Stephanie Rowe - Darkness Unleashed Read online

  Darkness

  Unleashed

  ***

  The Order of the Blade

  Book Seven

  Stephanie Rowe

  "Rowe is a paranormal star!" ~J.R. Ward

  ***

  Praise for Darkness Unleashed

  "Once more, award winning author Stephanie Rowe pens a winner with DARKNESS UNLEASHED, the seventh book in her amazing ORDER OF THE BLADE series…[an] action-packed, sensual story that will keep you perched on the edge of your seat, eagerly turning pages to discover the outcome…one of the best paranormal books I have read this year." ~Dottie, Romancejunkies.com

  ***

  Praise for Forever in Darkness

  “Stephanie Rowe has done it again. The Order Of The Blade series is one of the best urban fantasy/paranormal series I have read. Ian's story held me riveted from page one. It is sure to delight all her fans. Keep them coming!” ~ Alexx Mom Cat's Gateway Book Blog

  ***

  Praise for Darkness Awakened

  “A fast-paced plot with strong characters, blazing sexual tension and sprinkled with witty banter, Darkness Awakened sucked me in and kept me hooked until the very last page.” ~ Literary Escapism

  “Rarely do I find a book that so captivates my attention, that makes me laugh out loud, and cry when things look bad. And the sex, wow! It took my breath away... The pace kept me on the edge of my seat, and turning the pages. I did not want to put this book down... [Darkness Awakened] is a must read.” ~ D. Alexx Miller, Alexx Mom Cat’s Gateway Book Blog

  ***

  Praise for Darkness Seduced

  “[D]ark, edgy, sexy … sizzles on the page…sex with soul shattering connections that leave the reader a little breathless!...Darkness Seduced delivers tight plot lines, well written, witty and lyrical - Rowe lays down some seriously dark and sexy tracks. There is no doubt that this series will have a cult following. ” ~ Guilty Indulgence Book Club

  “I was absolutely enthralled by this book…heart stopping action fueled by dangerous passions and hunky, primal men…If you’re looking for a book that will grab hold of you and not let go until it has been totally devoured, look no further than Darkness Seduced.”~When Pen Met Paper Reviews

  ***

  Praise for Darkness Surrendered

  “Book three of the Order of the Blades series is…superbly original and excellent, yet the passion, struggle and the depth of emotion that Ana and Elijah face is so brutal, yet is also pretty awe inspiring. I was swept away by Stephanie’s depth of character detail and emotion. I absolutely loved the roller-coaster that Stephanie, Ana and Elijah took me on.” ~ Becky Johnson, Bex ‘n’ Books!

  “Darkness Surrendered drew me so deeply into the story that I felt Ana and Elijah’s emotions as if they were my own…they completely engulfed me in their story…Ingenious plot turns and edge of your seat suspense…make Darkness Surrendered one of the best novels I have read in years.” ~Tamara Hoffa, Sizzling Hot Book Reviews

  ***

  Praise for No Knight Needed

  “No Knight Needed is m-a-g-i-c-a-l! Hands down, it is one of the best romances I have read. I can’t wait till it comes out and I can tell the world about it.” ~Sharon Stogner, Love Romance Passion

  “No Knight Needed is contemporary romance at its best….There was not a moment that I wasn’t completely engrossed in the novel, the story, the characters. I very audibly cheered for them and did not shed just one tear, nope, rather bucket fulls. My heart at times broke for them. The narrative and dialogue surrounding these ‘tender’ moments in particular were so beautifully crafted, poetic even; it was this that had me blubbering. And of course on the flip side of the heart-wrenching events, was the amazing, witty humour….If it’s not obvious by now, then just to be clear, I love this book! I would most definitely and happily reread, which is an absolute first for me in this genre.”Becky Johnson, Bex ‘N’ Books

  “No Knight Needed is an amazing story of love and life…I literally laughed out loud, cried and cheered.... No Knight Needed is a must read and must re-read.”Jeanne Stone-Hunter, My Book Addiction Reviews

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to my beta readers, who always work incredibly hard under tight deadlines to get my books read. I appreciate so much your willingness to tell me when something doesn't work! I treasure your help, and I couldn't do this without you. Hugs to you all!

  There are so many to thank by name, more than I could count, but here are those who I want to called out specially for all they did to help this book come to life: Alencia Bates, Jean Bowden, Shell Bryce, Kelley Currey, Holly Collins, Ashley Cuesta, Christina Hernandez, Denise Fluhr, Sandi Foss, Valerie Glass, Heidi Hoffman, Jeanne Hunter, Rebecca Johnson, Dottie Jones, Janet Juengling-Snell, Deb Julienne, Bridget Koan, Felicia Low, Phyllis Marshall, D. Alexx Miller, Jodi Moore, Evelyn Newman, Judi Pflughoeft, Emily Recchia, Kasey Richardson, Karen Roma, Caryn Santee, Dana Simmons, Julie Simpson, Summer Steelman, Amanda Tamayo, Nicole Telhiard, Linda Watson, and Denise Whelan..

