The Darkest Whisper

CHAPTER 23

A dungeon. Sabin had locked her in a freaking dungeon. Worse, he’d locked her in a dungeon next to the Hunters, who were moaning and crying and begging to be set free. And he’d done this after he’d bound her wings. After she’d trusted him with her secrets.

“I’m sorry,” he’d said, and there’d been true remorse in his tone. “But this is for the best.”

Like that mattered now.

She’d known he would do anything to win his war. She’d known it, hated it, yet she’d foolishly begun to believe his feelings had changed since he’d met her. He’d stayed with her, rather than go with his friends to Chicago. He’d taught her how to kick major ass. He’d asked her about a Harpy’s consort, for gods’ sake. And then he’d decided to leave her behind, and she hadn’t known if it was because he cared or because he had no faith in her ability.

Now she knew. He hadn’t cared. He thought her father was his enemy, thought she was his enemy.

Was she?

If he was right and the man in the portrait was Galen, leader of the Hunters, then Galen was indeed her father. She’d spent days, months, years staring at that same likeness: same pale hair and sky-colored eyes, same strong shoulders and white wings. Same broad back and carved chin. She’d traced her fingertips over it, imagining she felt actual skin. How many times had she dreamed of him coming for her, gathering her in his arms, begging forgiveness for taking so long to find her, then flying her to the heavens? Countless. Now he was nearby…they could be reunited….

No. There would be no happy reunion. To learn that he was actually a demon…that he hurt people…that he wanted to kill Sabin…Sabin, whom she hungered for constantly, but who had locked her up in squalor as if she meant nothing to him.

Gwen spun in a circle, laughing bitterly. The floor was comprised of dirt. Three of the walls were made of stone. No crackable mortar, just smooth rock. One was made of thick metal bars. There wasn’t even a cot to sleep on or a chair to sit on.

Last thing he’d said before leaving her in this shithole? “We’ll discuss this when I return.”

Like hell they would.

One, she wouldn’t be here. Two, she was going to break his jaw with her fist so he wouldn’t be able to talk ever again. And three, she was going to kill him. And her anger was nothing compared to the Harpy’s. It squawked inside her head, demanding retribution. How could Sabin have done this? How could he have taken her newly awakened need for vengeance away from her? How could he have left her here, after the way they’d made love?

Sabin’s betrayal was an even bigger blow than the newfound knowledge of her father’s evil.

“Son of a bitch!” Bianka growled, stomping from one corner to another. Dark grains of sand flew around her booted feet. “He had all of our wings clipped before I even knew what was going on. He shouldn’t have been able to do that. No one should have been able to do that.”

“I’m going to hang him with his own intestines.” Kaia slammed a fist into a bar. It held steady, her strength basically that of a human’s now. “I’m going to remove his limbs, one by one. I’m going to feed him to my snake and let him rot in her belly.”

“He’s mine. I’ll take care of him.” The sad thing was, Gwen didn’t want her sisters to punish him. She wanted to do it herself. Yes, that was part of it. Also, despite everything—even her own desire to maim and kill him—she didn’t want to see him hurt. How stupid was that? As he’d locked her up, relief had blazed in his eyes, even alongside the regret, so he deserved whatever she did to him. Deserved all but softening from her.

It had taken her a while to piece the reasons for his relief together. But finally, she had. He’d gotten his wish: she couldn’t leave the fortress, and she wouldn’t be fighting Hunters. He’d considered that more important than allowing her her freedom even though his enemies had once done the same thing to her.

Gwen, too, slammed a fist into the bar. The metal whined as it bent backward. “Well, I’m going to—hey. Did you see that?” Shocked, she glanced down at her fist. There was a red line from the impact, but the bones were intact. Tentatively she punched the bar again. Again, it bent. “Oh, I am so getting out of here.”

Kaia gaped at her. “How is that possible? I hit it, too, but it didn’t budge.”

“He damaged our wings, draining our strength,” Taliyah said. Which had to have hurt like hell. “He only smashed Gwen’s until he released her into this cage. She’s as strong as she ever was. I wonder, though, how he knew to go for our wings and why he was so gentle with Gwen’s.”

The first part of her sister’s speech drained a little of her elation. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault. I didn’t mean…I thought…I’m so, so sorry. I told him. I thought he could help me train against it.”

“He’s your first love,” Bianka said, surprising her. “It’s understandable.”

