The Darkest Craving Part 2

As he again struggled to sit up, multiple footsteps pounded, causing the floor to reverberate. Low growls erupted. The swish of clothing whispered past. Flesh met flesh, bone met bone. Metal clinked against metal. The males would destroy her.

"Is that all you got?" the girl taunted-a taunt undercut by her heavy panting. "Come on, fellas. Let's make this memorable, one for the history books!"

"No," Kane tried to shout, but not even his ears picked up the sound.

Strider jumped over him. Another clang of metal echoed.

"How can this be memorable?" Sabin roared. "The only thing you're doing is leaping out of the way when we strike."

"Sorry. I'm not meaning to, but instinct keeps kicking in," she said.

To anyone but Kane, who knew her secret desire, the conversation would have sounded weird.

The fight continued, the two men chasing the girl around the small room, leaping on furniture, bouncing off the walls, slas.h.i.+ng out with hungry blades and missing as she darted out of the way.

The urge to commit violence sharpened with deadly force.

"Don't hurt her," he growled. "I'll hurt you back." He would do anything to protect her.

Even in this pitiful state?

He ignored the humiliating question.

Question. Yes. He had more questions for the girl than he'd already asked-and this time, she would answer satisfactorily or he would...he wasn't sure what he would do. He'd lost all sense of mercy and compa.s.sion inside that cave.

The threat stopped Sabin in his tracks. The warrior lowered his weapons.

Strider refused to give up, and finally managed to grab the girl by the hair. She yelped as he jerked, tugging her into the hard line of his body.

Kane managed to get to his feet, intending to rip the two apart. Mine. He stalked forward, tripped over a shoe, thanks to the demon, and came cras.h.i.+ng down. Pain consumed him.

Before the girl had a chance to scream for help, or curse Strider's very existence, he knocked her ankles together and sent her propelling to the floor. He went down with her, pinning her shoulders to the floor with his knees. Though she struggled, she couldn't work her way free.

"I said...don't hurt," Kane shouted with what little strength he had left.

"Hey. I barely touched her. I also won," the warrior announced, a huge grin lifting the corners of his mouth.

Sabin marched to Kane's side, crouched, and helped roll him to his back. Then the warrior slid gentle hands under his head and shoulders. Kane flinched from the contact, his mind blaring out a protest he refused to let his mouth deliver, but still his friend held firm, easing him into a sitting position.

"We've been looking for you, my man." Tender words meant to a.s.sure and comfort him. Too bad nothing would ever a.s.sure and comfort him again. "Weren't ever going to give up."

"How?" he managed to ask. Let me go. Please, just let me go.

Sabin understood his question, but not his inner plea. "There was a story in a tabloid about a superwoman in New York carrying a hulk over her shoulder. Torin worked his magic and hacked into security cameras in the area, and boom. We had you."

From her trapped position on the floor, the girl looked over at him. Panting, she said to Sabin, "Hey, can't you tell he's not liking the physical contact? Let him go."

How had she known, when one of his best friends hadn't noticed?

"He's fine," Strider said. "Why are you wearing gloves, female?"

Ignoring the question, she closed her eyes and asked, "Are you going to kill me now?"

"No!" Kane roared. MINE! MINE!

Strider sheathed his blades and stood. Immediately the girl climbed to her feet. Long strands of hair had fallen over her brow, onto her cheeks; she pushed the locks behind the pointed ears that had so startled him.

Most of the Fae preferred to remain in their realm. They weren't the most beloved of races, and immortals tended to attack first and ask questions later. Still, Kane had run into a few throughout the centuries. Each Fae had possessed curling white hair and skin as pale as milk. This one had a slick fall of jet-black silk, with no hint of a wave, and skin the most luscious shade of bronze. Marks of her humanity?

Her eyes belonged to the Fae, though. Large and blue, like the rarest of jewels, the color lightened and darkened with her moods. Right now they were crystalline, almost lacking any color at all. Was she frightened?

The demon of Disaster liked the thought and purred his approval.

Shut up, Kane snarled. I'll kill you. Kill you so dead.

The purrs became chuckles, and Kane had to force himself to breathe, in and out, in and out, slow and measured. He wanted to cut off his ears in the hopes of silencing all that sickening amus.e.m.e.nt. He wanted to tear the room apart, destroy every piece of furniture, take down every wall, rip up every inch of carpet. He wanted to...grab the girl and carry her away from this awful place.

His gaze met hers, and she offered the sweetest of smiles. A smile that said, It's going to be okay, I promise.

The rage dialed down to a simmer.

That. Quickly.

How had she done that?

Of all the faces she had flashed, this was by far the prettiest. She had the longest lashes he'd ever seen. Her cheekbones were high and sharp, her nose perfectly sloped and her lips heart-shaped. There was a slight point in her chin.

She was like a little girl's doll come to dazzling life, and she smelled of rosemary and spearmint-a fresh-baked bread paired with an after-dinner mint. In other words, home.

Mine.

Never, the demon snipped, and the ground began to shake.

Stupid demon. Like any other living creature, Disaster experienced hunger. Unlike others, fear and upset were his favorite foods. So when he yearned for a meal-or just wanted dessert-he caused some sort of catastrophe for Kane, as well as those around him.

