Darkness Awakened (Primal Heat Trilogy #1) (Order of the Blade) by Stephanie Rowe Page A

sister? Demon?”
    Her cheeks flushed. “No, she has a gentle spirit. She doesn’t have any offensive powers.”
    “Then she couldn’t have killed him.” Quinn frowned as he read a quote from the local sheriff, that all evidence pointed to it being another murder by a local woman, Ana Matthews, who had supposedly been roaming around the Pacific Northwest killing other men. He recognized two of the names as other Calydons.
    His instincts began to burn as he read the rest of the story. Dead Calydons turning up around the city? He hadn’t heard anything about it, and the newspaper claimed the honor of being the one to break the story. “Son of a bitch,” he muttered. How had the Order not known what had been going on? And what about the ones the press didn’t know about? Like the trainees?
    Hell .
    He read quickly. Ten minutes after the first police officers had arrived, while they were standing around assessing the crime scene, the body had vanished. They’d turned around and it was simply gone. Everyone had assumed it had disappeared as Calydon bodies did at death.
    Grim reality began to set in. If Elijah had been killed, that was exactly what would have happened with his body. He was so old that two hours was about as long as he would have lasted before disintegrating into the earth.
    “Damn.” He threw the newspaper aside. “He’s not dead. I would know it.” If Elijah was dead, then Quinn had failed him. Failed. It couldn’t be over. He couldn’t have screwed up like that.
    “Ana is my sister’s name. Anastasia Matthews.” Grace hadn’t moved from her spot in the middle of the room. Her hands were still in her pockets and she was watching him, her brows furrowed in concentration, but that soft look of empathy was still on her face.
    He was relieved she hadn’t moved closer, and frustrated at the same time. He wanted to grab her, haul her over him, and release his frustrations about Elijah into her, to own her, body, soul, mind and—
    Shit. He couldn’t even concentrate with her around. “Grace. Your sister couldn’t have killed Elijah. No one could kill him except for an Order member. He’s too good. Elijah is my problem, not yours, and I need to—”
    “Ana disappeared six weeks ago,” she interrupted, “and this is the fifth death the police are blaming on her. There’s a bounty out on her, double if she’s brought in dead.” Grace moved over to the bed and wrapped her hand tightly around the post on the footboard, as if it were the only thing holding her up. “On the news report of Elijah’s death, I saw things she’d left behind, things that are only hers, so I know she was there when he died.” Her voice cracked slightly and she looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep her composure.
    But it was a lie. She was terrified, vulnerable and alone, and she had to be desperate, since she’d dared come to him for help. Quinn gritted his teeth against the need to comfort her. He didn’t have time for this. He couldn’t have time for this.
    Grace looked at him again, her silver eyes aching with pain. “I know she wouldn’t kill anyone. Someone is forcing her to do this, or using her powers to aid a murderer. If you find my sister, you’ll find the person responsible for your friend’s death. It wasn’t her. Someone else is involved.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her certainty about her sister. “What exactly is your sister’s power?”
    Grace’s cheeks turned red. “Um—”
    What did she not want him to know? “Grace?”
    She finally met his gaze. “She brings peace and harmony to everyone around her.”
    “Peace and harmony?” he echoed. How in the hell would that be useful in taking down immortal warriors? “What is she? A freaking angel who happens to carry around a machete?”
    Grace shook her head. “She’s very powerful,” she said evasively.
    “Very powerful,” he repeated. “That’s all you’re going to tell me?” The woman was holding out on him. He knew it