The Dark-Hunters (830 page)

He held the knife up for Coyote to see it. “It’s been one of the best weapons I’ve ever owned. Eleven thousand years and the blade is still as strong as ever.”

“Why would you keep it, you sick bastard?”

His anger rose up in his throat to choke him, but Ren shoved it away. This wasn’t about fury. It was about retribution for a lifetime of misery Coyote had served him. “Because I wanted to make our father proud, and you happy, I melted down my mother’s necklace as part of the blades. The cost of a gift is never important. The important part is that it comes from the heart, and that it holds emotional value to the giver. There was nothing I treasured more than her necklace … except you and Father. So I keep this knife that I used to remind myself to be humble and to never,
ever
trust another with my life. To make sure I always know where other people stand in relation to my position at any given moment, so that no one will ever stab me again while I am being inattentive to my surroundings.”

Moving closer to him, Coyote rolled his eyes. “I miss the days when you stuttered. You never rambled on back then about bullshit.”

“After tonight, you’ll never have to suffer my presence again. And never again will you take, harm, or threaten those I love.”

Coyote scoffed as he came to rest right in front of Ren. “You can’t kill me. I’m your brother.”

Ren pulled Coyote against him into a brotherly hug, then the instant he felt Coyote relax, he stabbed him through the heart. “From another mother,” he whispered in Coyote’s ear as he held him in his arms. “And the Keetoowah only count relations through their mother’s bloodline.…
He
is no brother of mine. And I owe him nothing.” Those had been the exact words Coyote had said to the priest when he’d asked his brother how Coyote wanted Ren buried.

More than that, Coyote had added, “He is not a true Keetoowah, and he died with no honor. I don’t care what you do with his body, but do not insult or desecrate our beloved dead with a foreigner’s remains.”

Instead of having a funeral fit for a chief’s son, Ren’s body had been dumped in the pit they used for garbage. And Coyote would never have thought of him again had Artemis not restored Ren’s life.

Gasping for air, Coyote reached up with his hands, trying to choke Ren as he died.

Ren shoved his brother away, and let Coyote fall to the floor where he writhed for a few more seconds. Once Coyote was dead, Ren did what Coyote had done to him all those centuries ago. He stepped over his body and went about his business.

At least he tried to. But he’d only taken three steps when his necklace heated up, and burned his skin.

Shit
 …

While Coyote had tried to choke him, their mingled blood had touched the demonstone.

The Grizzly would now be freed.

And I am owned. Forever.

Sick to his stomach, Ren rushed back to where he’d left Cabeza battling Chacu, to find his friend standing alone in the center of the room.

Ren slowed. “Where’s Chacu?”

“Little
puta
ran home for his mother. I swear … one day I will drink the blood from his heart and eat it.…” He jerked his chin toward the blood on Ren’s shirt.
“Et tu?”

“The Coyote howls no more. The bastard is forever silenced.”

He nodded in understanding. “I am sorry, and I am happy for you.”

Ren let out a short laugh. “Yeah, that sums it up, doesn’t it?”

“It does, indeed, my brother.”

Ren took a moment to savor that last part. The only time Coyote had claimed him as a brother was to manipulate him. But the ones who meant it when they said it to Ren had no blood relation to him whatsoever.

He would miss them while he served Grizzly.

Not wanting to think about it, he chucked Cabeza on the arm. “Shall we save the rest of the world now?”

“Sure. Why not? If everyone dies, I’d have to cook my own food, and I cook like shit. How about you?”

Ren laughed. “Only fry bread and okra, and I make no claims to the edible state of either.”

“Then we’d best be saving the rest of the world.”

*   *   *

Kateri cursed as she realized she was out of ammunition. Again. What she wouldn’t give for a Hollywood weapon that never ran dry while you were taking fire.

Sasha was off in the darkness alone, fighting in wolf form, trying to keep as many away from them as he could, while they were pinned down, unable to go anywhere near the cave they had to reach really soon, or all of this was for nothing.

Provided that was actually the cave they needed. There was still some debate about the exact location of where the mural was. Without Ren … Yeah, this night might not have the best ending.

