The Dark-Hunters (352 page)

Sighing, she flipped through the folder to see a contract and a list of phone numbers for different kinds of services. She closed it and pinned Leo with a frigid glare. “You make it all sound so rosy, but one thing I’ve learned: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So what’s the catch?”

“There isn’t a catch, promise.” Leo made a cross over his heart. “You can go about your life any way you please. You’ll just be privy to a lot of things that the average person is clueless about.”

“The drawback is you’ll have a lot more days like today,” Jessica said in an emotionless voice. “As a Squire, the Daimons will be drawn to you and they will come after you from time to time.”

“But we’ll train you,” Leo added. “You won’t be left alone to fight them.”

Oh, joy! Who in their right mind would ever turn
this
down? It was all she could do not to laugh at their offer. “Is that it?”

Otto gave her a dry grimace. “Isn’t it enough?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a humorless laugh, “it’s enough and then some.” Susan grew quiet as she considered everything Leo had just dumped into her lap. But in the end, she knew what they did …

She had no choice.

Her heart heavy, she looked over at Otto. “Looks like I’m going to ruin your day, Big Boy. I choose to live my crappy life a little longer.”

“Damn.” Otto let out a long-suffering sigh.

Leo appeared relieved. “Welcome aboard.”

Funny, she didn’t feel welcomed. She felt ill. A condition that wasn’t improved when Leo paused and said, “Oh, and one more thing.”

This she couldn’t wait for.

“As Squires, we’re all answerable to the Dark-Hunters. To the men and women like Ravyn and in particular to their leader, Acheron. In essence, we’re their servants who help them and who guard them from the public.”

She widened her eyes in feigned happiness. “Oh gee, golly, goodie, Mr. Leo! Can I have my eyes gouged out, too?”

Otto actually laughed. “You know, I think I’m really going to like you.”

Well, at least the pit viper thought she was amusing. Leo, on the other hand, looked less than amused as he shook his head at Kyl and Jessica.

Sobering, Susan picked up her folder and addressed her biggest concern now that certain death at Otto’s hands had been avoided. “So what happens to me now? How are you going to hide me while I’m wanted by the cops?”

“We’ll worry about that,” Jessica said. “The police are the least of our problems. It’s who’s pulling their chains that concerns us.”

“The commissioner?” Susan suggested.

Kyl rolled his eyes. “Think outside human parameters.”

She gave him a droll stare. “Yeah, but if there’s a cover-up, someone in the police department is helping out, right?”

“Yes,” Leo said in a strained tone, “but right now that’s not a big deal. What we need to know is who’s targeting us. If they’re able to take out a Dark-Hunter, then we’re nothing but fodder to them.”

“Speak for yourself,” Jessica said smugly. “I assure you, I’m not at the bottom of this food chain.”

Otto snorted at her bravado. “Knock it off, Jess. When Kyl and I were in New Orleans a year ago, there was a major Daimon uprising led by a Spathi named Stryker.”

Susan frowned at the unfamiliar term. “Spathi?”

“A special warrior class of Daimons who are old,” Kyl said. “Really,
really
old. They’re a lot stronger than the typical Daimon who roams around looking for an easy target to suck dry.”

“Yeah,” Otto agreed. “These usually have a serious ax to grind against the good guys and humans. Last year, we lost a lot of Dark-Hunters in Northern Mississippi and New Orleans to them. The last thing I want to do is lose any more.”

Kyl turned toward Otto. “You think we should call Kyros or Rafael and see if they can help us? They got a lot closer to the Spathis than anyone else … and unlike Danger, Euphemia, Marco, and the others, they actually survived the encounter. Maybe they can remember something that could help expose a weakness we could exploit.”

Otto nodded. “Good idea.”

“I’ll ring them,” Jessica volunteered.

“And I’ll call Kyrian,” Kyl said. “Any of you know where he is at present?”

Otto answered, “He never left New Orleans. None of the Dark-Hunters, current or former, evacuated for Katrina. They got their families out, but they stayed behind to help. Last I heard, even Amanda and the kids were back.”

“Cool. I’ll buzz him then and see if he knows anything more concrete about Stryker or the others.”

“What about Ash?” Leo asked.

Jessica shook her head. “He’s been MIA for the last few days now. Last I heard, he was in Australia anyway.”

