The Darkest Night
Lucien released her to look at her ankle, but Ashlyn scrambled away from him and limped her way back into Maddox’s arms. His concern intensified as his arms wound around her. She was trembling. But a moment later, he stopped caring. A pestilent haze fell over his mind, brutality obliterating every emotion in its path.
“Release me,” he growled, pushing her.
The woman clung to him. “What’s wrong?”
Lucien grabbed her, jerking her backward and locking her in an iron grip. Had she touched Maddox a second longer, he might have clawed her to pieces. As it was, he slammed his hands into the nearest wall.
“Maddox,” she said on a tremulous breath.
“Do not hurt her.” The words were for himself as much as the others. “You,” he grated, pointing to Reyes with a crimson-stained finger. “Bedroom. Now.” He didn’t wait for a response, but pounded up the stairs.
He heard Ashlyn fight for freedom and call, “But I want to stay with you.”
He bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. He allowed himself a single glance over his shoulder.
When Lucien further tightened his hold on the struggling Ashlyn, his dark hair brushing her shoulders, Maddox’s need for bloodshed strengthened. He almost changed paths, almost sprinted back into the foyer to hack his friend to pieces. Mine, his mind shouted. Mine. I found her. No one but me should be allowed to touch her.
Maddox wasn’t sure whether it was the spirit or himself who thought such a thing, and he didn’t care. He just wanted to kill. Yes, kill. Fury, such fury, exploded through him. He did stop. Did change direction. He was going to slice Lucien in half and coat the floor with his friend’s blood. Destroy, destroy, destroy. Kill.
“He’s going to attack.” Lucien.
“Get her out of here!” Torin.
Lucien dragged Ashlyn from the room. Her panicked cries echoed in Maddox’s ears, which only managed to increase his darkest needs. The image of her pale, lovely face flashed in his mind over and over again, becoming the only thing he saw. She was terrified. Trusted him, wanted him. Her arms had reached for him.
His stomach was a stinging mass of pulsing agony, but he didn’t slow his steps. Any minute, midnight would arrive and he would die—but he was taking everyone here with him. Yes, they must be destroyed.
“Ah, hell,” Aeron muttered. “The demon has taken over completely. We’ll have to subdue him. Lucien, get back in here. Hurry!”
Aeron, Reyes and Paris advanced. With the speed of a single breath, Maddox unsheathed his daggers and launched them. Expecting the attack, all three men ducked and the silver blades soared over them, embedding in the wall. Two seconds later, the men were on top of him and he was lying flat on his back. Fists jabbed into his face, his stomach, his groin. He fought. Roaring, growling, punching.
Knuckles slammed into his jaw, dislocating the bone. A knee jammed into the sensitive flesh between his legs. Still he fought. And as the battle raged, the warriors managed to drag him up the steps and into his bedroom. Maddox thought he heard Ashlyn sobbing, thought he saw her trying to tear the men away from him. He jabbed his fist forward and hit something—a nose. Heard a howl. Experienced satisfaction. Wanted more blood.
“Damn it! Chain him, Reyes, before he breaks somebody else’s fucking nose.”
“He’s too strong. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold him.”
Minutes passed as he fought, maybe an eternity, then cold metal locked around his wrists, his ankles. Maddox bucked and arched, the links cutting into his flesh. “Bastards!” The pain in his stomach was unbearable now, no longer sporadic but constant. “I’ll kill you. I’ll take every one of you to hell with me.”
Reyes stood over him, a dark glaze of determination and regret blanketing his tanned features. Maddox tried to knock him down by raising his knees and kicking, but the chains held. The warrior, too, held steady, withdrawing a long, menacing sword from his side.
“I’m sorry,” Reyes rasped as a clock chimed the hour. And then he stabbed Maddox in the stomach.
The metal sliced all the way to his spine before leaving his body. Instantly blood poured from the wound, wetting his chest and stomach. Bile burned his throat, his nose. He cursed; he bucked.
Reyes stabbed him again. And again.
The pain…the agony… His skin felt scorched. With only those three slices, his bones and organs were already shredded, each tear a point of anguish. Still he fought; still he felt a desperate urge to kill.
A woman screamed. “Stop! You’re killing him!”
