“I’m sorry.”
“What?”
Mick raised his head and looked at Elandra. “I’m sorry that you lost the woman you loved.”
He dropped the whip and headed for the door. “I’ll be back to finish this later.”
He left, and Mick stared at Jaz wishing he could touch her, love her one more time. They should have done more. He could have taken her to the beach. Let her experience a night in Sin City with him, of course. He should have tried to tell her just how much he loved her, and now it ended like this.
If only he could touch her one more time.
“I wish I could touch you one more time too. I’m dying, Mick; I have maybe an hour then I’ll be gone, nothing but a body left over to tell the world I was here.”
“Jaz, please don’t leave me.”
“I don’t have a choice. If I did, I wouldn’t. Come play with me for a little while.”
“I…all right I’ll come.”
How he was going to come, he didn’t know, but he did know she trusted him and walked through his memories with him. She touched him on a physical and mental level, and he would never deny her anything, not if he could make it happen. So he followed her, not knowing what the outcome would be.
He felt his body tear, and he knew that damage had been done, probably irreparable, but he didn’t care because now he could follow her. It was pitch black where they were going. The only light came from Jaz. The ground underneath her feet gave a faint light with every step she took.
Mick followed content to be in her presence as long as possible. The fact that he would lose her stabbed him in his chest. He knew that he would never breathe the right way again. That he might survive her death but he would never smile again. The pain of losing her would be too much too bear. His kind only got one chance at love if they even got that much.
There wouldn’t be another one for him, and he was glad because he didn’t want to try and love again. Sometimes you needed to be okay with your pain.
Intense light shot through the dark area, so radiant that he had to cover his eyes until they were able to adjust. Jaz rushed to him.
“I’m sorry, sometimes I forget. I’m turning it down.”
The pain went away as the light was turned down.
“Where are we?” He looked around; wherever they were the world was pristine. It looked like it had never been touched before.
“I don’t know where we are. I just know sometimes I dream about this place. Here I feel safe, like I belong. Watch.” She moved away from him and started walking. Flowers grew where her feet touched.
“I feel special here, like I have a purpose.” She smiled at him waiting for his response.
She never shared this place with anyone before. Never even thought about it when she was awake in case her thoughts were somehow monitored. It was just instinct, but she knew if they—whoever they were—maybe the Clone Council, knew about this place they would retaliate against her, so she kept it to herself.
“It’s beautiful here. I love how the planet responds to you. It’s like it knows you and wants to please you.”
“I want to please it to, take care of it. It’s silly I know, but I wonder who will take care of this place when I’m gone.” She gave him a trembling smile that showed the brave face she was putting on. Knowing you were going to die and leave behind everything you loved wasn’t easy. At that moment she wondered how Dante did it.
Please, she prayed to whoever was listening. Allow my death to set my mate free.
She took his hand and together they looked at the world around her. There were rolling hills and grass so green it was the exact shade of her eyes. The sky was bright blue filled with fluffy clouds. In the distance, he heard a roar that almost sounded like something he should know. Together they sat under a huge tree and watched the day slip past.
She stirred in his arms. The peace of just being held by Mick as they looked at the beauty of the planet in front of them had helped to heal that part of her that always felt alone. Finally, she shared this place with someone—with Mick, and he accepted it and her. The last barrier that protected her dropped and she was before him being who she was created to be.
She stood up and turned around to face him. “Mick, this is me. The good and the bad. This place represents who I am.”
He stood and pulled her into his arms. “Your beautiful, Jaz mine, and I love you.”
His spirit reached out for hers and merged before a painful yanking pulled them out of the place they were in.
He opened his eyes to Jaz screaming.
“That got your attention.” The Darkness had taken its claws and raked them down her back. “She’s almost dead; the Bollo will eat well. The one I’m interested in is you.”
The Darkness floated across the room until it settled in front of Mick. It had clothed itself in a thick black cloak. No one ever saw The Darkness. They said that to see its form was to go insane.
