The Darkening (Dawn of Ascension #2)

Jean-Pierre lay on his back, grimacing. “And these are not energy streams you are hitting me with?” Samuel shook his head. “Not at all.

Trust me.”

“Mon dieu, your energy is immense.” Samuel smiled. “I warned you.” Jean-Pierre made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat. He scowled at Samuel’s hand, refused to take it, but this time he struggled to gain his feet instead of hopping back up like he’d been doing. “I confess I am very tired of your power slamming me into these work-out mats.

And how you are folding so quickly is beyond what I can comprehend.” The alarms no longer sounded. Jean- Pierre had long since spoken with security and gotten permission for Samuel to fold as often as needed, because utilizing his dark power, while battling, always included a series of folds.

Jean-Pierre wiped sweat from his brow. Some of his long warrior hair had escaped his cadroen, and clung to his face and neck. He had unusual eyes, dark gray and green or maybe they were blue. He’d been a favorite with the ladies until the breh-hedden brought Fiona, the blood slave, into his life. Now he was all hers.

The breh-hedden.

Jesus.

Jean-Pierre held Samuel’s gaze.

“And we truly have not tapped the streaming power?” Samuel shook his head. “No, not even a little.”

“Merde,” Jean-Pierre muttered.

He turned away from the powerful What-Bee and swiped his sword gently back and forth through the air, watching the blade glimmer beneath the overhead lights. At least he’d come to understand that his power had two separate parts and that this half, which had functioned last night at the Superstitions, now seemed strong and right as he wielded his sword against Jean-Pierre in practice, as he folded, levitated, and worked with his dark mist floating around him.

But the streaming power remained elusive, perhaps even dormant, not a bad thing in his opinion.

With his sword held aloft, a vibration reached him, a single call to his dark power. He turned in a slow circle, listening hard, waiting for what he didn’t know.

“What is it?” Jean-Pierre asked.

“What is happening?” Samuel turned toward him. “Jesus, I can feel that something’s wrong, like a vibration in my head. What the hell is that?” But Jean-Pierre just shrugged.

“Perhaps it is your woman.” He was about to say no, to reject the idea because he didn’t have a woman, when Jean-Pierre’s phone rang. He plucked it from the deep pocket of his workout kilt, and after glancing a the screen, he thumbed then said, “Allo, Havily? Ca va? ” He nodded. “I see. When you call the landing platforms, have them fold her here. Oui. Ici. Here. Yes, we can do that for now.” He thumbed his phone, returned it to his pocket, and said, “Your woman is coming.”

“Shit,” Samuel murmured. He’d already planned on finding a way to avoid Vela, and now she’d be here in a few more seconds. Beyond that, he could feel her distress, which made no sense at all.

A moment later, she materialized twenty feet away from him, near the risers.

Unable to prevent himself, he crossed the workout mats on a half-run, folding his sword away at the same time.

With his dark power flowing in a mist around him he grabbed her arms, holding her fast. “Are you all right? What’s wrong? I can feel that something’s wrong.” But before she could answer, he pulled her against him.

“Samuel,” she whispered, her voice just a breath of air against his neck.

Realizing what he’d done, he let go of her, then took a step back. “Shit, I’m so sorry, Vela. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m trying. I really am.” Vela put a hand on his arm, and he grew very still. God, the feel of her fingers alone making contact with his skin sent ripples of desire coursing through him.

“Samuel, we have a situation. I found Duncan.”

“What?”

“I located Duncan. I slipped into the darkening and went straight to him.” He called to Jean-Pierre, repeating what she’d just told him.

Jean-Pierre hurried to join them, which immediately set a new kind of problem in play. He didn’t want the warrior near Vela. He shifted to stand slightly in front of her, lowered his chin, and glared. A soft warning growl sounded at the back of his throat.

Jean-Pierre raised both hands, and took two steps back but his lips curved.

Damn the breh-hedden.

Perhaps more stiffly than he wanted, Samuel shifted to stand beside Vela and slid an arm around her waist. He met her gaze, then sent, I’m sorry. This thing is almost unbearable, but I can’t let him get any closer. Please understand.

I do. I really do. Her light floral scent, so familiar, began to waft over him and now a second problem surfaced.

Oh, God, the way you smell.

I know. This is crazy. Your touch, your nearness, and right now you smell like heaven.