When her voice pierced Maddox’s consciousness, his struggles became all the more wild. Ashlyn. His woman from the forest. His. Get to her, had to get to her. Had to kill her—no! Had to save her. Kill…save…the two needs battled for supremacy. He jerked at his chains. The metal shackles dug deeper into his wrists and ankles, but he reared up and kicked. The bed shook with the force of his movements, and both the headboard and footboard bent forward with a whine.
“Why are you doing this?” Ashlyn shouted. “Stop! Don’t hurt him. Ohmygod, stop!”
Reyes stabbed him again.
Black cobwebs wove over his vision as he searched the room. Paris, he saw dimly, was striding toward Ashlyn. Reached her, wrapped his arms around her. She was dwarfed by the larger man, enfolded in his shadow. Tears glistened in those amber eyes and on her too-pale cheeks.
She fought, but Paris held firm and dragged her from the room.
Maddox uttered an animalistic roar. Paris would seduce her. Strip her and taste her. She would not be able to resist; no woman could. “Let her go! Now!” He strained so fervently for freedom, a vessel burst in his forehead. His vision blackened completely.
“Get her out of here and keep her out.” Reyes stabbed Maddox once more, the fifth blow. “She’s making him more crazed than usual.”
Had to save her. Had to get to her. The sound of rattling chains blended with his panting as he struggled all the more.
“I’m sorry,” Reyes whispered again.
Finally, the sixth blow was delivered.
That’s when all of Maddox’s strength seeped from him. The spirit quieted, retreating to the back of his consciousness.
Done. It was done.
He lay on the bed, drenched in his own blood, unable to move or see. The pain didn’t leave him, nor did the burning. No, they intensified, more a part of him than his own skin. Warm liquid gurgled in his throat.
Lucien—he knew it was Lucien for he recognized the deceptively sweet scent of Death—knelt beside him and clasped his hand. That meant his demise was close, so torturously close.
But for Maddox, the true torment had yet to begin.
As part of his death-curse, he and Violence would spend the rest of the night burning in the pits of hell. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a cough emerged. More and more blood was rushing into his throat, choking him.
“In the morning, you’ll have a lot of explaining to do, my friend,” Lucien said, adding gently, “Die now. I’ll take your soul to hell, as required—but this time you might actually want to remain there, eh, rather than deal with the trouble you’ve brought into our home.”
“G-girl,” Maddox finally managed to say.
“Don’t worry,” Lucien said. Whatever questions he had, he kept to himself. “We won’t hurt her. She’ll be yours to deal with in the morning.”
“Untouched.” The request was odd, Maddox knew, because none of them had ever been possessive of a woman. Ashlyn, though… He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with her. He knew what he should do—and what he couldn’t. Both mattered little just then. Because, more than anything, he knew that he didn’t want to share.
“Untouched,” he insisted weakly when Lucien said nothing.
“Untouched,” Lucien agreed at last.
The scent of flowers intensified. A heartbeat of time passed, and then Maddox died.
CHAPTER FOUR
“WHO ARE YOU and how do you know Maddox?”
“Let me go!” Ashlyn wiggled and squirmed, trying to free herself from her captor’s iron grip. Her ankle throbbed, but she didn’t care. “They’re killing him in there.” Oh God. They were killing him, stabbing him over and over again. There’d been so much blood…such terrible screams. She gagged, remembering.
The voices might still be gone, but she felt more tormented than ever.
“Maddox will be fine,” the man told her. Maddox had broken his nose—she’d seen it—but it had snapped back into place almost immediately. There wasn’t even a trace of blood on his face. Now he removed one of his arms from her waist, only to caress her temple and gently brush aside a lock of hair. “You’ll see.”
“No, I won’t see,” she all but sobbed. “Let me go!”
“Much as I hate to deny you, I have to. You were causing him undue torment.”
“I was causing him undue torment? I wasn’t the one stabbing him. Now let me go!” Not knowing what else to do, she stilled and gazed up at him. “Please.” He had brilliant blue eyes and skin as pale as milk. His hair was a captivating blend of brown and black. He was handsome beyond anyone she’d ever seen before, too perfect to be real.
And all she wanted to do was escape him.
“Relax.” He smiled a slow, seductive smile. Practiced, even to her untrained eye. “You have nothing to fear from me, gorgeous. I’m all about the pleasure.”