Mick’s eyes flicked to Elandra for just a second wondering what that male knew about The Darkness. The Darkness clawed his chest feeling his attention wonder.
“When I am around you pay attention to no one except me. Are we clear?”
Mick agreed knowing that if he didn’t The Darkness would make Jaz pay.
“Now let’s talk about that wonderful soul you are keeping hidden in that pathetic body of yours. Not to worry, I will strengthen it when you belong to me. I am going to offer you a trade since you don’t seem to want to willingly give up your soul. How about I trade your mate for your soul. I get you, and she gets to live.”
His eyes flew to her and temptation beat in his chest whispering to him.
Elandra’s words came back to haunt him. It doesn’t matter if you make a deal with The Darkness. When you swear fealty to it, it takes that as you being willing to give up what you love. Either way, she will die.
“Why would Elandra tell you the truth? That male lied to you because he wants to see your mate die like his did. Take the deal. You may be in hell forever, but she’ll be free. Imagine her making sure her little slice of heaven is safe. Besides, she’ll remember you. This way someone will always love you and mourn the fact that you’re gone.”
The very thought that she would still be alive to love him made his heart pound even as he dropped his head.
“Just say yes,” The Darkness tempted him.
He raised his head to look at Jaz’s limp form before turning to look at The Darkness. The glow of victory began to cover its form even as he opened his mouth.
“No.” The Darkness would never let Jaz live. As long as she was alive, there was hope for him and his soul. The Darkness wouldn’t give him a way out.
“What?” The snarl that came from the mouth of The Darkness made the minions cower as they held their bleeding ears.
“Strip him of every inch of flesh on his body until his soul is exposed and then once it is, kill it slowly.” The Darkness pointed to Jaz.
“Kill it over and over again if you have to until Mick finally gives up his soul.”
The Darkness turned and left all of its minions following it out the door consoling it that Mick would belong to it.
“I hate all of you, but I must confess I find the A’rouk’s fascinating. I’m also beginning to wonder if the rumors are true. If they are, wouldn’t it be a coup for it to have an A’rouk in the Army of Darkness.”
Elandra called for the executioner. The male appeared. He was nothing but a skeleton that still managed to have a grotesque smile on its face.
“The Darkness wishes his flesh flayed from his bones until nothing shows but his raw soul. Then it will devour it. While you do that, I will treat his mate to multiple deaths.”
The executioner waved his hand, and the fires of hell consumed the room. Licking at Mick’s legs as they tried to consume Jaz in one fell swoop. She whimpered but then fell silent.
“She’s not a screamer,” Elandra said sadly, she had only screamed at the touch of The Darkness. “They are the most fun.”
He whipped her making her body tremble and shake until she was no longer able to control herself and she began to convulse. He put the whip down and came around to her front where he punched her over and over breaking the bones in her face. Her body stopped moving, and the light in her eyes went out. She was dead.
Mick’s head bowed. He had refused to turn away from her to spare himself a minute of her torture that he knew he would live through again until the day he was no longer needed, and he took his final breath. When she died the first tear, he ever shed trickled down his cheek. He didn’t care that he was born to be a warrior. It didn’t matter that he was a killer. The fact that he was a guardian meant nothing to him at that moment. His mate was dead, and he would always mourn her loss.
“You don’t get it that easy, Mick. The Darkness will make you pay for defying it.”
Elandra held out his hand, and Jaz took a deep breath before the male started all over again. He broke more bones in her body and killed her a second and a third time.
He wanted to scream, to give into The Darkness but he knew that whatever Jaz was going through would be worse if he gave in. How much longer could he hold out, how much longer could he endure her pain?
The executioner went to work on him, slashing him across the back of his body with expert control. He felt the skin give way to muscle and the muscle give way to bone. And still, he stood his ground refusing to give in. He knew what The Darkness wanted. It wanted Jaz because that was the way to his soul, but he refused to bend. If it wanted his soul, it would have to do it the old fashioned way. It would have to break him and come collect it on its own.