  And lastly, thank you to Pete Davis at Los Zombios for another fantastic cover, and for all his hard work on the technical side to make this book come to life, and for the most amazing website. Mom, you're the best. It means so much that you believe in me. I love you. Special thanks also to my amazing, beautiful, special daughter, who I love more than words could ever express. You are my world, sweet girl, in all ways.

  Dedication

  For my big brother, the very best brother anyone could ever have, on any level, in every single day.

  Love you, dude!

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Praise for Stephanie Rowe

  Acknowledgements

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Sneak Peek: Inferno of Darkness

  Sneak Peek: Darkness Awakened

  Sneak Peek: Ice

  Sneak Peek: No Knight Needed

  Coming Soon: Darkness Possessed

  Coming Soon: Guardian of the Hidden

  Coming Soon: Ghost

  Coming Soon: Prince Charming Can Wait

  Stephanie Rowe Bio

  Select List of Other Books

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  The air was razor-thin. Oxygen was sparse. Vegetation had been cruelly stripped by the harsh winds that raked across the mountain, exposing raw rock, ice so thick it never melted, and earth that could not flourish in such brutal weather. What in hell's name was a woman doing traveling this mountain path alone? And what was her destination?

  Grimly, Calydon warrior Ryland Samuels dropped to one knee. He traced his fingertips over the gritty surface of the rock. The cold numbed his fingers instantly, but it wasn't the biting wind that had tried to tear life from his hands. The damage had been caused by the residue of death that was coating the boulder.

  The fragments of death indicated he was still on the trail of Catherine Taylor, the angel of death he'd been tracking for almost three weeks. "She’s nearby," he said to his two teammates, who had accompanied him on his trek. "The trail is fresh." Staying on one knee, he braced his forearm on his thigh and searched the horizon. The Northern Cas
cade Mountains of southern Washington stretched far ahead, a seemingly endless maze that could hide—or kill—a woman with ease.

  Except she couldn't hide from him.

  He wouldn't allow it.

  As for the mountains killing her with their brutality? He doubted it would be very easy for a few towering hills of rock, snow, and cold to kill an angel of death. He just didn't see her getting knocked down by freezing temperatures and a little bit of frostbite. It was more likely that the earth itself would kneel to her, cease all adverse weather, and submit to her safe passage.

  He grinned. Yeah, angels were powerful shit, and he was about to find the one he'd been hunting for seven hundred years.

  "You see her?" Thano Savakis, one of Ryland's Order of the Blade teammates, rode up beside him on his new horse, a massive magical beast he'd named Apollo. His dark hair was even shorter than it used to be, and his heavy black jacket covered his thighs, hiding straps that Ryland knew were there, holding his jean-clad legs to the saddle.

  Thano was the only one of the Order less than five hundred years old. Although he hadn't even hit his fortieth birthday yet, he was a kickass warrior, and the one Ryland had specifically chosen to accompany him on this mission. The rest of the team was covering the seaboard of Oregon and Washington, dealing with a sudden increase in rogue Calydons, a proliferation that didn't make sense.

  The Order of the Blade was an elite group of Calydon warriors whose mission was to protect innocents when Calydons went rogue, descending irretrievably into the state of violent insanity that would result in a swath of death and destruction that would end only when they were destroyed. The Order members were the only beings powerful enough to cut down a Calydon who had crossed that deadly line. Formed over two thousand years ago, the Order was comprised of the few warriors capable of surviving battles that no one should survive, while plunging their weapons through the hearts of men who had once been their friends, sons, neighbors, or even fathers or other family.

  There were nine of them left. Only nine. Not enough. But Ryland was going to make damn sure they didn't lose any more, and that the Order was protected enough that it could begin to grow again and become the force it had once been. With the recent murder of their leader, the team had started to fracture. No leader had stepped up to pull them together. Ryland didn't give a shit about being a leader, but he was damn well going to make sure the Order's protective triumvirate of guardian angels was safe.

  Catherine was the only one of the trinity still at large. After the other two had almost been killed, he wasn't taking any chances. The Order had too many enemies, and as one of their guardian angels, Catherine would inherit those enemies.

  "No, I can't see her yet," Ryland answered Thano. "But soon." He gestured with his hand to indicate they should continue forward. He began to work his way down the steep slope, to a lower altitude where snow and ice had succumbed to the warmer temperatures. "Let's go."

  "Wait." The third member of their party, Zach Roderick, halted them. He was standing on the top of a jagged rock, his face raised to the wind, as if he couldn't feel the cold, which Ryland knew was true. His calf-length leather jacket was flapping around his legs, revealing a white T-shirt and baggy jeans. His only concession to their trek through the mountains was a pair of heavy hiking boots, but Ryland knew those were more for traction than protection from the cold. "There's heat coming from over the northern peaks. Massive amounts of heat."

