Night Hunter

by Cathy McDavid

  He'd envisioned himself impregnating all three females and securing a place in history as the supreme forefather of his kind. Now, because of the Huntsman, Cadainus could conceivably end up as the last of his kind.

  For that, the Huntsman must pay with his life-and that of his mate's.

  "Are we going home?" Miguel asked, his small face buried in Cadamus's neck.

  "Yes."

  The boy had served him well, proving to be a reliable and obedient helper. Cadamus didn't mind exchanging the worthless female child for him. He should probably reward the boy with some foodfind another meal for himself, too, since he'd left the last one back in the alley.

  Cadamus ducked behind a large, square post. He wasn't flying as much as leaping from building top to building top and only when safe. The moon was too bright tonight and there were too many humans milling about on the streets. He was well aware of the danger their mechanized weapons presented. There was a limit to what his armor-plated hide could protect him from.

  Not that he minded dying. No, indeed, his premature death by the hands of someone other than the Huntsman would guarantee that the balance of power shifted into the control of those Dark Ancients Cadamus served.

  But he'd not yet mated, not yet ensured a future generation. Until then, he must exercise caution.

  Afterwards, he'd seek out the Huntsman, or let the Huntsman find him, and embrace his destiny.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Gillian chewed on a thumbnail and watched Nick gingerly load the girl into the backseat of his car, buckling the seat belt around her waist. She'd yet to rouse, and Gillian was starting to worry.

  "How can you be sure she's the next Huntsman?"

  "Inside information."

  "The Ancients spoke to you?"

  His answer was to straighten, shut the rear driverside door, and meet her gaze head on.

  Gillian stared into the same expression of resolution she'd seen on her father's face the other day at Florence Prison. She knew any arguments she offered would fall on deaf ears.

  To have such faith. To be so confident.

  She grappled with a thousand doubts while Nick's eyes conveyed a conviction that laid waste to every uncertainty. He was taking the girl home with him because he believed that it was his duty as dictated by the Ancients, and the surest, perhaps only, means of protecting mankind's future.

  Was it?

  What would happen if she called nine-one-one as she'd told Nick she would, and he were picked up for kidnapping?

  Disaster.

  Whether Gillian believed in the Ancients had no bearing on the creatures. They existed. If Nick weren't there to eliminate the last female creature, Cadamus would find it, reproduce, and a new generation would be born.

  Nick placed his hand on the door handle. "Are you coming with us?"

  Gillian could hear in her head all the other questions he wasn't voicing out loud.

  Are you still my Synsar?

  Can I count on you?

  Do you trust me?

  Do you care about me?

  She rubbed her throbbing temples. Too much had happened tonight for her to think straight. She was physically depleted, mentally exhausted, and emotionally drained.

  Perhaps the best course of action would be for her to go along, see that no harm came to the girl, and try to talk some sense into him. That was what she'd been trained to do, after all. Talk sense to people.

  She went around to the other side of the car and slipped into the passenger seat next to Nick. "Are you going to stop by Father Juan's office?"

  "No. I'll phone him tomorrow." Nick started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

  Gillian heard sirens in the distance and wondered if emergency vehicles were en route to the alley. Someone-perhaps the old Hispanic woman-must have heard the commotion and called the police.

  Come to think of it, lots of someones should have heard the commotion and come running. Had they been afraid of Cadamus or just plain afraid of getting involved?

  "People are bound to be looking for her, you know." Gillian inclined her head at the unconscious girl. "Probably."

  "You don't think that's a problem?" "Not really."

  "She could have family."

  "My guess is, now that her mother's dead, she's an orphan."

  If what Nick said were true and the girl was indeed the next Huntsman, she was alone in the world. From what Gillian had learned, orphan status was a prerequisite for being a Huntsman. In a way Gillian didn't like to admit, that worked to everyone's benefit. Less distractions. Nothing to lose. No ties, no commitments.