Time passed; hours, minutes, seconds. Mick didn’t know, all he knew was that Jaz died over and over again, and there was no skin, no muscle on his body anymore.
“The executioner crowed in delight. “I’ve found his soul.”
All sound stopped as they called The Darkness.
Jaz hung there barely alive, and Mick drank her in like it was his first time seeing her. Her face was so misshapen he couldn’t even tell it was a face. Every bone in her face was broken, and it was twice as large as it should have been, but the beauty of her still washed over him.
He wanted to hold her again even as his lips moved with no sound and he told her he loved her.
The Darkness came into the room; the glow of victory surrounded it. It stopped in front of Jaz and spat on her, telling them all without words how it felt about such a weak and puny specimen of humanity. Then it sauntered over to Mick in victory, walking behind him to see his exposed soul.
The walls of the room shook as The Darkness howled the word no. “This can’t be; it’s impossible. How?” it snarled looking towards the executioner and then at Elandra. “Someone explain this.”
The executioner backed up. He simply exposed souls he didn’t explain them.
Elandra walked behind Mick and almost laughed. It was true he hated the A’rouk’s but he also respected them.
“They finished the fourth joining. The came together spiritually.” Within Mick’s body was half of his soul and half of his mates. Elandra would bet money or maybe he should bet his death that the other halves of their souls resided in her body. Whether his mate lived or died, The Darkness would never be able to harness Mick’s soul for the Army of Darkness.
“You did this.” The Darkness pointed to Elandra.
“I’m not that good, and you know it. I would have done it myself if I knew how to do it. They defeated you together.”
“Kill her anyway.”
Elandra thought to himself it was a testimony of just how angry The Darkness was that it called the female her and not it.
Mick tried to protest, but he fell unconscious unable to resist the force that touched him. Jaz’s body slumped as she too lost consciousness. Elandra took a knife planning to put it through her heart and end this, but it wouldn’t penetrate the shield protecting her.
“Leave,” The Darkness screeched.
“Elandra can stay,” Dante said. “You weren’t thinking of killing the female even after they both survived your reaping? Of course, you wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“You can’t stop me,” The Darkness said in defiance as it drew closer to him.
“Are you challenging me? Do you want to fight for it all? Me against you. To be fair, I’ll let you pick the arena.”
“I didn’t agree to that.” The Darkness backed up.
“Pity.” Dante placed his hand on Jaz, and she disappeared. Then he walked over to Mick. He looked up, and the Bollos let him drop. He placed his hand on him, and he disappeared too.
“If you or any of your minions come after them, you know what will happen, right?”
“You can’t tell me what to do. I have just as much power as you do,” The Darkness said in defiance now that it wasn’t standing close to him.
“I’m not telling you what to do. I’m telling you what will happen. If I even catch a glimpse of your shadow around them, I will come after you. And because I haven’t had a good fight in a long time, I will start by decimating half of your army of Darkness. I’ll make sure to pick the ones you have a preference for. Then when they’re dead, the kind of dead you can’t bring them back from, I will come after you. I’ll chase you slowly because I want to savor the experience until I capture you. Then I will flay whatever flesh you have on that rotted body off, and when your nothing but a skeleton I’ll start again. How many times do you think you can die at my hands? It will take you centuries to recover from what I will do to you. Try me Darkness, please.”
He turned away and looked at Elandra; he never said a word, but the male knew. With a smile, Dante disappeared.
Damon walked over to the medbed holding Jaz and shook his head again. Every time he looked in he wanted to hunt The Darkness down and figure a way to kill it. First, it had nearly killed one of its own, and now it went after one of theirs. Two of theirs. He left Jaz’s side to check on Mick.
“How are they doing?” Brook asked as she and Ash walked into the medical wing.
Damon turned to look at her; she was doing well. Brook had that pregnancy spark to her that made her glow. She was almost two months along now, and so far there weren’t any complications.