The Dark-Hunters (787 page)

That wasn’t what concerned her.

Rather it was the tall, skinny puta pawing at him that made her blood boil. Her vision turned dark as she quickly closed the distance between them. Why wasn’t Seth sending her away?
Look at her, Lydia. She’s gorgeous.
Which only made her ache all the more.

The blonde ran her tongue around her index finger while she looked up at Seth from beneath her long, over-mascaraed eyelashes, then bit and sucked it in a suggestive manner. She continued to run it around her lips as she spoke. “So you’re visiting, huh? How long will you be here and where are you staying?”

Lydia wrapped her arms around his and glared at the woman. “He’s staying with me. Right, pookie?”

Seth wasn’t sure what to say. Lydia’s voice was sweet and at the same time brittle … like her eyes as she stared up at him. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but he had a bad feeling he was in trouble for it.

Lydia turned her gaze back to the woman who’d stopped to ask him directions. “Now if you don’t mind, we’re late for a meeting with his ‘special’ doctor. We have to make sure he doesn’t run out of cream for his genital rash. After all, it’s highly contagious, and burns like crazy when left untreated.”

The blonde rushed off.

Seth kept opening and closing his mouth as he mentally ran through what she’d just done. He was stunned, appalled, and at the same time, oddly amused. And he had no idea which emotion was strongest.

Had she really just said that about him? To a perfect stranger?

Why?

Lydia snarled as she moved away from him. “You are such a man!”

He wouldn’t have thought that was a particularly bad thing, except for the tone of her voice, which said it was. “What did I do?”

She raked him with a glare. “Chasing after the first piece of skank you see? Really?”

Thanks to Maahes, he understood the words. But her fury left him completely lost. “Why are you angry at me?”

“Why do you think?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. You all but drooled on her.”

“At no time did I drool.” His mouth was completely dry and had been the whole time he conversed with the woman.

“Your eyes drooled. I saw them.”

He was totally perplexed by this argument. Was he not allowed to speak to anyone? “I’m wearing dark sunglasses. How can you see my eyes?”

“She’s jealous, Seth.”

He looked at Maahes for an explanation. “Why?”

Lydia broke off into her hand gestures.

“Are you yelling at me, now?”

Maahes laughed. “Oh yeah, kid. She’s calling you a lot of names.”

That surprised him. “You understand her?”

Maahes gestured back at Lydia in the same language.

For some reason, it angered and hurt him that they’d cut him out of the conversation. “Are you mocking me?”

Lydia flicked her nails at him, then turned and stormed off.

Seth had no idea what he should do. He didn’t understand human emotions or relations. Not really. It’d been too long since he had any.

Maahes let out a heavy sigh. “You hurt her feelings, boy. You need to go apologize.”

“How did I hurt them?”

“Think about it, Seth. She risked her life to bring you here, to save you from hell, and what do you do the first minute she leaves you alone? You let another woman flirt with you.”

That was flirting? Really?

He’d thought the woman attractive, but she was nothing compared to Lydia. She hadn’t made his blood race or given him thoughts of her draped over his body.

Only Lydia did that. She was the only woman he was willing to bleed for. How could she not know that?

Seth ran to catch up with her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did. She asked me for directions, and I told her I couldn’t help her. That’s all that happened.”

“I don’t care.”

“Then why are you mad at me?”

Lydia didn’t have a rational explanation. She knew she was overreacting and behaving badly. Yet …

“I don’t know, okay? I just know it hurts inside.”

His features tortured, he cupped her face in his hands. “You are the one person I would never hurt.”

Lydia went to kiss him, but he snapped his head back before she could touch his lips with hers. His rejection cut her so deep, it felt like her soul was bleeding. “I don’t understand you, Seth.”

And the sad truth was, she wasn’t sure if she ever would. Her heart aching, she walked back to where Maahes waited for them.

Seth sighed as he tried to understand what had just happened.
You should have let her kiss you.

But he liked the fact that, for the first time since he was a boy, his lips didn’t hurt or sting or bleed.

