The Dark-Hunters (62 page)

“Yeah, but every one of us has a different pressure point, you know that. In your mind you must equate that pinnacle moment with what made you a Dark-Hunter. Either that or maybe it was her powers. Maybe they fluxed with yours and sucked them out.”

“That’s insane.”

“About as insane as the headache you have which is making my head hurt for you, by the way. Now hand me back to Amanda.”

Kyrian did. “He wants to talk to you.”

Amanda took the phone.

“Listen,” Talon said, his voice stern and sharp. “We have a serious problem here. Kyrian is down until his powers return.”

“How long?”

“I have no idea. But it’ll probably be a while, and until then, he’s human, and since he hasn’t been human in over two thousand years, he’s weak from it. Vulnerable.”

Panic gripped her as she looked back at Kyrian. He still had one hand over his eyes and she could tell by the tautness of his body how much pain he felt.

“Will he be back to normal by sundown?”

“I hope so. Because if he’s not, the Daimons will have him.”

Her throat constricted as fear gripped her. The last thing she wanted was for him to be hurt because of her. “Can’t you help him?”

“No. It’s against our Code. We hunt alone. I can’t go after Desiderius until Kyrian is dead.”

“What kind of Code is that?” she shrieked.

“The kind that doesn’t usually pierce my eardrum,” Talon hissed. “Damn, girl, with that set of lungs, you have a bright future as an opera soprano.”

“You’re not funny.”

“I know. None of this is. Now listen to me for a second. It’s going to be embarrassing, can you handle it?”

His dire tone gave her pause. What was he going to say to her? “I think so.”

“Good. Now, I think our problem stems from when Kyrian came. It’s imperative that you not let him do that anymore. Because there’s a real good chance it will drain his powers out of him again. You need to stay away from him.”

Amanda’s heart ached at his words. She reached out and touched Kyrian. “Okay,” she breathed.

“All right. It’s a little after seven right now. Do us both a favor and watch over him until Nick gets there.”

“I will.”

Talon said good-bye and she hung up the phone, then returned it to the nightstand.

Kyrian looked up at her and the pain she saw in his greenish eyes tore through her. “I only wanted to make it better. I never meant to hurt you.”

He took her hand in his and held it gently. “I know.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her close, but still she could feel the rigidness of his body.

“You made it better, Amanda,” he breathed in her ear. “Don’t take away what you gave me by feeling guilty.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Just let me hold you for a little while.”

His words tugged at her heart. She lay cradled in his arms and felt his warm breath fall on her throat.

Kyrian buried his face in her hair and breathed the sweet scent of her. He’d never felt as weak as he did just then and yet something about her presence gave him strength.

“You have your out-clause.”
Talon’s words rang in his head. Once a Dark-Hunter found something to drain their immortal powers, they could regain their soul. It was something he’d never thought about before. Something he’d never dared dream about.

He could be human again.

Permanently.

But to what purpose? He was what he was. An eternal warrior. He loved his life. Loved the freedom and the power it gave him.

Yet as he lay there with Amanda nestled in his arms, bare skin to bare skin, he began to think of other forgotten things. Things he had banished to the deepest crevices of his heart.

Closing his eyes, he saw her holding Niklos. She would make a good mother.

And as he drifted back to sleep, a part of him knew she’d make a wonderful wife.

*   *   *

Amanda came awake to someone tracing slow, scorching circles around her breasts. She opened her eyes and looked down to see Kyrian’s hand gently kneading her. He had his thigh buried between her legs.

Her heart pounded as he slid his hand down, over her stomach, while he nibbled her neck with his long, pointed teeth.

“Are you going to bite me?” she asked.

His laughter vibrated down the column of her throat. “No, love, I’m going to
devour
you.”

Rolling onto her back, she looked up and saw his eyes were even greener than before. They were a light, gorgeous, vibrant green. She reached up and ran her finger just below his right eye. “Why did they change color?”

“When I lost my Dark-Hunter powers, my eyes went back to their human color.”

She frowned at him as she vaguely recalled the color from her dream. “This was the color of your eyes before you lost your soul?”

