His Darkest Salvation Read online

  “Until several of the jaguar clans went rogue and wanted the portal for themselves,” Julian inserted.

  Finn stood, stretching out his long limbs. His features remained neutral, but Julian sensed the darkness that slid beneath his skin. “Until your people all but obliterated the eagle knights from the earth. It’s a goddamn miracle we managed to keep the portal hidden for so long.”

  “Well thanks for the history lesson and all, but are we in agreement this has been a wild-goose chase?” Declan looked at them all. “Seriously, it’s been fun watching you guys get your asses kicked, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re stuck down here, and we need to be”—he pointed upward—“topside.”

  Julian glanced around. Declan was right. Cormac was out there with Azaiel and the portal.

  “You got any suggestions?” he asked the sorcerer. “You brought us here. Can you open it up and get us out?”

  “Sure, let’s go party with the sun god and his band of seriously fucked-up phantom knights. They’ll be happy for another chance at your ass.”

  Julian clenched his teeth together. He felt a myriad of strange sensations. They had him on edge and slid over him as he began to pace. “We need another way out.”

  “No shit,” the sorcerer answered.

  Nico had moved toward Jaden, and the sight of her surrounded by the jaguar and Finn totally screwed him the wrong way.

  “She’s something else,” Declan said softly as he stood beside Julian.

  Jaden turned toward him, and as their eyes connected, the anxiety and anger inside him vanished completely. It startled him, that moment of clarity. She looked away, put her hand on Finn’s shoulder as the eagle spoke to her quietly, and the moment was gone.

  “She’s not for me,” he answered roughly. “She can’t . . . we can’t . . .” His voice trailed off as his thoughts turned to the mission at hand.

  “Dude, if we don’t get to the portal first, we’re both screwed, and you’ll never know.”

  Julian looked at Declan and frowned. “Know what?”

  The sorcerer looked away, and murmured softly, “Peace.”

  The tightness around his chest burned as the white noise in his head broke through. It was almost unbearable, and he had to concentrate hard in order to minimize it so that he could breathe again.

  He knew what the edge of madness felt like. It had been his constant companion for the last six months, and, right now, it was knocking on his door hard.

  Time was running out. He glanced at Declan.

  For the both of them.

  Something caught his attention then, a tingle of energy that didn’t belong. His animal shifted, and he was immediately on edge. Someone was there.

  A cough sounded from just outside the chamber. It was low, rumbling. He swung around and bared his teeth.

  “What the hell you boys doing down here?”

  Two long legs stepped through the opening, and Julian relaxed as a tall, powerfully built man slipped inside. His eyes were a crazy shade of silver-gray, and they shimmered in the gloom. He spit to the side, and his mouth opened into a smile.

  “Welcome back,” Cracker said gruffly as he looked at Declan and Julian. “You both look like shit.”

  Chapter 18

  Jaden watched as Cracker crossed to Julian and Declan.

  “How the hell?” she asked, shocked to see him.

  “Jaxon dispatched him to the area. If you’d checked in with us before leaving, you would have known that.”

  She ignored Nico’s reprimand. “How did he get down here?”

  Nico’s eyes were fixed upon the ex-soldier. He shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea”—he moved away from her—“but I’m going to find out.”

  Jaden watched as Julian shook the man’s hand. Even with Cracker, an old friend of the Castilles, he was stiff, awkward. Her gaze fell to the scars on his chest.

  Something twisted inside her as she studied them covertly. The skin looked raw, the edges of the scars red and tender. She could be mistaken, but it looked like there were more than before. Was it possible?

  Julian stepped back as Declan and Cracker exchanged greetings, his face was blank, devoid of any form of emotion. She studied him for a few moments, noticed the whiteness around his mouth, the lips clamped tight, and the stiff line of his shoulders.

  He looked up, and, for a second, their eyes met, and she was taken aback by the pain that hung deep in their depths, however briefly. He looked haunted.

  The moment passed just as quick, and the cold hard lines of his face returned once more.

