Blood Hunt (Sentinel Wars Book 5)

by Shannon K. Butcher

  Once the information was in place, Krag dismissed him and turned away. “Don’t take long,” he warned the Dorjan. “Don’t make me wait.”

  Chapter 14

  Hope listened quietly to everything Nicholas had to say.

  There were more men like him. She might be able to save one of them, and if she did, she’d have access to magic.

  As she listened, she kept waiting for a spark of recognition—something that told her she was on the right path, that she was what he thought she was. Unfortunately, as his story went on, she began to realize that nothing he said resonated with her. It simply didn’t feel right.

  With Logan, she felt like the veil between her and her memories became thinner, like she was getting closer to the truth. And while Nicholas was gentle with her feelings and careful not to shock her, she felt . . . nothing.

  Finally, she had to stop him before he got his hopes up too high. “I’m sorry, Nicholas, but I’m not a Theronai.”

  “You don’t know that. None of the others knew, either.”

  “You said I’d have a ring-shaped birthmark. I don’t.”

  “It could be in a place you can’t see, under your hair.”

  Hope didn’t know how to explain to him that it didn’t feel right. That while she was beginning to believe that she wasn’t human, what he told her left her feeling unconnected.

  She offered him a wistful smile. “I can’t be someone just because you want me to.”

  “I know that,” he said. “I also know that no matter who or what you are, we’ll protect you.”

  “I’d rather you protect the people on the streets—the ones who keep disappearing.”

  “We’ll do that, too. Logan told me it was important to you.”

  “It is. While I’m not close with everyone who’s gone missing, I still feel a responsibility toward them, as if it’s my job to ensure their safety.”

  Nicholas smiled, making his scars pucker. “See? That’s the kind of thing that proves my point. You feel your sense of duty even without your memories. That has to count for something.”

  “I know you want it to. Believe me, the idea of being some magical woman who can save people’s lives is compelling, but I have to be honest with myself. And so do you.”

  He shook his head, his blue eyes sad. An answering plume of blue swirled in his aura of pain. “No, what I have to do is keep hope alive. For us, it’s more important than food or water. Without hope, we’re already defeated.”

  She understood that. She’d lived in hope of learning her past for a long time. “I’m not going to lie to you. I don’t think I am who you want me to be. But I’ll do what you ask. As soon as we find what happened to all these missing people, I’ll meet your friends. Let them touch me. And if I can save one of them, I will.”

  Nicholas swallowed hard, then nodded. When he spoke, his voice was tight with emotion. “Thank you. That means more than you can ever know.”

  He got up and walked out of the house. Hope got the sense he needed to be alone. So did she. There were so many things to work out in her head, all of them crammed together one on top of another.

  She’d just committed to lining up for savior auditions for a group of men she’d never met. On top of that, chances were she was going to let them all down the way she had Nicholas.

  She was no savior. She didn’t look forward to the moment that these Theronai came to realize that.

  A feeling of inadequacy hung over her, making her feel heavy. She leaned back on the couch and covered her eyes with her arm.

  She was tired. Lonely. Logan had left without even saying good-bye, and his brush-off stung.

  She’d thought they had a connection. He’d drunk her blood. Twice. She’d saved his life. And yet, apparently, that wasn’t enough to even warrant a quick word of farewell.

  He’d abandoned her. And whether he felt connected to her or not, she felt him. Even now, lying here with her eyes closed, she knew which way he’d gone. She could feel him glowing against her left side like the sunshine she craved so much.

  She glanced at her watch. It would be dawn in a few hours. She’d have Nicholas take her home, bundle up against the cold, and enjoy the sunrise. It would calm her, center her, give her strength.

  She could hardly wait for summer to get here so she could strip down and bask in the sun. Winter had been long and was hanging on for dear life. Maybe once all of this bizarre stuff was behind her, she’d take some time off and drive down to Florida. She could lie on the beach and listen to the ocean. Maybe if she relaxed enough, her memories would loosen up and simply come to her.

