Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (19 page)

“Convent would be nice,” she whispered. Her
chest was clenched so tight, she felt physical pain. “Safe place
for us.”

“I’ll arrange it as soon as I can.”

“Thanks, Kris.” She left him at the base of
the stairs and ascended alone. It was as it should be. Rhyn wasn’t
coming back for her, yet her heart felt as if it’d fall out of her
chest. She hadn’t been certain about the kind of life she’d have
with him, but she was certain she didn’t want a life without him.
At least she wouldn’t be around long enough to find out.

She entered the chilly chamber. Her Immortal
guard poked his head in every corner and door and looked under the
bed before he left her in peace.

How she hated this room!

Her suitcase was on the trunk. Tears rose as
she realized she was about to leave for good. She didn’t want to
sleep for fear of the demon from her nightmares-- or Gabriel--
coming for her. Dragging a blanket to the warm fire in the hearth,
she wrapped herself in it and sat.

She dozed and awoke to the sound of something
bumping her door. The fire was lower but still burning. She hadn’t
slept too long. The bump sounded again, as if someone ran into it.
Frowning, she rose to see if her Immortal guard was nodding off at
his post. As she neared the door, she heard the sounds of
scuffling.

Her heart slowed, and she stepped back,
imagining the Immortal fighting off some demon that had stayed
hidden until dark. Before she could search the room for something
to use as a weapon or run, the door wrenched open.

Jade stood before her, blood spattered across
his otherwise clean clothes. She gasped, not expecting Kris’s
traitorous lieutenant but knowing his presence was an awful omen.
His bloodied knife was out at his side, his dark gaze blazing.

“I will ask you this once,” he said. “Where
is the vial the demons seek?”

“Good God, Jade, are you working with
them?”

He strode to her and snatched her arm,
squeezing until it hurt.

“I don’t know!” she cried. “I gave it to
Kris!”

His face mottled with anger, he released her
with a curse and paced. She noticed his limp.

“What happened to you, Jade?” she
whispered.

“Shut up! Everything that’s gone wrong has
been because of you!” he returned. “If you hadn’t appeared, Kris …”
He stopped suddenly. “Where’s your mating tattoo? Is Rhyn
dead?”

“Not hardly,” she said and turned away.
“Sounds like he did the same to me as Kris did to you.”

Jade was silent. She wondered if Kris would
check on her then dismissed the idea he’d seek her out for any
reason. Her guards changed every eight hours, and this one would’ve
started his shift at midnight. Two hours ago, according to the
clock on the mantle. If she called for Rhyn, he wouldn’t come.
Desolation absorbed her into her thoughts, until Jade spoke
again.

“Demons. They’ll take more than your
soul.”

She looked at him to see the haunted look
that crossed his face.

Rhyn.

Jade was lost in his thoughts for a few
minutes, staring without seeing. Rhyn didn’t come. Crushed, she
realized she had six hours to keep Jade busy in the hopes he didn’t
kill her. By the wild look in his eyes, she doubted she’d make it
one. Jade shook his head, as if tormented by his own thoughts.

“I can ask him for it,” she ventured.

“Like I’d trust you.”

“If it’s what you came for, then what choice
do you have?”

“I’ve got you if I can’t get the vial,” Jade
said. “Darkyn said-- ”

“Darkyn?”

“You know him?”

“Only from my nightmares. He’s been tracking
me for weeks.”

“So you’ll take him from me, too, will
you?”

“I’ve never taken anyone from you!” she said,
baffled. Fury she didn’t understand crossed his face. He raised the
knife, lowered it, raised, lowered. His gaze burned into her, and
she held her breath, awaiting his decision of whether or not to
leave her alive.

“I’ve crossed that line,” he muttered to
himself and moved forward. He snatched her arm and sheathed his
knife. Hauling her to the bed, he shook out a pillow from its case
and draped the case over her head like a hood.

“What line?” she asked.

“The one where I kill innocents to get what I
want.”

He opened a portal so fast, the shadow world
sucked her breath out. He dragged her through it, and she dug her
heels in. It was worthless-- he was too strong. She pulled off the
hood just as they emerged in a place she’d never thought she’d see
again. The black fortress and dark skies made her heart drop to her
feet. There was no Rhyn to rescue her this time. She was going to
die.

