The Dark-Hunters (828 page)

“What do you want?”

“I am going forward with my marriage to Butterfly and wanted to bring you my offering for your attendance.” Coyote had smiled winsomely. “I miss my brother. We used to sit and talk every night.”

No. Ren would clean Coyote’s weapons and test them, then prepare his brother’s bed while Coyote chattered on about the woman he’d most recently been with and all the changes he would make once he was chief.
Makah’Alay, fetch me wine. Food. A chamber pot.
Coyote had treated him as a slave while mocking him constantly.

But Ren hadn’t remembered any of that as he saw his brother again. “I thought you’d be mad at me over what I did to Father.”

“You made me chief. How could I be angry over that? Had Father been worthy, he would have killed you, instead.” Coyote had held a jug of wine out to Ren. “Let us drink to your victory and my position.” He tipped it at Ren. “You first.”

Without thinking, Ren had trusted him. But the poison had hit his system hard and sent him to the floor within a few seconds after drinking Coyote’s “offering.” Sick and disoriented, Ren had groaned from the cramps in his stomach. “W-w-w-w-what—”

“D-d-d-d-did I do? I poisoned you, you moron. Did you really think I’d let you live to take my place? No.” Coyote had kicked him over, onto his back. Then, after pinning him to the floor with one knee, he moved to stab Ren’s heart.

But the Grizzly wasn’t willing to lose his host. The red pendant had flashed and the knife had been unable to pierce Ren’s flesh. Better still, the demon stone had absorbed the poison in his body, and within a few heartbeats, he was back on his feet.

He seized Coyote by his throat. “How dare you!”

“Release me.”

“So you can poison me again?”

“No. I intend to turn everyone against you. It won’t do you any good to be a leader when everyone’s dead.”

Ren frowned at his brother’s psychotic reasoning. “Why would you do that?”

“Because if I can’t rule them, be damned if my retarded brother will.”

“I’m not retarded!”

Coyote had curled his lip at him. “That’s because you’re too retarded to know just how stupid you really are.”

Ren had slung him against the wall.

Even though he was limping, Coyote dared to laugh at him. “Do you really think your men follow you? They follow the Grizzly Spirit. Makah’Alay is a joke. They mock you behind your back.”

Ren had grabbed him again.

“Go ahead and hit me. I dare you. You’re not man enough. We both know it.”

“Shut up!”

Coyote laughed even harder. “You don’t order me around. I refuse to follow someone so revolting and stupid that not even a whore will let you touch her tits. Remember? We offered her four times the going rate and still she wouldn’t even show you one. But I fucked her until she howled like a bitch desperate for my cock.”

His anger burning so fiercely now that it was almost tangible, Ren pulled Coyote back to the present where they were once again facing off. “You goaded me. Every time I started to free you during that year, you ran your mouth and threatened, then insulted me.”

“You were a coward.”

“Yes, I
was
a coward and a pathetic fool who thought if I obeyed well enough and licked your ass enough … if I swallowed all your shit with no complaint, that maybe, just maybe you would love me back. But what I learned from the Guardian’s daughter is that love doesn’t happen like that. Love isn’t an obligation. You don’t owe someone your loyalty, and you damn well don’t owe them your heart. It’s an emotion, and it’s born from mutual respect and generosity. It is not cruel and it is not judging. It comes from a willingness to live in complete and utter misery for the benefit of another. But when it’s real, you don’t feel that misery at all. The thought of their face, the scent of their skin brings a light to that darkness so bright that it drives out everything else.”

Coyote sneered at him. “Congratulations, Makah’Alay. You finally allowed a whore to turn you into a woman.”

Ren shoved Coyote away from him. Then as he moved to take Coyote’s life, he heard the sound of men running toward them.

Coyote laughed. “Thank you for that award-winning chick speech, brother. Now … let me show you how a man deals with things. I believe you haven’t met my new friend Chacu … but you might remember his men that you sealed in hell. If not, I can assure you, they remember you.”

Shit …

Sorry, Grizzly.
His brother had just unleashed the one army that could kill him.

Demonstone or no demonstone.

CHAPTER 18

Nick tossed Kateri over his shoulder as they hiked through the hinterlands of hell to find the right cavern that no one other than Ren or Choo Co La Tah knew the exact location of.