  That would be nice.

  At least she thought so. There was still a part of her that wondered if that mental wall was there for a reason. Maybe what was on the other side was too dark and scary to stand. Maybe her mind had blocked it out as a way of protecting her.

  If so, did she really want to see what was on the other side?

  The question rolled around in her head, rattling in annoyance. She’d had this debate with herself a hundred times. In the end, there was only one answer. Those memories were hers. Ugly or beautiful, she wanted them back.

  Jackie sat in the back of the SUV trying not to pay attention to all the lovey-dovey stuff going on up front. Paul and Andra were the perfect couple: beautiful, tall, strong, working together as one unit in complete accord.

  It was more than a little nauseating.

  Jackie stared out the window, watching the dark landscape slide by. After living so long in darkness, her eyes had no trouble seeing into the inky blackness of the countryside. And while she saw no demons, she knew they were out there. One wrong move and she could be right back where she was only a couple of weeks ago.

  She patted her purse, feeling the hard lump of the handgun she’d insisted on having before leaving the safety of Dabyr. No matter what happened, those demons were not taking her again. At least not alive.

  Andra’s phone rang. She said something quiet Jackie couldn’t hear, and then hung up. “Change of plans,” she announced. “Iain is in trouble. We’re going to go help him since we’re close.”

  Iain. The man who’d pulled her out of her cage and then looked at her with a dark hunger she’d never seen before.

  Jackie fought against the memories, but in the end, she relived every moment of her rescue again. The fear of that night flooded her, making her body tremble. She could almost smell the blood and filth of unwashed bodies as she and the others ran from the cave. Big men were on all sides, hurrying them forward.

  Iain had gone back for the others. For the children. He’d saved them all that night—all those who were left to save.

  Jackie didn’t want to think about the ones who hadn’t made it out. She didn’t want to see the faces of those who were born and died in captivity, never to know the warmth of the sun.

  The car lurched around a corner, hitting a rut in the gravel road. Jackie’s head bumped into the glass, breaking the hold those bleak memories had on her.

  “I don’t know what we’ll find,” said Paul as he sped down the lane. “Stay close to me and Andra, okay?”

  Jackie nodded, her throat too clogged with emotion to find any room for words to escape.

  Andra turned her long, lean body in her seat and looked at Jackie. Her short, dark hair framed her face, making her blue eyes stand out in contrast. “If things get ugly, I’ll put a shield around you. You don’t have to be afraid.”

  Jackie didn’t bother to tell her she was constantly afraid these days, and there wasn’t a shield in the world that could change that.

  They came to a rocking stop in front of an aging farmhouse. Paul didn’t even turn off the engine before he slammed out of the SUV, drawing his sword. Andra was only half a second behind him.

  Now that they were gone, Jackie had a clear view out the front windshield. The SUV’s headlights flowed over the icy landscape, glinting off trees and tall, dead grass. Everything was coated in a thin layer of ice, giving
the area an almost fairy-tale type of feel. Only this wasn’t a friendly tale; it was one of the dark, twisted, cautionary tales from long ago, filled with monsters and death.

  Half a dozen demons littered the area, their eyes glowing with a hungry light. They were furry, with thick, heavy limbs like a bear, but they had almost human features. Their mouths were too big to be human, their teeth too long. And the pale green light spilling from their eyes was definitely not human.

  Jackie had seen these things before. She’d seen them feed on the bodies of the dead. She’d seen them fight and kill one another for a scrap of food, then consume their own when one fell.

  Her body froze in the vehicle, unable to move. She sat there, staring, shaking. A cold sweat seeped from her pores.

  Paul’s sword gleamed as he fought the demons. Andra was by his side, her attention split between the monsters and Jackie.

  Andra shouted something Jackie couldn’t understand. Her heart was pounding too loud for her to hear anything else. She closed her eyes to block out the sight of the things that had stolen her life and instead concentrated on breathing.