But at that, he laughed and some of the tension eased out of him. He shifted to face her a little bit more. “How is that possible, when I’ve been running drills?” Her large blue eyes had darkened and the initial charge of the breh-hedden rushed back at him. The only thing that kept him from dragging her into his arms once more was that Jean-Pierre stood nearby.

When the brother called out his name in three distinct syllables, Samuel jerked his gaze from Vela.

“Your woman had a purpose in coming here, remember?”

“Oh, God, yes,” Vela said. “It’s about Duncan.” She shuddered. “I found him in the darkening, in a series of tunnels that crossed the dimensional trough into Third. He’s in a stone-like facility, bound with ropes. He’s been beaten. I almost didn’t recognize him.” She paled, her eyes widening. “He has some kind of execution order on his head. He said he won’t last through the next couple of days.” She then relayed what Duncan had said, that he believed Samuel would be able to help him, that he’d seen others on Third with his power, others that released a kind of mist when their power emerged.

A series of thoughts raced through his head, that his power possessed Third Earth qualities, just as he had thought, that a Third entity held Duncan captive, and that somehow Vela connected him to the Upper Dimension.

Whatever he’d felt earlier about staying away from Vela, or his reluctance to bring his dark power forward, all seemed to fall away in the face of Duncan’s situation. Maybe if this hadn’t been a time of war, he could make a different choice, one that could allow him to separate from Vela, to keep his unknown, untried powers at bay. But Duncan had saved his life and right now Samuel had only one goal. “We need to get him out.” And with those words, spoken aloud, he left behind a much simpler life in which he kept to himself and lived out his basic, disconnected warrior life. He didn’t know all that taking this step would mean, but everything in his spirit urged him forward.

“I just don’t know what to do,” Vela said.

“Can you share the location with me in some way? Maybe get me there?” He had no idea if Vela could take him through the tunnel system she’d just described.

“I don’t know.”

Vela looked into smoky-gray eyes and once again felt the train of her thoughts begin to slide away. She was still too vulnerable to the breh-hedden to do much more than step in his direction and plant a hand on his weapons harness, in the center of his chest. He covered that hand and his expression softened. A falling sensation flowed through her, working the hard exterior of her heart, softening what had been closed off for the last several years.

You’re so beautiful.

But his deep voice in her head woke her up. He shouldn’t be saying something like that, not when they had a job to do, not when Duncan was in danger.

She drew back, shivering as she lost connection with him. She looked at anything but him and decided the black mats were the right place for her gaze to land. Her thoughts slowly pulled back together.

Everything had changed.

That’s what she knew.

From the moment she’d seen Duncan bound by ropes and hanging from a hook, her life had shifted on its axis. She had no idea where this journey would take her, but for whatever bizarre reason, she had a specific power that had located one of their missing warriors. She’d never sought this ability. She didn’t even want it.

But her connection to the darkening had catapulted her into a new world, demanding things of her she’d never imagined doing before. Beyond her emerging power, however, she also let go of her need to keep the war at arm’s length. Yes, she’d lost her husband to that bastard, Greaves, but the war wasn’t over and now it looked like an entity on Third had gotten involved as well.

“Why Duncan?” she asked, glancing between the men.

Jean-Pierre turned toward her.

“Duncan has power, more than anyone knows. I have been working with him, exploring that power, for many months. He has visions, but we could not isolate the source of the power and bring them forward. Each time we did, though, he grew physically stronger.” Samuel frowned. “Did you have a sense that he was somehow connected to Third Earth?”

“No. How could I have? But Duncan knew things, sensed things. There is a connection between the two of you.” Vela drew in a deep breath and met Samuel’s gaze. “I think we should head back into the darkening. I want to try to take you back to him and I’m pretty sure I can. Maybe if you saw him, saw the situation, you could figure out what we need to do.” Samuel dipped his chin. “Are you sure?” She understood the depth of the question, not just that she would be taking him back into the darkening and on a difficult journey, but because he already knew how she felt about all of this, that she didn’t want to be involved.

She nodded slowly. “I’m sure. My mind’s made up. I’m not especially happy about what’s going on, but I want to help.”

“Then let’s do it.” But Jean-Pierre intruded. “It might be wise to engage Endelle at this point. Not only does she have darkening ability but it seems to me, mes amis, that we are talking about Third Earth. If an Upper Dimension has begun meddling in our affairs, then Endelle must know.” Vela nodded briskly. “You’re right.