Grateful as she was for her sister’s forgiveness, Gwen bristled at her words. First implied there would be many more. She didn’t like the thought of being with another man. Didn’t like the thought of kissing and touching someone else. Especially since she hadn’t had nearly enough of Sabin. Did she love him, though?

She couldn’t. Not after this.

“You don’t blame me?”

They gathered around her and hugged her, and her love for them swelled. Hands down, it was the best family moment ever. They supported her, no matter that she’d broken the rules and screwed up royally.

When they released each other, Taliyah gave her lower back a shove and motioned to the bars with a tilt of her chin. “Do it again. Harder.”

“Time to blow this joint,” Kaia said, clapping.

Gwen’s heart pounded as she obeyed, throwing her fist into the metal again and again. The bar bent and whined and bent some more.

“Keep at it,” Kaia and Bianka cheered in unison. “You’re so close!”

Pouring every ounce of her fury and frustration into the punches, she increased her velocity, watching as her fist hammered away, moving so swiftly she saw only a blur. Sabin must have assumed her utterly lacking in strength and wits because he hadn’t left a guard. Or maybe all the warriors were now off fighting, only the females and Torin remaining. Gwen hadn’t seen much of the reclusive Lord during her stay here, but Sabin had mentioned he never left the fortress, his link to the outside world the monitors in his chamber.

Was there a camera here? Probably.

Gwen didn’t allow the thought to slow her. Boom. Boom. Boom!

Finally, the bar snapped completely, leaving a gaping space to shimmy through. Success—and it felt damn good. They exited one at a time. When the Hunters spotted them outside the cell, they gripped their own bars in a frenzy.

“Let us out.”

“Please. Show us more mercy than we showed you.”

“We’re not evil. They are. Help us!”

The voices were familiar. She’d heard them for a year of her life—the worst year of her life. Hunters. Close. Hurt. Gwen felt her Harpy overtaking her, all but the colors of red and black fading from her vision. Hurt. Destroy. Under her shirt, her wings were flutteringly wildly.

These men had stolen twelve months from her. They had raped other women in front of her. They were evil. They were her enemy. Sabin’s enemy. Led by her father. A man who was not the benevolent angel she’d always thought him. She should kill him, too. He’d destroyed all her dreams. But the moment she imagined going for his throat, even her Harpy shied away. Murder her own father? No…no.

No wonder Sabin had locked her up.

“Help!”

The cry drew her back to the present, back to her rage. Why hadn’t Sabin killed these bastards yet? They needed to be killed. She had to kill them. Yes, kill…kill…

In the back of her mind, she was aware of her sisters grasping at her arms but they were too weak to stop her. Usually, she tried to stop herself. Not this time. No longer. She was learning to embrace her Harpy, right?

She pounded at the second set of bars, fists again hammering, mouth now watering. Teeth sharpening. Nails elongating. The sight of her must have frightened them, because the men backed away from the bars.

Enemy…enemy…

Finally, the bars crumbled under her ministrations and she burst inside the cell with a screech. One minute men were standing, backing away from her, the next they were on the ground, motionless. More…she wanted more…

Her Harpy cooed happily while Gwen panted, trying to catch her breath as a deep male voice entered her awareness.

“—Aeron and Paris are missing. Sabin, Cameo and Kane are in town, William and Maddox have the women in hiding, guarding them with their lives, so I’m the only one here and I can’t touch her because I’m Disease. So do me a favor and calm her down or I’ll have to do it and you won’t like my methods.”

The deep voice was unfamiliar to her. Good. Someone else for her to destroy. Where was…her gaze circled the room. Or rather, hallway. Oh, look there. Three bodies were vertical. They appeared feminine rather than masculine. All that meant was that they’d taste sweeter.

More. She stalked from the cage, determined to make them fall as the Hunters had.

“Gwen.”

She recognized that voice. It wasn’t from her nightmares, but it didn’t slow her. She rammed the woman in the temple with her fist, heard a gasp, watched the form fly back and slam into a rocky wall. Dust must have plumed around the woman because it filled Gwen’s nose.

“Gwen, honey, you have to stop,” another voice said. “You did this once before. Remember?”

“Well, you did it twice, but the time we’re referring to, you actually almost killed us, and we had to rip the wings from your back.” A third familiar voice. “We hypnotized you to bury the memory, but it’s there. Think back, Gwennie. Bianka, what’s the damn code phrase to make her remember?”

“Butterscotch rum? Hopscotch butter buns? Something stupid like that.”

