Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

Kane. What you saw was a demon."
    He narrowed his eyes. "An actual demon?"
    "No, well, a Calydon—"
    He swore. "I already told you, I'm not a demon—"
    "All Calydons were originally created by demon taint, and you know it. The water that the original warriors drank two thousand years ago was from a fountain poisoned with demon taint. It turned those men into powerful warriors who were always haunted by their dark side, always on the edge of going rogue."
    Kane had to acknowledge the truth of her words, because all the Calydons since the original crew were burdened with that violent side hidden beneath banners of honor and protection, even the Order members. "That doesn't mean we're demons."
    "The Calydons outside our village, like your teammates, are generations away from the original demon source, so they're not demons," Sarah said, cutting him off. "But the ones who hunt this town are different. This town was originally created as a haven for angels. We were drawn to it, and so were the demons. They came here to destroy us, and they conscript the men from our village into doing their work. The Calydons in our village are first generation, and the demon taint runs thick in their blood."
    Kane narrowed his eyes at the information, already planning to share that with his team back at the mansion. "And what does that have to do with me? You called me a demon, but I'm Order. I'm not from this village—"
    "Let me finish." She put her hand on his lips to shush him, and sudden heat rushed over him at the feel. Lust. Desire. Raw, burning need for this woman in his arms. He began to rub her shoulder, sliding his thumb past the edge of her collar so he touched her bare skin.
    Sarah jumped and caught her breath. "Don't do that," she said. "I can't concentrate."
    "Can't stop." He bent his head, trailing his lips over her throat. "Keep talking."
    Sarah leaned her head back against the wall, not trying to shove him away. "God, Kane, how can you be the same man? How can you be two different men like this? I should never respond to you like this—"
    "Yes, you should." Kane fisted her hair and brought his mouth down over hers. Now that he knew he was going to get the answers he wanted, suddenly, the urgency was gone, replaced by a thrumming anticipation and a heady sense of power. He had what he wanted, and it was coming now. "Talk to me, Sarah." He brushed his lips over her jaw, all too aware of how passionate they'd been together that night. "Who am I?"
    She pushed at his shoulders, trying to get space. "I think you might be Los Muerte."
    "Los Muerte?" Kane paused in his seduction, rolling the name over in his head. It didn't sound familiar. "Who is Los Muerte?"
    "Death. A Calydon in our village who killed his own wife and son and murdered over five hundred people, mostly angels. Los Muerte destroyed this entire town, Kane, in one murderous frenzy and wiped out almost an entire race of beings."
    Kane went still, staring at Sarah as her words crashed through him like the black night of hell. Visions suddenly stormed through his head. Death. Bloodied bodies. A small boy cowering in the corner of a blood-stained floor... Jesus! He jerked back from her, denial racing through him. "That's not me."
    Her face was strained, shadows erasing her features as she kept talking. "They couldn't kill Los Muerte. Everything they tried didn't work. He healed every time and would come back. The last time they were able to incapacitate him, they carved the talismans in his body, symbols of protection against the demons, frantically marking up his skin before he could recover and attack again." Sarah touched his arm, running her fingers over his scars, a touch so soft and so incongruous to the story she was telling. "They covered every last bit of his skin, trying to contain the demon within."
    Kane shook his head, trying to clear the visions. "There's no way that was me."
    "They dumped Los Muerte in another city before he woke up, praying that he wouldn't be able to find his way back," Sarah said softly. "They were hoping that when he woke up, the markings would have contained the demon, so only the parts of his soul that weren't a monster would remain."
    Kane leaned back against the wall of the tunnel, trying to process Sarah's information. The story fit with what he knew of his past, with the scars and waking up in an alley with no memory. Was he a murderer? Did he murder his own son? Disgust and revulsion pulsed through him, but Kane forced