Darkness Falls (DA 7) (43 page)

I took a deep breath and released it slowly. As usual, it didn’t do a whole lot to ease the tension in me. I held out a hand. “I guess you’d better give me the knife, then.”

He held it out, haft first. The minute my fingers touched it, the Dušan reacted, swirling down my fingers, then wrapping her entire body around the small blade. Stanford released it immediately and watched, expression closed, as the Dušan retreated to my flesh and once again became little more than a tattoo on my arm—only this time it was one that was entwined around an ancient-looking knife.

I guess
that
was one way to solve the problem of getting additional weaponry into whatever location Hunter
chose. I doubted she’d paid all that much attention to my tattoos, especially given that I now had a number of them thanks to the Dušan.

“I would suggest you ring Hunter as soon as you can,” Stanford said. “But you cannot do so from this place, in case she has the call traced. And if you wish to remain free, I would not return to your café, either, as she undoubtedly has the place watched.”

I nodded and glanced at Azriel. “What about Aunt Riley’s place? It’s well enough protected and not an obvious place for us to be.”

He nodded and held out his hand. As I placed mine in his, I glanced back at Stanford. “You had better hold up your end of the deal, or there will be hell to pay.”

He placed a hand on his heart. “I vow on the life of my creator, I will do all that I promised—and more if possible—to help you in this quest.”

I nodded. Three seconds later we were standing in the warm and spacious surrounds that was Aunt Riley’s living area. The phone I’d borrowed from Stane was once again in bits, thanks to the fact that I’d become Aedh without actually thinking about it, so I walked into Rhoan and Liander’s suite of rooms, knowing that the phone lines in there had permanent scramblers on them. It was amazing the things you could learn when you were a nosy kid gifted with the ability to become little more than matter. I’m sure I heard more than one state secret over the years, even if I couldn’t remember them.

I hit the Speaker button and started dialing Hunter’s number. But before I could finish, energy surged across my senses.

Something—or someone—was coming into the house.

Azriel and I swung as one, swords raised and spitting fire. Then I realized whose energy it was and lowered Amaya as I walked back into the living room.

But I didn’t relax.

If Uncle Quinn was coming back here, then something had to be wrong. He and Aunt Riley had promised to keep away, to keep safe, and they weren’t people who went back on their word.

They re-formed near the kitchen. Riley immediately swung around, her expression wild, dangerous, and fear filled.

My stomach clenched. There could be only one reason for a reaction as fierce as this from her. Rhoan.
Please, god, no . . .

But her very next words confirmed my fears.

“Have you heard from Hunter?”

I shook my head, afraid to speak in case my violently churning stomach took the opportunity to make its presence felt.

“Why?” Azriel’s hand cupped my elbow, as if ready to support me if my knees gave way.

“Because Rhoan’s disappeared. The bitch has
him.”

Chapter 15

I didn’t bother asking whether she was sure. She was his twin, and their connection was as strong as anything Azriel and I shared. I swore and rubbed my eyes wearily. I should have warned him. Should have called him the minute I’d thought about it. But I’d given other things priority, and now he was in Hunter’s hands.

“Is he . . . ?” I couldn’t get the rest of the sentence out. Couldn’t ask if he was still alive.

Although if he was dead, Riley wouldn’t be standing here spitting fire. She’d be tracking Hunter down, determined to kill her.

I had to stop that.
Had
to.

“He’s okay,” Riley and Azriel said together. Riley flashed him a narrowed look. “Can you tell me where he is? I have a general idea of location, but pinning it down is somewhat fuzzy. It’s as if there’s some sort of field around him that’s redirecting our connection.”

“Given we believe Hunter is capable of magic, that is more than possible.” My voice sounded hoarse, and I still wasn’t entirely sure my stomach was going to stay where it was supposed to. This was my fault. If anything happened to Rhoan . . .

“This is not your fault,” Quinn said softly. “You undoubtedly made the risks as clear to him as you did us. He chose to remain.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts, no guilt,” Riley said. “Just action. You need to contact Hunter.”