He made his way through the fortress to a
bedroom and slammed the door behind them. She stood in the middle
of the chamber, quaking and praying he wasn’t the sadistic bastard
Sasha was.

Jade ignored her and crossed to a trunk in
the corner. She watched in horror as he pulled out a crumpled
woman’s body, even more shocked to realize she recognized the
woman’s face when Jade set her on the bed. She had been one of
Kris’s lieutenants, Iliana. The woman’s hair was red with blood,
and her face clammy, but she appeared to be alive.

“What’re you doing, Jade?” she whispered,
inching closer.

“It is called a proof of life,” he said and
withdrew a knife. “Darkyn wants you alive, if I can’t get the vial.
Kris will need to be convinced to turn it over to me.”

He lifted Iliana’s hand, and Katie realized
what he intended.

“Jade, no!”

Chapter Seven

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” Rhyn said,
taking in Gabriel’s muscular form as he fought the sparring dummies
behind the Sanctuary. He assumed Gabe brought the dummies with him;
he’d never seen them before. Nearby were more of the assassin’s
belongings: a few books in a large crate full of dark clothes. “You
moving in here?”

“Maybe,” Gabriel grunted and continued his
merciless beating of the dummy. “What’re you doing here?”

“Kris gave me one of Andre’s old jobs.”

Gabriel stopped and looked at him, taking in
the dagger at his belt. Sweat coated his exposed chest, and he
wiped his brow with his forearm. Considering how much Gabriel
couldn’t tolerate sunlight, Rhyn was surprised to see him during
daylight at all, let alone without his shades.

“Makes sense,” he said at last. “You’ve got
the guts to do what he won’t.”

Again, Rhyn heard the uneven note in
Gabriel’s voice. His friend was troubled, and he didn’t know
why.

“You here for Sasha?” Gabe asked.

“Yes, though Kris said I have to wait for him
to wake up and give him a chance to defend himself,” Rhyn replied.
“Fucking rules.”

“How’s Katie?”

It was midmorning on this side of the world,
and Rhyn squinted up at the sky. He purposely didn’t think of her,
even though she was the reason he’d chosen this path. He felt the
loss of their bond like he’d felt the isolation of Hell. He hated
it.

“Fine,” he said. It was the assassin’s turn
to give him a hard look. “How long do you think Sasha will be
before he wakes up? I don’t want to stay long.”
And risk seeing
her again.

“I don’t think he’ll wake up soon. The
healer’s been working with him constantly. Seems to be in some sort
of coma.”

“Lucky bastard,” Rhyn grumbled.

“Everything okay?”

“As good as it is for you.”

Gabriel gave him a ghost of a smile.

“I didn’t think you’d be allowed away from
your mistress,” Rhyn said as he sat on a boulder near Gabriel’s
crate of clothes.

“She ordered me up for a job, but I’m
considering not going back.”

“Life’s a bitch.”

“It’s worse than that, Rhyn. I think
sometimes I should’ve moved into the cell beside yours in Hell. At
least there you know what kind of shit you’ll go through.”

Rhyn listened, sensing his friend was more
than troubled: he was deeply disturbed. Gabriel began to beat up
the dummy again. Rhyn watched, not wanting to leave for fear of
being alone. For the first time in his life, he felt and thought
too much, and he wanted to keep himself occupied with the world
around him rather than the pain within him. He grabbed one of the
Immortal books, fingering the soft, leather-like cover and
transparent pages.

“You know, Gabe, even though we’re no longer
bound, I can still control my power. Maybe I just had to reach a
certain age,” he said.

Gabriel froze mid-strike at his words and
lowered the bo. “What did you do, Rhyn?”

“The right thing for once. Sasha told me how
to un-mate her, and I did it.”

“Are you mad?”

Rhyn looked up from the book. Gabriel looked
truly confused.

“I don’t want to talk about it. Just found it
interesting that I’m not having issues blowing things up,” he said.
“You know why?”

“No,” Gabriel said after a long pause.
“Unless … you gave up your bond but she didn’t give up hers.”

“Didn’t know it worked that way.”

“Because no one ever does that, Rhyn. It’s
madness.”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” he all but
shouted. He dropped the book, anger rising. Gabriel returned to his
dummy, beating it with renewed strength. Rhyn rested back on the
boulder and closed his eyes to the rhythmic sounds of waves and
Gabriel trying to kill the practice dummy. He tried to ignore his
thoughts and didn’t hear Kris’s approach until his eldest brother
spoke.

