Forgotten in Darkness by Zoe Forward Read Free Book Online

turn Dakar’s way again. He busied himself with cleaning his blade.
    Dakar threw the scimitar back to Nate and commented, “Thank you for allowing me to borrow your blade. But it needs work. She’s unbalanced. Uneven at the blade end.”
    Nate caught the blade and tested it. “I’ll be damned. You think that’s why it’s so hard to skewer the bastards?”
    That would be your inexperience, Dakar thought as he headed toward the exit.
    Outside the church, Ashor glanced around as if baffled. “Where the bloody blazes is the car?”
    Ethan chuckled and shook his head. “Goddamned Colombia. Car was probably jacked. Remember the last time we came here? Those three idiots tried to jack the plane with us on it. Knuckleheads.” He laughed.
    “We need to get you some help, Ethan,” said Ashor quietly. He closed his eyes and reopened them a few seconds later. “Kira says they’ll be by in twenty or so. Think you can hold on?”
    “Must be convenient to be able to talk telepathically to her. Like a permanent cell phone,” Nate mumbled.
    Ethan gazed with open curiosity at Dakar. He wiped the blood off his hand. “Thanks for the tourni. Name’s Ethan.”
    “Dakar,” he replied as he firmly clasped the hand in return.
    Ethan frowned down at their clasped hands.
    Dakar looked at Ethan expectantly. “Remember?”
    “Remember what? Have we met before?”
    Dakar sat heavily on the steps of the church. “Yes.”
    ****
    Dakar shifted the festering wound on his back as far away from the SUV’s door handle as possible. But failed. The car hit a pothole, ramming his back further into the protruding section on the door and jamming his broken rib. He hissed a curse and tried to shift again, but stopped when he detected Ethan wince beside him. If they’d been normal-sized men, the three of them packed into the back seat of this SUV wouldn’t have been so tight.
    He covertly prodded his ribcage where he’d been whacked. One broken rib and several bruised. Skin already healing. He’d experienced far worse.
    From the driver’s seat, Christian said, “Eth, you look a bit green. Need me to pull over? You know I can’t handle that smell.”
    “You’re such a wuss,” Ethan grumbled.
    Ashor cradled Kira on his lap in the front seat. He said quietly, “All I asked was that you wait a few hours. Then, I’d have gone with you. What did he do to you? Did he touch you?”
    “Look at the mess of your face,” Kira crooned as she palpated around the gash on his cheek.
    Her lips curved into a sultry smile. She kissed Ashor. Within seconds, the gash simply dissolved to normal tissue. Ashor gasped in obvious ecstasy and embraced her close through the entire episode.
    As she pulled away she giggled. “Oh, cool. A new little tattoo right on your cheek. I do so love to leave my mark. Makes you look so raw.”
    A new round of burning hit when the car drove through another rough patch. Dakar asked, “What did you discover, Kira?”
    Kira’s eyes slid to meet Christian’s gaze. She shot Dakar a mysterious smile, but didn’t answer. Instead she asked, “So who else got hurt? Ethan?”
    Ethan nodded at her and pulled his bloodied hand away from his ribs.
    “Crap, Ethan. Maybe you need to practice harder or something. What’s up with you? This is like the third ass-kicking in the past two months.” Softly she added, “I’m worried. One time I won’t be able to get to you in time. I tried to ask the amulet for guidance in helping you find whatever extra power you’re supposed to have, but it wasn’t helpful. Obviously, seichim isn’t enough on its own.”
    Ethan shrugged.
    What? On a bad day the guy could take out two daemons at once with both hands tied behind his back while drunk. He’d seen it. The guy might be downright insane in the ways he chose to fight daemons, but Khyan and deadly were synonymous words.
    Ashor demanded, “Answer the question, Kira. Did the new guy touch you?”
    “Not now. I’ve got work to do.”