  Ryland turned to look where Zach was pointing. He frowned at the dark storm clouds that seemed to be dumping snow onto the distant mountains. It was summer, but the mountains were still caught in the thrall of winter brutality at their highest altitudes. They were at a lower altitude right now, so they were graced with patches of bare ground instead of snowdrifts, but Zach was pointing toward a higher elevation. Nothing hot should be coming from there. "Heat? You're sure?"

  Zach cast him a baleful glare. "You're asking me if I'm sure I feel heat? Really?"

  "Shit." Of course Zach knew what he was talking about. The man had an up close and personal relationship with fire that none of them understood. If Zach had the inside scoop on why he could do what he did, he wasn't talking. But the guy could pick up heat from a thousand miles away, and he knew when things were out of balance.

  Ryland ground his jaw, knowing that there was only one thing in this region that could generate heat of that nature, but it was buried deep below the earth, never to be exposed to earth's surface. Not it. She. "Keep an eye on it," he told Zach.

  "As if I wouldn't." His voice edged with tension, Zach kept his attention focused on the distant mountains, on the heat that only he could sense.

  Although Ryland had wanted only Thano with him, he'd allowed Zach to come because Thano had requested it. After being incarcerated and tortured by a black magic wizard for several months, Thano had returned with a broken body and the ability to do some weird shit with violet fire. Things were changing every day with him, and no one knew where things were leading. It made sense to bring a fire expert along just in case Thano suddenly went up in flames.

  But Ryland and Zach had never been buddies, and he didn't like having someone along who was ready to cut him down at any moment, literally. Although everyone on the team was pretty damned certain that Ryland was on the edge of going rogue at any second, Zach was the one who Ryland sensed was actually looking forward to finally having a reason to take him out, ending the threat that they all felt he posed to the Order. If Ryland so much as drifted near the line of going rogue, Zach would kill him first and check facts later.

  Not that Ryland blamed him. As annoying as it was to have to watch his back with Zach all the time, he knew that Zach was the only one who really saw him for what he was.

  Not that he had time to spend thinking about Zach. Night would soon be falling and he wanted to have Catherine under his protection.

  Yeah, he didn't think the mountains could hurt her, but he wanted her where he could keep her safe anyway. If she was who he thought she was, the safety of the entire Order depended on her survival. "Come on."

  He began to jog down the side of the mountain. Behind him was the clatter of Apollo's hooves on the rocks, footsteps that could turn into complete stealth when the horse chose. Zach gave a grunt of irritation, but he leapt off the rock and broke into a steady run to catch up.

  As the three warriors continued their slip-sliding descent down the rocky cliff, the sensation of death grew stronger. Ryland's adrenaline began to jack up, and a warning began to prickle at the back of his neck. The black brands on his arms that were in the shape of machetes began to burn, as the weapons strained to be released. Death was near. Was it Catherine?

  "Is that her?" Thano was beside him now, Apollo loping with ease as Ryland sprinted along. "Is she the death we're picking up?"

  Ryland glanced at Thano in surprise. "You can sense that?" The cold, ominous feeling of death was thick now, cloying to his skin. Prior to now, neither Thano nor Zach had been able to pick up Catherine's trail. He looked over at Zach, who had caught up to them. "What about you?"

  Zach shoved a strand of his dark hair out of his face. "In about two seconds, I'm going to call out my weapon and start attacking the air, so yeah, I feel it."

  Ryland swore. Up until now, he'd been the only one who could sense Catherine's aura, which meant either she had changed in some way, or else there was something else ahead of them casting the lethal scent into the air. He flexed his hands, readying to call out his weapons, as they continued to sprint down the mountain. Below them was a dark grove of trees that seemed to be defying all odds by surviving in this barren area. He frowned, studying the grove as they neared it. The darkness seemed to undulate between the trunks, as if it were a living creature, taking deep breaths, waiting for them.

  Recognition nudged at the back of Ryland's mind, and he instinctively slowed. "Wait a second."

  Thano reined in Apollo, and Zach slowed as well. "What's up?"

  Ryland stared at
the trees, straining to see into the darkness that was too impenetrable given that the sun hadn't set yet. "I don't know." But he'd seen it before. He knew what was hiding. He just couldn't remember. It had been too long.

  He came to a complete stop, and his teammates lined up beside him, three warriors abreast.

  Apollo lifted his head and flared his nostrils, the great black beast fixated on the grove. For a moment, there was complete silence, a standoff.

  Then there was a scrabble of claws from a cliff to their right. Ryland spun that way, searching the rocks, but he saw nothing. Then, from the other direction, another scrape. Then, from behind them, another. "We're being hunted."

  "By what?" Zach held out his arms. There was a loud crack, a flash of black light, and then he was holding a three-pronged steel sai in each hand, weapons that matched the black brands etched on his forearms. Every Order of the Blade warrior carried the marks of the weapon that had chosen him when he'd come into his power as a Calydon. Bred for violence, a Calydon warrior could call out his weapons at any moment, a simple mental summoning that made the steel weapons appear in his hands, instruments of death that were an exact match for the symbols etched on his arms.