The Dark-Hunters (76 page)

“She’s not going to die,” Kyrian assured him.

Eric nodded. “I tried to tell her not to come out tonight. That it was going to be bad. She doesn’t listen.”

“It runs in the family.”

Tabitha touched Kyrian’s arm while he gave directions to 911. After he finished, she stared at him, her brow dark with disbelief. “Why did you save me?”

“It’s what Kyrian does, Tabby,” Eric whispered.

While Eric held her, Kyrian checked on the other two people on the ground. They were the same ones who had attacked him in Esmeralda’s house. Unfortunately, they weren’t as lucky as Eric and Tabitha.

“Eric,” he said, returning to them, “what happened?”

Eric shrugged. “One minute we had them and the next, they turned on us.”

“Did they say anything?”

Erik looked sick as he held Tabitha close. “‘I’ll swallow your soul.’”

Kyrian stared at him for a heartbeat, then clenched his teeth at their warped sense of humor. “Daimons watch way too many B movies.”

Tabitha reached out and touched Kyrian’s hand. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “I return the gratitude.”

“Man, Kyrian,” Eric breathed. “You were right about them. I’ve never seen Daimons move like that before. I should have listened to your warning.”

Frowning, Tabitha looked between them. “You two know each other?”

“My father used to work for Kyrian’s friend Talon.” Eric met Kyrian’s gaze. “I’ve known Kyrian all my life, Tabby. Believe me, he’s one of the good guys.”

Before she could say anything else, the ambulance arrived.

Kyrian waited until they were both inside and under medical care before he called Amanda to tell her the news.

She didn’t answer her cell phone.

He called her mother, her sister, and his house. No one answered.

His stomach knotting with fear, he headed for his car. Maybe Amanda was still at his house waiting for him.

Or maybe Desiderius has her
 …

He imagined her being attacked like Tabitha. Saw her bloody and dead like Tabitha’s friends. The terror and pain of the thought wracked him.

Amanda had to be all right. He couldn’t live if anything happened to her.

Like a demon possessed, he drove home as fast as his Lamborghini would go.

His body shaking in fear for her welfare, he rushed through the garage and into the dark house, listening.

Please, gods, anything. Just don’t let her be harmed.

He heard Amanda upstairs, humming her Grieg tune in his bedroom. Relief and gratitude rocked him so hard, he almost staggered. He had to see her to make sure she was fine and healthy. Taking a deep breath in relief, Kyrian sprinted up the stairs and opened the door.

He froze.

Amanda had lit the candles on his wall sconces. She wore the skimpiest, sheerest white nightgown he had ever seen in his life. Her long legs were encased in stockings and a lacy white garter belt. With her back to him, she was leaning over the bed, scenting his sheets with the rose oil she rubbed onto her skin after her bath.

The candlelight displayed the outline of her creamy body to perfection.

His entire body burned at the sight of her. Overwhelmed by his emotions, he went to the bed and pressed himself against her back. He held her tight in his arms, leaning his head against hers as he shook with relief.

Amanda was alive and unharmed.

She moaned in pleasure. The sound reverberated through him, heightening his desire even more.

“Touch me, Kyrian,” she breathed, taking his hands from her waist and leading them to her breasts. “I need to feel you tonight.”

He needed it, too. After being so terrified that she was lost to him, he needed to feel her in a way that made his mind whirl.

Growling at the feel of her hardened, gauze-covered nipples in his palm, he dropped his head to taste the scented flesh of her neck.

She turned in his arms, reached up and removed his sunglasses from his face, then she claimed his lips with hers.

“Amanda,” he breathed as her rose scent encircled his head, beguiling him. “What is it you do to me?”

She answered him by tracing her tongue along his jaw, then down under his chin to his neck. A thousand chills shot through him as she slid his coat over his shoulders and dropped it to the floor.

She untucked his shirt and ran her hands underneath it, branding his skin.

The voice in his head wanted to push her away, but he couldn’t. In truth, he never could.

He loved this woman. There was nothing more to be said about it than that. She truly was his soul mate. He would deny it no more.

For this one tiny moment, he would revel in the love he felt for her. Revel in the way he craved her.