Idiot.
Women liked it. He knew that. He wasn’t sure what pleasure they got from biting him so hard, but …

I suck at this world, too.
And in that moment, he realized the sad truth he’d never wanted to face.

He didn’t belong anywhere. Especially not in this world.

It was just as well. She wasn’t his anyway. She could never be his.

Once his powers returned, he’d leave her and go …

He had no idea. There was no home for him here. No one to call friend. Suddenly this world was even more terrifying to him than Azmodea.

Why are you panicking? Either there or here, the results are the same.

He’d be alone. At least here, he wouldn’t have to worry about Azura and Noir.

But as he went back to where Lydia stood and she refused to look at him, he discovered a pain even worse than their torture.

Seeing the hurt in her eyes and knowing he was the one who’d given it to her.

*   *   *

Solin slammed his hand against the clear door, knowing it was useless, but unable to stand in here and do nothing.

Madoc paced behind him. “You’re not accomplishing anything.”

“It makes me feel better and it keeps me from beating the shit out of you. So you ought to be grateful that I’m banging on it and not your head.”

“Whatever.”

Ignoring him, Solin looked around at the small group that was caged with him. In addition to Madoc were Deimos, Phobos, Zeth, and Delphine. It seemed as if they’d been locked in this pit for days.

Like him and Madoc, Zeth had black hair and blue eyes. Phobos and Deimos were twins and, until they were locked in here, were the leaders of the Dolophoni who were now in pursuit of Lydia.

Delphine was one of the rare Dream-Hunters who had blond hair. “We need to figure out who betrayed us,” she repeated for the millionth time.

Solin growled. “We’ve been over it and over it again. I don’t care about your traitor. What we need to find is a way out of here. Preferably before they kill Lydia.”

But at least he took comfort in knowing none of the people in this room had betrayed him. Hence why they were his jail buddies.

But who had? What god would be so stupid?

Deimos patted him on the back. “We’ll get to her in time.”

“What if we don’t?” Solin couldn’t bear the pain of the thought of losing her. She was everything in his world. “The Guardian said he’d kill her today if I didn’t get back to him.”

Phobos, who was sitting on the floor with his head on his legs, looked up. “Maybe he’ll suck you back to Azmodea and then you can locate her.”

“Yeah,” Deimos agreed. “How did he nab you last time?”

“Through my dreams. He sent a lure in to trap me.”

Deimos cursed. So long as they were imprisoned here, none of them had any powers. Not even the ability to travel in dreams.

They were totally screwed.

“Look on the bright side,” Phobos said with a cocky grin as he cut his gaze to Delphine. “Sooner probably than later, Jericho will notice his wife’s not around and he’ll find us and kick the door down.”

“He’s right. My baby won’t play.”

Yeah and as the son of Warcraft and Hate, Jericho was a formidable god.

Still, Solin had looked into the painted face of hell and seen what it was capable of.

And right now, that beast had his daughter, and he had no idea what the Guardian was doing to her.

Hold on, baby. I’ll get to you. I swear it.

Solin only hoped that his enemies didn’t kill him first.

CHAPTER 16

Lydia stood in her newly adopted bedroom in Maahes’s impressive home, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at one of the most beautiful views in the world. When he’d said his house was isolated, he hadn’t been joking.

What he’d failed to mention was that his home was in the middle of an island he owned. She’d always loved looking out at the sea, but this …

Wow. It reminded her a lot of Solin’s home in Greece. She’d be hard-pressed to decide between them as to who had the better view.

And she would have enjoyed it a lot more if she wasn’t still angry at Seth.

Bastard.

Was she really so repugnant that he couldn’t even kiss her? She didn’t know why she was so fixated on that, but it had stomped her hard in an ego that had never been all that much to begin with. She knew she wasn’t the prettiest of women. That her overly large eyes were a freakish color. One of her past boyfriends had even made the comment that he’d broken up with her because she reminded him of a troll doll with its big spooky eyes … Something that gave him the willies.

