Marked

CHAPTER TWELVE

Acacia’s scream brought Theron’s head around. The daemon he’d been fighting clocked him in the jaw. Theron roared and lashed out with his blade, slicing the beast across the chest. A rush of liquid sprayed over his skin, but in the chaos he didn’t know if it was his blood or the daemon’s.

He whirled around and kicked the second creature in the chest, then plunged his parazonium, the ancient Greek dagger he’d gotten from his father, deep into the unholy’s side. The beast went down with a howl, all twelve inches of the blade disappearing inside the daemon’s flesh, but Theron knew neither one was dead, just dazed and seconds from pouncing again.

He didn’t have time to finish either of them off, though. He turned to look for Acacia, only to see she’d scrambled behind the counter and was throwing books and office supplies at the third daemon, who kept advancing on her, as if that would keep him back. When that didn’t work, she jumped to her feet and yanked the fire extinguisher from the wall, pointed it at the daemon and turned it on full blast.

The daemon was temporarily blinded by the gush of white foam, but with a roar he charged again. Theron raced across the room and reached the counter just as Acacia swung the canister and nailed the daemon in the side of the head. She climbed to the top of the counter and did it again, this time using her leverage from above to nail him hard.

The beast went down. Theron drew his blade. And was kidney-punched from behind as one of the other two found its footing again.

Claws flashed, Theron whipped around, his blade slicing through flesh and air, but still the daemon came, seven feet and three hundred pounds of unending muscle. From behind him he could hear Acacia swinging the fire extinguisher at the other beast. A growl from the front of the store indicated the third was back on his feet.

Skata. They were in serious trouble.

Two he could handle easily. Three if he were by himself. But not with Acacia. And even if he could manage to figure a way out of this one and get her far enough away to concentrate and open the portal, she had to willingly go with him. Because she was human, he couldn’t force her across the threshold.

And in her current state of hysteria? Wasn’t gonna happen. Which meant they were well and truly screwed.

The daemon flipped him to the ground and lunged. Theron cracked his head against the daemon and threw the beast off him as if it weighed nothing. The daemon crashed into a shelving unit. Books rained down on top of him, but the monster scrambled to its feet and charged as if he hadn’t even felt the blow. Theron jumped to his feet as well, and in one mighty sweep his blade ripped through flesh and bone. With a sickening crack, the head was severed from the daemon’s body and rolled across the blood-soaked carpet.

A horrendous roar echoed through the store. The daemon Theron had left bloodied by the door plowed into him and took him down to the carpet. His blade flew out of his hand and clanged against the counter. Theron’s face was pressed into the carpet as claws ripped across the jacket on at his back.

Fuck. Now they were really screwed.

Then he heard a thud, and a swoosh. Felt a gush of something warm across his back and heard a mighty howl as the daemon fell off him.

Theron was on his feet in a flash, only to realize Acacia had his blade plunged deep into the daemon’s chest.

She pulled the weapon out. The daemon fell back, shook himself and seemed to regather his strength.

Theron quickly took the weapon from Acacia and pushed her behind him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the second daemon, covered in foam, rising slowly to his feet. “Get back!”

“Oh, shit,” she muttered.

He crouched down in his fighter’s stance, lunged toward the first and sensed the second circling around to advance on Acacia. He had microseconds to decide his next move, and then suddenly the tide shifted.

Glass shattered at the front of the store, and a man flew through the broken glass and charged the second daemon.

Weapons clashed. Jaws snapped. Metal met flesh and bone. Heads rolled, and then there was nothing but blood and severed body parts and the aftermath of a fight that ended as quickly as it had started.

Breathing heavy and having trouble seeing through what he hoped was sweat, and not his own blood, Theron straightened and studied the newcomer—human, but not totally. And an Argonaut.

Which made noooo fucking sense whatsoever.

The man turned toward Acacia, who’d somehow managed to scramble back onto the counter. “Casey, come down.”

“Oh, my God. Nick. Jesus Christ, what the hell—?”

The blond’s big hands plucked Acacia right off the counter before Theron had a chance to stop him, and he set her on her feet in the middle of the store. The man grasped her shoulders and held firm. “Take a breath, Casey. More will be coming.”

“More? What do you—?”

Then, almost as if she’d just realized the two of them weren’t alone, her eyes flashed to Theron, understanding dawning in their violet depths. And for the first time since he’d met her, he realized how similar those eyes were to the king’s.

