The Gathering

by Jennifer Ashley

Hunter grinned. “I’m planning the coming-home party now.”

  This is what we always do, Hunter thought, the conversation finished. They buried their feelings, their own needs, in order to protect others. Hunter had always enjoyed being the warrior—when he’d had nothing to lose. One look into Leda’s blue eyes, though, and Hunter’s universe changed.

  On the other side of the trees, the sun rose. Hunter heard female voices in the kitchen as Amber and Leda joined Pearl to start breakfast. Hunter and Adrian turned as one, and ran into each other on the way to the door.

  Adrian looked annoyed, and Hunter laughed. “Aw, we’re pathetic.” He opened the door and gestured Adrian through. “After you.”

  Adrian shouldered his way into the kitchen, throwing his brother an irritated glance. The smile that blossomed on Leda’s face when she saw Hunter more than made up for his brother’s rudeness.

  “We’re going with you,” Amber declared an hour later.

  From the expressions on the brothers’ faces, Adrian and Hunter hadn’t anticipated this argument. Shortsighted of them, Leda thought in anger. Did they really believe she and Amber would sit quietly at home while the two of them went out and hunted the demon?

  “You can’t,” Adrian said at once. “We might have to journey to Ravenscroft, and mortals can’t join us there.”

  “I went to Ravenscroft,” Amber pointed out. “After the Calling spell.”

  “That was different. You were dead.”

  “Only briefly.” Her tawny eyes held challenge.

  “After that, you were there with the permission of Isis.”

  “So ask her permission again.”

  The two faced off in the middle of the kitchen, small witch against tall warrior. Mac folded his arms and leaned against a counter, not bothering to hide his grin as he watched. Hunter noisily made coffee, paying absolutely no attention.

  “Leda.” Adrian pinned her with his gaze. “Tell her.”

  “Don’t expect me to take your side,” Leda said. “Amber’s right. Christine is presumably where Kalen is—we hope. She’ll need our help.”

  Hunter thumped a mug to the counter and poured a thick stream of coffee into it. No one else in the house would drink his coffee, which he made like mud, so he usually had a pot to himself. Hunter restored the coffee pot, rested his backside against the counter, and slurped down half the mug.

  “There’s nothing to argue about,” he said. “Adrian and I go. You stay. There’s no other way.”

  Hunter drained the cup, dropped it back to the counter, and stalked out of the room.

  Leda caught up to him at the top of the stairs. He looked down at her, eyes bleak, but kept moving to the bedroom they shared.

  “We’ve had this discussion,” Leda said. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it. “Amber and I can help you find Kalen. So can Mac.”

  Hunter pulled off his shirt, his hard body with scars coming into view. “You can’t go where we’re going.”

  “I don’t pretend to have the same powers you do,” Leda said. “But doesn’t it make sense to have as many people at your back as you can? Kehksut already captured you once, and hurt you, Adrian too. And now she has Kalen. Strength in numbers, Hunter. We can distract her if nothing else.”

  Hunter swung around, white-hot magic blazing out of him and wrapping itself around her. The closing rope of it jerked Leda from her feet and slammed her against the wall above the door. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t react, couldn’t draw enough energy to counteract him with her own magic.

  Hunter looked up at her from below, once more bathed in light he’d worn after Kali had broken him free from being buried alive.

  “Can you fight me?” he demanded. “Can you break free?”

  Leda couldn’t answer. She couldn’t even shake her head.

  “I could kill you in the blink of an eye,” Hunter said, his voice hard. “There would be nothing left of you—it would be as though you never existed. It would be so easy for me.”

  Leda hung helplessly, her back pressed into the pretty wallpaper of Amber’s guest bedroom.

  She knew he was right. Affable Hunter with his good-natured grin hid a powerful demigod who could rip the life out of anything and anyone he wanted to. The only thing stopping him from destroying everything he touched was Hunter himself.

  Tain, once upon a time, must have been much like him—a godlike being raising his sword to save others. Beneath the compassion though, lurked a true warrior, a killer. In Tain, that killer had taken over.