“He’s in trouble. I can feel it.”

Nick swept his gaze around the others—Sundown, Cabeza, and Sasha who was limping, but who refused to, as he so eloquently put it, ‘lie down and lick his crotch while they either saved or condemned the world.’

“Why am I the one holding hellcat when out of this group, I’m the only one who doesn’t really have to fear the gates opening?”

Sundown clapped him on the shoulder. “‘Cause you’re just that kind of man, Nick. And we appreciate it.”

Nick snorted in derision. “You’re so full of caca, Cowboy—no wonder you only wear shit-kickers.”

Sundown flashed him a wicked grin. “I happen to like my cowboy boots. My woman says they make me look sexy.”

Nick let out a “heh” sound. “I should have had Andy buy you scratchy wool long johns when I was a Squire.”

Kateri stopped squirming at the word she wasn’t familiar with … at least not in the way he used it. “What’s a Squire?”

“Humans who help Dark-Hunters,” Sundown said. “Obviously, mine was named Andy.”

That made her heart lurch. “Was? Did something happen to him?”

“Yeah, little booger up and married on me a few months ago, and … well, I was going to say moved out. But that’s just a pipe-dream I had once. I can’t get him out no matter what I do, but I keep trying. Luckily the house is so big I don’t ever really see him unless he runs out of eats or coffee, and has to mosey over to my side in the middle of the night to raid my cupboard or fridge.”

“How big is this house?” she asked.

“Don’t ask,” the three-men-not-Jess said simultaneously.

Okay, now she had to know. “How big?”

Sundown chuckled. “Sixty thousand, give or take a few.”

“You mean six thousand.”

“No,” Sasha said. “Sixty. You can land a 747 jet in his backyard.”

She gaped. “Where do you live?”

“Vegas.”

Wow … she didn’t even want to contemplate how much something like that would cost in Vegas. “Now I have to be nosy. How much does a Dark-Hunter make?”

Nick laughed. “Let me put it to you this way. Those boots Jess is so proud of? Five grand.”

That confused her more. “Then why is Ren’s house so small?” While it was comfortably furnished, it wasn’t elaborate. His sparse furnishings kind of reminded her a lot of IKEA.

“He don’t got horses to accommodate.” Jess made it sound so simple.

But it was Nick who really told her what she wanted to know. “Ren doesn’t need much. He wants even less. Most of his pay gets donated to charity. Hell, he doesn’t even have a Squire. And he never has had one.”

“Why not?”

“It’s up to the Dark-Hunter. Some”—Nick cut his gaze to Jess—“like them, and others”—he looked over to Cabeza—“can’t stand humans of any sort. I have a feeling Ren falls into that latter category.”

No. No one who donated the bulk of their money to charity hated people. But given his past, it made sense that Ren wouldn’t want someone in close quarters with him.

Nick twisted to look at Jess. “For the record, Sundown is no longer a Dark-Hunter.”

That surprised her more than anything else. “I didn’t know they could stop.”

Jess clicked his tongue. “It ain’t easy on a Hunter. Not by a long shot. But somehow, some of us have muddled through.”

Nick stopped dead in his tracks. This time when he spoke, his Cajun accent was as thick as Jess’s Southern drawl. “Not easy? Cowboy, I know you did not just say that to
moi.
I’m the one who had to go up to Artemis and get your soul back
pour tu.
Having Abby stake your ass to put your soul back in is a Mardi Gras–style cakewalk. Trust me,
cher.
”

Sundown scratched at the back of his neck. “Well, there you go. That’s basically how we get out. Personally, I was going to stay in, but we decided we wanted kids, and since Dark-Hunters can’t have young’uns…”

“They can’t?” she asked.

“Nope,” they all said in unison. Did they practice that?

But at least it took one concern off her table. Ren hadn’t left her pregnant.

She tugged gently on Nick’s jacket. “You can set me down now. I’m calm.”

His expression skeptical, he obeyed and put her on her feet in front of him. “Remember now,
cher.
I can catch you and not break a sweat. So no more running after Ren and risking your neck. At least not until the calendar’s reset. Then, you can be as stupid as you want, and I’ll let you.”

