Chapter Twenty-Three

B en’s gaze shifted to Derek, then to Gina.

Derek could swear he saw a flicker of fear in his father’s eyes.

“You afraid of me?” Derek asked. “Need your minions here to shelter you while you make your escape? I thought you were the great and powerful demon Lord, yet you were trying to sneak away. You’re nothing but a pussy.”

“I don’t need to run away. I could kill you right now.”

Derek shrugged. “Then do it. Show me.”

Ben shook his head. “Such a waste. You could have been so valuable to the Sons of Darkness. You and Gina both. The children you could have created together would have been so powerful, would have sat at the right hand of the great ones.”

“Uh-huh. Still waiting for you to do the killing thing.”

“Can we just shoot him now?” Gina asked.

Derek smiled. God, he loved her.

Around them, the battle continued, but Derek felt the shift of power. The stench of toasted carcass was strong in the room as one demon after another went down. His hunters had gained the advantage.

Ben’s eyes began to change, becoming darker, his body thickening. Malevolence spread out as the force of his evil blanketed them.

Derek looked to Gina and nodded. Without even blinking, she fired her laser at Ben’s chest. His eyes widened and he flinched, but his transformation continued. Derek fired, too, and kept at it, pounding Ben’s flesh with wave after wave of UV light, enough blasts to take down ten demons.

But Ben was no average demon, and Derek knew he wasn’t going to go down easy. His human skin began to bubble and melt, but still the evil advanced on them.

Derek and Gina backed up.

Gina kept pumping pulse after pulse into Ben, but it seemed not to faze him. She took a quick glance at Derek, his expression determined as he rapid-fired the trigger of his rifle.

This wasn’t working. She slung her laser over her shoulder and grabbed for the microwave, hoping that cooking him would have an effect. She blasted him with waves and he halted, looking at her.

God, he was gruesome, half his flesh melted. Still, an evil light glowed in his eyes, and he was laughing at them.

Laughing! The bastard, as if he knew their weapons would have no effect.

Yet the microwave was starting to work. Not as much as it did on the other demons, but his skin, what little there was left, began to bubble, his muscles expanding and contracting as if they were breathing. Ben frowned.

“You cannot kill me. I am a Lord of the Sons of Darkness,” he said, his voice echoing deeply throughout the chamber.

Uh-huh. Everything could die. Maybe if she shot him up with enough of this stuff, he’d explode.

She pulled her guns and pumped him full of sonic bullets. His body flew backward with each shot, and yet he recovered, this time heading directly toward her.

She wasn’t afraid of him. But Derek pushed her out of the way, stepping in front of her and emitting a low growl at Ben. She moved to Derek’s side, intent on continuing to fire at Ben until she had nothing left to shoot him with. Her gaze shot to Derek’s, and she gasped at the look on his face.

Just like that, Derek had transformed into a demon, his eyes glowing in the darkness, claws extending from his fingertips, his mouth filled with hideous fangs as he faced his father.

She shuddered and stepped away as Derek launched at Ben, the two of them flying out of the smaller room and into the one they’d occupied earlier. Furniture went crashing around them as they fell to the floor, righted themselves, and dove at each other again.

Derek dug his hands into Ben’s body, tearing away the flesh that had been melted by the weapons. But Ben was regenerating, muscle reappearing as quickly as it disappeared.

Gina swallowed past the revulsion. They weren’t going to be able to kill him. The bullets were tearing him apart, bubbling and baking him from the inside out, and still he was fighting off their effects.

“You can join me, Derek. We will rule the world.”

“You can rule in Hell for all I care,” Derek growled, then reached into Ben’s chest, grasping his ribs and crushing the bones to dust. “I won’t let you hurt another person I care about.”

Ben grunted, then laughed, shoving Derek away. The bones reappeared and the wound closed up, flesh rematerializing where moments ago Gina had been able to see clear through him.

He might be regenerating, but he was tiring, his breath sawing in and out, his chest heaving with the force of his efforts.

“If you kill me, it will end nothing. The Sons of Darkness will go on,” Ben said.

“But you’ll be dead!” Derek rushed his father, pushing him back against the wall of the room with a grunt of effort. The ancient swords on the wall crashed down around them, clattering to the floor. Gina stared at them, remembering the movie scene she’d shot just before she left to come to the island. The sword scene.

She holstered her guns and slung her rifles over her shoulders, sidestepping the two men grappling against the wall. Picking up the broadsword, she held it over her shoulder and positioned herself behind Ben.

