The Hunted: Hunter Circles Series Book One

by Jessica Gunn

  “Seems like we have that in common,” I spat. “I’ve seen it, you know. The body you dragged. The person they burned.” Giyano’s eyes narrowed. Struck a chord, didn’t I, asshole? “They must have been incredibly important to you if Lady Azar used their death as blackmail.”

  Giyano’s nostrils flared and, with spittle flying from his lips, he shouted, “Silence! Now!”

  I shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault I saw your past. You’re the one who keeps poisoning me with your magik.” I swiped the air in front of me, forgetting about Giyano’s requirem. Shit.

  Giyano laughed. “Foolish Hunter. You know nothing.”

  “I know you loved whoever that was,” I said. “And I know that whatever happened back then is tied to Ben’s son.”

  Giyano’s face paled. It actually fucking paled.

  Bingo. I’d been right all along; the satisfaction belonging to that realization crumbling to a thousand pieces. I’d been right. Which meant we were all in danger. More danger than sitting in the middle of Shadow Crest’s lair, unarmed and powerless.

  “Oh, please,” I said. “Everyone here knows. That’s why you kidnapped Riley in the first place, isn’t it? Because of the Power?”

  Giyano roared and threw a wall of fire my way. I hightailed it out of the corridor and into a cross section, hiding behind the cover of another hallway as the fire wall soared past.

  The other two demons, who between their abilities had captured and held my team, drew them forward. Nate limped, favoring one foot over the other, and cradled one arm against his chest.

  “Get them to the antechamber,” Giyano seethed. His dark red eyes zeroed in on me, anger curling his lips into a hideous scowl. Like I was incapable of understanding the gravity of the situation I’d brought my team into. “If they want to witness the boy’s ascension so badly, let them have a front row seat.”

  As the demons urged my team past me, I made eye contact with Ben. His wrists had been bound by the elements, his power apparently rendered useless by word-magik or fear—or both. I shook my head. If we escaped now, there was no telling how far we’d get, if we got anywhere.

  And yet Giyano’s reaction stuck in my head. Even as we walked into the antechamber lit with torches and skylights. Even as I tried to piece together his story. If this was all about the Power, then whomever Giyano had been trying to protect at that Salem pyre had had it. But as far as I knew, and according to every other history book out there, the Power hadn’t been seen since the time of the pyramids. Everyone who’d had the Power during and since the ancient world had been hunted down and killed, either by Aloysius or the Hunter Circles. Hell, that’s what had happened with Kinder, the Fire Circle’s most-wanted demon.

  So why would Giyano take the time to risk saving a witch from a pyre when he’d had the Power? He could have escaped, taken Giyano’s fire-control magik, and run.

  I bit my lip as Giyano pressed me into the front of the antechamber and to my knees. Bone slammed against stone and I cringed.

  The Power was a magikal ability of neither elemental nor ether descent that allowed you to break the “no ether and elemental magiks at the same time” rule. It was the absolute only way to contain both magik types in your body in big amounts for any length of time and not die. One could then use the Power to suck in other peoples’ magik, both demon and Hunter alike, without bias.

  Anyone who had the Power broke the rules of magik that even Aloysius himself couldn’t fathom destroying. Which had made anyone with the Power so dangerous that they’d eradicated everyone who’d possessed it. They had ended their family lines so no one would inherit it. And the Power had disappeared from existence for thousands of years of recorded history.

  Until now. Until Ben’s kid, Riley.

  “Welcome, Hunters,” said a feminine voice from above.

  I glanced up and found Lady Azar herself on the dais. By her side stood Giyano, who had a toddler beside him, standing on a raised block. Riley.

  Ben roared, raging forth against the demon holding him back. “Riley! It’s me. It’s Dad. Let him go!”

  Lady Azar laughed, her shoulders shaking with amusement. Drapes of red hair cascaded down her shoulder. Her ageless, beautiful face had been painted with red lipstick, drawing the eye to her raw magnificence. The tunic and pants she wore were red with gold embroidery, a knife sheath tucked to one side and a sword holder on the other hip.