  The SUV rocked as if something had jumped on top of it. Jackie’s eyes shot open, but she saw nothing. Her breath fogged up the window on her left. Andra lifted a hand and a faint blue light spilled out over the hood, sweeping back to engulf the left side of the vehicle.

  “Get out!” shouted Andra, and this time Jackie understood her words.

  Panic forced her into motion. She fumbled for the latch on the seat belt, but her sweaty fingers slipped from the plastic. The sound of metal scraping over glass squealed out from behind her.

  Jackie spun her head around to see what was behind her only to discover that it wasn’t metal on glass she’d heard; it was one of the demons clawing at the back window. Pale blue sparks spewed up from the claws, keeping the thing from doing any damage to the glass. But for how long?

  With that thing only inches away, Jackie’s world began to cave in. She remembered all the cold, dark nights she spent in terror for her life. She remembered the faces of every one of the women and children who were slain and eaten by those monsters. She’d known from the moment of her escape that they would want her back. And here they were, clawing at her, trying to reach her so they could take her back to that nightmare.

  Jackie wasn’t going to let that happen.

  A calmness settled over her as she made her decision. She reached for her purse and the revolver inside. Her hand settled around the textured grip, keeping it from slipping out of her sweaty palm. It was already loaded. All she had to do was disengage the safety and it was ready to fire.

  Five bullets for the demon. One for her.

  Iain didn’t know how long Andra’s shield was going to hold, but he knew that he had to get the woman out of the SUV before it failed. There were three Synestryn back there, and every one of them was going to want a bite.

  He finished off the demon in front of him, then shifted to his left, forcing the rest of the beasties to hit Andra’s shield. She’d created a tunnellike barrier, forcing the demons to come at them only one or two at a time. Paul could handle that for as long as it took Iain to get to the woman.

  He’d seen panic enough times to know its face, and the woman he’d found in those caves—Jackie—was wearing it now.

  Iain opened the car door nearest the house and leaned inside, trying to ignore the slavering demons only inches away from Jackie’s head.

  They were so going to die when he got a minute.

  As soon as his head and shoulders were inside the vehicle, he saw the muzzle of a .45 aimed at his face.

  Iain was impressed. Apparently she hadn’t completely panicked.

  “Save it for the Synestryn. We need to get you out of here,” he told her as he reached in and pressed the release button on her seat belt. The canvas strap slithered away from her body, catching on her arm.

  She wasn’t moving. She was staring at him, holding that gun so tight her knuckles were white from the strain.

  “Move your arm,” he told her.

  She didn’t.

  Iain held back a sigh as he pushed the gun down and pried her fingers from the grip. “The seat belt is stuck on your arm.”

  Jackie looked down where he indicated and recognition flared in her wild gray eyes. Her slim arm moved, freeing the seat belt.

  As soon as he touched her, Iain’s heartbeat slowed. His luceria leapt away from his neck as if reaching for her. The ring vibrated, humming close to his skin. A sense of calm descended over him, contrasting sharply against the chaos of combat and the rage of his dead soul. He knew he didn’t have time to study the odd reaction, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

  He’d felt like this only once before—the night he took Jackie from her cage. It had passed so quickly, he hadn’t even allowed himself to believe it had ever happened.

  It meant she could save his life. Too bad she was too late to do anything for his soul.

  Iain shoved away all thoughts of salvation and forced himself to focus on keeping the woman alive. The Band of the Barren was full of men that needed a woman like her, and he was going to see to it that she lived long enough to meet them.

  Blue sparks jumped from the Synestryn’s claws for a second; then they stopped as the thing made its way through to the glass.

  “Time to go.” Iain grabbed her arm and pulled her across the seats, practically dragging her from the SUV.

  Her feet hit the ground, slipping on the ice. Iain kept a tight hold to keep her from falling and ushered her inside the house, where she’d at least have the protective wards of the Gerai house to keep her safe. They might not hold for long, but they were better than the SUV.

  He pushed her through the door, grabbed the handle to shut it behind him, and said, “There’s a baby in the bathtub. Don’t let the Synestryn get him.”

