The Dark-Hunters (721 page)

“What? That my sister was a selfish bitch? That definitely wasn’t your fault.”

“No, but families are supposed to hang together in every adversity. It sickens me when they don’t. I wish I could kill your sister for you.”

Sam had to catch herself before she told him how she felt about him. No good could come of that. They could never be together and she knew it. No matter how much she wanted it to be.…

Some wishes just weren’t meant to happen and all the desire in the world couldn’t change that.

I love you, Dev.

Unfortunately, her love wasn’t selfish. She only wanted the best for him and the best wasn’t her. It was a woman who could have his children and stand by his side here at Sanctuary. Not one who’d sold her soul to a goddess.

The song “You” by Fisher played through her head. Those words had always choked her up but never more than right now when she understood them in a way she never had before.

“You don’t know it yet, but you’re everything.…”

Why did her life have to be a study in losing the things she cared about? It was so unfair, and yet how could she complain? She’d chosen this life. She was a defender to the world. There was no higher calling than that. No job more honorable or noble.

Trying to reinforce her resolve to let him go, she cleared her throat. “You ever think about having kids?”

“All the time. I’d love to have a houseful. Then one of my nieces or nephews turns
Exorcist
on me and spews the most disgusting things imaginable out both ends—things that make the demon snot feel like a bubble bath. That usually cures me of that stupidity for at least a day or two.”

She laughed so hard her eyes teared. She’d never quite thought of it that way, but he was right. Kids had a tendency to explode. A lot. “You’re so bad.”

He shrugged with an innocence he definitely didn’t possess. “You asked. I answered.”

She shook her head. “Seriously, though, don’t you want Dev cubs?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s scary and unpredictable. I think about it sometimes. Not that it matters. I’m not a single-cell organism capable of mitosis, so without a mate it’s a moot topic and I don’t believe in torturing myself over things I don’t have. I’d much rather focus on and be grateful for what I do have.”

Gah, he made it so hard to hate him. So hard to push him away even when she knew it was the only practical thing to do.

Most of all, he made her want to reach out and touch him. Just to hold him for one moment.

If only …

Dev felt the sudden awkward silence between them like an iron cloak. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No.”

How did women do that? Say a word that was the exact polar opposite of what they meant. Obviously he’d said or done something to destroy her playful mood.

If only he knew what it was.

Whatever. He couldn’t make it better unless she told him what he’d done to offend her. But that was the one thing about the female gender that made him insane. For a group who prided themselves on communication skills, they could be remarkably silent when it came to things that really mattered to them.

It was the old if-you-knew-me-like-you-should-then-you’d-know-why-I’m-mad game. Well, how was he supposed to learn her if she didn’t tell him?

Vicious cycle, and it was one he didn’t have time for. Not when they were about to launch themselves into something that could get all of them killed. An image of her lying dead seared him. Her current state was a lethal reminder of what could happen if he failed.

And Fang …

Aimee would never forgive him. But there was no way to leave him at home. Fang wasn’t that kind of wolf. Bastard.

He had a sick feeling in his stomach that things weren’t what they should be. There was something in the ether around him that wanted to warn him.

If only he knew what …

The seen and the unseen. Things were about to get hairy as hell for them all.

*   *   *

Ethon cocked his head as he heard the spirits of the fallen whispering to him. It was a talent that had served him well for the last five thousand years. It enabled him to see his enemies coming and to hear the souls that had been lured by the Daimons.

But what they told him right now left him cold.

Dev and Sam were about to kill themselves.

Two against Aello was a fool’s errand. While Ethon had never faced her himself, his grandfather had been with Herakles when Herakles had defeated her. When Ethon had been a small boy, his grandfather had spent hours detailing the vicious attacks of the Amazons as a tribe and Aello in particular.

No one escaped them unscathed without divine intervention. Which both Sam and Dev lacked.

This was going to get bloody and if no one helped them, they wouldn’t live through the stupidity.

Reaching for his phone, he made a quick call.

If they were going to battle, they weren’t going alone.
I won’t let you die again, Samia.
This time he wouldn’t fail her. And if he had to lay down his own life for hers, so be it.