Her eyes hungry, she undid his pants and slid her hands over his swollen shaft. “I love how you feel in my hands,” she whispered, stroking him. “Tell me, Kyrian, can you read my thoughts?”

Kyrian closed his eyes as he savored her touch. When she cupped him, he shivered. “No,” he breathed. “I relinquished that power when you asked me to.”

Picking her up, he set her on the edge of the bed and stood between her knees. She smiled a smile that lightened his heart as she unlaced the front of her gown and bared her breasts to him.

His body burning, Kyrian nudged her legs farther apart so that he could look at her. Gods, how he loved looking at her. Dropping to his knees, he took her into his mouth.

She let out a strangled cry as he tasted her completely. Kyrian closed his eyes as he ran his tongue over her. Her thighs trembled around his face as he brought her to climax.

Her hand clutched at his hair and all the while she rocked her hips against his face.

“Oh yes,” she moaned.

Kyrian waited until she was completely finished. Only then did he stand up.

Her eyes were liquid and hot as she stared up at him. She rose up on the bed and finished undressing him, then she slid off the bed in front of him and offered him her back.

Without being told, he knew what she wanted. Growling low in his throat, he drove himself inside her with one forceful thrust.

She moaned in pleasure, rising up on her tiptoes and then dropping herself down to take him into her body all the way to his hilt.

Kyrian’s entire body shook.

Kissing her shoulder, he slid his hand over her soft belly, then down through her nether curls so that he could touch her swollen nub. He stroked her tenderly with his hand while he kept his hips completely still. He let her take control of their pleasure.

Amanda milked him with her body until she came again, screaming his name.

Just as he felt their pleasure combining and his powers slipping from him, he pulled out of her. His breathing ragged, it was all he could do not to double over from the pain of his unspent lust.

For once, Amanda didn’t take pity on him. Instead, she turned around and kissed him avidly.

“Amanda,” he said, trying to get away from her.

“Shh, Kyrian,” she whispered against his lips. “Trust me.”

Against his instincts, he did. She laid him down on the bed, then climbed on top of him. Kyrian shook as she guided him back into her body.

She felt so incredibly good as he felt her inside him. Felt her pleasure as his as she rode him.

His ecstasy mounting, he let her roll him over until he was on top, cradled between her thighs. Feeling a little better, he rode her hard and fast.

This time when he went to pull out, she wrapped herself around him and held him tight.

Kyrian frowned as she rocked herself against him, drawing his shaft deeper into her body. She moaned as her body clutched at his.

“Amanda, stop,” he breathed raggedly. If she continued, he would be lost.

Again he tried to pull away and again she held tight, sliding herself against him. Kyrian ground his teeth, trying to stave off his orgasm.

It worked until he felt her climax again. The sound of her cry combined with her clutching him was more than he could take. Against his will, his body released.

Kyrian leaned his head back and shouted from the ferocity of his pleasure. There was truly nothing better than being in Amanda’s arms. Her body.

For the first time in two thousand years, he felt at home.

And as those tender feelings swept through him, he felt his Dark-Hunter powers recede again.

No!

Amanda kissed him lightly on the lips and rolled over with him. He was too weak to protest. All he could do was stare up at her.

She left the bed and pulled on a robe.

“Amanda?” he called.

She returned a moment later with a glass of wine. “Everything is all right. I’m here, my love,” she said.

She held the glass of wine to his lips. Trusting her completely, he drank it.

After a few minutes, the room began to swim. “What are you doing?” he asked as a feeling of dread consumed him.

But he already knew.

Like Theone all those centuries ago, she had drugged him.

The last sight he had was of her opening the door to admit Desiderius into his bedroom.

CHAPTER 17

Kyrian came awake with his hands tied above his head. He was positioned against a dark, dank wall inside an unfamiliar house. The old-fashioned room was lit by candles that cast dancing shadows around him and he heard whispers surrounding him. By the looks of the place, he would surmise it was an older home probably not all that far from his own house down in the Garden District.

Scanning the room, he found Amanda and Desiderius standing a few feet away from him with Desiderius’s arm draped around her shoulders.

