The Claimed (Sin Hunters)

by Caridad Piñeiro

  The whispers of those beside her increased in volume and frequency, warning that her precarious position among Christopher’s people was growing ever weaker. Only a bold move could save the moment, so she took it.

  She pretended to sniff the air and then released her breath with a disdainful huff. “Do you know this because you have been sleeping with the enemy? Was the Light Hunter female delicious?”

  Christopher’s mouth thinned into a severe line, but her gambit paid off as his cadre members turned their attention to their leader.

  “I won’t deny that I’ve met with one of them,” he said, and shifted away from her and back to his cadre.

  Maya held in the sigh of relief she wanted to breathe, not wanting to draw attention back in her direction.

  Christopher could not miss their sudden concern and pressed forward, trying to calm the apparent unease of those in the room. “The Ocean clan lost one of their Hunters as well. He died protecting their Quinchu from an attack that I believe was orchestrated by my father.”

  One of his cadre members, Sarah, raised her hand almost timidly, prompting Christopher to wonder if they feared him the way they feared his father.

  He recognized Sarah with the slow tilt of his head.

  “What is it that you need from us, Añaru?” Her question prompted a chorus of sympathetic chatter from the remaining members of his guard and relieved some of his worries, but one glaring fear remained.

  He looked toward Maya once more. “You will be accompanied at all times. If I find out that you have betrayed us, you will be banished.”

  A united gasp rose from a few members of his cadre before they contained themselves and came to attention before him. Even Maya finally showed some hint of apprehension. Color melted from her face, leaving her as pale as a moonbeam.

  For good measure, Christopher leaned toward her once again and stressed, “Banishment. Do you understand the consequences of that?”

  “I understand, Añaru,” she replied meekly, not that she thought he believed her.

  “Ryan. Please choose one of our cadre members to be Maya’s constant companion. That person will answer directly to you.”

  Ryan saluted him and then jerked his head in Sarah’s direction. “Sarah, I know you are more than capable of guarding our little friend. Please take Maya to her room. I will meet you there shortly.”

  Sarah immediately acknowledged Ryan’s instructions and went to Maya’s side.

  Christopher expected something more from his ex-fiancée, some show of petulance or challenge at being removed from the cadre’s meeting, but the threat of banishment must have sunk in since she docilely let Sarah lead her from the room.

  Once she was gone, Christopher resumed his planning.

  “I need two volunteers for a special mission. I also need the rest of you to be on the lookout for signs of any of my father’s people. Except for Ryan, myself, and the two volunteers, no one is to communicate with anyone outside the compound. For those of you with family members who are living nearby, I would ask that you bring them here for safety’s sake.”

  “I volunteer,” his youngest cadre member replied immediately, and as one, the members of his cadre stepped forward, likewise offering their services.

  Relief washed over Christopher at their trust in him. Selecting two of them for the mission, he continued with laying the groundwork for defending their people, all the time hoping that they could avoid outright war with his father.

  But if war was what it would take, Christopher was prepared to fight.

  CHAPTER

  21

  Christopher had brought his two cadre members to the meeting, but as a show of trust, he left them standing guard at the door to the now vacant oceanfront compound instead of bringing them inside. After the attack last night, the Desert clan had cleared out from the home until it was safe to return. The large area in the modern home’s great space, however, made for the perfect location for him to try to demonstrate the truth of his ways to Adam Bruno.

  He entered with Victoria at his side and noted the four Light Hunter guards positioned at each corner of the room. They stood at attention, hands outstretched and response-ready.

  His gut tightened with apprehension, but he reined himself in. This was not the time to allow fear to upset his plans. To provide an additional show of faith, he raised his hands as if in surrender, displaying his power-empty palms.

  “That’s not necessary,” Victoria advised as she met him at the door and they walked to the center of the room to meet the other Light Hunter Quinchu who stood there.

  Adam was well-built and just an inch or two shorter than Christopher. Sun-streaked sandy-colored hair was gelled into stylish spikes and emphasized his handsome face and inquisitive emerald gaze.

  “Adam,” he said, and held out his hand, but the other man hesitated for the space of a heartbeat before shaking Christopher’s hand.

  It was impossible to miss the unique signature of the power, confirming what had been one of his worst fears.

  “You’re the source my father seeks,” he said, almost in a reverent tone, so floored was he by the purity and strength of Adam’s life force.

  A flare of color rushed to Adam’s face and he yanked his hand away, resentment evident in the tight lines of his body and the hard glitter that entered his gaze. “Were those your father’s men on the beach last night?”

  “I cannot say for certain if he was behind last night’s attack, although I suspect it. But I know his men were trailing the origins of a great surge of power we experienced months back,” he admitted, and with that, Adam nodded.

  “I created that surge by accident before I was aware of the nature of my powers.”

  “Was it also an accident when you crystallized two of my father’s men by the lighthouse?” Christopher pressed, needing to know. Only immense power could have vaporized his father’s cadre members and turned them and the sand around them into massive glass fulgurites.