He nodded, then dropped his head and suckled the hollow of her throat.

“Should you be doing this?” she asked as she ran her hand down his spine. “Talon said you needed to rest.”

“I am resting.”

She sucked her breath in sharply as he separated the tender flesh between her legs and stroked her with his long, strong fingers. “You’re not resting, you’re playing.”

His eyes searched hers. “I
want
to play with you.”

“But won’t this make you weaker?”

“I don’t see how.”

“But what if—”

He stopped her words with a hot, scorching kiss. Amanda’s thoughts scattered.

He nibbled her lips with his teeth and pulled back. His green eyes tugged at her heart. “I can’t feel what’s inside you anymore, Amanda. Tell me you don’t want me and I’ll let you go.”

“I want you, Kyrian.” What an understatement that was.

He smiled at her, then drove himself deep inside her.

Amanda moaned at the strength of him filling her.

Kyrian’s head swam at the warmth of her beneath him. If it were possible, she felt even better to him now than she had the hour before.

He stared at her face and took delight in her passion-drunk eyes. The flush in her cheeks. She was truly beautiful.

A wave of fierce possession tore through him. A feeling so intense that he had all but forgotten it.

He couldn’t fathom where it came from, but it rocked his very being.

And it made a mockery of what he’d once felt for Theone.

He didn’t understand it, and in truth, he didn’t dare investigate it. Knowledge of his feelings could only hurt him more.

Amanda wrapped her legs around his as she savored each of his long, lush strokes inside her. She’d never dreamed love-making could be like this. Never dreamed of such intense pleasure.

And when her release came, she cried out.

Kyrian captured her open lips with his and with three more forceful strokes, he joined her.

His breathing ragged, he stared down at her. “I think I’m addicted to you.”

She smiled a smile that made his heart skip a beat.

“Hey, Kyrian!”

Kyrian barely had time to pull the sheets over them before his bedroom door burst open to show a tall, handsome man in his mid-twenties.

Amanda froze as she met Nick’s hazel-blue, wide-eyed stare. His dark-brown hair was long, and combed back from his face, and when he smiled, he displayed a deep set of dimples. “I’ll be damned, you got laid.”

“Nick,” he growled. “Get out.”

“Yeah, but I have some news on Desiderius that you really want to know. Why don’t you throw some clothes on and meet me in the office in a few minutes?” Unabashed, Nick swept another taunting look over them and sauntered out of the room.

“Remind me later, I really need to kill him.”

Amanda laughed, until she met his gaze. “You look so different with green eyes,” she whispered, placing her hand against his whiskered cheek.

He responded by capturing her lips for another scorching kiss. His tongue taunted and teased hers in a possessive way that made her breathless and weak. “What is it about you that I can’t resist?”

“My charming personality?” she quipped.

Laughing, he kissed her lightly on the nose. Amanda watched him get out of bed. Her gaze feasted on his bare backside as he crossed the room to his bathroom.

She curled up in bed while he took a shower and just remembered the way he’d felt in her arms. His scent clung to her, and she reveled in it. It made her feel as if she belonged to him and yet she knew she never could.

He was a Dark-Hunter and she was an accountant. There had never been two more mismatched people born. Still her heart didn’t listen. There was a part of her that wanted him on a level she’d never known existed.

And somewhere in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would take to free him of his Dark-Hunter oath.

CHAPTER 9

Kyrian walked down the hallway and opened the door to his office. Nick sat at the antique mahogany desk with his back to him. The black leather reclining office chair squeaked as Nick shifted in the seat while his fingers flew over the keys of the computer keyboard.

It was a familiar sight.

On the Internet, Nick was a demigod, which in hacker terminology meant he could pretty much infiltrate anything, no matter how secure the server. Because of that, Nick, Chris Eriksson, and Daphne Addams had been relegated to designing, maintaining, and securing the Dark-Hunter.com Web site where the Dark-Hunters and Squires kept all their records and communicated with each other.

It was nice to know Nick was picking up something other than women of questionable morals at school.

“So what had you barging into my room?”

Nick glanced over his shoulder with a devilish grin. “Man, you got laid. It’s about time.”