“Those things,” she said. “I saw them that night with you. Outside XScream.”

The man she’d called Nick glanced up sharply. “You brought them here? To her?”

“No,” Theron said, shoving his weapon back into its scabbard at his back. Now he was the bad guy? Fuck that. “I was sent to protect her.”

Nick’s eyebrows lowered. “Sent? By whom?”

He hesitated, then figured if this guy knew about the daemons, he had to know about the rest of it. “King Leonidas.”

And oh, yeah, this guy definitely had some link to Argolea and didn’t like it, because his eyes flashed at the name and his jaw hardened until it was a slice of steel beneath flesh.

Acacia looked from one to the other, a little crease between her eyebrows as she tried to make sense of their conversation. “Who’s Leonidas? What were those things? And where did they come from. Will someone please tell me what’s going on here?”

The hysteria was edging its way back into her voice, and Theron knew he had only seconds to get her away and through the portal before she was too far gone to cooperate. He held out his hand. “Come with me and I’ll explain it all to you.”

Nick grasped her arm before she even lifted it, and those amber eyes of his flashed black. “She stays. I know exactly what you are, Argonaut, and if you think I’m letting her go anywhere with you, you’re higher than a kite.”

Theron sensed the portal opening just outside the city limits and knew in a matter of minutes they were going to be surrounded and outnumbered again. And this time odds were good they wouldn’t get out of it so easily. Nick obviously sensed it as well, because his hand tightened around Acacia’s upper arm and urgency rushed through his words. “Do you have matches?”

Perplexed, she looked up. “In the drawer. But what for?”

Nick let go of her and marched around the counter. He yanked draws open until he drew out a large box, then flipped open the cupboard door and rummaged around, finally emerging with a metal canister of some kind. “Rip the spines off some books and throw them on the bodies.”

“Wait. Rip the what off my books? Hold on a minute.”

Theron didn’t need to ask, and he didn’t have time to clarify to Acacia. He reached for the closest display of paperbacks and began tearing pages until he had a mound of papers wadded up and covering the closest daemon. Nick did the same, then sprayed liquid over the whole mass.

Acacia’s eyes flew open. “What do you think you’re doing? You’re gonna have to pay for that. You can’t just—oooh!”

She screamed and jumped back as the body went up in flames. Nick ignited the second and the third and threw the box of matches and the bottle of alcohol into the fires. Flames licked the ground and rose to the ceiling, forming a black cloud, which was already spreading. “Let’s go.”

Theron met them at the door and stopped Nick from leaving with Acacia. “She goes nowhere without me.”

In the split second of silence between them, Nick obviously knew he was out of time and options. He nodded. “So be it. But you so much as harm one hair on her head and I’ll kill you myself. The leader of the Argonauts means nothing to me and mine.”

Theron glanced at Acacia while flames roared to life behind him, oddly reminiscent of the fires of hell. “So be it.”

They’d set her store on fire.

Casey found herself being pushed into the back of an enormous SUV while she struggled to look back at the destruction that had once been her grandmother’s pride and joy. Her chest tightened until it was hard to get air, and she knew it wasn’t just from adrenaline or smoke.

The one place she thought she had fit in was gone. Now engulfed in flames.

Nick slid into the driver’s seat, while Theron wedged himself in the back with her. Both men were so big they seemed to suck up all the air in the vehicle, and had she not already been on the edge of freaking out, just that alone would have been enough to send her into a tailspin.

All four door locks clicked at the same time as Casey turned to watch the building burn.

Oh, my God. They set my building on fire.

“Hurry,” Theron exclaimed, grasping the front passenger seat and turning around to look behind them. “They’re coming.”

Fury erupted in Casey’s chest as the SUV’s engine roared. She slammed her fist into Theron’s shoulder. “You son of a bitch! You burned down my store!”

The SUV jerked away from the curb with a force that sent Casey sprawling against Theron’s massive chest. He grabbed her by the wrists and easily subdued her with one hand, holding her with the other to make sure she didn’t fall to the floorboards. “Assuming we get out of here, you’ll thank us later. Only a fire can destroy a daemon’s body.”

Like she cared about that now? Everything she’d worked so hard for the last few months was gone.

The sky chose that moment to unleash its misery on the small town of Silver Hills, and a torrent of rain pummeled the vehicle, slashing against the SUV as if Mother Nature were good and pissed as they rocketed down the empty street. Casey clawed at Theron to let her go, but he just held on tighter.

