The Dark-Hunters (362 page)

She had to stop them. Somehow. She couldn’t just sit by and let someone else lose their loved one. Not if she could stop it.

Susan paused in her mental tirade as an idea struck her.

“Jimmy’s journal.…” As far back as she could remember, Jimmy had kept anal notes in his journal. Both she and Angie had teased him about it endlessly. That incessant need to put everything in writing was what had made him such a great investigator.

Whatever evidence or leads he’d uncovered would be in that notebook. She knew it. There was no chance he didn’t leave clues for her to follow.

But how could she get to his house while the police were looking for her? Not to mention they most likely had it staked out.

It didn’t matter. She was going to find some way over there, and get those notes no matter what it took, and finish this investigation.
Even if it killed her.

CHAPTER NINE

Ravyn woke up with his vision hazy and the scent of Susan heavy in the air. It was a delicate, warm smell. Unique and inviting. He felt like total shit and yet something about her scent soothed him.

It also set him on fire.

His right shoulder was so sore that he could barely move it. Not that he could anyway, since Susan was lying on it, facing away from him, sound asleep. At first he couldn’t figure out where he was or why on earth she was on top of him. Then suddenly, the earlier events of the night came rushing back.

He’d been hit with a trank outside of the Happy Hunting Ground. Images of their flight and return to the Serengeti shuffled around him as he remembered bits and pieces of being sick … of Susan helping him.

She’d held him while the whole world had fallen apart.

Amazed by that, he rose up to look down at her and brushed a strand of blond hair off her silken cheek. She had the prettiest skin. Fair and unblemished, it was softer than silk. He laid his fingers over her cheekbone and marveled at the texture that was so different from his.

There was something lovely about her. Something that called out to the animal in him and lured it forward. He’d never felt such a pull toward anyone before. Not even Isabeau, and she had been his chosen mate.

He dipped his head down so that he could inhale the scent of her hair. The soft strands tickled his cheek even as the warmth of her body calmed him. He laid his other arm over her and held her close in the darkness. Like a lover. This moment awoke a long forgotten dream inside him. A dream of family. Of love. Of having someone he could love, who would love him, too.

God, it’d been way too long since he’d just held someone.…

“If you don’t stop groping on me, Puss in Boots, I don’t care if you are out of it, I’m going to hurt you.”

He laughed in spite of himself.

Susan opened those striking blue eyes to stare up at him.

“I’m over it,” he said softly to her.

Still she looked suspicious. “Uh-huh, that’s what you said last time, right before you made a head dive for my boobs.”

“No, I didn’t … did I?” He frowned as he tried to remember, but the last few hours were all hazy and vague. And he certainly didn’t recall that happening, but then, given how much she appealed to him, he couldn’t deny it, either. If he had a chance and a reason to get away with such a thing, he’d have probably taken it.

She narrowed her eyes on him. “You really are back, aren’t you?”

He put the heel of his hand to his right eye in an effort to ease some of the pain that felt like it was cleaving his skull in two. “Yeah, and with a vicious headache.”

Susan rolled over to look up into those midnight eyes. Okay, it was only one eye since he still had the other covered with his hand, but it was nice to see clarity there again. “Welcome back.”

“Thanks.” His gaze dropped to her lips that teased him with an invitation he was finding hard to ignore. “For everything.”

“It’s okay.”

She licked her lips, moistening them with her tongue … it was his undoing. Unable to stand it, he lowered his head, half expecting her to pull back or push him away.

She didn’t.

Instead, she moved forward in his arms to take his kiss. The instant their lips touched, Ravyn closed his eyes, letting the warmth of her wash over him. She wrapped her arms around him, causing him to tremble at the tenderness she offered. She was exceptional. His heart racing, he deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth.

Susan couldn’t breathe … literally. Her allergies kicked in, but not even they were enough to make her let go as she tasted heaven. Every part of her fired at the touch of his lips. He cupped her face as his delicious weight pinned her to the mattress. She found herself actually resenting their clothing, even though she knew getting physical with him would be a mistake. Dark-Hunters couldn’t have dates and girlfriends, and she had no interest in being someone’s one-night stand.

