Forever in Darkness (novella) (Order of the Blade #4) Read Free

back from her. The white light streamed through her body, igniting
each cell with an intense heat that sent pain knifing through her.
    But it was beautiful pain. It was
the agony of her cells coming back to life, of the light cutting the ties the
demon had on her and freeing her from the hell that had taken her. It was life,
coming back to her, and bringing her back from the darkness that had done its
best to take her.
    It was over.
    Death had lost its grip on her.
    She was going home….until it
happened again.
    The demons had almost succeeded
this time. One more time, maybe two more times, and then she was out of
chances.
    Time was running out.
    * * *
    Ian yanked open the door to the bar
and shoved his way into the dark dive that was hidden below the city of the eastern
Oregon town. The bar for people of Otherworld descent was accessible only by
the narrow set of steps hidden in a filthy alley that relied on the stench of
decaying rodents and rotting garbage to deflect the interest of all except
those determined to come.
    He needed a shot of something hard,
and the name Deliverance had called to him.
    The lighting was dim, and the bar
was loaded with more people than Ian felt like dealing with. The ceiling was
low, the walls dark, and the low murmur of conversation thrummed through him.
The hum of Otherworld undercurrent was thick, making the air ripple with energy.
Ian paused by the entrance, using the wall to guard his back while he took
stock of the room.
    He scented desperation, lust and desire.
The dark, swirling emotions matched his restless mood. Low music pulsed through
the air, the drum beat thudding in his gut as couples moved across the dance
floor in sensual, decadent rhythms that ignited a raw lust in him, that same sexual
need that sent every Calydon seeking out women despite the danger of stumbling
upon his soul mate, the woman destined to destroy him.
    But Ian had no interest in any
woman other than the female whose scent was still burned in his mind.
    Swearing, he stepped away from the
wall and strode across the room toward the one empty seat at the bar. He took
over the vacant stool, and downed the shot that the bartender slammed down in
front of him. The liquid burned through him, streaking its way down his throat,
but the pain wasn't enough.
    Shit.
    Nothing was enough.
    Scowling, he turned and surveyed
the room, the brands on his arms burning with the need to call out his weapons.
The darkness pulsed at him, like a miasma of doom and decay, trying to pull him
down. He gripped the bar, swearing as the darkness closed in around him.
    It was worse this time. Worse than
the first time she'd died, when he'd been so screwed up that his teammates had
chained him down for months to keep him from snapping. He could feel the
insidious poison crawling through him. He was losing it. Losing his shit.
    Swearing, he braced his hands on
the polished wood of the bar, bowing his head as he sucked the thick, damp air
into his lungs.
    A deep breath.
    Another.
    And another—
    His internal alarms suddenly exploded
through him, his head snapped up, and he went rigid. He spun around, searching
the bar, his heart crashing through his chest. He saw nothing amiss. Just the
same people who'd been there when he walked in. What had he just sensed?
    He searched the room with his
senses again. He inhaled deeply, carefully sifting through the scents and then
he found it: the same fragrance of lilac and lavender that he'd scented on both
Catherine Taylor and the woman he'd just buried.
    Again.
    She was here.
    Adrenaline roared through Ian and
he leapt to his feet, frantically scenting the air, but the scent had already dissipated.
Shit! He bolted into the crowd, searching for her, for that shock of auburn
hair, for another whiff of that scent, for the curve of her shoulder. Here.
There. He grabbed a woman, she turned, and he saw it wasn't her. Another woman
with red hair…not her. And another. And another.
    It seemed like there were