*   *   *

Dev met Fang in the hallway. By Fang’s grim visage, he knew the wolf would much rather be tending the bar tonight than joining him on a suicide run. Not that he blamed him in the least. He’d rather be downstairs himself.

But not at the cost of Sam’s freedom.

“You know you can stay here,” he said to his brother-in-law. “I’d actually prefer it.”

Fang shook his head. “I would never leave you to do this alone. You didn’t shirk at going into hell to help me, Dev. I’ve not forgotten it.”

Which was why Dev had grown to appreciate his unique family member. Fang had proven himself worth the risk Dev had taken to save him, and he was glad to call him brother.

Sam cleared her throat. “We better hurry. We don’t have much time until dark.”

Dev inclined his head. Just as he was about to teleport himself and Sam to the circle, he saw two people coming up the stairs.

Ethon and Scorpio.

And they were dressed for battle. Both in solid black, Ethon was dressed in a pair of slacks and a button-down shirt. His long coat hid a full weapons arsenal. Knives, at least one gun, and most likely a sword. Scorpio, on the other hand, was much more overt. He wore a short-sleeved shirt with leather vambraces Dev knew concealed steel spikes he could shoot out and use to punch through just about anything.

Dev scowled at them. “What are you doing here?”

Ethon gave him a shit-eating grin. “Covering your back, Cochise.”

Interesting comparison. Cochise had been resourceful and clever, escaping death time and again. Dev only hoped that when this war was over, he was as lucky as the Apache chief to die at peace.

Sam drew up short as she saw the Spartan there. “Ethon—”

He held his hand up to stop her protest. “It’s all right, Samia. Scorpio and I have run it past Ash. The Dogs stand together. You know this. Warriors to the end.”

“Fools to the end,” she snapped.

Ethon’s grin widened. “Always.”

Sam wanted to argue with him, but she knew it would only waste time they didn’t have. Ethon was every bit as impossible and stubborn as Dev. “Fine. Make sure you keep up.”

Fang stepped toward Ethon. “I’ll take this one.”

“I got the other.” Dev met her gaze. “I’ll see you in a minute.”

Sam watched as they teleported from the hallway to the park. She took a moment to glance around the old house as she felt a strange tremor of foreboding go down her spine. Evil was at play here.

She only hoped she was the sole target of it.

Closing her eyes, she teleported to where Fang and Dev were standing in the fading sunlight. There was no sign of the Dark-Hunters.

Her heart stopped beating. Had they burst into flames?

“Did you get hungry and eat my colleagues?”

Dev pointed down to the dark green wool blanket at his feet that she’d somehow missed seeing. “There’s still enough daylight to blister you guys so we hid them fast.”

But oddly, the sunlight wasn’t hurting her at all—most likely because of her ghostlike form. Amazed, she watched the first sunset she’d seen in over five thousand years. The sky was absolutely breathtaking with ribbons of pink and orange twisting through the darkening blue.

If only she could feel the rays on her skin.

But seeing it was enough. She wanted to cry over the sight she’d missed all this time. “It’s beautiful.” But that tender swell in her breast died as she glanced down to the blanket and realized what it looked like spread out over the grass.

Two dead bodies.

And it was painfully obvious there were bodies under that blanket.

A car slowed down as it drove past them, raising the hair on the back of her neck. The driver stared at them until Fang looked over at her. Then the driver gunned the engine and sped away as fast as she could.

Sam let out an elongated breath. “Sheez, guys, I think we better hurry before someone calls the cops and tells them you’re trying to hide bodies in the Pontchartrain.”

Ethon’s laugh rang out from under the blanket.

Dev kicked him. “Sorry. Accident.”

Ethon growled low in his throat. “You better be glad I’m pinned, Bear.”

Dev flashed her a grin before he turned his attention back to their task. “Sun’s setting. Anyone see anything?”

Just the research building and Lake Oaks Park across the street. The parking lot on her left for the university and fitness center and the houses behind them. It all looked completely normal and the traffic was getting heavier.

