Fear the Darkness

Wearing black biker boots, faded denims, and a black leather jacket, he had a pale, aristocratic face and silver eyes that contrasted sharply with the shoulder-length black hair. With his loop earrings and massive sword, he looked like a pirate just waiting for an excuse to pillage.

The couple was standing closest to the Sylvermysts as they held the rift shut, with Styx and Salvatore standing beside them. Viper and the Ravens were stoically hovering at the sides.

The rest of the room was consumed by an odd combination of vampires, Weres, curs, fairies, imps, and a female Shallot that Viper watched with a blatant possession.

She had to be his mate.

Nothing else could explain that particular expression of exasperated concern.

The same expression was currently on Caine’s face as he battled between the urge to toss Cassie over his shoulder and take her away from the danger and the certain knowledge she would simply return the second his back was turned.

“You’re sure that’s the Phoenix?” she asked, hoping for a distraction.

He narrowed his gaze, not fooled for a minute. “So they say.”

“She doesn’t look like a powerful goddess.”

He lifted a brow, reaching to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. “I could point out that you don’t look like a prophet who holds the future of the world in your beautiful head.”

“This empty head, you mean,” she muttered, that cold ball of dread still lodged in the pit of her stomach. When she’d discovered that Styx was planning to bring the Phoenix to the rift to provoke the Dark Lord into the world, she’d insisted on coming along. Somehow she’d hoped being near the action would jiggle loose whatever was blocking her visions. So far, however, her efforts had been a big bust. “Let’s hope that Abby’s power hasn’t gone on vacation when she needs it most.”

Caine reached to wrap his arms around her as the ground trembled and the air filled with a choking heat. “You shouldn’t be here,” he growled in her ear.

“Hiding won’t protect me,” she reminded him, allowing him to keep her tucked tightly against him although her gaze remained on the rift. “Besides, if I have a vision we’ll need to share it with the others. I can’t do that locked in the cellars.”

A growl rumbled in his chest. “It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“No,” she softly agreed. “You don’t have to like it.”

The quakes intensified, buckling the ground beneath their feet and sending a shower of dust from the ceiling.

Whatever was coming was getting closer.

The demons around them tensed, and then as one they unsheathed, loaded, cocked, and aimed their various weapons as the air became too thick to breathe.

There was a moment, as if time was standing still.

Cassie pressed closer to Caine, taking comfort in his warm scent before she gently pulled out of his arms. The violence shimmering in the air would be calling to his wolf. She didn’t want him hesitating to take his more powerful form because of her.

There were more tremors and then a collective cry as the Sylvermysts abruptly collapsed in unconscious heaps. There was the sound of cursing from a tall, dark-haired vampire who grabbed the wilting Nefri in his arms and carried her to the back of the room, as well as a cry from Jaelyn as she rushed forward to kneel next to her Sylvermyst prince.

In the midst of the chaos, Abby stood without flinching as a soft glow began to pulse around her.

The Goddess of Light.

The vampires took a step back to avoid the spill of power, but they stood firmly at her side while the Weres shifted in an explosion of fang and fur, forming a half circle around the widening rift.

Cassie sensed the minute Caine took his wolf form, the prickles of his power racing over her skin. He towered beside her, angling so he would stand between her and the shit that was about to hit the fan.

She glanced around him at the warriors standing like a living barricade against the oncoming evil, abruptly reminded of her vision that had infuriated the Dark Lord.

The tides of chaos break upon an impenetrable wall.

They stood shoulder to shoulder, ancient enemies all brought together against one common goal.

But would it be enough?

Her vision had hinted at this moment, but not the outcome of the battle.

Perhaps because the outcome had yet to be decided.

Not the most comforting of thoughts, she wryly acknowledged, gagging on the sudden stench of smoldering sulfur.

The Dark Lord.

The thought barely had time to flash through her mind when a figure appeared in the rift and then stumbled forward. Cassie frowned at the sight of the naked male who tripped over the unconscious Sylvermysts, his dark hair falling forward to obscure his face. Then, as he awkwardly scrambled to his feet, she grimaced.

