Find Me in Darkness by Julie Kenner Read Free Book Online Page A

to jump all over whatever you suggest. But I am saying we should let you make your case.”
    As Raine spoke, some of the tightness in Mal’s chest loosened. The brotherhood wasn’t a democracy—what Liam and Mal agreed was law, and where they disagreed, Asher cast the deciding vote. Ash, however, was in transit back from London and not any help at the moment.
    But Liam respected Raine. And if nothing else, Mal appreciated his friend having his back.
    A moment passed, then another. Then Liam nodded. “All right,” he said, turning from Raine to Mal. “What’s your plan?”
    “Wait,” Callie said. “I’m sorry, but I have a few thousand years of catching up to do. What happened to her. Why is she dangerous? And why does killing her buy you decades or centuries?”
    Mal met Raine’s eyes. “I thought you told her.”
    “Only that you lost Christina. Only what you’ve had to do every time she comes back.”
    “I know what Raine told me. You were all part of an elite team that left your world—your dimension—on a mission to stop the fuerie.”
    Raine nodded. “You know how I explained that in our dimension, energy is sentient? You don’t need a body?”
    “I remember,” Callie said. “I still don’t fully understand how that works, but I remember. And you said that the fuerie was like a malevolent energy.”
    “That’s putting it mildly,” Liam said.
    “But you were chasing it,” Callie continued. “And you didn’t mean to come here—to this dimension or this planet—but there was a crash, and your group and the fuerie ended up here.”
    “Those are the high points, yes,” Mal said.
    Callie nodded slowly, as if gathering her thoughts. “And there was an Egyptian prince who had visions. He knew you were coming, and he sent a delegation to meet your group. He probably believed you were gods, who knows. But for whatever reason, they all willingly merged with you.”
    “With the members of the brotherhood, yes. Not with the fuerie. We merged at a genetic level. It’s what made us human. And our original state—pure energy—is what gives us immortality even as flesh.”
    “But that didn’t happen to Livia or Christina? There was a battle, and they never ended up doing the merging thing?”
    “Livia, yes,” Mal said. “And, sadly, a few others of our number. But not Christina. She did merge with a human female. I could touch her. Hold her.” Pain raked over him with the memory. “And then they took her.”
    “Why?”
    Mal tried to answer, but could only shake his head.
    “They would have taken anyone,” Liam said gently. “Christina and Jessica had gone out to tend to some wounded humans. They were ambushed. Jessica managed to escape, but they took Christina.”
    “We raided their camp that night,” Raine said. “But they had already used her.”
    “Used her?”
    “Not sexually. As a repository for the weapon. It was the weapon we were hunting even more than the fuerie itself.”
    “What is it?” she asked.
    “Nothing that’s yet been discovered in this world. Dark matter. Scalar energy. The scientists studying those are on the right path.”
    “And they made it part of her?”
    “Bound it with her essence,” Mal said, drawing a deep breath. “Her energy. Her soul.” He stood, not able to sit while he told this part. “We got her back after the raid, but it was too late. Energy has to be contained in this world—the fuerie had already possessed unwilling humans, and they needed a vessel for the weapon, and they used Christina. Their intent was to keep her restrained, alive but unconscious. And then to destroy her when they accessed the weapon.”
    “But you rescued her.”
    “It didn’t matter.” Liam stood and moved to Mal’s side. “She couldn’t contain it. The power, the intensity. It was too much of a shock to her system. She started to lose control.”
    “I didn’t know what else to do,” Mal said. “My own powers weren’t honed yet, and even if I had