The Dark-Hunters (361 page)

“Kitten,” he said as he saw Erika again. “When did you get so tall?”

She gave Susan a “duh” stare. “I grew while you were in the bathroom.”

“Really?”

Erika snorted. “You know, this is a serious improvement over his regular temperament. I think I like it. We definitely need to find out what it is and spike his food.”

As Susan tried to guide him back to their room, Ravyn caught the door frame with his hand and refused to enter. He gave her a harsh stare as she tried to push him forward. “I have to get back home.”

“Yes,” she said slowly, “it’s right in this room.”

“No!” he growled in a ferocious tone. “Zatira needs me. I have to go to her.”

Who was Zatira? Susan exchanged a look with Erika, who looked every bit as baffled by the name as she was. “No, you don’t.”

He pushed her away and he started down the hallway. “I have to save her.” He took three steps before he froze. He stared at the floor as if it were a TV screen. Unbelievable pain twisted his brow as if he was reliving some kind of nightmare. She’d never seen a more tormented expression.

“No,” he growled, punching at the wall. “Zatira! Mom! God, no! No more blood. They’re not dead. They’re not!”

He raked both hands through his hair before he threw himself against the wall and slid to the floor.

Susan went to him. Taking his hands into hers, she forced him to unclench them from his hair. “Ravyn, look at me.”

He did, but she could tell he didn’t see her. He was still being tormented by something in his past. “Zatira?”

“It’s Susan.”

He rolled away from her. “I have to save her. I can’t let her die. I can’t.”

Susan tried to hold him back as he struggled without hurting her.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them. Susan looked up, expecting it to be Erika.

It wasn’t. It was either Dorian or Phoenix.

“Get up,” he snarled at Ravyn. There wasn’t a trace of compassion or sympathy on his face.

“Fuck you.” Ravyn tried to crawl past him, only to have his brother grab him roughly by the arm and haul him to his feet.

“Not so rough,” Susan snapped. “There’s no need to hurt him.”

Ravyn leaned back against the wall as he stared at his brother. His face was angry and feral, but his eyes spoke volumes of pain and hurt. “You going to kill me again?”

For once, his brother’s expression softened. “It’s Dorian, Rave. Not Phoenix.”

“Dori…” The anger faded from Ravyn’s face and was replaced by a profound agony. “I didn’t mean to, Dori. I didn’t. You have to believe me. I didn’t want them hurt.” He grabbed his brother by the shirt and held tight. “I didn’t mean for anyone to die.”

Dorian wrapped his hand around Ravyn’s wrist before he removed his grip. “I know.”

Ravyn snapped his head back so hard into the wall that it actually broke the Sheetrock. “We can save them,” he said, taking a step toward the door that led upstairs. “We can go back and make it right.”

“What is he talking about?” Erika asked.

Dorian didn’t answer. Instead, he snapped at her. “Go upstairs, Erika.”

It was obvious by her face that she wanted to argue, but for once she obeyed.

“We have to go,” Ravyn insisted.

But there was no reprieve in his brother’s stern expression. “Don’t be stupid again,” He shoved Ravyn away from him.

Susan glared at Dorian as Ravyn staggered and almost fell. “You asshole,” she snarled, barely catching Ravyn against her.

Ravyn paused as their gazes met and held. For the first time since this episode had started, he saw her and not Zatira. His features relaxed. A small smile hovered on his lips. “You look like an angel.…” His eyes rolled back in his head before he collapsed.

Dorian let out an aggravated breath as Ravyn hit the floor. None too gently, Dorian picked him up and carried him back to the mattress. Susan wanted to protest his help, but there was no way she could move Ravyn by herself. Damn his brother for being so cold.

“How long has he been like this?” Dorian asked as he straightened up.

“About two hours.”

Dorian shook his head as he looked back at Ravyn, who lay silent and still. “You need a breather?”

She crossed her arms over her chest as she gave him a suspicious once-over. “It depends. You gonna beat on him while I’m gone?”

The look on his face said he wasn’t amused by her question, which was okay by her since she wasn’t joking. “No.”

