Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

spine.
    "Jesus, man!" Thano grabbed his shoulders, trying to hold him down. "If you want more attention, just ask for it!"
    Images flashed through Kane's mind. Bodies. A boy. A young boy looking up at him, with dark brown eyes, trusting him. Then the child was bloodied, sprawled across the floor, slashes ripped through his small frame. "No!" Kane screamed, the anguish tearing through him. He tried to get to his knees, to crawl away from the nightmare, to escape from the hell—
    "Kane!" Suddenly Sarah was in front of him, holding his shoulders. "Come back to me!"
    He screamed again, and suddenly her face changed. Her hair seemed to turn a glossy white, drifting in floating tendrils around her head. Her eyes were pale blue, her pupils pitch black. He touched her face, and his fingers seemed to drift right through her skin, skin that was so pale and fragile it was like silk threads dangling in the breeze. She was wearing a pale blue dress, the color of a full moon on a clear night, shimmering as if a thousand stars had been woven into it. Her lips were pale, a pink so fair he could barely even register it. Her cheek bones were high and flawless, and she was wearing a thin silver chain around her neck with a single diamond hanging from it. "My angel." He touched her hair, and the shimmering tendrils wove around his fingers as if they were alive.
    She smiled, her face glowing with love and hope, and Kane felt his own heart come to life, beating with a vibrant light of triumph and salvation.
    "What's he doing?" Ryland asked, but his voice was distant, a faint rumble.
    "His eyes are white," Thano said, his voice drifting through Kane's mind. "I have no clue. Kane. Kane!"
    He didn't even need to acknowledge them. They just floated out of his mind, until all that was left was Sarah. There was a white glow behind her head, growing brighter and brighter. "Kane," she said again, only this time, her voice was raspy...harsh...
    He stiffened, and suddenly streaks of black tainted her hair. Her lips turned black. Her skin turned to ash, crumbling in gray flakes from her body. Her mouth opened and a violent scream tore out of her. She raised her palm, and he saw a flail in it. His own weapon. To be used against him. "No!" He lunged for her, his hands going for her throat, knowing there was only one answer, one choice, one way to live.
    She had to die.
    * * *
    Sarah screamed as Kane lunged for her, his fingers locking around her throat. "Kane!" She clawed at his hands as Ryland and Thano leapt on him, trying to pull him off. But his muscles were rigid, locked down, and they couldn't stop him.
    Thano called out his halberd, but Kane flung him across the cave. He hooked Ryland in the neck and tossed the other male aside, as if he were nothing but a rag doll. Then he was back on her, lunging for her. Just like before. Just like Mason. Just like Jacob.
    Sarah gasped, fighting for air as Kane loomed above her, his hands around her neck. His eyes were black. Not red. Black! He wasn't rogue! He was like her brother and Mason. Sane, and trying to kill her. "Kane!" She scrabbled at his arms, clawing at his fingers, and still he pressed tighter.
    Dear God, he was going to kill her!
    Use your white light to stop him. The voice burst through her mind. A male voice, hard and lethal...not Kane. Someone else was trying to force them to destroy each other.
    No! She screamed the thought and then the world started to spin as she began to lose consciousness. Kane, don't do this. Please, God, Kane. Don't! Tears poured down her cheeks as she fought for air. This couldn't be happening again. It couldn't. She thrust her mind into Kane's, and then almost screamed from the darkness that consumed her the moment she connected with him. It was a miasma of poison and death, of evil, of hell. It sucked her in instantly, flooding her with despair and hopelessness. She saw her mother, her father, her daughter, all dead. She saw herself, lying on the floor, her hand on her belly as Mason crashed to the ground beside her, his skin blackened and destroyed from her attack. Death and murder between people who loved each other. No one alive. Everyone dead.
    There was nothing left. No hope. Just failure. Just love that wasn't strong enough.
    Sarah. Kane's voice distant in her mind, so faint, but she heard his desperation. We have to break through it.
    Her heart ached at the sound of his voice, and she tried to find him, but there was too much chaos and darkness. So much