Nick drove like a bat out of hell. He shouted something at Theron Casey didn’t catch. Then Theron shifted her to his side and reached into his pocket. Before she saw what was in his hand, he rolled down the window and tossed the object behind them. A fireball erupted on the road at their backs, followed by howls and shouts, the kind Casey only imagined could come from hell. And that’s when she realized those things back at her store were still following them. Or rather, that new ones had joined the fight. They weren’t out of trouble yet. Not by a long shot.

She gave up struggling, and instead clamped on to Theron’s shirt, drawing the cotton between her fists as Nick drove at breakneck speed out of town and into the forest beyond. Her adrenaline spiked as the reality of the situation sank in. Then she closed her eyes and said every prayer she knew that they’d get out of this alive.

She didn’t let go of Theron’s shirt even when he shifted back to lean against the seat again. And she didn’t fight his hand on her spine or his arms gathering her close, when any sane person would have.

Okay, it made her out to be a weakling, but she didn’t care. Her store was gone and some freaky monsters were following them. Considering everything she’d been through with Jill that morning, her nerves were at the end of the line. All things considered, she’d take a moment of comfort wherever she could get it, even from him.

“I think we lost them,” Theron said, glancing over his shoulder.

Nick harrumphed from the front seat.

“Where are you taking us?” Theron asked into the silence, after they’d been driving for a while.

“To her home,” Nick said.

“They’ll find her there.”

“How?”

“Because they’re here for her.”

Casey didn’t imagine the silence that followed, or the tension between the two men in the car with her. And though she didn’t know how, she understood these two knew each other from somewhere. Or knew of each other. And neither was happy with that knowledge. Nick jerked the car to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes.

She was thrown forward and back, but Theron held on to her tight. “She goes nowhere without me,” Theron reiterated as the car idled. “I was sent here to protect her. I want nothing to do with you or the others.”

Others?

“So help me gods,” Nick bit out, “if you’re lying—”

“I’m not.”

Silence hung like a dark, thick cloud in the car. Casey didn’t dare move. She sensed these two were at a virtual standoff, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d get caught in the middle. What could go down between them would put that battle back at her store to shame.

Finally Nick swore in a language Casey didn’t recognize, and then the car whipped a U-ie in the middle of the road. Theron braced a hand on the seat in front of him to steady them both as they rocketed back down the road and made a sharp ninety-degree turn onto a dirt road leading off into the trees. A road Casey’d never noticed before.

“This doesn’t change anything, Argonaut,” Nick ground out.

“I wouldn’t want it to.”

Nick huffed and accelerated. Dust kicked up behind them. “In a few minutes you may be wishing you’d never set eyes on her.”

A strong hand shook Casey from sleep. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out or how far they’d driven, but when she pried her eyelids open and pushed off Theron’s chest, she didn’t recognize her surroundings.

Nick was already out of the SUV and opening her door. She eased out of the vehicle and stumbled on the battered road. Theron caught her from behind before she went down.

“Easy.”

She may have been weak and tired from everything that had happened, but she didn’t want to look it in front of him. While she’d accepted Theron’s comfort in the car, her brain was starting to function again, and until she got some answers, she didn’t want or need his help.

She tugged her arm from Theron’s grasp and glanced around. The road, if it could be called that, was nothing more than a section of dirt that came to an abrupt end. Towering trees and dense underbrush surrounded them from nearly every side. In a brusque tone, Nick said, “Wait here,” then climbed into the car and backed it into the shrubs until it disappeared from sight. A few moments later he reappeared, gesturing with his shoulder. “From here we walk.”

Nick took the lead, blazing a trail through the forest, and Casey followed close behind, watching where he stepped, careful not to look anywhere but where she was walking. She was still shaky, a little unsure on her feet, and the last thing she needed was to fall on her ass in front of these two.

Theron was a commanding presence at her back, close enough to touch and smell. Why wouldn’t he back off? And why did he unnerve her so much? Especially now?

In her mind, she was still working through everything that had happened, but one thing was glaringly clear: Theron had come back for her. He’d said those daemons were looking for her. Which meant he knew what they wanted. It also meant he hadn’t come looking for her because he wanted to pick up where they’d left off. Namely, the hot, wicked sex she’d been fantasizing about since he’d ditched her ass for greener pastures.

Bastard.