Sometimes, those catastrophes were small. A light bulb would short out, or the floor would crack at his feet. Too many times, those catastrophes were large. A limb would fall from a tree. Cars would crash. Buildings would crumble.

Hatred sc.r.a.ped at his chest. One day, I'll be free of you. One day, I'll destroy you.

The shaking stopped as the demon laughed with glee. I'm a part of you. There'll be no getting rid of me. Ever.

Kane pounded a fist into the floor. Long ago, the Greeks had told him only death would separate him from the demon-his death-but that Disaster would live on forevermore. Perhaps that was true. Perhaps not. The Greeks were famous for their lies. But either way, Kane wouldn't risk death. He was twisted enough to want to witness Disaster's defeat, and just cold enough to want to be the one to deliver the final blow.

There had to be a way to have both.

"-right? Yes?" the girl was saying.

Her lilting voice brought him back to the present.

"Uh, Kane," Sabin prompted. "Did you promise to do that?"

She had been speaking to Kane, then, and he could imagine what she'd said. He shook his head, his neck almost too weak to support the action. "No. I didn't."

"But...but...his memory must be impaired." Her gaze swung to Strider, cerulean flooding her irises, becoming an ocean of anger. "What about you? Will you carry out his end of the bargain?"

"Me?" Strider thumped his chest.

"Yes, you."

"And just how do you want me to proceed, hmm?"

A violent tremor swept through her, but she said, "I want...I want you to take your dagger and...stab me in the heart."

The warrior blinked, shook his head. "You're serious, aren't you? You actually want to die."

"I don't want to, no, but I need to," she whispered, the anger giving way to defeat.

Kane swallowed a roar, remembering her words in the cave.

I will take you to the human world-and in return, you will kill me. I'll have your vow first.

Maybe he hadn't believed her then. Maybe he'd been too lost to his own pain to care. But now, the fact that she wanted to die...not just no, but h.e.l.l no. He would die first.

"Why did you dodge my blows?" Strider demanded of the girl.

"I told you. Instinct. But I'll do better next time, I promise."

Mine, Kane heard again, a deep, rumbling growl rising...rising...escaping. "Mine! Touch her and I'll kill you."

Both Sabin and Strider stared at him with astonishment. Kane had always been the calm one, and had never before raised his voice to his friends. But he wasn't the man he used to be-wouldn't ever be that man again.

"Please," she begged the warrior, those eyes swirling with flecks of baby blue. How desperate she sounded.

How much more hotly his rage burned.

Something terrible had to have happened to her to make her feel death was the only option available. Had someone...had she been forced-he couldn't finish the thought. He would erupt. Or bury his head in the hollow of her neck and sob.

He peered up at Strider. Big, blond Strider, with his navy eyes and warped sense of humor. "Bind her. Gently. Bring her with us." He would help her.

"What?" She held up her hands, palms up, and backed away from the warrior. "No way. Just no way. Unless you're planning to take me to an undisclosed location, so no one will see the blood."

He could have lied. Instead, he remained quiet as Sabin a.s.sisted him to his feet. Broken bones that had only recently been reset screamed in protest, and his knees nearly buckled, but he held steady. He wouldn't allow himself to go down. Not again. Not in front of his min-the girl.

"Sorry, honey cakes," Strider said, "but you don't get a say in what happens next. You're gonna live and not die, and that's that."

"But...but..." Her gaze found Kane and pleaded. "I've wasted so much time with you. I have no one else to ask for help."

"Good." Any man who thought to give her what she asked for would die the worst of deaths.

"Good? Good! Oh!" Anger overshadowed everything else, and she stomped her foot. "You heartless, overgrown lout!"

"Because he won't hurt you? That's a first." Strider reached out, intending to grab her.

In a snap, she kicked out her leg, nailing the male between the legs. As Strider hunched over, gasping for breath, she bolted for the door, tossing over her shoulder, "I'm so disappointed in you, Lord Kane!"

She vanished into the night.

He tried to follow after her, but curse his weakness, his knees buckled. "Come back, female! Now!"

She never reappeared.

Kane experienced a tidal wave of rage that made a mockery of what had come before. He would get her back. He would stalk through the night, grab everyone he spotted, and, if they couldn't point him in the right direction, rip their spines out of their mouths. He would leave an ocean of blood in his wake, and she would have only herself to blame. He would- Do nothing, Disaster finished with a laugh.

It stung all the worse because Kane could only remain crumpled on the floor.

"Bring her back to me," he shouted to Strider.

Moaning in agony, the warrior toppled to the floor. He'd just been bested by a puny little girl; his demon would be throwing out pain for the next several days.

"Go!" Kane commanded Sabin.

"No. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

"Go!" he insisted. "Bring her back."

"Yelling at me isn't going to change my mind."

Kane tried to crawl to the door, but dizziness crowded into his mind, stopping him. He spit out a mouthful of curses.

Could nothing go right for him? Not even once?

Disaster started laughing all over again.

CHAPTER THREE.

The Realm of Blood and Shadows

A week later