Derek made eye contact with her and nodded, grasping Ben’s throat with both hands and squeezing hard. Ben reciprocated by doing the same to Derek.

Dammit, that wasn’t going to do at all, considering what she had in mind, but she couldn’t very well tell Derek to remove his hands from his father’s throat without giving herself away. Right now Ben’s attention was on Derek, since he no doubt didn’t see Gina as any kind of threat. She stayed in position behind Ben, moving when he did. The noises the two of them made were so loud she doubted he even heard her.

But then Derek let go of Ben’s throat, positioning his arms underneath his father’s and trying to pry Ben’s fingers from his neck.

But Derek was still too close, and Gina wouldn’t take the chance on hurting Derek, too.

“Do it!” Derek croaked.

“You want me to kill you?” Ben asked. “Is this how you want to die? By my hand?”

Gina knew Derek wasn’t talking to his father, but to her. But Ben didn’t know that. She raised the sword over her head, sweat pouring down her arms, her face, fear causing her limbs to shake.

“Just do it, goddammit!” Derek choked out, struggling against the tightening hold of Ben’s grasp around his throat. “Now!”

Ben shook his head, squeezing tighter. Derek’s face lost the look of a demon and now turned a dark, mottled purple. He didn’t have long. With all her strength, Gina swung the sword in a careful arc, realizing at the second it touched Ben’s neck that this was no movie.

The sword sliced clean through the bone and muscle holding Ben’s head to his neck. For a split second, nothing happened. Then Ben dropped his hands from Derek’s neck. Derek coughed and fell to his knees. Ben turned around slowly, his eyes narrowed.

He said nothing, just tilted his head as if he were pondering who stood behind him and had the audacity to come at him with a sword. Gina watched in horror as the head slid from his shoulders onto the ground, followed by the rest of him a few seconds later.

Nothing happened. Gina waited for his head to pop back onto his shoulders and regenerate, just like the rest of his body had before.

It didn’t.

A howling roar sailed throughout the room as a swirling black cloud rose from Ben’s body. The floor rumbled underneath her like an earthquake, shaking the contents of the room. Fixtures rattled as the invisible moan whistled, grew in intensity, then dissipated. Ben’s head and body burned in an acrid cloud of ash and disappeared.

“Holy shit,” she whispered. He was gone. Really gone. Dead. She glanced at Derek, who shook his head at her and shrugged, obviously just as shocked as she was.

She looked down at the sword she still held in a tight grip and lifted it up over her head, resisting the urge to roar in triumph.

A sudden peace settled over her, as if an evil had been lifted. She sucked in a breath of clean air, then exhaled. Dropping the sword, she ran over to Derek.

“Are you all right?”

He coughed and nodded. “Fine,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Just fucking fine.”

The rest of the hunters dashed into the room.

“Demons are done for,” Dalton said, then looked around. “Where is he?”

“Dead,” Gina said, keeping her gaze focused on Derek.

Derek stood, and Lou approached.

“You see that?” Derek asked.

Lou nodded. “You did well. Both of you.”

Gina looked to the dark spot on the floor where Ben used to be. “All the technology we use on these things. One ancient broadsword and a beheading did the trick.” She looked back to Lou for an answer.

“They’re my swords,” Lou answered, picking up the sword that Gina had used to kill Ben. He grabbed a cloth from his pack and wiped Ben’s blood from the blade.

“Yours?” Derek looked as surprised as Gina.

Lou nodded. “Actually, they were passed down from those who started the Realm of Light. Ben took them from my home the night he killed my family. I suppose he kept them as trophies.” Lou glanced to the dark spot on the floor. “He never realized their power. To him, they were just keepsakes from his kill. To the Realm of Light, they are the embodiment of the power of the light.”

“They’re blessed in some way, aren’t they?” Gina asked.

Lou allowed the hint of a smile. “You could say that.” His eyes danced with a light of their own. “We didn’t always have high-tech weapons.”

Lou moved to the other swords, gathered them up, and folded them in his arms. “Now they’re going home again.”

After he moved away, Gina turned to Derek. He stared at the spot on the floor where his father had fallen.

“Derek.”

He didn’t answer her.

“Derek, are you all right?”

He finally looked her way and blinked. “I’m fine. You okay?”

“I’m more than okay.” Breathing a sigh of relief, she started to reach out for him, but he turned away and headed toward the others. She dropped her chin to her chest and sighed, feeling strangely empty rather than victorious.