The path rose in elevation until Casey’s breath came fast and shallow. Sweat trickled down her chest between her breasts. She wiped a hand across her brow and wished desperately they could stop. Just for a minute, long enough so she could catch her breath. But she wasn’t about to ask. She had a strange sense Nick was intent on getting them to their destination fast. And that thought made her brain work itself right back around to what they were running from in the first place.

She lifted her head once to glance around, and in the process stumbled on a stone that was in the way. Her hand darted out to grasp the base of a tree to her right, but she never made contact. In one fell swoop she was lifted off her feet and cradled against Theron’s massive chest.

“Let me down,” she snapped. “I can walk just fine.”

“Not like that, you can’t. You are pale as snow.” When she wriggled against him, his grip only tightened under her arms and beneath the backs of her knees. “Stop fighting me or we’ll both go down.”

“If you think I’m going to let you touch me after what you did—”

The rest of her protest rushed out of her mouth on a screech when he tossed her over his shoulder so her hands were shooting down his muscular back for balance and her ass was sticking straight up in the air. “This works better for me as well, meli.” Both of his arms held her legs locked together against his chest in a vise. “And the view is more appealing.”

Heat rushed to Casey’s cheeks, followed by disbelief at his gall. “Why you—”

“What’s the problem back there?” Nick asked from ahead of them.

“No problem,” Theron called. “Acacia’s just a little wobbly. We’ve got it covered.”

Traumatic experience or not, this guy didn’t speak for her. Casey opened her mouth to lay into him, only to be cut off by a warning rumble from the man holding her captive. “It would be wise to do as I say right now, meli. I don’t know where we’re headed, and wrestling with you, while stimulating in its own right, is too much of a distraction.”

“The blood is rushing to my head, you jerk.”

“Good. It’ll bring your color back.”

“Of all the—”

He chuckled and picked up his pace.

With a huff, Casey blew the hair out of her eyes. Tossing insults with him wasn’t getting her anywhere, and part of her was happy to be off her aching feet. Though she’d never have admitted that to him in a million years.

Frowning, she relaxed against him, only to tense once more when his hand drifted up the back of her hamstring. She braced her hands on his lower back and pushed herself up. “Watch it, buddy.”

“Just getting a better grip.”

Oh, she just bet.

Before she could tell him just what he could do with his hands, darkness overtook her, and she realized they’d stepped into some kind of cave or tunnel.

Theron eased her down to the ground. Behind her Nick said, “Not far now. Stay close and keep me in sight. Tunnels branch off in various directions. You’ll be lost forever if you choose the wrong one.”

That didn’t sound so appealing to Casey right now, who wanted nothing more than a warm bed, a stiff drink and a chance to sleep this nightmarish day right out of her mind. She followed closely behind Nick and knew after the first turn that if he weren’t leading her, she’d be lost in an instant.

What little light shone in from the opening quickly went out, and darkness pressed in as they made turn after turn. Casey reached out a hand to steady herself on the rock walls, the scents of earth tingling heavy in her nose. From ahead she saw a pinpoint beam of light and realized Nick had pulled a flashlight from his pocket. Though the tunnel was tall enough for all three of them to stand in, the walls were close, and both men had to turn sideways to fit their broad shoulders through the space.

After what seemed like an eternity of hairpin turns and rapid elevation changes that stole Casey’s breath all over again, the tunnel finally opened into a massive cavern illuminated by hundreds of torches. Casey gasped as she blinked rapidly at the increase in light. Three-story wooden structures were built into the rock lining both sides of the cavern. Doors and windows and balconies looked out to a central pool of water, fed by a massive waterfall that fell from the ceiling of the cave, nearly a hundred feet above.

“Oh, my,” she whispered. People milling around the central pool stopped to look their way as wary eyes peered down from the structures on both sides.

She took a cautious step backward and ran smack into Theron’s chest, but he didn’t move. Those eyes staring down at her weren’t the least bit friendly, and she had a wild impression that she’d just been thrown into the lion’s den.

A small child, no more than five, broke free from a woman standing off to the side and raced toward them, yelling, “Nick! Nick!”

Nick dropped to his knees to catch the child as she threw herself into his arms. Their hug was brief, but it was clear even to Casey that the two shared a special bond.

“I knew you’d come back okay,” the girl said to him. In her hands she held a doll cradled to her chest. “Minnie told me.”

