The Dark-Hunters (579 page)

Ash shook his head. “No, at least not this week.” He paused as he hoped he was doing the right thing by telling them what’d really happened this afternoon. “We didn’t just wreck. We were run off the road.”

Pam narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Someone was trying to kill us. Last night, her friend Dimitri was murdered in Greece and his house searched. One of her team must have found something significant and someone wants it bad enough to kill for it. I don’t think Tory should be left alone until we know more about it. The guys who came after us today could very easily show up here.”

Pam paled. “Can we get security on her?”

Kim shook her head. “The police won’t do anything without concrete proof.”

“I can guard her,” Ash told them, “but I wanted you guys to know why if I’m not here, another guard needs to be. She can’t be left alone.”

Pam nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry, I’m a major conspiracist anyway.”

“And on that note,” Kim said, stepping back, “I’m going to cruise by the recovery room and check in on her just to make us all happy.”

“Thanks.”

Kim patted him on the arm. “No problem. I’ll be in touch.”

But even so, Ash didn’t breathe comfortably again until Tory was in a private room with him by her side.

She was hooked to several monitors and an IV. Her face was so pale that it scared him and he hated that sensation. It was also strange to see her without her glasses on.

Brushing her hair back from her forehead, he smiled at how beautiful she was. Not in a classic way—she honestly had nothing on Artemis in terms of looks, but there was something about her that even while she was unconscious shined through. Her spirit and her impishness. He could already hear her insulting him.

I thought you knew how to ride a bike. Gah, I can’t believe you wimped out and lost control like that.

He could almost laugh at her imagined barbed comments as she took him to task for letting her get hurt.

His gaze dropped to her hand. Picking it up, he studied the daintiness of it. Her fingers were long, thin and graceful. The kind of hands that were made to stroke and to soothe. Fingers made to suckle and nibble. Before he could think better of it, he held her hand to his cheek and savored the soft feel of her skin. All his life, he’d craved a loving touch. One that wasn’t selfish or hurting.

The only one to touch him like that had been Ryssa, but even she’d been stingy with them. Part of it had been his own fault. So many years of being slapped, pinched and hurt had preconditioned him to tense whenever someone came at his face. Even now he didn’t really like anyone to touch him and yet he craved it.

I’m psychotic.

No, not really. He wanted what he didn’t know and he didn’t know how to get what he wanted. It was that simple and that difficult.

But as he held her hand against his cheek, he imagined her awake, touching him. His cock hardened with need and his heart broke over the reality that he could never be with someone like her.

He was forever tied to Artemis. Forever tied to a destiny he’d wanted no part in. Trapped between his mother and a goddess who claimed ownership of him. What he wanted was one single day of freedom to be a normal man who could make decisions that would only affect his own life. A day to laugh and to relax.

And people in hell want ice water.

Wishes weren’t magical and his life was what it was. All the wishing in the world wouldn’t change that. Sighing, he led her hand back to the bed and placed it beside her.

What he was about to do was wrong and he knew it. He tried to rationalize it by saying that she was going to heal anyway … barring infection, and what were the odds she’d get an infection? She was young and healthy. He was just speeding the process up so that she wouldn’t be tied to the hospital in case the men hunting her came here.

If she’s supposed to die, she’s supposed to die.

Then she would die and his healing her wouldn’t matter at all.

“I’m not messing with her fate. I’m only healing her.” As he reached to touch her chest, he remembered the times he’d wanted to die and had been prevented from it. The time when he’d been dead and Artemis had tricked him into taking her blood to bring him back.

But this was different.

Yeah, it was real different. Artemis had saved the world by bringing him back. By waking Tory, he might end it.

Still he couldn’t stop himself from doing this.

Taking a chance he knew better than to risk, he touched the valley between her breasts and let the energy of life flow from his body into hers. The monitors popped ever so slightly before Tory gasped.

Ash moved his hand away the exact instant she opened her eyes to look up at him.