Fury and fright, sorrow and frustration gave her strength and bravery; she slapped him. He’d just watched a man stab Maddox, and he’d done nothing to stop it. He’d just watched a man stab Maddox, and he dared to flirt with her. She had everything to fear from him.
He lost his grin and frowned down at her. “You hit me.” There was surprise in his tone.
She slapped him again. “Let. Me. Go!”
His frown deepened. He rubbed his cheek with one hand and held her still with the other. “Women do not hit me. Women love me.”
She raised her palm, ready to deliver another blow.
Sighing, he said, “Fine. Go. Maddox’s screams have stopped. I doubt you can upset him now, dead as he surely is.” His arm fell away from her.
Ashlyn didn’t give him time to change his mind. Suddenly free, she leapt into motion, racing down the hall despite the pain in her ankle. When she entered the room and saw the blood-soaked bed and motionless body, she skidded to an abrupt halt.
Dear God.
Maddox’s eyes were closed; his chest was utterly still.
A sob burst from her, and she covered her mouth with a shaky hand. Red-hot tears filled her eyes. “They killed you.” She raced to the bed and cupped Maddox’s jaw in her hands, tilting slowly. His eyelids didn’t flicker open. Breath didn’t seep from his nose. His skin was already cold and pale from loss of blood.
She was too late.
How could someone so strong and vital have been destroyed so callously?
“Who is she?” someone said.
Startled, she turned. Maddox’s murderers stood off to the side, talking amongst themselves. How could she have forgotten them? Every few seconds, they glanced in her direction. None of them spoke directly to her. They continued their conversation as if she didn’t matter. As if Maddox didn’t matter.
“We should take her to the city, but she’s seen too much,” a harsh voice said. The coldest, most uncaring voice she’d ever heard. “What was Maddox thinking?”
“All this time, I’ve lived with him and I never knew what he suffered,” an angelic-looking blond with green eyes said quietly. He was dressed entirely in black and wore gloves that stretched to his biceps. “Is it always like this?”
“Not always, no,” the one who had wielded the sword said. “He’s usually more accepting.” His black gaze was hard, his tone tormented. “The woman…”
Murderer! Ashlyn inwardly cried, wanting to attack him. All her life, her ability had revealed more bad than good, forcing her to listen to centuries of hateful accusations and even shrieks of terror. And the one man who’d given her any measure of peace, they’d brutally slain.
Do something, Darrow. She scrubbed her burning eyes with the back of her wrist and straightened to shaky legs. What could she do? They outnumbered her. They were stronger than she was.
An extremely tattooed man frowned over at her. He had military-cropped brown hair, two eyebrow rings and soft, full lips. He also had more muscles than a world champion power-lifter. He would have been handsome—in a serial-killer kind of way—if not for those tattoos. Even his cheeks were painted with violent images of war and weapons.
His eyes were the same shade of violet as Maddox’s, but they lacked any hint of warmth or emotion. Blood dripped down his nose as he rubbed his chin with two fingers. “We have to do something with the girl.” That cold, emotionless voice again. “I don’t like her being here.”
“Even so, Aeron, we aren’t to touch her.” This speaker had inky hair that was like a dark halo around his head and different-colored eyes—one brown, one blue. His face was a mass of scars. At first glance, he was hideous. At second, there was an almost hypnotic quality to him, enhanced by the scent of roses drifting from him. “Tomorrow morning she’ll be in the same condition she is now. Breathing and clothed.”
“Just like Maddox, taking away our fun.”
The wry voice came from behind her and she yelped, spinning. The beautiful pale-skinned man stood in the doorway. He watched her, hunger in his eyes, as if he were picturing her naked and liked what he saw.
A tremor started at the top of her head and worked its way down, all the way to her toes. Bastards, every one of them! Her feral gaze scanned the room and narrowed on the bloody sword that had been carelessly tossed onto the floor. The very sword that had sliced through Maddox as if he were nothing more than a thin layer of silk.
“I want to know who she is,” the cold, tattooed one—Aeron—said. “And I want to know why Maddox brought her here. He knows the rules.”
“She must have been one of the humans on the hill,” the angel said, “but that still doesn’t explain why he brought her into our midst.”