That made her feel a little bit better … but only a little. She still didn’t trust Dorian. From what she’d read in the handbook, Dorian was an Arcadian Were-Hunter. Human in theory, he was able to shift into an animal. There were other kinds of Were-Hunters who held animal hearts. They were called Katagaria. Unlike Ravyn and his family, they were truly animals who could take human form. But from where she stood, she didn’t see much difference since the so-called “human” branch seemed to be as cold as any animal she’d ever met in the wild.

Then again, as a reporter, she’d met plenty of humans whom she would definitely classify as animal. Some were even amoebas.

And the reporter in her had something else it was extremely curious about. “Who was Zatira?”

Pain darkened Dorian’s eyes before he answered. “My sister.”

“I assume she was Ravyn’s, too?”

He cut her a look that said yes, but that Dorian didn’t want to admit to it.

Which begged the next question. “What happened to her?”

The pain from his eyes seeped over his entire being. It was obvious that he felt her loss every bit as deeply as Ravyn did. “She was killed three hundred years ago.”

Susan winced at that. “Killed how?”

“By humans.” He snarled the word as if being human was the worst thing he could think of. He gave her the harshest, most hate-filled stare she’d ever seen in her life. “They brutally slaughtered her … our mother, Phoenix’s wife and children, and our entire village.”

Susan covered her mouth as the horror of that overwhelmed her. But then, what had she expected? Dark-Hunters were created out of men and women who’d suffered unjust tragedy and who wanted revenge on those who’d wronged them. It was the screaming of their souls that summoned Artemis to them, and if they accepted the bargain, Artemis would bring them back to life and give them twenty-four hours to exact their revenge. After that, they became soldiers in her army that was dedicated to protecting mankind from the Daimons. The nature of their creation guaranteed that all of them had at least one major tragedy in their past.

“I take it their deaths are what made him a Dark-Hunter?”

He nodded. “He wanted revenge on the humans who’d killed them.”

“And Isabeau? Was she part of your village, too?”

The look of hatred on his face was a resounding no. “She was Ravyn’s mate … a heartless, human bitch. He told her about us and she in turn told her people. They’re the ones who came for us. They thought we were evil minions of the devil and in their ignorance, they slaughtered our weaker members while we were out protecting them from the Katagaria who’d been raiding their village.”

The Katagaria were the animal branch of their people who were at war with the “human” Arcadians. Susan winced as sympathetic pain swept through her. What awful irony to be betrayed by the very people you were attempting to help. But from what Dorian said, Ravyn sounded like a victim, too—all he’d done was trust the wrong person. Why would they hate him for a mistake that any one of them could have made? “How could you have banished him?”

He snorted at that. “We didn’t
banish
him, woman. Phoenix killed him as soon as we found our families slaughtered … and the bastard should have stayed dead.”

She was horrified by his words and the venom in his voice. “How could you people do such a thing … to your own brother?”

“How could we not?” he asked as if he was baffled by her question. He gestured toward Ravyn. “Every time we look at him, we’re reminded that he caused their deaths. He is an abomination to us. And I hate that we’re forced to run a sanctuary in the city where he’s stationed. Damn the Fates for it.”

Oh, that was stupid. “It wasn’t his fault.”

“It was
all
my fault.… I should have never trusted her.”

Startled that he was awake, Susan looked at Ravyn, who had rolled over onto his back. At first she thought he was still delirious, but his gaze seemed clearer now.

His face grim, he pushed himself up and reached for his brother. “Dori—”

“Don’t touch me, Ravyn.” He curled his lip at Susan. “As soon as he’s back to his senses, he needs to get out of here before the others turn on him again. Understood?”

“Yeah,” she said, curling her own lip in response, “I completely understand. You’re a heartless bastard and the rest of you aren’t leopards. You’re pigs.”

His face hardened. “Be glad you’re human and standing in a sanctuary right now. Otherwise, I’d rip your throat out.” He cast one last hating glare at Ravyn before he vanished out of the room.

Unable to believe the gall of him, Susan turned back to Ravyn, who lay completely still. At first she thought he’d fallen unconscious again, but as she brushed his hair back from his face, she saw that his eyes were open.

The look he gave her singed her to the spot. There was so much anguish and self-loathing that it stole her breath. “I didn’t want to be alone anymore. Was that so wrong?”

