by Kelly Hall
“So, a dark mage is killing hunters. Again, how is this my problem?” He tucked his chin-length hair behind his ear and adjusted himself. It was hard to be around her and not be aroused, even though she was the mother of his enemies. But he knew her secret, her true nature that had always fascinated him. It also made him possessive, but she wasn’t the type of woman who would settle for that.
Rebekah turned the drink back and slammed the glass down. “I’m not here to accuse you.”
Her nostrils flared as her steel-gray gaze hardened, pegging him with a glare so intense, he felt it.
“What do you expect me to do?” he asked with his fangs bared.
“I was hoping for your opinion on the matter. For your help.” She should have known better, and she often wondered why he’d ever helped her at all.
“And since when did my kind help yours?” he asked. His help would extend only to her and no others, and only because he could sense the part of him in her.
“I just thought that you would help me. I guess I was wrong.” She slid to the edge of the booth, but before she could get to her feet, he had a hold of her arm. The feel of his hand on her body made her heart race, but it wasn’t fear. Strangely, she never feared for her safety with him. Especially not since he’d saved her.
“Don’t leave.” The static in the air dissipated, and she turned to see his eyes were no longer dark pits, but an ocean of midnight blue that only lasted for a moment before the dark clouds rolled back in.
“Why should I stay?” She waited for his temper to flare, but instead, he let go of her arm and sat up tall, meeting her eyes directly with his.
This isn’t how I wanted this meeting to go. Why was it always so fucking hard with her? He raked his hand through his dark hair. “Because you’re right. I will always help you, my immortal. Only you.”
She eased back into her seat. “I want to know if you’ve ever heard of shifters teaming up with dark mages? I not only found the dark stain of magic, but there was evidence that wolves had been there. Their stench was all over that alley.”
“No, I haven’t heard anything new, but I’ve heard of humans teaming up with mages before. How is your darling Ignis?” The inquiry about Ignis was made with a sharp tongue.
That was not the type of relationship she was asking about. “He’s fine, thank you. As brotherly as always.” She knew it bothered him that she and Ignis had such a close bond. He’d never made any bones about it.
“Brotherly? Last time, it was fatherly, and the time before that, I think you compared him to an uncle. And considering the eras we come from, you expect this to pacify me?” It was nothing for a brother and sister or uncle and niece to marry back in their times, though she’d never known anyone to do it.
She needed him to stop going on about Ignis before she really did intend to leave. “Our friendship won’t change. So, would you like to think this out with me or not?”
“I’ve never heard of shifters and dark mages teaming up, no. But my point of bringing up your kinship with Ignis was only to point out that anything is possible. Well, I suppose not everything.” He looked her up and down and knew he would want her forever, and it only made his blood boil more that she wouldn’t give in to her own desires. Desires he knew she felt, even though he was certain she would rather die than admit to having them.
“If it’s true, and this magic is strong enough to take out not only one, but thirteen of my men, just think of what it could do to your people.”
“Let’s think about this a moment,” he said. “Why did they come after your men in the first place? Had your hunters gone rogue? I mean, we all know that your perfect little world—the agreement you have with the Church to keep those academies—is not the only way to be a hunter.”
Rebekah had a hard time dealing with rogue hunters, just as Kayne had a hard time controlling his own creations.
“We don’t do things the way we did them in Ethan’s time. And while I can’t control what some people do, these men were not rogue.” In Ethan’s time, you killed any shifter or vampire on sight, no questions asked. But through the years, Rebekah had seen too much to allow that to continue.
“Oh, but some are rogues. You can’t have a hold on them all, and maybe your boys were asking for it. You weren’t there, were you?” Kayne had seen what some of the rogue hunters had done to his children. They’d beaten and burned them, cut out their eyes, and beheaded them, all because of what they were.
Rebekah understood where he was coming from, but she had made allies through the years, individuals of all races who had come together to help her in one way or another, and while the Church was content to keep things as they were, she’d done her best to reform the academies, to make the future trainees more aware.
They could have that argument all night, but she needed to get down to business. “These are some of the images from the scene.” She passed over the pictures she’d had Delilah send to her phone.
Kayne barely regarded them, refusing to touch the device as he shrugged. “Looks like a waste of good blood to me.”
She took a deep breath and held her tongue from snapping at him. Instead, she calmly got to the point. “If you notice, this mage took out several hunters who were ten feet away or more, probably all at once as the blood suggests. When Jarreth got close to it, he became sick. And while I was mostly unaffected, I could still feel it. It was dark. Evil at its worst.”
Kayne’s eyes darkened. “Jarreth?”
She sighed. It was moments like this that made what she felt for him so damned confusing, mostly because she was never quite sure he wasn’t just being an asshole or if he truly wanted her for more than sex. She’d had her fill of that type of lustful arrogance with Ethan. “He’s one of the trainees. He and his girlfriend came along to help me collect evidence. She let me borrow this dress.” She lifted a shoulder and met his eyes.
“Red suits you, Tauntress.”