  “They shot at us. My parents and my wife. They hit my human father, Salvatore, nearly killing him. As it is, I suspect his sudden death was due to the injuries he sustained that night,” Adam replied, only a slight bit of sadness allowing any break in his wall of anger.

  Christopher bowed his head and shot a quick glance at Victoria before continuing. “My condolences on your loss, Adam.” As for Salvatore Bruno’s part in that fateful night and Salvatore’s alliance with Alexander, that was a secret Christopher would keep to himself. There was no need to sully Adam’s memory of the man he had considered to be his father for most of his life.

  Adam’s emerald gaze narrowed to almost a squint. “You expect me to believe that you aren’t interested in my power?”

  “I’d be lying if I said, ‘no’—”

  “Christopher,” Victoria finally jumped in, clearly surprised by his words.

  To reassure her, he reached out and took hold of her hand, and with that motion, one of the guards in a far corner surged forward to protect her. Victoria raised her hand, commanding him to resume his position with that simple gesture. The man’s jaw clenched so tightly Christopher could almost hear his teeth grinding, but the warrior did as instructed.

  Christopher pressed forward. “I am interested in your life force, but not to take it. I want to understand its purity—”

  “And not its strength?” Adam challenged.

  “If I may?” he said, and stretched out his arms. Immediately a glow began in his open palms, but instead of gathering the force into orbs for attack, he allowed the tendrils to weave around his wrists and up his arms. Then he opened his life force, displaying the brilliant sapphire of his aura. The release of control created a sympathetic vibration in Victoria, who stepped away from him as her life forces reacted in response.

  Christopher reined in his power until she had stepped outside the range of his aura, and then he focused on the stray bits of energy circulating in the space. He identified the pathways he could take and prepared his energy
so he could flash across the ions in the room.

  Victoria had been hanging back, allowing the two men to size each other up, while they displayed their abilities.

  At that moment Christopher’s power expanded, the color bright and swimming with glittering tendrils of silver and blue. Then without warning, Christopher disappeared as four streaks of light took off for each of the corners of the room.

  A millisecond later, there was a Christopher standing before each of their cadre guards. “Strength comes in many ways,” he said in unison before the guards could act. Then four blurs of light returned and merged until only one Christopher stood in front of Adam.

  Adam nodded. “Impressive. But if you have such energy—”

  “What do I need from the Light Hunters?” Christopher immediately countered and looked back toward her. Asked her with his gaze to join him.

  Victoria walked to his side and at another visual cue from Christopher, she said, “He needs our help to prove the pox has been controlled in his people. That with the change in their energies our people can peacefully coexist.”

  “Coexist?” Adam glanced at the two of them and then wagged his head as he considered her statement.

  “I know that you’re not familiar with Hunter ways,” she began, but Adam immediately cut her off.

  “You’re right that I don’t know much, having been raised as a human. But I’ve learned one thing very quickly: Light Hunters and Shadows don’t mix.”

  “Not yet, Adam. But what if they could? The Shadows all can gather energy, something most of our people can’t do,” Victoria began, and looked around to the four corners, gauging the reaction of the guards as well. “Imagine it. Imagine a future generation of Hunters who can hunt as our ancestors did. Who do not need to fear early deaths—”

  “From the Dark Ones,” Rafael interrupted loudly, and left his position in a corner. He jerked his arm up and pointed to Christopher. “Shadows like this one.”

  Victoria approached Rafael until his finger was pointing directly to her head, although his arm wavered and he lowered it a bit. “You dare challenge me again?” she said beneath her breath and released a smidgen of her power, allowing her aura to brush against him. As her gaze locked with his, the neon glow of hers was reflected back as his gaze widened with alarm.

  He dropped his arm an inch at a time and, shifting toward her, pleaded in a soft tone, “Victoria, please. Do not go forward with this.”

  “There have been few times I have resorted to rank, especially with you, Rafael,” Victoria said softly. “But you’re leaving me no choice. Return to your post, Rafael. Now.”

  He hesitated, almost as if he intended to openly defy her yet again, but then raised his right hand to his chest and bowed his head. “I live to serve, Quinchu.”

  For good measure, she glanced in the direction of Catalina, the newest member of her guard and Mike’s wife. As was tradition, a family member of a fallen warrior could take his place. When Catalina had made the request, Victoria had not demurred. Catalina was strong and her affinity was like Mike’s—the wind. Her addition would fill the power gap created by Mike’s loss.

  As Catalina stared in her direction, the pain of her loss was evident. Still, Catalina saluted and bowed her head without hesitation, and instead of the customary words of obedience, she said, “I trust you, Quinchu.”

  Victoria whirled and walked back to the two men who had been silently witnessing the challenge.

  “What is it that you want?” Adam asked as she approached.

  “A test,” Christopher replied immediately. As Adam raised an eyebrow in question, he explained. “For over a year my warriors and I have gathered solely from nature, cleansing our bodies of the pox energies that contaminated us.”

  “You believe it is that simple?” Adam challenged.

  “I do, and I need you to help me prove it,” he replied.

