Dark Hunt

by Richardson, Kim

  My legs dangled over the porch between rosebushes and hydrangeas, though their sweet aroma was completely lost in the stench of sulfur and demon blood.

  A shape loomed above me, and I recognized his cologne. “You left me,” I said angrily.

  Jax lowered himself next to me, the deck boards squeaking under his weight as he sat. He looked at me, surprised. “I didn’t leave you. I thought you were right behind me.”

  “I wasn’t.” I looked away from his mesmerizing green eyes before they could spell me.

  “I came back as soon as I realized you weren’t,” said Jax, his long fingers folding in his lap. “Besides, it’s not like you really needed my help. You were doing just fine without me.”

  I stared at him, incredulous. “I was getting my ass kicked by igura demons in there! Partners are supposed to watch each other’s backs.”

  Jax eyed me from under his brows. “And I thought you didn’t want a partner.”

  My face flamed and I looked away.

  “You think you’ll find something on that?” said Jax. I could hear the smile in the question, which only made me angrier. But right now my pride wasn’t important. Finding the Greater demon was.

  “I do.” I tapped the laptop with my fingers. “If there’s anything about Cindy’s whereabouts, it’ll be in here. I’m sure of it.”

  Jax leaned forward. “Then let’s open it and find out.”

  “Can’t.” I shrugged. “It’s password protected. I know my way around computers, but I’m not a hacker. But I know someone who is.”

  “Who?” asked Jax, but the answer to his question was interrupted by the appearance of a small woman with short white hair marching across the yard toward us like she meant business. Her tailored suit wrinkled at the speed of her short legs. Valerie, Head of House Uriel at Hallow Hall. She looked exactly the same: stern and always pissed off.

  Next to her was another familiar face. Tall, athletic, and voluptuous with the long, gleaming red hair of a princess in fairy tales. Her short skirt showed off her long, lean legs, and the tight blazer did nothing to hide the large breasts that were busting out. She had a body that put all the rest of the females to shame: every man’s dream.

  “Shit,” I breathed. “And I thought this day couldn’t get any worse.” Jax followed my gaze. His face was blank, but then he got up.

  I didn’t.

  “Well,” said Valerie, a little out of breath as she reached us. “They told me you were back here.” Her eyes fell on me and rested there for a moment. “It’s nice to see you again, Rowyn.”

  I raised my brows. “Is it? I seriously doubt that.”

  The woman’s face never moved, never showed any kind of emotion. She didn’t even blink. “How long has it been?”

  “Five years,” said the tall redhead as she moved next to Valerie. Her blue eyes took in my hair, my clothes, and every inch of me. Her smile widened at the sight of blood. “Why is it that whenever we meet, you’re always dirty.”

  I matched her smile. “Why is it that whenever we meet you always look like a skank?”

  Jax choked on his own spit. Amber’s face darkened and twisted into something that was nearly not good looking. She promptly stepped in front of me, somewhat obstructing my view. Her hips were at my eye level, and I counted four blades around her waist.

  She stood in her familiar “modeling pose” as I’d always liked to call it when we were younger, with one leg forward, chest out, chin tucked it, and hands on her cocked hips. The woman was insufferable.

  Amber leaned forward. “I’ll get you back for that,” she whispered.

  “Is that a threat?” I asked dryly, glad to have ticked her off. “You do know this isn’t a photoshoot for Vogue. It’s not about how good you look in a miniskirt or how well you can contour your makeup. It’s about finding and killing monsters.”

  “It’s always about how good I look in a skirt.” Amber batted her eyelashes and gave a passing Sensitive from the Cleanup Crew a seductive smile as he waddled away with a transparent bag stained in red. He was old enough to be her grandfather. I threw up a little in my mouth.

  “Does your face hurt from always smiling so much?” I asked.

  “You’re just jealous because you have the looks of a baked potato,” said Amber, all without losing her smile and barely moving her lips. She was a damn good ventriloquist. “You’re barely a one.” Amber snickered. “I’ll always be a ten.”

  Jaw clenched, and ticked off, I turned to look at Valerie, only to find that she was having a conversation with Jax, their eyes trained on me.