You know,
Susan thought wryly,
it would really help if I had a clue as to who and what they were talking about.
But they were so absorbed and earnest, she didn’t want to interrupt them. Besides, what they were discussing seemed to be far more important than her ignorance and no doubt, if she lived, she’d begin to understand all of it soon enough.

Leo let out a frustrated breath as if he was way too tired. He turned toward Susan. “By the way, were you able to find anything out about Dark Angel before all this went down?”

“Yes. She’s a snotty little booger.”

Leo looked ill at her description. “Oh gawd, it is Erika.”

Otto frowned. “What are you talking about now?”

Leo let out another weary sigh. “Someone local has been blogging that she works for an immortal shapeshifting warrior who hunts vampires. I had Sue check her out.”

Otto looked even more perplexed. “Erika’s not a Squire.”

“Not technically,” Leo said, “but while her father’s off on his honeymoon, she’s subbing for him and running errands for Ravyn.”

“Well, if you really think it’s Erika then why didn’t you have Tad run a trace on the blog?”

Leo cocked his head in an offended manner. “Because that would involve me actually talking to Tad now, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, and?”

Clearing his throat, Leo became sullen. In a low, almost embarrassed tone, he said, “I owe him money.”

Otto gave him a droll stare. “What has that got to do with anything?”

Leo narrowed his eyes. “I owe him a
lot
of money.”

“Good God, Leo,” Kyl said angrily, “given how much you have, how much could you be into him for?”

“Everything, and I mean
everything.
Hell, I even owe him my Porsche.”

Otto’s jaw went slack. “You jeopardized us because of debt? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” No, he looked completely pissed. “Besides, it’s not my fault. He cheats at cards.”

Kyl made a disgusted noise. “You’ve been playing poker with him? Are you insane? That man’s brain functions like a computer.”

“
Now
you tell me.”

Otto disregarded his outburst. “And because of that you put a civilian on a case that should have been turned over to one of us? Jeez, man, what were you thinking?”

Leo rose to his feet. “Get off my back, Otto. I’m the one in charge here in Seattle.”

Otto sat back with his arms folded over his chest in a demeanor that said he answered to no one else. “Not if I kill you for incompetence.”

Jessica gave an evil smile. “Need us to turn a blind eye?”

Leo narrowed his eyes on her. “Ha, ha. But that doesn’t change the fact that we still need to find out definitively if Dark Angel is Erika. And if not Erika, then we need to know if Dark Angel is another one of us, or just a local lunatic.”

Otto shook his head in disgust. “I’ll check into it.”

Leo looked less than convinced Otto could handle it. “And what are you going to do, Otto?”

“What you should have done. I’ll simply ask her.”

Leo laughed. “You haven’t met her, have you?”

“No, why?”

He laughed even harder.

“Wear a Teflon jockstrap,” Jessica said under her breath.

Otto rolled his eyes. “Oh, please.”

“Please nothing,” Leo said, “she’s a vicious piranha. She looks all cute and cuddly, then she opens that mouth and lets loose so much venom she could double as a nest of scorpions.”

Still Otto looked less than intimidated. “I think I can handle her.”

Leo glanced over at Kyl. “Add a call in to the florist to send flowers to either his hospital room or funeral parlor.”

Otto shook his head before he stood up. “It looks like we all have our marching orders. Should we reconvene later tonight?”

Leo nodded. “Eight thirty. Be here.”

Susan got up to leave with the others only to have Leo pull her to a stop.

“I’ll get a handbook from Patricia for you. You’ll also be stuck here for a while.”

“Okay.” Her gaze dropped down to his hand where the tattoo was. “Do I have to get one of those, too?”

He snorted. “No.” He flexed his hand. “These are used solely for Blood Rites.”

“Is that like special ed?”

“Hardly.”

She still couldn’t believe it. Oddly enough, it was easier to buy into the vampires than it was to believe Leo could hurt anyone. “Uh-huh, you who calls me into your office to kill spiders because you’re squeamish?”

“That’s different,” he said defensively. “Those are disgusting.”

“And yet you expect me to believe you’d kill a human?”

His eyes turned dark and forbidding. “I took an oath a long time ago, Susan, and I will abide by it. Whatever it takes. What we deal with is bigger than spiders. It’s bigger than you and me.”

