The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1)(58)
Author: Gena Showalter

She tiptoed to the door and inched it open. No one was in the hallway. Suddenly Maddox’s voice went quiet. Too quiet. She covered her mouth with her hand to prevent a cry. There was muttering –

"… shouldn’t have told him."

"He needed time to calm down. Now he has it."

"He might never calm down."

"Doesn’t matter. It was the right thing to do." A pause. A sigh. "I’m eager to finish this and remove at least one burden from our lives. Let’s grab the girl and go."

Trembling, she pressed herself against the wall and surrounded herself with shadows. Footsteps echoed. A door creaked open, then closed. More footsteps, these moving away from her.

Ashlyn sprang into motion. She raced into the hall, caught a glimpse of two men rounding a corner and opened the door to Maddox’s room.

She almost vomited.

He lay on the bed, the bed where he’d held her so tenderly only hours ago, blood pooling around him. His chest was bare and she could see six gaping wounds where a sword had pierced. She could see inside his body. Oh God. She covered her mouth with her hands.

In a shocked trance, she found herself walking toward him. Not again, she thought. Not again! The brutality was astonishing.

Why did those bastards keep doing this to him? He was a demon, they were demons, but that wasn’t reason enough. "There’s no reason good enough," she sobbed. Cruel and heartless, that’s what they were.

Slowly she reached out and smoothed her hand over Maddox’s brow. His eyes were closed; blood streaked his face, splattered in a random pattern. No, not random. Ashlyn thought perhaps she saw the shape of a butterfly, all angles and sharp curves.

Blood even ran down his wrists and ankles where he’d pulled at his bonds.

Another sob bubbled in her throat and overflowed. Her knees collapsed, and she was suddenly kneeling beside him. "Maddox," she whispered brokenly. "I’m here. I won’t leave you." She gazed about for a key to unchain him, but found nothing.

Reaching out, she clasped his lifeless hand. He was immortal. He’d awakened from this once. He could do it again. Right?

Flames licked at him. Burning like acid. So hot. Melting him, destroying him bit by bit. The air was heavy, black and thick as his body disintegrated. So much pain. "Maddox."

He heard the voice, familiar, sweet, and he stopped writhing, heat suddenly forgotten. "Ashlyn?" He scanned the depths of the hell he’d returned to but saw only cave after cave of flame. Heard only whimpers and shouts. Had Ashlyn died? Had she been sent here to suffer, too?

That could only mean Lucien and Reyes had killed her. "Bastards!" Maddox howled. They had killed her, and now he would have to kill them. With pleasure, the spirit growled.

"I’m here," she said. "I won’t leave you." A sob this time.

"Ashlyn," he called. He’d bargain with the cruel new gods. He would get her out of here. Whatever was needed. He would agree to stay here forever, even. Anything to set her free.

"I won’t let you go. I’ll be here when you awaken. If you awaken. Oh God."

His brow furrowed in confusion before melting away once again. Her voice wasn’t an echo inside of hell. It was an echo inside his mind. But that made no sense. That was not possible.

"How could they have done this to you? How?"

Was she… with his body? Yes, he realized a moment later. Yes, she was. He could almost feel her hand clutching his, her warm tears dripping onto his open chest. He could almost smell her sweet honey scent.

As his charred flesh burned and reformed, burned and reformed, she whispered to him, comforting him. "Wake up again, Maddox. Wake up for me. You have a lot of explaining to do, and I won’t let you go until you tell me the truth."

He wanted to obey and fought to escape the deep, deep pit in which he found himself, doing all he could to project his spirit back into his body. He wanted to see her, to hold her, to protect her. But the fire enveloped him in a smoldering embrace, trapping him. He gritted his teeth, wrestling, struggling, battling again and again. He would battle all night, if he had to. He would battle until Lucien came for him.

He would be with Ashlyn again.

His connection to her was too strong, too deep, too ingrained, to be ignored or denied. In such a short amount of time, she’d somehow become the center of his universe. His only reason for living. It was as if she belonged to him. As if she’d been born just for him.

Now that he’d found her, nothing would come between them.

"I’ll stay here all night," she said. "I’m not going to let you go."

He was smiling as the flames consumed him again.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The time for war had arrived.

Aeron was glad. He seethed with the need to battle, to slay. Maybe, if he maimed a few Hunters, he would stop imagining his blade slicing through Danika’s neck, followed quickly by her sister’s…her mother’s…and lastly, her grandmother’s.

He hadn’t told the others, but the need to kill was more than an ignorable flicker inside him now. It was beginning to color his every thought and make him crazed. The gods had not exaggerated. The beast inside him was eager to follow the order he’d been given.

Worse, the stirrings seemed to increase with every hour that passed.

And they would only grow stronger, he knew. They would grow and grow and grow until at last he destroyed those four innocent women.

He worked his jaw. Hopefully he could suppress the thirst for blood, if only for a little while. I’m a monster, as bad as the spirit inside me. If the warriors failed to think of a way to save those women, well, Aeron knew he would have to kiss the last remaining vestiges of himself goodbye. He would be a demon.

Aren’t you already?

"Think Maddox’s woman is out here?" Paris asked, interrupting his brooding thoughts.

"Could be." They hadn’t been able to find her and had soon given up their search, coming into the city anyway. He was furious that Bait might even now be on the loose.

Had the Hunters already been warned of the Lords’ arrival?

Lucien had flashed into the cemetery first, but hadn’t seen anything suspicious. Still, Torin had been sent in afterward to wait, watch and take surveillance pictures with a few of his toys. Sending him had been a last resort. He’d protested, but in the end had agreed to go. At least the cemetery’s inhabitants were already dead, rendering Disease harmless.

Now Aeron and the others moved swiftly through the cobbled streets of Buda. Without Ashlyn, they had to draw the Hunters out another way. They had chosen to be the Bait themselves.

Midnight might have come and gone, but the city was far from ready to sleep. People sat at lighted tables, the innocent playing chess, the more jaded selling a few hours of fun. Buildings towered on each side, a symphony of curves and points. A few cars meandered past.