Tory lay confused as she saw Ash standing over her. With his sunglasses on, she couldn’t gauge his mood. Her entire body was sore and she couldn’t quite figure out where she was. “Did you hit me?”

Ash gave her a crooked smile. “Why would I hit you?”

He had a point. And as she tried to get her bearings, a faint image went through her mind … it was Ash holding her.
“Don’t you dare fucking die on me. Tory!”
Those angry words brought back an immediate flood of memories as she remembered the guys chasing them.

“You were shot!” she said, looking for his wounds.

“No. They missed.”

Tory frowned. The one guy had shot them at almost point-blank range. How could he have missed? And then she saw the bike going down in her mind and remembered sliding over the street. “Where did you learn to ride anyway? Disasters-R-Us?”

Ash laughed. “I knew you were going to insult me when you woke up.”

She wasn’t amused by it. “What happened to wreck us?”

“One of the cars clipped our tire.”

“And we lived?”

He nodded. “We lived.”

“You sure?”

“I think so.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right.” She looked around the hospital room that wasn’t much more than a blur of lights and shadows without her glasses. “I don’t think I’d be in this much pain if I were dead. Not to mention, if I’m this blind after death, I have a bone to pick with the higher powers.”

Ash stared at her in disbelief. How could she be making jokes about what had happened? “I think we left your glasses under the car that hit us.”

“Figures. I’m just glad you didn’t leave me there too, though to be honest, my ribs feel like the car is still parked on top of me.”

Ash didn’t say anything since his legs weren’t quite the same either.

“Oh my God, you’re awake?”

Ash stepped back as Kim squealed and then ran to the bed to embrace her friend. He was always amazed by such friendship and love. Throughout history, he’d witnessed it, but he’d never really felt it. He had people he could rely on. People he called friend, but none of them—not even Alexion—was ever privy to the real him. None of them knew his thoughts and though they might know some of his past, they certainly didn’t know all of it.

He was a ghost who walked through life observing it, wanting to take part, but too afraid to risk being hurt to reach out. No wonder he and Jaden got along so well. They were armored to the point that they were hollow inside.

And as he’d learned when he’d been human, nothing could ever fill that vast hole. It was endless and it was ever consuming whatever he attempted to put there.

Tory had a strange sensation go through her as she remembered something else from the wreck.

Ash had been hit by the car …

Releasing Kim, she looked at him and saw no injuries on his body. Not even a bruise. Yet she remembered clearly the last thing she’d seen before she blacked out.

Ash being run over. Completely run over. It stood out because until then, she’d felt no pain, sliding on the street. Then the instant the car hit him, her pain had set in and her last thought had been that she’d just watched him die …

You’re imagining things. It’s shock from the accident.

Or was it?

What are you saying, Tor? The man’s immortal?

How stupid could one woman be? He wasn’t immortal by any means. She had an overactive imagination and it was playing with her again.

“Ash said someone intentionally ran you guys off the road.”

She blinked at Kim’s chatter. “Yeah, they did.”

“So what are you guys going to do?”

She looked to Ash who appeared to be watching her. “What
are
we going to do?”

“I don’t know about you, but my plan is simple. Find the bastards and kill them.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kim’s eyes widened at Ash’s harsh words. “A little bloodthirsty, isn’t it?”

Not to him and not when they so richly deserved it. He flashed her a taunting grin. “Given what they did to Tory, I’m thinking a quick death is merciful. Not to mention they ruined one of my favorite jackets and totaled my bike.”

Pam snorted. “Well, let’s just torture then bomb the bastards. How dare they!”

Ash ignored the sarcasm as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Now you’re thinking like me. A little eye-gouging, some slit nostrils … I could seriously get into that.”

Kim shuddered as she spoke to Tory. “I think your new friend is a
little
bloodthirsty.”

Ash stifled a smile at her words. If she only knew that was his primary nourishment. And yes, he could definitely use some blood since it’d been over a week since he last ate.

Kim’s phone rang. “Work calls. I’ll be back soon.”

Ash stepped back toward the bed to check in with Tory. “How are you feeling?”