She wanted to kill Seth for bringing back all of this pain that she usually kept buried.

I’m not your yo-yo, buddy.
She was tired of trying to guess his moods, which never made any logical sense to anyone but him.

Gah, how frustrating could one man be?

And what the hell was the thumping in his room? It’d been going on for the last few minutes, to the point that she was ready to go beat him with her shoes. Wasn’t it bad enough he hurt her feelings? Was he now trying to make her insane?

But as she stood there, contemplating his murder, a weird sensation tickled the back of her mind.

Something’s not right.

She couldn’t explain it, but she had an overwhelming need to get to him and make sure nothing was wrong.

Of course he’s okay. Really? You’re freaking out over nothing.

Still, that feeling persisted. In fact, it was growing stronger by the heartbeat until it became a full panic that he was under attack and needed her.

You’re so stupid. Just go check on him so that you can see what an idiot you are.

And she was, too. She had no doubt. Why else would she be worried over someone who could take care of himself?

Fine. Whatever. “I’ve had enough.” What would the harm be? At least he wouldn’t laugh at her.

He didn’t know how to do that.

Furious at herself, she left her room and knocked on his door.

He didn’t answer.

And still that thumping droned on.

Glaring at the wood that separated them, she used her powers to unlock and open it. But the minute she entered the room, she stopped dead as she saw him lying on his bed.

Asleep, he was in the middle of a nightmare and it appeared as if he was trying to fight someone off him. The thumping came from him hitting the wall with his arm while he flailed against whatever was in his dream.

She went to him and tried to wake him. “Seth?”

He didn’t respond at all.

Her bad feeling intensified. Had something grabbed him in the unconscious realm? “Seth!” She shook him even harder.

Still, he slept on.

Lydia ducked as he almost hit her. She had to do something to wake him. Fast.

Fine, if she couldn’t get him this way, she had another. Lying down beside him, she closed her eyes and used her powers to walk into his dreams.

It took a few minutes to get past her fear for him so that she could make the connection she needed. Eventually, the haze cleared and she found herself in Azmodea again.

She cringed. Why would he come here? But unfortunately, that was what people did. They either visited things that were familiar or things they wanted to see. Seth had so little experience with anything outside of the hellhole that it actually made total sense for him to be here. Where else would he go?

And he better be hurt after bringing her back here, or else he would be once she found him.

Then, they would have a nice long chat on acceptable dream locations for future unconscious traveling.

With white gossamer wings, she flew over the dark landscape, trying to locate him. At first she didn’t see anything in the darkness.

“Where is she?” The angry voice came from her right.

Lowering herself into the shadows, Lydia followed it to a small sinister meadow.

A mocking, masculine laugh rang out. “You hit like an arthritic three-year-old girl.” That was Seth’s voice.

Her heart clenched.
Oh no …

He
was
in trouble.

“You really think you can hurt me?” he challenged whoever he was talking to. “Think again, bitch.”

Tucking her wings in, Lydia crept through the shadows until she found him. Her stomach lurched as her gaze focused what was happening.
Not again …

He was speared against a tree. Literally. Three long-handled spears were planted in his stomach and chest, holding him there while he was surrounded by four women.

The one she’d heard earlier grabbed his hair and wrenched it hard. “Call for her. Now!”

“No.”

She slammed his head back against the tree. “Have we not done enough damage to you already?”

“Is that what this is?” Seth asked derisively. “I thought it was foreplay.”

Lydia couldn’t believe what she was seeing or hearing. Those were Dream-Hunters torturing him. They must have been waiting for him to sleep so that they could grab him and drag him back into this hell.

Damn it. She hadn’t even thought to warn him about a danger she’d known from birth. Stupidly, she’d assumed everyone knew to be wary of Dream-Hunter powers.

But Seth wasn’t Greek.

The Dream-Huntress sank her hand deep into his hair again so that she could yank his head down to hers. “Shame we didn’t know how pretty you were the other night when we had you. Even the Phonoi would have been impressed.”