  “Let him go?” Lady Azar asked. She looked to Giyano and then back at us. “Are you mad? I’ve finally found what I’ve been looking for since…” She trailed off, eyes back on Giyano. “Hundreds of years ago.”

  To his credit, Giyano remained silent and didn’t let a single shred of emotion or annoyance show. He was good. Damned good.

  But Lady Azar had also confirmed my hypothesis with those words. “So I was right. Riley does have the Power?”

  Not that I thought she’d answer me. That wasn’t information I’d want to get out, either. And if we rescued Riley, Ben would definitely have to fend off other demons for the rest of Riley’s life. Even binding his powers like my mother had done to mine for most of my childhood wouldn’t be enough. It’d never remove his ability to house both magik types. It’d never change his blood back to normal, and even dormant Powered blood would fetch a pretty penny on the black market. Binding his magik might save him some trouble, but it wouldn’t save him completely.

  The question rang in Ben’s eyes about why his son had been targeted. I shook off his unspoken words. Now wasn’t the time.

  Lady Azar nodded deeply, almost a bow but purposely not one, too. “Indeed. So you see, it seems we cannot come to any sort of agreement.”

  Ben surged forth again. “What’s going on?”

  Don’t worry, I wanted to tell him. We’ll figure it out. But the sad truth was: there was no sorting this one out.

  Unless we could get through to Riley.

  I looked up at him. “This woman is bad, Riley. You don’t have to use your powers for her.”

  Riley glanced up at Lady Azar, who cooed. “Remember what we said about not talking to strangers, my child.”

  “Your child?” Ben spat. “Riley. It’s me.”

  Lady Azar laughed. “You really thought he’d remember you? Maybe if you’d been his mother, had carried him inside your womb. Maybe then he’d remember the sound of your voice.”

  Ben’s eyes tightened, glistening in the torchlight.

  “She’s baiting you,” I snapped at him. “Eyes on the prize, Ben.”

  He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He had no words for me.

  Lady Azar clapped, startling every person in the room except for Giyano. He stood there, staring at me, with an expectant expression. Like I was supposed to do or say something in this moment. But what was there to say? And against demons without my powers, there was nothing I could do. Unless my Alzanian magik was ready to play ball. I reached for that warmness, the wholeness of it all, and nothing came.

  Double shit.

  Lady Azar turned to Riley and knelt before him. “Come, child. Let them witness your ascension to power.”

  “Don’t you dare turn him!” Rachel shouted. She managed to get a hand free and pull forth water from the air. She turned it to ice and shot a shard of it right into Lady Azar’s shoulder.

  Lady Azar flinched and tugged it out. “Guards! Do not let them interrupt this!” She threw one hand out and a gust of wind knocked Rachel sideways, sliding her across the smooth stone floor. “The time has come.”

  She ordered more guards to pour in from the hallways and they did. Even if we’d been right about the night, about them going out to hunt for energies, it appeared most had stayed behind. Unless…

  My breathing stopped as the weight of the entire mountain above us crushed me beneath its stone. They weren’t using a power-sucking demon to collect transference energies. They were using Riley as a vessel. As a place to put the magik. Both types of magiks.

  As a place to hold those m
agiks until tomorrow, All Hallows’ Eve.

  “Ah, I see Alzan’s precious Daughter has figured it out,” Lady Azar said. “Too bad you’re only one half of the prophecy, dear. And after tonight”—she picked up Riley and held him on her hip—“there won’t be time for you and your precious Fire Circle to keep searching for the Son. Tonight we’ll harness Riley’s Power and those of the magiks we’ve gathered to find Alzan. To break through all the barriers and walls in the way and take over their plane of existence.

  “To destroy Cianza Alzan for good.”

  As soon as the last syllable left Lady Azar’s lips, she slammed her open palm onto Riley’s chest. His head snapped back, eyes glowing yellow, and he screamed as a rainbow of colors flew out of his mouth.

  Some of the demon guards instantly dropped to their knees as waves of auras slid from their open mouths. The power auras sailed across the room and into Riley, Lady Azar’s new vessel.

  There was no turning back now.

  Lady Azar cackled. “Soon—you will be next!”