“It’s not my intention to taunt.” Rebekah turned to stare at the front of the bar, not wanting him to see the dishonesty in her eyes. She had damned well wanted to taunt him, though why, she could never quite tell.
“I thought it was a touching gesture you chose Ireland for your home. I couldn’t help but think it was because of me.” His voice was steeped with sarcasm.
“That’s because you’re egotistical.” She smirked and watched his eyes flicker.
He squared his jaw. “Perhaps then I should have taken more from you the night we met. I could have made a much more lasting impression since you don’t seem to remember.”
“Of course, I do. I’m not feebleminded, despite my age.” She remembered it as clearly as if it were yesterday. She’d only been done with Ethan for a few months, and although she’d told him how she felt about his lustful lifestyle, and he’d annulled the agreement between them, he hadn’t yet abandoned her with the hunt.
At that time, the camp had been hunting in the hills of Ireland, and she’d gone off alone to clear her mind. Seeing Ethan move on with others once they’d separated had been just as heartbreaking as seeing him with other women when they were together, but she’d known what the arrangement had meant when she accepted it.
One afternoon, as she rode past a barn that was tucked away in the hills as if it were a secret, she was plucked from her horse and taken to the ground. The power that rumbled through the man had been unexpected, as well as the fact that he was strong enough to hold her down. She realized why when he bit into her neck, his razor-sharp teeth slicing through her tough flesh, which took him by surprise. It had to have been the first indication to him that she wasn’t normal. As hard as she tried, she could not get away from him, and as the power rippled through him, she knew he wasn’t like any other enemy she’d ever faced.
He pulled his mouth from her neck, glaring into her eyes. “It’s you.” He hardened, his erection pressing into her thigh, as if she were some long lost lover he’d been searching for.
But the vampire had no
idea who he was dealing with, and she let out a growl, as she gripped his throat, her blade touching the soft flesh of his neck. “Get off me, or I shall take off your manhood with my dagger and feed it to you.”
Stella glowed in the moonlight like a warning. He loosened his hold and sprung to his feet. “Huntress? You’re the Immortal Huntress, aren’t you?”
She looked at the man’s face, and he was so strikingly handsome that her entire body responded with tingles of passion that quickly subdued her anger. “Who are you?” she asked, knowing that this vampire was different from the rest. He had a presence about him she’d only felt with Ethan before him, and underlying power that made her body respond.
“I’m Kayne. I’ve met you with your mate, Ethan, though we were not properly introduced.” He backed off of her, and she lowered her blade, keeping a steady grip on the handle.
“He is no longer my mate.” She hissed the words as if they were no matter.
Kayne had always thought Ethan to be a brutish idiot, but looking into her eyes, he was certain. The man had to be out of his head to leave such a beautiful creature all alone. “Lucky me.” His eyes grew even darker, from navy blue to black in a second as he offered her a hand.
Ignoring the offer, she quickly got to her feet, ready in case he pounced once again. She brought her fingertips to her neck, and seeing the sight of blood, she pulled Stella from her belt and held it up. “If you think you’re about to feast, you’re mistaken. You’ll never take me without a fight.”
“Brave words, Tauntress.”
“I’m a brave woman.” She put Stella back in its scabbard and turned away, mounting her horse. Looking down, she met his dead, black eyes. “I do not fear you, vampire.” With that, she rode away.
“Rebekah?” He wondered if she was lost in the past, but then she cleared her throat as if the images were clearing from her mind.
“Yes, I remember,” she snapped. “And I remember all the conversations since, too.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Then I do not have to ask the same questions of you.”
“Only if you want to hear the same answers.” He’d tried to get her into bed more than once, but she’d managed to stay away from temptation, fearing the day she wouldn’t be able to.
With that, he rose from the booth and glared down at her. “One day, I will stop taking no for an answer.
She watched him until he disappeared around the corner, and then she held her hand to her lips, fearing the day he grew tired of waiting.
Chapter 8
Jarreth didn’t know how it ended up that they were inside Debauchery on the upper level having drinks, but he was glad they had sneaked out. He needed a break from the academy now and then and wished he could get his marks and skip the rest of training to get out in the field. He had mastered all of the required weapons and found his affinity with the bowie knife, which he had concealed under his jacket, along with his Fellowship-issued throwing stars and knives.
“Come dance with me?” Delilah asked, holding out her hand.
He was just about to take it when a guy bumped into her so hard, he nearly knocked her off her feet. Jarreth caught her in his lap as the guy, who was so drunk he could barely walk a straight line, ambled past.
“Hey, watch it, asshole,” Jarreth called across the distance.
The guy turned and bared his teeth, giving Jarreth a growl. “Tell your bitch to watch where she’s standing.” With that, he blended into the crowd, leaving his stench lingering in the air.
“He was a shifter,” Delilah said, getting back to her feet. “Did you smell him?”
Canter, who had been talking to a couple of ladies at the next table, turned his attention to his friends. “I smelled the same thing in the alley the other day.”
Jarreth got to his feet. “Yeah, and considering he’s hanging at this club, I’m guessing he was involved with the attack.”