Gaius.

And looking distinctly worse for the wear.

The vampire holding Nefri made a sound of infuriated disbelief, but before anyone could move to capture the vampire traitor, there was a blast of crippling heat.

Throwing her arms over her face, Cassie missed the grand entrance of the Dark Lord, although she felt the power of the evil deity sizzling through the room. When she at last lowered her arms it was to discover the familiar female form with long, dark hair and a disturbingly sweet face complete with dimples.

But there had been changes since she’d last seen the demented creature.

The cute sundress had been replaced by a flowing black robe and the eyes that had been a clear, innocent blue were now bottomless pits of crimson flames. As if they were the doorways to hell.

And they probably were.

Oh, and the peculiar outline of another shape flickered around her slender body.

Cassie tried to focus on the strange shadow, catching a hint of a lion head on top of a humanoid form before it flickered out of view.

Was that the Gemini?

Somehow she’d assumed that it would become an actual part of the Dark Lord.

The initial shock wave of her entrance forced the front lines to stumble backward. All but Abby, who stood firm, the glow of the goddess flaring toward the evil intruder.

The Dark Lord hissed as the glow surrounded her, but when the strange . . . spirit, or whatever it was that flickered around her, stopped the light from touching her body, she tilted back her head to laugh with a creepy delight.

“At last.” The crimson eyes flared. “I’ve waited for this day for endless centuries. Now you’ll pay for keeping me trapped in that hell.” Her dimpled smile was just . . . wrong. “You’ll pay for each and every hour I suffered.”

Regaining their footing, the gathered demons loosened their ammunition, sending a barrage of bullets, silver-tipped arrows, and daggers flying in the direction of the Dark Lord. The creature gave another laugh, brushing aside the lethal torrent with a wave of her slender hand.

“I won’t be stopped,” she threatened, her gaze never leaving Abby. “Not this time.”

She might have sounded like a cheesy blowhard if the rift hadn’t chosen that moment to rip completely open, allowing the horde of nasty demons to spill out.

Cassie’s heart squeezed in fear. Not at the sight of the hideous nightmares that crawled through the basement, but at the acceptance that the bloody battle was now inevitable.

They’d been hurtling toward this moment for . . . Cassie grimaced. For longer than she’d been alive.

Now there was no way to avoid the ugly fate.

As if able to read her mind, Styx held his massive sword in the air, his voice slicing through the thick air with a frigid blast. “Now.”

With a combination of shouts and growls, the vampires and Weres attacked the approaching demons, using fangs and claws to tear through the horde.

Offering her a warning glance to stay put, Caine launched his massive body at the nearest enemy, his snarls sending shivers down Cassie’s spine. Unable to watch the slaughter, she turned her gaze back to the Dark Lord, who faced off against Abby.

Their battle was less bloody, but no less brutal as their energies clashed with shocking force.

Cassie unknowingly backed up until she hit the crumbling wall behind her. Through the dust and smoke, she watched the savage melee unfolding, her stomach clenching in horror.

The cloying scent of death was almost overwhelming, but for all the killing on both sides neither appeared to be winning the war.

They were too evenly matched.

It could be a long, bloody stalemate that would be the end of everything.

Oblivion.

The trumpet of doom sounded in her mind at the precise same time the world around her went white. Gasping, she dropped to her knees and pressed her hands to her forehead.

The chaos around her faded away to leave a lone image burning in the center of her brain.

Scales.

The golden scales of justice.

And on one of the flat plates was a small stone.

Cassie momentarily floundered, unable to decipher the vision. Dammit, she’d been so desperate for a glimpse of the future.

Fate couldn’t be so cruel to offer her that glimpse without the means to understand it.

Could it?

The vision remained, branding her synapses. But just as she was about to scream in frustration, the weight tilted. It was less than a millimeter. A breath of a dip by the plate with the stone. But it was suddenly as clear as if it was written in bold letters across the wall.