Jaci Burton: The Darkest Touch

FOR MOM. I MISS YOU.

He was assigned to find and retrieve the black diamond. Find Angie and Isabelle.

He’d found Angie, so one step accomplished. But damn, he’d just stepped into a whole hell of a lot more.

Pandora’s box had just opened, and he had a feeling he and Angie had just climbed right inside of it.

And despite his anger, his determination to keep his emotional distance, here he sat, with his arms wrapped around Angelique.

And dammit, it felt right.

Not good. Not good at all.

He pushed away and stood, looking down at her. “You okay now?”

She nodded, swung her legs over the bed. “I’ll be fine.”

“Get dressed. Pack what you can in five minutes. We’re getting out of here now before the Sons of Darkness send in round two.”

He pivoted and walked away from her, needing the distance. He’d do his job. He’d protect her and he’d bring back the black diamond.

But that’s all he was going to do with Angelique. He wasn’t going to care about her.

To Shauna Summers and Jessica Sebor at Bantam Dell, for your invaluable editorial advice on this book. Your keen insights were a bright light in the darkness. Thank you.

To the copyediting, marketing, and art staff at Bantam Dell. It really does take a village to put a book together. Thank you for finding my mistakes and making my book sound and look beautiful. I so appreciate your hard work and dedication.

To my wonderful agent, Deidre Knight, my light and my sanity. Thank you for keeping my feet on the ground and answering all my dumb questions.

To the BB’s, who put up with me daily. What would I do without you? I love you guys.

And as always, to Charlie, who stands by me even when I’m not fun (usually at deadline time). Thank you for your love, your patience, and all the fast food.

Like the dark, damp cave Angelique Deveraux stood in, Bart’s hands were cold. Icy cold. And he held on to her with a death grip. Try as she might, she couldn’t pull away. She shivered and tried to jerk her arm free, but he held tight to her, rambling on and on about her being a catalyst to empower the black diamond. That she was the one they’d been searching for. He held her hand on the black diamond, that once lifeless rock that now glowed with an undulating mystical blue.

This was wrong. She’d been hired to unearth the black diamond. She’d unearthed it, all right. And a whole mess of trouble to go with it, including finding out that her boss, Bart, who she’d thought was the owner of Diavolo Diamonds, was in fact a demon. A demon!

Now she was held in this giant cave, surrounded by Bart’s minions-gruesome creatures from the bowels of hell-while Bart conducted a ceremony to bring the black diamond to life using her and Nic, another demon hunter, as catalysts.

Only it wasn’t working. As soon as Bart laid her hand on the diamond, the light within the rock extinguished. Bart frowned, looking at her as if she’d caused the light to die, cursing at her, mumbling that she wasn’t the one he thought she was.

What was he talking about? Who or what was “the one”?

Fear snaked its way through her nerve endings. The look Bart shot at her was lethal. Her legs began to shake as Bart’s grip tightened on her wrist.

“You’re hurting me,” she whimpered, trying again to break free of his superhuman hold.

Suddenly, Ryder was there, next to her, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Ryder and those of his group were demon hunters. Could they defeat Bart and these creatures? She hoped so.

Ryder placed his hand over hers, telling Bart he no longer needed Angelique. Ryder extricated her from Bart’s grasp, moving her from the altar and back with the demon hunters. Bart let her go. He let her go! Maybe he had no more use for her, his attention drawn back to the diamond, and to Nic, who remained on the altar.

Angelique took a moment to catch her breath, assess her surroundings. The cave was filled with demons, no way out. She couldn’t run.

As an archaeologist, she’d faced down ghosts of the past, worked alone in ruins, and uncovered skeletal remains, always feeling as if she were surrounded by the long-ago dead. It had never bothered her.

But witnessing a demon ritual, seeing creatures from hell, knowing they existed, that she’d somehow become a part of all of it, was more than she could handle. Her mind didn’t want to process what Bart had said to her.

“Something big and loud is about to happen,” Ryder whispered to her as Bart droned on, conducting some sort of demonic ceremony. “I want you to head out of here as soon as it does. This is your chance to escape.”

“How?”

Ryder inclined his head to the back of the room. “As soon as it happens, the demons will come after us and the exit will be clear. Head that way.”

She frowned, not liking the idea of leaving him. “What about you and the others?”

Ryder and the rest of his crew of demon hunters, known as the Realm of Light, had amassed in this cave to fight the Sons of Darkness. They were currently surrounded by demons-huge, monstrous creatures that would frighten even the most sturdy adult. The creatures towered over the humans. Some were massive, others fast and deadly with their dripping, toxic claws and teeth. She couldn’t imagine doing battle with those things.

“We’re here for the duration. We’ve got to fight them. You don’t have the training, and I can’t take them on and protect you at the same time, so I need you out of the way.”

He was right. She had no idea how to battle these creatures. But she didn’t want to leave. There were so many questions she didn’t have answers to yet.

Somehow Ryder sensed her reluctance, because his gaze narrowed. “I mean it, Angie.”

She inhaled, letting it out on a resigned sigh. Thoughts of protest hovered on her lips, but she bit them back. She was a hindrance and would get in the way. And she did really want to get out of this with her life. “Okay, I’ll run.”

“Good. Hang outside the cave entrance and wait for us.”

He started to turn away, but she held tight to his hand, forcing him to look at her.

“What?”

“Please be careful.” She wanted to see him again, to explain the reason she’d brought the black diamond to Bart. It wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t a treasure hunter, no matter what Ryder might think. She hadn’t had a choice. She hadn’t known what Bart was.

“I’ll be okay,” Ryder said. “We’ll talk when all this is over.”

She released his hand and began to drift toward the back of the cave. Just then, an explosion of lightning struck in the vicinity of the demon hunters. Growls mixed with shouts as the hunters engaged in battle with the demons. Smoke filled the room and the smell of melting demon assailed her nostrils.

Ick.

That was her cue. She ran like hell through the tunnels, her heart pounding, her steps unsure as she felt along the dark passageway. Afraid that someone or something would follow her, she tore ahead at a fast pace, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. She was certain some claw-handed creature was going to grab her by the throat any second. She made it halfway, her lungs burning, her legs feeling like rubber, until she couldn’t push any farther. She stopped to catch her breath. Her legs shook so much she was afraid she was going to slump to the ground. She was drenched in sweat, the result of fear and the rush of adrenaline from her flight to freedom.

When she could breathe normally again, when her blood no longer rushed like pounding waves in her ears, she heard it. Or rather, didn’t hear it.