  She turned away from the men, and whispered to Finn, “You sure there’s nothing here?”

  Finn shrugged his shoulders. “Not that I can see, but I’ve not had time to explore yet.”

  Jaden bit her lip as her eyes wandered back to Cracker and the boys. Nico had moved toward them, and they were deep into conversation. She glanced back at the opening in the wall, then looked down at Finn.

  She nodded and slipped through, the eagle knight right behind her.

  This chamber was much larger, the air cool yet still thick with the damp stale odor of old earth. Again the walls appeared to be nothing more than bare, gray rock. She followed Finn as he passed his hands over the ancient limestone. Energy sizzled along his fingers, yet nothing was revealed to her.

  “You see anything?”

  “No.” Finn sighed. “There’s nothing here.”

  Jaden swore and paced in a circle. Her skin was slick, flushed with the sheen of sweat, and she shivered as cool air rushed over her body. Her teeth chattered, and the nervous energy in her gut was making her nauseous. Time was running out. Had she just wasted a precious amount of it?

  She’d been so sure she’d find answers here. Instead, she’d found a crazy sun god and his band of freaky phantom knights.

  She sighed in frustration. It was an emotion she was getting way too familiar with, and she gritted her teeth as her gaze followed Finn. He moved along the walls, his hands touching the surface carefully. She heard muted conversation coming from the small chamber they’d just exited.

  “How did you find us?” she asked suddenly.

  “We came from there.” Finn pointed to a passage to the left of her. “It wraps around to just behind the chamber you and Julian were in.”

  Now that she took the time, she could see there were several offshoots from the chamber she was currently in.

  “Oh.” She was curious. “How did you know we were just beyond this wall?”

  Finn cleared his throat and bent down to study the wall in front of him.

  “Finn?”

  “Uh, Nico knew you were . . . uh, in there with the Castille shifter.”

  “But how did he—”

  “He could hear you.”

  She blushed. Heartily. Something she’d not done in years.

  Just fucking wonderful, she thought.

  Finn stopped several feet from her, his arms outstretched, palms facing the wall and energy flying from them in small sparks. Several seconds later, he fell to his knees, and whispered, “I found something.”

  She was at his side in a second, watching again as his hands passed over the stone.

  “What is it? What do you see?” she asked roughly. The etchings and symbols embedded in the rock were only visible to an eagle knight.

  Finn grinned up at her. “There is a small room.” He turned and pointed to the far corner. A narrow opening could barely be discerned against the rough wall. It was nothing more than a shadow. “It should be through there. It was Toniella’s.”

  “Toniella’s? She lived here at the temple?”

  Finn stood up, and she followed him to the opening. “Apparently so. If I’m reading these symbols correctly, she spent her entire life in the temple.”

  Jaden digested that bit of information and followed Finn as he slipped through the narrow passage. It was dark, claustrophobic, and Jaden was happy her nocturnal vision allowed her to see clearly. The wa
lls were damp, and she thought she heard running water. The sound was dead and the oxygen thin.

  The passage widened and eventually they found themselves in a small but impressive room. It was lit, eerily so, and the source seemed to be coming from within the huge pillars that fortified the four corners.

  She stopped and stared in wonder at the ancient art on the walls. Here in this chamber they were abundant, beautiful, and vibrant. She had no problem whatsoever seeing them.

  There were many drawings of eagles in flight, basking in the sun, of nature and the beauty of the Aztec culture. The sun figured prominently, and in the center of the far wall, a rendering of the sun god himself stared down at her.

  It was an incredibly accurate drawing. Her hand rose to the tender flesh of her neck as she looked away. Nanauatl’s hands had nearly done her in. Too bad the bastard wasn’t trapped in the stone.

  She crossed over to a low-lying bench and picked up a small object. It was an eagle, painstakingly crafted from clay. Again, it was intricately done, and she marveled at the talent it would have taken to reproduce such a gifted piece.

  “Skye would love this,” Finn murmured, and she crossed over to where he stood. He held up an impressive headdress made entirely of feathers.

