In Darkness Reborn (8 page)

Trahern's eyes narrowed. “Even if you do have permission to enter the tunnels,” he replied, his tone clearly questioning the likelihood of that, “I know for a damn fact that you don't have permission to carry a sword anywhere but in the gym upstairs.”

Barak positioned himself slightly in front of Lacey. “No one has given me a set of rules to live by, Trahern. I will carry this sword to protect Dr. Sebastian, and will return the weapon to the gym as soon as we are finished. You'll have to be satisfied with that.”

Trahern stared at him long and hard before turning his attention back to Lacey. “Do you need me to tag along?”

Barak held his breath, waiting to see if Lacey would depend on him alone for protection or if she'd feel better having a Paladin as an escort. He wasn't sure why it was so important to him for her to turn down Trahern's offer of help.

“We'll be fine, Blake. I don't plan to be down there long, and the area has been stable even after Purefoy tampered with the barrier.”

Some of the tension in Barak's shoulders eased, but not all. Trahern was just as likely to insist on coming with them or on calling Devlin Bane for approval. Barak was willing to report any information he found in the tunnels about the small bags or the blue garnets, but only up to a certain point.

Trahern finally made his decision. “How long are you planning on being gone?”

Lacey smiled, knowing she'd just won the battle. “An hour, certainly no more than two.”

The Paladin nodded. “Fine. I'll call the elevator for you, but send it back up in case you need help. If you run into trouble, use the land lines down there because your cell won't work that close to the barrier.”

“I know that.” Lacey shifted her equipment box to her other hand and then back again. “But thanks, Blake.”

Trahern turned his ice-colored eyes on Barak again. “Get her back in two hours in one piece or I'll come after you.” He narrowed his gaze. “And I won't be carrying a practice sword.”

Tired of being ordered around, Barak gripped his sword, poor weapon that it was. “Don't make idle threats, Trahern. If you think you can take me down, do so. Otherwise, we're late as it is.”

W
ithout waiting for Trahern to respond, Barak walked away, leaving Lacey to follow as she would. Trahern caught up with them at the elevator door. He punched in a series of numbers, then stood back out of the way as they waited for it to arrive.

Lacey rocked from one foot to the other, the only clue that the tension between the two men was worrying her. Of course, she was more familiar than most with the explosive tempers of Paladins.

The doors slid open and Trahern stuck his hand out to hold them. “You first, Lacey, and stand at the back of the elevator.”

“And why is that?” Evidently she didn't like taking orders any better than Barak did.

Trahern answered, “So if any of Barak's old friends are waiting at the bottom, he'll have a better chance without having to maneuver around you. He knows how to fight, so let him if it comes to that.”

She seemed to be mollified by Blake's explanation, if a bit more worried about the risks they were about to undertake. “I'll stay out of his way.”

“See you in two hours.”

Then Trahern reached in and pushed the button that would close the doors and send them plummeting down into the deep tunnels below. Barak's last glimpse of Trahern revealed the Paladin hitting the speed dial on his cell phone. There was little doubt in his mind that Devlin was about to get an update on Barak's current whereabouts.

As much as he resented the constant monitoring, this time it wasn't a bad idea. If the barrier did prove to be unstable, he'd prefer that someone knew he and Lacey were down there.

His stomach lurched slightly, the unexpected speed of the elevator a surprise—yet another marvel built by these people. In his world, they depended on staircases because of the energy cost involved in running machinery.

He could feel the heat of Lacey's body directly behind him, even as her scent overpowered the stale-air smell in the small compartment. He found his awareness of her on so many levels soothing in some ways and arousing in others.

What would she say if she knew that he could hear the rapid trip of her heart and the way she breathed through her mouth when she was nervous? The need to reassure her was riding him hard, but he knew she'd only resent it if he thought her weak.

“What will you do if some of your…uh…” Her voice trailed off as she struggled to find a polite way of asking her question.

He saved her the trouble. “I will protect you, Lacey, even from my own people.”

She blushed. “I meant no offense, Barak. It just occurred to me that I have never heard anyone call your kind anything besides ‘Others.' I assume that's not what you call yourselves.”

“You're the first person to bring that up.”

She looked genuinely surprised. “Not even Dr. Young? I thought you two had become, um, close friends.”

