The Dark-Hunters (452 page)

And she loved him—that was what she’d said. No woman had ever told him that before. None. It was an impossible thing for him to accept, but still he wanted to believe it desperately.

Tenderness for her overwhelmed him as long-buried dreams rushed from some part of his heart he didn’t even recognize. He wanted to have a future with her.

A family.

That thought jolted him so hard that he actually slid out of her for a moment. A family? What was he thinking? That would be all kinds of stupid.

Yet he wondered what a child with her would be like. Fair like its mother or dark like him? Would the baby be powerful? But the most important thing was that it would be a part of him and a part of her.

Ah jeez, I’m turning into an old woman.

Next thing, he’d be crocheting tea cozies and clipping coupons.

Or worse, wearing a pink bathrobe with fuzzy slippers.

Kat felt a strange shift in Sin’s touch. He cradled her body tenderly against his and it melted it. She kissed him heatedly as he thrust against her. This was what she wanted. What she needed. Until him, she’d never known love, and she couldn’t imagine ever feeling like this toward anyone else.

She wanted to hold him forever. To keep him close to her and to protect him from anyone who would hurt him.

Her body tingled as all her senses swirled together. In a bolt of white-hot pleasure, her orgasm came. Throwing her head back, Kat screamed in ecstasy.

Sin continued to thrust until he joined her there in paradise. He collapsed against her, holding her tight while she listened to his heart pounding against her breast and his breath tickled her neck.

“I think,” she whispered in his ear, “you’ve broken me.”

“How so?”

“I can’t feel my legs and I have no desire to ever leave this bed again.”

He laughed. “Can I sleep up here?”

“Um, no. I want on top. You’re heavy.”

He faked an indignant gape. “Heavy? I’ll have you know—”

“You’re six feet, seven inches. Your bones alone weigh a ton.”

“And what about you?”

“I’m heavy, too, but I want on top.”

He nibbled at her lips. “Fine. I’ll make a deal with you then … feel free to climb on top of me any time you want to.” He rolled over then and pulled her across his body.

Smiling, Kat settled down by his side. “Oh yeah, this is perfect.” She splayed her hand over his chest and merely took delight in the feel of his skin under her palm.

Sin couldn’t breathe as he felt the heat of her body pressed up against his as she told him about Xypher and what she’d accomplished in the Underworld. While she talked, the scent of her body hung heavy in Sin’s head and, to his surprise, he could feel his cock starting to harden again.

How could that be? And yet there was no denying what he felt. Some alien part of himself needed her more than his body needed to breathe.

Katra had a hold on him that he couldn’t even begin to understand. But that same alien part of himself wouldn’t change that hold for anything. And when she slid herself over him to feed, he felt an inexplicable closeness to her. It was like they were sharing more than blood with each other. They were sharing souls.

And as he lay there, lost in the scent and sensation that was Katra, he drifted off to sleep.

Well fed and sated, Kat smiled as she heard Sin’s light snore. It was a sweet sound that quickly lulled her to sleep. But unlike the wonderful sharing that had zapped her strength, her dreams were fraught with nightmares.

All she could see was the gallu coming after her. Hear Kessar calling down the Dimme to kill them.

If only she knew it was a dream and not a premonition …

*   *   *

Kat
woke up to an empty bed. She actually felt like pouting at the missing sight and warmth of Sin.

At least until she heard someone moving around outside. Smiling, she grabbed Sin’s button-down shirt from the bed and shrugged it over her shoulders, leaving it unbuttoned to hopefully entice him back to bed before she went to sneak up on him.

She opened the door and smiled as she saw him bent over behind the bar. Biting her lip, she snuck up to him, but before she reached him he straightened.

Kat squeaked in alarm as she realized he wasn’t tall enough or wide enough at this angle to be Sin. Kish turned around with a frown that turned to a gasp as he saw her nearly naked state.

Embarrassed to the depth of her soul, she ran toward the safety of the bedroom and slammed the door.

“Kat,” he said from the other side. “It’s okay. I didn’t see anything. Really.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Okay, look. I will never
admit
to seeing anything. Please don’t tell Sin or he’ll gouge out my eyes. Okay? It’s our secret. I swear.”