  Adam glanced at Victoria. She met his gaze directly and lifted her head a notch in a show of power and defiance. She could not let her people believe that the two men with her somehow called the shots, because if the whole plan failed, she still had to lead her clan. “I believe it is time for the three of us to forge a new future for our people. Together we can do that.”

  “And your father would accept that?” Adam asked Christopher.

  Christopher shook his head. “He won’t, but he is having difficulty containing his illness because he is weak. He still commands the bulk of the clan, over a hundred Hunters to my thirty or so.”

  “If we unite even only a portion of our clansmen with Christopher, we can be the stronger group,” Victoria observed.

  “But at what price? War?” Adam challenged.

  “That’s a very real possibility, but if at the end of the day we secure the future of all Hunters, would it not be worth the risk?” Christopher offered up for consideration.

  Adam glanced back and forth between them and, although hesitant, seemed to agree with that observation. With a nod, Adam said, “Then together it shall be.”

  CHAPTER

  22

  Victoria watched Christopher exit the great space of the mansion. Adam and his guards followed at a discreet distance, hinting that although Adam had signed on to the plan, he still did not fully trust Christopher. She understood. In the last few months Adam’s world had been turned upside down and the Shadows had played a large role in that upheaval.

  With only herself and her guards in the room, she motioned to both Rafael and Catalina to approach. Once they stood before her, she said, “Please take the other guards with you and wait outside for us, Catalina.”

  The young warrior bowed, saluted and with a wave of her hand, motioned for the other guards to join her as Victoria had bid.

  Rafael remained in his position before her as the other cadre members departed, his gaze slightly lifted in avoidance. His legs were braced apart, his hands clasped before him as he awaited punishment.

  Her father and mother would have done so, withholding their life forces for several days or more as a reminder of what would happen without their power to feed him. They might have even used well-placed blasts of power to bring excruciating pain to physically discipline him.

  But just as Christopher was seemingly no longer his father’s son, she was also of a different mind and Rafael was not just her cadre captain. He was a friend.

  “Why?” she asked, pacing back and forth before him. Trying to understand what had made him react as he had. Why he had been so distant lately, both emotionally and physically.

  A flicker of emotion crossed his features before he reined it in. Still staring straight ahead, he said, “I am sorry, Quinchu. My sentiments got the better of me.”

  She wondered just how far he had let emotion rule him. Enough to be the one betraying them to Christopher’s father? She did not want to believe that since he was like a brother and she did not want him hurting so. Reaching up, she cradled his jaw and released a bit of her power in an effort to heal his anger. “Why can you not trust me on this, Rafael?”

  His gaze wavered and he finally dropped it to meet hers. As she had seen before, there was longing there. For her, but she could not give him false hope. “It is not meant to be between us, my friend.”

  “You would choose him, a Shadow, over me? Over one of our own?” he bit out through gritted teeth.

  She wanted to say that she would choose love any day over a life devoid of such an emotion. But in truth, it had become about so much more than what she hoped for Christopher and herself. As she had said earlier to Adam, it had also become about the future of the Light Hunters. No matter how much she did not want to place duty over love, to be a good leader she had to consider her obligations. Hidden away deep inside her, however, hope remained for more.

  “I choose the future of our people. I choose peace—”

  “At what price, Victoria? At the cost of your soul?” he urged, his rancor abating slightly with her selfless words.

  She was afraid
she had already lost a piece of her soul to Christopher, but bit back that response since diplomacy was demanded to ease her captain’s stress. “No price is too great to guarantee the safety of our people.”

  Rafael forced on a neutral face before he answered.

  “I am your man, Victoria,” he saluted her, but there was something uncertain about the gesture, and Victoria didn’t quite believe him. “What do you wish for me to do?”

  With a nod and a forced smile, she pushed aside her doubts and said, “I am supposed to meet with Christopher and his cadre captain later tonight. Come with me and learn more about them.”

  “I would be honored, Quinchu,” he replied.

  But something in the tone of his voice made Victoria suspect that honor was the last thing Rafael would feel.

  Ryan lounged just outside the French doors to the gardens, absorbing the energy from the sun’s rays while keeping a careful eye on Maya as she paced back and forth inside the room, clearly agitated about the forced captivity. Not that they had much choice, Ryan thought.

  Both he and Christopher were convinced that she’d had a hand in what had happened the night before, but proving it would be difficult. Especially since the remaining man on guard had not seen her leave and the only other person who had attended Maya, a young local human, could not recollect much of anything.

  Typical if a Hunter issued a small blast of power to a human’s brain. It was a tactic used often when an inadvertent revelation of Hunter power occurred. The low-voltage discharge created short-term amnesia without harm.

  It was growing late and the rays of the afternoon soon were waning. Along his skin and inside his core rested a pleasurable thrum of heat from the power. Ryan liked this compound, so close to nature and away from the city where the skyscrapers regularly blocked out the sun. But to stay here permanently would require hard work and sacrifice.

  Jason had already been sacrificed. How many more? Ryan wondered as he rose and entered the room where Maya had finally stopped her nervous pacing. She was sprawled across the bed, her voluptuous curves not quite suitable for a Rubens painting, but still luscious. Too bad such beauty couldn’t make up for a rotten core.