It
was
the next logical step. I spun on my heel, walked back to Rhoan’s room, and once again hit the Speaker button before dialing Hunter’s number.

She didn’t take all that long to answer. “Hunter,” she said, voice cool and ultrapolite. “How may I help you?”

“You can fucking tell me what you’ve done with Rhoan,” I replied, unable to help either the language or the edge of anger in my voice.

“Risa,” she murmured, voice deceptively mild. “I was just about to contact you.”

I wasn’t using a vid-phone and I couldn’t actually see her, but it didn’t matter. It was almost as if she’d reached down the phone lines, wrapped her fingers around my neck, and squeezed tight. It was all I could do to remain on the line, to
not
run.

“Forget the fake niceties,” I somehow managed to spit, “and just answer the damn question.”

“The damn question,” she said, tone still as polite as before despite the menace that continued to wash over me, “will be answered in my own good time. Meanwhile, you might want to explain your attempt at murdering my Cazador.”

“If I’d wanted her dead, she would be,” I said. “Where’s Rhoan?”

“He’s tucked away somewhere nice and safe. Consider him a bond against your good behavior.”

“Such a bond will only work if he’s alive,” I said. “What guarantee do I have that he is? Or, if he is, that he’ll remain that way?”

“You have my word—”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not inclined to trust the word of a woman who would murder her own brother.”

I felt Riley start and glanced at her. Her face had lost much of its color.
Jack’s dead?
she mouthed.

“We believe so,” Azriel murmured. “I cannot find the resonance of his soul, and death is the most logical reason for that.”

“Oh dear
god
,” she whispered.

I knew she was thinking—as I’d been thinking—that someone who would kill her only living relative wouldn’t blink twice when it came to killing one of the best guardians the Directorate had ever produced. Rhoan would be just one more bloody blot on her road to ultimate control.

“Jack,” Hunter said, voice even quieter and all the more frightening because of it, “was foolish enough to go up against me—”

“No,” I cut in. “He merely intended to warn you against using the Directorate in your mad scheme to rule the world.”

“You were not there, so do
not
tell me what was said and done between us.” There was something in her voice that went beyond mere viciousness, something that was almost otherworldly, and it had me wondering uneasily if her connection with her god had just come online. “He was warned, long ago, never to go up against me because it would go ill against him. He ignored that warning.”

“Because he cared about the organization you started and he helped run.”

“I was his sister. His
older
sister. He owned me homage and obedience.”

It was a statement that showed just how far she’d stepped away from the sanity barrier. “He owed you nothing—not if you were about to destroy everything you and he had spent centuries building.”

She snorted. “As creator, it was mine to do with what I wished. He knew that, just as he knew the consequences of going against me.”

There was nothing I could say to that. Nothing that was going to get through to her. Jack’s death was a great
loss to the Directorate, but many more good men and women would lose their lives—both within the Directorate and without—if Hunter wasn’t stopped.

“But we digress,” she continued. “I gather, given your attack on Janice Myer, that you have found the key, and right on time, too.”

“Yes.”

“Then why the attack on Myer?”

I snorted. “Because I didn’t believe you’d actually let me retrieve it without attempting to snatch it from under my grasp. I had no intentions of losing control of another key.”

“And yet you
will
lose control of it; otherwise, Rhoan Jenson will die.”

I clenched my fingers but otherwise didn’t respond to the threat. “When and where do you want to meet?”

“You may bring it to me here, at my office.”

Her
office
? At the Directorate? My gaze shot to Azriel’s. That was the one location neither of us had expected—and the one place where she certainly had the odds on her side.

“What, no smart reply? Have I finally rendered you speechless?” Hunter paused, and a stronger hint of amusement crept into her voice as she added, “What about you, dear Riley? I’m gathering you’re there, fuming away in the background?”

“That I am,” Riley growled, “and you had better not hurt my brother—”

“My dear
former
guardian,” Hunter said, a patronizing edge in her voice, “I am more than aware of your capabilities thanks to your years under my employ, but you have no idea about mine. Please control your temper, or I might just end your brother’s life for the fun of it.”

