Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk

stare just as his eyes widened. He dropped the diamond and the spike to pry her loose. She wrenched down with all her strength, hissing, “This will only hurt for a little while. Just relax for me.”
    When he doubled over, she used her free hand to shove his face down as she hiked her knee to it.
    Crunch. Once he collapsed with a muffled groan, she whirled around, about to leap for a battle-ax, but revenants stormed in. He must’ve sounded some kind of silent alarm.
    “Hold her down!” he ordered from the ground, wiping his palm over his bloody face. With a grunt, he swooped up the spike, then lumbered to his feet once more.
    The guards started for her. She counted twenty with swords and armor. Multiple combatants coming for her. She needed to run, but the main exit was blocked. The second door led to the control booth. Her head swung in the other direction. Only one option.
    Charging to those doors, she barreled her shoulder into them with a yell. They burst open.
    She surged forward onto a balcony—directly over the edge of the falls. The doors had indeed led outside.
    Trapped. In front of her, revenants blocked her way back in. Behind her…a four-hundred-foot drop.
    When Groot elbowed through the guards, looming with that spike in hand, she leapt atop the slippery stone balustrade.
    “Come down, Valkyrie,” he yelled over the thunderous falls. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
    Have to run. And there was only one way to go. Down.
    Reasoning trail: Jump into the waterfall, possibly lose head, which will kill even an immortal. If I survive, float directly into Wendigo lair to be eaten alive.
    Or accept the spike.
    Could she actually force herself to make this leap?
    “You won’t survive it,” Groot bit out. “And if by some miracle, you do, you’ll wish to the gods that you hadn’t.”

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    H er scream had ripped through the darkness of his mind, beginning to pull him back from the abyss. Fight…
    Her electricity pricked his skin, as if refusing to let him stay under. Thunder boomed insistently all around him.
    She’s in danger. Needs me to fight…
    His demon instinct began to stir within him, rousing him to consciousness, grappling against the effects of the poison.
    Two guards were dragging Cade away from her. Farther away from her with each step that he didn’t resist.
    Somehow he slitted open his eyes. His blood began pumping faster, fueling his muscles, feeding his wrath.
    With a bellow, he lunged to his feet, shoving the two guards free from him. When they brandished their swords, he unsheathed the one at his back, frowning for the briefest instant.
    It was Groot’s. The bastard had actually kept the terms of their bargain, putting his sword in Cade’s case.
    Raising the sorcerer’s weapon against his own guards, Cade slashed at the two. Before they could rise again, he charged past them only to halt in his tracks at the walkway to the forge.
    Dozens of them converged, choking the narrow path. And there was no way Cade could get to Holly without passing through the forge.
    Though the poison was dissipating, it was still blunting his change, preventing him from turning completely.
    And his enemies couldn’t be destroyed. He slew them again and again with the sword, but they rose each time. The weapon was useless against them.
    Cade sheathed it at his back once more. Surveying the scene, he realized what he had to do. He charged them, heaving the revenants over the side of the walk into the water. He thought the current would catch them, sweeping them away. Corpses…meet the corpse eaters.
    Instead, they sank like rocks with their heavy armor.
    Throwing them bodily, he plowed his way to the forge. Inside were three walkways to different towers. Which one to choose? More revenants appeared. Where had the bastard taken Holly?
    His question was answered when he caught sight of her.
    She was atop a balcony rail—at the direct edge of the falls.
    As he frenziedly battled to get to her, she slipped, waving her arms for balance, robbing him of breath. “Holly!” But she couldn’t hear him over the falls.
    With her hair whipping in the wind, she swept a glance over her adversaries. Trapped. She knows she can’t fight them.
    “Holly, no!” Cade roared, charging for her. “Don’t do this!”
    She swallowed…then stepped off the ledge.
    Ah, gods, no! Heart in his throat, he sprinted to dive in right behind her. He dimly heard Groot yelling at him. Almost to the railing, tensing