What had she been thinking? He spun around to face her. “Dr. Young and I had a working relationship, not unlike the one I have with you.” That was a lie. He'd never wanted to push Laurel up against a wall and kiss her senseless. That idea crossed his mind every time he saw Lacey.

He forced himself to speak with a calm voice. “She was kind enough to teach me the ways of this world with the help of Devlin, her mate.”

Lacey giggled. “He's her mate?”

“What else would you call him? The bond between the two of them is a powerful one, as is the one between Trahern and Brenna Nichols.”

The sparkle in Lacey's eyes faded away. “Paladins are not known for fidelity, especially once they've got a few deaths behind them.”

“I cannot imagine Devlin looking at another woman in the same way he looks at Dr. Young. You can feel the pull of the link between them whenever they are together.” As soon as he said the words, he knew he'd made a mistake. He was relatively sure that humans did not sense the emotional commitment between two lovers in the same way he did.

Lacey arched an eyebrow. “And you can tell they are mates by feeling this link?”

There was no use denying it now, but perhaps he could play it down. “It is part of their body language—the way they stand, and the way they look at each other.”

“Yeah, I know.” There was a note in her voice that he didn't recognize.

Before he could investigate any further, the elevator settled at the bottom of the long shaft. Immediately, he put aside all thoughts except the need to protect Lacey.

With his sword at the ready, he waited for the doors to open. Even before that happened, he closed his eyes and reached out with all his senses. The subtle clanking of machinery made it difficult to discern if there were any unexpected heartbeats in the area immediately outside the elevator, but he didn't think there were.

As the doors opened he drew a deep breath and tasted nothing but the damp, stone smell of the tunnel. So far, so good. He stepped out of the elevator and repeated the drill, ignoring how odd he must appear to Lacey. He felt her move up to stand just off his left shoulder, knowing not to block his sword arm.

For several seconds, the two of them stood in silence: he because he was still reaching out to make sure they really were alone in the tunnels and to test the health of the barrier; she because this was her first trip down into the tunnels. With Penn for a brother, she must have heard tales about the life-and-death battles that were fought here.

Probably the last thing she would have expected was to get her first peek at her brother's world in the company of his lifelong enemy. The gods always did love irony.

“Which way shall we go?” There didn't seem to be much difference in the tunnel in either direction.

Lacey immediately turned left. “This way. I studied the maps before coming down. I want to set up my equipment in a small offshoot from the main tunnel. Close enough to the barrier to get some readings, but far enough away so that its energy doesn't interfere with the machines.”

Barak frowned as he sheathed his sword and picked up his share of the equipment. She'd gone ahead a few steps, so he lengthened his stride to catch up with her. “How do you know you'll be able to take accurate readings this close to the barrier?”

But she wasn't listening. They'd just come to the first turn in the tunnel and the barrier hummed and shimmered just ahead, its colors ever changing. He tried to see it through her eyes, with the innocence of that first view of the barrier's incredible beauty.

He hated it for the fickle bitch that it was.

Lacey let out a rapturous sigh. “No one told me it was beautiful.”

“Probably because those of us who have spent our lives defending it or trying to cross it have had too many other thoughts on our minds to be poetic about it.”

She frowned and opened her mouth as if to ask a question, but then thought better of it.

“Go ahead and ask what you will, Lacey. If I can answer, I will.”

“Why do they come?”

He noticed she'd used “they” rather than lumping him in with the rest of his kind. Did that mean she had accepted him as a part of her world and trusted him on some level? She'd be a fool to think of him as harmless, but he wasn't about to point that out to her.

He realized he still hadn't answered her question. After casting around for some version of the truth that she would understand, he settled for, “Because they must.”

Before she could demand a more thorough answer, they reached another split in the tunnel, which distracted her. “This is where I wanted to set up the first set of meters.”

He'd been hoping they'd stumble across the area where he'd first encountered Laurel Young and the guard, Sgt. Purefoy, who had been intent on destroying the barrier in that area for all time. Luckily, Devlin Bane had killed the traitor before he'd been able to accomplish his goal.

During that encounter, Barak had lost his family's sword somewhere nearby. Someone had probably found it—either some of his own kind, or one of the Paladins. Though none of the Paladins besides Devlin had come this far down the tunnels, since they usually entered from the other end.