We are so going to jail.…

Would Ash bail them out?

Fang turned around slowly.

And true to her prediction, she heard police sirens in the distance, drawing closer.

Crap.

“Gods, I hope that’s not for us,” Fang mumbled.

Dev snorted. “Oh, you know it is. That’s our luck,
mon frère.
” He glared at the horizon. “C’mon, sunset. Don’t fail us.”

Fang scoffed at his words. “Fail us, hell. The police show up and I’m flashing home. I say we leave the Dogs here to get their own butts out of the sling.”

“Screw you, Wolf,” Ethon snapped.

Dev held his hand up to silence them. “Look.”

Sam didn’t see anything until the last ray vanished. Then there was a slight shimmering just a few feet in front of them. The kind that most would dismiss as a summer haze. Heat coming off the pavement.

But it wasn’t that.

“Dev…” Fang’s voice was stern as the sound of speeding cars drew closer.

Sam saw the police lights.

“Hunters, rise!” Dev ordered.

Ethon and Scorpio rolled out from under the blanket at the same time the police shouted at them to freeze. Ignoring them, they ran forward.

Sam heard the sound of guns firing. One second she was shouting at Dev to dodge the bullet headed at his back, the next everything was different.

The terrain remained the same. But the street and buildings were gone. A bright, piercing light bathed everything in an overexposed glow. Whatever the source, it obviously wasn’t sunlight since neither Scorpio nor Ethon were blistering from it.

Sam lifted her hand to shield her eyes as she looked over the men to make sure they were all right.

They stood like fighters in front of her. Dev with his hip cocked and the others ready to battle. Only there was nothing to fight.

Dev walked a slow circle, taking in their new landscape. “Anyone want to hazard a guess as to which way we should try?”

Ethon wiped his hand over his chin. “I’d say we try GPS tracking, but I’m going to bet we don’t get any satellite reception here. What do you think?”

Scorpio answered by releasing the spikes in his vambraces so that they stood out like a porcupine’s quills. Without a word to any of them, he headed for the black water that lapped against a light gray beach.

“Guess we’re going north,” Dev said slowly. “Everyone, follow Lassie. Timmy’s in the well.”

Scorpio raised his left arm. Interesting that with the blade extended, it looked like a vicious “FU” to Dev.

Ethon clapped Dev on the back. “Careful, Bear. I think you made Lassie mad. Remember in his case, the bite is definitely more fatal than the bark.”

Just as they neared the water, the ground under their feet started shifting. Fang cursed as it split apart and he started to fall into a ravine. Shifting forms from human to wolf, he leapt clear while Dev and the others ran to stable ground.

With her current form, Sam was in no danger. She floated over the shifting ground to hover near the men, who were watching their feet suspiciously.

“That was close.”

The men ignored her.

Frowning, Sam waved her hand to get their attention. They all acted like she was invisible.

What in the world?

Irritated at them and scared that she was becoming even more of a ghost than she’d been before, she opened her mouth to chastise them. But the moment she did, she heard a deep, vicious growl coming toward her.

Turning her head, she gasped. It was a herd of leucrotae. Ferocious wolf-dogs who could feign the voices of people in order to lure their prey into closer range. The Greek historian Photius had once described them as “brave as a lion, swift as a horse, and strong as a bull. They cannot be overcome by any weapon of steel.…”

And they were headed straight for them.

Chapter Fifteen

Ethon passed a friendly grin to Scorpio. “Hey,
cabrón,
they’re not really dogs. You can kill these without guilt, I promise.”

Scorpio pulled two swords out from the top of his boots and extended their blades.
“Lo que son?”

Ethon unsheathed a sword of his own. “They’re what happens when the gods get frisky with the wolves. Their offspring make all kinds of sickening things. Right, Fang?”

“Blow me, Greek.”

“You’re not my type.”

Dev rolled his eyes. “The leucrotae were created as guardians to the gods. Their hide is supposed to be so thick it’s impenetrable to just about everything.”

Fang made a sound of utter annoyance. “I guess it’s too much to ask if anyone happens to know a way to kill them?”