They had nowhere to go except separate ways. Too bad her emotions weren’t more rational because right now all they wanted was to keep him in her arms and to explore every inch of that wicked body with her tongue. But she couldn’t.

Ravyn fisted his hand in her silken hair as images of her naked body writhing underneath him tormented him with desire. He nipped her lips as he felt her heart racing along with his. It took every piece of will he possessed not to lift her shirt and cup her breast in his hands. But she was a Squire, and they were off limits to Dark-Hunters. Even so, she appealed to him on a level he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

If he could, he’d stay here with her for the rest of the night, but they had way too much to deal with at present. And the last thing he wanted was to be involved with another woman who could betray him. He pulled away, then groaned.

Susan put her hand on his sore arm as if she knew exactly what hurt. “You need to rest.”

He shook his head. “We’ve got too much to do.”

“Believe me, I know. But you’re still hurt.”

He snorted at that. “Trust me, this is nothing. I’ll definitely live.”

She shook her head at him as she sat up to face him. “Fine then. While you’ve been down and unconscious, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. The Daimons are after all of you so that they can have a full run at Seattle, right?”

Ravyn remained lying back on the mattress. “That’s what we think.”

“Well, according to the handbook Leo gave me”—she picked up a huge leather-bound tome and held it against her chest—“whenever one Dark-Hunter goes down, another one is sent in to replace them, especially in an urban setting … such as say, oh, Seattle.” She toyed with the edge of the book as she gave him a stern frown. “So what are the Daimons really hoping for? I mean if they kill you and more are sent in, why bother … right?”

She definitely had a point. “I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense, but you can’t deny that they’re doing it. Maybe they hope to pick us off one by one until the last Dark-Hunter falls.” Even as he said it, he knew better than that. There were too many Dark-Hunters. It would take years, if not centuries, to get them all.

But then, something weird had been happening these last couple of years. A lot of Dark-Hunters had gone free and an even larger number of them had died. Especially recently.

“Or maybe this is an experiment,” Susan said. “Think about it for a minute. If they can get away with wiping out all of you here, then they could converge on other cities. Make a studied attack. Claim each city one by one. Right?”

“At this point, I would go with just about any theory. I’ve honestly never seen anything like this. I mean, there have always been a few stupid humans here and there who’ve been willing to help them. But never on this scale.”

“Which brings up the question of why they’re helping them? What are the Daimons promising them for their service?”

Ravyn shrugged. “It could be anything. My money says they’ve promised them eternal life.”

“I don’t think so. It’s too easy. Think about it for a second. Someone fairly high up is helping them. Why? What could that person stand to gain by allowing Daimons to murder people in Seattle and take out the Dark-Hunters? The human would have to have a vested interest in this, and eternal life doesn’t do it for me.”

Ravyn grew silent. “You know, the Were-Hunters came into being for one simple reason.”

“And that is?”

“Roughly nine thousand years ago, an ancient Greek king married an Apollite without knowing it. When she died on her twenty-seventh birthday by slowing decaying, the king realized that his sons were going to meet the same fate as their mother. Horrified at the prospect, he immediately set out to magically splice animal strength with his sorcery to Apollites. His goal was to make Apollites live longer.”

“And?”

“It worked. He created the Arcadian race, my race, who have human hearts, and the Katagaria race, our enemies, who have animal hearts.”

Susan nodded as she remembered that from her reading.

His dark eyes bored into her. “Do you see what I’m saying? Lycaon did everything he could to protect his family. He even defied the Fates when they told him to kill all of the hybrids he’d made. To kill his own sons.…”

Her jaw went slack as she finally caught his meaning. “One of the police has married an Apollite?”

“And what if that Apollite were to turn Daimon?”

Susan couldn’t breathe as those words went through her like glass. It made complete sense.

An official who would have the ear of the media to help hunt them down. An official who could tamper with evidence and reassign investigators.

“It’s either the police chief or the commissioner, isn’t it?”

“That would be my bet.”

