Darkness on Fire (6 page)

And now she was going to meet two Kalith males. One of them was obviously committed to Penn’s sister, but how about the other one? What would he think of her? Would she act too human for them? She’d always wondered how she’d fit in with those of her own kind.

“If you’re feeling better, we should get moving.” Penn offered her a hand up off the rock.

As she accepted his assistance, she glanced down at his arm and gasped. A vicious scar, thick and jagged, transected his right hand and wrist. Without thinking, she reached out with her free hand to trace what had to have been a horrific wound.

“Penn, your poor arm!”

He immediately jerked his hand free, fury laced with what she guessed was embarrassment in his eyes. “Let’s get moving. We don’t have all day.”

Figuring he’d prefer her silence to an apology, she stowed her water bottle and started off down the trail. As they walked, she couldn’t get the image of that scar out of her head. Judging from its size and location, Penn had come darn close to losing his hand to a sword blade. She didn’t have to ask how it had happened or whom he’d been fighting. It had to have been one of the Others, out-of-his-head crazy for the light of this world.

Her heart ached for Penn, though she doubted he’d want her sympathy. Was this the reason he hadn’t been out in the field other than to schlep equipment for his sister? She had so many questions.

She said quietly, “The entrance is just behind that cluster of bushes and boulders jutting out of the hillside.”

Penn knew he was being a jerk, but Jora’s horror when she spotted his scar had pissed him off big-time. He should be used to it by now; he still occasionally caught his friends looking at him with that same damn pity when they thought he wouldn’t notice. At least Jora had the excuse that she hadn’t known about it. The other Paladins had been there when the whole thing had happened.

When she started forward, Penn blocked her way. “Just a minute.”

He set down the duffel and pulled out her sword and handed it to her. “I’m hoping we won’t need these, but I’ve been around the barrier long enough to know we don’t want to be caught unprepared.”

Even after all the practicing he’d done, hefting his sword with his left hand still felt strange. Drawing a deep breath, he braced himself to tell her the truth.

“Look, I’m right-handed, but my wrist and hand haven’t healed enough for me to hold a sword very long. I’ve been training with my left, but it’s been an uphill battle.”

“Are you okay with guns?” Her matter-of-fact tone made it easier for him to answer.

“Crack shot with both hands.” He kept his eyes pinned on his sword. “I’m getting the mobility back in my hand, but I’m still working on regaining the strength.”

“I’m glad for you.” Jora gave him a brief smile before turning her attention back to her own weapons. “Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Working with a female, even one as confident and competent as Jora, seemed strange to him. Ordinarily he and his buddies automatically traded off taking point and watching each other’s backs. But he didn’t want Jora to be the first one through the cave entrance, and he was just as reluctant to have her trailing along behind him.

She stopped when they reached the boulders. “There’s a nook just inside the entrance where I usually stash my pack. Some of the passages are pretty narrow, and it will be easier to maneuver without them.”

“Makes sense.”

He followed her inside and tossed his bag down beside hers as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. The familiar surge of adrenaline poured through him, ramping up his senses.

Leaning in close, he whispered near Jora’s ear, “Are we still the only ones in the area?”

After a few seconds, she answered. “So far, but the closer we get to the barrier, the more it will interfere with my ability to get clear readings.”

That didn’t surprise him. The barrier screwed up a lot of things.

She started forward again, sailing through openings that he had to duck down to clear. She set a pace that allowed them both to make their way without having to resort to flashlights, which would announce their presence if anyone was waiting up ahead.

“We’re almost there. The cavern opens up beyond that next turn, and the barrier is at the far end.”

There was no way he was going to let her lead the charge beyond this point. “Let me by you so I can take point.”

Jora lowered her sword and stepped to one side, pressing up against the wall to give Penn room to squeeze past. It was a tight fit, leaving barely a breath’s distance between them. The close proximity left him hyperaware of Jora’s warmth and filled his head with the feminine scent of her skin and hair. The effect on his own body was immediate and intense to the point of pain.