  Amber caught me staring. “I don’t know how you ended up scoring a job with Jax, but don’t get too comfortable. It won’t last. Men like that never stay with a woman like you.”

  I was about to tell her off, that I had no intention of anything with him, but she’d turned and left me with my mouth hanging open.

  Amber’s scowl evaporated, replaced again by her perfect smile. “Hi, Jax,” she said, her voice sultry, smooth, and intimate. She was practically undressing him with her eyes. She touched his arm. “How are your parents?”

  I wanted to vomit.

  Jax gave her a tight smile, his face a shade darker than before. “Hi, Amber. My parents are fine, thanks.”

  Amber squeezed his arm and gave me a sideways smile before letting him go. She stood next to him, her hands on her hips. “I hear you’re a Hunter now, Rowyn,” said Amber, and her face twisted in mock admiration. “Oh, is that the only job you could find? Because no one would hire you? Poor little Rowyn, vagabonding around the country, scraping up mindless demons for a few bucks. You did go a little crazy after your mommy and daddy died. So pathetic, you tried to convince the Council that they were murdered. Murdered by their own too. Wasn’t it what you claimed? That angel-born killed your parents? You’ve always been too pathetic to be one of us.”

  “Amber,” warned Valerie.

  “What?” Amber questioned. “I’m just voicing what everyone is thinking. Everyone who matters knows she’s a freak. I’m surprised she had the guts to show up after that fiasco she pulled at the Council meeting.”

  My face felt like it was on fire. “It was the truth.” I smiled, though I wanted to kick her in the shins. I felt Jax’s eyes on me, but I wouldn’t look at him.

  Amber snorted. “Your truth, but not the truth.”

  “That’s enough, Amber.” Valerie’s tone was final. “I’m beginning to understand why you wanted to come along. One more word out of you, and you’re waiting in the car.”

  Amber crossed her arms but was silent, for the time being.

  “Rowyn,” said Valerie, her voice filled with exasperation. “The Council is in chaos. The Heads of Houses are threatening to take matters into their own hands to protect their families. I can’t have angel-born vigilantes on a demon-killing spree. Humans could get caught in the crossfire. It’s happened before, and I’m not willing to risk losing more innocent lives. Jax says you don’t think these are random angel-born killings?” She looked at me, her eyes intent. “What do you think this is?”

  I steeled my face, concentrating on keeping my voice from shaking. She’d never cared what I thought before. “Something controlled those demons,” I said, trying to gather up what was left of my dignity. “Igura are stupid, mindless eating machines. They just want to feed on flesh and souls. They didn’t tie up the Wentworths and torture them. A Greater demon did. They died because of what their daughter is—an Unmarked.”

  “Like Samantha and Karen,” said Valerie. Her eyes met mine and then moved toward the kitchen window.

  I shifted my weight. “That’s right.”

  Valerie shook her head. “Why? Why would a Greater demon target them and not the rest of us? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “That’s what we need to find out,” said Jax. “There’s a reason. We just haven’t figured it out yet.”

  I looked from Jax to Valerie. “Cindy’s in danger. And she deserves to know what happene
d to her parents. Where is she?” I didn’t believe for one minute that the Council didn’t know where she was.

  Valerie pressed her lips together, shaking her head. “We don’t have any forwarding address for Cindy. We looked everywhere. I even contacted the Council when I found Daniel snooping around confidential files.” Her eyes briefly moved to Jax. “They only had this address for her. I think her parents wanted it that way. To protect her.”

  “Well, we have to find her before the iguras do.” My stomach churned. I was still covered in her parents’ blood. The smell of human blood mixed with demon blood was making me nauseated. “I’ll advise the Council as soon as I find her,” I said, trying to hide my disquiet.

  “What about you?” inquired Valerie. I looked up at her worried tone.

  I cocked an eyebrow. “What about me?”

  “If what you say is true,” said the older woman. “Then whatever’s hunting Cindy is going to come after you too.”

  “She’s right,” said Jax, his voice wary. He rubbed his head anxiously, like someone had just slapped him.

