The Dark-Hunters (375 page)

The Daimons seemed to be growing stronger while the Dark-Hunters were weakening by the heartbeat. But even so, Ravyn wasn’t going to die on the ground like a scared rodent. He forced himself to his feet. A Daimon caught him a punch to the jaw that felt like a sledgehammer striking his bones. He tasted blood as his lip split. Spitting it out onto the asphalt, Ravyn head-butted the Daimon, then kicked him away as a flash caught his attention to the right.

It was two Daimons with axes trapping Belle between them. Frozen by the horror, he watched helplessly, knowing he couldn’t reach her in time.

A frisson of grief spun through all of them as they saw her fall to her knees an instant before the Daimons coldly executed her. Susan stared in horror at the woman’s body as she lay in a pool of blood on the dark asphalt while the Daimons high-fived each other.

Zoe cried out and started for them, only to have her legs swept out from under her by another Daimon. She hit the ground face-first, then rolled to her back to kick out at the Daimon who was trying to stab her.

Ravyn was kicked so hard, he swore he heard three ribs crack.

Before he could regain his senses, Menkaura was flung down on top of him. The weight from him was enough to finish breaking Ravyn’s ribs. His breathing labored from the pain, he caught the man’s look of panic as Menkaura realized the same thing he had.

They had no way to escape.

Ravyn pushed the larger man off his chest and tried to breathe past the awful pain that seemed to seep into every part of him.

“Summon Stryker,” one of the Daimons called out to the others. “He’ll want to be here to see them die.”

“Yeah,” a deep, angry voice said, echoing off the brick walls around them, “summon the bastard. I’d really love to get my hands on him right now.”

Ravyn held his breath as he heard the last voice he’d expected.

Susan hesitated as the Daimons froze in the middle of their attacks. They were all staring at the bottom of the hill.

She turned to see what had them transfixed and felt her own jaw drop.

Yeah, that’d do it.

Highlighted by the bright moonlight, the man there was incredibly tall, with long black hair that had a red stripe in the front. A strange ethereal fog swirled around him as if it were caressing his entire body like a lover. Dressed in black leather pants and a long leather coat that had its sleeves pushed back to expose his forearms and fingerless black leather gloves, he looked like the typical Goth who hung out around Capitol Hill. But as he walked slowly up the hill with a long, predatorial lope there was an aura of power so dangerous that it made every hair on her body stand up on end.

The Daimons summoned their bolt-holes.

“I don’t think so,” the newcomer said as each hole fizzled shut before they could use it.

A powerful boom rent the air. It emanated out from the man like a sonic wave. She felt it go through her and chill her very soul. And as it touched each of the Daimons, they screamed out in pain, then burst into a colorful dust.

Damn, they could have used some of that themselves.

Not completely sure this man was a friend, Susan ran over to Ravyn, who was clutching his ribs and bleeding profusely from his leg, shoulder, brow, and mouth. Menkaura lay beside him, also badly hurt. Menkaura’s brow was laid open and by the way his arm was twisted it was obviously broken. She knelt beside Ravyn and helped him to sit up.

“It’s about time you showed up, asshole,” Zoe snarled as she wiped the blood from her own chin. “Where the hell have you been?”

The man ignored her as he went silently to where Belle had been killed as if he knew exactly what had happened before his arrival. His features tormented, he knelt down on one knee and picked up a small silver necklace that had been around Belle’s neck. He clenched it tight in his fist before he bent his head as if in prayer and held it to his forehead.

Susan was held transfixed by the agony he betrayed. It was obvious he mourned the loss of Belle.

He moved the necklace to his lips to kiss it before he rose slowly to his feet and faced them. He slid the necklace into his pocket.

Susan was going to take a wild guess that this was the mysterious Acheron who led the Dark-Hunters. But dang, who knew the big bad was going to be a child, and not some ancient wise man? Even though he was completely ripped, he couldn’t be any older than his early twenties.

Still, there was something powerful about him. Something compelling and terrifying. Like Savitar, it was obvious he wasn’t human and that he commanded primal powers no one should possess.

And it was then as he looked around that she saw his eyes. Susan actually fell back onto her butt on the street at the sight of them. They were unlike anything she’d ever seen before and they held so much power, so much wisdom and pain, that it sent a jolt through her.