He wanted to curse and at the same time howl with relief that his hand wasn’t the only part of his body coming back to life. It was ironic that a Kalith had been responsible for his physical problems, and another was helping with the cure.

Now wasn’t the time for this. He was on a mission and couldn’t afford to screw it up with raging hormones. Time to get his head back in the right game.

Just past Jora, he paused to soak in the hum and buzz of the barrier. Each time a Paladin encountered a different portion of the surging current, it took some time to adjust to the new frequency. This one didn’t just feel different; it also felt wrong. Bracing himself for the usual lurch in his gut, Penn raised his sword, slipped the safety off his gun, and walked around the bend.

One look at the swirling, sickly greens and yellows had him reaching for the cave wall to steady himself.

“Son of a bitch! Would you look at that!”

Jora moved up to stand beside him as they both stared at the pulsing curtain of energy. After all the years of fighting at the barrier, he thought he’d seen everything. This took weird to a whole new level.

“Has it always looked like this?”

Jora shook her head. “My folks have been bringing me here for as long as I can remember. I think it reminded them of home.” She shifted restlessly. “I’ve always wondered if they might have tried to go back except for me. The light sickness runs pretty strongly in my father’s family, and they were afraid of the effect the growing darkness would have on me.”

She grimaced. “They always seemed a little sad after we visited this cave. Not me, though. The changing colors, each more beautiful than the next, always fascinated me. It was frustrating to not have anyone to share it with.”

There was nothing beautiful about what
he
was seeing. The dissonance of the frequency alone was enough to make him queasy. “You think that’s pretty?”

She shuddered. “Heck no! That’s what alerted me that something was wrong. I can hardly look at that putrid mess without wanting to hurl.”

She pointed toward the far edge of the barrier. “That sick color started on that side and has been spreading across the whole stretch over the past few weeks. It’s almost gangrenous.”

Penn started moving forward, hating the sick vibes he was getting, but someone had to check it out. Rather than stare at the pulsing colors, he studied the floor of the cavern. There were fresh scratches in the rock, as if something heavy had been dragged through recently. The only way into the cavern was the way that he and Jora had used, but there were no signs of the scratches past the center of the floor.

He didn’t like the leap in logic his mind just took: whoever was messing around in here had definitely come from the other side of the barrier. He pulled out his digital camera and took close-ups of the floor, the cavern, and the barrier itself. He’d e-mail the pictures to Devlin as soon as they got back to the motel; maybe someone at headquarters had seen something like this before and could make sense of it.

Jora stayed out of his way, dividing her attention between the passage behind them and that sick curtain of energy writhing on the far side of the cavern. After a bit, she asked, “So what do you think?”

“That you’re right.” He snapped another picture, this time including Jora in the frame. “Someone from the other side is screwing around over here. The only question is what they’re up to and why.”

He paced off the floor, making notes of the measurements. The size of the cavern probably didn’t mean jack shit in the grand scheme of things, but he wanted Devlin to have all the information he could give him.

While he worked, he was aware of Jora setting aside her sword and slowly approaching the barrier, her hands outstretched. He jotted down the last few measurements before picking up his own weapon and positioning himself where he could guard her back. She’d be defenseless until she broke off contact with the energies she was attempting to manipulate.

Already, there were bands of more healthy looking colors slowly spreading across the thirty-foot barrier. Despite the cool cave air, Jora’s forehead was dotted with beads of sweat and there were slight tremors in her hands.

He hoped she didn’t overextend herself, because carrying her out of this damn place would be awkward, not to mention dangerous. He’d have to get her out first and then return for their weapons. No matter how you looked at it, the situation would suck big-time.

If she didn’t break it off soon, he’d have to risk yanking her out of her trancelike state. He counted off the seconds. Her pale complexion was now chalky white and the shaking was far worse. He crossed the cavern floor and gingerly reached out to touch her shoulder.

“Jora?”