  Hunter’s voice rolled over her. “This is what you face, Leda. This and more because, as strong as I am, Kehksut is stronger. She would play with you a long time, centuries maybe, keeping you alive in agony before she got bored and finally let you die.”

  Leda struggled for breath. “I know,” she gasped out.

  Hunter abruptly lowered his arm, and Leda floated to the floor, wrapped in the white cocoon of his magic.

  “I can’t let that happen to you,” Hunter said, his voice gentling. “I can’t let her anywhere near you.”

  Leda still couldn’t speak. She could only stand and watch the man she loved hurt.

  The white light receded, releasing her. Hunter rested his arms at his sides, looking much as he had when she’d first seen him—bare torso, blue jeans riding low on his hips, hair mussed. He closed his eyes briefly then opened them again, the intense light in them gone.

  “Are you all right, love?” he asked. “Did I hurt you?”

  “I’ll be fine.” Leda’s voiced wavered. “You made your point.” She moved to him on shaking legs. “But why do I have the feeling that if I let you go off to find Kalen with Adrian, I’ll never see you again?”

  “Because that might happen.”

  Leda stopped in front of him, her heart squeezing. “How do you know? Do you think Kehksut will kill you? Wait, you’re Immortal, you can’t die. Trap you then, like she did before?”

  Hunter cupped her shoulders as he liked to do when he talked to her, his hands warm. “I don’t know if we can open that ripple in reality in the grove, and I don’t know what we’ll find behind it. All I know is that we can’t leave Kalen—or Tain—to Kehksut’s mercy.” His fingers bit into Leda’s shoulders, not to hurt her, but as though he didn’t want to let her go.

  Leda’s throat tightened. “Can’t you find another way to look for them?”

  “I can’t think of one.”

  “I see. Were you going to tell me good-bye before you and Adrian disappeared?”

  Hunter nodded once. “That’s why I came up here.”

  Leda’s eyes stung. “I can’t exactly tell you not to look for your brothers because I’d be lonely without you.”

  Hunter touched the tear that trickled down her cheek. “Kali said I’d have to make a choice, follow a path. I didn’t know it would be so damn hard.”

  “You think this is what she meant?”

  “I don’t know. You can never tell with goddesses.”

  Leda slid her hands around his waist, leaning into the warm firmness of his skin. “Do something for me before you go.”

  Hunter gathered her against him, his heart beating hard beneath her ear. “What’s that, love?”

  “Give me a child,” Leda said.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Hunter pulled away to look down at her, his expression enigmatic. “What?”

  Leda rested her hand on his chest, feeling the rapid beat of his heart. “You told me you could give me a child if you chose. I don’t want you to walk out of my life and leave me with nothing.”

  Hunter’s eyes grew bleaker still. “We had this argument before too. You want me to abandon not only you but my child as well?”

  “You just said you would do your best to come back.”

  Leda saw the swallow that moved down his throat, his indecision plain. “I’d give anything to be a father again. You don’t know how much I want that.”

  “Then will you give me this gift?” />
  Hunter looked down at her for a long time. Pain and hope warred in his eyes, a man afraid to hurt, but wanting so much to love.

  His eyes closed briefly, shutting out the hurting, then he leaned down and brushed a slow kiss to her lips. “Pick out a good name,” he said softly. “Nothing that will embarrass him in front of the other kids.”

  Leda’s heart beat faster, excitement, happiness, fear chasing through her. “How do you know it will be a boy?”

  “I can make sure of that too.”

  He kissed her again, his mouth hot. Leda abandoned herself to him as she drew him down to her, fingers finding his waistband.

  Hunter unzipped and pushed off his jeans, and Leda let her hands wander to his firm, naked backside. She liked the sensation of him bare against her clothed body, a wicked, naughty feeling, as though he were hers to do with as she pleased.

  His kiss told her he was happy for her to do whatever she wanted. Leda drew her fingers down his thighs, dipping between his legs to cup his balls, which lifted and tightened under her palm.

