The Dark-Hunters (50 page)

And with relish.

“Now, this is interesting,” Hunter said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Amanda didn’t know what to do as she stood there with her wrist dangerously close to the sudden bulge under the towel. Why was it they kept getting attached?

Her gaze slid over the multitude of scars covering his body and she couldn’t help wondering how many of them were from the torture he’d mentioned to Julian.

“Most of them,” he whispered as he moved one hand over to cup her neck in his hand. She felt his fingers stroking her hair. His grip on her shoulder tightened ever so slightly.

“What?” she asked, looking up.

“Most of them are from the Romans.”

She frowned. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“I’m eavesdropping on your thoughts much the same way you listened to me and Julian.”

A chill went down her spine as she considered his psychic powers. “You can do that?”

He nodded, but he wasn’t looking at her, he was staring at his hand in her hair as if he were committing the texture and feel of it to memory.

His gaze returned to hers so fast it actually made her gasp. “And in answer to the question you’re too afraid to think, all you have to do is move your arm and you’ll know.”

“Know what?”

“If I look as
yummy
without the towel as I do with it.”

Her face flamed at the way he used her own words to describe exactly what she was too terrified to think.

Before she could move, he released her and dropped the towel to hang from her bracelet.

Amanda gaped at the sight of him completely naked before her. His hard, well-toned body was perfectly sculpted. And she quickly learned that his skin was golden all over. It wasn’t a tan, it was his natural skin color.

She wanted him with a desperate need.

All she could think of was taking him into the bedroom and pulling him on top of, over, and then under her for the rest of the night.

Oh, the things she wanted to do to this man.

A half-smile hovered on the edges of his lips, and by the light in his eyes, she knew he was reading her thoughts. Again.

He leaned forward, his face just to the side of hers. His hot breath fell against her neck, scorching her. “Ancient Greeks never had a problem with public nudity,” he whispered in her ear.

Her breasts tightened.

Slowly, he lifted his hand so that he could tilt her chin up. His gaze held hers enthralled as he appeared to search her mind for something.

Before she could move, he lowered his lips to hers.

Amanda moaned at the contact. This kiss was different from his last one. This one was gentle. Tender.

And it made her burn.

He left her lips and trailed a blazing path down her jaw to her neck, his tongue laving her skin ever so lightly. She wrapped her arms around his bare shoulders and surrendered her weight to him.

“You are so very tempting,” he whispered, then traced the curve of her ear with his tongue. “But I have a job to do and you hate all things not human. And
everything
paranormal.” He pulled back and gave her a wistful look. “Pity.”

He freed his towel from her bracelet, tossed it over his shoulder, then headed to the bedroom. Amanda clenched her teeth at the sight of that luscious, gorgeous backside.

Her body on fire, she watched until he closed the door behind him.

Suddenly, she remembered the diaper.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Hunter opened the door, tossed her one, then closed it again.

*   *   *

Kyrian leaned against the closed door as he fought the raging need inside him. It was raw and vicious, and it made him ache for things he knew he could never have.

Things that could only hurt him more. And he had been hurt enough to last ten thousand lifetimes.

He had to put her out of his thoughts.

But even as he stood there, the loneliness of his life settled down on him with a vengeance.

“You let your heart lead you far too often, boy. One day, it’s going to lead you to ruin.”
He winced at his father’s warning in his head. Neither of them had any idea at that time just how true those words would one day prove.

I am a Dark-Hunter.

That was what he needed to focus on. He was the only thing standing between Amanda and annihilation.

Desiderius was out there and he must stop him.

But what he really wanted to do was go downstairs, scoop Amanda up in his arms, and carry her back to his house where he could spend the entire night exploring every inch of her body with his lips, his hands. His tongue.

“I am such a fool,” he snarled, forcing himself to dress in the clothes Julian had left for him.

He would think no more of her or of his past. He had a higher calling. One that couldn’t be ignored.

He was a protector. And he would live and die as a protector, which meant that physical comforts such as a woman like Amanda were strictly off limits to him.