No response.

He set his sword on the floor and put both hands on her shoulders and gave them a gentle squeeze.

“Jora, let it go. Please.” When that didn’t work, he gave her a shake and barked out, “Jora! Wake up, dammit!”

She blinked twice and then jerked around to look up at him in confusion. “Penn?”

When a high-pitched whine started up, her gaze whipped back around to the barrier. “Oh, God, it’s going feral!”

The entire cave shuddered and shook. Penn swept Jora up in his arms and ran back toward the passage, praying like hell that he hadn’t just gotten them both killed.

“P
ut me down, Penn!”

Jora kicked her feet, trying to break free of his arms before it was too late. “I need to stop this.”

She must have gotten through to him because he stopped moving long enough to set her down on her feet. “We need to keep moving before this whole thing comes down on our heads!”

He reached for her hand, probably intending to drag her back down the passage toward the entrance. They’d never make it that far, not unless she did something damn quick to stabilize the shifting rock beneath their feet.

She grabbed on to the nearest outcropping and held on for dear life. “Let me do this before it’s too late! Please, I’ve got to at least try. You keep moving, and I’ll catch up when I can.”

“No way am I leaving you in here to face this alone.” He crossed his arms over his chest and blocked the passage back toward the barrier.

Stubborn jerk! “Fine, but don’t interfere this time. I’ll let you know when it’s safe for me to let go.”

She leaned into the rock, putting her full body weight against it, and concentrated on drawing off the pressure building beneath the surface. The energy bled out of the rock into her hands, a trickle at first, then with building momentum. When she had absorbed as much as she could without causing permanent damage, she opened herself up as a conduit to let the stress pour through her and back out into the rock, diffusing it over a greater area.

All that mattered was easing the worst of the faults in the rock and mending the distortions in the barrier itself. She stabilized her immediate surroundings, buying time for Penn and his friends to find out what was going on between Kalithia and this world. Finally, when the last little bit of energy passed through her, she slowly released the death grip she had on the rock.

She sagged as the last of the pressure dissipated, sending her to her knees. Penn caught her before she hit the floor. For the second time, she was in his arms, cuddled close against his chest. And she liked it. A lot.

Still dazed, she rubbed her cheek against his soft cotton shirt. “Wow, I could get used to this. I really like men with muscles like yours.”

Penn’s laugh rumbled through his chest under her ear. She liked that, too. What would his beard feel like against her skin? She tested it with her fingertips. Wow, it was soft and prickly at the same time.

Jora cupped the side of his face with her palm. “Penn, do women like kissing men with beards? I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve always wondered.”

“Let’s get out of here.” His voice sounded a bit strained as he sidestepped his way down the passage, at times struggling to avoid banging her head on the cave wall.

Finally, they reached the entrance. Penn set her back down on her feet because there was no way he could maneuver the two of them out the narrow opening. Her legs were feeling more solid, but he still had to support her until they were outside.

She looked up at the sky, blinking in the sudden brightness. The sun had already passed its zenith and was making its way to the west. How long had they been inside the cave?

Before she could ask, she realized that Penn was still holding her arms with his hands, his eyes focused on her face. No, her mouth. What was he— His mouth came crashing down on hers, and the world once again shifted under her feet.

His lips were soft but oh, so demanding. She sighed with the sweetness of his kiss, inviting him to plunder her mouth with a sweep of his tongue. Oh, yes. He
did
taste as good as he looked, and his beard gently abraded her skin, setting all her nerve endings on fire.

She dug her fingers into the powerful muscles in his upper arms and leaned into him. The difference in their heights made the fit a bit awkward, but he fixed that by lifting her high up against his chest. She wrapped her legs around his hips, bringing her aching core in direct contact with how much Penn wanted her right at that moment. Whoa, mama!

Her breath came in ragged gasps as his hands explored her, leaving only heat and need in their trail. If they didn’t stop soon, she was going to beg him to lay her down and really get serious about this.