  I don’t know why he looked so worried. The guy didn’t even know me. “I’m used to monsters hunting me. I think it has something to do with my sending them back to the Netherworld. I can handle myself.”

  I’d moved twenty times in the last five years. If the Greater demon had tried to track me before, I hadn’t made it easy. With my parents gone, the only way it could find me was through my grandmother…

  Shit. I needed to check up on her. I thought of Cindy’s parents and of my parents. I was certain there was a connection somewhere.

  I gripped her laptop. I had to find Cindy.

  “Well,” said Valerie as she straightened the front of her jacket. “The Cleanup Crew should be finished in a few hours. In the meantime, I’ll gather a team to see if we can’t find neighbors who might know something. There’s always a snooping neighbor who knows something.” Her light eyes found mine. “I’ll pray to the souls that you find this demon. Be safe, Rowyn. Jax.” Valerie gave a slight nod of her head and then waved her hand at Amber. “Come along, Amber. The angel Vedriel has asked to be kept in the loop. I must speak with House Ramiel. They’ll want to inform him.”

  Amber sneered at me as she pressed her hand on Jax’s shoulder and then swept it all the way down to his left bicep. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with stinky over there.” She laughed, and I made a rude gesture with my finger. “But when you’re up for the company of a real woman”—she inched her hips forward—“you have my number.”

  A grimace tightened my face as I looked away before Jax started to drool. I don’t know why, but I didn’t want to see that.

  Not to mention that he didn’t even have a splatter of demon blood on him. It was like the very sight of his pretty clothes deterred blood and guts as though they were spelled to always be clean. I glowered. Even his damn hair was still perfect, while I looked like I’d wrestled some decomposing zombies in a fighting pit of blood and guts.

  I waited until Amber and Valerie had disappeared behind the neighboring house and slipped off the porch. My jeans stuck to my thighs, and something pink rolled off my shirt.

  My eyes found Jax. “Can you drive me home? I need a shower.”

  “You’re not getting in my car like that,” said Jax, mortified. And then the smallest of smiles appeared on his face. “Not unless you can wrap yourself in plastic.”

  Rage, so ferocious I almost threw up, pounded in me. “Really?” I said, my voice coated in venom. “Because of some demon blood and human guts? I wouldn’t look like this if you had stayed with me.”

  “I didn’t leave you.” Jax smiled at my fury. “I really thought you were behind me. I swear.” He moved toward the foundation of the back of the house, peering through Annabelle hydrangea bushes. “Maybe there’s a garden hose here somewhere that I can hose you down with.”

  “Excuse me?” For a moment I could only stare. “Grab that hose and I’ll kill you.”

  Jax laughed and raised his hands in surrender as he moved away from the bushes. “Okay, okay, enough with the scary eyes. I won’t touch a hose.”

  Scary eyes? I glared at the SOB. No bus or cab would let me in, dripping human and demon waste all over their interior. There was no way in hell I was going to ask Valerie or any of the other Sensitives for a ride.

  If he thought he could intimidate me with his posh smile and clothes and fancy car, he was a fool. I didn’t intimidate easily.

  “Fine,” I said, setting the laptop down. Feeling defiant, I pulled off my jacket and shirt before kicking off my boots. Then I shucked my jeans and stood in my bra and underwear. I felt eyes on me from the kitchen windows, and one of the Cleanup Crew men, who’d happened to step out when I’d kicked off my last boot, froze, eyeballs gawking at my near nakedness.

  Okay, so that wasn’t such a great idea, but I was out of great ideas.

  They could look all they wanted. I didn’t care. I was toned and strong, though perhaps a little too skinny. Thank God I was wearing a new matching black bra and bikini briefs instead of a skimpy red thong. That would have been embarrassing. Nobody wants to see that.

  I grabbed the laptop and looked at Jax, giving him a confident smile. “Is this good enough for you, Jaxon?”

  Not waiting to hear his reply, and because I wanted him and all the others to stop staring at my half-naked body, I waltzed up to his car, slipped in, and shut the door.