A few minutes later, dressed in Julian’s jeans and a black V-neck sweater, he left the room with his leather coat over his arm, and went downstairs where Julian, Grace, Amanda, and the children were waiting.

Julian handed him a small paper sack.

“Gee,” Kyrian said as he took it, “thanks, Dad. I promise to be a good boy and play nice with the other kids.”

Julian laughed. “Smart-ass.”

“Better than a dumb-ass.” Kyrian sobered as he looked at Amanda and a burning wave of desire scorched him. What was it about her that made him unable to look at her without wanting to taste that mouth? Feel her warm body in his arms?

Kyrian cleared his throat. “Make sure she stays here until morning. The Daimons can’t enter without an invitation.”

“What about tomorrow night?” Grace asked.

“Desiderius should be dead by then.”

Julian nodded.

Kyrian turned to leave, but before he could reach the door, Amanda stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm.

“Thank you,” she said.

He inclined his head to her.

Leave.
Because if he didn’t, he just might yield to that demanding need inside him.

He looked past Amanda to Julian’s wife. “It was nice meeting you, Grace.”

“You too, Commander.”

As he started out the door, Amanda caught him again and turned him about. Before he knew what she was doing, she kissed him on the cheek.

“You be careful,” she whispered as she pulled away.

Stunned, he could do nothing more than blink. But what touched him most was the concern he saw in her crystal-blue eyes, the concern he felt in her heart. She really didn’t want him hurt.

Desiderius is waiting.

The thought tore through his mind. He
had
to leave.

Yet walking away from her was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do.

“Have a nice life, Cupcake,” he said to her.

“Cupcake?” Amanda asked in an offended tone.

He smiled. “After the ‘buff stud in black leather’ remark, I figured I owed you one.” He patted her hand, then reluctantly removed it from his arm. “It’s almost eight, you better go call your sister.”

Kyrian let go of her hand and instantly felt the vacancy.

He exchanged a knowing look with Julian. This would be the last time they saw each other and they both knew it. “Good-bye,
adelfos.
”

“Good-bye, little brother,” Julian said.

Kyrian turned around, opened the door, and made his solitary way to his car.

Once inside, he couldn’t resist looking back. Though he couldn’t see Amanda, he could feel her on the other side of the door, staring after him.

He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had been sorry to see him go. Nor could he recall ever feeling this insane need to keep a woman with him at any cost.

CHAPTER 5

After Kyrian left, Amanda called Tabitha and reassured her she was safe, then took a quick shower and borrowed a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt from Grace. She sat on the couch with a plate of spaghetti while Grace and the babies retired for the night.

Julian came from the kitchen and handed her a Coke, then took a seat in the armchair. “All right,” he said. “Where shall I begin?”

She didn’t even have to think about it. “The beginning. I want to know exactly what Dark-Hunters and Daimons are. Where did the Apollites come from? And exactly how are the three of them related?”

Julian laughed. “You cut right to the chase, don’t you?” He turned his glass of iced tea around in his hands as he appeared to think about how best to answer her question. “At times like this, I wish Homer’s
Kynigostaia
had survived.”

“Cog-no-whatever that word is, is what?”

He laughed again, then took a drink of tea. “It was the record of the birth of the
Kynigstosi,
the Dark-Hunters, and could have answered most questions you have about them. It detailed the rise of the two races that once held dominion over the earth. The humans and Apollites.”

Amanda nodded. “Okay, I know where humans come from, what about the Apollites?”

“Aeons ago, Apollo and Zeus were walking through Thebes when all of a sudden Zeus declared the greatness of the human race. He called humans the ‘earthly pinnacle of perfection.’ Apollo scoffed and said there was a lot of improving to be done. He boasted that he could easily create a superior race. Zeus told him to prove it. So Apollo found a nymph who agreed to bear his children.

“In three days the first four Apollites were born. Three days after that, those children grew into adulthood, and three days later, they were ready to be rulers of the earth.”

Amanda wiped her lips with her napkin. “So the Apollites are the children of Apollo. Gotcha. Now what makes some of them Daimons?”