  Logan had to hurry if he was going to meet Alexander and check in on Hope before sunrise.

  He sped down the highway, finally pulling into a secluded Gerai house tucked at the end of a long driveway. Trees surrounded the old farmhouse, sheltering it from prying eyes.

  Logan jumped out of his van and hurried to the front door. By the time he got there, Alexander Siah had opened it, beckoning him inside.

  Alexander had been instrumental in the success of Project Lullaby. The man had an ability to cure cancer that was unparalleled. Even Tynan couldn’t match his skill when it came to the disease.

  For years, Alexander had been gaining the cooperation of heavily blooded humans in exchange for cures for themselves or loved ones. He saved lives, and the humans paired up and created new ones.

  Their breeding program was of questionable morals, but necessary. Without Alexander’s aid, they would be years behind where they were now, so when he’d told Logan they needed to meet, Logan had not questioned him.

  Alexander was several inches taller than Logan. He wasn’t as thin as the last time Logan had seen him, proof that he’d fed well recently. His icy green eyes flashed with impatience beneath his steeply arched eyebrows.

  “Come inside. We must hurry,” said Alexander.

  Logan stepped inside and came to an abrupt stop. A man stood there, imposing in his size. An air of power and menace wafted from him, forcing Logan to dial down his senses so he wouldn’t be overpowered by his presence.

  The man had medium brown hair and golden brown eyes. He stood a bit over six feet and his limbs were thick with muscle. His stance was belligerent, his booted feet braced apart and his hands fisted on his hips. The tops of his ears were slightly pointed, displayed openly, rather than hidden as many Slayers did.

  Logan looked at Alexander in disbelief. “You brought a Slayer to a Gerai house? Are you mad?”

  While the war between the Theronai and Slayers had stagnated over the decades, bringing a Slayer onto Theronai soil was a surefire way to reignite violence.

  Alexander shook his head. “Tynan sent the word out. You wanted the most powe
rfully blooded males we could find. Eric Phelan is the man you’re looking for.”

  Logan absorbed that shocking news for a moment. As far as he knew, the Slayers had bred with humans to the point where their bloodlines were too diluted to be of much use. But if Alexander said differently, Logan believed him.

  Eric’s jaw clenched in anger. “You said you’d make this quick. I have places to be.”

  “We have a bargain,” said Alexander.

  “And I’ll abide by it, but you two better hurry the hell up. If my brother finds out I’m here, taking a chance of messing up his precious plans for peace, you’ll be sucking blood from my corpse.”

  “Your brother?” asked Logan.

  “Andreas Phelan.”

  That name rang a loud bell. “The new leader of the Slayers.”

  “Yeah. And he earned his title through beating the hell out of everyone else who wanted it, so I suggest you don’t cross him.”

  “No, of course not,” said Logan. His mind was reeling, trying to sort out this new twist of events. “Why am I here, Alexander?”

  “Eric’s blood is strong. He’s the man you’re looking for to breed with Hope.”

  A slight snarl lifted Eric’s lip. “I’ll fuck whoever you want, but we have laws about breeding. You know that.”

  “I do,” said Alexander. “Your brother has been clear about that. I assure you that if he doesn’t find Hope a suitable mate—if he doesn’t accept her bloodline—our bargain will be fulfilled.”

  “Fair enough,” said Eric. “Where’s the woman?”

  Logan looked at Alexander. “You want me to have Hope breed with a Slayer?”

  “His blood is stronger than any human. Why not?”

  “Because she’s with a Theronai right now. He’s convinced she is one, too. He’ll take her back to Dabyr for all the other Theronai there to test her.”

  “Whoa,” said Eric. “I’m not fucking some Theronai’s woman. My brother would kill me, and he’d take years doing it, too.”

  “We don’t know if she’s a Theronai or not,” said Alexander. He looked at Logan. “Test his blood. You’ve had hers, right? You’ll know if they blend.”