Kat growled as she snatched up her clothes and dressed, only to remember that she could have done it without touching them. But at this point, she was so rattled, she didn’t know what she was doing. “Why are you here?”

“I was cleaning up. Sin won’t let housekeeping in. He doesn’t trust them.”

Kat snatched open the door. “He doesn’t trust anyone.”

“True. And I was keeping breakfast warm for you. Sin told me he’d have my balls if I didn’t take care of you. Personally, I like my balls attached to my body, so I intend to take really good care of you in a purely platonic way.”

He was an odd yet strangely amusing man. “Where is Sin?”

“Downstairs plotting gallu destruction with Damien. He said that you needed to rest and that I wasn’t to disturb you. I didn’t, did I?”

“Not until a second ago.”

He gave her a really pained expression. “You’re going to get me killed, aren’t you?”

She thought about it … hard. But in the end, she wasn’t that mean. “No.”

He let out a relieved breath as he backed up toward the bar. “I didn’t know what you liked so I ordered some of everything. Cheese blintz, French toast, eggs nine different ways, bagels … you name it and it’s here or I’ll get it here ASAP. I figure whatever you don’t eat we can feed to the demons.”

Kat smiled in spite of herself. “I’m sure they’d appreciate it.”

“You have no idea. The kitchen staff is going wild about the orders they’re placing. We’ve had to import extra cooks from other casinos and restaurants for the two of them alone.”

Laughing, Kat stepped around him to grab a piece of toast. “I’ll just take some scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast with juice.”

“Great. Sit right there”—he indicated a bar stool at the counter—“and I’ll take care of it.” He pointed toward the toast in her hand. “Jelly, jam, or butter?”

“None of that, thank you. I like it plain.”

He held up two thumbs. “Works for me.”

Kat took another bite as she watched him prepare a plate for her and she wondered what had brought such a quirky person into Sin’s service. “So have you been with Sin long?”

Kish shrugged. “A few thousand years, give or take a decade or two.”

She choked at his unexpected response. She’d assumed he was human, but obviously she was wrong. “Get out. Really?”

“That’s why he trusts me.” He set the plate down in front of her, then added the silverware and a linen napkin.

“But you’re human, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “I’m human, except when I first wake up in the morning. Even I don’t want to be around myself then.”

Normally that would have amused her. However, she now had a mystery to solve. “But if you’re human—”

“How am I still alive?” He grinned and winked at her. “I’m a mind reader, too.”

Yeah …

He cleaned up some of the eggs he’d spilled while filling her plate before he answered. “Back in the day, I made a really bad bargain with a demon for my soul in exchange for immortality and wealth.” He met her gaze and she saw and felt his admiration and gratitude. “Sin saved me.”

“How?”

He shrugged. “I never asked for the details. I was too afraid to find out what it had cost him. All I know is he bartered to free me and I’ve been with him ever since. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that man.”

She could understand that and had to admire Kish for his loyalty. She’d been around enough centuries to know that most people, even when bailed out by someone, tended to turn on them for no apparent reason as soon as they had the chance. It said a lot for Kish’s character that he was still here and still acknowledged the debt he owed Sin. “How did you meet?”

A wry light came into Kish’s eyes as he covered up the leftover food. “Same as Damien—I was trying to kill him.”

She choked on her eggs. That wasn’t what she expected Kish to say. “And he let you live?”

“Freaky, huh?” Kish laughed before he continued. “Sin lives his entire life up to his eyeballs in death. Believe it or not, he saves everyone he can, when he can. I hadn’t been bitten by my demon yet and so he was able to pull me out. Most of the people, and I use that term loosely, who work below owe Sin their lives in one way or another.”

Wow. She was amazed by Sin’s compassion even though he tried to keep his distance from others … especially after all the betrayal in his life. The fact that he would still reach out to help another …

He was incredible, and it made her love him all the more.

She took a drink of juice before she spoke again. “But how can you still be alive?”

“Sin was the god of the calendar year. Even though Artemis took most of his powers, she didn’t get them all, and that was one he semi-maintained. He’s able to stop the aging cycle. Not as effectively as he could when he was a Sumerian god, but enough to keep me alive and not aging.”

That was a neat power to have. “Couldn’t he do that for Damien?”