Something was still bothering Derek. Was it because she’d just killed his father?

No, that couldn’t be it. He’d wanted Ben dead. So what was it? She had to find out.

She caught up with Derek and Lou as they were addressing the others.

“I think we’re done here,” Derek said. “We’ll track the tunnels to their end, or see if they even have an end. We can set explosives, wire them to the remote, and blow them closed.”

“I’ll do a little investigating and see what I can learn about Ben’s operation down here,” Lou said. “I find it fascinating he had such an elaborate setup. Not at all what I expected.”

Derek nodded and Lou walked away, the others following him.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked him.

Derek sighed. “I said I’m fine, Gina. Just need to get things wrapped up. Why don’t you go help Lou? Need to get all of you topside.”

“Okay.” She started to turn away, then what he said sank in. She turned back to him. “Wait a minute. All of us?”

“Just go do what needs to be done.”

“You’re coming with us when we head back up, right?”

“I’ve got to blow this place. The portal, this cave, the entire tunnel.”

He wasn’t answering her question. And she didn’t like the distant look in his eyes, as if he was already closing himself off from her. “What are you thinking? Tell me.”

“You all need to get everything set, then get out. I’m going to set the charges down here and make sure they go off.”

“Make sure they…You’re planning to stay here while the explosion occurs, aren’t you?”

When he didn’t answer, her heart sank. He intended to die along with the demons because he thought himself one of them.

“Derek, don’t do this.”

When he looked at her, his gaze was cold. “You saw the change that went through me, Gina. You know what I am now. I could barely control it. I can’t let what’s inside me loose up there,” he said, lifting his eyes to the ceiling. “I have to die with them.”

A knifelike pain stabbed through her. Nausea rolled and pitched in her stomach and she placed her palm there, forcing a calm she didn’t feel. “No. I won’t let you do this.”

“Babe, I have to. And you need to let me. You know what I’ve become.”

“I don’t need to let you. I’m not going to let you. This can’t happen.”

He brushed his fingers along her cheek, the sadness in his eyes tearing her apart. “There’s no other choice. I won’t run the risk of turning into a demon and hurting other people, especially you.”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, forcing back the tears. How could he ask this of her? How could she leave him, knowing he was going to die? She refused to let him go. She was not going to lose another person she loved. He asked the impossible. “I can’t.”

He came to her then, pulling her into his arms and dragging his lips over hers, deepening the kiss until she couldn’t hold back the tears. She grabbed onto his shirt, slipping her hands inside to touch the warmth of his skin. She’d opened her heart, finally allowed someone in. Would fate be so cruel to do this to her again? To rip away someone she loved?

She’d never survive it.

The kiss ended way too fast. Derek pulled away. Walked away, actually, turning his back on her.

“There’s got to be another alternative,” she whispered.

“There’s no way to change what I am. Don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

Her mind, her heart, refused to accept this. But did either of them have a choice? She didn’t want to lose him, didn’t even want to think about him dying down here. But what if Derek was right? What if he did turn into one of those things and couldn’t control it? God, he was right. He didn’t want to die, either, and her whining about it wasn’t going to make it easier on him. Emptiness surrounded her, yet she went through the motions. They didn’t have much time.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Help the others search the rooms down here, then hightail that sweet ass of yours to the surface with the rest of them.”

Casting him a lingering look of regret, she nodded and headed down the hallway. There was only one door at the end of the hall she was assigned to. Carefully pushing the door open with the butt of her gun, she was surprised to find some kind of mainframe computer and communication device. A fax machine whirred, spewing out a printed message, the entire room working like a normal business office. She half expected to see a bespectacled secretary or receptionist appear to ask if she needed assistance. The entire setup down here was just too odd.

Maybe Ben had some kind of alter ego on the surface. Mild-mannered businessman by day, vicious demon by night. Or something along those lines. Who knew? She re fused to discount anything anymore, casting aside forever the words “impossible” and “unbelievable” from her vocabulary. Curious, she paused and waited for the message to finish printing, unable to resist taking a peek.

She pulled the paper from the tray and her stomach dropped to her feet. Dear God! Her hands shook and hope filled her as she pocketed the message, then set the charge and wire, anxious to hurry back to Derek.

He couldn’t die now. He wouldn’t want to. Not after he read what was on this page.

The message changed everything! She grinned and finished up the wiring, her pulse racing.