“You could be right. At the very least, he might know something.” Delilah had a bad feeling about going after the shifter, but Jarreth and Canter were already getting to their feet and palming weapons. “Wait. We’re just going to do this here and now? Let’s be smart about this.” She looked to Canter, who usually had her back and was the sensible one. “This isn’t the best idea we’ve had.”
“We all agreed to come here.” Canter gave a shrug. “You know us too well to think we’d back down from a fight. Besides, you’re usually the first one wanting to flex your muscles.”
“Right, but I thought we were just going to check it out. You said it was just to look around. Besides, what if they have their mage with them? We could be walking into a trap.” What happened to Merik, Paul, and the others had really shaken her.
Jarreth put his arm around her. “We’ll surprise them. We won’t walk into the alley like the others. We’ll go up on the roof and see if we can see anything.”
“The roof?” She was still unsure but knew there was no talking them out of it. “Okay. So how are we going to get up there?”
Canter pounded the last of his drink. “Fire escape. I know there’s one on the side of the building if we can just get to it. We can go up to the roof and look around back from there.”
Jarreth pointed to the red glowing sign on the other side of the club. “There’s an exit.”
He took off in that direction and Delilah quickly followed. Canter fell in behind her, and they weaved their way to the other side of the club where they stopped on the edge of the upper dance floor to get a better look. Jarreth moved to the music and ground his hips against Delilah’s ass.
She fell into step and threw her arms up around his neck as he leaned over her shoulder. “I wanted to dance, but not like this.”
“We can’t all go out at once,” Jarreth said. “We need to find a way to slip out.”
Canter, who had also fallen into the beat, leaned close to Delilah’s ear. “You two go on out. Act like you need a little privacy. I’ll come out to join you in just a minute.”
“I think we can handle that.” Jarreth gripped Delilah’s hand, pulled her away from the floor, and tested the door for an alarm. When nothing happened, he pushed it open all the way and stepped out onto the narrow fire escape. He took a quick look over the edge and realized he couldn’t see the back alley at all, at least not the part of it they’d been in before. It was around the corner and out of sight. “Come on, let’s go up.”
They climbed the skinny stairs, and luckily, no one saw them before they got to the top. The door opened up below, and Canter walked up the squeaky stairs behind them. Once they made it to the roof, they quietly stepped to the edge and peeked over the side.
In the dark alley below, someone lurked in the shadows. Canter pointed down, and Jarreth nodded.
“I bet it’s that shifter, hoping we come out,” Jarreth whispered.
But just then, the back-alley door opened, and the asshole shifter who had bumped into Delilah stumbled out into the alley. The other figure stayed in the shadows, which was strange. They were hiding.
“Someone else is watching them?” Delilah asked softly. She turned her eyes toward Jarreth, who shrugged and put a finger over his mouth. She knew shifters had impeccable hearing, but the man had been so drunk, she didn’t think he could hear her. Besides, his wolf hearing was more effective in wolf form.
Even drunk, the shifter stopped and looked around, making sure no one was watching, but he didn’t think to look up before moving some trash and slipping into the back door of the building behind Debauchery.
The trio exchanged looks. “Did you see that?” asked Canter. “That’s probably where they stay.”
“Right under our noses.” Jarreth’s jaw tightened.
Suddenly, a glowing mist of blue formed beside Canter. Jarreth and Delilah fell over backward and scurried to their feet as Ignis appeared.
“I thought that was you,” the mage said.
Jarreth nearly jumped out of his skin. “What the hell, man? Can’t you climb up like a norm
al person?”
“Nope, I’m not exactly normal.” Ignis never apologized for who he was.
Jarreth rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t know. It’s not like I know many mages.”
“Then consider yourself lucky. If you’re going to know a mage, I’m the one to know, trust me. Especially since you’re a hunter.” Ignis knew he sounded egotistical, but if that were the case, he wouldn’t have let Rebekah take all the credit for creating hunters. No one knew that his magic was ultimately responsible. They all believed in the power of her blood.
Delilah wasn’t sure what the mage’s statement even meant, but she and Jarreth exchanged a look, and she glanced over at Canter in time to see him roll his eyes. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
Ignis brushed off his shirt, and tiny droplets of mist floated up like dust and disappeared. “Trying to figure out what kind of dark magic was used. What about you three? Isn’t there some kind of rule system and curfew in place for trainees?”
Jarreth didn’t think he liked the mage. “Despite whatever ego trip you’re on by trying to impress Rebekah to win her affection, we’re actually here trying to find out what happened to our friends.”
Ignis shuddered. “Ew, I’m not trying to win her affections. Whatever gave you that idea?” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Never mind. All I really need to know is if you caught a scent of anything in the club.”
The three exchanged another look.
“Oh, please. I saw you in there.” He leaned forward and sniffed Jarreth. “And it wasn’t sodas you were drinking. I’m guessing that’s another demerit for each of you.”
Canter thought it best to cooperate before Ignis decided to turn them in and he earned his first demerit. “We didn’t catch the scent of anything. We only knew about the one shifter because he went out of his way to bump into Delilah. We figured he was luring us out, so we came up here to see if there was an ambush waiting.”