The memory rose…higher…higher…pushing forward, and soon the shadows around it scattered and light pierced it, shining brightly. She’d been eight years old. Something had set her off…a cousin had eaten her birthday cake. Yes. That’s right. She’d laughed while she’d done it, taunting Gwen, after she’d nearly gotten captured for stealing it.

The tether she’d kept the Harpy on had snapped inside her, and the next thing she’d known, the cousin and her sisters were hovering near death. The only reason they’d survived was that Taliyah had somehow ripped off her wings in the fray.

It had taken her weeks to regrow them. Weeks they’d taken from her memory, as well. My memory, the Harpy squawked. Mine.

Possessive bitch. Memory loss was better than the alternative, a rational part of her brain supplied. The guilt would have destroyed me.

They are weak. They can’t hurt you this time. You can—

“Gods, who would have thought I’d want that stupid demon back in her life?”

“Torin, dude, can you get Sabin here? He’s the only one who can calm her without hurting her.”

Sabin. Sabin. Tendrils of her bloodlust faded, leaving room for Gwen’s conscience to make itself known. You don’t want to kill your sisters. You love them. In and out she breathed, slow and measured. Slowly colors sparked inside her mind, the black and red dispersing. Gray walls, brown floor. Taliyah’s white hair, Kaia’s red and Bianka’s black. They were scratched up but alive, thank the heavens.

Then realization struck. You did it. You calmed yourself down without killing everyone in the room. Her eyes widened, and despite the chaos around her, joy burst through her. That had never happened before. Each time she’d lost control here at the fortress, Sabin had been here to talk her down. Maybe she didn’t need to fear her Harpy anymore. Maybe, for once, they could live in harmony. Even without Sabin.

The thought nearly dropped her to her knees. She didn’t want to live without him. She’d planned to leave, yes, but if she were honest she’d admit that she’d expected him to come for her—or to return herself.

“You’re okay?” Bianka asked, as surprised as she was.

“Yes.” She spun, purposely avoiding the Hunter’s cage, and found no trace of the man who had been speaking. “Where’s Torin?”

“He’s not actually here,” Kaia said. “He was talking to us from a speaker.”

“Then he knows we escaped,” she said, clutching her stomach and backing away. What if he came for them? What if she killed him to keep him from locking her up again? Sabin would never forgive her. Would believe beyond any doubt—and that was saying something for him—that she meant to aid the Hunters. Wait, you don’t fear your Harpy anymore, remember? Old habits died hard, she supposed.

“He knows,” Taliyah said as Torin echoed, “Yeah, I know.”

Kaia grabbed her shoulders and forced Gwen to still. “He can’t do anything because he can’t touch us.”

“Well, I can shoot you,” that disembodied voice reminded them.

Gwen shuddered. Bullets were not fun.

“Let’s gather Ashlyn and Danika,” Kaia said, unconcerned with either their audience or Torin’s threat.

“Torin said they’re guarded by Maddox and William,” Bianka reminded her. “Let’s take them, too.”

Nervous energy still pounded through Gwen, but those words had her blood freezing. “Why do we want them?” The girls were sweet and kind and didn’t deserve to be hurt.

“Payback. Now come on.” Bianka turned on her heel and pounded up the steps, headed into the main house.

“I don’t understand,” Gwen called, her voice shaking. “Payback how?”

Kaia released her and turned, as well. “Sabin damaged our wings, so now we’re going to damage his precious army. When the rest of the warriors return and find the women missing, as well as their friends, they’ll freak.”

No, she thought. No. “I told you. Sabin’s mine. I’ll take care of him.”

Both Kaia and Taliyah ignored her, following after Bianka.

“Don’t worry. We may be weakened but that’s what guns are for,” Kaia said, grinning over her shoulder in the likely direction of Torin’s camera. “Right, Tor-Tor?”

“I won’t let you do this,” he replied, his voice hard as steel.

“Watch us.” Taliyah’s voice was cold as ice. Quite a pair they made just then, both unwilling to bend.

Gwen watched her sisters disappear up the stairs. To capture the innocent females, to hurt her man. Well, not her man. Not anymore. But she realized she had a choice to make. Allow things to play out as they were, or stop her sisters, maybe hurting them in the process, and take matters into her own hands.

“Gwen,” Torin said, jolting her. “You can’t let them do this.”