She shot her last arrow at a demon that was flying straight for Sundown. “Nick! More ammo!”

They appeared instantly in her quiver. Okay, Nick was better than Hollywood. Except he couldn’t conjure C-4. Well, he could, in theory, conjure it. The problem was, none of them knew how to use it.

“Thanks.”

Nick went back to fire-balling their attackers. He shot so many so fast, it looked like a Fourth of July celebration.

Jess continued to shoot at the raven mockers and demons as fast as his shotgun would load, cock, and aim—which was surprisingly fast in his hands. The barrel of that thing had to be hot enough to raise a blister.

But for every demon they destroyed, it seemed like ten more came in to replace it.

Sundown cast an irritated glare at Nick. “Can’t you command these things to die, or something?”

“Yeah. Sure can, but, here’s the big green pickle … if I use those powers, they’ll pierce through the weakened gates, and open them instantly. I’m the top tier, Jess. That power tends to draw out other demons like Mardi Gras beads to naked beasts, and depending on the demon’s level, can even strengthen them. Think of me like a homing beacon of the damned.”

Jess reloaded. “That don’t seem like a whole lot of fun.”

“It’s a jolly fucking Barrel of Monkeys.” Nick sent more fireballs to the demons.

Amused by Nick’s acerbic nature that could make light of a very dangerous situation, Kateri blew air across her wrist that was stinging even with a guard on it. Her fingers were numb, and she was sure if she survived to sleep again she was going to have nightmares about ghostly fanged things screaming at her as they died.

This is hopeless.
She didn’t say it out loud, but she felt it. She was sure they did, too.

None of them could move forward toward the caves. She was so exhausted from fighting that all she wanted to do was lie down, and let them have her. In fifteen minutes, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

It’d be too late.

Fifteen minutes.

Strange how, as a student, especially in a boring class she hated, fifteen minutes had seemed an eternity.

Now …

It wasn’t even enough time for her brief life to flash before her eyes.

She ducked as something that reminded her of a flying monkey went over her head, spitting at them. It was acidic saliva she realized as it hit the rock a few millimeters from her hand and dissolved it like sugar in hot water.

Jess stood and shot it three times. It recoiled as it was hit, but it didn’t kill the beast. “Didn’t your mama never teach you no manners? You don’t spit at no lady.” He knelt to reload. “Flipping animals.”

“Demons, Jess,” Nick reminded him.

“Damn flipping demons.” He narrowed his gaze at Nick. “Holy water work on them?”

“Only some. Remember, I still take Communion on Sundays and was an altar boy as a kid.”

“Yeah, that ain’t right.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” Nick shielded her just as she would have been hit by another wave of flying uglies. Then he stood to open fire, literally, on the ones who’d almost killed her.

Nick would have teleported them into the caves, but since he knew so little about them, and absolutely nothing about their interior, he could slam them into a wall, and kill them by attempting it. Not to mention, they would be trapped inside, which made it easier for the demons to kill them.

She nocked another arrow. But what she really wanted to do was crawl into a hole and wait for all of this to end.

C’mon, Kateri. This isn’t just about you.
She glanced around at the men who risked their lives to protect her. Jess with his new baby. He didn’t want to be here. But here he was without a single complaint. Nick who, well according to him, was only living to piss certain entities off. Sasha who had a crush on someone he wouldn’t name, but who’d sworn that if he lived through this, he was going to ask her out. Fear be damned. Cabeza who would say nothing about his life.

Most of all, Ren. He’d given her his heart … the only part of himself that still belonged to him.

The one part he’d never given to anyone else.

In that heartbeat, she saw herself as a young teen in the cemetery with her grandmother on Memorial Day. They always went there to put a red, white, and blue rose on the grave of Kateri’s grandfather. And her grandmother, who was tougher than nails, who never shed a tear for anything, would stand there and cry for the husband she’d loved so dearly.

“How will I know when I love someone like you did Grandpa, Grammy?”