She would have laughed if she hadn’t felt on the verge of a total breakdown. I should have listened to McIntosh. Demons did live here.
“Well?” Aeron prompted. “What do we do with her?”
Each of the men faced her again, and Ashlyn dove for the blade. Her fingers curled around the hilt and she straightened, pointing the tip in their direction. The sword was heavier than she’d thought and her arms instantly began to shake under its weight, but she held firm.
Her companions merely regarded her with curiosity. Their lack of fear didn’t faze her. Though she’d only known Maddox a short while, there was something wild inside her that mourned his loss and demanded she avenge his death.
Maddox. His name whispered through her mind. He was gone. Forever. Her stomach clenched painfully. “I should kill you, all of you. He was innocent.”
“Innocent?” someone scoffed.
“She wants to kill us. Hunters have come for us, then,” Aeron said with disgust.
“A Hunter would not call Maddox innocent. Even in jest.”
“Bait would not be above it. Remember, every word out of their mouths was a lie, though their faces were always guileless.”
“I watched Maddox slay four men on my monitor, which he wouldn’t have done if they had been innocent. And I doubt a coincidence brought a guiltless female to the forest at the exact same time.”
“Think she has any skill with a sword?”
Snort. “Of course not. Look how she’s holding it.”
“Brave little thing, though.”
Ashlyn gaped at them, hardly able to keep up with the conversation. “Does no one care that a man was murdered here? That you were the ones who murdered him?”
The black-clothed angel laughed, actually laughed, but there was anguish in his green eyes. “Believe me. Maddox will thank us in the morning.”
“If he doesn’t kill us for being here in the first place,” someone retorted.
To her astonishment, several of the men chuckled. All shook their heads in hearty agreement. Only the one who had rendered the fatal wounds remained silent. He continued to stare at Maddox’s body, his expression wracked with agony and guilt. Good. She wanted him to suffer for what he’d done.
The sensual one, the one who thought no woman could resist him, leveled his gaze on her, and she was treated to another slow, seductive smile. “Put the sword away, sweet, before you hurt yourself.”
She held tight, determined. “Come and take it from me, you…you…animal!” The words flew from her mouth, a challenge she couldn’t hold back. “I may not have any skill with swords, but if you come near me I will hurt you.”
There was a sigh. A laugh. A muttered, “What kind of female can resist Paris?”
“I say we lock her in the dungeon.” This from the one named Aeron. “No telling what she’ll do otherwise.”
“Agreed,” the others echoed.
Edging toward the door, Ashlyn shook her head and gripped the sword more tightly. “I’m leaving. Do you hear me? I’m leaving! And mark my words, justice will be served. Every single one of you will be arrested and executed.”
“Maddox can decide what to do with her in the morning,” the one with the mismatched eyes said calmly, ignoring her.
As if Maddox could decide anything now.
Her chin trembled. And then her eyes widened as each of his killers stalked forward, determination in their every step.
Don’t hurt me. Please, don’t hurt me.
A pause. A snap.
An anguished cry.
My arm! Huge, gut-wrenching sobs. You broke my fucking arm! Ashlyn’s own arm throbbed in sympathy. I didn’t…do anything…wrong.
The voices had returned in full force.
She huddled on the floor of a dark, dank cell, shivering and scared. “I just wanted to find someone who could help me,” she whispered. Instead, she’d fallen straight into a Grimm’s folk tale, but with no happy ending in sight.
I will. I will. Just…need…a…moment.
The one-sided conversation had been rolling through her mind for an eternity, it seemed, now a discordant concerto of anger, desperation and pain. Above it, however, a single voice rose: Maddox’s. Not a voice of the past, but a memory. A burst of screams.
“You left the Institute for this.” She shook her head in grief and disgust, wanting to convince herself this day had been nothing more than a nightmare. That a man had not been slain right in front of her. Stabbed. Repeatedly. But she knew the truth. His shouts… God, his shouts. His rage at being chained and beaten, his torment…worse than anything she’d ever heard from another human being.
Tears rained down her face. She couldn’t get his image out of her head—not his image before he died and not his image after. Harshly handsome face almost savage in its intensity. Facial bones blurred and sunken. Violet eyes bright. Violet eyes closed. Tall, tanned and muscled body. Broken, bloody, lifeless body.