  Unless you got romantically involved with your Synsar.

  Nick had been an orphan. So had Charlie. He'd told her about his childhood one night while they were waiting for Nick to return from buying supplies. And about Jonathan. How he and Nick were alike in many ways and also how they differed. Charlie told her Nick was more easygoing. Evidently Charlie had never tried towin an argument with him.

  Gillian approached Nick from another angle. "What if the police talk to Father Juan?"

  "He won't tell them anything. He has no reason to connect us with Amaia's death or the girl's disappearance."

  "He might give them our names. Mention that we were there investigating the smell and never returned."

  "If he does, he'll give them your fake name and my birth name. Nicholaus Lawler doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for twenty-five years. I think we're pretty safe."

  "But we left without talking to him. That's bound to make him suspicious."

  "It may. But I'm sure I can relieve his suspicions with a phone call tomorrow. And besides, the girl went missing while we were in the church talking with him. We have an airtight alibi."

  "And if the old woman in the house behind the church talks to the police?"

  "She's just another wacko citizen caught up in the recent monster craze."

  "You have an answer for everything."

  "I try."

  Since Gillian was getting nowhere fast with Nick, she dropped the subject and instead studied the girl in the backseat.

  "Stevie," she said, suddenly remembering. "Her name is Stevie. That's what Father Juan said."

  "You're right."

  Traffic was lighter than usual for nine-thirty at night. They'd reach Nick's apartment within a few minutes.

  "Why is she still unconscious, do you suppose?"

  "She's not unconscious. Not exactly."

  "What would you call it exactly?"

  "More of an altered state of consciousness as opposed to unconsciousness."

  "Hypnotized?"

  Cadamus was capable of reading minds. Maybe, thought Gillian, he'd done something to the girl. Put her in a trance.

  "No. She's here physically, but her consciousness is elsewhere."

  "Elsewhere? Like in another city?"

  "On anotherr plane of existence. She's with the Ancients."

  "Doing what?"

  "Receiving her instructions."

  "Okay." Gillian sighed long and loud. She really was too tired to keep up this conversation with Nick. Slouching in her seat, she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "I've reached my limit of Twilight Zone stuff for one night. How about we go back to the discussion of me calling the police and reporting you for kidnapping. That conversation made sense, from my perspective anyway."

  "What the hell are you doing here, Gillian?"

  His unexpected anger took her aback. She opened her eyes and stared at him. "I beg your pardon."

  "Is it to obtain proof of the creatures so that you can free your father?"

  "How can you say that after this past week?" And after all the times we made love. She swallowed back her hurt.

  "Then why don't you trust me?"

  "I do." She remembered him letting go of her hands after he'd promised not to, and her crashing fall to the basement. "Most of the time."

  "You can't pick and chose, you know. Say `I believe in the creatures but not the Ancie
nts,' or `I accept my role as Nick's Synsar but not that Stevie is the next Huntress.' It's all or nothing."

  "She's a kid, for crying out loud. A kid who just lost her mother. How can you expect her to make a decision that will affect the rest of her life? Force her to abandon everything and everyone she knows for a purpose she may not fully understand?"

  "I did."

  Gillian's rebuttal died on her tongue.

  "Jonathan did, and so did Charlie. Huntsmen who accept their calling do so willingly and because they're ready."

  Nick turned the car into the single-lane driveway leading behind the strip center and the stairs to his apartment.

  "Are you saying she ,has a choice?"

  "She does. If she wakes up and remembers nothing about tonight, it means she refused. The Ancients will have erased her memory of them and Cadamus. If she remembers, she's chosen to answer her calling."

  Nick pulled into his parking space and shut off the engine. Charlie's motorcycle was in its usual spot. Every light in the apartment was burning at full wattage.

  "Stay with Stevie," Nick said, his voice low and soothing in the darkness of the car's interior. "Be the first to talk to her when she wakes up. Decide for yourself. I'll abide with whatever decision you make. If, afterward, you want me to turn her over to the authorities, I will. You have my word."