  8

  Thankfully, Jax had stayed downstairs with Father Thomas, who graciously hadn’t said a word as I slipped through my private entrance barefoot and in my underwear. I showered and changed into more of my new clothes—jeans, black T-shirt, boots, and a new leather jacket that had cost more than a month’s rent. Ouch. Hopefully I’d get to wear this one longer than a day.

  I checked my phone for new messages, but there weren’t any. I set the volume to vibrate and slipped it in my jacket.

  Jax was waiting for me in his gleaming Audi when I slipped out the front door. I swore it looked like he’d just polished it again. Were cars supposed to be this shiny?

  I yanked the door open and slipped into the passenger seat, the laptop on my lap. The leather seat whined as I turned around. “Thanks for waiting.”

  Jax’s smile had never left his face since I’d stripped down to my underwear. “No problem.” His eyes were alight with humor. “Does that happen a lot?”

  “What? Showering?”

  “No.”

  “Stripping down to near nakedness in the burbs?”

  Jax shrugged, his face twisting sheepishly. “Well, if you really want to do that again, I have no objections—”

  “What are you talking about?” I hated how handsome he was and how good he smelled. That blend of spices and musk was driving me insane, but then I remembered that he probably had Amber’s number on speed dial.

  “The grime you get covered in whenever you’re fighting demons,” answered Jax. “Twice I’ve seen you fight demons, and twice you’ve come up covered in ashes and blood.”

  I checked my fingernails. They were clean. “I don’t care about a little dirt, as long as I get the job done.”

  “I can see that.”

  Flustered, I turned and looked out the window. “The address is 7997 Maple Drive, Thornville. It’s not far from here. Five minutes, tops.” I waited for Jax to enter the new address into the car’s GPS. “Thanks, by the way. Thanks for giving me rides. I wouldn’t want to spend all my cash on cabs. I’ll get my own car once I’ve saved up enough.” I felt a little guilty about ordering him around with his car, but he didn’t seem to mind.

  “Not a problem.” Jax pressed a button, and the Audi roared to life.

  Cars flowed past us as we drove south on Riverside Drive. The street was still busy, and people hurried to get their last-minute shopping done before the stores closed for the day.

  I rolled down my window and inhaled the warm air. My hair slapped against my face as we rode through the town
. The evening sun was warm on my face, and a part of me wondered what it was like to live a normal life, as a human maybe—blissfully ignorant of the dangers around me, just working to pay the mortgage, living the happy married life…

  Who was I kidding? I wasn’t bred for the normal life. Hell, I wasn’t born into a normal life.

  I pretended to fix my hair elastic around my high ponytail as I snuck a peek at Jax. He was all smiles and usually composed, but I had seen some real sadness in those beautiful green eyes. I was certain his grief wasn’t for Samantha. He hadn’t known her like I did. But Pam knew what it was. It had to be something personal. He’d taken the assignment to work with me. He’d asked for it. Who did that? Only someone as desperate as I was. Except I was desperate for cash… Jax was desperate for something else…

  Anticipation pulled me tightly, and I gripped the laptop. There had to be answers in here.

  The car ride was short, and after five minutes we pulled up into the driveway of 7997 Maple Drive. I got out and shut the door.

  A tiny, gray cottage with white trim sat at the end of the street. It had a brown craftsman front door and neatly trimmed boxwood hedges that lined the small stone walkway leading up to the front porch. A white rocking chair sat empty next to a flower box spilling over with purple and white pansies. I heard Jax shut his door as I made my way up the path and bounded up to the front porch. I smiled at the familiar doormat that read, WELCOME MORTALS.

  Before I had time to knock, the front door swung open. An elderly woman, white hair fitted loosely in a bun and wearing a flowered housedress and pink slippers, stood on the threshold.

  “Hi, Grandma,” I said, and my chest squeezed. “Told you I was coming to see you.”

  “You look so much like your father,” she said. My throat throbbed as her eyes watered. Please don’t make me cry in front of Jax.

  My grandmother reached out and pulled me into a tight hug. “I’m glad you came,” she said, and I could smell the wine on her breath. I let myself fall into her hug, the laptop heavy in my right hand as I struggled not to drop it. I hadn’t realized until that moment how much I’d missed her, and I hugged her back.