Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

see what she was looking at, and he went rigid when he saw himself sprint out of the woods. His body was clean, not a scar to be seen, his muscles leaner with youth. He couldn't have been more than eighteen, barely a warrior.
    But his eyes were glowing black, and he was wielding both his weapons as if for battle. She screamed and tried to run, and Kane leapt on her, raising his weapon and bringing it down toward her head—
    Stop it! Sarah blasted through his mind, shredding the image.
    Kane gasped, his mind whirling, agony constricting his heart. "I killed them." Jesus. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't swallow. His emotions were tearing apart his insides. "I killed my son—"
    "No!" Sarah grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "It's not real, Kane! Luc is projecting them into your mind! It didn't happen! You wouldn't do that! It's not real."
    He gripped her shoulders, his fingers digging into her in desperation. "Get away from me, Sarah. Get away before I do it to you."
    "No!" She screamed at him and hammered on his chest. "Stop it!"
    Then the images flashed. His sheva on the ground, blood pouring from a wound in her chest. His son on the ground next to her. Eyes closed. His face angelic even in death. Grief roared through Kane, and he staggered to his feet, unable to focus, to think. He'd killed them. He'd killed them all. Jesus Christ. He was the monster. He was the one who should have been struck down. It was him. He was the one. "No!" He bellowed his rage to the night, unable to contain the hell filling him.
    "Kane!" Sarah grabbed his arm, and he felt her trying to build a connection between them, to call upon their bond to bring him back.
    "Don't!" He yanked his arm out of her grip, staggering as the world spun around him. Everything he believed in was a lie. Everything that he'd purported to honor for his whole existence meant nothing. He was the protector. The guardian. The harbinger of relief to innocents. And it was a lie. A fucking lie. He was the monster he'd claimed to protect the world against for the last five hundred years. He was the one who deserved to die. Not the others. Him.
    Sarah threw herself in his way, blocking his path. The anguish rolling off Kane was unbelievably intense, a thousand times worse than she'd ever felt from anyone. He couldn't see that it could be a lie, he couldn't fathom the concept of hope or faith that it was wrong. He was drowning in despair, pure unadulterated, heart-wrenching despair. He was sunk in the hopelessness for who he was, for what he had been, for what he could be.
    It was so intense, so much stronger than it should have been. She felt it tearing at her, invading her own soul, burdening her. "Dammit, Kane! Stop it!" A flicker of fear rippled through her, fear that maybe he was the man brought to destroy her, and she grimaced, knowing full well that it was the loss of hope and faith that was making her afraid.
    Somehow, Kane had given her back hope and faith, and now it was slipping through their fingers, torn apart by the magnitude of what he was feeling. A sudden chill rippled over her. The river. Something had to have happened to the river, and it was affecting Kane, tearing him apart.
    She knew then that they had to get out of there now. She didn't know what game Luc was playing, but he was winning. "Kane!" She grabbed his wrist. "Teleport us out of here. Take us out—"
    There was a sudden howl of victory that sent chills down Sarah's arms. She whirled around just as a Calydon's blade closed in on her face—
    "No!" Kane's flail slammed into it, knocking it aside. Sarah whirled toward him. His eyes were wild and strung out, and anguish was pouring off him, but his eyes were clear now. "You don't get to hurt her!" He bellowed, tearing past her as the forest erupted with Calydons attacking her. He tore through them with his weapons, fighting with unbelievable speed and force, beyond what any male should be able to summon. The others had no chance against him, and—
    "Sarah." A cold hand closed around her throat, and Luc yanked her over to him, his claws digging into her flesh, and cutting off her breath. His eyes were glittering with black rage, as she scrabbled at her neck, trying to pry his hands off. She couldn't call Kane's weapons, because it would leave him defenseless against the dozens of attackers.
    His eyes glittered. "Kill me, Sarah. Try."
    She realized then what he was trying to do. He was trying to destroy her. He was the one