She smiled up at him. “Amazingly whole. How about you? I thought the car ran you over.”

“I rolled out of the way.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “It didn’t look like that from my perspective. I could have sworn it plowed right over both of your legs.”

He looked down at them before he shrugged. “Obviously not.”

Tory’s expression turned sweet and adoring, and it hit him like a blow to his stomach. She placed her hand gently on his arm in the most loving touch he’d probably ever experienced. “Thank you for getting me here. Kim said they told her you were bleeding like crazy when you carried me in through the ER doors.”

He felt his face flush at her gratitude. “Don’t worry about it. Next time I’m hurt, you can carry me.”

She laughed at his humor. “I think it would take at least a team of people to carry you.”

“Back to the insults, huh?”

She shook her head at him. “That’s not an insult. You are a
big
man.”

Ash opened his mouth to speak, but before he had a chance, the doctor came in to examine her. He moved away while the doctor chatted with Tory.

“You are one very lucky woman. But for your friend getting you here as quickly as he did, you wouldn’t have made it. Your spleen was severely damaged in the wreck.”

Tory was still amazed by what Ash had done for her. Kim had told her that he’d been in bad shape himself and that he’d been overwrought when she’d died in his arms. Tenderness for him overwhelmed her.

When the bike had gone down, she remembered him reaching to protect her. He’d tried to keep her near him, but the force of the crash had separated them.

She grimaced as the doctor touched a tender spot on her abdomen.

He pulled back with an incredulous look. “You’re healing unbelievably fast.”

“Good genes and lots of vitamins.”

He laughed at her. “You keep this up and we’ll have you out of here in about three days.”

Ash cleared his throat. “Is there any chance she can leave sooner?”

Tory caught Ash’s meaning. “Yeah, I can’t really afford to be out of commission too long.”

“Honey,” the doctor said in a strained tone, “you died. You might want to think about that for a minute and let it digest. You’re really lucky you’re still with us so let me watch over you for a few days before we turn you loose, okay?”

It was hard to argue when he put it like that. “All right. Thanks, doctor.”

He inclined his head before he left them alone.

Tory looked over at Ash, who was standing back with that stoicism he wore like a force field to keep the rest of the world away. She knew how hard she’d hit the ground and it wouldn’t have been a bit softer for him. Yet he’d dragged himself to his feet and then carried her. His strength mystified her. “How did you get me here?”

“I have my evil Jedi ways,” he said in a flat, even tone. “The Force is strong with this one.”

She laughed again. He could be so charming when he wanted to. And so sweet. “Well, if the doc won’t release me, what do we do?”

He shrugged while keeping his arms crossed. “We keep an eye out for our new friends and make sure they don’t decide to finish the job they started.”

She nodded. “They think I have the journal, don’t they?”

“Would be my guess. Either that or they’re just really bored and thought knocking us around would alleviate it.”

“Speaking of boredom … what am I going to do while I’m locked in here?”

“Wanna read some manga?”

She grimaced at him. “Are you serious?”

He nodded. “It’s like crack. Once you start, you have to keep reading. I have some
Priest, Hellsing
and
Trinity Blood
issues handy. Interested?”

“Actually, I’d like to read the journal we found. Someone who’s really tall and male hasn’t finished teaching me Atlantean.”

“It’s not in Atlantean. It’s Greek.”

“So say you.”

Groaning, Ash shrugged his backpack off his shoulder and manifested the journal inside it. One of the reasons he always kept a backpack with him was so that he could teleport things that he needed without arousing mortal suspicions. Since no one knew what was in his pack, they didn’t know when he used his powers to get something he needed or wanted.

It also held the things that meant the most to him and kept them from harm. Ryssa’s three journals that he’d found after Didymos had been destroyed, her hair comb and Simi’s teething toy that Savitar had given him for her when she’d been a toddler. Her baby fang marks were forever etched into the wood. The backpack also held his mother’s medallion wrapped in one of the black scarves that Simi had brought back from one of her many visits to Kalosis.