“No. They tried it once and it almost killed him. Damien’s cursed—that’s a whole other animal to skin, and Sin’s powers don’t extend to it.”

“But he saved you,” she said, her heart melting at the thought. “You must have been a good man.”

He scoffed at her. “I was the worst sort of trash. A liar, a thief. For pocket change I would have cut the throat of anyone, man, woman … child. It didn’t matter. I’m not proud of what I was. Had Sin cut my throat and left me for dead, I would have deserved it.” He looked up, his eyes filled with turmoil. “I’ve never been able to understand why he saved me. God knows I didn’t deserve it. I had no concept of compassion until he spared my life.”

The more Kat learned about Sin, the more she was amazed by him. And she wanted to fully understand what had made Sin spare Kish. She reached out and touched Kish’s arm. In an instant, she was there in that moment.

Kish was on the ground, bleeding, while Sin stood over him fingering the knife he’d taken from Kish’s hand while Kish had tried his best to kill him.

“Do it,” Kish had snarled.

Sin had pulled the smaller man up from the street by his tunic front. He held Kish by his fist as he stared into Kish’s dark eyes. And it was then Sin saw the life Kish had lived. The terror, the pain. A runaway slave, he’d lived his life wanting freedom and comfort.

Wanting something he didn’t have to fight for, and it resonated in Sin’s own soul. He understood just how much something so inconsequential could mean.

Sin had set Kish on his feet. “Life only has the value a person gives it. If I killed you here and now, yours would be worthless and no one would mourn you. Is that truly what you want?”

Kish had curled his lip at Sin. “I don’t own my life. It means nothing to me.”

“Then it means nothing to anyone.” Sin had narrowed his gaze on Kish. “But if you had your life again, would it still be worthless?”

“I don’t understand riddles. I’m only a servant.”

“Servant or master, you’re not stupid. The question is simple … if I give you back your life, will you throw it away again or will you make it worth something?”

Kish hadn’t spoken, but the hopeful glimmer in his eyes had said it all. And so Sin had spared him.

Kat let go of Kish’s arm and smiled at the warmth that filled her.

He made a noise of disgust. “You know that’s kind of rude to spy on someone like that and not to ask. Not to mention really intrusive.”

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to know.”

And still he looked less than placated. “So that’s supposed to excuse you just traipsing into my past and my emotions?”

“Okay, sorry. I get it. Damn, you are a lot like Sin. I promise I will never do that to you again.”

“Good, ’cause I didn’t like it. How would you feel if I went frolicking through your past without your permission?”

“Kish…”

He moved away from her, his face sullen. “I’m just saying you should put a leash on that power. That’s all.”

She held her hands up in surrender. “It is leashed. Now drop the subject or I’ll tell Sin you’ve seen me naked.”

That instantly cleared the sullen look. “I will never bring this topic up again. Oh wait. What topic? I have Alzheimer’s. I know nothing at all.” He ran to the food and held up one of the silver domes, then changed the subject. “Do you want the rest of this or can I take it to the demons now?”

“Have at it.”

If a man could leave skid marks, Kish would have as he whisked the cart out of the room to Simi’s.

Laughing at his haste, Kat finished her breakfast, showered, then dressed before she headed downstairs to find Sin, who was supposed to be in Damien’s office. Instead she found Damien sitting at his desk, talking on his cell phone.

He hung up the instant she appeared.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said sheepishly.

He shrugged it off. “You didn’t. I was only bitching.”

“About?”

“Sin’s family, who thought they could contain and control demons.”

Ah, that explained it. “I have that same rant about my family some days. Only mine usually involves their tempers.”

Damien put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his office chair as he watched her with an odd half smile. “You really sent a Skotos in to spy on the gallu?”

“You have a better idea?”

“Not really. Seems my bright idea only served in getting my ass handed to me on a platter. I don’t want to repeat that humiliation, if you know what I mean.”

At least he had a sense of humor about it. She looked around his office, which was decorated with cult movie figurines and posters. He looked so normal and nice … like anyone you’d meet on the street, and yet at the same time he was lethal. And he lived on people’s souls. “Do you know how disturbing it is for me to be having a conversation with a Daimon?”