  Leda explored his body a little more, running hands down his ridged abdomen, skimming the outline of his pentacle tattoo before moving to his lovely cock. Hunter gathered her against him, nuzzling her, making low noises of appreciation.

  He pulled off her shirt and caught the globes of her breasts in his hands, thumbs brushing her sensitive skin. Hunter leaned down and caught one nipple in his mouth, the tingle of his touch sending fire through her body.

  When they finally made it to the bed, Hunter and Leda lay on their sides, facing each other, while they touched, kissed, and caressed for a long while. Hunter said little, no banter, no teasing, no seduction. He simply touched her, his brow drawn into a small frown.

  Leda drew her foot up the strong muscles of his leg as she cupped his face. She looked into his green eyes, memorizing every nuance of them—how they sparkled in the light, how they could cloud with sadness one moment and brighten in laughter the next.

  “I’ll never forget you, Hunter,” she whispered.

  Hunter pushed Leda down into the mattress, rolling on top of her at the same time. He kissed her as he slid inside her, then he began to love her slowly, giving all of himself. Leda moved her hands to his back and pulled him down to her, gazing into his eyes as he rocked into her.

  The mirror above the dresser reflected the rise and fall of his buttocks, a bronze-skinned warrior making love to her on white sheets. The idea of never seeing him again broke Leda’s heart, but forcing him to stay, to not search for his missing brother would leave her guilt-ridden and unfulfilled. She’d rather have him go and remember her with fondness if he remembered her at all.

  Hunter splayed his large hand across her cheek, making her look into his face again. His eyes were dark, holding so many secrets. “Do you truly want this? You want my child?”

  Leda nodded. “Please.”

  “You could marry. Start a real family.”

  Leda kissed the side of his mouth. “Your child would be my real family.”

  Hunter’s expression changed to hope, and he lowered his head, pressing fists into the mattress. Before his head went down, Leda saw tears in his eyes.

  His coming was quiet, a soft groan. Leda’s own climax happened simultaneously, also quiet. She held him close while the dark waves of it took her, his seed hot inside her.

  Then Hunter passed his fingers over her eyes and whispered one word of a sleep spell. Leda fought it, but she couldn’t overpower magic like his. I did it to him on the island, was her last coherent thought. Tit for tat.

  She was still half asleep in the gray light of the next morning’s dawn when Hunter rose from the bed. Leda watched groggily as Hunter pulled on jeans and shirt, located his leather-sheathed sword and strapped it to his back. He came to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “Sleep well, love,” he said, and Leda felt another frisson of his magic.

  Hunter stood over the bed watching Leda sleep for a long time. He drank in the beauty of her—her soft hair, her round face, the mouth she thought too wide and Hunter loved. Her chest rose and fell, her breathing soft as Hunter traced his fingers down her body and rested them briefly over her abdomen. He’d done what she’d wanted, given her his child, a child he’d possibly never see. The thought twisted his heart until it brought a soft sound of pain to his lips.

  Hunter leaned over and kissed Leda’s forehead, but his sleep spell was strong and she didn’t stir.

  One of the hardest things he ever did in his long life was turn away from Leda’s bed and walk out into the hall.

  He didn’t have to leave. He could take Leda far from here and hide her from the world while Adrian sorted out this problem. Adrian liked complications and long battles, while Hunter preferred to get the killing over with quickly so he could go back to enjoying himself.

  Hunter knew, however, that this demon was too strong for Adrian to face alone. If Hunter fled with Leda, they might not have a world to come back to. If Tain and the demon drained away the magic, Leda would die. By joining Adrian in the fight, Hunter could save her and his boy, even if he never saw them again.

  Adrian met Hunter at the bottom of the stairs with Kalen’s crystal-tipped spear, his expression grave. Hunter understood by Adrian’s eyes that big brother hadn’t liked taking his leave of Amber any better than Hunter had saying good-bye to Leda. The two witches had wound their way into their Immortal hearts.

  Mukasa came to Adrian and Hunter as they stepped off the back porch. The lion butted his head against Hunter’s leg, and Hunter patted him.