“Minnie’s a smart girl,” Nick said, chucking her under the chin and rising to his feet.

The girl glanced briefly up at Theron, standing at Casey’s back, then turned her attention to Casey. And it was then Casey noticed the marks.

The entire right side of the girl’s face was covered in puckered scars, as though she’d been in some terrible car accident and then burned. Her right eye was covered by a patch, and hair that should have been long and thick was sparse on that side of her head.

But it wasn’t the girl’s appearance that made Casey catch her breath as she looked down at the small child. It was the look in the girl’s good eye. Like she’d seen the world and beyond. Like she’d already lived a lifetime and aged eons beyond her years. Like she was looking straight through Casey and into a future no one knew but her.

“I knew you’d come,” the girl said. “Minnie told me.”

“Who’s Minnie?” Casey found herself asking.

The girl held up her doll. “Minnie knows everything. She knew that Nick would battle the monsters today and win, and that he’d come home safe. And she knew he’d bring you here to save us.”

Casey glanced at Nick, who was staring at the girl with a perplexed expression.

A chill of foreboding slid down Casey’s spine. She returned her attention to the girl. “What do you mean, ‘save us’?”

“All of us.” The girl held up her free hand and gestured behind her. “The whole colony. Minnie said that’s why you’ve come.”

Though it was completely insane and made no sense whatsoever, considering everything else, two words pinged around in Casey’s brain. My people.

She dropped to her knees in front of the girl without hesitation. “What’s your name?”

“Marissa.”

“Marissa,” Casey repeated, eyes running over the small child. “What else did Minnie tell you about me, Marissa?”

“That you would come with him.” She nodded toward Theron, standing close at Casey’s back. “And not to be afraid of him.” She leaned in close to Casey’s ear. “The others don’t understand that. Not even Nick. But he’s here to protect you, and you need him as much as we need you.”

“Why?” Casey whispered.

Marissa pushed the doll into Casey’s hands. “Let Minnie show you.”

The moment Casey’s fingers touched the girl’s hand, a jolt shot through her, and suddenly she was soaring through time and space, then standing on the edge of a great cliff, looking down at a horrific scene.

Flames shot to the heavens. Screams echoed above and beyond, and a great roar rose from a scuffle just beyond the fire. The youngster—Marissa—was hurt and bleeding, flames engulfing her dress and searing her flesh. A woman was working to smother them but couldn’t get them out fast enough to save the child’s delicate skin. Beyond them, the same monsters that had converged on Casey’s store earlier in the day were devouring a man.

Then Nick appeared on the scene and began battling the creatures, just as he had in her store.

He was swift and efficient, and his strength and skill were mind-boggling. He saved the young girl and her mother, but the man was devoured before the child’s eyes, and in horror Casey watched as the monster reached into the screaming man’s chest and ripped out his heart.

The girl’s hand on Casey’s arm pulled her from the vision and back to the present. But the pain was still fresh and real in the youngster’s good eye, and Casey felt it too. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “What they’ll do to you will be worse.”

“Marissa!”

At the sound of the sharp female voice, Casey eased to her feet, more shaken than she wanted to admit. The woman who came running at breakneck speed was also burned and scarred, and she scooped Marissa up into her arms just before shooting Theron a scorching look and hurrying off into the village, speaking in a language Casey didn’t understand.

Casey’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she looked up at Nick, but if she’d expected answers on his hard face, it was clear she was on her own. His amber eyes were narrowed, and focused directly on her as if he were seeing her for the first time.

“Marissa is a soothsayer,” Nick mumbled. “A seer. She uses Minnie, her doll, as her medium, but she senses happenings in the future without her.”

Ooookay. That didn’t help any. Because somehow Casey knew that what she’d seen hadn’t been the future, but the past.

Casey let out a nervous laugh that held absolutely no humor. “Well, this time she’s wrong. She’s obviously mistaken about me. I can barely save myself, let alone anyone else.”

Theron and Nick exchanged confused glances, and weird clairvoyant child or not, Casey decided it was time for some answers.

She squared her shoulders. “Just what’s going on here, Nick? What were those things back there, and where the hell are we?” She looked Theron’s way. “And where on earth did you really come from?” She glanced between the two mammoth men again as panic edged its way back into her voice. “It’s about time someone started talking, or I’m walking.”

Nick’s eyes settled on Theron. “I think it’s about time we all got some answers. But not here in front of the others. We’ll do this in the lodge.”