blood?” she asked,
confused.

“Much more. I want your daughter.”

She stared at him.

“Part demon, part Immortal, part human who’s
immune to magic? Incredible.” He shook his head, and his eyes
glowed. “And you, un-mated by the half-breed, are ripe for the
picking.”

She didn’t want to remember she was utterly
alone in facing him. He radiated the kind of quiet power Gabriel
did. She wanted nothing to do with anything from Hell, especially
this creature.

“Who do you think told Sasha how your mating
could be undone?” he went on. “Or who let him have the vial or who
knew how to use Jade to get to Kris? I knew you were in Hell in
Jade’s chamber.”

“You couldn’t have known Rhyn would leave
me.”

“I took a chance, and it paid off. I helped
strip away his chances of staying with you. He’s wild, like his
mother, with an Immortal’s honor.”

Coldness slid through her. Rhyn had been as
manipulated as poor Jade, who was now crazy with guilt and anger.
Rhyn had quit on her in the hopes she’d be safe, only to leave her
more vulnerable than ever.

Exactly where Darkyn wanted her.

“Darkyn.” Gabriel’s voice startled her, and
dread settled deeper into her stomach. “She’s on my list.”

Darkyn looked from her to the assassin. Her
tears rose at the sight of both creatures, one who wanted to drag
her to Hell and the other who wanted her dead.

“Normally I respect Death’s wishes,” Darkyn
said. “But this time, I cannot, assassin.”

“You cannot obstruct Death,” Gabriel warned.
“This is one Code even a demon can’t break.”

“If I may interject,” Katie voiced. “I
understand my fate is either bad or really bad. But Gabriel, can
you please help Iliana? Then you can argue all you want over who
gets to kill me.”

Gabriel glanced at Iliana's still form.

“You can save her or I can kill her,” Darkyn
offered. Gabriel moved forward and touched his hand briefly to
Katie’s head. She felt nothing.

“She’s marked as Death’s,” he said. “You
cannot take her to Hell.”

“My master may disagree,” Darkyn said, dark
eyes flashing. “I’m certain we can work this out between us,
assassin. I have something you want and will trade her for it.”

“You have nothing I want.”

“The key to your newfound chains.”

Gabriel went silent and still, and Katie
looked up at him. His face was emotionless, but the impact of
Darkyn’s words was unmistakable.

“Gabriel, help Iliana,” she urged. “Deal with
this shit when you get back.”

He moved woodenly to lift the body at her
feet and walked away, disappearing into a portal.

“What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“He sold his Immortal soul to Death so she
wouldn’t kill Rhyn.”

“How do you know this?”

“Death bragged about her latest acquisition.
It wasn’t hard to figure out why he did it after so long refusing
to become Death’s slave,” Darkyn answered. His honesty terrified
her; he knew he wasn’t going to lose and didn’t care what she knew
before he took her to Hell.

She’d never guessed the depth of Gabriel’s
friendship with Rhyn. The assassin she’d come to accept as a
fixture in her unusual life was suddenly more: he was Rhyn’s
guardian angel as well as Toby’s, and her friend. She felt his pain
once more at taking away everything Rhyn had and pitied the
assassin, despite her predicament.

Her gaze went to the sky, where the demon
bird had appeared in her dream. Rhyn wasn’t there. Her soul felt
empty, and tears rose. Her fate would be decided by a demon and an
assassin, and she’d never see her Rhyn again.

* * *

“He’s not coming back,” Rhyn warned as they
waited for Jade to reappear in the conference room.

“Give him time,” Kris said again, though he’d
begun to look more concerned.

It’d been an hour. It felt like five hundred
years in Hell. He was about to rise and open a portal to Hell--
Kris be damned!-- when an Immortal knocked and opened the door.

“A lady from the Caribbean Sanctuary has come
with news,” the Immortal said. “May I show her in?”

“Don’t ask, just do it,” Rhyn snapped,
earning him an irritated look from his oldest brother. He issued a
challenging look in return. They’d spent the hour in the conference
room without fighting or threatening to kill each other. He wasn’t
sure what that meant, but it seemed to be a good thing. For
now.

A small woman in convent browns entered and
curtseyed. Kris pushed him aside to offer her a chair.

“Daniela,” he greeted her, and Rhyn
recognized the leader of the Sanctuary that had taken care of Katie
weeks before.

“Master Kris,” she said. Her gaze went to
Rhyn. “Master Rhyn. Your Immortals caught a man who claims to be an
Immortal as well. He’s bloodied and half-mad. He attacked them to
get to the Ancient Sasha.”

“Jade,” Kris muttered. “Is everyone in the
convent safe?”

“Yes, but I have to object to Immortal
business being carried out in the Sanctuary. Since your castle was
attacked, we’ve had an Ancient wash up on our shores, Death’s
assassin sitting in our hall, and now this. It is not at all
customary to how the Sanctuary is meant to be used,” she said
sternly.

“My apologies,” Kris said. “If you will
permit one more intrusion, we will go and retrieve both the madman
and the Ancient.” She frowned and looked between the two of them
before responding.

“I will allow it.”

“I am grateful.”

Rhyn glared at his brother. Kris was gracious
and gentle with this woman, who he could very easily treat like he
did his Immortals and brothers. Kris opened a portal. He allowed
Daniela to enter first and then followed. Rhyn trailed and emerged
again into the balmy, bright island day. The portal opened in the
courtyard, and Kris’s gaze went immediately to the rooms lining the
women’s wing. Daniela’s little legs moved fast, and she was across
the courtyard while Kris stared toward the room where Rhyn assumed
his mate was.

“Come on, lover boy,” Rhyn said and slapped
his brother’s arm.

Daniela led them to the men’s wing, where one
sweaty, bloodied Immortal was standing outside of Sasha’s room
while the other stood guard over Jade, who was hogtied in the
middle of the small courtyard around which the men’s wing was
situated.

The whites of Jade’s eyes were visible before
they drew near enough to hear his muffled shouts. Rhyn stood over
him, his hand ready to grab the dagger at his belt and plunge it
into the traitor’s neck. Fury rose within him again as he took in
the Immortal who had betrayed them and taken Katie. As if sensing
what he intended to do, Kris took his arm.