She covered her mouth as her mind whirled. If they were wrong and she went after an innocent man, she’d never live this down. But if they were right …

“We need evidence.
Hard,
inarguable evidence.”

Ravyn nodded. “And we need to cut off their human allies quickly.”

Susan couldn’t agree more.

“Yeah. It’s going to be dangerous, but for now we have to get our hands on Jimmy’s journal.”

“What journal?”

She looked away as pain gripped her features. Clearing her throat, she met his gaze levelly, but he still saw the hurt she was trying so hard to hide. “My friend Jimmy, the investigator at the clinic, always kept a journal of his thoughts and what he did.”

“Like a blog?”

“No, he was too private for that. This would probably be in his house somewhere. Either as a handwritten book or on his laptop. We need to search their house and find it.”

Ravyn was skeptical. “Wouldn’t the cops know about it?”

“I don’t think so. Like I said, Jimmy was really private, especially around the guys he worked with. I don’t think he’d have told them he kept a diary, of all things.”

She had a point. The gods knew he’d never admit to such a thing either. “But if they went to the trouble of killing him, wouldn’t they have searched his place?”

“I’m willing to bet no. They think he’s silenced and we’re on the run. Searching his house might make someone suspicious.”

Again, she had a good argument. But one thing, if the cops hadn’t searched the house yet, they most likely would soon, and whatever evidence or clues Jimmy might have left behind would be lost. So it was either get to it tonight or possibly lose it forever. “Okay, let’s go. What time is it?”

She looked down at her watch. “Twelve thirty.”

“Where does he live?”

“On Twenty-ninth Avenue West.”

Good.
Ravyn stretched before he sat up. “That gives us plenty of time to get there, search the place, and get back before dawn.”

He noticed her hesitation as she sat on the mattress. “There’s only one little problem with that.”

He sighed as he caught her meaning. “I know. They don’t want to let me back in here once I leave. But that’s okay. I have a secret weapon.”

She arched a brow. “And that is?”

“You,” he said, smiling. “It was impressive how you got past my father earlier. You really should be a lawyer.”

She blushed at his compliment before she set the book aside.

He stood up and held his hand out to her. Taking it, she let him pull her to her feet, but the tug was so forceful that she stumbled into him.

Ravyn’s breath left him at the full frontal contact. Every inch of her was pressed up against his body, making him instantly hard and aching for a taste of her. There, for a moment, it made him almost want to be mortal again. There was just something about her that captivated him. “Sorry,” he said, his voice faint. “I sometimes forget how strong I am.”

“No problem.”

But there was a problem, he wanted to pull her even closer to him and taste those lips again.
Get your head in the game, boy.

Forcing himself to step back, he headed for the door and into the hallway. He led her upstairs toward the back of the club where his family should be away from human sight and hearing. From the sounds that echoed, it was obvious that at this time of night the club was hopping. The heavy, thumping beat radiated through his head, making it ache even more. But then, he’d never been overly fond of this style of music anyway. He much preferred classic rock.

As they neared a partially opened door on their way out, he paused at the sound of his brothers’ voices. And the more they spoke, the angrier he became.

“You know our laws, Dorian,” Phoenix snarled. “He should be killed, now, while he’s sleeping.”

Dorian answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “The law of sanctuary—”

“Screw Savitar’s laws. My mate and children are dead. The law of the jungle says—”

Ravyn pushed the door open. “The strongest survive. Always. And in my book, asshole, that’s not you.”

They jerked around to face him. He caught the look of shame on Dorian’s face an instant before he hid it. But Phoenix was another matter. His eyes gleamed hatred. Ravyn braced himself as that look took him back to the night he’d died. To the look of tortured agony on Phoenix’s face when he’d discovered his wife’s body. She’d died beside their mother, trying to save her son and daughter.

Ravyn had stood in the doorway that night, too, paralyzed by the blood that soaked into the earthen floor of their cottage. Even though he’d been a warrior since the day he’d entered puberty and mastered his powers, he’d never seen such carnage. The humans hadn’t been content to simply kill them. They had mutilated every member of their clan they had caught. Boy, girl, woman, child, infant … it hadn’t mattered to them.