  "You seem awfully sure."

  "I am. Of a lot of things." He found her hand and folded it inside his. "If you agree with me she's the next Huntsman, I swear to you I'll take good care of her. I'll raise her as if she were my flesh-and-blood daughter. Like Charlie raised me. Like Jonathan would have if he'd lived. Coach her softball team. Ground her for wearing too much makeup." He squeezed Gillian's fingers. "Being a Huntsman is more than saving mankind. I get to be a dad, too."

  Nick would make a great father. Something Gillian had missed out on. Of course, her father loved her, but he hadn't been there for her. Not like other fathers. She didn't want Stevie to suffer the same dismal childhood she had.

  Tears unexpectedly filled Gillian's eyes, and she blinked them back.

  "You could be part of it, too."

  "What?" she asked, her voice thick. "Raising Stevie."

  "Oh, Nick."

  "I know it's too soon to talk about where our relationship is heading, but when this is all over ..."

  He didn't finish whatever it was he'd intended to say because Charlie was coming down the last flight of stairs, a flashlight in his hand. Nick opened his door just as Charlie reached the car.

  "Don't you answer your goddamn cell phone?" he barked.

  "I had it on vibrate."

  "How did it go?"

  "We got the female."

  Charlie's irritation instantly vanished. "Good." "And something else."

  "What?" Charlie quirked one eyebrow. "Or should I ask, who?"

  "How's she doing?"

  "The same."

  Gillian looked up to see Charlie come through the door to Nick's spare bedroom/communication center. After bringing Stevie inside, they'd quickly cleared off the futon couch and made it into a bed for her. She'd not so much as flickered a single eyelash since Nick put her in the backseat of his car more than two hours before.

  Gillian had stayed constantly by her side except for one quick potty break. The kitchen chair she'd been sitting in was starting to feel like a torture device.

  Charlie wheeled over the old threadbare secretary chair from the desk, and sat down next to Gillian.

  "What's Nick up to?" she asked in a hushed whisper, though she'd begun to believe Stevie wouldn't wake up even if a piano fell through the ceiling onto the bed.

  "He was camped out on the couch, going over a floor plan of the PhoenixExhibitionCenter I got online for him, but then a little while ago, he dozed off."

  "I'm sure he's tired. He hasn't gotten much sleep lately."

  "Neither have you. You're both working too hard."

  Gillian was grateful that the room was lit only by a small night-light and Charlie couldn't see her flushed cheeks. If she and Nick spent more time sleeping and less time making love, they wouldn't be so tired.

  "I suppose some of the pressure's off now," she said after a moment, "what with two of the females being eliminated. The worst that can happen is Cadamus mates with the remaining one, and the cycle starts all over again."

  Far better, she supposed, than him mating with all three females and the next Huntsman having to face and defeat a small army of the creatures.

  "There's still the final battle," Charlie said. "Nick won't truly relax until that's over with."

  Gillian hadn't forgotten about the battle, she just chose not to dwell on it.

  "Why haven't any Huntsmen ever eliminated all three females before? We've found two and while it wasn't easy, it wasn't impossible either."

  "Don't overestimate your abilities or underestimate the creatures'. Now that he's lost two of the females, Cadamus will grow more daring and more dangerous."

  "Like tonight."

  "Exactly. He took a big risk showing himself in the alley and engaging in a confrontation with Nick, especially with houses right there."

  "To be honest, I was surprised."

  "His desperation is something that could work in our favor or against us."

  Gillian thought of her mother. Radlum's attack on her had created a distraction that allowed him to reach the last female ahead of Jonathan. Would Cadamus try something similar and just as devastating?

  "You should be careful, Charlie."

  "As should you. Those of us closest to Nick are the most vulnerable."

  For once, Gillian was glad she had no family in Arizona. She reached out and tucked the bed sheet around Stevie's neck, not that it needed tucking. "How long do you think she'll ... be like this?"