“But I love them.” They’d always been there for her. They’d forgiven her so easily for spilling their secrets. They’d even tried to protect her from her own memories. To do this…

“The men will fight to the death to protect those females. And if your sisters do manage to defeat them—which is a big if since they aren’t operating at full strength—it’ll mean war between the Lords and the Harpies.”

Yes, it would.

“It will divide the warriors here, because I suspect Sabin will choose you. And that will make us vulnerable to the Hunters. They’ll have the advantage. If they don’t already. I haven’t been able to reach Lucien all day. Not Strider, Anya, or any of the others who went to Chicago, either. That’s not like them, and I’m afraid something’s happened to them. I need Sabin to go look for them, but he’s stuck here, fighting.”

Her first thought? She hoped the Lords in Chicago were okay. Her second? Sabin, choose her? Not likely. “He could have had my help, but he doesn’t trust me.”

“He trusts you. He just used that as an excuse to protect you. Even I know that, and I’m not that close to him.” Heavy pause, breath crackling. “Well, you’d better make a decision fast because your sisters are indeed carrying guns and are closing in on their targets.”

SABIN CROUCHED in the shadows. Kane was at his left, Cameo at his right; they were loaded down with enough weapons to take out a small country. Sadly, that might not be enough for the coming battle.

Hunters were everywhere. Coming out of shops, striding down the sidewalks, eating at outdoor cafés. Like flies, they swarmed and buzzed and annoyed the hell out of him.

There were average-looking women, the bulge of knives and guns giving them away. Tall, muscled men who looked like they’d just come from war and were eager for another were positioned on the rooftops of buildings, gazing down at the town’s happenings. Beside them, to Sabin’s dismay, were children, ranging in age from roughly eight to eighteen. Sabin had already watched one of those teens walk through a wall. Walk through it, as if it weren’t even there.

What could the others do?

He was outmanned, and he knew it. And even as depraved as he was, he also knew he wouldn’t hurt the kids. Hunters had probably banked on that. Could have used a Harpy right about now.

His fingers curled tightly around his guns, his bones brittle. Don’t go there. He’d been surveying the scene for a while, trying to decide, to work up a plan. Rather than feeling empowered, though, he felt more helpless than ever. He just didn’t know what to do.

The worst part was that he’d left Gwen locked up—looked like he was going there, after all—and so another battle awaited him at home. Stupid. He’d allowed his concern for her to overrule his common sense. That was the danger of softening toward a woman. Emotions screwed with your thought processes, made you do stupid things. But he couldn’t go back for her, apologize and ask for her aid. He’d hurt her sisters. Loyal and loving as they were with each other, she would never be able to forgive him.

Over and over he tried to tell himself that it was better this way. That he’d fought Hunters and won before her, and he could fight Hunters and win after her. And anyway, she was related to Galen. Sabin couldn’t trust Gwen’s motivation now. He couldn’t trust her to help him and not also help her family.

Gwen could be your family. He scowled at the wayward thought, scowled further when Doubt chimed in.

You don’t deserve her. Not now. Maybe not even before. She wouldn’t want you anyway, so this is moot.

“Shut up,” he muttered.

Kane flicked him a glance. “Your demon giving you trouble?”

“Always.”

“So what are we going to do about the current situation? It’s just the three of us.”

“We’ve fought with worse odds,” Cameo said, and Sabin cringed. Her voice always had that effect on him. Strangely, though, it didn’t affect him as badly as usual this time. Maybe because he was already miserable. How could he have done that to Gwen?

I just wanted to protect her.

Well, you failed.

“No, we haven’t,” he said. “Because this time we have to make sure no kids get hurt in the fray.”

Her finger flexed on her gun. “Well, we have to do something. We can’t leave them out there unfettered.”

Sabin studied the melee again. Just as crowded, just as dangerous. Those kids…shit. They complicated everything. Decision time. “Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. Split up, head in different directions, stay in the shadows, damn it, and take out the adults one by one. Kill on sight. Just…don’t get yourselves killed. Do me a favor and—” His words stopped abruptly, his gaze slamming into the camo-clad Hunters stuffing two unconscious men into their van at the end of the street. Several of the kids surrounded them, forming a wall.

Cameo followed the line of his gaze and gasped. “Is that…”

The chunk of earth underneath Kane split, and he fell into the widening hole. “Aeron and Paris? Shit. Yes. That’s them.”

Sabin cursed under his breath. “New plan. Kill as many of the men around them as possible, and I’ll take care of the kids. If you can, drag Aeron and Paris back to the fortress and I’ll meet you there.”