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

women
with auburn hair everywhere, surrounding him, taunting him, but none of them
were Catherine. The scent grew stronger, and he raced toward the corner where
it seemed to be coming from, but it was empty. Then the smell was gone again,
leaving him with an aching sense of loss so severe he felt like he couldn't
take another step…and that's when he realized what was happening.
    It wasn't Catherine he was sensing.
It was the curse gnawing away at him, fabricating her scent just to torment
him. Or was it? Or was she really there?
    Ian stood in the shadowed corner,
his breath heaving in his chest, sweat cascading down his temples. He stared
out at the crowd, at the undulating couples on the dance floor. He listened to
the thud of darts against the targets, the crack of balls from the pool tables.
He could smell the stale beer. He could taste the sweat and stench of too many
bodies in too small an area.
    But he could not see the woman he
was looking for.
    He couldn’t find her scent.
    It was as if she'd never been
there. Had she been?
    Grimly, he surveyed the club. Had
it been his imagination? Or had it been real? Confusion warred at his mind, and
Ian cursed, no longer certain about any of it, other than the fact that Elijah
had killed his sheva eight months ago. He knew that had really happened,
because other members of the Order had been there and witnessed it. Had all the
rest been his imagination? The curse trying to eat away at him? Was he finally
losing it entirely?
    Ian laced his hands through his
hair and braced them on his head, fighting to catch his breath, to clear his
mind, to finally grasp the truth.
    There was no way that his sheva had returned to his life twice within eight months. She was dead, and all that
other crap was simply the curse trying to derail him.
    Catherine was gone.
    It was over.
    He had to accept it.

CHAPTER THREE
    Alice ducked through the crowd, her
heart racing as she glanced over her shoulder once again. But no one had
followed her in through the rear door. No one had noticed she was there. She
was still safe.
    She hurried up to the bar and
leaned on it. "James!"
    The bartender glanced over at her
and raised his eyebrows in greeting. He was wearing the same jeans and tie-dyed
tee shirt he always did, and his bald head gleamed in the fluorescent lighting
above the bar. It was weird to see him like that, still the same, still making
drinks, after all she'd just been through. She felt like her head was spinning
and hell was on her heels, while James was just kicking back in his
rainbow-spotted shirt making drinks like he always did.
    "Where have you been?" he
asked, shooting her a warm grin.
    "Dead," she answered, too
frantic to bother making up an answer. And why bother? He wouldn't believe her
anyway. Who would?
    "Yeah, you and me both."
James pulled the tap and filled a tall glass with an amber liquid. "You want
to fill in tonight?"
    "No, God, no." She hadn't
worked there in ages, since everything fell apart. "I need to talk to Flynn.
Is he here?"
    James gave her a friendly leer.
"You finally decide to put the guy out of his misery and sleep with
him?"
    Alice felt her cheeks heat up.
"Dammit, James, I don't have time for that. I need to find him. Where is
he?" Flynn was the one person who could help her. She hadn't talked to him
in months, not since that horrific night, but she didn't know where else to
turn.
    James's smile faded as he realized
she was serious. He swore, set the beer on the counter in front of a customer
and walked over to her. He leaned toward her, his scarred fingers gripping the
shiny wood. "Flynn has been a mess since that night," he said quietly.
"Don't track him down. He's too dangerous. Especially to you."
    Alice saw the truth in James's
eyes, and her heart sank. "But I need him. I don't have anywhere else to
turn."
    James shook his head. "Find
someone else to help," he said. "You don't want to unleash what's
inside of him. You really don't."
    Guilt rippled through