  "It depends. Usually a few hours."

  "Did Cadamus know she might be the next Huntsman? Is that why he taunted Nick with her?"

  "I doubt it. None of us knows who the Ancients will choose until that person is revealed to us."

  "Did the Ancients speak to Nick? Is that how he knew?"

  "Yes."

  "He says she can refuse the calling."

  "That's right." "Has any child?"

  "A few, but not many. The Ancients tend to choose successors wisely."

  "She's a pretty girl," Gillian said thoughtfully.

  ,'Very.,,

  She'd studied Stevie's features at length during her vigil. Stevie's mother, Amaia, had been Hispanic. Clearly, Stevie was of mixed ethnic backgrounds. African-American and possibly Anglo, too. The diverse combination had come together beautifully.

  Her coffee-colored complexion was flawless, and her long black hair a tumble of loose corkscrew curls. A nose just a tad too straight to be called button sat in the center of a face just a tad too round to be called oval. Gillian suspected beneath those unflickering eyelashes were large, dark eyes not unlike her mother's.

  What color were the boy's eyes? Gillian hadn't noticed. And where was he right now? In Cadamus's sanctuary? Hungry and alone? Whether Stevie accepted her calling or not, she would be cared for, either by Nick, family, or foster parents. Did Cadamus care for the boy? Did he feed him, shelter him, protect him?

  "I was thinking," Gillian said after a momentary silence. "The old woman I spoke to in the alley, the one who'd seen Radlum ..."

  "Yes."

  "If he were sighted at Iglisia de San Pedro and one of his offspring showed up there twenty-five years later ... well, is it possible that the church is where the female made her nest and laid her eggs? We know the females separate and travel while in their larvae state. But what if only two of the females travel and the third one remains in the general area of the nest?"

  "Hmm." Charlie furrowed his brow in concentration. "It's possible, I suppose."

  "And since the last female is at the ExhibitionCenter, as far as we know anyway, that might be where it will lay its eggs if by chance Cadamus locates it before we do."

/>   "That's a very interesting theory. One we could perhaps explore if Cadamus does succeed in reproducing, which, unfortunately, all alpha males have."

  "And if we could find the nest and destroy the eggs before they hatch, then we'd wipe out the creatures."

  "Except for the alpha male."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The female makes two nests, one for the female eggs and a different one for the alpha male." "Oh. I didn't know that."

  "Females or not, the alpha male would still go on a killing spree after he hatches. But I like the way you think." Charlie nodded. "Destroying the female eggs would, one way or another, bring about the end of the creatures. You should tell Nick about your theory."

  "I guess."

  Gillian realized he'd taken for granted that she and Nick would be together when, in fact, they'd yet to fully decide on their future together.

  "Is everything okay with the two of you?" Charlie asked after several moments of silence. "Of course."

  "You sure? He seemed a bit tense and you're a bit preoccupied."

  Gillian was yet again grateful for the dim lighting.

  Charlie's questions, asked with genuine concern, were touching on a subject she wasn't comfortable discussing.

  "I've had a tough night." She fingered the hem of her shirt. "I fell through an opening into the basement and landed pretty hard. I don't know if Nick told you."

  "He did. Are you all right?"

  "I'm fine, other than a few . . . make that a lot of bruises."

  "So, what's bothering you? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Charlie amended. "It's really none of my business. Except that I care about you. And Nick." ;

  Gillian chewed her bottom lip. The irony of the situation didn't escape her. Usually, she was doing the listening while other people spilled their guts. She would have declined Charlie's invitation if not for the gnarled hand he placed on her knee. Before she knew it, the words were tumbling from her mouth.

  "I witnessed a side to Nick tonight I've never seen before." In her mind, she pictured him in the alley, pressing the ritual dagger to the boy's throat. "He told me he was bluffing, but I swear to you I believed he was going to kill that boy."