The anger that exploded from Riley was so fierce that it knocked me back a step or two. And yet, somehow, she controlled it.

“Do
not
hurt my brother,” she said softly, and for the first time in a long time, I saw the guardian in her. It was every bit as scary as the change that happened in Rhoan. “As my former boss, you also know that I keep my promises. And if Rhoan dies, then there is nothing—in this world or the next—that will stop my vengeance.”

“Oh, I believe a threat or two to your children might just do that,” Hunter drawled. “Do not play this game, Riley. You have far more to lose than me.”

Riley opened her mouth to reply, but I held up a hand, stopping her. “Let’s stop the threats and concentrate on what actually matters right now.”

“Good idea,” Hunter said. “I want the key.
Now.
”

“No. Not until I know Rhoan is safe.”

She snorted. “I’m hardly likely to release Jenson before I get the key.”

“And I’m hardly likely to give you the key, given you then have no reason to release Rhoan. Sorry, but I trust you as little as you appear to trust me.”

I could almost see her smile. It wasn’t a particularly nice smile. “Undoubtedly true. The only difference is, I’m willing to destroy not only Rhoan Jenson, but everyone and everything else you might hold dear until I get what I want. You, I’m afraid, cannot say the same.”

No, I couldn’t. But I’d be more than happy to destroy
her
. Only trouble was, that wasn’t going to be easy, either. If the bitch was inviting me to her place, then it could only mean it was protected against all comers—human, nonhuman, and possibly even those not from this world.

“What about a compromise?”

“Not a word I’m all that familiar with, but I’m willing to listen.”

Eat this one,
Amaya muttered.
Enjoy will.

Eat her slow,
I growled back.
I want it painful.

Slow good,
she replied.
Slow fun.

“I’ll come to your damn office,” I said, batting away
delicious visions of Amaya slowly devouring Hunter. “And you’ll tell me where Rhoan is. Once he is safe, I hand over the key.”

“Just like that?” Hunter drawled. “Somehow, I very much doubt it.”

“Oh, you can have the damn thing,” I said. “But it won’t be of any use to you. You can’t get onto the gray fields, and the temple guardians will certainly never allow you to pass through their grounds, let alone access the gates. So yeah, have the key, for all the fucking good it will do you.”

Her amusement seemed to swim around me, thick and savage. “Oh, how little you understand me. Did not the sorceress you defeated only very recently make a perfectly usable gateway? I am more than willing to wait the length of time it takes for my people to figure out its complexities. As for the key—the mere threat of it is, for now, enough.”

“Then you have nothing to lose by agreeing to my terms.”

She didn’t immediately answer, but I had no doubt she was using the time to mentally order more of her people into the protection of her office. She wasn’t the type to take chances.

But the numbers didn’t matter. Getting into her office—the one place she obviously felt safe—did. Every instinct I had was now telling me it was the only way I was ever going to get close enough to use the knife Stanford had given me.

“Fine,” she murmured. “We shall do it your way, for the moment. I expect to see you in five minutes, or I will ensure there aren’t enough pieces of Rhoan Jenson left for his loving sister to bury.”

There was a long, deep growl from behind me. Hunter laughed and hung up. I hit the End button and glanced at Riley. She was clenching and unclenching her hands,
but very little of that emotion showed in her face. How she was remaining so controlled, I had no idea.

“I will kill that bitch once Rhoan is free—”

“No,” I snapped, “that’s
my
job.
Your
job is to get your brother out from whatever trap Hunter has laid around him, then get safe.”

Her gray eyes became little more than icy slits. “I will not—”

“Riley, enough.” Quinn gently squeezed her arm as he glanced at me. “You cannot do this alone. I have known Hunter for a very long time, and for all the knowledge you have gained over the past few months, for all the strength, skill, and heart Azriel has, neither of you will defeat her.”

“When she is connected to her god, that is undoubtedly true.” My brief smile was grim. “We know what we’re doing. We know what we face. You
have
to trust us. You have to let us go; you have to let us do the task the fates have given us, without interference of any kind.”