“Would you wait? I’m the one telling this story,” Julian said patiently in the voice she was sure he reserved for his college students. “Because the Apollites were so superior to humans in intellect, beauty, and strength, Zeus banished them to the island of Atlantis where he hoped they would stay peacefully. I don’t know if you’ve ever read Plato’s
Dialogues
—”

“No offense, but I spent my entire college career avoiding liberal arts courses.”

Julian smiled. “Anyway, most of what Plato wrote about Atlantis is true. They were an aggressive race who wanted to dominate the earth, and ultimately Olympus, as well. Apollo didn’t mind since he would become the supreme god should they win.”

Amanda knew where this was headed. “I’ll bet that made old Zeus happy.”

“He was delighted,” Julian said sarcastically. “But not half so much as the poor Greeks who were being hammered by the Apollites. Fed up with it, they realized they were fighting a lost cause. So they devised a scheme to seduce Apollo to their side. They chose the most beautiful woman ever born to them, Ryssa, to be his divine mistress.”

“More beautiful than Helen of Troy?”

“This was a
long
time before Helen, and yes, accounts claimed she was by far the most beautiful woman ever born. Anyway, Apollo, being Apollo, couldn’t resist her. He fell in love with her and she ultimately bore him a son. When the Apollite queen heard of this, she became enraged and sent out a team of assassins to kill mother and child. The queen told her men to make it appear as if a wild animal had killed them so that Apollo wouldn’t retaliate against the Apollites.”

Amanda whistled low as she guessed what happened after that. “Apollo found out.”

“Yes, he did, and it got ugly. You see, Apollo is also the god of plagues. He destroyed Atlantis and would have destroyed every single Apollite as well had Artemis not stopped him.”

“Why did she do that?”

“Because the Apollites are part of his flesh and blood. To destroy them would be to destroy him and the world as we know it.”

“Oh,” Amanda said, her eyes wide. “That’s a big, bad thing. Glad she stopped him.”

“So were the rest of the pantheon. But still, Apollo wanted vengeance. He banished the Apollites from the sun so that he would never again have to see one of them and be reminded of their treachery. Since they had made it appear as if a wild beast had killed Ryssa, he gave them animal characteristics. Fangs, honed senses—”

“What about their strength and speed?”

“They already had that, along with psychic abilities that Apollo couldn’t take from them.”

Amanda frowned at that. “I thought gods could do anything they wanted to. Isn’t that the point of being a god?”

“Not always. They have laws and such they abide by, same as us. But in the case of psychic powers, once that channel is opened, it can never be closed. That’s why Apollo didn’t take his gift of foresight from Cassandra when she spurned him, but rather made it so that no one would believe her prophecies.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Amanda took a drink of her Coke. “Okay, so the Apollites are psychic and strong, and can’t come into contact with sunlight. What about drinking blood? Do they do that or not?”

“Yes, they drink blood, but only if it comes from another Apollite. In fact, because of Apollo’s curse, they have to feed from each other every few days or they die.”

“Ew,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “That’s nasty.” She shivered at the thought of having to live that way. “Some of them do drink from humans, right?”

Julian hedged a bit. “Not exactly. If they turn Daimon, they will drain the blood from humans, but it’s not the blood they’re after so much as the human soul.”

She arched a brow as a tingle went down her spine. Kyrian hadn’t been joking about that aspect of them. Great. “Why do they need to steal our souls?”

“Apollites only live thrice nine years. On their twenty-seventh birthday, they die a very slow and painful death in which their bodies literally disintegrate into dust over a twenty-four-hour period.”

This time she cringed visibly at the thought. “How horrible. I guess the moral of this story is not to tick off the god of plagues.”

“Yeah,” Julian said grimly. “To avoid their fate, most Apollites kill themselves the day before their birthday. Others decide to go Daimon. As Daimons they cheat their sentence by taking human souls into their bodies. So long as they maintain the soul, they can live. But the problem is the human soul can’t live in an Apollite body and it starts to die almost as soon as they take it. As a result, the Daimons are forced to continue preying on humans every few weeks to sustain themselves.”