Her heart clenched at those heartfelt words. She knew exactly how he felt. “No, Ravyn, it wasn’t wrong.”

He started shaking uncontrollably as he reached for the blanket on the mattress. “I’m so cold.”

Susan pulled the blanket over him, but his teeth continued chattering. She’d never seen anyone so cold. Figuring he was in enough pain from the raw emotions the drug was bringing out, she spooned up against him to try to warm him with her body heat. Poor man. And she’d stupidly thought she was all alone in the world. It was probably better to have no family than to have half of them dead while the other half hated you for causing the deaths.

She couldn’t imagine anything worse. Well, maybe living with Erika, which he also did.

Ravyn continued to tremble in her arms. He covered her hands with his as she held him quietly in the dim light of the room. “Susan?”

She opened her eyes at his faint tone. “Yes?”

“I’m sorry about your friends. I wish it hadn’t happened.”

“Thank you.”

He went suddenly limp in her arms as if he was unconscious again. Her first inclination to pull away from him, she laid her head on his muscular arm instead. How odd that two strangers would find themselves lying on a mattress in the basement of a popular singles club in the heart of Pioneer Square. They were both being hunted for a crime they hadn’t committed and were trapped in a place where no one wanted them.

God, what a day.

Closing her eyes again, she let out a long, tired breath. What lay ahead was even more daunting than when she’d written the story about Senator Kelly and his questionable spending only to learn that her source was completely bogus. Even now she cringed at the memory of that day when her boss had tossed the paper with the story in it in her face and accused her of making it up.

Then she’d come under fire from all of her reporter brethren as they wrote story after story about her. There had been no kindness or forgiveness. Nothing but hostility and glee as they brought her down, and all because she, too, had trusted the wrong person to not lie to her.

And then there had been the lawsuits. Slander. Libel. Defamation. Not only had the senator sued her, but her own paper as well. It’d been the worst time of her life.

Up until now. Now she didn’t even have Angie to hold her hand through it. No Jimmy threatening to kill the people who were hurting her.

Just say the word, Sue, and I’ll arrest them for parking violations.…

She was completely alone.

Like Ravyn.

Susan blinked back her tears as she toyed with his silken hair that made her skin itch. But she didn’t care. She needed to feel his presence. This wasn’t the time for weakness. She needed her strength. Especially since she had no idea how all of this would turn out. How to even begin to get her life back.

What was she supposed to do?

You’re a reporter, Sue. What would a good reporter do?

Find the truth. The only way to get back her life was to expose whoever was behind all of this. Granted, she couldn’t expose the vampires without becoming a complete laughingstock, but Jimmy had spoken of a cover-up, and she did trust him. He wouldn’t have lied to her. Ever. Someone in his department was definitely working with the Apollites and Daimons to hide the disappearances, which were probably all murders. Now that she knew what was going on, she could find evidence and expose him or her.… They could be brought out and exposed in a human court. Then the Apollites wouldn’t have human help anymore.

Don’t be stupid.
The whole thing was ludicrous and she was living it. How could she sell this to people who couldn’t see it for themselves?

Not to mention the small fact that going after a government official who was supposedly on the take was what had led to her disgrace.

“I’m too old to start over again.”

More than that, she was too tired.

But even as she thought that, Angie’s beautiful face hovered in her mind. She could see Angie and Jimmy on their wedding day, laughing as they waved good-bye to her from the limo before they headed off on their honeymoon. They were supposed to grow old together and make her a fabulous aunt to their whole brood of raucous children.

They had been her family.

This time there was no stopping the tears that flowed from her eyes. They—the only family she had—were gone and they would never have those kids to mooch off them. There would never be another call from Angie complaining about Jimmy watching football games on TV. No more Jimmy teasing Susan that he’d recently arrested a man who would be perfect for her.

No more late-night movies or laughter. No more Christmas dinners.…

They were gone and those bastards had killed them for no reason.

Fierce, unadulterated anger swelled deep from her soul to crawl all the way through her body. She couldn’t let the people responsible for their deaths get away with it. Not to mention that every night they were still out there, ending other people’s dreams. Other people’s lives. Taking away the family someone else loved.