  “You can’t come with us, old friend.” Hunter ruffled his mane. “Take good care of Leda for me, all right?”

  Mukasa grumbled a little but let them walk away without him to the center of the grove.

  The ripple of unreality was pronounced here, thick and heavy, like a sluggish stream. Adrian stopped in a little circle of trees, the branches above him hung with pink and purple ribbons that swayed a little in the morning breeze. Fog crept under the trees, ghostly white swirls.

  Adrian pushed at the bubble of unreality, his fingers sinking a little as though into colorless gelatin. “During the Beltane ritual Amber and I were pulled into an alternate reality,” he said. “The God and Goddess did it. But I have a feeling that what’s behind this ripple is different. This one was caused when the Calling spell backfired.” He upended Kalen’s sphere. “If I’m right, this will be drawn to Kalen, as Ferrin is drawn to me and your sword to you. Our weapons don’t like to be far from our hands.”

  Hunter grinned. “Mine likes to be in Leda’s hands.”

  Adrian gave him a dark look. “Yeah, you’re funny. The sooner we go, the better. The demon’s strength is building in logarithmic increments.”

  “Logga-what-ments?”

  Adrian fixed him with a patient stare and spoke slowly. “In a big way, very fast.”

  “Hey, your father was a high priest; mine was a barbarian slave who didn’t use big words.”

  “Read a book sometime.”

  “Boring. I have too many other interesting things to do, like—”

  His words cut off as he sensed the faint ting of death magic approaching. Hunter turned with Adrian to see a woman whose aura was slightly tinged with darkness. Right on time.

  Samantha walked toward the pair of them, looking uneasy. “I know I agreed to come,” she said to Hunter, “but Leda won’t be happy about this.”

  “She’s already pissed off at me,” Hunter said. “I’m getting used to it. Was I right?”

  Samantha nodded. “My mother was there, where you said she’d be. I wanted to stay with her, but Septimus told me you insisted I come up here.”

  Adrian frowned at Hunter, puzzled. “What’s going on? Who is this?”

  “This is Samantha Taylor,” Hunter said, feeling gleeful. “A half demon who happens to be paranormal police. Her mother disappeared, and I figured out after a while that the woman must have gotten trapped
in one of these ripples. I sensed it when I was in her house, when Kehksut first tried to snare me, but I didn’t realize what I was sensing. If demons gangs had broken into her house, and she fought them with magic, the residue might have created a ripple like this one. It trapped her, and she couldn’t get out. I called Samantha last night after this dawned on me and told her that if she and Fulton, her demon father, could pierce the ripple, they’d find her. A blast of death magic created it, like it did here when the Calling spell broke; death magic can break it again.”

  Hunter finished, pleased with himself. Leda had told him how her locator spell she’d done to try to find Samantha’s mother had backfired—in a big way. Kehksut blocking her, Leda had assumed, but the ripple must have blasted death magic back against her strong life magic.

  Adrian merely nodded, as though the deduction should have been simple. “And you asked her to come, because she’s a half demon and can help us open this ripple now?”

  “You could sound more impressed with your baby brother. I called Septimus and had him fly her up.”

  “Right away,” Samantha said in a hard voice. “I haven’t slept tonight, let alone hugged my own mother.”

  “You’ll have another chance, if this goes right,” Hunter told her.

  Samantha frowned at him, her dark demon eyes troubled. “Forgive me if I don’t dance with joy. But I owe you for helping me find her. What do you want me to do?”

  Hunter took Kalen’s spear from Adrian and pressed it into Samantha’s hands. She blenched at the intense life magic flowing from it, but held it steadily.

  “We need your death magic,” Hunter said. “Just point the spear and go. Then Pearl will make you breakfast.”

  “Who’s Pearl?”

  “Half a halfling and half gnome,” Hunter answered. “Crabby as hell but a wonderful cook. She used to work for Kalen.”

  “That’s it?” Samantha interrupted. “Point the spear? That’s all you want me to do?”

  “Yes.” Hunter drew his sword. “Leda was right about you. You’re not bad, for a demon.”

  “Gee, thanks.”