Those weren’t the eyes of a human. They swirled like silver mercury as he took in the scene around him. And as those eyes went to each Dark-Hunter, the Dark-Hunter’s injuries instantly healed.

“Thanks, Acheron,” Dragon said irritably as he wiped his bloodied hands off on his coat. “But couldn’t you have gotten here a little sooner?”

Anger bled from every pore of Ash’s body as he held his hand out to help Dragon regain his feet. “Trust me, I got here just as fast as I could.”

Ravyn pushed himself up from the street, then turned to help Susan up. “I heard you were
tied
up. Double-knotted to a bedpost as I recall.”

“Excuse me?” Ash asked as if offended. “Who told you that?”

“A big, angry birdie on a surfboard.”

Ash gave a painful grimace. “He knows? Great. That’s all I need.”

Zoe curled her lip at that. “We’ve been dying because you were making time with your girlfriend?”

Ash cut a nasty glare at Zoe. “Mind your own business, Amazon. I’m really not in the mood for your sniping.” He looked around at the others. “How are the rest of you?”

“Other than pissed off, with severely damaged egos, we’re fine,” Cael said. “Why haven’t you been answering our calls?”

“I wasn’t able to.”

“Uh-huh.” Cael looked less than impressed by that answer. “Well, welcome to Seattle. We have a major situation with the Daimons. They’re in league with the police force and are kicking our asses all over the streets. We’ve lost Troy and Aloysius and now Belle.”

“Thank you for the recap, Cael. But I already got the picture.”

“Good, ’cause I’m heading home. You can get your ass kicked for a while.”

Menkaura walked over to Ash. “I’m glad you made it, but I really wish you’d been here sooner.”

As Menkaura left, Susan heard Ash whisper, “Not half as much as I do.”

He looked around at the others. “Anyone else have a complaint?”

Zoe opened her mouth.

“Don’t start,” Ash snapped. “I’m already hearing the entire tirade in your head, Zoe. I did the best I could, okay?”

“Yeah, well, your best sucks.” And with that, she turned on her heel and left, muttering about her spilled coffee and worthless men.

Ravyn patted Susan on the arm, before he walked over to Ash. “You okay?”

“No. I have people who are dead and an extremely limited amount of time before I have to leave again. As Zoe says, it sucks.”

“You know how Zoe is.” As Ravyn clapped Ash on the back, he hissed and stiffened as if he were in an incredible amount of pain.

“Are you all right?” Susan asked.

Ash recovered himself almost instantly. “Fine. We’ve got bigger problems right now.”

She looked over her shoulder to see what he was staring at.… It was a police car.

She held her breath until after it’d rolled past and vanished. She looked up at Ravyn. “That was close.”

“We need to get the two of you back to the Serengeti.”

Susan was baffled by Acheron’s words. “How do you know where we’re staying?”

“I’m omniscient, Susan.”

A chill went down her spine because he knew her name. “Uh-huh. There seems to be an abundance of that going around.” She glanced to Ravyn. “You ever feel left out?”

“All the time.”

Well, that answered that.

As the men headed back up the hill, Susan couldn’t help looking around the alley. There was no sign of a battle having been fought here. Not one. Not even dust from the Daimons, not a trace that Belle had ever lived.…

A gentle breeze stirred down the narrow alley and everything looked oddly peaceful and quiet. This was a tragic life the Dark-Hunters lived. They gave their lives for mankind and no one even knew they were here. And when they died, they vanished into nothing.

It brought everything home to Susan with painful clarity. How many battles like this had Ravyn fought over the centuries? How many injuries had he tended without Acheron there to fix them? He really was alone with no one there for him.

Good God, Ravyn would have died had she not gone to the shelter and taken him out. That thought made her ache for him.

“Susan?”

She looked up at Ravyn.

“You okay, babe?”

Nodding, she headed for them and took his hand, needing to feel a physical connection to him while her emotions were so raw.

Acheron gave her a look that said he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“Can you help us stop the humans from attacking the Dark-Hunters?” she asked Ash as they headed for Phoenix’s car.

Ash opened the car door for her. “That’s a loaded question, Susan. And not as easy to answer as you’d like.”