  “How has it survived all this time?” Jaden asked, her fingers reaching out to stroke the soft beauty of it.

  “This is not a normal dwelling. There is heavy magick at play, strong wards. I can feel them, their subtle signatures.”

  Jaden exhaled and nodded. She felt it, too, the weight of history. “The only reason we broke though is because of Declan.”

  Finn shook his head in agreement. “Yeah, makes you wonder at the impressive nature of his magick.” The eagle knight raised an eyebrow. “He’s got some seriously jacked-up mojo going on.”

  Finn crossed over to a dais located beneath the huge drawing of Nanauatl. He bent over it, and she watched as he ran his hands over the top, inches from the limestone. He studied it, hands out. Jaden followed him and grabbed hold of his hands.

  Finn paused and looked at her in surprise.

  “I want to see,” she whispered. “Jagger told me Skye showed him amazing things by doing this.” She moved closer and slipped between Finn and the dais.

  The eagle knight hesitated, and Jaden paused. Their energy was different. She knew on some level she made him uncomfortable. “I’m not going to bite you,” she said lightly. “Let’s do this.”

  Finn slid his hands over her forearms and she smiled in wonder at the sight beneath their fingers. Light danced upon the dais, golden showers of energy that appeared luminescent against the dull gray. As their hands passed over the limestone, images and symbols appeared.

  “It’s beautiful.” Jaden was in awe. “What do they mean?”

  “It’s a story, a pictorial rendering of fact.” He paused as their hands continued to glide over the stone. “It tells of Azaiel’s fall and Toniella’s betrayal of her people.”

  Long moments of silence passed as Jaden let Finn move her hands over the entire surface with exact precision. They passed over an etching of a tall man who was colored black and gold. “This is Azaiel,” Finn said, and he pointed toward a rendering of a woman. She had long, flowing blond hair, and the sun was held in her hands. “This is Toniella . . .”

  He stilled, his hands held in midair, and Jaden glanced to the side sharply. “What’s wrong? What does it mean?”

  “Everything makes so much more sense now,” he murmured.

  “What? What the hell are you talking about?” She glanced down at the weird-shaped symbols next to the picture of Tonialla.

  “She was a true daughter of the sun. Nanauatl’s daughter.”

  The sun god himself? Jaden’s eyes widened as she continued to study the picture. She was shocked. Seriously surprised, and that was saying something. “Damn, that must have been like the best-kept secret ever. How could you not have known that?”

  Finn shrugged his shoulders. “He’s a powerful entity. A god. For whatever reason, he hid her origin.” Finn studied the pictures for a few more seconds. “Maybe he was ashamed. I don’t know.”

  “What happened to her?” Jaden was curious.

  “They were both banished from this realm. It doesn’t say where, only that darkness would feed their souls for all eternity.”

  “Well, we know where Azaiel ended up,” she murmured, her eyes not leaving the dais.

  Finn pointed to another set of drawings. “Nanauatl is forever tied to this temple. I think there’s something he wants to keep hidden.”

  “Toniella and her link to the portal,” Jaden answered. “No one knew it was she who tempted Azaiel from above. If he’d not told Skye, we never would have known . . .”

  The eagle shifter nodded in agreement. “That would be my guess.” He continued to move their hands over the dais. Several more symbols followed in an intricate series, and Finn spoke quietly as he retraced their tragic story.

  “Azaiel was of the highest order, one of the Seraphim, a powerful and true entity who served his god. And yet he was tempted by her beauty, by her charm, and he fell in love with her. He could not see what was inside her. He fled the upper realm to be with her and became one of the fallen. He brought his light to the people here, and he bestowed the power of the eagle on them, and when she asked him to create a portal that would . . .”

  Finn stopped abruptly, and Jaden glanced back at him, her eyebrows furled in concern.

  “What’s wrong? She wanted him to make a portal that would open the gates to hell. We know this.”

  “No.” Finn shook his head, and she shivered at the dead tone of his voice. “There’s more.”