  Chapter 22

  BEN

  My magik, a blinding sizzle of electricity, flared, snapping from my body in lightning strikes as though I was the core of a thunderstorm. The lightning struck out at stone and demon without bias, narrowly avoiding my teammates as it soared across the distance between myself and Lady Azar. So fast I barely registered it, Giyano dove in front of them and tore Riley from Lady Azar’s grasp. The lightning shredded into Lady Azar. Her screams filled the air, fueling my own rage until the lightning spun out of control.

  Nate hobbled forward, lunging in to block Rachel, pulling up a block of ether to keep them safe from my attack. I stood and charged Lady Azar. All self-preservation went out the window the second her hands had touched Riley.

  And his cry. God, his cry.

  My head and shoulder slammed into her abdomen and I let my lightning go. I didn’t feel a single moment of pain as my lightning strikes wrapped around her and struck over and over again. The power throbbed around me, pounding in time with each strike.

  She lifted her hands up between us. Air and lightning mixed together in a volatile dance, and we were thrown in different directions. I landed hard on stone, all breath knocked out of me. My lungs wheezed and my skin burned. It was tinged red like I’d spent too much time out in the sun. Shit. Had I actually burned myself?

  I glanced up at the room as it turned into chaos. Rachel shot ice missiles at the demon guards bearing down on her and Nate’s position. My gaze snapped back to the dais onto which Krystin had climbed. She managed to grab on to Giyano, an arm around his neck, as he bent to pick up Riley. I couldn’t hear her over the din, but she must have landed a requirem on him because he turned to her, eyes wide with shock. She threw an uppercut at him and snatched Riley from the ground while Giyano was dazed.

  She tucked Riley close to her chest, then turned to me. “Got him,” she mouthed.

  A demon roared behind me and I turned in time to catch his sword hand in both of mine, dodging the steel. I kicked him in the stomach and backed away. We traded blow for blow until I saw an opening and sent a handful of lightning into his face. His skin sizzled, bubbling and oozing over as it turned to ash.

  Krystin trotted up behind me. “Here. Take this.”

  She handed Riley to me, so much bigger now than he had been at a few weeks old that I wasn’t sure how to hold him at all. But the important part was that I was holding him. For real. I pulled Riley close to my chest and rested my head on his before glancing up at Krystin.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “To take on Giyano,” she said. “I don’t have magik right now. I can’t defend your son like you can.”

  I looked down at Riley, his wet cheeks and fear-filled blue eyes, the same exact shade as mine. I’d already failed to defend him twice over. Two-and-a-half years ago when Giyano had kidnapped him and now as Lady Azar had tried and failed to turn him into a vessel for magik. Would being here damage him forever? What harm had she already done to him?

  “Krystin…”

  She punched my arm. “Do not. Not right now. Not ever again. Get. Him. Out of here.” And with that, she turned back to Giyano, who also didn’t have magik anymore. Krystin swiped a sword from one of the fallen guards Rachel and Nate had taken down and dived after Giyano.

  Riley clutched my shirt, his tiny fingernails digging into the skin beneath. “Scared,” he wailed. “Stop.”

  “I can’t, Riley,” I said without thinking. His eyes only widened and he cried harder. “Shh,” I said to him, pulling him close. “I mean, I will. I will get us home to Mom safely, okay? Just stick with me, kid.”

  “Daddy,” he cried.

  I blinked. “You remember me?”

  He nodded into my shirt, eyes squeezed shut.

  Well, I’ll be—

  A powerful gust of wind knocked me off my feet. Instinct curled my body around Riley’s small form to shield us from the impact with stone. I grunted as my back connected, then looked for the source. Lady Azar strutted toward us, hand out.

  I threw out my own lightning-charged hand but stopped. If the air exploded again…

  But even as I thought it over, it felt like all the energy, all my magik, was being pulled from my body. The more power I put behind the lightning in my palm, the quicker it dissipated in front of me.

  Lady Azar cackled. “Now you see. The strength of the Power is strong even against one’s own kin.”

  The Power. What was this mysterious thing everyone seemed to know about but me? What made Riley having it so valuable? I didn’t understand, and the frustration of not knowing strangled my lungs.

