Falden raced to the front door, Gareth hot on his heels. Still invisible to both the Caldorians and the criminals they fought, they moved stealthily around the three males holding the door against King Dagan’s forces. The three men crouched behind the open doors, using the heavy wood and steel structures as cover. Falden and Gareth stepped behind them easily. To cut down the enemy here would reveal their presence, their very existence to both the Caldorian warriors and the enemy.
And the Lumerian Knights were a myth. Legend. A closely guarded secret for more than two thousand years.
Still, the urge to strike rode Falden hard, made his sword arm tingle with the need to hunt down anything and everything between him and Isabella.
A quick scan of their surroundings showed multiple levels, all teeming with various life forms. One in particular caught Falden’s attention. Next to him, Gareth sucked in a quick breath as he registered the same data.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes.” Falden did not need to elaborate. He and Gareth had not battled a Dark One, servant of the A’Nua Na-KI, in several hundred years. He was not pleased to see the powerful creature showing up on their scanners now. What was it doing on Earth? And how had the presence of their ancient enemy gone unnoticed?
More relevant to the moment, how many of the Dark Ones, vile, wicked and merciless, had the A’Nua Na-KI sent to Earth?
“Fuck me. What do they want with Isabella?” Gareth whispered, despite the fact that there was no need, at least not at the moment. The low-level scum they’d passed on the way in could not see through their Spectral Shielding. But the Dark Ones? Or the A’Nua Na-KI? He hadn’t fought either in a long, long time, and the last battle had not gone in the Lumerians’ favor.
“A few weeks ago I would've said food or slavery. Now I’d say the Vilitos and Darkoor putting a bounty out on any human female came from higher up the food chain.”
Gareth grunted and drew his sword. “Not good. Dagan needs to be warned.”
That was true. If the A’Nua Na-KI had somehow heard about Sasha and her new power? They would send hordes of the Dark Ones to Earth. Swarm the planet searching for human females who could do what the new queen of the Caldorians could do—manipulate the power of the ancient Lumerian crystals, channel healing energy. Torrin’s woman could generate fire. And that was only the beginning. Falden had no idea what would happen to such powerful human females over time, as months stretched to years, years to centuries. He had vague memories from his youth of elder Lumerian females so powerful they could destroy entire fleets of ships with nothing more than their will.
“Where to?” Gareth waited for Falden’s command.
“Cassiel? Vander?” Falden asked.
“In position. You aren’t going to believe what we’re seeing up here.”
“Fuck.” Gareth sighed as Vander continued.
“A Dark One, Commander, on the first floor. Visible through the first set of windows. Could be more. Can’t see inside yet. Too many fucking Darkoor swarming around.”
“Damn bloodsucking worms.” Cassiel’s outburst made Vander chuckle into his comm.
Falden cursed under his breath. The Darkoor they could handle, but the Dark Ones were interdimensional creatures. Not only were they vicious fighters, they were smart. And without a Sword of Ohm-Ra, a semicircular weapon used to disrupt their ability to shift into other dimensional forms, force them to coalesce and remain in one place just long enough to be vulnerable, there was no way to defeat one. “Even one is too many.”
“Give the word, Commander,” Vander said grimly. “Let’s do this. We’ll start cleaning up out here and meet you in the middle.”
“No.” Falden debated for all of three seconds. The Caldorians fighting their way inside were providing the distraction he had wanted, but the Dark One’s claws would rip through the unsuspecting warriors like razors through rice paper. There was more on the line than Isabella’s life. He’d been next to King Dagan long enough to know these warriors were good men. They needed protection. And Dagan had sent them here because Isabella had forced his hand.
He could not afford any mistakes. This was more than they’d bargained for. With the Dark One inside, four Lumerian Knights and a hundred Caldorians would never be enough. They did not have the weapons needed to deal with a Dark One. The best they could hope for would be to save Isabella with minimum casualties and escape.
Shifting slightly where he and Gareth crouched out of the way of foot traffic to and from the entrance, he activated an emergency beacon in his armor that would summon all Lumerians within range. Now. Right fucking now.
Over a hundred Knights would be here in the next few minutes, en masse, fighting shoulder to shoulder for the first time since their planet had been destroyed. Exposing themselves to the world, to the universe, the Intergalactic Council, to their enemies. And for what?
For Isabella.
For Falden’s sanity, because without her in his life, he would break. He’d been strong for centuries. She made him weak. Needy. But it was too late to go back to the way he was before. Too fucking late—and he didn’t want to. The cold, echoing loneliness beckoned him with a familiar call, but he was done living in that void. He needed her, and he didn’t need anything.
Gareth