  Jaden went still and glanced up at him. The eagle shifter was solemn, and his eyes reflected a bleakness that she felt deep in her gut. Christ, could nothing go as planned? Be easy? Was their path always going to be littered with crap?

  “More? I’m almost afraid to ask.”

  Finn let go of her hands and stepped down from the dais. His handsome face was tense. “No wonder Nanauatl wanted this place hidden.”

  “What are you talking about? What could be worse than his little whore of a daughter cajoling a freaking angel into constructing a portal that can open up the depths of hell?”

  She grabbed his hands once more. “I need to see.”

  The symbols that were revealed beneath her fingers meant nothing to her. Frustrated, her voice rose. “Finn, what the hell does this shit mean?”

  “It means the portal is the most powerful thing ever created.”

  Julian’s voice drifted between them, and they both turned as he and Declan slipped into the chamber. His eyes were flat, the golden depths dark and somber. There was no expression, just a flicker of something she couldn’t really describe as his gaze lingered on the two of them.

  Jaden let go of Finn’s hands and stepped away, suddenly uncomfortable and not really sure why. She looked back at Finn. The eagle knight avoided her eyes and looked away. Something major was going on.

  “But what does that mean?” Her words exploded in a rush of air. “An explanation would be good right about now.” She looked back at Finn. “What is Julian trying to say?”

  Finn ran hands across his temple and exhaled. “Our world is made up of layers, the human realm being one of many. This portal has the ability to open several of them.” Finn glanced toward Julian, and the look that passed between the two men set her teeth on edge. She clenched them together, ignored the pain that sliced its way along her jaw, and looked at the both of them.

  “No talking in riddles. I need this laid out real precise.”

  Julian turned at her words, and again she was taken aback by the utter lack of emotion in him. “It means the portal is not only a direct conduit to the demon realm, it can also be used as a path to the upper realm.”

  “The upper realm,” she echoed. “Like heaven?”

  “Bingo. That would be it, the penthouse suite,” Declan answered.<
br />
  Shocked silence followed his words, and Jaden didn’t quite know what to say. The thought of someone like Cormac managing to rip open hell was bad enough. The human realm would suffer greatly, would in fact never recover.

  But what would happen if he successfully opened a path to the upper realm? The battle would be unprecedented, their world forever altered.

  “Sounds like one hell of a party, don’t you think?” Though Declan grinned at all of them, she sensed his anger. The energy around him thickened as his eyes narrowed. “I can’t wait.”

  She crossed to Julian and stood within inches of him. She heard his heart beating, saw the pulse at the base of his neck. Her gaze wandered to the scars under his pectoral before traveling back up to his face.

  “Is this what you and Declan are hiding? Why didn’t you tell me the other night?”

  A muscle worked its way across his cheek, but he remained silent, his golden eyes narrowed on her.

  Her animal reacted, and her fist flew out to thump him in the chest. Hard. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’re acting like a fucking zombie.”

  Her gaze fell on Declan. “Seriously, why would you keep such crucial information to yourself? This situation has just gone from shit to worse.”

  The sorcerer’s eyes glistened, and his teeth slashed white as he smiled crookedly at her. He turned without another word and clasped Julian on the shoulder.

  “You wanna fill her in?” he murmured. “Secret’s out, sport.”

  Jaden stared at the two of them, her chest heaving and a truckload of emotion threatening to break through.

  “My reasons are none of your concern.” Julian stared at her and bared his teeth, before glancing toward Finn. “This information must stay between us. You do understand the consequence if it gets into the wrong hands.”

  Finn nodded and remained silent. Julian turned to leave.

  “Do not walk away from me,” Jaden shouted at his back. She rolled her shoulders as she tried to contain the anger that was agitating her cat something fierce. She could not believe he would keep something so important from her.

  The others slipped into the chamber and were greeted by Declan. “I think maybe we should leave them alone, it seems they have some issues to work out.” Declan nodded to Finn and turned back toward the passage. “We’ll give you five minutes. Then we need to vamoose.”