“Rhyn, now.”

He twisted his head to see Kris standing
outside of a portal. Unconcerned with what his brother might want,
he rested back again.

“It’s about Katie.”

His heart almost stopped at the grim note in
Kris’s voice. Gabriel turned at the words, and Rhyn rose. Kris gave
no explanation, simply strode into the shadow world. Rhyn trailed.
They entered Kris’s conference room, where Jade paced on the far
side. The object sitting in the middle of the table made his blood
run cold.

It was a severed hand, a woman’s hand by its
small size. Fury flooded him, and he started toward Jade. Kris
caught him and shoved him back into the wall with his forearm
across Rhyn’s throat.

“We don’t know where she is, brother, and we
never will if you kill him!” he hissed.

“I can make him talk!”

“No! You know I will not break my oath to
you. Let me handle this.”

Rhyn wanted to change into his demon shape
and rip Jade’s head off. But Kris was right; this was time to
think, not act. Gritting his teeth loudly enough for Kris to
grimace, he nodded.

“Tell Rhyn what you told me, Jade,” Kris said
with calmness that made Rhyn’s blood boil more.

“You didn’t need to bring the half-breed
here. Darkyn wants the untainted vial. I will trade you her for the
vial.”

“You were behind the demons attacking us,”
Rhyn snarled.

“That was Sasha.”

“Fucking liar!”

“Rhyn! Shut it, or you’ll wait in the hall!”
Kris snapped. “I don’t have the vial, Jade.”

“Katie gave it to you,” Jade said.

“It’ll do you no good. Ully modified it.”

“We have Ully in Hell.”

Rhyn paced furiously. His gaze fell to the
hand, and he stopped suddenly, puzzlement easing his anger. Katie
didn’t have fingernail polish on when he last saw her. He wasn’t
sure he ever saw her with it on at all.

“I want both of them back,” Kris demanded.
Jade faltered and wiped his mouth. “Go and talk to whoever you have
to and make this happen.”

“Darkyn doesn’t negotiate, Kris,” Jade
said.

“Neither do I. You’re wasting my time,” Kris
said coldly. “Go find your master and come back when you have an
answer.”

Jade’s face skewed, and he whipped open a
portal, storming out. Rhyn moved to the table.

“It’s not hers,” he said, relief pouring
through him.

“It’s Iliana,” Kris said. “We hadn’t seen her
in a few days. I can’t imagine Jade would …”

Rhyn saw the pained look that crossed Kris’s
face. He wasn’t about to comfort a man he tolerated but didn’t
like. He could, however, pity the woman whose hand was cut off.

“He does have Katie,” Kris said. Rhyn looked
up, anger stirring again. “He didn’t take her hand, which means
Darkyn probably wants her alive. If they can’t figure out what
Sasha did about the vial, they’ll need her and Ully.”

“I’ll go to Hell and get them both.”

“You wouldn’t survive. Jade said if they
don’t get what they want, they’d unleash their demons on the human
village. Darkyn’s smarter than I thought.”

“I’m not going to leave her there to the
demons!”

“I’m the brain, you’re the brawn. You don’t
think, Rhyn,” Kris said. “For now, your former mate is safe. That
probably won’t last.”

I doomed her.
He couldn’t help the
thought, and he dwelled on Gabriel’s words. He broke her ability to
use his power while retaining her calming effect on him. He’d left
her defenseless when he meant to leave her in peace. She probably
couldn’t call forth a portal. How did he undo what he’d done when
he wasn’t sure how she became his mate in the first place?

“If you don’t figure it out in sixty seconds,
I’m going to Hell,” he said and began pacing again.

* * *

Jade walked into Darkyn’s open chamber to
find the demon arming himself for battle.

“Master,” he said with a bow of his head. “I
tried to get the vial from Kris. He’s demanding we return
Ully.”

“If we return the scientist, we won’t know if
it’s tainted.”

“Didn’t Sasha’s lab figure it out?”

“He slaughtered everyone before he left. No
one knows but those who are dead-dead.”

Jade paced. There had to be a way to get the
vial and keep the girl. He wanted her dead, but he couldn’t risk
Darkyn’s anger before he had it. And if Darkyn knew the human was
meters down the hall …