Primal Heat 05 - Darkness Reborn

the road were dozens of dying Calydons, she had destroyed. Her chest ached, and her heart felt like daggers were digging their way through it. She'd killed them all. Every last one.
    They'd kept coming, one by one by one, goading her into attacking them to stay alive, forcing her to take one step closer to the death of her body and her spirit. Fever burned, her head ached, her vision was blurry, her mind numb with the horror of what she'd done.
    There was one more assailant left. The one who was there to bring her down. The one who had been waiting to make his move until she was so worn down that she would have no more defenses.
    "Go away," she whispered, her throat so raw from screaming that she could barely make a sound. "Please don't do this, Jacob."
    But there he came, prowling around the end of her SUV, her blood dripping from his claws. Her younger brother's blue eyes were glowing blood red, bottomless pits of torment and violence. His tee shirt was spotted with her blood, his jeans torn. On his arms were the violent black brands in the shape of a sickle, too thick and too dark for a Calydon who'd come into his powers only two days ago. He was so much more than he should have been.
    Dammit! How could he have succumbed the way the others had? This was her brother . Around his neck glittered the talisman she'd given him when he was sixteen, hoping it would be enough to keep the monster at bay. There it hung at his throat, taunting her for thinking she could save him, that somehow, this time, love would be enough to protect a male from the curse. "Come on, Jacob! Be stronger than this!"
    He growled, an unearthly, inhuman sound that brought back nightmares of the night Mason had attacked. She scrambled backward, instinctively reaching for the baby that was no longer there, the one she hadn't been able to protect. Her hands closed over air, and for a second, she panicked, then reality came crashing back on her. There was no baby this time. It was just her, and her brother. “Jacob! Dammit! Don’t do this!”
    Something flickered in those red eyes, a flash of blue, and she realized he still had a chance. He wasn’t lost entirely. “Jacob! Don’t let this consume you! You’re stronger than this—”
    He stopped his approach and stared at her, his body coiled to attack.
    She froze, afraid to trigger him. “Jacob,” she urged. “It’s me. Your sister. You love me.”
    Silence hung between them, and her heart began to pound with hope. Would he come back? Would he—
    He attacked, launching himself at her.
    She screamed, but she had no chance to get away before his claws sank into her stomach. Sarah gasped as pain rushed through her, and she saw the promise of death in his eyes. She knew she had no choice. Once again, she had no choice. “Damn all of you!”
    He lunged for her heart, and she unleashed the white light buried within her. Her skin radiated out into the night with such intensity that the entire forest glowed.
    Jacob screamed and stumbled off her, covering his eyes as his skin began to blister.
    Sarah gasped as the backlash of her powers hit her. Pain knifed through her, and she clutched her stomach, gasping at the agony slicing through her. She fought to cut off her powers and end her attack before she could kill him, shoving aside the intense heat radiating from her, yanking it back into her and away from her brother.
    Jacob was sprawled a few yards away, writhing as the light burned him. Sarah trembled, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at the man she loved so dearly, dying in front of her. She pressed her palm against the wound in her belly as the shakes and nausea overwhelmed her. Hollowness began to fill her, a bottomless abyss of nothingness. Death. It was coming for her, ready to decimate the final shreds of her soul.
    No! She couldn't succumb. She had to find faith again. There had to be something worth living for, something good inside her. Desperate, she searched her heart for something to believe in, but there was nothing there. Just the betrayal of her brother, the loss of so many she loved, the truth of so many lives she'd taken. There was nothing left to hold onto, nothing to pull herself out of the pit that was consuming her.
    Jacob's eyes met hers, and she saw in them too much life. Horror welled through her as she realized that in her attempt to avoid killing him, she’d cut off her attack too soon. He wasn’t debilitated enough. He was going to attack