  “Give him back to me,” Lady Azar said, throwing wave after wave of air our way. She kept me pinned to the wall, unable to move. “I need his power.”

  My stomach dropped. “For what?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but even to speak those two words took gargantuan effort against the force of the wind. I couldn’t have taken the question back if I’d tried.

  “For Alzan,” Lady Azar said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I need Riley to break through every wall between here and the Powers’ ancient city—”

  Krystin’s fist appeared from nowhere and slammed Lady Azar directly in the jaw. Then Krystin jabbed into her stomach and chest. Giyano turned back to throw an elbow in Krystin’s face before stealing her sword from her hands. He turned back and threw it, blade end first, at Lady Azar, who wasn’t paying attention between the shock and loss of her power.

  I stepped out of the way, Riley in hand, as the sword soared through the air and slid into Lady Azar’s shoulder, pinning her to the stone wall behind her. She wailed and Giyano knocked her out before she could say anything else.

  “Why?” I gritted out, backing away from him with lightning building in my palm. I’d sizzle him alive, too, if he came at me. If he went after Riley again.

  He grinned up at me, teeth and nose a bloody mess. “I don’t wish to see harm come to Riley.”

  “You want him, too,” I spat.

  “Not on Cianza Alzan,” he clarified.

  An ice missile shot through the air and slammed into Giyano. His eyes widened in shock as he stumbled, then fell to the ground, impaled on the ice. But the ice melted almost immediately, pooling beneath his back. Even without powers, Giyano’s fire-elemental magik had kept him safe.

  Rachel ran over and pulled Riley from my arms. She checked him over, though despite tears, he seemed to be fine. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

  Krystin crossed the room to Giyano. “Dammit.” Was she really unhappy about him being mortally wounded? She pursed her lips and sighed. “Better to get out now before Lady Azar over there decides pushing through the pain of elin to attack us is worth it.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I laced my blade with elin. Just in case.” She tossed her gaze to the impaled heiress of Darkness. “I’m thinking we only have a few seconds before she decides
to go berserk.”

  I closed my eyes at Krystin’s insane plan. At least it explained why Lady Azar had stopped trying to attack us. A demon of that power would have a hell of a time dealing with the effects of elin poison.

  “You’ve declared war!” Lady Azar shrieked at us as she pulled herself off the blade. She groaned in agony. “The Fire Circle will pay for your insolence!”

  “Oh, bring it,” Krystin snapped at her. She turned to me and held out her hand. “Let’s go. Now.”

  I grabbed on to Krystin’s hand. Rachel and Nate joined her and we were about to teleporante when—

  Giyano pulled himself off the ground and growled like a feral hell beast. “No!” he screamed. “No!” He waved his hands in the air in a circle and collected a massive fireball. Before any of us got the words out, he threw it our way. “This ends here, Krystin!”

  Shit! How had the requirem worn off that quickly?

  Krystin looked down at her hands before jumping in front of the group. She threw up her arms, caught the fireball with her telekinesis, and threw it back at Giyano. “Go!” she shouted. “Get out of here. I’ll hold him off, otherwise he’ll follow us to—”

  A shock of hot air blasted us. Nate limped in front of me to block Riley and, hands glowing with bright orange ether, said, “Asanak.”

  A tangerine-colored long strip of ether appeared and cracked like a whip through the open air. Nate moved his arm to strike it across the air again and it slammed into Lady Azar head-on. Her eyes bugged and glowed orange. She screamed, tumbling to the ground.

  “Don’t stay long, Krystin,” Nate said to her as he turned to grab hold of us again. Then, “Teleportante.”

  We were at Fire Circle Headquarters before I could curse Nate for leaving Krystin behind.

  Chapter 23

  KRYSTIN

  Lady Azar didn’t get up, and she likely wouldn’t for many long hours. If at all. Nate had said he was capable of using asanak, but I hadn’t believed him. Ether-magik that cracked a soul in half… that wasn’t beginner stuff. But no one on my team had been true beginners. Thinking that was the mistake I’d made twelve days ago.