She let his comment go as she focused on what really mattered to her. “Could you get Ren’s soul back?”

Nick groaned as if she’d just asked him for a kidney. “I damn sure can’t say no to that face. Poor Ren. You must have him beside himself when you do that.”

Not really … at least not that she knew of. And since she didn’t know Nick all that well, she wanted to make sure he didn’t find a loophole on her.

“
Would
you get his soul back for us?”

This time, he growled. “He has to request it, but yeah. In spite of the rumors, I haven’t completely gone to the dark side yet. But damn, those cookies are good.”

Come to the dark side. We have cookies.
Someone spent way too much time on the Internet. Smiling, she stood up on her tiptoes and placed a chaste kiss on his scarred cheek. “Thank you.”

“Ah,
cher,
that ain’t right. Laying lips on me to help another man out? Cold,
cher,
cold.”

She frowned as she glimpsed a different Nick. One who was a lot younger and much happier. It was something he was remembering, too. “You’re not as far gone as you fear.”

Nick scoffed. “It’s hard to know how far down you are when there’s not a speck of light to judge the darkness by.”

“But the scariest part of the dark isn’t what’s really there, but rather what we imagine from our own fears.”

“Then,
cher,
you don’t wanna ever come to my closet. I promise you, there’s a lot more than just skeletons hanging in it.”

She could believe that. And that brought her right back to what had started all of this.… “Ren is in trouble. I know it.” She could feel it with every part of her.

“You read the note,” Sasha said from between clenched teeth. “He said he would meet us at the cave. Bastard could have left a map, or an address, or latitude, or longitude, or something, but nooooo.… he leaves
you
a note. Screw the rest of the world. Y’all can all die if you want. Just don’t make my woman worry about me.”

Nick snorted. “You obviously have never had a mother or a girlfriend. You do not go to the bathroom without letting them know, ’cause this hell’s fury coming at us? Ring Around the Rosies, baby. I’d much rather face an armed demon horde drunk on the scent of my blood, than one riled woman who’s been worrying herself sick about where I’ve been. Ain’t a diamond cut big enough in the entire universe to make
that beast
smile and save your really important jewels from being drop-locked out your nostrils.”

Cabeza froze.

“Something wrong?” Jess asked.

“Not sure. It’s a … feeling.” He cocked his head as if listening for something. After a second, he indicated Kateri with a jerk of his chin. “Go on. I’ll catch up.”

Her heart pounded with trepidation.
Please, Cabeza, be the angel I think you are.…
“Are you going after Ren?”

“Si.”

For that, she could kiss him. “Thank you.”

He winked at her. “Hey, I’m Mayan. We live to fight. Don’t worry,
chica.
I’ll have him back to you before you miss me.” Then, he was gone.

Kateri bit her lip as another wave of worry crashed over her. And with it came anger of tidal proportions. Where were those powers her grandmother and father had promised her? They’d said they would kick in when she needed them.

Well, I need them now.

Unfortunately, neither her powers, nor her parents were listening, and all of them appeared to be on their own schedule. One she wanted to rush. How could she save the world without them?

But that wasn’t her biggest concern.

Please be all right, Ren.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure she’d want to save the world if he was no longer in it.

*   *   *

Ren spat the blood out of his mouth an instant before Chacu seized him again, and slammed him back into the wall, face-first. The good news? He ached so much, it no longer hurt. The bad news? He ached so much, it no longer hurt to be slammed, face-first, into a wall.

Just kill me already and be done with it.

But they were having way too much fun beating on him. And while he’d stood strong against the Guardian month after month, the Guardian had only been one being. Against nine huge, immortal warriors, four of whom dwarfed him, all of whom had thousands of years of combat training?

Sucked to be him tonight, and he was getting the ever-loving shit knocked out of him. And if, by some miracle, he got out of here in one piece, he was definitely going to feel it later.

“Hold him,” Coyote snarled at his attackers.

Two seized Ren’s arms and two his legs, while another planted one herculean boot right on his crotch to keep him from resisting. The bald bastard pressed down enough to let Ren know he meant it, but not enough to really damage him.

Yet.

May the gods help his jewels if the bastard sneezed.

His breathing labored, Ren looked up to see Coyote with war club in his hands.