Ravyn paused by the driver’s side. “Will you be at the club later?”

“Yeah. I’ll catch you guys then.”

Susan got into the car. Ash closed her door at the same time Ravyn closed his.

She watched Acheron step back from the car and turn back toward the hill. As Ravyn started to pull away, she could swear Acheron evaporated into the mist.

“That is a strange man.”

“Yes, he is.”

“Can’t he just kill off all the Daimons like he did tonight?”

“Probably.”

“Then why doesn’t he?”

Ravyn glanced at her as he shifted gears. “I have no idea. I guess it comes down to what Ash would say. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. There’s a lot of stuff in this world that doesn’t make sense. I would imagine the Daimons and Apollites are in some kind of balance with the rest of us and if he killed them all off, it would destroy it.”

“But you don’t know that’s true.”

“No. I’m only guessing.”

Susan considered that as they headed down the dark streets.

Balance …

It seemed like hogwash to her, but then, what did she know? She was only a reporter who up until two days ago knew nothing of their existence.

“What do you think the Daimons will do now that Acheron is here?” she asked Ravyn.

“I don’t know for sure, but if I were them, I’d run for cover.”

*   *   *

Acheron let out a long, tired breath as he flashed himself to the alley behind the Serengeti. He could feel a presence inside the club that saddened him to the deepest part of his consciousness.

Nick Gautier.

Acheron hadn’t seen him since the night Nick had killed himself and Ash had removed him from Hades and Artemis’s clutches. Nick hated him and he had every right to.

In one fit of anger, Acheron had been the one to curse him to his death. The guilt of that festered inside Acheron like an open wound he knew would never heal.

And because of Nick’s hatred, Ash had been unable to train Nick and so he’d sent him to live with Savitar. He didn’t know why Savitar had freed him to this time and place. No doubt Savitar knew, but he would never share that information.

He was even better at keeping secrets than Ash was. How he wished he could see Nick’s future. But Ash was forbidden to see his own future, or the future of anyone he cared about.

“No need to postpone the inevitable,” he said under his breath. He wasn’t a coward.

Steeling himself for what he knew was coming, Ash entered the club through the back door.

He met Dorian first as the Were-Hunter was taking a box of bottles from the storeroom.

“Ash,” he said, his eyes wide. “You’re in town.”

“Hi, Dori. How’s the mate?”

“She’s fine. How’s Simi?”

He could feel his Charonte demon in tattoo form crawling up his biceps to lay herself over his shoulder where she liked to sleep. “Same.”

“Is she with you?”

Simi was almost always with him. “She might pop in later.”

“Give us a little warning and I’ll have Terra stock up on barbecue sauce.”

“You got it.” Ash moved past him, into the kitchen. He called a greeting to Terra and the cooks before he pushed his way through the door, into the club. The hip-hop music here was loud. It was “Grillz” by Nelly.

Ash was surprised Nick could hang out with that playing. Personally, Ash liked all kinds of music, but Nick didn’t really care for hip-hop or rap. He only listened to metal and Cajun Zydeco.

And Ash knew the instant Nick saw him. The hatred went up his spine like an electric shock.

Dreading the encounter, Ash turned to find Nick standing just behind him. Gone was the good friend who used to tease and laugh with him and in his place was an enemy Ash knew was plotting his death even while he faced him.

Nick’s face was completely stoic. “Well, look who the leopards dragged in. I’m surprised you bothered.”

“Hi, Nick.”

“Fuck you.” Nick knocked back his glass of whiskey, then glared at it. “You know what I hate most about being a Dark-Hunter?”

“The fact you can’t get drunk?”

Nick put the glass on the tray of a waitress who was passing by. “It’s having to deal with you.”

Ash shook his head. It was still too soon for this. Nick needed more time. “I’ll catch you later.”

Nick grabbed Ash’s arm as he started away and spun him around to face him. “You’ll catch me now, you bastard.”

Before Ash could move, Nick punched him in the jaw. He staggered back from the force of it. And if Nick had been paying attention, he would have realized something significant. Ash didn’t feel the blow he’d just been given. Dark-Hunters couldn’t strike each other. But then, Ash wasn’t like the others.