Derek twisted the wires together and waited at the entrance to the passageway back to the surface. Everyone else had gone up except Gina. He was counting on her to deliver the message to Lou. Once he sent her up, he’d cause a cave-in. They wouldn’t have time to dig him out. Lou would save the others, knowing Derek would put a timer on the device.

Lou would have to take the launch and get to the ship in order to preserve the lives of the other hunters before the whole island went up.

It would be perfect. One button push of the remote, kaboom, end of demons.

End of him.

End of him and Gina.

Dammit. His insides churned. He missed her already, didn’t want to let her go.

But he had to. He had to do this! His own wants didn’t matter.

“Derek!” Gina whipped around the corner and threw her arms around him.

Shit, she was really making this a lot harder. “Gina, don’t.”

“You don’t understand!” She pulled a piece of crumpled paper out of her pocket and shook it in front of his face. “Look at this!”

He opened the paper and scanned what looked like a fax. His blood heated as he read the words on the page.

Ben: Nic has returned to Sydney. Thought you’d want to know your son finally made his way home. Will see you at the house as planned.

“Where did you get this?”

“In the room with all the office machines.”

There was no name on the fax, no indication where it came from, and no originating fax number printed on the paper. But it was addressed to Ben. And though he read the words, it didn’t seem real. Could this really be Nic? It had to be! His brother Dominic…Nic was alive. After all these years, what he’d hoped for was true. His mind swirled with the possibilities.

Ben had been so cryptic, but this was living proof that Nic was still around. In Australia. At some kind of house, which meant aboveground? It had to be.

“That’s your brother, right?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his finger over his forehead and read the words again. They’d been so close when they were kids.

“You have to find him, Derek.”

Derek tore his gaze away from the paper and stared at Gina, his mind a jumbled mess of contradicting thoughts. He had to blow these tunnels, had to eliminate the demons and himself in the process. But what about Nic? Could he die knowing his brother was still out there somewhere?

And in what condition? Was Nic human or demon? There was so much they still didn’t know.

Goddamn, he needed answers.

“You can’t die,” Gina urged. “You have to find him. You have to go to Sydney.”

“Nic’s a demon.” He had to be. No way could Nic have lived with Ben, with the rest of the demons all these years, and not be. That’s why Ben had taken him. That’s what his father had wanted, to turn both his sons and make them like him.

Gina squeezed his arm and shook her head. “But what if he’s not? What if Nic never knew about his demon side, or managed to fight it off like you have?”

“You’re grasping at straws, Gina.” It pained him even to think about it. For all these years it had been so much easier to imagine the demons had killed his little brother, not that he had become one of them. “You and Lou and the rest of the hunters can find him and take care of him. I can’t risk it.”

But just saying the words hurt inside. Just to see Nic again brought him hope. And what if Gina was right? What if Nic had found a way? What if Nic wasn’t a demon? What if he didn’t even know about the Sons of Darkness? He hadn’t been down here with Ben. He hadn’t been part of all…this.

“You don’t know that for certain, Derek. If Dominic is anything like you, he’s tough and a fighter. What if he’s resisted? What if there’s hope for you, too? I won’t let you give up yet.”

He looked down at her and his heart squeezed. God, he wanted to believe. “And what if Nic is just like my father?”

“And what if he’s not?” she argued, desperation hardening her voice. “You don’t know, do you? Isn’t it worth staying alive to find out?”

He swept the back of his hand along the softness of her cheek. Her hope was like a beacon, and for the first time since Ben told him what he was, Derek allowed himself to feel a small drop of that optimism. Yes, there was darkness within him, but he’d lived all his life with demon blood running through him and somehow managed to fight its effects. Surely he could hang on long enough to find Nic and figure out whether he, too, had kept it at bay, or whether he’d accepted the Sons of Darkness.

Could he kill his brother? He’d have to if Nic had embraced the evil inside him. And then he’d take care of himself, too.

But in the meantime, Gina was right. Now wasn’t the time.

“Let’s go.” He took Gina’s arm.

“You’re going with me, right?” she asked as they moved through the passageway.

He looked at her, at the light that seemed to glow from within her. She was his hope, his goodness. Her love would give him strength to fight the darkness. He paused for a second and realized what he’d just thought. God help him, he’d almost become poetic. Christ, that would have to stop.

He allowed his lips to quirk in a half smile. “Yeah, baby, I’m going with you.”

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