“Oh baby,” she’d said, brushing Kateri’s hair back from her face, “that’s an easy answer. When you know you’d be willing to lay your life down to save theirs without thought or hesitation. When five o’clock comes, and they’re not home like they said they’d be, and you panic and can’t breathe for fear they’re not coming through that door ever again. When the thought of laying them in ground hits you so hard, you can’t breathe for it. Most of all, when something good or bad happens to you, and they’re the first one you want to share that news with. That’s how you’ll know it’s love, baby. There won’t be any doubt whatsoever.”

Kateri had never fully understood her grandmother’s explanation. Not until she looked into a pair of shockingly blue eyes that carved one man’s name into her heart and soul, and made her realize that her life that had seemed so perfect and happy, had one thing missing from it.

Ren.

And if she didn’t seal those gates, the things it held back would come for him.

Hoping she lived to regret this blatant act of stupidity, she headed for the caves. She thought she was running alone, until Nick grabbed her an instant before a ball of fire exploded next to her.

More demons came at them, cutting them off.

Crap. It was no use. All she’d done was move them from cover and left them exposed to die.

I’m so sorry.

“Need a hand?”

Her heart pounded at that deep, familiar voice as Ren appeared next to her. “You’re here!”

“Where else would I be?” Ren frowned as he surveyed the madness they were knee-deep in. “Why are you under such heavy fire?”

Nick gave him a droll stare. “Oh, I don’t know. But we’re really enjoying it. Fear has such a wonderfully romantic scent to it that they ought to turn it into cologne and deodorant. Eau de Ew. Let’s all just take a minute, and bask in it.”

While he could be annoying, Nick had moments of profound sarcastic humor.

Cabeza cleared his throat as he appeared beside Jess. “We have five minutes, people. Then, it’s going to get a whole lot worse.”

Ren held his hand out to her. “You ready?”

“Absolutely.”

She placed her cold hand inside his that was so warm, it sent chills over her. The strength of him was electrifying. And if she had to die tonight, she was glad his would be the last face she saw.

Ren flashed her into the cave effortlessly. Having spent centuries here, he knew every inch of this valley like the back of his hand, and he knew exactly which cave held the mural they needed for the Reset.

But it was so dark inside, she couldn’t see anything at all. Not even her own hands.

Until Ren used his fireballs to light the torches, which were spaced out every few feet on the earthen walls decorated with thousands of prehistoric glyphs. They were beautiful. Fernando would be in his glory to explore something this pristine.

“The thunderbird is over here.” Ren led her to the other side of the cave, to the flattest wall there.

The whole expanse of it had been painted with a colorful mural, which told the entire story of how the world had been saved by the first Ixkib when she’d faced down an angry god.

It showed Ahau Kin gifting the Kinichi to her.

But Kateri didn’t see what she was looking for. And time was ticking way too fast. They had a mere handful of seconds before the gates unlocked. “Where does the Kinichi go?”

Ren pointed up toward the ceiling where a giant thunderbird rose above the scenes below. Over the thunderbird’s head was a tiny hummingbird. You couldn’t tell if the thunderbird was following or pursuing the hummingbird. Were they friend or foe? It was impossible to tell. But it was positioned right between the thunderbird’s open beak.

Kateri wanted to weep in frustration. “Well ain’t this a bitch? How long did they think my arms would be for me to reach into the mouth of
that
hummingbird? I don’t suppose you have a vat of radioactive isotopes I can throw myself into and quickly mutate, do you?” It always worked in the movies.

And of course, there was one other obvious problem. “Where exactly am I supposed to put the stone?” The wall was completely flat without a single crevice in it.

“We’ll find it, don’t worry.”

Now look who had found his optimism.
Great timing, bud.

As Ren moved toward her, out of nowhere, a blast struck him hard enough to send him straight to the ground.

Reacting on instinct, she nocked an arrow, and turned to fire. But the moment she sighted her target, she froze.

No … It was impossible.

WTF?

Kateri couldn’t believe her eyes. It had to be a dream. Major hallucination.

Something.

She lowered the bow. “Enrique?”

“
Si,
Dr. Avani.”

Gaping, she tried to make sense of this as he moved closer to her. “What are you doing here?”