For the first time, she saw the man behind the teasing friend she’d known all these years. And in truth, she missed the old anal-retentive, smarmy boy she’d befriended in college.

“You know what I want, Leo?”

“Your life back.”

She nodded. “I really need a do-over on this day. Then again, I could really use one for the last five years.”

“I know.” He gave her a gentle hug. “But it’ll be okay, Sue. I promise. We take care of our own and you’re here with us now. Don’t worry. You’re safe.”

*   *   *

Stryker came to his feet as a rage so raw, so potent, went through him that he wasn’t sure how he managed to maintain himself.

“Kontis did what?” he asked in a low, calm tone that belied his turbulent mood.

“He escaped us, my lord,” the Apollite vet, Theo, explained as he stood cringing before Stryker’s throne in Kalosis. Wearing a blue, blood-spattered lab coat, the half-Apollite should amuse him, but there was nothing amusing about the man’s news.

Stryker met Satara’s disgusted stare before he narrowed his eyes back on the worm who dared to deliver such news to him. “I told you, Theo, that you only had one thing to do. Keep him in a cage until I arrived.”

Swallowing hard, Theo wrung his hands. “I know and I did just as you said. I swear it. I didn’t take him out of the cage. Not once. We just wanted to have a little fun with him until your Spathis killed him.” He glanced up with imploring eyes. “It was the human I work with who took him out while I was speaking to you on the phone earlier. By the time I found out about it, he was already gone.”

Did the fool honestly think that by indicting a human as an accomplice he would get leniency? These stupid tools were getting dumber and dumber every year.

Stryker curled his lip. “Where is Kontis now?”

“He was taken home by another human. The other vet we killed said her name was Susan Michaels. We have a team of humans out, looking for the two of them now.”

Styker ground his teeth as all of his dreams of easily grabbing Seattle as a home base came sliding down around him. By now Kontis had no doubt notified all the other Dark-Hunters in Seattle. Every one of them would now be on high alert. So much for the element of surprise. Their job would now be a thousand times harder.

He wanted blood for this. “Do you have any idea what this means, Theo?”

“I do, but we still have enough daylight left that we should be able to get to him before he reaches the others.”

Stryker scoffed. He knew better than that. Ravyn was like him—a survivor. If they wanted to take the city, they’d have to move quickly.

He turned toward his sister. “Gather Trates and the Illuminati.”

“You’re planning to hunt?” Theo asked, his eyes sparking a degree of relief and hope.

“Yes,” Stryker said slowly.

“Good. I’ll get my team ready.”

“Don’t bother, Theo.”

His nervousness returned tenfold. “My lord?”

Stryker approached him slowly, methodically. He reached out and cupped the man’s cheek in his palm. It was smooth and supple, as were all of theirs. Perfect. That was the beauty of never growing old.

Theo might be stupid, but he was as beautiful as the angels that many of the humans believed in. “How long have you served me now, Theo?”

“Almost eight years.”

Stryker smiled at him. “Eight years and in all that time, tell me what you’ve learned about me.”

He could feel the man shaking as he answered. The scent of fear and perspiration hung heavy in the air—gods, how he loved that smell. It was like an aphrodisiac to him.

“You’re the Daimon King. Our only hope.”

“Yes.” He stroked Theo’s cheek. “Anything else?”

Theo glanced nervously toward Satara before he returned to frown at Stryker. “I don’t know what you mean.”

He sank his hand into Theo’s blond hair and balled his fist tightly in the strands so that the half-Apollite couldn’t escape him. “The one thing you should have learned, Theo, is that I don’t accept failure in any shape, form, or fashion. Your first mistake was letting the Dark-Hunter escape. Your second one was being stupid enough to come tell me about it.”

Theo tried to pull away, but Stryker held him in place. “P-please, my lord, have mercy. I can find him! I can!”

Stryker smirked at his pathetic cries for clemency. “So can I. In fact, I intend to find more than just Ravyn. Before I’m through tonight, I intend to hunt and feed to my heart’s content. But it won’t be human.” He licked his lips as he stared at the throbbing vein on Theo’s neck. “Tonight I feast on Apollite blood and carnage … On you and your entire family.”

Before the man could speak again, Stryker sank his teeth into Theo’s neck, ripping out the carotid as he drank his fill.