Perhaps there'd be time after he and Lacey got the equipment up and running to explore a short distance further along the passage. The sword had been the last thing he'd owned that had been his father's.

The old man hadn't approved of Barak's beliefs, but he'd never denied his son's right to carry the symbol of their family. His father would've hated knowing that Barak had dropped the sword without hesitation to protect a human female, giving him one more reason to have cursed his only son for a fool.

“Hand me that big screwdriver.”

Lacey was bent over adjusting the balance on a spider-shaped piece of equipment. Her jeans traced the feminine curves of her backside with loving detail, making it difficult for Barak to make sense of her simple request. When she looked up to see what was taking him so long, she realized the kind of view she'd been offering him. She immediately shifted to the other side of the spider after getting the screwdriver for herself.

He stifled the urge to grin when she blushed. So the woman wasn't immune to a man's open admiration, even his. Rather than stand there staring at her, as much as he would have liked to, he picked up another of the miniaturized monitors and began unfolding its legs. The small machines were a tribute to her ingenuity.

“Where do you want this one?” he asked, but before she could answer, he held up his hand to silence her. She slowly straightened up, turning her head this way and that, trying to see what had caught his attention.

He pitched his voice for her ears only. “Someone is heading this way.”

“But who?…”

There was no time for explanations, not if they were going to manage to hide their presence from the unexpected intruders. The tunnel lights were motion-activated. If they held still long enough, the lights would cycle off, hiding them in the shadows. He reached out and grabbed Lacey, clapping his hand over her mouth to silence her protests.

“Be still or we die. If they weren't up to no good, they wouldn't be muffling their footsteps and speaking in whispers.”

Lacey's blue eyes filled with a touch of temper at being ordered around. She did as he'd told her, but with an unspoken promise that there'd be a reckoning later. As the intruders approached, he pressed her back against the nearest wall, sheltering her body with his. He drew his sword and turned to face the enemy. Keeping his eyes on the far end of the passage, he tried to ignore the delicious feel of Lacey's warmth trapped between him and the cold stone walls.

The enemy drew close; he could all but taste their greed. If he'd had a Paladin with him, he wouldn't have hesitated to confront the intruders, no matter whose side they belonged to. But he would not risk Lacey's safety for a chance to see who might be involved in the illegal trade of blue light. His fingers flexed on the grip of the sword, imagining the pleasure of making them bleed for their rape of his world. Lacey stirred behind him, a reminder that now was not the time. At least he could listen and perhaps learn enough to help Devlin trace their footsteps back to their leader.

He leaned back close enough to mouth a whisper to Lacey. “I will die before I will let harm come to you.”

Lacey believed Barak's promise, although she still wasn't convinced that they were in any danger. The motion-sensitive lights nearest them finally blinked out, leaving the two of them tucked safely in the darkness beyond the glow of the barrier. She closed her eyes, struggling to hear whatever had convinced Barak that they were in danger.

There, she heard something, maybe just the rush of her heart as they waited in the deep silence. It came again—the hushed noise of rubber-soled shoes on the tunnel floor. Two, maybe three men walking. Men who had no legitimate purpose in the tunnels.

Paladins swaggered; they didn't give a damn if the whole world heard them coming. That left either Barak's people or else someone who had no legitimate reason to be in the tunnels in the first place. The Regents would have posted notice if there had been some kind of maintenance going on. As far as she knew, there had been no such announcement.

As her eyes grew more accustomed to the dim light from the barrier, she could see that Barak had his head tilted toward the far end of the tunnel. She wanted to ask him what he was listening to so intently, but she suspected he wouldn't appreciate her interfering with his concentration.

Finally, three men passed by the front of the small tunnel where she and Barak stood huddled in the shadows. Although she couldn't make out their features very clearly, she was certain that they were all strangers. What really caught her attention were the high-tech guns they wore slung over their shoulders with careless ease.

Even she knew how much damage a bullet could do to the barrier. Either these men didn't know the risks, or they flat out didn't give a damn. One stopped to light a cigarette before continuing on. For the space of a heartbeat, that small flare of light from the match seemed to light up the whole area, leaving her feeling exposed instead of cocooned by the shadows.