“Knock it off.”

Snorting, Nick turned his attention back to his instant message. “You’re the only man I know who can have sex with a woman who looks that good and be in this bad a mood ten minutes later. Damn, didn’t you know sex is supposed to make you feel better?”

Kyrian rolled his eyes at his impudent Squire. Rules and regulations had never applied to Nick Gautier. Nor had the boy ever been intimidated by him. Not even on the night he had learned what Kyrian was.

“Nick…” he warned.

Nick opened a small window on the computer and read the message. “Okay, okay. Here’s the deal from the Oracles:

“Of Apollite birth and of Daimon born, he is the one who will make you mourn.

“Through the wine god’s blood and bath, he exists as pure wrath.

“To bring him under final control, you must find the Dark-Hunter with a soul.”

Kyrian frowned at the riddle, which was the typical garbage given to them by the Oracles. Gods, how he
hated
them. Just once, couldn’t they actually come out and say it in plain, simple language?

Oh no. Zeus forbid, the Oracles should actually
help
them protect the humans.

“What the hell does that mean?” he asked Nick.

Nick swung around in the chair to face him. “Acheron interpreted it to say that only a Dark-Hunter with a soul can kill Desiderius. That’s why no one has ever succeeded against him. It’s simple prophecy, and you know how that works.”

“There’s no such thing as a Dark-Hunter with a soul. Not a full soul, anyway.”

“Then according to the Oracles and Ash, Desiderius can never be killed.”

Kyrian let out a slow breath. “That is
not
what I wanted to hear this morning.”

“Yeah, and all I have to say is I’m damned glad I’m not in your boots on this one.” Nick frowned. “Your eyes are green. What happened?”

“Nothing.”

Nick tilted his head and gave him a suspicious stare. “Something’s up.” He reached for his cell phone. “Do I need to call Ash again?”

Kyrian took the phone from his hand and glared murderously at him. “Leave Acheron out of this. I can handle it.”

“Yeah, you’d better. You get on my last nerve, but I’d hate to break in another Dark-Hunter.”

Kyrian snorted at him. “What is that? A declaration of love?”

“It’s one of loyalty. I don’t want to see you go down like Streigar did.”

The thought sobered Kyrian. Streigar had been a fierce Dark-Hunter who had been trapped by vampire-hunting humans who exposed him to daylight. His death had upset all of them, Dark-Hunter and Squire alike.

“Don’t worry,” he assured Nick, “I’m not going to be a dawn-surfer. I can handle myself.”

“Want to bet that’s what Streigar said, too?”

Kyrian growled. “Don’t you have class today?”

Nick laughed at that. “Boy, I’m a backwoods Cajun, I ain’t never got no class, cher.” He cleared his throat and dropped the thick Cajun accent. “And no, today’s registration. I’ve got to figure out what I’m taking next semester.”

“Fine, but I have a few things I need you to do today.”

“And that is different from any other day how?”

Sarcasm, thy name is Nick Gautier.

“I need you to take Amanda shopping for clothes. The Daimons burned her house down and she has nothing except the clothes on her back.”

Nick arched a brow. “From what I saw, she had no clothes whatsoever on her back. Her front neither.”

Kyrian narrowed his eyes on his Squire.

“Don’t have a hissy.” Nick held his hands up in mock surrender. “I know she’s yours and I would never encroach, but man, I’m not blind, either.”

“One day, Gator bait…”

“Yeah, right. That threat might actually carry weight if I didn’t know how much you live to order me around. You’d go insane if you couldn’t page me at all hours of the night.”

Kyrian couldn’t deny that. The nights did have a way of getting long and boring when there were no Daimons to pursue. And bugging Nick at three
A.M
. did provide
some
entertainment.

Nick pulled out his Palm Pilot and made notes on it. “All right, secret mission, take woman shopping.” He looked up at Kyrian. “By the way, I want hazard pay for this. I seriously hate the mall.”

Kyrian laughed. “
That
I can tell by the way you dress.”

Nick gave him a fake wounded look. “Excuse me, Mr. Armani. I happen to like the grunge look.”