She whimpered.
After shoving her into this cell, Maddox’s killers had promised to bring her blankets and food. The vow had been delivered ages ago, but no one had returned. She was glad. She didn’t want to see them again. Didn’t want to hear them, didn’t want to talk to them. She’d rather endure the cold and the hunger.
Shivering, she tugged her jacket tight at the collar. She was thankful she still had it, that the men, those barbaric monsters, hadn’t taken it from her during the seemingly endless trek from topside to underground.
Just then, something scampered across her fingertips, squeaking happily, and she jerked. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. She scooted into the nearest corner. Mouse. A hairy little rodent that would eat anything, and where there was one…
Stomach churning, she swept her gaze through the cell. Not that it did any good. The room was too dark, and she wouldn’t have been able to see a hand—or a monster—if it were right in front of her face.
“Stay still.” Deep breath in. “Stay calm.” Deep breath out.
I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but please don’t hurt me again, Broken Arm said, sobbing his way back into her thoughts. I didn’t mean to sneak inside. There was a long pause. Okay, yes, yes. I did. I meant to, but I only wanted to see who had taken residence here. I’m not a hunter, I swear I’m not.
Ashlyn’s ears twitched, and she pressed deeper into the rocky wall. Hunter, the man had said. Maddox’s killers had called her a hunter. What did they mean? Bounty hunter? She frowned and rubbed her swollen, aching ankle. Who could ever think that of five-foot-five, average Ashlyn?
“Doesn’t matter. You have to find a way out of here, Darrow.” She had to tell the authorities what had happened to Maddox. Would they believe her? Would they even care? Or had the men here somehow bewitched them as they’d done the rest of the townspeople—angels, indeed—allowing them to do anything they wanted, whenever they wanted?
A sob gushed from her lips; a tremor raked her. No one should have to die that slowly, that painfully. Dignity gone. Cries unheeded.
One way or another, Maddox would be avenged.
MADDOX SCREAMED.
Flames licked him from head to toe. Blistering, melting away his flesh, reducing him to nothing but bone. No, not even bone, he mused in the next instant. The flames had reduced him to ash. But he was still aware…always aware. He still knew who he was, still knew what he was, and that he would have to return to the fire tomorrow.
The agony was nearly more than he could bear. Plumes of smoke thickened the air, scattering soot in every direction. Disgustingly, he knew that soot belonged to him. Was him.
Much too soon, it returned to where he had stood, fused together and became a body, a man—a man that once again caught fire. A body that once again melted bit by grueling bit, pouring flesh from muscle, then flickering orange-gold sparks over muscle before disintegrating altogether. There was another blackened breeze, returning everything to its place so the entire process could repeat itself. Again and again and again.
All the while, Violence roared inside his head, desperate to escape, no longer sated as it had been at the moment of his death. Blending with that were the sounds of the other condemned souls, screaming as the flames of hell devoured them. Demons, those disgusting winged creatures with glowing red eyes, skeletal faces and thick yellow horns atop their heads, fluttered from one tormented prisoner to another, laughing, taunting, spitting.
I have one of those monsters inside me. Except mine is worse.
The other demons knew it, too. “Welcome back, brother,” they would jeer before licking him with their fiery, forked tongues.
Always before, Maddox had wished to fade into nothing when the fire overcame him, never to return to hell or to earth. He’d wished to end his miserable existence and finally stop the pain. Always before—but not tonight. Not this time.
Tonight, pain was eclipsed by desire.
Ashlyn’s image rose inside his mind, taunting him far more than the demons. You’ll find nothing but bliss with me, her eyes seemed to say, lips parting, softening for a kiss.
She was a puzzle he yearned to solve. His first glimpse of heaven with her warm, amber-rich hair and honey-colored eyes. She was exquisite and lush, and so unequivocally feminine she called to his every masculine instinct.
Surprisingly, she had fought to stay with him. Had even fought to save him from the others, he’d realized only a few minutes ago. He didn’t fully understand why, but he liked the notion anyway.
He might not have known what he wanted to do with her earlier, but he knew now. He wanted to taste her. All of her. Bait or not. Hunter or not. He simply wanted. After all his suffering, he deserved a sliver of happiness.