Disbelief overwhelmed him.

Not again. Dear gods, not again.

How could he have been so damned stupid?

His mind had tried to tell him something had been wrong. He’d even known Desiderius would be able to get to Amanda. But he hadn’t listened. He’d let his love for her, his need for her, blind him.

Kyrian clenched his eyes shut.

What hurt most was knowing what Desiderius would do to her once he killed him. Without him to protect her, Amanda was at Desiderius’s utter mercy.

It really would be like Theone all over again. Once Valerius had executed him, the Roman had thrown Theone out, saying he didn’t want a whore in his bed who might ruthlessly hand him over to his enemies someday.

Since Theone had betrayed the military leader of the Macedonians and caused their defeat, she’d been unable to return home. The villa she had loved so much had been burned to the ground. Everything she’d held dear had been confiscated.

Persecuted by his countrymen, she had fled Greece to Rome where she ended up a prostitute in a rundown stew.

She’d died of disease less than two years after him.

In the end, she had caused the very fate she had tried so hard to avert.

Opening his eyes, Kyrian saw Amanda a few feet away from him. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck. With her hair pulled back, he could see her profile perfectly as she clutched a doll to her.

How could she do this to him?

But then, he knew. Desiderius’s powers had been more than she could take. Somehow, in spite of D’Alerian’s efforts, the Daimon had invaded her dreams and turned her mind.

Rage darkened his vision. He wouldn’t let her die. Not like this. In spite of his weakness, he grabbed the ropes and pulled as hard as he could.

“So, you’re awake.”

Desiderius and Amanda moved to stand before him. His eyes taunting, Desiderius placed one hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “It’s painful, isn’t it? Knowing I’m going to bed her before I kill her and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Go to hell.”

Desiderius laughed. “You first, Commander. You first.” He trailed one long, evil finger down the line of Amanda’s jaw. She didn’t react at all. It was as if she were in some kind of trance. “I would take her in front of you, but I never could stand an audience. I was never
that
twisted.” He laughed at his own joke.

Kyrian felt the rope slacken a degree. Working it, he put all his attention into gaining his freedom.

The ropes drew tight again.

Desiderius laughed. “Do you honestly think I’m so stupid as to let you get free?” He took a step forward and stood practically nose to nose with Kyrian. “This time, I won’t chance your survival.”

Kyrian smirked as if the Daimon were a little gnat buzzing by his head. “Ooo, if I were wearing boots, I’d be shaking in them.”

Desiderius eyed him in disbelief. “Don’t you
ever
get scared?”

Kyrian gave him a dry look. “I faced down an entire Roman legion with only a sword to protect me. Now, why would I be afraid of some two-bit, half-god Daimon with an inferiority complex?”

The Daimon hissed at him, baring his fangs. He grabbed the crossbow off the table and loaded a steel bolt into it. “You will learn not to taunt me. I am not one you mess with.”

“Why not? What makes you special?”

“My father is Bacchus. I am a god!”

Kyrian snorted. The first rule of war: make your opponent lose his temper. Emotions clouded judgment and made one do stupid things, and it would give him the opening he needed to get free and save both of them.

Besides, he liked the way the throbbing vein stood out in Desiderius’s temple. It let him know he hadn’t lost his touch when it came to taunting his enemies. “What you are is pathetic. You’re a bully and a psycho. No wonder Daddy has no use for you.”

Desiderius screamed in fury. He brought the crossbow down hard against Kyrian’s face.

Kyrian’s entire head ached from the blow. He tasted blood on his lips. Running his tongue over the cut, he tsked the Daimon.

“You know nothing of my life, Dark-Hunter. You don’t know what it’s like being born to die.”

“We are all born to die.”

“Oh yes, the humans and their finite lives that are three times the length of ours. How I pity them.”

He grabbed Kyrian by the throat and pressed his head back against the wall. “Do you know what it feels like to watch the woman you love decay before your eyes? Eleanor was only twenty-seven. Twenty-seven! I did everything I could to save her. I even brought a human to her and still she refused to take the soul that would save her. She was pure unto the end.”